Chapter 80. Only Mine.

"It's not surprising anymore."

I looked at the unconscious Baixiao and Heixiaolong with a calm expression.

During my time as a demon, I had fought and defeated notorious female demons, but I had never beaten a much weaker woman to death.

Moreover, to test my conscience while they were in their weakest state, unconscious.

Suddenly, I recalled the expressions of a few female demons and compared them with the faces of the two unconscious women.

Evil people do not distinguish between men and women.

However, a common feature of female demons is that their faces lack fortune. Most of them show a hint of lust where fortune should be.

This lust is not due to their attraction to men but rather because of the martial arts they practice.

Female demons who practice techniques like the Yin-Yang Union often forcibly take the essence of young boys and men to maintain their youth.

The problem is that even when I fought them during the demon era, they were quite skilled, so I cannot be careless now.

I carefully examined whether the unconscious Baixiao and Heixiaolong were the young versions of the female demons I knew from my past life. If they were, I intended to kill them preemptively.

"You are not them."

I grabbed the collars of Baixiao and Heixiaolong and slapped them each once.

Slap! Slap!

"Consider yourselves lucky."

The two people gradually regained consciousness.

Outside, people were still shouting "Fire!" as they headed towards the arena, but there was no risk of the fire spreading. The arena is an independent structure with a sunken central area.

As soon as they opened their eyes, the two women started crying again.

"Stop crying."

I went to the corner and washed my face lightly while speaking.

"Close your mouths before I throw you into the fire."

After washing my face, I placed a chair in front of the bed and sat down, glaring at the two women.

I am originally a kind man, so I explained the background of the fire.

"The Narak Society is gone. Dongfangyan is dead, Pingjun is dead, and Ouyangfu is dead. Many others are dead too. If you don't want to join them in the cloud rainbow gambling hall, answer my questions well. Got it?"

The two women, whose pressure points were released, responded briefly.

"Yes."

"I made a deal with Ouyangfu. If I win against the entire Narak Society, I get everything. As you can see, I won, and Ouyangfu died shouting for Kaiping. In heaven, he should quit gambling, but I'm worried. You should pray for his soul."

"..."

I felt around my robe where I kept the Lightning Blade.

"Do you want to pray with a knife?"

"We will pray."

I watched as the two closed their eyes and prayed. Heixiaolong's eyes were trembling, and Baixiao was crying with a pale nose.

"Now open your eyes."

I asked the two who had opened their eyes in a positive tone.

"Did he go to a good place?"

Heixiaolong and Baixiao answered simultaneously.

"Yes."

I replied sternly.

"No. That's impossible."

"..."

"Only those who have wronged a few people can go to a good place. You shouldn't go there. I'm right, aren't I?"

"Yes."

"Since you died in the fire, you must have gone straight to the entrance of the fire hell. Tomorrow, my subordinates will come with carts and carriages. You will tell them where Ouyangfu hid his wealth so they can recover the Narak Society's funds. Can you do that?"

"Yes, we can."

"Good. Rest now. If you try to escape, you know what will happen. Rainbow gambling hall."

Baixiao said.

"Isn't the fire spreading outside?"

"Fire? Yes. I'll stop the fire."

"Can't you just release us?"

"Shut up. Stopping the fire is the priority."

I stood up, pulled back the curtain of the Phoenix VIP room, and went outside. The fire was only raging in the arena. I walked through the chaotic streets and entered the empty Narak Inn.

* * *

There was no sign of the waiter, and the white wine I hadn't touched was still there. Of course, all the Narak Society's martial artists were gone.

Just as I sent the waiter to the Black Cat Hall, the waiter must have gone to the Southern Ming Society with Ouyangfu's letter.

I rolled up my sleeves and muttered.

"Let's take a look at the gambling king's residence."

I went inside, passed through a narrow corridor, and inspected the kitchen, the waiter's room, and the storage room, finally reaching the end of the corridor.

A thick iron door stood out prominently, not fitting the inn's atmosphere.

Since I hadn't taken the key from the corpse, I took out the Lightning Blade and heated it with the Flame Technique. I slowly inserted the red-hot Lightning Blade into the keyhole, stepped back, and kicked the iron door open.

Bang!

A large room, similar in size to the entire inn, appeared. Looking around, the gambling king's residence was nothing more than a large prison. The owner never left the house to guard the money he had accumulated.

"What a futile life the gambling king had."

The room was filled with all kinds of expensive-looking furniture and collectibles.

How could an inn owner collect such luxuries? I have no interest in antiques or items with aesthetic value, so I only looked around.

At Ouyangfu's desk, I found a letter that had been interrupted.

"The Narak Society has been attacked by a madman. His martial arts level is unknown, and various methods have failed. He also knows a lot about the Narak Society. Although I have received support from the Southern Ming Society in the past, I have never asked for help."

The letter was written up to this point, with a line of ink in the middle.

Suddenly, I noticed six portraits hanging on the right wall of the desk. The first five were unknown figures, but I easily recognized the last one.

The Southern Ming Society's leader, Nan Jiaxia.

It seems the Narak Society had supported six successive leaders of the Southern Ming Society.

I stared at Nan Jiaxia's portrait for a moment. I knew his name and face, but I had never fought him directly, so I had to rely on information and memory.

"He was doing well and then suddenly died at the hands of a skilled martial artist. It wasn't Guangsheng, but a nameless assassin."

The assassin who killed Nan Jiaxia didn't boast, so the case was buried for a long time. After losing their leader, the Southern Ming Society revealed that the killer was the assassin group Yiwedijiang and declared war.

After that, the Southern Ming Society fell.

However, there were more discussions about the defeated Southern Ming Society in the martial world.

This was partly because the victorious Yiwedijiang suffered heavy losses and partly because the Southern Ming Society fought a brutal war against the powerful Yiwedijiang.

Since the group fought until the end, the Southern Ming Society's response needed careful consideration.

The event of Yiwedijiang killing the Southern Ming Society's leader would take a few years to happen, so it was useless for now.

I suddenly took down Nan Jiaxia's portrait from the wall. I removed the other portraits and threw them on the floor, then looked at the wall. Near the center, where the six portraits had been, there was an iron door that looked like a secret safe.

It was a unique iron door without a keyhole or lock. I looked at the wall and ceiling, then followed an imaginary line back to the desk. It seemed the only way to open it was through a mechanism connected to the desk.

I opened and closed the desk drawers one by one, then grabbed the inkstone on the desk and tried to lift it, but it wouldn't budge. When I pressed it firmly, I felt a strong resistance.

I combined appropriate external skills and tension to press the inkstone.

Somewhere, a metallic clank sounded.

I went to the wall and pushed the iron door. With a click, the iron door opened outward, and another mechanism sound followed.

"!"

As soon as I heard a whoosh, I stepped aside. A steel needle shot out from inside the iron door and embedded itself in the opposite wall.

Plop!

What could be hidden inside to warrant such a setup?

Looking inside from a distance, I saw a thin, neatly cut piece of metal. I couldn't touch it recklessly, so I took a lamp from the desk and shone it inside.

"Hmm..."

I thought it was gold, but it was black.

The surface was rough and hard.

I took out the Lightning Blade, inserted it, and pulled out a piece of the unknown metal to the desk. I checked if there was any poison on the surface and then used the tip of the Lightning Blade to scratch it.

It was engraved finely, but the tip of the Lightning Blade didn't penetrate.

"Black steel (玄鐵)."

Ouyangfu, who had already paid a lot of tribute, probably didn't intend to pay black steel to the Southern Ming Society. I wondered where he got it from, but the person to ask was already dead.

I moved the flat black steel from the iron door to the desk. Beyond it, I saw a small book and a black ring, but I examined the black steel first.

I had an idea and shaped the black steel with the Lightning Blade, turning it into a black long sword.

It was truly astonishing.

I was not surprised that it was a black steel sword but rather how it was broken.

What kind of skilled martial artist could break a black steel sword?

Even the top martial artists of my demon era, who were stronger than me, couldn't have broken it to this extent.

Ouyangfu probably intended to melt it and make new weapons.

But why it was only stored here is now unknown.

I am not a blacksmith, but this looked like something from at least a few hundred years ago. The common belief is that weapons made of black steel cannot be broken, but after seeing this, I realized that nothing in the world is unbreakable.

The owner of the long sword must have been an incredible martial artist.

But when the sword broke, the owner must have died too. The belief he held in his heart must have broken as well. Only then did I understand what Guangsheng had told me.

"If your belief breaks, you are already dead, so there's no need to worry."

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said."

It also sounded like he was saying that being overly attached to weapons makes it difficult to advance in martial arts. I realized that Guangsheng's words should be interpreted differently based on my experience and skills. In my past life, I probably wouldn't have understood half of what he said.

I took the book and ring from the iron door and placed them on the desk, then read the thin book.

The great swordsman Ouyang Wujie.

The Wuji Heavy Sword.

I smiled as soon as I read the next line.

"Ouyang Wujie, who had no reputation, fought me seven times and lost every time. He was a man of great pride, but in the martial world, the strong always win. I knew I would win before the fight, so I was calm about the result. However, Ouyang Wujie could not accept it. He didn't even ask me the reason for his defeat. I understand the hearts of martial artists, but how can I explain that his pride prevented him from advancing to the next level? When I pointed out his flaws, he said it was too late to learn. I disagree. How can there be a late or early time to learn? But I also know that things don't always go as planned. When I honestly told him that I had only fought a few times in the martial world, he was even more shocked. I didn't intend to drive him to madness, but Ouyang Wujie had only practiced his sword for a long time and had not cultivated his mind to match his sword skills. This is common in the martial world. Unable to overcome the mental wounds, Ouyang Wujie asked me to record the Wuji Sword Technique he had practiced. The person who obtains this sword technique should use it for the right cause. If used for the wrong cause, the person will suffer a miserable fate.

Jixingzi (記性子)."

The tone was the same as in the Golden Jade Leisure Technique, so I already knew it was written by Jixingzi while reading.

The reason Ouyangfu hid this was simple.

Jixingzi's martial arts were too advanced.

Ouyangfu couldn't understand it, so reading it would have been meaningless. Moreover, the prophecy that using it for the wrong cause would lead to a miserable fate must have troubled him.

However, in the current martial world, no one understands Jixingzi better than me.

Therefore, Ouyang Wujie's sword technique will be the only one I can fully understand in the world.

I had a thought.

To challenge Jixingzi, the creator of the Golden Jade Leisure Technique, seven times...

Ouyang Wujie, how strong were you?