Outside the milk tea shop, Gao Shang stared coldly at the burly man and slowly raised his right hand, which gripped the hammer's handle.
Veins bulged along the burly man's arms as he desperately tried to control his Martial Soul.
Yet Gao Shang still lifted his hands little by little.
Now the burly man could no longer worry about whether Gao Shang had one Soul Ring or three. That strength alone meant he was no match for him on his own.
But years of licking blood off a blade's edge had also bred a ruthless streak in his bones.
Seeing that there was no longer any hope of settling this peacefully, he immediately shouted behind him:
"Hong Hua, attack with me!"
The woman behind him had already been planning to run.
But seeing the burly man restrained by Gao Shang, she hesitated briefly before finally gritting her teeth and charging forward.
Light flashed in the woman's left hand, and a dagger engraved with a rose appeared in her palm.
At the same time, two Soul Rings rose beneath her feet, one white and one yellow.
"Second Soul Skill, Thorn of Thorns!"
She struck extremely quickly, thrusting the dagger straight at Gao Shang's shoulder.
"First Soul Skill, Weight Increase!"
The burly man's face lit up with delight when he saw Hong Hua attack.
His first Soul Ring lit up, and the giant hammer in his hands abruptly increased in both weight and size.
Gao Shang was only six, and his palms were small to begin with. As the hammer's handle suddenly thickened, it slipped out of his grasp.
The giant hammer fell back into the burly man's hands. Without the slightest hesitation, he lit up his second Soul Ring right after and swung the giant hammer down at Gao Shang's head.
"Second Soul Skill, Mighty Hammer Strike!"
The giant hammer descended with a heavy rush of wind.
At the same time, Hong Hua had already reached Gao Shang's side, her dagger less than a meter from his shoulder.
Facing the pair's well-coordinated strike, Gao Shang showed not the slightest panic. The Sharingan in his eyes spun rapidly.
He turned his head to glance at Hong Hua, and his blood-red eyes met hers squarely.
Hong Hua's movements paused for an almost imperceptible instant.
The next moment, the dagger in her hand changed direction, plunging straight toward the burly man's flank.
At the same time, Gao Shang thrust both palms upward.
Bang!
Hammer met palms.
Tremendous force pressed down through his arms. Gao Shang's arms bent slightly, and the bluestone paving beneath his feet could not withstand it, splitting into a web of cracks.
But in the end, he caught the blow.
Despite his attack being blocked, the burly man showed no disappointment. In his eyes, with both hands holding up the giant hammer, Gao Shang had no strength left to dodge the attack from the other side.
As long as Hong Hua succeeded, this battle would be over.
At that thought, a smile had even begun to appear on his face.
But before that smile could fully form, his expression abruptly froze.
"Shhk!"
The dagger plunged into his flank, sinking almost to the hilt. Purplish-black blood flowed from the wound, quickly soaking his clothes.
The burly man looked down in disbelief.
"Hong Hua, you..."
The burly man tried to say more, but the woman's second Soul Skill was clearly poisonous. His vision darkened, and strength drained from his entire body.
Meanwhile, Gao Shang sensed the force bearing down through the giant hammer abruptly weaken and immediately seized the opportunity, pushing the hammer aside with one hand.
Then he stepped forward, reached Hong Hua, and drove a fist into her abdomen.
"Pfft!"
Struck by Gao Shang's full-force punch, Hong Hua spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot. Her body flew backward and slammed heavily into the ground four or five meters away.
She had regained her senses by the time she landed, but she only managed one terrified glance at Gao Shang before her head lolled to the side the next second and she lost consciousness completely.
The burly man was faring no better. The additional damage from the dagger being pulled out had doubled the size of the wound in his abdomen.
Only by pressing one hand over the wound and supporting himself on the giant hammer with the other did he keep from collapsing on the spot.
Ignoring the unconscious woman, Gao Shang turned to look at the burly man, who was still struggling to remain upright.
His blood-red eyes were utterly cold.
"Talk."
"Who sent you?"
The pair's earlier behavior and words had made it seem as though they had come for the milk tea shop and its recipe.
But such a clumsy excuse might fool Sun Meng.
Gao Shang did not believe a single word.
Milk tea had never required particularly advanced skills to make.
Over the past three years, people in Nuoding City had long since figured out his recipe, and plenty had even opened shops elsewhere.
More importantly, when the burly man first saw him, he had instinctively started to say "level-one Soul Power" without even looking at his Soul Rings.
That meant the man had known who he was all along.
The farce earlier had merely been a cover. What they truly wanted was definitely not just the milk tea recipe.
Clutching the wound at his waist, the burly man gritted his teeth and said:
"What do you mean? Nobody sent us!"
"We just came to demand justice. What's wrong with that?"
He stuck firmly to his story because he knew very well that, although he had attacked first, he had not actually hurt anyone.
Even if this went to Spirit Hall or the city lord's manor, at most he would have to pay some compensation.
But if he revealed his employer, that would change the nature of the matter.
Seeing the man's mouth remain stubborn even as a dead duck's, Gao Shang did not get angry. He slowly shifted his gaze toward the unconscious Hong Hua in the distance.
"That woman's called Hong Hua, right?"
"You said she was your wife?"
The burly man kept his head lowered and did not answer.
Gao Shang did not mind. Sometimes, silence was an answer in itself.
"She really is devoted to you."
"She didn't even hesitate when she charged over just now."
Gao Shang paused, his tone as calm as though he were making small talk.
"By the way, do you know why she attacked you?"
The burly man trembled slightly, but still did not raise his head.
Gao Shang raised an eyebrow. Were mercenaries on the Douluo Continent all this professional?
Not only did they understand strategy and refuse to sell out their teammates, they wouldn't reveal information about their employers either.
I've run into a clear stream in the mercenary world.
Still, the most important thing right now was to find out who was behind this.
Gao Shang took a step forward and lowered his voice a little, making sure the distant crowd could not hear him clearly.
"Actually, I was controlling her just now."
"And if I can control her, naturally, I can control you too."
The burly man jerked his head up.
Gao Shang looked at him, his tone still calm.
"Tell me, what would happen if I made you kill her with your own hands?"
As those words fell, the burly man's pupils abruptly constricted.
He could not understand why a six-year-old child could say something so evil with such composure.
Yet Gao Shang continued as though he had not seen his reaction:
"From the look on your face, you seem quite tempted."
"Shall I do it now, then?"
"No!"
Fear finally broke through the burly man's last psychological defenses, and he all but roared the word.
Hong Hua was not actually his wife. The two were merely posing as a married couple for this mission.
But he did have feelings for Hong Hua, and she had not abandoned him just now, either. That was a rare thing among mercenaries.
He did not dare imagine what the rest of his life would become if he killed her with his own hands.
So he gave in.
"It was Zhou Qi!"
"Zhou Qi, the owner of the Zhou Family Grand Pharmacy!"