Urban Martial Saint

”Shijia, Wuji?” Ye Qing and Huangfu Ziyu exchanged a glance; this definitely wouldn’t appear in the Buddhist Scripture. Because things like Wuji absolutely wouldn’t appear in Buddhist Scripture; this is the language commonly used by the Taoist Sect. The terms of the Buddhist Sect and Taoist Sect put together definitely aren’t from the Buddhist Scripture.

”Did you just say Wuji is also a name?” Ye Qing furrowed his brows and said, ”This Wuji, could it... could it also be someone’s name?”

”It’s been too long, and I only took a quick glance back then, so I don’t remember much. I’m not sure of the specifics,” Liu Mubai said.

Suddenly, Huangfu Ziyu said, ”What good is it for the three of us here to speculate amongst ourselves? That old guy Old Wang Ba surely knows, isn’t it just a matter of asking him?”

”That’s right!” Ye Qing slapped his thigh and said, ”Find that old guy, and we’ll know everything. But, the old guy is hiding away somewhere now.”

”Can he hide forever?” Huangfu Ziyu pursed her lips and said, ”I reckon that old guy might have already made his way to Shenchuan City. Even if we can’t find him right now, eventually he’ll appear in front of you.”

Ye Qing nodded. This old guy, Old Wang Ba, when you need him, you can never find him. When you don’t need him, he keeps wandering in front of you incessantly. So, the matter of finding him shouldn’t be rushed; just wait it out, and maybe one day he’ll pop up.

Before long, several batches of police arrived on the scene, led by Liu Changping himself, but the killings had already ended. Even the trio of Ye Qing hadn’t been able to catch the murderer, which surprised Liu Changping.

Ye Qing didn’t elaborate to Liu Changping about the white-haired Ding San, because even he found it hard to believe, let alone Liu Changping. If he were to tell Liu Changping, Liu might think of him as a madman. After all, the matter of blood exchange is hard for anyone to accept. Just how many scientifically inexplicable things were hidden within Guiguzi’s Heaven Earth Man Three Gates? It seemed only those who had been inside knew.

Since Shijia mentioned that white-haired Ding San wouldn’t cause any more trouble in Eastern Province, the three of them decided not to linger in Tianhui City. Ye Qing told Liu Changping that the killer had fled and wouldn’t continue killing in Eastern Province. Liu Changping trusted Ye Qing, but with a fugitive killer, the case was still ongoing. So, Liu Changping didn’t leave immediately; he stayed back in Tianhui City to handle some follow-up matters.

Regarding the capture of the killer, Liu Changping wasn’t highly hopeful. Although he didn’t believe in superstitions, he knew martial artists existed in this world. And someone who wasn’t afraid of bullets had to be an immensely powerful martial artist, beyond the capabilities of the police. Thus, Liu Changping reported the matter to the Capital City Police Department; even if the case remained unsolved, he wouldn’t bear much blame. After all, the matters of martial artists don’t fall under the police department’s jurisdiction!

However, once the incident was reported to the Capital City Police Department, it was conveyed to martial arts families across the area via the capital. Although the police department doesn’t handle martial artist affairs, it doesn’t mean martial artists can act recklessly. In truth, there’s an unwritten rule among martial artists that they aren’t allowed to indiscriminately harm or kill ordinary people. With Ding San having killed so many, the martial arts families would certainly find ways to deal with him, not leaving the matter to the police department.

Ye Qing and the others bid farewell to Liu Changping and headed directly back to Shenchuan City. Meanwhile, in an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Tianhui City, white-haired Ding San was suspended upside down from a beam, buckets of fresh blood pouring over him, staining him entirely red. Yet his hand tightly clung to that photograph, although his eyes began subtly turning red.

Nearby, a monk dressed in a blood-red kasaya coldly watched white-haired Ding San. He still exuded black energy all over, appearing enveloped in darkness. His overwhelming aura of killing intent was completely unconcealed. If a timid person were to stand beside him, they’d probably be frightened to the point of wetting themselves.

This monk was none other than Bloody Monk, the Sect Master of Sha Men. White-haired Ding San was precisely the result of a bet between him and his senior brother Shijia. Shijia had pursued him for fifteen years; this time, he found the Murderer’s Manual and Murderer’s Knife and cultivated a white-haired Ding San to bet against Shijia, intending to rid himself of Shijia. However, some small mistakes emerged in this bet.

The reason he chose Ding San was actually due to Ding San’s heart being filled with resentment, a person entirely overtaken by hatred. Such a person, guided by the Murderer’s Manual and Murderer’s Knife, would become only a killing machine, as bloodthirsty as a beast. In fact, within less than ten days, white-haired Ding San had already killed more than three hundred people, satisfying him greatly. As long as Ding San was completely controlled by the Murderer’s Manual and Murderer’s Knife, he was bound to win this bet.

However, he hadn’t anticipated a loophole in his plan. Ding San hadn’t been wholly controlled by hatred, as there remained a thread of attachment in his heart. And this attachment was Ding San’s son placed within Ye Qing Orphanage. Because of this son, Bloody Monk’s plan almost failed completely. So, just now, he promptly came forth, brought back white-haired Ding San, and now poured bloodwater over him, to revive his killer instinct.

Watching as Ding San’s eyes gradually turned red, Bloody Monk felt great satisfaction. He knew that white-haired Ding San was gradually restoring his killing nature and soon would become that bloodthirsty beast again.

Suddenly, Bloody Monk sharply turned his head toward a window behind him and said solemnly, ”Come out!”

”Hahaha...” A loud laughter came from outside, followed by a monk in yellow robes jumping in, laughing, ”Second Senior Brother, been a while, huh!”

Seeing this monk, Bloody Monk’s expression eased slightly, and he said sternly, ”Joyous Monk, you’re still alive?”

”Second Senior Brother, after all these years of no contact, you’re cursing me right upon meeting!” The newcomer was indeed Joyous Monk, who chuckled and said, ”Thanks to Second Senior Brother’s blessing, I’m not only alive but living quite well.”

Joyous Monk spoke and then turned to glance at White-haired Ding San, saying, ”Oh dear, brother, after all these years, you’re still so bloodthirsty. With all this blood, how many people did you have to kill to gather it all?”

”Hmph!” Bloody Monk snorted coldly and said, ”Haven’t seen you for so many years, and now, I didn’t expect you’ve become so merciful? Junior brother, you don’t need to preach to me; you’re no better than I am. Looking at us four monastic brothers, we fully embody Master’s words—greed, anger, ignorance, and desire—we are all equally bad as one another.”

”You think so, but eldest brother doesn’t think so,” Joyous Monk laughed and said, ”Although brother doesn’t abstain from meat and wine, yet, Buddha resides in his heart.”

”Hypocrite!” Bloody Monk said in a deep voice, ”If he truly became a Buddha, I haven’t seen him sacrifice himself to feed the tiger or cut his flesh to feed the eagle.”

”Well said!” Joyous Monk laughed heartily, turning his head, ”Eldest brother, I told you I’m no match for him verbally, yet you insisted I try. Look, now I’ve dragged you into this, come and speak with him yourself!”

Hearing this, Bloody Monk’s expression changed instantly, and he said in a deep voice, ”You... you actually came with him?”

Joyous Monk shrugged helplessly and said, ”No choice, he saved me in the Capital, it looks like I can’t run now.”

After being rescued by Shijia in the Capital last time, Joyous Monk realized the gap between himself and the Five Uniques and dared not be arrogant, staying by Shijia’s side ever since.

”Alas!” A sigh came from outside the window, and not long after, Shijia slowly walked in from the doorway.

”I didn’t bring you here to reason with him, why did you say so much to him?” Shijia said to Joyous Monk.

Joyous Monk shrugged and said, ”Do you want me to fight him? I can’t even beat him.”

”Alright, alright, let me handle it.” Shijia ignored Joyous Monk and walked straight to Bloody Monk, saying, ”Junior brother, it seems you’ve already lost this bet.”

”Nonsense!” Bloody Monk said angrily, ”How did I lose? He killed so many people, how can you say I lost?”

”We bet whether this person would stop killing. That is, we bet on whether this person would regain his humanity.” Shijia said, ”Just now, he didn’t kill Ye Qing, didn’t you see it? Even if you used the Murderer’s Manual and Murderer’s Knife to control him, he still retains his humanity!”

”Nonsense!” Bloody Monk shook his head categorically, ”That’s just your imagination, let me tell you, so-called retaining humanity is pure nonsense. The reason he lost control is that he hasn’t been fully controlled by the Murderer’s Manual and Murderer’s Knife. He’s only killed over three hundred people, and for the Murderer’s Manual and Murderer’s Knife to control him fully, he needs to kill at least a thousand and absorb enough blood from a thousand people to take effect. By saying this now, it’s premature!”

”Is that so?” Shijia looked at Bloody Monk with a faint smile and said, ”So, you’re still not convinced?”

Bloody Monk said angrily, ”I haven’t lost, why should I be convinced!”

”Since you’re not convinced, I’ll give you another chance, lest you say your senior brother is bullying you.” Shijia smiled and said, ”However, today you’ve already violated the rules once. A transgression always comes with a price!”

Bloody Monk gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice, ”What do you want to do?”

Shijia said calmly, ”It’s simple, I just want one sentence from you, then I can give you another chance!”

”One sentence?” Bloody Monk pondered slightly and said, ”What sentence?”