A Slap in Your Face!

The white-robed youth waved his folding fan, the disgust in his eyes almost taking tangible form.

His name was Zi Chen, a direct descendant of a major subordinate clan within the Purple Mountain Marquis's domain. Accustomed to fine clothes and lavish meals, he only ever encountered cultivators with the bearing of immortals. When had he ever seen a mud-footed bumpkin who looked as though he had smeared charcoal all over himself?

"Think being pale makes you special?"

Shi Hou spoke up. "A pale face won't put food on the table. In the Great Wilderness, pale faces die fast. Pretty boy, did you just say you wanted me as your fire-tending servant?"

Zi Chen sneered, snapped his folding fan shut, and pointed at Shi Hou's black pot. "For a savage like you, serving in a great clan's domain would be a blessing. Put down the pot, and I might consider forgiving your insolence toward me."

The experts from the other major factions around them said nothing.

They were waiting.

There was something strange about Stone Village's willow tree and this dark-skinned brat. They might as well let Zi Chen test the waters.

Shi Hou split his lips in a grin, revealing two rows of gleaming white teeth. He crouched before the treasures beneath the pig's rump. "These stakes are still too small. Suanni is a primordial remnant and can yield a primordial treasure bone. This junk you've brought out doesn't measure up."

The Thunder Clan elder's hooked nose twitched. "Boy, your appetite is too big. Careful you don't gorge yourself to death."

"I won't. I've got a good set of teeth."

Shi Hou stood and pointed at Zi Chen. "Since you're so pale, you must have plenty of good things on you. Let's play for bigger stakes. Little One won't fight. I'll pick three people from the village, best two out of three. If we lose, Suanni and this pot are yours. If you lose, you leave every treasure pouch you're carrying."

His words sent an uproar through Stone Village's side.

"Skinny Monkey, stop fooling around!"

Alarmed, Shi Linhu strode forward.

He knew that although Ermeng and Dazhuang had grown stronger, there was still a gap between them and the young talents these great clans had poured resources into nurturing.

Shi Yunfeng reached out to stop Shi Linhu.

The old chief fixed his clear eyes on Shi Hou and remained silent for three seconds.

In the boy's eyes, he saw that familiar, dangerous confidence.

It was the look Shi Hou only wore when he was planning to "fleece someone."

"Let him be," the old chief said.

Zi Chen laughed in anger.

An elder behind him was about to object, but Zi Chen slapped his folding fan against his palm first.

"Fine! You said it yourself-that little brat won't fight." Zi Chen pointed at Shi Hao.

As far as he was concerned, Stone Village's only threat was Little One, who had mastered a lightning Treasure Art.

What did the rest of these wild children amount to?

Zi Chen reached into his robes and took out a crystal-clear bottle containing three scarlet pills. "Blood Phoenix Pills. They can keep you alive in a critical moment."

Seeing this, the Golden Wolf Tribe and Thunder Clan raised their stakes as well. Radiantly gleaming spirit herbs and ores were tossed onto the ground, piling into a small hill.

Shi Hou bent down, swept everything together, and stuffed it beneath Kang's rump. The black pig was clever enough to snort twice at the opposing factions, blue smoke puffing from his two large nostrils in a blatant provocation.

"Ermeng, Dazhuang, Snotty. Come here," Shi Hou called without turning his head.

Three children clad in beast hides ran out. Dazhuang was the burliest, Ermeng had the fiercest eyes, and Snotty kept sucking his snot back in as he ran.

The people behind Zi Chen burst into contemptuous laughter.

"For the first match, I choose that lump of charcoal."

Zi Chen pointed at Shi Hou, his tone icy. "I'll peel off that black skin myself and see what he's really made of underneath."

Zi Chen was confident. He had already entered the Late Blood Moving Realm and mastered the Purple Cloud Art of the Purple Mountain Marquis's lineage. In a village tucked away in these desolate mountains, aside from the odd freak, everyone else was just a slightly sturdier target.

Shi Hou rolled his neck. He walked up to the large pot and crouched down.

He reached out and rubbed his hand hard across its pitch-black bottom.

"Skinny Monkey."

The old chief, Shi Yunfeng, came up beside Shi Hou and lowered his voice. "Hold back a little. This youth has powerful backing. Crippling him is fine, but don't kill him. If someone really dies at our village entrance, Stone Village can't weather the Purple Mountain Marquis's wrath yet."

Shi Hou nodded without a word.

He turned and took a step.

The ground shuddered violently.

A pit half a meter deep instantly burst open where Shi Hou had been standing.

Shi Hou had been more than ten meters from Zi Chen, but his body became a blur. Before the white-robed youth could even open his folding fan to unleash a Treasure Art, Shi Hou was already right against his chest.

Zi Chen's pupils contracted sharply as a black mountain hurtling toward him rapidly filled his vision.

Shi Hou raised his soot-smeared right hand.

He struggled to control his strength. His blood qi value had already exceeded five hundred and fifty thousand, and one punch could blast a mountaintop apart. Right now, however, he used only a tenth of his strength-roughly fifty thousand jin.

For someone in the ordinary blood moving realm, that strength was enough to bring despair.

Smack!

An exquisitely crisp slap rang out.

Zi Chen's pale face instantly contorted. Like a kite with its string cut, he spun sideways three and a half times in midair before crashing heavily to the ground.

He did not even have time to scream before passing out.

Shi Hou did not stop. Before Zi Chen landed, he swept his hand across the youth's face.

Thick swaths of soot smeared firmly over Zi Chen's pale face. The formerly handsome youth instantly acquired the same "charcoal face" as Shi Hou.

Then Shi Hou's hands flashed like lightning.

Before everyone's eyes, he stripped Zi Chen clean of the treasure pouch at his waist, the jade pendant inside his robes, and the folding fan covered in runes.

Finally, Shi Hou wiped his hands on the unconscious youth's clothes and shook his head in disdain.

"You're not even an ingredient. Why insist on coming right up to me?"

Shi Hou turned and walked back with an armful of spoils.

On Stone Village's side, the men froze at first, then erupted in cheers like a tsunami.

"Skinny Monkey! Nicely done!" Shi Linhu swung his Broadsword with a whistling rush.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the opposing factions looked so livid their faces seemed ready to drip water. One move. Zi Chen had not even managed to release a single rune before being swatted unconscious like a fly.

The result was truly painful to look at.

"Chen'er!"

The elder from the Purple Mountain Marquis's household rushed forward and helped Zi Chen up.

At the sight of that gleaming black face, the elder trembled with rage. "You... how dare you humiliate him!"

Shi Hou tucked the stolen folding fan into his belt and ignored him.

He looked around. "We won the first round. Two more to go. You pick the fighters."

The Thunder Clan elder exchanged a glance with the burly man from the Golden Wolf Tribe. They refused to believe Stone Village had another monster like this. Though the strength Shi Hou had displayed was terrifying, there had not been the slightest fluctuation from a Treasure Art.

As they saw it, they still had a chance.

"Next, we choose the one with the runny nose." The Thunder Clan elder gritted his teeth and pointed at Snotty.

In his eyes, this child whose nose was still running looked like someone brought in merely to make up the numbers.

Shi Hou patted Snotty's shoulder. "Go on. Unleash all the strength you've built up lately. No need to save any."

Snotty sucked his snot back in hard and gave an honest, simple smile.