"You came here with them, and you never split up. How come you haven't gone mad?"
"Why are you asking that? A lunatic like you can actually think about things like that?" The Man in Brocade was utterly disdainful and had no desire to entertain him.
"Are you an idiot? I'm crazy, not stupid," Ye Wuyou replied angrily.
The words from Ye Wuyou's mouth darkened the Man in Brocade's eyes. He was about to teach him a lesson when he suddenly froze.
Right, why am I the only one who's fine?
Am I exceptionally gifted?
Am I a child of fortune?
The Man in Brocade's expression flickered darkly for a moment, but after a while, he relaxed.
Hmph. I must be unaffected because I'm a chosen one, one in ten thousand. Now that I've found a trace of the Sect Treasure, how could you lot possibly compare to me?
Ye Wuyou wasn't looking at him. He merely stared at the sky outside the window and muttered something.
"The wolf's here."
A wolf? What wolf?
The Man in Brocade was about to ask what he meant when a clear ringing suddenly reached his ears.
Jingle, jingle...
The ringing seemed to etch itself directly into his brain.
"This is..." The Man in Brocade was just about to speak when his gaze stopped, and his expression immediately turned blank.
His face went deathly pale in an instant. His chest, which had still been rising and falling, grew still. Even his breathing stopped.
He was like a dead man.
But perhaps... he had already been dead to begin with.
Then the Man in Brocade moved.
His eyes, now nothing but a ghastly white, fixed on Ye Wuyou as wisps of vital breath rose around him.
The oppressive aura of a Third Realm cultivator surged through the little room in an instant.
But a moment later, his body twisted at the waist, making creaking sounds like flesh grinding against bone and sinew.
Bang.
Like a bowstring snapping, the Man in Brocade's body spun a full three hundred and sixty degrees, his entire upper body wrenched around by an immense force.
The Third Realm cultivator lay on the floor, as silent as a dead dog.
A giant, spectral-blue hand, invisible to the naked eye, slowly withdrew from his body before slipping back inside Ye Wuyou, who sat dazed on the bed.
Fear showed in Ye Wuyou's eyes as he murmured a few words.
"I killed someone. I killed someone."
His body, however, dutifully walked over to the Man in Brocade's corpse. Wailing in anguish, he began expertly searching the dead man.
"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, boo-hoo. I didn't want to kill you either. You're the only one in this whole village who doesn't think I'm crazy... but you were so vicious. One look at you, and I knew you were going to slaughter me." Ye Wuyou cried as he searched.
"Please don't mind. I didn't want to do this either, but I can't control my hands. Why is this habit etched into my mind? Why am I searching your corpse...?"
Ye Wuyou didn't understand why he had to kill people and loot their bodies.
But he felt that this was something he simply had to do, as natural as eating and drinking.
"Seriously, you're dressed so richly, so why are you so broke? Boo-hoo." Ye Wuyou was heartbroken, utterly devastated.
A moment later, having found nothing on him, Ye Wuyou stood up sorrowfully. Spotting the jade pendant at the man's waist, he snatched it off.
This jade pendant is all there is.
Ye Wuyou glanced around, then opened the drawer in the table and tossed the jade pendant inside.
"Oh, hehe, another one. This jade pendant must be a treasure."
Then he turned and crouched down, laboriously dragging the Man in Brocade's corpse out of the house.
Ye Wuyou wasn't worried about being seen.
At this hour, everyone else was sleeping like the dead. Nothing could wake them.
He had to dispose of the corpse. He couldn't let anyone know he had killed someone.
Gusts of evening wind buffeted the little house's half-open door, making it creak eerily.
Inside the house, the open drawer held the jade pendant Ye Wuyou had just tossed in.
But now, there was no telling which one he had just added.
Seven identical jade pendants lay inside the drawer.
"Today is Christmas Eve!"
Ye Wuyou stood at the Eastern Village Entrance, raising his arms and shouting as though he were announcing something momentous.
Everyone else had long since grown used to it and paid him no attention at all.
Bai Lu came out of the house opposite, carrying a basin of clothes. The moment she stepped outside, she saw Ye Wuyou standing in the middle of the road.
She eyed him warily. Seeing that he was merely standing there acting mad, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Bai Lu reached behind herself and rubbed the spot that was still a little bruised and sore.
A hint of embarrassment and anger crossed her face. After a moment's thought, she turned and pressed herself against the wall, keeping only her front toward him as she edged away sideways.
Ye Wuyou crouched on the ground, watching Bai Lu's retreating figure thoughtfully.
"One, two, three... I finally got a clear look. Three tails."
"Huh, the tails are gone again. Were my eyes playing tricks on me?"
Ye Wuyou rubbed his eyes, then sank into contemplation.
He was pondering a very important question.
"Why would a person have tails?"
"Three tails growing behind her backside. How do they grow?"
"Do they grow out of the skin? Or are they stuck into somewhere?"
Ye Wuyou couldn't make heads or tails of it. He rubbed his head, then looked up at the sky.
"Will that rich bumpkin in brocade come today? He never remembers me... but if he doesn't come, who'll keep me company?"
Having stayed up all night, Ye Wuyou finally couldn't hold out any longer. He fell fast asleep in the middle of the road at the Eastern Village Entrance.
Ye Wuyou had no idea how long he had slept.
But the arguing and furious shouts around him woke him up.
"Huh? What happened?" Ye Wuyou rubbed his eyes and got up from the ground.
Not far away, the Man in Brocade had Tu Su in his grip and was questioning him with a vicious look in his eyes.
The two had clearly gotten into an argument.
"Tu Su, fucking snap out of it! Raising chickens and ducks every day-do you really think you're a villager?"
"You... what are you talking about? I don't know you."
Held in the other man's grip, Tu Su looked frightened and furious. He didn't know this man at all.
But the man was astonishingly strong. Even his stare alone made Tu Su feel as though he couldn't breathe.
"You don't know me? Hahaha, do you know I've been watching you lot for three days?"
"If you really were just living as a villager without noticing anything, fine. But why, why..."
"Would you take a chick as your bound spirit beast? Are you a pig?"
The Man in Brocade roared, then kicked Tu Su flying.
Tu Su let out a muffled groan and collapsed unconscious on the ground.
The Man in Brocade snorted angrily. He simply couldn't understand it. This man had once been his teammate, someone with grand ambitions.
And now he had chosen a chick as his bound spirit beast. Wasn't that complete bullshit?
That was why he, who had been watching in secret, finally couldn't help stepping out.
"Who are you? How dare you run wild in our village!"
A furious shout came from behind him. The burly Xu Fang threw a punch, sending the Man in Brocade flying several meters before he even had time to turn around.
"Hehe... a Second Realm body cultivator, are you? Even without divine abilities, your body alone is this strong. Seems I underestimated you."
The Man in Brocade wiped the corner of his mouth, then sneered.
Without any visible movement from him, Xu Fang was already lifted off the ground and hurled straight into a nearby house.
The Man in Brocade, who had caused all this, now clutched his head with both hands, his eyes savage.
"I can't take it. I can't take it anymore! This village is driving me insane!"
"I've already made my move anyway. At worst, I'll slaughter this village all over again. Let's see what's so uncanny about it!"
Before you continue