Chapter 267 — Ambush [Second Update]

Zuo Yan's hands were practiced and sure. Within moments, all that remained on the Mingxiao disciple's body was a single pair of undershorts.

The only disappointment was that the man hadn't carried as much loot as he'd hoped. The Xiaochen Sand especially—he had searched the fellow's entire body and found not a second grain. That result was plainly unsatisfactory.

His palm opened slightly, and moisture gathered swiftly at its center, coalescing into a sphere of water. Zuo Yan slapped the ball of water across the Mingxiao disciple's face.

The Mingxiao disciple came to groggily.

The chill sweeping over his bare body told him in the shortest possible time what had happened. Like an innocent little lamb, he trembled and stared at Zuo Yan in terror.

"I'm going to ask you a few questions. Answer honestly, and I'll spare your life." Zuo Yan bared his teeth in a grin.

To the Mingxiao disciple, that grin was a great gray wolf opening its bloody maw before him, a few shreds of flesh still clinging to its white, gleaming fangs.

He could not stop shaking. At last he understood: this dark-skinned fellow was not the least bit afraid of the Heqi Sect.

His mind went blank. How could this be? How could there still be a cultivator in Mount Little Realm who did not fear the Heqi Sect?

Seeing the blankness in the other's eyes, Zuo Yan grew impatient, killing intent plainly written on his face. "I don't have time to dawdle with you!"

The man gave a start, jolted from his daze, and swallowed hard. "Ask, sir! Ask away!"

"Did you see a gray shadow earlier? Moving very fast!" Zuo Yan fixed his eyes on the Mingxiao disciple's.

"A gray shadow? What gray shadow?" The disciple's gaze was vacant.

Zuo Yan's heart sank. He had kept his eyes on the man the whole time and knew he was not lying. Had those four earlier been deceiving him? Doubt surged in his mind, and he said coldly, "I met four men just now. They said they saw it, in this direction."

"I didn't see it—" The Mingxiao disciple's voice suddenly rose to a shriek. "Four men? Was there a woman among them?"

"That's right!" From the man's reaction, Zuo Yan knew at once that he had been played.

"Damn it! Liu Donghua, you bastard, you dare do this to me!" The Mingxiao disciple spat curses, then caught Zuo Yan's cold stare and hastened to explain and plead his case. "Sir! You've been tricked! Those four are disciples of our own sect too. They deliberately led you this way to ruin our business—"

He clamped his mouth shut.

"Business? What business?" Zuo Yan narrowed his eyes.

"N-nothing... just that a few of us senior brothers..."

Seeing the man stammer and look flustered, Zuo Yan wasted no words—his hand closed directly around the other's throat.

The terrifying strength in Zuo Yan's fingers nearly frightened the soul out of him. He dared not hesitate for an instant, and the words poured out of him like beans from a sack. "It's a secret realm! A secret realm! We found a secret realm! Its entrance can only be opened by a cultivator who understands the Five Elements! None of us inside are skilled in the Five Elements! Liu Donghua and his lot wanted a share too, but Senior Brother Huang drove them off! So... so..."

Only then did Zuo Yan understand.

So it was a secret realm!

He had wondered why Mingxiao disciples would come all the way to Mount Little Realm; now he knew the reason. He could not help a bitter smile. Though the words "secret realm" set his heart racing, finding that foolish bird mattered more just now.

He asked at once, "Where did this grain of Xiaochen Sand come from? Don't tell me this is the only one! Hmph!"

"This grain of Xiaochen Sand was bestowed upon me by my master when he was alive. There is only this one." Seeing the disbelief on Zuo Yan's face, he smiled bitterly. "Xiaochen Sand is a treasure of our sect, produced by our guardian spirit beast, the Burrowing Earth Rhinoceros. We obtain a single grain every three years. These days the rhinoceros is held by the Patriarch—no one else dares touch it."

"You have neither this nor that, and you still hope to keep your life?" Zuo Yan said coldly.

"I—I—I—" Frightened witless, the disciple began to babble incoherently. Then all at once his spirits rallied. "The gray shadow! The gray shadow! I remember now! I never saw the gray shadow you spoke of, but I heard a senior brother speak of it!"

Seeing the faint mockery on Zuo Yan's face, he grew more frantic. "It's true! I swear a poison oath! I am not lying! It was Senior Brother Lei. He said he saw a gray shadow just now and thought some treasure had come forth from the earth and tried to catch it. But the shadow was too fierce—Senior Brother Lei said that wisp of gray qi seemed not to belong among the Five Elements at all. It must be a treasure..."

At this, Zuo Yan's spirits rose. Other things might be used to fool him, but the phrase "not among the Five Elements" made him believe a good part of it.

"Where did that gray mass go afterward?"

"I don't know. Senior Brother Lei didn't say."

"What's his name?"

"Lei Hao."

"How many of you are there?"

"Twenty-two."

Zuo Yan asked a few more questions for detail, and the disciple dared not conceal the slightest thing, spilling everything. When the questioning was done, Zuo Yan looked satisfied—yet his hand gave a gentle squeeze.

The disciple's neck shattered on the spot, a look of disbelief still frozen on his face.

With a light flick of his hand, Zuo Yan dropped the lifeless corpse down through the clouds. He had never intended to spare the fellow. He and the Heqi Sect were mortal enemies now, and this was Mount Little Realm besides. Only a disciple fresh out of the sect could believe his enemy would let him live.

The female cultivator stood beside him, motionless.

A sudden impulse came over him. His figure sank downward, abruptly vanishing into the thick clouds. Glancing to the side, he saw the female cultivator still beside him—through the mist only a hazy silhouette. He smiled faintly.

Had he not seen her with his own eyes, he would not have sensed her aura in the slightest, though she stood less than a zhang away. It was always so. No matter how he swept the area with his spiritual sense, he could detect not a trace of her aura. Often the female cultivator gave him a cold feeling; in her he could sense an eerie power, yet he could find no breath of life.

Zuo Yan withdrew his gaze and took the Shadowless Cloak from his ring. He tied the cicada-wing-thin garment about himself, and his aura grew fainter and fainter. After a moment he seemed to vanish into thin air, his presence utterly gone.

After a while, four figures appeared where Zuo Yan had just been.

"He lingered here a while. Eh, there seems to be that idiot Lu Hui's aura too." Liu Donghua cautiously probed the surroundings, then showed a satisfied expression. "Looks like they've already come to blows."

"There are only two of them, and Huang Zhuoguang's side has more than twenty." The junior brother beside him shook his head.

It was plain that Liu Donghua led the four. He was around forty, the brilliance in his eyes turned inward. He chuckled. "Not necessarily. This man's strength is extraordinary. The woman beside him especially—she is unfathomable. Among us senior brothers, I doubt anyone is her match."

"That fierce?" The other three showed shock in unison.

Liu Donghua's expression turned grave. "Yes. Everyone must be careful soon, and on no account start a conflict with them. Those two are no ordinary comers—do not underestimate the cultivators of Mount Little Realm. They are hardened by slaughter; we cannot compare."

The other three looked dismissive. All along this journey, whenever they declared themselves of the Heqi Sect, people either flattered and fawned, or showed open fear.

Seeing this, Liu Donghua knew words were wasted and said no more.