"So even keeping a troop of monkeys means you lot have to come looking for trouble?"
A figure appeared out of thin air amid the roiling blood mist, silent as a ghost, and addressed Su Qing in a hostile tone.
Hearing the voice behind him, Su Qing instantly broke into a cold sweat at the back of his head. He whipped around, every alarm in his mind drawn taut.
A blood-red robe billowed in the wind. The delicate face above it was androgynous, and an Adam's apple was faintly visible on the slender, snow-white neck.
Su Qing grew even more wary.
He had seen this man's portrait on the Bounty Ranking.
An Zuo, thirty-fourth on the Bounty Ranking, mid-stage Transformation Realm.
"Those wretched monkeys of yours ate the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy's heavenly materials and earthly treasures. Naturally, they have to pay with their lives."
Su Qing watched An Zuo warily, but his tongue did not relent as he shot back coldly.
"Heh."
Rather than getting angry, the man laughed. He looked at Su Qing with amusement and said,
"If I wasn't mistaken, those people you just fed alive to the monkeys were students of your Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy, weren't they?"
"You keep spouting the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy's name, yet you do things like that. You're hardly a good person yourself!"
Su Qing scoffed.
"So what if I'm good? So what if I'm not? What the hell does it have to do with you?"
Still unoffended, An Zuo continued with a smile on his delicate face.
"Doesn't someone like you feel shackled in the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy? You have so much to worry about just to kill someone."
"Come. Join us, and we can live free together."
"If you agree, I'll offer you a sincere invitation on