In the dead of winter, the sparse and naked stars pitifully adorned the black curtain, shimmering with a cold light.
Shi Yi silently swept across the night sky and arrived outside the cottage where Jiang Shouzhong was located.
It was a dark and windy night conducive for assault.
Listening to the prolonged breathing inside the cottage, Shi Yi's eyes flickered fiercely.
He adjusted the black cloth covering his face upwards.
Truthfully, having a master like himself, a Little Xuan Grandmaster, teach a lesson to an ordinary person without any martial arts, really degraded his stature, and Shi Yi indeed felt stifled inside.
But if he didn't do it, surely he couldn't let his master handle it.
Unless the opponent was a woman.
—A beautiful woman.
Shi Yi's fingers lightly swept over the gleaming blade in his hand, feeling the icy bite of the steel, hesitated for a moment, then sheathed his long blade and found a wooden stick as thick as a child's arm nearby.
His master had said it was enough to just break the opponent's legs.
It would serve as revenge for the Koi Carp.
Although Shi Yi thought such punishment was too light, since his master was inclined to spare the person inside the house, he would not take matters into his own hands and do anything unnecessary.
Shi Yi laid his palm against the door and gently vibrated it, unlocking the door latch from the inside.
Should he break the left leg or the right leg?
He was still struggling with that decision.
He even began daydreaming, imagining how he would toy with the noodle shop owner's second daughter in a few days.
Unfortunately, the girl was a bit too young.
Just as Shi Yi was about to push the door open, a sudden alertness surged in his heart.
Without time to think, his body instinctively flipped backward in a hollow backflip, his toes barely touching the ground when he instantly drew his long blade, slashing diagonally down.
The bright blade's light arced a dazzling brilliance in the dark night.
However, the strike cleaved through empty air.
The big man in dark clothes tensely scanned the silent surroundings, his ears pounding with heartbeat.
Cold sweat dripped down his temples, wetting the black cloth on his face.
He was sure something had just rushed out.
What on earth was it?
Shi Yi was about to charge into the cottage when, in the next moment, he froze, startled to see a jade hairpin hovering in front of the cottage door!
Sword Qi was abundant, revealing the faint silhouette of a long sword.
Flying sword!
Shi Yi was shocked, as if facing a great enemy.
In the nine realms of martial arts, only those above the grandmaster level, who enter the Heaven Desolation Boundary, could control swords.
Terrified, Shi Yi didn't even have the courage to take another look at his opponent, and hastily took off into the night sky, his toes seeking leverage from the eaves behind him as he turned and fled.
The flying sword emitted a faint hum, dragging its sword shadow to pursue.
Feeling the intense murderous intent closing in behind him, Shi Yi's guts turned to water, cursing in his heart.
In desperation, he took out a talisman, bit his tongue, spat the fresh blood onto the talisman, and then heavily slapped it on his chest.
Shi Yi's speed exploded.
At the same time, blood also seeped from all seven of his orifices, making his appearance particularly terrifying. Clearly, he was burning his own True Yuan in exchange for a slim chance of survival.
…
On the outskirts of the Capital, at Cloud Lake.
The calm lake surface was nearly solidified, resembling a gigantic black mirror, reflecting the gentle tower lights of the Wuchan Temple and the blurred tree shadows on the shore.
The small boat quietly floated on the lake.
The faint moonlight occasionally pierced through the clouds, casting mottled light and shadow on the boat, outlining the enticing figure of the woman on it.
Li Guanshi held a wine pot he had gotten from the girl, Li Nanshuang, and sipped from it lightly.
Swoosh!
The woman suddenly threw the wine pot into the lake.
A stream of wine slid down.
Li Guanshi lazily moved his fingers to wipe away the cold wine on his jade-like cheek, his delicate red tongue flicking over his fingertips, his lips lightly sucking, exuding an unintentional and seductive charm.
The wine pot fell into the lake.
Gradually, ripples emerged at the center of the lake.
A swath of bright red gown bloomed slowly like a vivid rose, splendid yet sinister.
"Is there something you need?"
The woman in red stared at Li Guanshi, her tone icy.
Li Guanshi looked up at the thick clouds in the sky, a smile curling at the corners of his lips. "After all, it was I who let you out of that house. Is this the attitude you take toward your benefactor?"
The woman in red scoffed, "Unwarranted kindness is either scheming or thieving."
Li Guanshi was not annoyed by her attitude and got straight to the point, "I let you out because I want you to help me find someone, a person that only you can locate."
"Why should I help you?"
The woman in red looked down at the unparalleled beauty in the boat, feeling both jealousy and pride inherent to her nature, "Why should I serve you? You're just a whore who seeks men everywhere!"
Li Guanshi grinned, "It's been a long time since someone dared to curse me to my face. You've got guts."
The woman in red snickered.
In terms of cultivation, she was no match for Li Guanshi.
Yet now her Demon Soul had merged into this lake. She couldn't fight him, but she could hide.
Six hundred years ago, a powerful minister usurped the throne and drowned the previous Empress Dowager, Empress, Emperor, Princesses, and many other royal relatives and senior ministers—over nine hundred people in total, even the infants in swaddling.
Due to the resentment of the true dragon, a great demon dragon emerged in the lake.
Later, as the Demon Energy dried up, the great demon perished.
But now, with the resurgence of Demon Energy, three parts of the dragon's ferocious spirit remained in the lake, and she had devoured seven parts. Li Guanshi truly wanted to kill her, but lacked the means.
As the woman in red was being sarcastic, she suddenly saw a silver needle as thin as a hair appear before her, securely locking her life essence.
The woman in red showed a terrified expression, wanting to dive and escape, but to her horror, found herself unable to move.
Li Guanshi rolled up his sleeves, revealing an arm as delicate as jade, and reached out of the cabin. His nearly translucent fingertips gently brushed the lake water, the movement extremely tender.
Instantly, countless water blades formed from the lake water took flight.
They slashed toward the woman in red.
The sharp water blades mercilessly sliced off a chunk of flesh from the woman's body.
Before the woman could scream, other blades, as if manipulated by skilled executioners, continued to carve chunks of flesh off her body.
The motion was gentle yet ruthless, precise, yet terrifying.
Blood fell, staining the water of the lake red.
Li Guanshi's face remained expressionless, his fingers idly twirling a strand of hair as he gazed absently at the night sky.
The woman in red first screamed, then begged, cursed some more, shortly thereafter she began to sob, and finally fell silent, with only occasional sounds of painful whimpers remaining.
Until the last piece of flesh was shaved off from the woman's body, leaving behind a skeleton.
The skeleton was surrounded by wisps of pink aura.
Red Powder Skull, a skeleton tinged with rouge!
Only then did Li Guanshi turn his gaze to the woman now reduced to a skeleton, smiling softly as he asked, "Now, are you ready to agree to work for me?"
The skeleton nodded.
"In life, a despicable figure; in death, still the same."
Li Guanshi smiled lightly and waved his hand.
The chunks of flesh in the lake lifted up, piecing themselves back onto the woman, as if a craftsman was restoring a Buddha's golden body, quickly returning her to her prior alluring and seductive appearance.
Her blood transformed into a red wedding gown, covering her enticing body.
The woman in red knelt on the surface of the lake, shivering, her eyes devoid of their previous defiance, and said tremblingly, "My lord, just command, and Mengniang shall not shirk, not even from a mountain of knives or a sea of flames."
"Very obedient."
Li Guanshi's expression was gentle.
As she was about to speak, she suddenly frowned lightly and turned her gaze toward a spot on the shore of Cloud Lake.
A blood-covered, masked man in dark clothes stumbled and ran towards them.
A Jade Hairpin Flying Sword followed closely behind him.
The flying sword seemed suddenly to sense something, stopped pursuing the dark-clothed man, and turned back.
But in the next second, the Jade Hairpin was restrained by a mysterious force.
Trembling incessantly, unable to break free.
Li Guanshi raised his hand to retrieve the Jade Hairpin, holding it between his fingers, his expression momentarily distant.
"Did that girl really die?"
The woman muttered to herself.
Seeing that the crisis was resolved, Shi Yi breathed a sigh of relief and was about to thank her but saw the woman in the boat flick her sleeve.
The body of the man in dark clothes suddenly exploded, turning into a mist of blood.