Chapter 77 - The Masked Man’s First Strike
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The masked man moved extremely fast. Even though he had Xu Xiaoshou in a chokehold, this had no effect on his speed.
Yet, the law enforcers of the Spirit Law Division were equally capable. They were keeping pace and weren’t that far behind.
Goose Lake was rather large, but the masked man crossed it in a few steps.
It was just then that a group of law enforcers appeared in front of the two of them. The masked man wasn’t the only one who was stunned. Xu Xiaoshou was also puzzled.
He wondered if this group of law enforcers had come over after hearing the noise from his fighting. But it seemed more likely that they’d been planning an ambush on them all along…
Well!
Perhaps, they hadn’t been drawn by the noise but had been lying in ambush this whole time.
Xu Xiaoshou looked at the masked man in surprise, wondering who this man was and why so many law enforcers of the Spirit Law Division had come out to ambush him.
Though his fight from earlier had been earth-shattering, it hadn’t interrupted the plans of the Spirit Law Division. No one had bothered to come out to stop him from killing his opponents.
Xu Xiaoshou felt unimportant at the moment.
It turned out that he wasn’t a part of their plans and that he might have actually disrupted the plans of the Spirit Palace.
The masked man stopped in his tracks and turned around. At that moment, many heads could be seen on the other two edges of Goose Lake.
Xu Xiaoshou felt his heart go cold as he realized it was true…
These law enforcers had been waiting here all along!
“Are you the ‘Saint Servant’ Elder Sang mentioned? We’ve been waiting for you for a few days. You’d better surrender yourself.” Xiao Qixiu walked out from the forest with a long sword on his back while looking sideways at the masked man.
“He has come back…” Xu Xiaoshou was probably the only one who could hear the masked man’s whisper. The man suddenly lowered his head and asked, “Rascal, do you know Elder Sang?”
“No, I don’t!”
Xu Xiaoshou was almost in tears. He wished he’d minded his mouth. The situation had turned against him. His careless words had put him in a perilous situation now.
He looked at Xiao Qixiu and shouted, “Master Judge, help me. This guy just killed two disciples of the Spirit Palace. I don’t want to be the third!”
Xiao Qixiu: “…”
“This lad must think I’m blind,” he thought. “We’ve been waiting here for a long time and didn’t see the man kill anyone.”
Xiao Qixiu didn’t want anything to stand in the way of the more important matter at hand. This evening, he would seize everyone who made trouble and send them to the punishment platform.
Despised, passive point, +1.
The masked man was puzzled when he heard what Xu Xiaoshou said.
He wondered when he’d killed someone. It was obvious that this lad was throwing mud at him with no shame at all.
Cursed, passive point, +1.
“You rascal…”
As the masked man made to increase the intensity of his sword energy to make Xu Xiaoshou suffer more, he heard the lad at his waist say, “Calm down. Don’t be witless.
“If you admitt that you killed two people, I’ll guarantee your safe departure from the Spirit Palace.”
The masked man was amused by this remark. What would a lad like him with such a low cultivation level be able to do?
Xu Xiaoshou realized his trick wasn’t working and came up with another lie. “I guess you must be a member of an evil…bah, a righteous organization.
“As a matter of fact, I can’t stand this Spirit Palace anymore. They’re all too hypocritical. I’ve wanted to join you guys for a long time now.
“You’ll follow my instructions later since I know a secret passage…”
“You’ve wanted to join us?” the masked man interrupted him.
Xu Xiaoshou was startled. The man seemed to be more interested in this matter than the mention of the secret passage, which was what he should’ve been interested in.
He was a bit worried that what he’d said was true and that this man was a member of an evil organization.
“This isn’t that important. What is important is the secret passage…”
“Do you really want to join us?” the masked man interrupted him once more.
Xu Xiaoshou felt like crying again. “Yes, I’ve set my heart on it!”
“What’s your name?”
“Wen Chong,” Xu Xiaoshou said, making up the name without a second thought. “Wen as in the phrase ‘never heard of,’ and Chong as in ‘recharging money.'”
“What’s ‘recharging money?'”
“It’s recharging Q…” Xu Xiaoshou trailed in the middle of his sentence and waved his hand. “You wouldn’t understand it no matter how I explained it…”
“Is it the ‘Chong’ as in surfing?”
“What surfing?”
“…”
Xu Xiaoshou had to admit that he was indeed a bit nervous, but he tried his best to stay calm.
“It’s the ‘Ming’ as in being clever.”
“Oh, ‘Ming’ as in clever…”
There was a hint of mockery in the masked man’s eyes. “So your name is Wen Ming?”
“…”
Xu Xiaoshou felt like crying. Why did he have to go and behave so badly tonight and make so many mistakes with his choice of words?
“My name is Wen Chong!” he said weakly.
The masked man didn’t respond, as Xiao Qixiu had drawn near.
The man shook his body a little and flew to a high elevation over Goose Lake. The raindrops seemed to be colder at such a height.
Xu Xiaoshou looked down at the shrunken Goose Lake below. The hundreds of law enforcers looked like a thin thread, and he started to feel scared.
Even when he was on his sword, he didn’t dare to fly this high. If he fell from such a height, his innate flesh physique would turn into a pile of flesh mud.
“You have to hold me tightly!” Xu Xiaoshou pressed deeper into the masked man’s bosom. At the moment he was very timid.
The masked man was amused. The man pulled out his finger that was behind Xu Xiaoshou’s back and hoisted him instead. “If you stay motionless, you won’t fall.”
Xu Xiaoshou grew more anxious. Though the pain in his body was gone, he felt considerably less safe.
He thought about it and said, “You’d better put your finger in my back again. I don’t feel safe this way.”
The masked man: “…”
This lad must be mentally challenged!
Without a second thought, the masked man put his finger back into Xu Xiaoshou’s back to make him spit out a mouthful of fresh blood with a puff.
“D*mn it. You took my words literally!
“Take your finger out, quickly. I was just kidding.”
Xu Xiaoshou felt uneasy. This man didn’t behave like a normal person.
The masked man pulled his finger out. But before Xu Xiaoshou could feel relief, he found his body was thrown higher in the sky.
The whooshing wind almost scared him to death.
“Help me!”
“Shut up and watch out!” the masked man yelled harshly.
Though his eyes were assaulted by the wind and rain and he had a hard time keeping his eyes open, Xu Xiaoshou could clearly Sense his surroundings.
He Sensed Xiao Qixiu on the ground reach out his hand, and the long sword on his back tore apart a green path in the night sky as he headed toward the masked man like a shooting star.
The sword will contained in the striking sword was equivalent to a violent wild beast. As such, the raindrops in the sky turned into nothingness whereever the sword passed.
Xu Xiaoshou now understood why the masked man had thrown him high up in the sky.
If the man hadn’t thrown him so far away, Xu Xiaoshou figured that he would have been torn into oblivion like the raindrops turning into smoke before the sword drew near.
Yet, the masked man wasn’t affected at all.
Moreover, Xu Xiaoshou vaguely heard the masked man’s mocking remark:
“Among those who have dared to attack me, you’re the weakest…”
Xu Xiaoshou felt troubled. This man was truly shameless.
He was indeed a showman…
Xu Xiaoshou thought his former reckless behavior in the competition arena couldn’t hold a candle to this man.
Before Xu Xiaoshou could complain further, his eyes widened the next moment.
The masked man didn’t move an inch. All he was doing was staring at the longsword heading his way, a slight sword will still on his body.
Yet, the longsword shuddered for no obvious reason and gave out a wailing sound. It seemed that the sword was under tremendous pressure, and it turned around and shot at Xiao Qixiu.
Xiao Qixiu was stunned. It was hard for him to fathom why the sword that had been with him for decades would intend to destroy its own master.
Unfortunately, Xiao Qixiu didn’t have enough time to reflect on this. The returning longsword traveled faster than the speed of his control.
As Xiao Qixiu made to move, the sword energy in his body suddenly exploded, throwing everyone around him onto the ground. At the same time, Xiao Qixiu was confined on the spot by the sword energy.
Poo!
The longsword passed through Xiao Qixiu’s body.
“Puff!”
Xiao Qixiu’s eyes were filled with disbelief as blood poured out from every orifice in his body.
Xu Xiaoshou was so horrified his eyeballs almost jumped out of their sockets.
The masked man slowly lifted his head and looked at Xu Xiaoshou, his cloudy eyes showing a hint of motion.
“If I’m right…”
“This is the path of the sword will you are on right now.”
