Chapter 157 - 156: [The Credit Knifeman Reappears]

Chapter 157: Chapter 156: [The Credit Knifeman Reappears]

"Help—!" The screams of a group of Daoists tore through Divine Void Temple.

"This is bad!" Shouyangzi’s expression changed as he instantly shot out from the bushes. At the same time, his hands flashed, producing two Daoist talismans from who-knows-where, and slapped them onto his legs.

Then, like an arrow loosed from a bow, he shot off toward the meditation chamber.

He Xiaotian also burst out at the first possible moment. He turned to look at the old Daoist keeping pace with him, marveling at the wonders of Daoist arts.

With just two Daoist talismans, the man could actually keep up with him while he was using multiple stacked Qinggong techniques.

It seemed the ancient myths were more than just legends.

Daoxuan stood frozen in place. By the moonlight, he could only make out two dark shadows that zipped past him on either side with a SWOOSH.

The sudden turn of events left him rooted to the spot, unable to move.

A moment later, he collapsed to the ground with a THUD.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and let out a shaky breath, his heart still pounding.

It wasn’t that Daoxuan hadn’t heard the cries for help coming from the meditation chamber.

It was just that He Xiaotian and Shouyangzi had been so blindingly fast that he hadn’t even had time to react. His poor heart was still hammering in his chest.

Meanwhile, a small, tattered figure had already pounced on the wailing and screaming Daoists.

The red glow in its eyes grew even more intense.

A wave of malice so thick it was almost tangible washed over them.

The shorty at the entrance seemed to jump in fright when it saw the thing that was neither human nor ghost.

Then it actually started hopping away, as if it didn’t dare face the figure head-on.

But just as it reached the entrance of the main courtyard, it ran headlong into two figures.

"What the fuck is that?!"

He Xiaotian blurted out, staring at the shorty, who stood less than a meter tall.

"Get it!"

Shouyangzi shouted, his face flushed.

"SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK..."

A strange, garbled cry came from the shorty’s mouth.

Then, a dumbfounding scene unfolded. The creature looked at the two of them—who not only showed no fear but actually looked ready to take it on—and promptly flopped onto the ground.

It looked the very picture of harmlessness, completely at their mercy.

"..."

’Even monsters know how to surrender these days?’

"AHHHH—"

The young Daoists inside the room cried out again.

VMMMM!!

A flash of golden light illuminated the meditation chamber.

At the same time, eight or nine small golden arrows shot out from the Protective Talismans on their chests, flying straight for the bizarre figure.

"Forget about that thing for now. It shouldn’t be much of a threat."

Shouyangzi made a quick judgment; saving the Daoists was the priority.

Since that was the case, He Xiaotian didn’t make a move.

’Besides, it looks like the Experience Points it would give are pathetically low.’

’And Divine Void Temple isn’t my territory anyway. Let it go.’

The two of them dodged the shorty on the ground and darted into the courtyard.

The strange creature lying on the ground seemed to let out a sigh of relief.

It made a garbled sound, got to its feet, and hopped away toward the back mountain.

As it happened, Daoxuan had just recovered.

He was jogging toward the meditation chamber.

And so, human met monster. It was a fateful encounter, right around the corner.

"..."

Daoxuan stared at the sunflower before him, shocked beyond words.

Because on the head of the sunflower, instead of the beloved sunflower seeds, there was a human face.

Yes, that’s right, a human face!!

Can you imagine the ’surprise’ of turning a corner and running into this, on a path where someone had died, knowing full well a murderous monster was lurking about?

Daoxuan could. In that instant, his heart almost stopped beating.

"SKREE-GOO!"

The sunflower seemed very excited to see Daoxuan and suddenly lunged at him.

The young Daoist’s eyes went wide, and he fainted dead away.

His last thought before passing out was, ’It’s over.’

’I’m actually going to be eaten... by a sunflower.’

The poor, helpless, and rather creepy-looking sunflower stood beside Daoxuan, utterly bewildered.

’What happened?’

It would probably never understand the terror that had made Daoxuan’s soul practically leave his body.

CLANG! CLANG!

A rapid succession of nine metallic clashes rang out. The bizarre figure only paused for a moment before lunging at the Daoists again.

"AAAAHHH—"

The men all leaned back, as if that could save them from death.

The Fat Daoist at the very front had already started to roll his eyes back in his head.

Just as the bizarre figure reached out and tore through the protective golden light around his body,

A streak of white light slashed through the wall and shot inside.

CLANG!!

BOOM!

Caught completely off guard, the bizarre figure was struck on the arm by the streak of light, sent flying sideways through another wall, and buried in the rubble.

"Heh heh, looks like I’m not too late."

A person of indeterminate age, dressed like an old farmer, walked in through the massive crack in the wall, holding an astonishingly out-of-place kitchen cleaver.

"A knife-seller?"

He Xiaotian and Shouyangzi had arrived at the entrance to the meditation chamber the moment the streak of white light appeared.

"Yo! It’s the young fella I met on the mountainside last night. I..."

Before he could finish, the ruins rumbled, and bricks and tiles shot out in all directions.

A pair of eyes, flashing with red light, lit up in the darkness.

The next moment, the knife-seller felt a sharp pain in his chest. He was sent flying out the same way he came in.

Except he was flying sideways, and the narrow crack he had just made was not nearly wide enough for him to pass through safely.

BOOM!

An angled, cross-shaped hole appeared in the wall.

Shouyangzi’s eyelid twitched. This was his home, for crying out loud!

ROAR!!

Having sent the knife-seller flying with a single blow, the bizarre figure seemed exhilarated. It roared at He Xiaotian and the others in a display of dominance.

"Cough, cough..."

The knife-seller reappeared, leaning against a wall and coughing up blood.

"Be careful. This thing’s no simple matter. It must be one of the Deceitful People."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he spat out another mouthful of blood, making He Xiaotian wince.

The knife-seller was feeling pretty miserable himself. ’I was just trying to look cool, you know? Did you really have to do me like that?!’

"Old Yang, back off. If you get caught in the crossfire, I’m not taking responsibility." He Xiaotian cracked his neck, which let out a series of KAKA sounds. He looked utterly confident, as if victory was already in his grasp.

"It’s all you! Kill that thing for me!" Shouyangzi said through gritted teeth, looking at the crumbling meditation chamber.

’Damn it all! Doesn’t it know that I, an old Daoist, am dirt poor?’

"No, don’t be reck—" The knife-seller, seeing He Xiaotian was planning to take on the Deceitful Person alone, ignored the blood he was coughing up and hurriedly tried to dissuade him.

’My golden cleaver has been tempered a thousand times, and even the blade energy from my slash couldn’t break its defense. If you go up there, aren’t you just asking to get the shit beaten out of you?’

But before he could even finish the word, the floorboards beneath He Xiaotian’s feet shattered as he stomped a huge crater into the ground.

Then, with a SWOOSH, he vanished.

BOOM!!

A deafening explosion rang out. The Deceitful Person, still standing there roaring and posturing, felt as if its face had just collided with something.

Its body flew backward uncontrollably. Standing in its place was the towering and formidable brute, He Xiaotian.