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Chapter 26
At this moment, there was another person who was equally confused.
That person was An Yi, who had been hiding in the shadows. He had always followed the orders of the family master, only acting when Miss Ya and Yang Xie were in imminent danger.
Originally, An Yi had planned to intervene when the man in the yellow pig-head mask attacked, but seeing that the man didn't use any martial arts or martial intent, he decided to hold off.
However, Yang Xie's actions were unexpected. Even after taking a hit from the peak Wu Zong's full strength, which would have seriously injured or killed any normal warrior, Yang Xie stood up.
What was even more surprising was that after standing up, Yang Xie still wanted to challenge a Wu Zong-level fighter—someone from an entirely different realm. If he continued, it would be like a mere stone challenging an egg.
An Yi had already activated his spiritual energy, ready to intervene. But what happened next completely changed his perspective.
A warrior... cut off a peak martial artist with a knife?!
The man in black—the peak Wu Zong—had been killed in a single blow.
Damn it! He just killed the pinnacle of Wu Zong!
An Yi was usually calm and collected, given his work as a covert agent for the family. But today, he couldn't help but curse.
He recalled the family leader's words.
"If you see what happens to Yang Xie, consider it a secret. No one should speak of it but me."
An Yi thought to himself, Even if I tell others, they won't believe me.
Who could believe that in less than ten days after awakening, Yang Xie had killed a peak Wu Zong with his own hands? If he told anyone this, they'd think he was mad.
No wonder the family leader had always cared so much about Yang Xie. He was no ordinary person—he was a freak of nature!
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Meanwhile, Yang Xie was unaware of An Yi's thoughts, nor did he care.
At that moment, he looked at the man in black, who was now sprawled out on the ground, still stunned by the overwhelming turn of events.
"Hey, can the pig-headed man answer my question now? Or do you still want to keep calling your messenger?"
Yang Xie kicked the man in black, who now had a bruised nose and swollen face, trying to get a response.
The man in black slowly came to his senses, and with a strangled voice, he whimpered,
"Monster! Mom, save me... Mom, save me..."
Is this really that scary?
"Slap!"
Yang Xie smacked him a few times across the face.
"What now?"
The man in black blinked, his dazed expression slowly sharpening.
"I'm asking you to answer me. If you don't cooperate, you'll go join your envoy!"
"Cooperate, cooperate! I'll answer, I'll answer, sir. Just ask!"
Now, the man in black had lost his former arrogance. All that remained was a desperate anxiety.
In his mind, he was thinking that Yang Xie must have been possessed by a Beast God. How else could he have crossed such powerful boundaries to defeat a peak martial artist like that?
He had investigated Yang Xie's background—an individual with D-class talent who had become a warrior in less than ten days, then killed a messenger. This kind of power could only come from a Beast God.
This didn't make sense. There was no human warrior in history who had this level of strength.
Finally, he decided to answer Yang Xie's questions.
"The Dream of Redbud Tears is a powerful poison extracted from the Redbud flowers. I gave it to you when you passed by the purple flowers earlier. Those poisoned will not show immediate effects. Instead, they'll fall into a deep sleep by early morning and will be nearly impossible to wake from. Only by consuming the juice from the Redbud vine can they be roused."
The man in black spilled all the information without hesitation.
Yang Xie had suspected something was wrong with that patch of flowers and its scent. In the future, he would need to learn more about medicine or perhaps devour the essence of alien beasts with detoxifying abilities to gain a similar talent.
Was his martial spirit enough to wake someone from such a poison? Perhaps the man in black hadn't encountered something like that before.
"Where's the antidote?"
"The antidote... is in my pocket. I'll show you!"
The man in black hurriedly opened his clothes and produced a small vial of green liquid from within.
"Is it real?" Yang Xie asked suspiciously, immediately feeding the liquid to the man in black.
"Yes, yes! It's real, sir. How could I lie to you? The juice from the Redbud vine not only cures the Dream of Redbud Tears, but it also refreshes you. Sir, please don't waste it!"
The man in black spoke eagerly, hoping to save himself.
Yang Xie ignored his plea, summoned ten shadow soldiers, and positioned them to place knives at the man's neck.
"Are you a Pig God? How many of your followers are in Qingshan City?"
The man in black looked terrified, but he answered, "I... I don't know. I'm just a lowly servant carrying out a mission."
Yang Xie raised an eyebrow. "Really? Don't try to fool me."
"I really don't know!" the man in black stammered, shaking. "But, sir, you could try contacting your own followers. They would probably know more about it."
Yang Xie stared blankly at him, confused. "What are you talking about? I have a Ghost Snake Skin believer and over a thousand shadow soldiers."
"Don't waste time! Just tell me how many envoys of your Pig God Sect are in Qingshan City."
The man in black finally relented and answered, "I know there are ten envoys in total. Excluding the one you've already killed, there are still nine. But whether there are more, I don't know."
Yang Xie couldn't help but feel disgusted by the religious zealotry.
"Who was your target this time?"
The man in black hesitated before answering, "The main target was Nangong Ya, a girl with S-level talent. As for you, sir, you were an unexpected complication."
Yang Xie walked toward Nangong Ya, his voice growing cold. "Kill him."
Before the man in black could react, he was torn apart by the shadow soldiers.
"Yang Yi, devour their shadows, clean up the battlefield, and dispose of the bodies. Let the beasts have their fill."
Yang Yi and the other shadow soldiers moved swiftly, cleaning up the bodies of the over a dozen pig-headed men. Within moments, the area was cleared, and it was difficult to tell that a battle had taken place.
Yang Xie then turned to Nangong Ya, helping her sit up. He gently pressed a finger to her lips and fed her the juice of the Redbud vine.
"Yaya, wake up..."
The juice quickly took effect, and Nangong Ya awoke a short while later.
"Yang Xie, what's going on? It's not dawn yet..."
Nangong Ya rubbed her eyes sleepily, her face still full of drowsiness.
Seeing her adorable expression, Yang Xie smiled softly. He decided not to burden her with the truth for now.
"I'm fine. I was just worried about going to the bathroom alone, so I wanted to ask you to come with me, but then I realized it wasn't a good idea. You should get some more rest."
"Yang Xie, you, you..."
Nangong Ya's sleepy eyes widened in surprise.
"Shh, don't wake up Brother Qing and the others. They're still asleep. You should get some rest too."
Yang Xie pointed toward Nangong Qing and the others, who were still fast asleep.
Nangong Ya looked at them, suddenly feeling drowsy again.
With a small yawn, she mumbled, "I'll sleep some more. You should sleep too."
The effects of the Dream of Redbud Tears were strong. Even after waking briefly, Nangong Ya fell into a deep sleep again, despite taking the antidote.
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