An old man with a pigeon chest and a hunched back appeared before them. Hu Xiaotian had once used Changing Appearance and Tendon and Bone Alteration to assume a similar form, but even at his ugliest, he had not come within a hair of the man before him.
Despite his pigeon chest and hunched back, the old man still stood around eight feet tall. Fleshy growths covered his face, twisting his features into something hideous and terrifying. He wore a pair of wooden clogs; the heavy, dragging footsteps they had heard earlier had come from him.
The old man held a sword tucked beneath his left arm. It was twice the size of an ordinary iron sword.
The Master of Mei Manor's voice sounded again. "His name is Sword Slave. He was once a master swordsman, too. Unfortunately, he became obsessed with the sword and was ultimately dragged down by it, becoming its slave instead. His swordsmanship may be superb, but he is nothing more than a walking corpse, an empty shell. Qin Yutong, if you refuse to obey me, how about I turn your sweetheart into something like him?" Her voice was gentle and lilting, yet her words were vicious in the extreme. Qin Yutong's sweetheart plainly meant Hu Xiaotian, but he had no time to snap back: the hunched old man's eyes were fixed straight on him.
The Master of Mei Manor had been right about one thing: this old man was nothing more than a walking corpse, an empty shell.
Qin Yutong warned Hu Xiaotian, "Don't look at him."
Hu Xiaotian smiled bitterly to himself. It was not that he was looking at Sword Slave; Sword Slave had his eyes fixed on him. Even Hu Xiaotian could not understand why he attracted so much of Sword Slave's