The man with the rings was shocked, his eyes widening. “I knew you creatures from the southern border weren’t trustworthy! All nonhumans are treacherous and evil!”

The gloomy-looking, half white and half black man had an intimidating smile as he retorted, “You only realized that now?” His voice was hoarse and unpleasant to listen to, like that of a crow. It was as if there were sharp stones grinding in his throat.

The man with the rings said sternly, “You two already pledged your loyalty to the master and established a vow. You’ll definitely suffer the wrath of the world for this.”

The one called Jia Sili giggled coquettishly. “But we didn’t do anything wrong…? It’s not as if we were the ones who killed you; they did. It doesn’t have anything to do with us.”

“You’re merely getting others to do your dirty work for you! Master definitely won’t let you two go!” The man with the rings gritted his teeth in anger. His voice was full of resentment.

“Your master’s already pretty helpless himself; I really don’t think he has the energy to deal with us!” Jia Sili giggled and said, “As for that vow… We’ll be free after helping him with this matter. Actually, aren’t we the ones avenging you here? You should be thanking us.”

The man with the rings opened his mouth. He seemed to want to curse the two, but his injuries were too grave. He had already used up all of his strength after saying so many things, so how could he still hold on? A mouthful of blood poured out, and then he passed away.

Zu An clicked his tongue in wonder. This woman seemed pretty well suited to the path of a keyboard warrior, no? Even though her words didn’t sound all that special, they always stabbed right where it hurt. She had practically killed that man with just words.

He thought for a bit and then said, “Since the two of you have a grudge with their clan’s master, how about we just shake hands and move on? We can all just do what we need to do.”

Jia Sili burst into laughter, her entire body rocking back and forth. “Oh my, this little brother here… I’m honestly so tempted to agree, but we unfortunately made this little vow, you see. We have to complete this mission. Sorry!”

As soon as Jia Sili finished speaking, Zu An suddenly felt that needle-pricking feeling in his head again. Yun Yuqing was already clutching her forehead, her face full of pain.

Zu An harrumphed. He had been caught off guard the previous time, and that was why he had ended up being schemed against. But now that he knew this person was a spirit element expert, he was already on guard.

He summoned the Hundredwarble. Its bright and clear cry instantly sent rings of invisible sound waves out. The stabbing feeling vanished the instant the Hundredwarble appeared, and Yun Yuqing also returned to normal.

Zu An was quite curious. After all, Yun Yuqing was also a spirit element expert due to her Devil’s Eye. Why did she seem to have suffered from that attack?

However, he quickly realized that that was an ability of the Devil Race, and they were currently in the capital. She probably didn’t want to expose her real identity, because that would bring her too much danger.

“Ah?!” Jia Sili voiced her surprise. She clearly hadn’t expected Zu An to retaliate so fiercely. She clutched her head and screamed in pain.

How could Zu An let such a great opportunity go? His figure flickered, and then he reappeared in front of her. The Tai’e Sword was already in his hand, stabbing straight at her throat.

His Grandgale’s instantaneous movement, together with the Bixie Swordplay he had practiced to perfection in Brightmoon City, made his sword thrust fast and precise. He didn’t allow his opponent any room to breathe.

Even though he couldn’t see Jia Sili’s expression, that smile that had always been lingering at the edge of her lips was already gone without a trace. It was easy to imagine just how alarmed she was right now. She subconsciously moved backward to evade, but how could she possibly dodge such an attack?

And yet, at that very instant, a soul banner was thrust into the sword’s path, blocking Zu An’s strike. Jia Sili was also pulled back several zhang.

Peak of the eighth rank... Zu An didn’t continue to attack. The recoil force from that momentary interaction had told him that this white and black yin yang man was definitely not an easy opponent. Meanwhile, if Jia Sili was his partner, then these two were probably at the same rank. Furthermore, it was clear from their unique outfits that they cultivated unusual paths. It was best to collect more information for now.

“Thank you, big brother Shu Shuhao!” Jia Sili patted her chest in alarm after surviving by the skin of her teeth, thanking her comrade.

That yin-yang man is named Shu Shuhao. Why does he have such a weird name?[1] Zu An thought mockingly. However, as they had come from the southern border, he didn’t think too much of it.

Shu Shuhao harrumphed and said, “Stop showing off and being an idiot. You were almost killed by that brat. Don’t you find that embarrassing?”

“Oh no, big brother Shu, please don’t get mad! It has to be this way for it to be fun.” Jia Sili had a lovely smile on her face as she looked at Zu An. “Little brother over there, I didn’t expect you to have the spirit element. We didn’t see that in the information at all!”

“The spirit element is such a rare talent; how could I have the fortune of having something like that? It’s still cute sis over here who’s the true expert in that field,” Zu An responded. In truth, he was curious. The legendary spirit element was something only one in a million cultivators had. He had never met someone with it before, yet he had ended up facing one today. What a pity it was that she was here for his life.

“Cute sis?” Jia Sili was stunned at first, and then her body rocked back and forth with laughter. “That little mouth of yours really knows how to please me.”

Yun Yuqing suddenly harrumphed. “Ah Zu, don’t let that woman fool you. She isn’t some spirit element cultivator, but rather a Spirit Master from the southern border. She excels at spirit subduing arts, and her methods are difficult to defend against. You need to be careful.”

“Spirit Master?” This was the first time Zu An had heard of the term.

Jia Sili voiced her surprise. She was full of curiosity as she looked at Yun Yuqing, remarking, “This lady over here knows quite a lot. There aren’t many of us Spirit Masters left already.”

Yun Yuqing looked away. She clearly didn’t want to look at the woman’s flirtatious appearance or talk to her.

“Oh my, oh my! Look at how pure and innocent this girl is acting. I’ll have big brother Shu over here properly subdue you and teach you a lesson. Let’s see if you can continue to act so arrogantly then,” Jia Sili said with a giggle. Her voice was charming and gentle, but the words she spoke were incredibly sinister.

Shu Shuhao stared at her coldly and replied, “Not interested. I’m only interested in ice-cold corpses. Those are the world’s most perfect works of art.”

Zu An and Yun Yuqing were both speechless. This guy likes corpses too?

Yun Yuqing warned Zu An through ki transmission, “Ah Zu, you need to be careful. He’s probably an expert from the southern border’s Gu clan. The Gu clan’s methods are often impossible to prepare against.”

“Gu clan?” Zu An was stunned. “Are they also part of the fiend race?”

Yun Yuqing replied, “It’s a race that’s half human and half fiend. They’re proficient in all types of strange and grotesque Gu arts. The power they can display isn't inferior to that of any cultivator. This person looks like a corpse Gu who specializes in the manipulation of all types of corpses. You won’t even be able to rest in peace if you die under his hands.”

Jia Sili laughed. “Isn’t that easy enough? We just need to turn her into a corpse.”

When he heard those words, the originally deadpan and apathetic Shu Shuhao’s eyes lit up. He stared at Yun Yuqing. “Hm, even though this woman’s face is covered, judging from her curves, she’ll definitely be a wonderful work of art once she’s turned into a corpse puppet. Ahhhh… I’m getting excited just from thinking about it. I’ll definitely sleep with her every night once I turn her into a corpse puppet!”

Zu An was speechless. What the fuck? I thought those who played around with corpses were already disgusting enough, but this guy is even weirder! He has no interest in living beauties and only feels something after turning them into zombies?

“You’re courting death!” Yun Yuqing exclaimed. was still a respected madam after all. She was normally always treated with respect. She was someone with great dignity even among the demon race. How could she endure this type of slander? She screamed and thrust her short sword at th man.

Zu An was speechless. Sis, you’re a rune master! Shouldn’t you be fighting against him at a distance? Mages who are no good at close combat really aren’t good fighters…

He was worried that something would happen to Yun Yuqing and moved to help her. However, he was stopped by Jia Sili, who said, “Little brother, why don’t you keep this big sis company for a while?”

1. Shu is his surname. Shuhao’s literal translation is ‘book good’.