The entire Qinghua Theatre plunged into silence.
The bloody scene before Luo Hong’s eyes shook him to his core. When Lady Blood slaughtered all the bandits in the Heiyun Stockade, Luo Hong had been locked up at the firewood storeroom, so he did not witness how the evil cultivator had killed the bandits.
This time though, he saw it with his own eyes.
Hu Zhishui pulled his walking stick out after cutting the woman’s body into pieces. He picked up the skin, folded it, and kept it in a bag.
The air reeked of blood, yet Hu Zhishui continued walking with his naive and honest look as if he was taking a stroll in his courtyard in a spring drizzle. It somehow seemed soothing to him.
‘He’s ruthless!’ Luo Hong felt chills go down his back as the scent of death assaulted his nose.
Hu Zhishui might be smiling, but his gaze at Luo Hong showed obvious killing intent.
‘He’s going to kill me!’ Luo Hong was certain of it!
The pungent smell of blood reminded him of that dreadful night in the Heiyun Stockade, but this time around, it was much more dangerous.
‘Who the hell says that Hu Zhishui is the number one philanthropist in Anping County? Let’s have a chat. I promise I won’t beat you to death.’
Luo Hong grinned bitterly.
The number one philanthropist in Anping County was an evil cultivator, and the representation of justice wanted nothing but to be a full-time antagonist, a villain.
Anping County must have lost its mind!
‘I can’t go head-to-head with this guy. Judging from his aura, he’s much stronger than Lady Blood. He might have reached the epitome of Eighth Grade.’ Luo Hong stood up, his white robe fluttering along with the motion. He wanted to escape the theatre.
“Young Lord ‘Long Hoe’, what’s with the hurry? Since you are here, let’s have a talk.” As Hu Zhishui looked at Luo Hong with all smiles, he lifted his walking stick and swung it down.
Slam!
All the windows and doors in the building were shut in an instant, sealing off Luo Hong’s escape path.
The whole Qinghua Theatre suddenly turned into an icy cold slaughterhouse.
Hu Zhishui took out his Black Iron Amulet. He squinted his eyes at the buzzing amulet and then started to look around, scanning all the unconscious scholars and courtesans one after another.
“If the amulet is reacting, that means there’s another amulet within proximity. There are only three who possess the Black Iron Amulet in Anping county: TuSantos, Lady, and me…”
“TuSantos shouldn’t be here because he knows that the amulets will react with one another, so it could only be Lady Blood since she just joined the Demons recently. She might not be familiar with how the amulet works. That’s why she’s here seeking for prey.”
The smile on Hu Zhishui’s face grew even wider. He looked around as he called out to Lady Blood gently, “Lady, where are you?”
Luo Hong was caught off guard for a moment before his face twitched helplessly.
Hu Zhishui’s reaction told him that he had not blown his cover. The man did not know he was pretending to be Lady Blood inside the amulet.
“Lady, come out! You don’t need to hide from me. Are you here to kill someone? I’ll help you.” Hu Zhishui looked as affectionately as he could be with his naive and honest face.
He then shifted his attention to Luo Hong. As he looked at Luo Hong’s white robes and bold yang energy, his gaze immediately turned cold and sharp while killing intent overflowed.
It was then that the lantern hanging above the ceiling shone a bright red color.
Hu Zhishui was fast as he thrust the sharper end of his walking stick forward like a spear. The bloody smell grew stronger with the sharp whistling from the thrust of his walking stick.
Skipping the nonsense, Hu Zhishui went straight for Luo Hong’s heart.
A killing blow!
For an instant there, the icy cold feeling of death numbed Luo Hong.
…
In the alley where the Qinghua Threatre was located, Zhao Donghan was sitting in the restaurant opposite the theatre. He occupied a seat at the window and ordered himself a bottle of alcohol and some nuts to kill his time.
He was still worried about his young lord, but it was inappropriate for him to disturb him, so he decided to wait at the restaurant.
Everything would be good if Luo Hong came out of the brothel unscathed.
He poured himself another cup of alcohol and had a sip. The scar on his face twitched as he tossed several peanuts into his mouth.
With a cup of alcohol and crunchy peanuts, waiting for his young lord had never felt better.
All of a sudden, Zhao Donghan’s eyelid twitched. He turned to the brother with his sharp gaze.
The cup in his hand shattered into pieces as his grip grew stronger, and the remaining alcohol splashed on him as the cup broke.
“That’s the smell of blood!”
Zhao Donghan picked up the faint scent of blood from the alley, where the Qinghua Theatre was in the deepest part. His young lord was in the Qinghua Theatre and the place smelled like blood!
The scar on his face twitched again.
Rampant vital energy exploded from his body as he shouted, “My young lord!”
His strength as an Eighth Grade Steel Bone martial cultivator was on full display as he jumped out the window, shocking the other customers.
Bam!
The stone path outside the restaurant was crushed upon landing, but Zhao Donghan was not bothered. He sprinted madly towards the Qinghua Theatre.
The waiter on the second floor was shocked by Zhao Donghan’s explosive reaction.
“It’s just a brothel and some prostitutes. What’s with the big reaction?!”
…
At Qinghua Theatre, the bloody red light from the lantern painted a layer of eeriness in the theatre.
Hu Zhishui planned to kill Luo Hong with a single blow.
Meanwhile, Luo Hong looked as sour as a lemon when he saw the attack.
The moment Hu Zhishui’s revealed his bold killing intent, Luo Hong instinctively activated the sword qi in his meridians.
He did not create the qi in the form of a sword. Instead, he gathered the energy in his hand and used it to block Hu Zhishui’s thrusting walking stick.
Bang!
The energy was dispersed upon impact.
Hu Zhishui remained standing with both feet on the ground, but Luo Hong was sent flying backward. With his palm badly damaged, the blood painted his white robes red.
“A sword cultivator? Your sword qi is vast and substantial, but that’s it.” Hu Zhishui stood up with his walking stick and gave an honest smile.
His smile gave Luo Hong the urge to land a kick on that silly face of his.
‘You smiley sick b*stard! All the evil cultivators are ruthless bastards! Lady Blood, Hu Zhishui, they killed people like it’s nothing! Danger! This is another life and death situation!’
Since Luo Hong had died once before, he did not want to die twice. Unbothered by his badly damaged hand, he activated the sword qi again pointed his hand at Hu Zhishui.
Hu Zhishui was as fast as a ghost as the walking stick was thrust at Luo Hong again.
Before Luo Hong’s sword qi could take form, it was forced to disperse.
Blood spewed from Luo Hong’s mouth as he was sent flying backward once again, crashing into the table and chairs.
“Is that all you’ve got, yet you dare to come after me?” Hu Zhishui smiled as he elegantly stood his walking stick.
“Anyway, even if you don’t come to me, I’ll go to you after I ascend to the Bronze Amulet. I just didn’t expect you to deliver yourself to me. I originally thought you were a Ruism cultivator, but who would have thought you were a sword cultivator instead?
“And as a sword cultivator, you are stupid not to have brought your sword along,” said Hu Zhishui. He was not anxious or nervous at all. Because he was at the peak of Eighth Grade state, killing a Ninth Grade sword cultivator was a piece of cake for him.
Luo Hong’s chest felt like it was burning, especially since the thrust from the walking stick had punctured a hole in his shoulder, and he was bleeding ceaselessly.
‘No wonder Zhao said that the path of cultivation is dangerous. A slight misstep and I won’t come back from it. I don’t think I can get away from him now. Then…how should I make a comeback and kill this b*stard?!’
Luo Hong was not willing to die in a brothel. He looked at Hu Zhishui as a million thoughts ran through his mind.
‘Should I summon Di Shan’s shadow?’
He quickly denied the thought because he realized that even with Di Shan’s shadow around, he could not escape death.
Di Shan’s shadow alone might not be enough to defeat Hu Zhishui.
The reason why Lady Blood had been killed by Di Shan’s shadow was that Luo Hong had absorbed most of her bloody yin energy.
Hu Zhishui was at his prime at the moment, and the Phantom Shadow was Luo Hong’s only trump card. He had to wait for the perfect moment to strike back.
If he simply revealed his trump and failed to kill Hu Zhishui, he would lose all hope of escaping alive.
Luo Hong only planned to ruin the literature gathering, but who would have thought that the gathering would turn into a slaughter fest?
The honest and kind philanthropist was a ruthless evil cultivator underneath the cover.
Luo Hong struggled to get on his feet while his shoulder was still bleeding ceaselessly. His goal was no longer ruining the gathering. He wanted to escape alive instead.
He grabbed a broken chair leg and tried to use it as a makeshift sword.
‘I have to distract Hu Zhishui with a flashy technique and then ambush him with Di Shan’s shadow.’ Luo Hong’s eyes were gleaming as he quickly formed a plan in his mind.
His sword qi was powerful. If he could gather all the qi energy and use it in a single strike, he might be able to distract Hu Zhishui.
Time was not on his side, so this would be his one and only chance.
At the thought of that, Luo Hong quickly and furiously gathered the sword qi in his meridians into the broken chair leg.
One, two, three…
Luo Hong forced his sword qi into the broken chair leg, and as the sword qi piled up, the broken chair leg started to crack.
‘”This boy is really gifted in sword cultivation. Is he able to pile up and overlay his sword qi?! A self-invented technique? This might be a huge burden to his meridians. A slight misstep and it will backfire, ruining all his meridian points and destroying his cultivation base!’
Hu Zhishui was not an idiot. He knew what Luo Hong was trying to do. Therefore, he put away his ridiculing mood and looked serious.
Luo Hong overlaid five sword qi in the broken chair leg, giving it the rough form of a sword.
Finally, he could no longer hold it in. He had to unleash the sword qi because he was afraid that it would backfire.
As he jumped out and dashed towards Hu Zhishui, his white robes fluttered along with the motion. His makeshift sword was pointed straight at Hu Zhishui.
Hu Zhishui gripped his walking stick tightly and stared at Luo Hong with a stern gaze.
Luo Hong gathered five sword qi in a single slash.
‘So, this is a Ninth Grade cultivator? Is he really that powerful? A common Ninth Grade sword cultivator can barely unleash five slashes of sword qi, yet the boy could overlay them together.’
However, Hu Zhishui believed that he still had the situation under control as he was stronger than Luo Hong by a lot. It was not a big problem. From his point of view, Luo Hong was down to his final struggle.
Hu Zhishui showed a cold grin on his honest and naive face. “Want a comeback? From what? That single slash?!”
Luo Hong maintained his charge at Hu Zhishui, not bothering to answer any of Hu Zhishui’s questions.
Hu Zhishui did not realize that his own shadow, which was stretched by the bloody red lantern above him, had come alive.
A blob of black slowly emerged.