The sun gradually disappeared below the horizon.
South District Rag Alley.
Three burly men in short black tunics, with short blades tucked at their waists, were knocking on doors, house by house.
After a round of curses and beatings, the men slowly moved on.
"Brother Dao, the evil spirits they're talking about... they can't be real, can they?!" one of them spoke up, a trace of fear in his voice.
"Shut up! If you dare mention evil spirits again, I'll cut your tongue out!" the leader berated.
This man was exceptionally burly. His temples bulged, and the veins on his neck stood out.
He was Brother Dao.
The man who was scolded immediately lowered his head, not daring to speak again.
Brother Dao snorted coldly and continued deeper into the alley.
He had been searching for the killer ever since his younger brother's strange death.
But he had found nothing.
Instead, the rumors of evil spirits in the city grew more and more intense.
He, of course, didn't believe in such things as evil spirits.
So he took the lead in investigating everywhere, determined to root out the person who was playing god and ghost.
But what followed was an increasing number of deaths in his gang, with no leads whatsoever.
Even Brother Dao was starting to feel the pressure.
'Could it really be...'
The moment the thought arose, Brother Dao quickly suppressed it.
'No, impossible! There are no such things as evil spirits in this world!'
Suddenly, he heard a noise from behind.
"Who's there!"
Brother Dao shouted.
But when he turned to look, there was nothing.
"Hmph, just playing tricks!"
Brother Dao gripped his blade and walked over.
The other two hesitated for a moment before following him.
The alley ahead was incredibly dark, making it hard to see anything clearly.
The three of them reached the corner, only to find nothing there.
"AH!"
Suddenly, a scream rang out!
Brother Dao spun around and was shocked to find one person missing!
'Where did he go?!'
The two of them looked left and right, but found nothing!
Cold sweat began to bead on Brother Dao's forehead.
The other man's teeth chattered as he said:
"Brother Dao, it must be the evil spirit... The evil spirit is here!"
Brother Dao didn't say a word.
Even the hand he held his blade with was trembling slightly.
Suddenly, the man's eyes widened in terror as he pointed behind Brother Dao.
"Bro... Bro... Bro..."
Brother Dao roared, "What about 'Bro'?! Spit it out!"
Suddenly, he felt a massive hand gently cover his head.
His muscles tensed instantly, his Qi Blood surged, and he twisted around, slashing with his blade.
But the blade seemed to be blocked by something, unable to cut any deeper.
He looked up.
And saw a green-faced, tusked visage with eyes glowing a faint green, staring at him from up close.
Its mouth was agape, saliva endlessly dripping down its yellowed tusks.
Brother Dao could even smell the rank stench of its breath.
"SPLAT!"
The sound of a watermelon bursting echoed in an instant.
Brother Dao's headless body sank limply to its knees.
"Don't... Don't come any closer..."
The other man pissed his pants in an instant. He wanted to run, but his legs wouldn't obey!
"SPLAT!"
The sound of a bursting watermelon rang out again.
"RRRRIP—"
In the pitch-black alley, a sickening chorus of tearing and chewing sounds echoed again and again.
...
...
「Outside the city.」
The rice paddies near the city walls were already ripe.
Huge, golden grains of rice weighed down the stalks.
A breeze blew past, and a few yellowed leaves drifted slowly down, landing on the wide, flat main road.
An instant later, horse hooves trampled over them with a CLIP-CLOP sound.
A convoy of carts and horses was proceeding slowly along the main road.
On the large carriage in the middle stood a yellow cloth banner with the word "Zhenyuan" written on it.
Leading the convoy were two men riding tall horses.
The man on the left wore a gray combat uniform. He was in his early forties and had a sturdy build.
He had a square face, a full beard, and his sharp eyes gazed into the distance.
On the right, riding a white horse, was a handsome young man in a black combat uniform with his hair tied in a high ponytail.
They were none other than Sun Yong and Jiang Che.
A month had passed, and Jiang Che had once again accepted an escort mission to Hengsha City.
Because his strength was recognized by the Escort Agency, he was also given a horse.
At first, Jiang Che wasn't very good at riding.
But after he started using Heart Stream, he gradually got the hang of it.
Besides, since they were riding very slowly, it wasn't too difficult.
Before setting off, just in case, Jiang Che had gotten some more poison from Zhang Xiong.
This time, Jiang Che had wanted to give him some silver, but Zhang Xiong refused to take it no matter what, so he had to drop the matter.
Jiang Che was grateful, but he couldn't help but feel that he was getting deeper and deeper in Zhang Xiong's debt.
Suddenly, the horses were startled.
Jiang Che focused his gaze and saw a black wolf, about half a man's height and wreathed in black smoke, run out from the woods ahead.
"It's a Black Beast!" Sun Yong shouted.
This was already the fourth Black Beast they had encountered on their journey.
The two quickly dismounted.
Sun Yong let out a fierce roar, his skin rapidly turning red as his body began to swell in size, and then he charged forward to meet it.
Jiang Che also launched an attack from the side.
The two were already a practiced team, and they killed the Black Beast in just a few moves.
"Another Bull Skin Realm one. No Black Crystal."
Sun Yong shook his head.
The three Black Beasts they had encountered before were also at the Bull Skin Realm.
There was a boar-type Black Beast, a bird-type Black Beast, and a rat-type Black Beast.
That rat-type Black Beast was the size of a small dog. Although not strong, it was extremely agile.
It took the two of them quite a while to catch and kill it.
However, Bull Skin Realm Black Beasts don't have Black Crystals, and their meat is inedible. They're practically useless.
The two tossed the corpse aside, mounted their horses, and continued on their way.
"Why are we running into so many Black Beasts this time?" Jiang Che was a little curious.
"I don't know either." Sun Yong shook his head.
"Usually, we might encounter a Black Beast once in ten trips. It's strange that we've run into four in a row this time. But thankfully, they're all Bull Skin Realm, so they're not too hard to deal with."
"Where do these Black Beasts come from?" Jiang Che asked.
"I don't know much. They say they usually stay in the mountains and rarely come down unless they can't find food. And they hate sunlight, so they generally only come out at night."
"So, if you want to capture Black Beast Cubs, you have to go into the mountains?" Jiang Che asked, remembering how Exotic Beasts were raised.
"That's right. The mountains are extremely dangerous. You could run into a whole pack of Black Beasts if you're not careful. That's why you need at least ten Martial Artists traveling together to even dare go up there," Sun Yong sighed.
"I see."
Jiang Che finally understood why even Low-Grade Exotic Beast Meat sold for such a high price.
Although Bull Skin Realm Black Beasts were easy to defeat, finding their cubs was extremely difficult.
"For the Black Beasts to be acting so abnormally now, I'm afraid it might be..." Sun Yong said suddenly.
"Might be what?" Jiang Che asked, curious.
"I heard this from the elders in my family." Sun Yong seemed lost in thought. "They say that a hundred years ago, there was a Black Beast stampede. They broke through city walls, ate anyone they saw, and millions of people died because of it!"
"Something like that really happened?!" Jiang Che was shocked.
"Well, it might not be true. My family's elders just heard it from somewhere else. After all, they weren't even born a hundred years ago," Sun Yong said with a laugh.
Jiang Che didn't ask any more questions.
But a vague sense of unease settled in his heart.
'The mass disappearances in the city, the appearance of a green-eyed monster, the strange increase in Black Beasts outside the city, and that mysterious Li Yuanwai's Mansion...'
Jiang Che felt that all these things seemed to be connected, but he had no clue what was actually going on.
「On the third day,」 the convoy finally reached Hengsha City.
Looking at the familiar city gates, Jiang Che felt a slight knot of tension in his stomach.
The incident at Li Yuanwai's Mansion last time had put him under a lot of pressure.
His parents were likely there, but he was powerless to do anything about it, which also made him feel very anxious.
But he also knew that he was too weak right now. He didn't have the ability to investigate, so he could only do his best to restrain himself.