Hu Zhishui died without even knowing what caused his death.
At the moment of his death, the smooth and glowing skin of his withered rapidly as if his body was a hundred-year-old log. It was a terrifying scene to watch.
“Did he use human skin to maintain his youth?” Luo Hong fell on his bum. The pain from his shoulder made him gasp ceaselessly.
He had been forced to kill Hu Zhishui in that desperate situation, but he never expected to run into another evil cultivator in such a short time.
Was it a coincidence? Maybe.
Luo Hong had mixed feelings about this. Hu Zhishui was not a rookie evil cultivator, and his decision to join the literature gathering was only made a day before, so it might be just a coincidence.
However, Luo Hong felt no guilt at all because Hu Zhishui deserved it. After all, the man wanted to kill him.
As he looked up at the quiet Qinghua Theatre, the air still reeked of blood that stung his nose.
The tables and chairs were strewn all over the place whereas most of the scholars and courtesans were knocked out by Hu Zhishui’s spell, and Luo Hong had no idea how to wake them up.
More than ten scholars and courtesans had died. Some had been directly skinned and sliced by Hu Zhishui while some had been caught in the crossfire.
The battle had been close. Any slight misstep and Luo Hong’s plan might not have worked out. He might be the one dead right now.
Hu Zhishui had reached the peak of an Eighth Grade evil cultivator, and if Di Shan’s shadow had failed to pin the man down, he might not have gotten out that easily.
After catching a breath, to his shock, Luo Hong realized that the volume of his dantian had grown stronger. The human skin manual had absorbed Hu Zhishui’s yin energy and expanded his dantian in the process.
“Now, it will be more difficult for me to fill my dantian with energy.”
Although he immediately realized the inconvenience, it was not something he should worry about at the moment.
Bang!
As though a smoke bomb exploded, the shadows of the dead scholars and courtesans that Luo Hong summoned disintegrated into black smoke. Their souls had transcended into a better state.
“The shadows of common men can’t be saved up. Only the shadows of cultivators can be kept forever…”
Di Shan’s shadow was powerful enough to be stored in his own shadow but not the commoners’ because their souls were too weak.
With that in mind, Luo Hong landed his attention on Hu Zhishui, whose neck had been snapped and had died in vain.
“The peak of Eighth Grade evil cultivation…” Luo Hong took a deep breath.
Since Hu Zhishui had been a ruthless man who had killed many, Luo Hong did not have any moral burden when it came to summoning his shadow for his own use.
With that in mind, Luo Hong lifted his bloody palm and pointed it at Hu Zhishui’s body.
Buzz!
The yin energy in his dantian buzzed and was depleted in an instant.
“Stand!” Luo Hong’s heavy bellowing echoed in the Qinghua Theatre.
However, he got nothing. There was no reaction at all.
He had failed.
Luo Hong furrowed his brows. Failure was not surprising since he was trying to summon a shadow whose grade was higher than his own.
There was an old saying, “Failure is the mother of success”. Luo Hong did not want to give up just yet.
“Stand!” He pointed his hand at Hu Zhishui’s body again and a portion of his energy in his dantian was consumed again.
An eerie breeze blew, and the shadow of Hu Zhishui’s body finally moved, but that was it.
Luo Hong had failed twice in a row, and if he failed one more time, he would not be able to summon Hu Zhishui’s shadow anymore because the energy in his dantian was not enough to support his action.
After he took the newly ascended Bronze Amulet out and slammed it on the ground, he curled his lips into a grin and lifted his hand at Hu Zhishui again.
“Stand…”
The Bronze Amulet converted his manly and charming voice into Little Douhua’s meek and soft voice.
An eerie breeze came. Luo Hong could feel that the yin energy in his dantian was completely depleted in an instant.
Hu Zhishui’s shadow disconnected from his dead body. Bubbles rose from the shadow as if it was boiling, and in the next moment, a materialized shadow popped up.
The shadow resembled a sorcerer wrapped in black robes, and its hand was holding a staff of sorts.
Buzz!
Ghastly blue embers ignited at its eyes, and the immense pressure of an Eighth Grade evil cultivator exploded the moment it appeared.
“I did it!” Luo Hong was speechless by his own successful attempt.
“A suck-up is always a suck-up even in death. You won’t get anything out of it, my man.” Luo Hong shook his head.
All of a sudden, Di Shan’s buff shadow snuck closer to Hu Zhishui’s shadow and punched him in the face.
Hu Zhishui was struck to the ground without even knowing what happened.
Di Shan’s shadow roared and grabbed Hu Zhishui’s shadow up for another round of beating.
Although Hu Zhishui tried to fight back, in the end, he accepted defeat and acknowledged Di Shan as the boss.
Delighted, Di Shan’s shadow looked at Luo Hong with an arrogant look as if he was trying to boast about his achievement.
Conversely, Luo Hong looked at Di Shan’s shadow as if he was looking at an idiot. He dispersed the shadows and the two of them shrunk into a black line before merging with his shadow.
Right after he kept the Bronze Amulet in his sleeve, a loud shout was heard from outside the Qinghua Theatre.
“Young Lord!?”
BANG!
The shut door of the Qinghua Theatre was kicked open with a loud bang, causing it to shatter into pieces.
Zhao Donghan and a bunch of passersby looked into the theatre curiously.
The air inside the theatre reeked of blood, and blood flowed like a river on the ground. The story scene shocked many of the curious passersby, causing them to scream in disbelief.
As Luo Hong sat on the floor of dead bodies, his white robes were tainted red, but the yang energy within him was glowing, making him look like the brightest star in the bloody night.
“Young Lord!”
Zhao Donghan spotted Luo Hong at first glance due to his unusual presence.
He was delighted that the young lord was still alive, but he was soon afraid because he had missed the chance again. Evidently, he had failed his duty and came one step too late.
He grieved furiously because he realized the young lord had run into an evil being even in a brothel.
It was no longer just a coincidence.
When he connected Butler Chen’s words with the incident, he realized what was going on: someone was after the young lord’s life!
“I’m okay,” said Luo Hong, trying to console the man. He pointed at Hu Zhishui’s body and said, “That is the evil cultivator who created the evil beings, Hu Zhishui.”
Zhao Donghan was shocked. ‘Hu Zhishui is an evil cultivator?!’
The passersby also gasped in shock. The great philanthropist of Anping County was an evil cultivator?! For real?!
Many of them could not accept the fact. What was happening to the world?
“No wonder Master Hu didn’t take the imperial exam despite his knowledge.”
“He’s an evil cultivator, and the examination venue is an important place to the Ruism cultivators. It’s filled with vast and strong yang energy. He would’ve been exposed if he had entered the examination venue.”
“No wonder Master Hu only invited the xiucai and scholars who failed the exam to his gathering. They aren’t Ruism cultivators and aren’t related in any way. The evil cultivator is really cunning.”
The crowd was talking about Hu Zhishui, and some of them were able to pinpoint the unusual points with the great philanthropist.
Luo Hong was speechless. ‘You people are a bunch of quick-witted cowards.’
Zhao Donghan appeared upset. Hu Zhishui might have been dead, but the pressure from his body told him that Hu Zhishui was not weak at all.
“An Eighth Grade evil cultivator who has reached his peak…” Zhao Donghan was shocked.
He started to wonder how the young lord killed Hu Zhishui. If he had been the one who had encountered Hu Zhishui, without taking the Violent Blood Pill, he might not have overpowered the man.
‘How did the young lord do it?!’
Luo Hong slowly got on his deed. His white robes were tainted red while his yin energy was exhausted. Therefore, the bold yang energy on him was overflowing, which made him look like a walking sun.
A breeze fluttered his robes. He looked handsome and elegant despite his disheveled state.
The crowd was captivated by Luo Hong’s appearance. Young Lord ‘Long Hoe’ was the handsome representation of justice of Anping County.
“Huh?!” Zhao Donghan was shocked when he saw the bloody hole on Luo Hong’s shoulder.
“My young lord, you are injured!” As Zhao Donghan’s face turned pale, the scar on his face twitched nervously.
Without further ado, he carried Luo Hong with both his arms and ran out.
Luo Hong wanted to maintain his handsome image, so he tried to struggle but failed to overpower Zhao Donghan’s boorish brute strength. In the end, he could not do anything but allow Zhao Donghan to carry him like a girl as the man sprinted straight to the Luo Residence.