Take a step back? I've already left Earth!

Qian Renxue looked around, her gaze finally settling on the burly man seated in a grand armchair in the middle of the courtyard.

He was bald, with a brutish face and blood-red flood dragon tattoos on both hands. His Martial Soul was the Bloodthirsty Flood Dragon.

Li Cang looked at Qian Renxue, startled at first, then smiled. "I know you. You're that blonde girl who won fifty matches in ten days?"

He stood and rolled his neck, his joints cracking. "What brings you to my Blood Hand Gang?"

The next instant, Qian Renxue's body paused slightly. Cheng Ran had taken over.

Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) curled his lips. "Nothing much. Just wanted to borrow that head on your shoulders."

"You're asking for death!" Li Cang's face darkened. He brought his palms together, and Soul Power condensed into a pair of blood-red boxing gloves.

Those were his trump cards: a ten-thousand-year Left Arm Soul Bone and a ten-thousand-year right arm bone, from a pair of ten-thousand-year Golden Vajra Fist Emperor Kangaroo Beasts.

Male and female shared a den, a natural pair that lived and died together.

When used together, these two Soul Bones gave his punches the force of gales that could split stone, amplifying his strength to a terrifying degree.

These Soul Bones were what had earned Li Cang forty-eight victories in Slaughter City.

Li Cang attacked first. His fists crossed, and blood-red gales bore down with the force of his punches.

The compressed air cracked incessantly. Wherever the gale swept past, the stone paving fractured inch by inch.

Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) did not meet it head-on. With a step of Angel Saint Step, his figure drifted half a step backward like willow fluff, the force of the punch brushing past his clothes.

At the same time, the Angel Blade spun in his palm, its tip thrusting toward Li Cang's wrist.

Clang!

The clash of metal rang out.

Li Cang shook his right arm, a blood-red halo rising over it, and forcibly deflected the Angel Blade.

He gave a savage grin. His left fist followed close behind, sweeping across with an even stronger gale.

Golden light flashed in Cheng Ran's (Qian Renxue's) eyes as Angel Holy Eyes activated.

The punch's trajectory instantly slowed in her eyes, exposing an opening.

The Angel Blade slashed horizontally, straight for his throat.

Li Cang was an experienced fighter. At that moment of life and death, he forced his head back and retreated, leaving the blade's tip to cut only a bloody gash across his chin.

He stumbled back several steps and touched the blood on his chin, his expression changing completely. "You..."

"You what?" Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) flicked the blood off the blade. "You Bosses always have such long opening speeches, such slow recovery, and you love posing, too."

Li Cang roared and thrust both fists out at once. Blood Vajra Aura roared forth like two blood-red flood dragons.

He put his full strength into the strike. The gale swept up loose stones in the courtyard, and its shock waves drove many of the weaker gang members back several steps, their faces deathly pale.

Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) charged toward the two streams of Blood Vajra Aura, the Angel Blade tracing an arc of light before him.

Soul Power compressed to its limit inside his body, all of it pouring into a single blade.

One slash cut through the Blood Vajra Aura. The blade's tip swept across Li Cang's throat, where a line of blood silently appeared before gushing forth.

Li Cang clutched his throat and staggered backward, then dropped to his knees and stopped moving.

The courtyard fell silent for a moment.

Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) stood amid the piled corpses, the Angel Blade spinning swiftly as blood sprayed and white light rose.

Moments later, corpses covered the courtyard.

Not one of the thirty-odd desperadoes survived. White light rose one after another, pouring into the body like a swarm of fireflies.

As Qian Renxue's body shuddered, Cheng Ran had already withdrawn. "That felt great! One gang's worth of experience points equals five arena matches!"

Qian Renxue looked toward the dark street. "Go back and tell your bosses: this street and this house belong to Qian now."

Several presences quietly withdrew into the darkness.

Cheng Ran said, "Xiao Xue, search the bodies! Killing mobs without collecting the drops takes away half the fun."

Qian Renxue began searching the corpses, putting the valuables into her Storage Soul Tool.

When she returned to the black market carrying Li Cang's head, several customers were looking around outside the stone chamber.

They saw the bloody head in Qian Renxue's hand, then looked at her exquisitely beautiful face. All of them froze for a moment before silently stepping half a pace back to clear a path for her.

Qian Renxue set the head on the stone counter. "Here's the merchandise you wanted."

The Masked Woman stepped forward trembling, tears sliding down the edges of her veil. Only after a long while did she set down the head and push the dark purple wooden box toward Qian Renxue. "The Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng is yours."

Qian Renxue took the wooden box, put it into her Storage Soul Tool, and turned to leave the black market.

Just after she left the black market and was walking along a street in the Inner City, a call suddenly came from behind.

"Miss, please wait!"

Qian Renxue turned and saw the Masked Woman from earlier. She hurried over and said earnestly, "Miss, thank you. My name is Liu Qingyi, and I come from Medicine King Valley in the Heaven Dou Empire. Back then, Li Cang broke into Medicine King Valley. Not only did he steal precious medicinal ingredients, he also smashed every bone in my husband's body while he was still alive."

"I came to Slaughter City of my own accord, solely for revenge." She raised her head and looked at Qian Renxue. "Now that I've finally avenged him, if you don't mind, I'm willing to follow you for the rest of my life, as your slave or servant, with absolute loyalty."

Qian Renxue did not answer.

Cheng Ran's voice rang out. "Xiao Xue, you can't trust what people in Slaughter City say. First, have her take off her face covering and black robe."

Qian Renxue made the request exactly as he had said.

Under the lamplight, that face gave Cheng Ran goosebumps. Ugly. She was truly hideous!

When looking at a girl, look at her eyes first. If she wasn't looking at you, look at her legs next. Looking down, those were rather acceptable.

Her figure was shapely, and the tight clothing beneath her black robe accentuated her curves. Her waist was slender as a willow, yet she was not lacking in the slightest where she ought to be full.

Cheng Ran said, "She's a shrimp-head woman. Too ugly. Rejected."

Qian Renxue said, "A turnoff woman?"

Cheng Ran said, "In the words of that cursed Little Red Sweet Potato, she's edible once you remove the head."

Qian Renxue said, "..."

Qian Renxue fell silent for a moment. When she spoke, her tone was calm but firm. "Sorry, I refuse."

The smile froze on Liu Qingyi's face, and a fleeting trace of malice flashed in her eyes.

"Miss, what do you mean by that?" Her voice remained gentle. "I, Liu Qingyi, swear in the names of Medicine King Valley's past patriarchs that I will follow your every command for the rest of my life. Don't you believe me?"

"I don't need followers." Qian Renxue turned to leave.

Liu Qingyi chased after her, speaking in an aggrieved tone as though she had been insulted. "What right do you have to refuse me? My husband died, my son died, and I've spent three years scraping by all alone in Slaughter City as a woman. I finally found someone who could avenge me. I'm grateful to you from the bottom of my heart and want to repay you, yet you treat me like this?"

Qian Renxue did not look back and kept walking.

Liu Qingyi's voice grew increasingly frantic, until she finally stepped directly into Qian Renxue's path. "Setting the facts aside, don't you have even the slightest bit of compassion?"

Qian Renxue stopped. Her body shuddered as Cheng Ran took control.

Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) turned around.

Liu Qingyi was still talking. "Can't you take pity on how much I've suffered? Even taking me in for a while would do. Take a step back-even if I've hidden something, can't you understand my difficulties? I'm a woman who's lost her husband and son. Do you think I've had it easy?"

Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) spoke. "I fucking hate it when people say that."

Liu Qingyi froze. "What?"

The Angel Blade formed in his palm, and a flash of light swept past.

Liu Qingyi's expression froze on her face. She looked down at her chest, where a bloody hole had appeared.

"You..."

Her mouth opened, but no sound came out.

Her legs gave way, and she toppled backward, landing faceup on the ground.

Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) withdrew the Angel Blade and stood beside her, looking down at her from above. "I can't take another step back. I've already backed clear off Earth, and you still want me to back down? Fuck!"