Golden Legend

"Hmph, did you think I didn't know there were two people in here?"

"You're brother and sister, aren't you? That only makes me even more interested."

The skinny man in black came before Chen Xun, who was sleeping on the floor, looking down at him with a smug expression.

But after only two sentences, he began coughing.

"Cough, cough, that damned old ghost was actually so strong. Even a palm strike through the air injured me this badly."

The man in black ground his teeth in hatred as he spoke of it.

"But no matter how badly I'm hurt, you'll never be able to find me."

His tone was full of pride.

As he spoke, his body began to change, growing taller and more muscular.

"I am the renowned Thousand-Faced Flower Thief."

"Cough, cough, enough talking. I need to heal quickly."

"As long as I drain the primordial yin from ten virgins like this, I'll recover almost completely."

With that, the now-tall man in black yanked away Chen Qingqing's blanket.

Chen Qingqing, dressed in her nightclothes, was exposed before him.

"Her figure is too slight. Only her face is barely passable."

"Forget it. I'll make do for now."

After picking and choosing, the man in black pounced at Chen Qingqing on the bed.

At that moment, a frigid flash of saber light swept upward from below.

That strike was fast and heavy.

"Damn it, you weren't affected by the drugged smoke!"

The man in black was both shocked and enraged. Before the saber light reached him, he hurriedly used his movement technique and barely dodged at the critical moment.

"What an incredible movement technique."

Chen Xun's pupils contracted as alarm surged through him.

That saber strike had been one he had plotted for a long time, and he had launched it as a sneak attack.

Yet the other man had still evaded it. It was clear that the man's movement technique had already surpassed Chen Xun's understanding.

"Die! You dare sneak attack me?"

After dodging Chen Xun's surprise strike, the man in black charged at him in a furious rage.

Chen Xun raised his saber to block, only to find that the other man moved like a ghost. One second he was in front of Chen Xun; the next, he had appeared behind him.

"Die."

The man in black struck down with an enraged palm, a palm packed with immense Blood Qi landing solidly on Chen Xun.

That palm strike sent Chen Xun flying. Borrowing the immense force, he smashed through the wall ahead and was finally buried beneath bricks and stones, with more than half his body covered.

"Hmph. A mere Qi-Blood Second Transformation Martial Artist is courting death."

The man in black was extremely confident in that palm strike.

"What was that sound?"

"I don't know. It sounded like it came from next door."

"Come on, let's take a look."

The tremendous noise of the two fighting had alerted the nearby neighbors.

"Damn it, the commotion is too great. I can only retreat for now."

"Beauty, wait for me. I'll be back."

"When the time comes, I'll have my way with you right in front of your brother's coffin."

Just thinking about it made the man in black burn with excitement.

At that moment, he was stepping over Chen Xun's body.

The next instant, saber light rose again.

"What?"

The man in black only had time to glance down before intense pain rapidly spread from his lower body throughout his entire body.

"Why aren't you dead?"

Looking at his lower body, which had been split in two, the man in black spoke the final sentence of his life before drawing his last breath.

"Why? Go to the Underworld and find the answer yourself."

Chen Xun wiped the blood that had splashed onto his face, looking somewhat savage.

He had been able to take the man in black's palm strike head-on naturally because of the [Iron Garment] trait.

On top of that, his own Iron Garment Art had already reached Perfection.

With the two layers stacked together, his defensive power had been greatly enhanced.

That palm strike from the man in black had indeed been terrifying. It directly broke through the first layer of Iron Garment and had nearly pierced through the second as well.

If anyone could see Chen Xun's back, they would find a clear palm print there.

"Little Brother Chen, are you all right? I heard some commotion inside."

A neighbor outside knocked on the door and asked.

Chen Xun quickly replied through the door, "I'm fine. I made a breakthrough in my cultivation and accidentally broke a piece of furniture. The commotion was a little loud. Sorry for the trouble."

The surrounding neighbors all knew Chen Xun was a Martial Artist. Upon hearing this, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"As long as you're fine."

Soon afterward, the neighbors dispersed.

Chen Xun also let out a breath.

He did not want the matter of him killing the Flower Thief to be exposed.

The reason was simple: the bounty on the Flower Thief was too high. Added together, the rewards offered by the various families had already exceeded three thousand taels.

If such a huge sum of silver fell into Chen Xun's hands, it would not be a good thing—it would be a calamity from the heavens.

At that time, who knew how many people would set their sights on him? He would be dragged into endless trouble.

Moreover, the process by which he had killed the Flower Thief would not withstand scrutiny.

When the time came, his current strength would certainly be exposed, and that would be no small trouble either.

He was a Martial Artist with a lowest-grade C talent, yet his cultivation speed rivaled that of a first-grade A talent. To certain important figures, the secret behind that would matter even more than three thousand taels of silver.

Therefore, it did not matter who the Flower Thief died to, so long as it was not Chen Xun.

Afterward, Chen Xun began cleaning up the scene.

First came the corpse. The body that had been cleaved in two had spilled organs and blood all over the floor. Fortunately, it was winter, and the low temperature kept the smell from spreading.

If it had been summer, the thick stench of blood from such a murder scene would have reached the neighboring houses long ago.

Cleaning up the corpse alone took Chen Xun half an hour.

Chen Xun planned to move the corpse together with some trash into the Inventory Space, then find an opportunity to dispose of it.

At the same time, he found several dozen taels of silver and some knockout drugs on the body.

"Hm? Why won't it go in?"

Chen Xun held half of the Flower Thief's corpse, his face full of confusion.

The other half of the corpse had gone in easily.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Xun suddenly considered a possibility.

"Could it be that this half of the corpse is hiding an item?"

Only an item would cause the Inventory to refuse storage while it contained other objects.

Thus, Chen Xun began carefully searching the corpse. At last, he found something unusual on the inner side of the corpse's right thigh.

A material that looked and felt remarkably like human skin was tightly adhered to the inner thigh.

After he tore it open, a piece of silk cloth as thin as a cicada's wing was revealed within.

The instant he saw the silk cloth, Chen Xun's pupils abruptly shrank. His mouth fell slightly open, his expression filled with shock.

"This... this is a gold item."

That was right. This silk cloth was a gold item Chen Xun had never seen before.

Chen Xun hurriedly took out the silk cloth.

The instant he touched it, Chen Xun obtained its attributes.

[Cloudsmoke Phantom Step · Silk Manual (Gold)]

[Trait: Cloudsmoke Phantom Step cultivation bonus (Purple)]

[Trait: Cloudsmoke Phantom Step Perfection (Gold)]

[Trait: Shadowless (Purple)]

[Trait: Traceless (Purple)]

[Trait: Soundless (Purple)]

[This silk cloth is woven from Cloud Silkworm silk. Neither water nor fire can harm it, and blades and swords cannot damage it. The martial art recorded upon it has been passed down through a certain Lineage for hundreds of years, with Attendants never ceasing.]

This description filled Chen Xun's face with excitement, tinged with a few traces of worry.

"It actually has quite a background."

"Could the Flower Thief have stolen it from somewhere?"

"It seems I'd better avoid using this Lightfoot Skill too often in front of others in the future. Otherwise, people may notice something amiss."

As for not practicing it, Chen Xun had never considered that.

To refuse what Heaven bestowed was to invite punishment upon oneself.

Now that it had fallen into his hands, how could he possibly not practice it?

This was another martial art he could quickly cultivate to Perfection.

"It's just that the Perfection traits of other martial arts are all purple. Why is this one gold?"

Very soon, after Chen Xun replaced another item with this gold item and placed it into the Inventory, he understood the reason.