Tang Ye discerned the ear-splitting that he heard sound from the ring’s direction was a product of Ming Feizhen returning to fight Luo Ming. Never once was he convinced Luo Ming would succeed, even when he joined Luo Ming, for one reason: Ming Feizhen was on the other team. Tang Ye had never seen anyone on Ming Feizhen’s level despite the mileage he had clocked and the wide circumference of his travels. For the above reason, he felt he couldn’t return to Liu Shan Men as casually as he joined Luo Ming.
As Tang Ye raced across Whale God Island, his alarms wailed to him. The only clue he had of his target was the one glimpse he had a while ago. He finally found a faint trace of his target in the forest; the trace of his target impelled him to run as fast as he could, lest he be late. When he found his target near the rearranged landscape of the ring, he called, “A-Ji, what are you doing?”
Whether it was an act or not, A-Ji burst out laughing hysterically at the heavens: “Why are you here? For me? What do you want me for, bro?”
Tang Ye wasn’t the only one who didn’t believe A-Ji was as amiable as the smile he always wore suggested; Tang Ye had seen the fangs behind A-Ji’s smile more than once. Although Tang Ye was grateful to A-Ji for teaching him how to utilise his new internal energy and imparting Luo Clan’s swordplay, he judged A-Ji to be more dangerous than Poison King. Hence, he chose to nip A-Ji in the bud instead of Poison King to make up for his betrayal.
“What are you doing here? This fun?” A-Ji wore on the sort of a straight face an elder brother would when pestering his younger brother to leave. “Whale God Island is now fraught with danger. Since he finished his sword, Patriarch Luo has been on an indiscriminate killing spree, and we’re close to the ring. What did you come here for? Leave. I can handle this.”
“That being the case, what are you doing here?”
“As a head smith of Luo Sword Manor, I can’t walk off when they’re facing a crisis. You’re not one of us. Actually, it looks to me like you plan to go back to eating the government’s forage. Oh wells, there’s nothing to gain from following us suicidal pugilistic world folks around.” A-Ji wagged his hands, acting as though the “government’s forage” and being “suicidal” weren’t part of the gig with his identity as a blacksmith of Luo Clan.
“That thing in the black cloth on your back is Luo Clan’s Purple Forbidden Enclosure Dragon Slayer, isn’t it?”
Though A-Ji’s smile was still there, he stopped flapping his hand.
“I spotted you hiding near the ring, but I lost track of you when I went after you. I’ve been in the smithing workshop and witnessed the sword’s power in Luo Ming’s hands, so I remember it oozes freezing energy… I don’t know how you obtained it… You’ve been after it from the beginning, though, haven’t you?”
A-Ji spread his eyes as wide as he could, huffing and puffing similar to someone about to pass out from shock. “How did you guess so accurately?” He still had his signature smile, but those diluted pupils contrasted it. “How did you find me? Just based on the sword? Weird. I used a special material to wrap it up; nobody should’ve been able to sense it unless they’re close.”
“Blood…” Tang Ye’s gaze made its way behind A-Ji. Whether or not it was A-Ji’s intent to cover the scene, Tang Ye could see a lifeless hand on the ground. “Even though Luo Ming did kill a lot of people, for some reason, only smoke could be smelt later, so the smell of blood shouldn’t be so prominent here… Who did you kill for the sword?”
A-Ji clapped in praise: “I should’ve expected as much. I knew you had a knack for this. That said, I didn’t expect to slip up on something so minor. I should’ve been more forgiving. Bro, can you not falsely accuse me, though? What do you mean I killed? I…” A-Ji used his foot to flick up a young man and seize him by the hair – dishevelled and bloodied Luo Siming. He shook Luo Siming around while the latter could barely groan, yet he acted as if he was being wrongly blamed. “He’s our boss’ last son. I wouldn’t be so mean as to kill him. You don’t think I’m that heartless, do you?”
All the mud, blood and tears and Luo Siming’s face suggested he was extremely worked up prior to being starched.
“… Where… are The Four Samuume Swordsmen?”
As Tang Ye pointed out, the smell of blood in this direction was far too prominent to be normal. One person couldn’t possibly have that much blood to bleed. Provided A-Ji wasn’t hiding more, there were a dozen bodies scattered behind him, some still breathing, some headless. Based on the wounds, Purple Forbidden Enclosure Dragon Slayer should be credited. Going off the circumstantial evidence, either Luo Clan must’ve chased A-Ji down after he committed theft or he lured them out to murder.
“The Four Samuume Swordsmen? Are they even human beings?”
No surprise from Tang Ye. The nefarious blood flowing in A-Ji’s blood was always under a microscope to Tang Ye. If A-Ji was going to be arrested one day, Tang Ye wanted to be the one to apprehend him.
“… Why?”
The unfathomable curve at A-Ji’s lips suggested that maybe all of his actions were predicated on a single impetus that he explicated: “Because it’s fun?”
Tang Ye ejected heat energy into the room.
“Yo, what’s this about?” A-Ji caught Tang Ye’s hand on its way in.
“You’re… wrong.”
