"You-!"
Everything had happened too quickly for the old man to react. From the moment the men surrounded the young man to the moment he slaughtered them all, less than a single breath had passed. The Black Dragon Society's dozens of elite fighters had been powerless to resist.
This showed not only how suddenly the young man had struck, but also how extraordinary his movement technique was. Even without a surprise attack, these subordinates of his probably would not have lasted long against him. With speed like that, his cultivation had to be at least sixth rank.
Looking at the young face before him, so handsome it bordered on the uncanny, the old man turned the matter over and over in his mind. He racked his brains, yet could not imagine when such a young master had appeared in Great Jin's Cloud Province.
"Even if you're going to kill me, you should at least let me know whose hands I'm dying at! As for the cultivation method for the Seven Baleful Heaven-Piercing Sword, do you think I'll meekly hand it over?!"
He had roamed the martial world for decades. What storms had he not weathered? Judging by this young man's methods, he had no hope of surviving today. He simply lay down on the ground and secretly circulated his Internal Energy, preparing to sever his own heart meridians. But before he could mobilize what little Internal Energy remained in his body, a jet of force from a finger struck his chest. His chest seized up, and his entire body went limp. Forget circulating his Internal Energy to sever his heart meridians—he did not even have the strength to bite through his tongue.
"Don't think about killing yourself. In front of me, you won't get the chance!" The young man crouched beside him and slowly leaned closer, enunciating every word. A cruel, unfathomable light flickered in his dark pupils. "I'm very displeased with your behavior, so I'll give you a taste of what I can do before questioning you!"
With that, he lightly touched a finger to the old man's forehead. The old man's eyes flew open, revealing utter despair. He tried to scream, but no sound would come out. After a single breath, his body began to twitch. As time passed, the convulsions grew increasingly violent. Blood began seeping from every pore, and it streamed from all seven openings in his head. This was far worse than the backlash he had suffered while using the Twofold Heaven-Piercing Sword.
After that single touch, the young man paid him no further attention. Instead, he turned and walked over to Old One-Eye, who lay on the ground with only a breath of life left.
Old One-Eye weakly lifted his eyelid, gave the young man a lifeless look, then turned his gaze away. As far as he was concerned, he was certain to die today. Both the earlier group and this newcomer had come for him. He had fought until all his strength was gone. Even if everyone left now, with only his last breath remaining, he would not live much longer. Thus, he showed no alarm at this final arrival. Instead, his whole being exuded the indifference of one who had seen through life and death.
"You damned wolf!" Sensing the dying Old One-Eye's gaze, the young man's eyes flickered as though he had discovered a new continent. He crouched in front of Old One-Eye, rummaged about on his person, and produced a vermilion pill, which he stuffed into Old One-Eye's mouth. The moment the pill entered his mouth, it dissolved into a warm current that spread through his meridians and began healing his injuries.
Old One-Eye, who had already fallen into despair, finally turned back to look at the young man in surprise, his gaze full of bewilderment.
"From the look of you, you've already awakened your intelligence, haven't you? Apart from being unable to speak, you're really no different from an ordinary person, are you?" the young man asked with a smile. "Nod if you understand. If you understand but pretend you don't, I'll nail you to that cliff and let you slowly bleed to death!"
Although he said it with a smile, Old One-Eye shuddered at his words. Looking into those icy eyes, so utterly at odds with the smile, he felt a chill shoot straight up to his skull and hurriedly nodded.
"Good, you understand. I'm not like them. I don't want your inner core,
"Much less your hide, flesh, or blood essence. Your inner core and those other things aren't much use to me. But you have the blood of a Primeval Exotic Beast flowing through you. Though that bloodline is very thin now and your strength is limited, your potential for growth is immense. I happen to need a spirit beast. Are you willing to enter into a Blood Pact with me and serve me?"
Spirit beast? Blood Pact?
Old One-Eye did not know what those things were, but hearing those two terms made him instinctively shrink back, an uncomfortable sensation spreading throughout his body.
Under these circumstances, however, he had no room to resist. The young man was asking, "Do you agree?" but before the words had even faded, he cut his own finger and used his blood as ink to trace an intricate rune on Old One-Eye's forehead. He gave Old One-Eye no opportunity to answer or resist.
As soon as the rune was complete, another drop of fresh blood fell from the young man's fingertip onto it.
Upon contact with the blood, the rune glimmered faintly crimson, then vanished, as though it had seeped into Old One-Eye's forehead. At the same moment, Old One-Eye felt something suddenly burrow into his consciousness. Yet when he tried to grasp it, he could find nothing. Then the young man's voice reached his ears. "Very good. Now stand up!"
Stand up?!
Although the strange pill had eased Old One-Eye's injuries, standing up in his present condition was asking rather too much of him. He was about to refuse when, to his surprise, his body stopped obeying him. Instead, it rose in response to the young man's voice. Waves of excruciating pain assailed his nerves, yet he could not resist.
"Excellent, excellent!" Seeing Old One-Eye stand, the young man looked even more pleased. "I take it you've cultivated this far on instinct alone. With only a thin trace of an Ancient Exotic Beast's bloodline, reaching this level is quite an achievement. But without someone to guide you, advancing any further will be difficult. Since you've become my spirit beast, naturally, I won't treat you poorly. I'll teach you an orthodox Demon Beast Cultivation Method to help you cultivate!"
As though he understood the man's words, Old One-Eye whined twice and walked over to him, his tail wagging incessantly behind him. He looked utterly obedient.
Only then did the young man turn back to the old man, whose body was now curled like a thoroughly cooked prawn, white froth spilling continuously from his mouth.
"Well? That should be about enough, shouldn't it? Are you willing to hand over the cultivation method for that secret technique now?"
The convulsing old man nodded fiercely. By now, he had completely lost control of his body. With the spasms on top of that, even nodding was almost impossible. Anyone who did not look closely might have thought his head was merely jerking along with the rest of him.
"Are you nodding or shaking your head?" The young man's mocking voice reached his ears again. He struggled to open his eyes. That handsome youth now looked to him like a bloodthirsty demon from the Nine Netherworld Prison, terrifying beyond measure.
The saying "They hold the knife and chopping block; I am the fish upon it" must have described his present situation.
He mustered every last scrap of strength and nodded violently, his eyes pleading. He no longer hoped to survive. He only begged for a swift death.
"Ah, there's been quite an improvement since earlier. Honestly, wouldn't it have been better to do this from the start? You could have spared yourself so much suffering. But no, you had to puff up your battered face and play the hero. Did you think being a hero in this world was so easy?"
The young man chuckled and shook his head, then touched the old man's forehead once more. "Now talk!"
The old man gasped for breath. Rather than speaking, he struggled to raise his right hand and pointed at his chest.
The young man narrowed his eyes. With a flick of his hand, he sliced open the old man's clothing, exposing his muscular chest.
"That's a clever method!" Looking at the faint scar on the old man's chest, the young man sneered. He reached out and lightly sliced across it, opening a large, bloody gash. Then, with a tug, he drew out a black scroll that seemed neither silk nor paper.
He opened the scroll and skimmed it. His expression changed drastically, and the smile that had seemed immutable vanished in an instant.
"The Twofold Heaven-Piercing Sword! This isn't a secret technique-it's an arcane art. I actually misjudged it!"
He raised his hand and tucked the scroll into his sleeve. Then, with a gentle sweep of that sleeve, he sent the old man flying dozens of yards. The old man struck a pointed rock, blood erupting from his mouth. He crashed heavily to the ground, bounced once, and lay silent forever.
Without sparing him a glance, the young man swept his sleeves and rose. Once again, his figure drifted away on the wind like a falling leaf, leaving only a ground strewn with corpses and wreckage.
Had Goudanzi been here to witness everything that had just happened, his jaw would surely have dropped in shock. The method the young man had used to subdue Old One-Eye made one thing unmistakably clear: this was not the martial arts world he had originally imagined-or at least, not a purely martial arts world.
And what happened next also proved that point.
(We charged straight up to fifth place on the new-book rankings-beautiful! Here's the third update. Little Whale isn't asking for much, just to hold first place among the new xianxia novels this week. Clicks, bookmarks, recommendations-I'm counting on you all!!)
Before you continue