Xu Xiaoshou looked quite stunned. In a dazed manner, he asked, "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Why? Hehehe... why?"

Lan Xinzi's shoulder could not stop shaking, and she appeared unable to contain her crazy laugh.

Such a childish question?

Why?

Were there so many "whys" around this world?

Why did you not ask why I was born a servant, eh?

Why did I not dare to kill the kid from the Zhao family who dared to laugh at me, even though I became one of the Inner Yard Thirty-three, eh?

Why did I get to where I am now, something I could only dream of in the past, but still failed to get what I wish for?

The Spirit Palace—it was just like how Zhao Qingteng put it, had now become a prison for her.

Huh!

Lan Xinzi suddenly walked up to Xu Xiaoshou and lifted his chin. In a chilling tone, she said, "You tell me why I am telling you all of this, then."

Her emotional state instantly took a turn for the worse, and she howled in a shrilled voice. "Someone who's been caged can only remain silent and has no right to ask why!"

The surrounding atmosphere changed drastically the minute she uttered those words. The sound of rumbling came from above.

A storm was brewing, and Lan Xinzi no longer bothered hiding anything. Her raging spiritual source burst from her energy reserve, surging into her right hand, which held Xu Xiaoshou's chin.

From the moment she saw Xu Xiaoshou, she wanted to strike him down in the Spirit Palace.

The rules of the Inner Yard prohibited it. But she did not care.

Swoop!

There was another faint rumble in the air, and it halted the spiritual source that had caused the weather to change.

Everything suddenly froze at that moment.

A blood-stained black sword plunged through Lan Xinzi's chest and was sticking out her back. It drew itself out again from her body and then moved back to strike her once more.

Pfftt!

More blood splattered as the sword went right through her torso for the second time.

Xu Xiaoshou behaved casually and pushed her hand off his chin before taking a step back.

"You are sick."

To everyone around them, the remarkably calm voice sounded like it came from a grim reaper.

Lan Xinzi looked down at her body and could not believe what just happened.

The bloody hole in her chest was the size of two fists. It was a solid testament of why she was not the only one who wanted to kill Xu Xiaoshou when she first saw him.

He was trying to do the same to her.

She wondered what made him dare to make a move in the presence of everyone there.

She wondered how he broke through her defense so effortlessly.

Despite not having much of any defensive measures, she was still at the Upper Spiritual Stage. She was at the peak level.

The crowd immediately went crazy.

In the beginning, everyone thought the two were only teasing each other. Then the crowd saw Lan Xinzi's movements becoming increasingly erratic.

What they did not expect in the end was for Xu Xiaoshou to draw first blood... And he did it in the nick of time.

Had those two been trying to kill each other from the very start?

Every one shuddered, for their minds could not keep up with what was happening.

While everyone could see what Lan Xinzi had been trying to do, none saw what was coming from Xu Xiaoshou.

"Holy sh*t! Quick, someone, call the law enforcers!"

"Oh man, Xu Xiaoshou is so done for! Oh, my goodness! Someone get Young Master Zhang! They are going all out this time!"

"Not only Young Master Zhang. If the lunatic He Yuxing were to get here from the Tribunal, he would go crazy one more time!"

"Hmm, the way you put it..."

"Man, I look forward to it!"

"..."

: Impressed, Passive Points +12.

: Doubted, Passive Points +17.

: Resented, Passive Points +9.

"..."

None of the chatter made Xu Xiaoshou regret what he just did.

He had already killed several people who should not have died throughout his journey, and he never regretted it even once. The woman in front of him hardly a cause for any regret.

If someone were to ask him if there was someone whom he wanted to kill in the Spirit Palace, the answer would be obvious.

Zhang Xinxiong was at the top of the list, and among them, this crazy, guilty woman before him would be there as well.

Sometimes, the Lord of the Underworld was far less terrifying and far less hated than those who were out to do evil.

Xu Xiaoshou did not know if the one who sent killers to assassinate him was Zhang Xinxiong or the woman before him. Or could it be He Yuxing whom he had never met?

Whoever it was, he could tell that something was amiss with how the woman spoke.

The woman was a psychopath, through and through. She could kill people just for sport and without reason.

Just simply being displeased was more than enough to rile her up and make her determined to spill his blood on the spot.

No one could tolerate something like this.

They were both trying to ambush one another. However, Xu Xiaoshou's Sense had given him a decisive edge in predicting her attack.

He could sense the slight leak of spiritual source fluctuations and the bursting power of the muscles right before she was about to strike. It enabled him to time his move.

The way he saw it, the woman had a death wish coming.

"Still alive, huh?" Xu Xiaoshou suddenly asked.

Lan Xinzi held her hand against her chest and spat blood as soon as she heard his question.

Her eyes were filled with nothing but deep rage and resentment, but she relented.

Her spiritual source burst out, and she instantly cauterized her wounds, but it barely stopped the bleeding.

As soon as she took out a pill, it vaporized and scattered to the side.

Huh?

Lan Xinzi turned around in panic and immediately shivered. Standing at her immediate right was Xu Xiaoshou.

"What kind of pill is this? Seems like more than a grade higher than the Red Gold Pills," Xu Xiaoshou asked.

Lan Xinzi was speechless.

What kind of witchcraft was this?

Xu Xiaoshou could stop others from recovering?

Seeing that she was not about to answer him, Xu Xiaoshou then wore an apologetic expression on his face.

"I am sorry. But if you say nothing now, you will not have the chance to say anything forever."

A white bathtub appeared in his hand as soon as he spoke. He immediately brought it down onto Lan Xinzi.

Everyone was shocked, watching him.

All of them could see that Xu Xiaoshou was not going easy on her at all. Bringing down such a massive cauldron on the woman convinced them he simply wanted to get rid of her on the spot.

Clang!

Then a loud noise resulting from the clash of two heavy objects made everyone cower and back away anxiously.

"A man in black!"

Xu Xiaoshou narrowed his eyes and saw that a law enforcer had arrived at the scene just in time to save Lan Xinzi.

He steeled himself and ignored the law enforcer. Xu Xiaoshou leaped high over the law enforcer's head with the bathtub in his hand. Then he came crashing down on Lan Xinzi, who was frantically trying to escape.

"Xu Xiaoshou, stop!"

The shout from the enforcer sounded utterly helpless.

Everyone then saw Xu Xiaoshou bringing the law enforcer down, sinking him into the ground with only his head left sticking out. None of them knew what to say about his action against the law enforcer.

"Is Xu Xiaoshou a monster or something?"

"Doing serious injury to one of the 33 with two thrusts of his sword and pummeling a law enforcer into the ground with one blow from the bathtub?"

"Wait a minute, the last time I saw him, he was only a Spiritual Cultivation level nine, no?"

"What?"

"Okay, be clear here. Who was it at Spiritual Cultivation level nine again?"

"Xu Xiaoshou. Who else could it be? Me, you think?"

"..."

Clang!

Another loud noise rang through the air, silencing the chatter in the crowd and causing everyone to wince at what just happened.

What the hell, man? Yet another carrot got stuck in the ground, eh?

"Xu Xiaoshou, you cannot kill me! This is the Inner Yard! Killing is against the law!" screamed Lan Xinzi, who now looked exhausted and desperate. Looks of terror consumed her eyes.

"I know. So, it is now time to meet your doom!" replied Xu Xiaoshou.

He was getting rather anxious. Men in black were already coming in from all sides by then. If he were to delay any longer, he would miss the chance of killing this woman.

Lan Xinzi was one of the veteran 33, which meant that her movements were rather unpredictable.

Despite being severely injured, she could still turn around and run when he was just about to grab hold of her.

The men in black had stopped him just in time, twice.

Sh*t!

"Your movements are every bit on par with Master level Agility!"

Xu Xiaoshou frowned and thought that all those veterans were indeed wealthy.

Since he could not catch up with her, he gave up on the pursuit. He stopped and put down the bathtub, then extended his hand.

Lan Xinzi could no longer detect any movement behind her as she ran. She turned her head around right away to see what was happening.

What she saw made her skin crawl.

Xu Xiaoshou had conjured up five fire seeds in his hand. The raging energies from them were enough to make anyone's legs wobble.

That was not all. Xu Xiaoshou seemed to look worried that the force from those five seeds would not be enough, so he extended his other hand as well.

Lan Xinzi did not know what to think or say.