In the dark night, the wind blew and the moonlight felt cold.
The thick night was like a hand that represented death holding the brush of the Life and Death Book, painting everything in hazy ink and forming a picture of death.
Everything was grayish-black.
Only the blood dripping from the wound on the wanted criminal's neck became the most shocking color in this grayish-black world.
This lasted until the gentle footsteps echoed and a gray figure slowly walked into the painting. It replaced the glare of the blood and became the most intense cold outside the inn on Panquan Road.
This cold seemed to cause the dripping blood to freeze for a moment. It also made the eyes of the old man at the entrance of the inn narrow as he looked at the figure walking over.
His black hair draped over his shoulders and his slender figure was tall and straight. His cold gaze coupled with his well-defined face was like a blade that was slowly being unsheathed.
It was Xu Qing.
His expression was calm. Under the gaze of the old man from Panquan Road, he walked step by step to the side of the corpse. He removed the corpse's leather pouch and expressionlessly slashed out his dagger. He caught the head of the corpse and kicked the decapitated body lightly.
The corpse landed at the old man's feet.
The old man's expression was gloomy but the sound of wind could be heard from behind him. The head of the large snake whistled out. The moment it saw Xu Qing, its eyes clearly revealed some light.
"Gurgle, gurgle."
"It's my treat." Xu Qing glanced at the snake and calmly spoke.
The large snake was very happy. It swallowed the corpse in one gulp and nodded at Xu Qing.
"Xu Qing, don't go too far!" The old man from Panquan Road stared fixedly at Xu Qing as he coldly spoke.
Xu Qing also looked at the old man but his right hand suddenly waved. Immediately, the dagger in his hand shot into the distance, breaking through the wind and emitting a sharp whistling sound. It replaced the screams and nailed the space between the brows of another wanted criminal who was speeding over.
The tremendous force caused this person's skull to shatter. As red and white splattered down at the same time, his body was swept back by the force by twenty feet and landed heavily on the ground.
The old man's brows twitched. He could sense that the Xu Qing in front of him seemed to be even more powerful than when he was on the Sea Lizard Island. He felt worried.
"What exactly do you want?!" The old man glared at Xu Qing angrily, and the veins on his face bulged. A sense of danger spread out from his body, and ropes appeared out of thin air in the surroundings.
However, at the instant they appeared, a fiery force erupted from Xu Qing's body, forming a high temperature that swept in all directions. Immediately, the ropes bent one after another, not daring to get close.
A tragic cry suddenly rang out from not far away.
That was the third wanted criminal who came here. Just by approaching this place, his entire body turned greenish-black and he died from the poison.
Xu Qing didn't bother with these dead wanted criminals. He looked at the old man's neck and weighed whether he could kill him. His aura gradually became colder and colder.
The old man stared at Xu Qing and felt stifled. He naturally knew the other party's motive for coming here but his heart really ached at the thought of giving away a few thousand spirit stones. When he asked earlier, he planned to use the excuse that he had given him a storage bag as a reason to not give spirit stones.
However, Xu Qing didn't say a word. The old man understood that it was useless for him to speak, especially since the other party's aura already contained killing intent. The old man's heart began to thump as he felt a life-and-death crisis.
"Xu Qing, don't be rash. I have a trump card!! The trump card is this inn. It only looks like an inn but in reality, it's a <anno data-annotation-id="045957cb-c2df-4a34-a373-ab674406df03">bizarre</anno> entity. It's currently in a deep sleep. Once it wakes up, the Seven Blood Eyes' First Peak will immediately come to suppress it. At that time, you'll be finished as well!!"
The old man spoke extremely quickly. After he finished speaking, the entire inn rumbled. A terrifying fluctuation spread out from the tables, chairs, and all the bricks of the inn. It was as though the inn had become a monster and was about to awaken.
Xu Qing's eyes narrowed. The sense of danger he felt at this moment was extremely intense and he instantly took a few steps back.
As for the large snake, it had been lying in the distance the entire time and watching curiously. It did not help anyone as though it believed that the two of them wouldn't fight. It sensed the changes in the inn but its expression seemed to reveal a hint of intimacy. Its head rubbed against the ground as though it was greeting the inn.
However, after sensing that Xu Qing was looking at it, it hurriedly gurgled and nodded continuously, as though it was telling Xu Qing that the old man was speaking the truth.
"Xu Qing, I'm not a human. This inn isn't just an inn. It's a bizarre entity, and my race has the ability to put bizarre entities to sleep."
"Many years ago, I brought the sleeping entity to the Seven Blood Eyes to sell it to the First Peak. However, the First Peak didn't give me money immediately and asked me to guard this bizarre entity for ten years. I had no choice. The amount they promised me was too much, so I agreed. However, I'm still poor and I still have to spend my own resources to cultivate."
"Also, Huang Yan and I are good friends. I saved Zhang San's life and the captain of Team Six and I are life-and-death friends. Xu Qing, don't be rash. We can also become good friends. The clues I gave you about the wanted criminals before were real. I didn't want to harm you."
Xu Qing's expression was gloomy. He looked at the old man who was quickly explaining and then at the inn. In the darkness of the night, the inn seemed to have transformed into a ghastly mouth that could devour everything.
He knew that this old man wasn't simple and definitely had a life-saving method which was why he didn't make a move previously. However, he still didn't expect that the old man's trump card would be the inn itself!
<annotations style="display: none;"><ol class="tinymce-annotation-container"><li data-annotation-id="045957cb-c2df-4a34-a373-ab674406df03">bizarre/strange (诡异) usually means related to supernatural stuffs like ghosts or unexplainable entities.</li></ol></annotations>",
