Chapter 76

## Chapter 76. Let's Not Waste Time

"Grandmaster!!"

Heiying threw down the luggage he had brought and rushed to the bed where Gongsonshou lay.

"Heh heh. You came?"

"Are, are you alright?"

Heiying, whose face had turned pale, quickly grabbed Gongsonshou's wrist to check his pulse. At the same time, he pulled out a series of medicinal pills and a golden needle from his robe.

"First, take this and take off your clothes. I'll apply the needle right away!"

"What, what are you doing?!"

While pushing away Heiying's hands that were trying to undress him, Gongsonshou showed his disgust.

"Really, don't make a fuss. It's just a minor internal injury."

"You were ambushed! Who did this to you?!"

"Hem hem. I'm just like this, but that guy lost his arm. I didn't cut it off, but... I won the duel..."

Embarrassed to say he won while lying in bed, Gongsonshou kept clearing his throat.

Seeing this, Heiying's eyes seemed to be on fire.

"Grandmaster, just losing an arm? I'll go and tear that guy to pieces right now..."

Swish...

Heiying's grim face looked ready to slice someone up right away.

Gongsonshou grabbed Heiying's arm, which was about to draw a sword, and called out to me.

"Mr. Bai! Don't just stand there, help me calm him down. Something might really happen if this continues."

"Calm down, Heiying! Grandmaster said he's fine!"

"Let go! Are you not letting go?!"

After barely restraining Heiying, who was determined to kill Zhaomu Sheng, I sighed and said to Weizhichuan.

"I heard a rough version on the way here. Still, Tian, give us a detailed account. What exactly happened?"

"Well..."

Weizhichuan began to explain what had happened on the dueling platform, one by one.

But there was something that bothered me in his story.

"...Suddenly, Zhaomu Sheng let out a scream and lunged at me. His eyes turned bright red, and a gray sword aura emanated from his dagger..."

"Wait a moment. What kind of sword aura?"

My expression suddenly turned serious, and Weizhichuan stopped talking, his eyes wide.

"What? A gray sword aura..."

Gray?

The color of a sword aura varies widely depending on the internal cultivation technique one has mastered. So, a gray sword aura itself isn't strange.

But considering the context, I felt an inexplicable sense of unease.

I turned to Gongsonshou and asked.

"Grandmaster. You said he attacked you with the intention to kill. Did he provoke you that much?"

Gongsonshou shook his head, as if it wasn't even worth considering.

"Not that much. I've made several people clutch their throats and fall in the imperial palace... I didn't think he would do that to a child."

If that's the case, Zhaomu Sheng's sudden outburst must have come from his own volatile temperament.

'That's still too strange.'

To lose his mind and try to kill someone after losing a duel once.

'In front of so many people? Is he that reckless? Even those who have mastered dark arts wouldn't go that far...'

At that moment, I grasped the essence of the unease that had been nagging me.

"Could it be..."

"Teacher, what's wrong?"

"Why are you like this?"

My serious expression made Gongsonshou look at me with concern.

I forced a smile and said.

"Nothing."

Since I didn't see it with my own eyes, I can't be certain yet.

The circumstantial evidence is sufficient, but...

'I need to meet him in person soon.'

Just as I resolved to meet Zhaomu Sheng,

Bang!

The door burst open, and Xuan Yuanqiang, with disheveled hair, rushed in.

"Grandpa! Where are you?!"

He turned his head sharply, spotted us, and let out a sigh of relief as he walked over.

"Are you okay? They said you were injured in a duel! Who did this to you? How could they do this to an old and sick man? Just wait. I'll go and half-kill them..."

Smack!

Xuan Yuanqiang clutched his head after being hit on the back of it by me.

"Ouch! Why did you hit me?!"

"Stop repeating what's already been said."

"Tch. I came here out of concern... Anyway, are you really okay?"

Our voices, surrounding Gongsonshou, were so loud that a passing doctor stopped and sternly warned us.

"You four. There are other patients here, so please keep it down."

"Yes, sir."

"Sorry."

"Hem..."

"..."

As we all fell silent, Gongsonshou, the actual patient, laughed heartily.

"Heh heh heh. Seeing so many people worried about me, I must be having good luck in my old age."

* * *

The next night, at Nangong Shu's residence.

"Te, Teacher. Please don't abandon me. Just one more chance to forgive me..."

Zhaomu Sheng, with his left arm wrapped in bandages, knelt before Nangong Shu and begged.

"I already told you."

Nangong Shu's expression was as cold as ice as he looked down at Zhaomu Sheng.

"You no longer have the qualifications to be my disciple."

Zhaomu Sheng lifted his head sharply.

"That was a mistake! Just give me one more chance. I'll definitely take revenge on those people..."

"Revenge? You still haven't come to your senses."

"Ah!"

A faint anger appeared on Nangong Shu's furrowed brows.

Realizing he had made a slip of the tongue, Zhaomu Sheng shut his mouth, but it was too late.

Nangong Shu turned his body coldly.

"Throw him out."

"Yes, sir."

Nangong Shi and Jinjin, who had been waiting behind, grabbed Zhaomu Sheng's shoulders and dragged him out.

"Teacher, Teacher!"

Zhaomu Sheng struggled desperately, but even when his arm was intact, he couldn't match the two. Now, it was impossible.

He was dragged out and thrown onto the street outside the residence.

"Ungrateful orphan."

Jinjin, as if he had touched something dirty, took out a handkerchief and wiped his hands.

"Be grateful that it ended this way. If Teacher had sealed your dantian and severed your tendons, you would have no one to blame."

Jinjin turned and walked back into the residence.

"Sh, Shi!"

Zhaomu Sheng, crawling on the ground, clung to Nangong Shi's pants.

"Can't you speak to Teacher for me? We're both from the Nangong family... I'll do whatever you say from now on. Okay?"

"One warning."

Nangong Shi squatted in front of Zhaomu Sheng.

Crack!

He grabbed the boy's hair roughly, who had once been his study partner.

A cold killing intent flowed from his eyes.

"Don't go around using my uncle's name, or insulting him. If I hear even a hint of such rumors, I'll find you and kill you myself."

"Ugh, ugh..."

Nangong Shi released Zhaomu Sheng's hair and smiled. He then took out a few silver coins from his pouch and stuffed them into Zhaomu Sheng's robe.

"I hope it doesn't come to that. We did train together once."

Zhaomu Sheng, frozen with fear, nodded desperately.

"Y, Yes, I understand."

"Then get lost. I'll go in after you're gone."

Zhaomu Sheng, afraid that Nangong Shi might still be watching, didn't dare to look back as he staggered away from Nangong Shu's residence.

'Damn it. Damn it. Damn it...!'

He felt wronged and angry. He felt miserable and pitiful. He hated the world and wanted to kill everyone.

Zhaomu Sheng's eyes were filled with blood.

'This is all because I'm an orphan. It's all because I'm an orphan.'

Zhaomu Sheng was an orphan.

He couldn't remember his parents' faces. He had been abandoned at around five years old and grew up in an orphanage.

Fortunately, the orphanage he was in was one of those sponsored by the Nangong family.

He learned basic martial arts at the orphanage.

They said if he showed potential, he could become a warrior of the Nangong family in the future. So, he trained desperately, and luck was on his side.

-You have quite some potential.

In front of Nangong Shu, Zhaomu Sheng proved his skills and finally caught his eye.

-This year, take the Qinglong Academy entrance exam. I'll help you.

He received free martial arts tutoring, which others paid hundreds of taels for. Nangong Shu even wrote a recommendation letter for him.

-This is Nangong Shi. This is Jinjin. Both are far more talented than you, so learn from them.

-Nangong Shi. Let's do our best.

-You're an orphan? You're lucky.

His two study partners might have had bad luck in other ways, but it didn't matter.

If he could just enter the Qinglong Academy, his future would be smooth sailing from then on.

But...

"Because of a smelly old man and a brat, my future is ruined...!"

Zhaomu Sheng didn't think any of this was his fault.

Losing his arm, being abandoned by Nangong Shu, and being kicked out of the residence.

All of it was the world's fault, and his being an orphan's fault.

'Would they have let Nangong Shi lose his arm and just stand by?'

Zhaomu Sheng couldn't even imagine it.

If Nangong Shi had done the same, he would have returned to the Nangong family and received even more horrific punishment.

"This isn't my fault. It's the old man's, the brat's, Nangong Shi's, Jinjin's, and Nangong Shu's fault...!"

His sense of victimhood turned into uncontrollable anger towards the world.

He felt like a ball of fire was burning inside him.

He felt like he would burn to death if he didn't vent it.

"Heh heh..."

People who saw the one-armed man laughing like a madman slowly moved away.

Wandering aimlessly through the streets, Zhaomu Sheng found a dark alley and entered it.

Leaning against the wall of the alley, he muttered to himself.

"Heh heh. I'll kill them all. Weizhichuan that brat, that old man, Jinjin, Nangong Shi, and Nangong Shu... I'll kill them all someday."

Before that, he would kill someone, anyone.

Zhaomu Sheng didn't enter the alley for no reason.

A drunkard who came to urinate, a merchant in a hurry to take a shortcut, a beggar looking for a place to rest, a child who took a wrong turn.

"Heh heh. Anyone will do. I'll tear them to pieces..."

"That's fortunate. I won't have to feel guilty."

"!!"

Zhaomu Sheng was startled by the sudden voice.

A figure slowly emerged from the darkness of the alley.

"Wh, who...?"

Fortunately, it wasn't Nangong Shi or Nangong Shu, whom he had just cursed.

It was a face he knew but never expected to see here.

"Ba, Bai Shulong?"

"Call me Teacher."

Bai Shulong, smiling, approached Zhaomu Sheng.

"Hmm. On second thought, no. You won't be entering the academy, so just call me whatever you like."

"Wh, why are you here...?"

"Let's not waste time."

Swish!

In an instant, Bai Shulong closed the distance and grabbed Zhaomu Sheng by the neck. Zhaomu Sheng, who had been prepared for an ambush, didn't even see it coming.

"Choke, choke!"

Zhaomu Sheng, hanging from Bai Shulong's arm, opened his eyes wide. The grip was so strong that it felt like his neck would break at any moment.

'Why?'

Because he said he would kill that old man?

Because of Weizhichuan that brat?

Did Nangong Shu send him?

Or... because he was an orphan?

Whatever the reason, Zhaomu Sheng didn't want to die here.

"Please, spare me..."

"Let's see your answer."

The face of Bai Shulong, whom he had seen a few times on the way to and from the Qinglong Academy, was different.

His expression was colder than an assassin's, and his eyes glowed with the madness of someone who killed as easily as eating.

The killing intent that enveloped him was so terrifying that the one he felt from Weizhichuan seemed like a joke in comparison.

"Are you a Blood Sect spy?"

The moment the words "Blood Sect" were spoken, Zhaomu Sheng's eyes turned completely red.