A mass of black aura suddenly appeared and surged toward the man. His pupils widened as he cried out in terror and turned to flee, but the black aura had already ensnared him. It split into seven streams and poured into his seven orifices.
In the next moment, the man let out a shrill scream. The veins on both his hands bulged as he clutched his own head, fell to the ground, and thrashed about like a fish out of water.
After merely two breaths, he became completely motionless. His flesh withered, his face turned black, and his eyes stared wide open. He was utterly dead!
In the depths of the night, a cultivation method that extinguished all vitality was like an emissary of hell, claiming lives and leaving the others completely terrified!
If Gu Yi had merely possessed astonishing combat strength, they would still have dared to face him. But this evil and unknown cultivation method was so terrifying that they could not summon the courage to confront it at all!
The remaining people no longer dared to linger. Like stray dogs driven from their homes, they fled in panic!
After absorbing that man's death qi, Gu Yi did not pursue and exterminate those who had fled. He let them leave and instead turned toward Ma Wenyuan, who had crashed through the wall!
At that moment, Ma Wenyuan had only just crawled out from the rubble of bricks and stones.
His right arm was broken, his face caved in, several ribs in his chest were fractured, and his entire body was covered in injuries.
When he saw Gu Yi approaching, he let out a strange cry, staggered around, and immediately turned to run. He no longer had the courage to fight Gu Yi again!
“As the family tournament champion, is this all you can do?”
Gu Yi followed behind him at a swift pace and kicked Ma Wenyuan in the back, sending him sprawling to the ground.
“Don’t kill me! If you kill me, the Ma Family will never forgive you!”
Ma Wenyuan fearfully shuffled backward, putting on a cowardly front while speaking harshly.
Gu Yi looked at him coldly. “Inside the red flower pavilion, you provoked me of your own accord.”
“After leaving the Red Flower Pavilion, you wanted to kill me in retaliation.”
“When you want to kill someone else, you should be prepared to be killed in return. Didn’t your lord ever tell you that?”
Gu Yi raised his foot and, with the force of ten thousand jun, stomped fiercely down on Ma Wenyuan’s face!
“No!”
Ma Wenyuan had no strength to dodge or resist. As the sole of the shoe in his eyes grew larger and larger, he let out a shrill scream!
In the next moment, his skull was completely crushed, and the ground was smashed into a depression the size of a washbasin!
After absorbing this man’s death qi, Gu Yi turned toward a dark alley and said calmly, “You’ve followed me for so long. What exactly do you want? If you don’t come out now, this gu will leave first.”
A faint sound came from within the alley. A moment later, a person emerged, dressed in a white robe and possessing a slender build. They seemed to be a young man, but their body was somewhat too short.
The person walked somewhat slowly, yet with a trace of determination. As they gradually approached, Gu Yi heard a powerful heartbeat coming from them.
Were they frightened?
Only when the person drew near did Gu Yi finally see their features clearly by the light of the moon.
With moth-like brows, pearly teeth, an apricot-shaped face, and peach-like cheeks, anyone else who saw them would surely exclaim, “What a handsome young master!” They might even feel that, although the person was a man, sharing a room and sleeping quarters with them would not be unacceptable!
However, Gu Yi recognized the person instantly. He slightly furrowed his brows and said, “Qin Muwan, why is it you?”
Qin Muwan glanced at Ma Wenyuan, who lay on the ground with his head gruesomely shattered like a watermelon. She took a deep breath and suppressed her discomfort before saying, “Some time ago, I was also inside the red flower pavilion. I guessed that Ma Wenyuan would certainly wait outside to ambush and take revenge on you, young master, so I observed from the shadows to see whether I could lend Young Master Gu a hand. I never expected that Young Master Gu’s martial prowess would be so astonishing. It was a close call, but everything turned out fine.”
For some reason, when the words reached her lips, Qin Muwan actually omitted her younger sister, Qin Murong.
“You also went to the Red Flower Pavilion?” Gu Yi looked at her dressing in men’s clothing, shook his head lightly, and chuckled. “It is already deep into the night. Miss Qin, you should return early. Your cultivation level is gone, so be extremely careful.”
Qin Muwan’s beautiful eyes glimmered. She broke into a radiant smile, displaying countless charms. “Young Master Gu, where are you going?”
Gu Yi said, “I was invited to help someone refine a batch of pills.”
Alchemy again?
Qin Muwan had been deeply impressed by the Radiance-Dispelling Pill Gu Yi had refined. Mustering her courage, she said, “Young Master Gu, may I accompany you? I would like to witness the pills you refine once more.”
Gu Yi was taken aback for a moment, then nodded. “All right. Come with me.”
The two of them walked south, one in front of the other.
In the distance, a ma clan member who had fled earlier was hiding in the shadows. He watched coldly as they entered an exceedingly ordinary-looking residence and said in a chilling voice, “Gu Yi, you actually dared to kill the clan patriarch’s son, Ma Wenyuan. The elders of the Ma Family will certainly never forgive you!”
The residence where the imperial preceptor and Liu Fang lived was not large and was utterly ordinary. If Liu Fang had not explained it clearly beforehand, it would have been difficult to distinguish even after walking right up to it.
Gu Yi pushed open the door and entered. There was not even a servant guarding the entrance. But after thinking about it, he merely smiled calmly, understanding the reason.
With the imperial preceptor’s status, there was probably no one who dared to visit him rashly.
There were only a few rooms in the courtyard. At that moment, only one side room still showed lamplight. Through the window paper, Gu Yi recognized that the person inside was the imperial preceptor, who seemed to be reading by candlelight late into the night.
As for Liu Fang, he was sitting before the stone table outside the courtyard. His burly figure was as upright as ever, steady as a mountain.
Hearing the sound of the main door, Liu Fang abruptly turned his head. When he saw Gu Yi, delight appeared in his eyes, and he immediately rose. “Grandmaster Gu, you’ve arrived!”
The old man reading by candlelight inside the room also paused slightly, the book in his hands momentarily still.
Gu Yi entered the courtyard with Qin Muwan and took a jade bottle from his robes. “I had good luck this time and obtained medicinal materials of a very high grade. Earlier, I expected to be able to refine a lower earth rank Life-Extending Pill, which could extend the old man’s life by thirty years. But now, I am confident I can refine an upper-grade earth rank Life-Extending Pill. It should not be a problem to let the old man live another fifty years.”
“Really?” Liu Fang was both astonished and delighted. He bowed to the ground and said gratefully, “Then I shall trouble you with everything, Grandmaster Gu!”
Gu Yi pointed at Qin Muwan and said, “She is a friend of mine. If she becomes tired while I refine the pills later, General Liu, please arrange a place for her to stay. If she wishes to return home, please escort her there.”
Liu Fang glanced at Qin Muwan and nodded. “Rest assured, Grandmaster Gu. I will take good care of this young lady.”
Qin Muwan’s pretty face flushed slightly, and she asked in astonishment, “You could tell that I am a woman?”
Liu Fang laughed heartily. “Don’t be surprised, young lady. This Liu’s cultivation level has already reached the Four Symbols Realm. With merely a listen, I can tell your gender and cultivation level.”
“The Four Symbols Realm! May I ask General Liu for your honorable name?”
Qin Muwan faintly guessed the other person’s identity.
“My humble name is Liu Fang.”
Qin Muwan was finally certain. Could the old man Gu Yi had mentioned be… the current imperial preceptor?
She had heard that the imperial preceptor was approaching the end of one’s natural lifespan and had returned to Dinggong City to peacefully spend his remaining years. Was Gu Yi going to refine a Life-Extending Pill for the imperial preceptor?
She drew a deep breath and suddenly felt that this ordinary residence was filled with an oppressive aura of might pressure.