Let us go back in time...

Xu Xiaoshou headed straight for the mountains without stopping after he parted with Mu Zixi.

​​

Possessing the Agility Skill of the Master Stage meant that he could traverse the entire length of the Inner Yard within mere seconds, and could travel at hair-raising speed to his new home in no time at all.

He then put his long-range surveillance plan to work.

As he had upgraded his Sense Skill, he could easily see everything the three were up to in the mountains. He not only saw what they did but could hear everything said, to the extent of even hearing their noses snorting. He assessed their tones and observed their body language.

Xiao Qixiu made his appearance almost at the same time as Xu Xiaoshou did. The masked man had stabbed Xiao Qixiu effortlessly when they last clashed. Thus, he speculated that the masked man would dispose of the Elder Xiao just as quickly.

However, what happened next was not something that Xu Xiaoshou had expected.

The masked man chatted away for quite a while before he made Xiao Qixiu spit out blood. Xu Xiaoshou deemed the taunting to be just too unbelievably long.

He vaguely recalled the time he met the masked man at the Goose Lake. The masked man did not seem like a talkative person.

Of course, Xu Xiaoshou knew it may probably have had something to do with him talking too much then. He had seen how the masked man took on so many opponents on his own back then. Judging from his personality, Xu Xiaoshou could tell that the masked man was someone who did not like to talk much.

"The guy could kill the Elder with a single blow. Why would he bother wasting so much time talking then?"

It was the first question that came to his mind.

Xu Xiaoshou had been eavesdropping on the entire conversation. But despite that, there was no notification appearing on the Information Bar showing it—no one had detected him. That was the second question running through in his mind.

How could it be possible?

He understood how the masked man could mess around with Xiao Qixiu's psychological state. But despite the distance between him and those three, he wondered why someone as powerful as the masked man could not immediately detect him while he was snooping on them.

Did he not see me?

Impossible!

But as puzzled as he was, he could only assess that the masked man simply failed to detect his presence.

Xu Xiaoshou doubted his assessment at first. But as he heard how their conversation unfolded, and when in the end the masked man walked away from Elder Xiao, he felt something did not seem right...

Somehow, the entire exchange felt like a trick to Xu Xiaoshou, for he was familiar with such modus operandi.

Then his eyes glinted when he realized the ruse.

The masked man was putting on a bluff!

It was just like how Xu Xiaoshou had bluffed his way and intimidated both Feng Kong and Shao Yi back then.

Xiao Qixiu did not notice any of it because he was caught in the middle of it, but Xu Xiaoshou could distinctly see everything from the outside.

Why would the masked man go about giving such lengthy speeches? Why would he walk instead of fly when he left?

The guy was hiding something!

Xu Xiaoshou recalled when he first met the masked man and how he had unexpectedly hurt him. When he had thought about it later, all of it had seemed almost impossible.

But yet it was what happened. Not only had Xu Xiaoshou been able to hurt the masked man, but the masked man also seemed to have coughed out blood as well.

He had previously ignored those details. But presently, when he compared what happened then with what was taking place, it led him to a conclusion.

The masked man had sustained some injury. While he was still very formidable, he would plunge into a weakened state if he were to make an attack. If he were to bear it out and entered his combat state, it would put him at risk.

He could do it, but he would probably have to pay a very steep price for risking it.

It was why the masked man had to chatter away when facing off against Xiao Qixiu instead of just going straight in for the kill.

It must have been the reason he chose to walk—he probably could not even fly.

Xu Xiaoshou got even more flustered when he came to that conclusion.

If he had misinterpreted the facts and if he were to make a wrong move, it would undoubtedly mean he was going to be killed.

Then he later saw the masked man walking at a steady pace in his direction.

The masked man did not walk toward Xu Xiaoshou intentionally. It was nothing more than a coincidence.

And how did he know this? Because there was no prompt from the Information Bar at all.

If the masked man were to walk up to Xu Xiaoshou because he saw Xu Xiaoshou, there would have been a "Watched" prompt appearing on the bar.

Xu Xiaoshou was done holding back.

The guy stole Su Qianqian's sword and messed up Elder Xiao badly. And here he was, walking up to Xu Xiaoshou like he owned the place. Who the hell could bear something like that?

The important thing was that it seemed highly possible that the masked man was in a severely weakened state.

"This is an opportunity like no other!" Xu Xiaoshou muttered.

Xu Xiaoshou felt the urge to take action immediately.

He drew the Hiding Pain and wanted to charge at the masked man. Then he thought it might not be the best way to do it.

After all, it was the masked man he was dealing with there. If the masked man were to get angry enough to ignore his injuries and retaliate, Xu Xiaoshou might just get snuffed out before he knew what was happening!

Xu Xiaoshou wondered how he should go about it.

He turned around and looked at the long path in the woods behind him, then pondered.

The masked man had just convinced Xiao Qixiu to drop his sword and was walking around the corner before he immediately noticed that something did not look right.

There was another masked man right in front of him, and he was charging out of the woods. That in itself was bad enough, but there was more...

Not only was the man charging at him wearing a mask, but he had also covered his eyes.

What looked even more frightening was how the man was holding a black sword high, running as he practiced his techniques while muttering some words.

"White Cloud Sword Techniques, Dark Cloud Sword Techniques…"

What the hell?

What was wrong with the fellow?

Why would there be someone like that in the Spirit Palace?

The masked man looked utterly baffled.

His powers had deteriorated so much that he had even lost his spiritual sense, which naturally meant that he could not detect the lunatic in advance.

He had just finished taking on Su Qianqian's Sword Will, and his injuries got worse. It was a painstaking effort to talk to Xiao Qixiu until he fell to his knees. It meant that he had nothing left to take on the lunatic in front of him.

So, he stepped aside and made way for the lunatic to pass. It was the first time in his life that he gave way to another person.

His reasoning was simple. The passerby was but a madman, and it was not worth it.

"Huh? Someone is around here?" muttered the lunatic.

The lunatic unexpectedly halted and quickly made way for the masked man in an exceedingly polite manner.

Suddenly, they came face to face with each other.

No one said a word for that fleeting moment...

The masked man was flustered and did his best to avoid the path of the lunatic's attack.

Both of them gradually closed in on each other, and the lunatic muttered something again.

"It is not right that guy should move out of the way for me. I cannot hurt him."

The lunatic then shifted to the side with his sword after muttering those words, then suddenly swung his sword in a flamboyant arc at the masked man.

The masked man almost spat blood right there and then. He wanted to move, yet the distance between the two of them was too close for him to move out of the way.

Instantly, the lunatic stabbed his black sword mercilessly into the masked man's chest. The force of the strike was akin to a charging bull, almost crushing every bone in his body.

BOOM!

The masked man dropped to the ground and clutched at the sword sticking in his chest, never expecting to fall into the hands of a running lunatic in the dead of night.

...

Xu Xiaoshou continued to pretend to act like a lunatic, then tilted his head as if he could not understand why he ran into someone.

He then squatted down before the masked man, who was lying on the ground.

"Sorry, I did not mean to do it."

Xu Xiaoshou wrapped his face as tightly as he could. He wanted to prevent the masked man from identifying him. He even changed the tone of his voice, hoping that it would make it difficult to establish his identity.

"Cough!"

The masked man spat blood right away, panting hard as he stared at the sword stuck in his chest.

Did the lunatic say he did not mean to do it? How could he stick a sword into someone and then said that?

The masked man then took out a piece of communication jade.

Xu Xiaoshou was fast enough to detect it and took the jade away. He said, "Dude, I honestly did not mean to do this. Do not call anyone, okay? I am scared."

The masked man was speechless.

His body went into violent spasms from his wound, and blood was gushing out.

: Cursed, Passive Points +1.

Xu Xiaoshou could see blood continuing to ooze out of the masked man. He could finally confirm that the masked man was indeed in a very weakened state. Xu Xiaoshou then continued to chatter away.

"We are both night joggers. I am sure we can come to an understanding."

Pfftt!

"Oops, my bad. I forgot my sword is still stuck in your body. Let me get it out first."

"You…" muttered the masked man.

"Just stop moving!"

Xu Xiaoshou leaned down to pull the sword. He deliberately moved it quite a few times as he pretended to remove it. It almost killed the masked man on the spot.

But before Xu Xiaoshou could pull out the black sword, the masked man endured the pain and unexpectedly picked himself up off the ground. He tore off half of the mask that Xu Xiaoshou used to cover his face.

Both of them looked surprised, and the scene looked like someone had just pressed the pause button in the middle of a play, freezing the frame.

Xu Xiaoshou, stunned, forgot to keep babbling away like a lunatic, and the masked man was too shocked to release the tension of his body.

Drip!

Drip!

Trickle!

The black sword was still dripping blood, and a puddle of blood formed on the ground. The pupils of the masked man dilated quickly.

: Doubted, Passive Points +1.

: Begrudged, Passive Points +1.

Gulp!

Xu Xiaoshou swallowed hard and felt his lips drying up. His face was as white as a sheet.