The Woman and the Fly!

"A Sheng!"

Lunba, his belly bulging and a pair of brown-tinted sunglasses on his face, called out to Cheng Sheng as he was getting ready to pack up and leave. Smiling, he placed a stack of banknotes in Cheng Sheng's hand.

"Your appearance fee for today. Oh, right, can I discuss something else with you?"

Cheng Sheng roughly counted the money in his hand and nodded politely. "Go ahead."

Lunba smiled. "Look, you're getting more and more popular, and a lot of spectators love watching you. Could you consider changing your look again?"

"Again?"

Cheng Sheng couldn't help frowning.

At Lunba's request, he wore a different style of school uniform every time he stepped into the ring, playing up the contrast between youthful innocence and violence.

He'd already found it embarrassing enough, and now Lunba wanted him to change his look again.

"Change into what?"

For the sake of the money in his hand, Cheng Sheng patiently asked.

Lunba chuckled, leaned close to his ear, and whispered a few words.

But before Lunba could finish, Cheng Sheng's expression changed drastically.

"Fuck!"

Cheng Sheng exploded, pointing straight at Lunba's nose as he cursed, "Lun X Ba, do you think yours is the only underground boxing ring in Qingsha City?

"Believe it or not, I'll stop coming here tomorrow!"

Seeing him lose his temper, Lunba hurriedly pressed his palms together and apologized over and over. "Don't, don't! It was just a little suggestion. If you don't want to, forget I said anything..."

Cheng Sheng couldn't be bothered listening. He forcefully shook off Lunba's hand and strode out with a dark expression.

It was no wonder he was so angry. Lunba had just suggested that he wear a sailor uniform for his next match-a girl's sailor uniform!

Perhaps Lunba thought the spectators were getting tired of watching him tear up school uniforms and wanted something even more explosive and stimulating to satisfy some spectators' perverted tastes.

That said, Cheng Sheng's skin was already considered fair among native Nantu people, and his features were rather androgynous.

After four sacrifices, his "Intermediary Demon" in the Abyss had given him quite a bit of extra charm. As a result, although he wasn't particularly handsome now, he had a gloomy, wicked allure that most people lacked.

It was no wonder Lunba had come up with the idea of having him "cross-dress in the ring."

Cheng Sheng walked out of Mamba with his small bag. As someone who could already be considered a core disciple of the Black Killing Style, he wasn't afraid of offending Lunba at all.

Only someone as naturally good-tempered as Sulai would be polite to that greasy fat bastard Lunba. Cheng Sheng had seen how Lunba behaved in front of Songpa, as meek as a lapdog.

After another two matches, I should have saved enough to buy an elephant. It's about time I found an opportunity to pay Senior Brother Nalong, who manages the elephant grounds, a visit...

Cheng Sheng walked toward the minibus stop across the road, silently thinking to himself.

His talent really was ordinary. After Nurturing Sha for so long, apart from making fairly smooth progress with the Six Great Forms of Black Kill, his cultivation of the secret arts and his Qi and blood was a complete mess!

At this rate, the Body Sha Realm felt impossibly distant.

So he wanted to carry out the Five Sacrifices as soon as possible. Afterward, he could consider going to the Strange Mist zone to test the strength of ordinary Black Tide creatures...

Before he knew it, Cheng Sheng had reached the minibus stop.

At this hour, the stop was usually deserted, and Cheng Sheng was almost always the only one waiting for the last bus.

But today, someone else was waiting with him.

It was a shabby-looking middle-aged woman who looked like a banana farmer delivering goods to the city.

Cheng Sheng glanced at her but said nothing. They stood on opposite sides of the stop, silently waiting for the minibus.

About ten minutes later, the minibus arrived.

There were few people on board. After buying his ticket, Cheng Sheng picked a window seat in the last row.

The shabby woman who had waited with Cheng Sheng also got on. She bought a ticket to the terminal stop, walked down the aisle to the very back, and plopped down beside him.

"Hm?!"

Cheng Sheng was somewhat surprised. He glanced at the empty minibus, then at the shabby woman sitting right next to him. He couldn't understand why, with so many empty seats on the bus, she had chosen to sit beside him.

Cheng Sheng frowned slightly, feeling a little uncomfortable.

But the woman sat quietly beside him with her head lowered, and he felt awkward getting up to change seats immediately. That would make his distaste far too obvious.

Forget it. I'm getting off in a few stops anyway.

Cheng Sheng simply turned his head toward the window and stopped deliberately thinking about the woman sitting beside him.

At first, everything seemed normal.

Gradually, Cheng Sheng began to sense that something was wrong...

"Stop the bus!"

Screech!

The slowly moving minibus slammed to a halt, and Cheng Sheng shot to his feet in the last row.

"This is my stop. I'm getting off here!"

With a calm expression, he shoved aside the woman blocking his way out. Without looking at her, he walked straight to the door and ran off as soon as it opened...

"Phew..."

Standing by the roadside where he had made his unexpected stop, Cheng Sheng watched the minibus drive farther away and breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Crocodile Breath..."

Cheng Sheng's expression grew slightly grave, his eyes flickering.

For some time now, he had been practicing Crocodile Breath, one of the Black Killing Style Secret Arts. It was a unique breathing method that imitated a crocodile and was also the core that ran through the entire martial path of the Black Killing Style.

And just now, on the bus, he had accidentally noticed that the strange, shabby woman sitting beside him breathed at a rhythm and frequency completely different from those of a normal person.

...She was using a school's breathing method too, and she's practiced that unique breathing habit until it has sunk into her bones and become almost instinctive...

Only a powerful fighting expert could do that. Someone like that had sat down beside him for no apparent reason. Even thinking with his heel, he knew something had to be seriously wrong.

She was probably sent by Zhou Wenye again. She might even be at the Body Sha Realm...

Cheng Sheng recalled some of the shabby woman's subtle movements and felt they were somewhat similar to the impression Songpa gave him.

A Body Sha boxer!

Luckily, she didn't follow me off right away... I still have a chance to run, or call someone from the boxing gym.

Cheng Sheng watched until the minibus in the distance had completely disappeared from sight. Just as he was about to leave, a soft voice sounded behind him.

"You're very clever, and very cautious..."

"?!"

Cheng Sheng's body went taut in an instant.

He turned around bit by bit, and soon the woman's figure appeared plainly in his field of vision.

The woman was standing five or six meters away, looking at him with an indifferent expression. Her shabby clothes gave Cheng Sheng an entirely different impression now.

"Ruan... clan... Killer Bee?"

Cheng Sheng forced out the words.

Hearing him, the woman opposite him slowly curled her lips upward.

Ruan Wen casually studied the youth in front of her.

He really was a fine fighting prospect: clever, cautious, decisive, bold... He possessed many qualities Ruan Wen admired.

No wonder the people of the Black Killing Style protected him so fiercely. With those hidden strengths and his extraordinary talent, if they had met under different circumstances, perhaps even Ruan Wen would have been tempted to take him as her disciple.

Unfortunately, such a fine prospect was destined to die here today.

The clever youth opposite her was clearly well aware of that too. He looked exceptionally nervous.

His eyes flickered, his face was pale, and sweat beaded on his forehead... He was so nervous that he kept scratching at his wrist.

"There's no need to rush to be afraid..."

Ruan Wen spoke calmly. "I still have a few questions for you."

"Y-you ask."

The youth replied, his forehead covered in sweat.

"Tell me, that night..."

Buzz-

Smack!

Halfway through her sentence, Ruan Wen suddenly gave her cheek a light slap.

A fly?!

Ruan Wen looked down at her palm and frowned slightly.

In theory, a Body Sha expert like her, who had mastered Sha Light, should long since have been able to keep mosquitoes and flies from landing on her.

But there were exceptions to everything. Among the vast swarms of mosquitoes and flies, there were always a few so desperate with hunger that they dared fly close without fear of death. Besides, her Qi, blood, and Sha Intent weren't circulating at the moment, and the presence belonging to Body Sha wasn't showing...

That was why Ruan Wen had never liked the south.

She disliked its constantly rainy weather, disliked the people here who were always calling them "rainforest monkeys," and disliked these annoying flies even more...

If she hadn't fallen out with the old fellow...

Ruan Wen shook her head, cutting off the thoughts that had spread through her mind in an instant. She casually flicked away the fly, now a lump of black paste in her palm, and returned her gaze to the youth before her. With a calm expression, she continued, "...That night, two of my subordinates came to find you, and they never came back.

"Where... are they now?"

Third update. Please keep the votes coming, orz!