Volcanic Age

An excessively large body.

His frame, over seven feet tall, was packed with both immense muscles and layers of flesh.

Once a bandit of Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest, the Arsenic Pig had been driven out after clearing the entire bandit den of its food.

He wandered the streets at night until he arrived in Zhengzhou, where he quickly dominated the east.

He overthrew the original ruler of the east and quickly absorbed the forces and businesses that he had managed and operated. Afterward, he was recognized as a subordinate by the Xia Wu Sect Master.

Keeping an eye on the experts in Zhengzhou, he eventually built his own little country in the east.

If there were a woman he wanted, he would simply kidnap and rape her, and if he were annoyed, he would beat and kill anyone nearby to his heart's content.

"Khehehehe!"

Arsenic Pig looked down at the naked women lying before him with his beady little eyes and laughed frivolously.

"I can't believe I used to be so dumb! To think I stayed in that tiny little stockade when a place like this existed!"

Few martial artists understood that, with a little power, one could rule like a king in certain places.

The Arsenic Pig was drunk on pleasure, laughing at those who touted the causes of the Righteous Faction, Evil Faction, or whatever, scoffing as they made fun of the Xia Wu Sect.

"B-b-boss!"

Thud, thud, thud!

Someone pounded on his door.

The Arsenic Pig was pissed because he was interrupted by some idiot just as he was about to enjoy himself.

He headed toward the door naked. The ground trembled violently with every step, as if there was an earthquake.

"Which bastard is it?"

With an annoyed flick of his palm, he slammed the door, shattering it with a deafening crash.

"Eek!"

The subordinate, who had been waiting in front of the door, stepped back in surprise. If he had been even a second slower, he would have died.

The Arsenic Pig angrily took a deep breath. However, since his fat blocked his nose, he couldn't even breathe properly. He sniffed harshly, just like a pig breathing, and every time he opened his mouth, a terrible smell stung the subordinate's nose and made him nauseous.

"I-it's an attack!"

Even as the subordinate reported, he was busy looking behind the Arsenic Pig. His eyes were filled with envy as he looked at the beautiful women spread out inside the room.

"Hmph! If it were anything else, I would have killed you. Your report saved you. You're lucky."

It had been over ten years since the Arsenic Pig had established his domain over the entire eastern territory, but that didn't mean his power would last forever.

Those of the Xia Wu Sect who were looking to use their power to expand their influence or even those who had come from outside the sect would challenge him.

"Everything else is incredible, but this one part is annoying!"

As always, he would go and kill the challenger.

However, the following report made him lose composure, his expression hardening like stone.

"T-the enemy! The enemy is right in front of us!"

Eleven, no, twelve Phantoms walked among the confused people.

Some of them appeared to be innocent maidens, and some of them were old men so frail, it looked as though they couldn't do anything.

There was even a child and young men who had just come of age.

The Phantoms had no emotions, no aura, no presence.

The mere lower-ranking members of the Xia Wu Sect could not catch them, and they could not resist their overwhelming power.

"Ugh, agh!"

A Xia Wu Sect member who had entered the sect over thirty years ago grabbed his throat and groaned before falling to the ground, dead.

The other members met the same fate. They all died without even knowing where the enemy was, let alone being able to resist.

As time passed, the faces of the Xia Wu Sect members turned pale at the horrifying sight.

"E-eeek!"

"T-they're ghosts!"

"Run away!"

In the end, they dropped their weapons and tried to run away.

"And what do you plan to do about the consequences if you run away from here?"

The Arsenic Pig was infamous for his ferocity, even in Zhengzhou.

He showed no mercy to traitors or cowards who fled. If one were lucky, they would only lose a limb. However, most didn't survive and were dropped on a path to the underworld.

"Then let's just die here!"

"You want to fight an expert we can't even see? If I could do that, would I have spent my time here in the Xia Wu Sect? You idiotic bastard!"

What good would threats do when they were about to die right here, right now?

None of the members had any sense of loyalty or righteousness to begin with.

Zhou Xuchuan glanced at the fleeing Xia Wu Sect members and threw his daggers at them, making sure to be reserved and not go all out chasing them.

"You don't have to go all out chasing them, but if you think you can't catch them, kill them all. Don't let them live."

While Zhou Xuchuan was sure that the famous experts like the Arsenic Pig were Vast Gate's subordinates, he didn't know much about the underlings.

Still, he was certain that some of them had to be working for Vast Gate, and since he couldn't be sure who, it gave him peace of mind to simply kill them all.

"G-great one!"

The Xia Wu Sect members, clutching their swords, lost their will to fight at Zhou Xuchuan's command. They dropped to their knees, their faces pale, pleading for mercy.

"P-please, please have mercy!"

"Please, spare my life at least!"

"My old mother will be left by herself at home…"

The wind stirred.

A dagger slipped from the hem of Zhou Xuchuan's sleeve, cutting swift, precise lines through the air, striking the heads and necks of the groveling Xia Wu Sect members.

With sickening squelches erupting one after another, they all died where they knelt.

While the Hidden Nether Flying Dagger Art had become useful enough in actual combat, it hadn't been perfected yet. The Xia Wu Sect members were simply no match for it, which was why they were unable to avoid it.

"Kuaak!"

When begging for their lives didn't work, they chose to flee.

The thought of fighting back never even crossed their minds.

The only reason vermin like them had survived until now was because they were quicker than others and knew their place.

A few, realizing that escape was hopeless, attempted to draw their swords—but they were dead before they could even begin to resist. Meanwhile, some of the Xia Wu Sect members even tried to escape by using others as bait.

"Ugh…"

Voices trembled with fear. The Xia Wu Sect members had lost all will to fight and their morale had fallen to the bottom of the abyss.

"G-ghost! They must be ghosts!"

"They're the ghosts of those who died in the underground arena!"

Given the nature of this place, the Xia Wu Sect members' fears were even more pronounced.

It was no surprise that they would lose their minds and become paranoid. It wasn't strange for people to grow mentally unstable as they watched the people around them die in this underground hell.

The Phantoms moved just as their names suggested and took the lives of the Xia Wu Sect members like ghosts.

Suddenly, a booming voice, as powerful as thunder, sounded.

"You bastards–!"

The ground shook violently as if it was responding to the thunderous voice.

Some of the Xia Wu Sect members who were running away were startled, falling forward.

However, their yellowed faces flushed with color at the voice and even brightened up.

ROAR!!!!

"The boss is here!"

A powerful man who had ruled the East for about ten years.

Wasn't he the epitome of fear and violence?

Realizing that the voice belonged to both an ally and a superior, the fighting spirit that had disappeared from the Xia Wu Sect members' hearts returned.

"You bastards really can't do anything but get slaughtered." the Arsenic Pig said as he looked around with disgust. His eyes were filled with deep contempt.

It was only after seeing those eyes that the deep-rooted fear returned to his subordinates.

"Hehehe! How could that be, boss?!"

"We were just messing around for a moment!"

Those who had been groveling in the dirt and those who had dropped their weapons and fled suddenly turned back, hollow laughs spilling from their mouths, their attitudes flipping like a coin.

"Now, why don't you come out quickly?"

The Arsenic Pig pulled out a massive cleaver that matched his size.

"You can't fool me! I can already hear you trembling in fear!"

"Really?"

Zhou Xuchuan stepped forward, exhaling as if he had been waiting for a while.

As the Phantom, who they couldn't tell if he had risen from the ground itself or fallen from the sky, appeared before their eyes, the Xia Wu members began to tremble.

However, the Arsenic Pig wasn't surprised at all.

On the contrary, he could barely contain his laughter.

"Kuhahaha!"

"Why are you laughing?"

"Well, seeing as how you're even more stupid than I thought, how could I not laugh?"

The fat around his nose was pressed in while he laughed, making his laugh sound strange.

The Arsenic Pig grinned, revealing his yellow teeth.

"Assassins specialize in killing without being caught. Once they get caught, they've already lost half of their strength. While you seem confident in your skills, I am no different."

Finding experts in the Xia Wu Sect, and even within the Black Hand, was harder than plucking stars from the sky. Let alone Transcendents— even Peak realm experts were rare.

It was only because of the Xia Wu Sect Master's backing that Zhengzhou had more experts than the other Black Hand regions, and the Arsenic Pig was one of those experts.

"Silent Messenger. Your defeat is because you looked down on me, or rather, the night streets of Zhengzhou."

After giving a signal, his subordinates surrounded Zhou Xuchuan.

"There are plenty of people like you who fled the outside world to Zhengzhou and ran wild as if they were the strongest in the world, only to end up losing their lives. That arrogance of yours will be your downfall."

The Arsenic Pig was less intelligent than the Viper Sword and the Murderous Harlot.

Still, that didn't mean his intelligence was below average. It was just that the other two were more outstanding than most.

He hadn't ruled the east for this long on cultivation alone. If that were the case, someone would have outwitted and slaughtered him long ago.

"I'll show you some mercy." he sneered, narrowing his eyes at Zhou Xuchuan.

"If you give up now and surrender to me, I'll spare your life. The same goes for the rats you have hidden around here."

The Silent Messenger wasn't a god. There was no way he could have caused all this chaos alone. He must have a hidden force around him.

As long as you can make them show their faces, you don't have to fear assassins.

Letting Zhou Xuchuan live was a lie. The Arsenic Pig didn't want subordinates who could aim at his neck at any time.

He still didn't know how many people were hiding around him. If he took this lightly, it could turn deadly.

The Arsenic Pig shifted his weight, using his toes to grip the ground as he closed the distance, ready to take Zhou Xuchuan's head at any moment.

"How much do you know about assassination, Arsenic Pig?"

"...?"

"As the name suggests, assassination is about assassinating someone. To kill them in secret. But all that means is that as long as there are no witnesses, you can assassinate someone anywhere, anytime."

"What are you babbling on about all of a sudden?"

Zhou Xuchuan lowered his mask, looking frustrated.

The Arsenic Pig took this as a sign of surrender and grinned. He was delighted at the thought of his name becoming even more renowned in Zhengzhou in the future.

"Kuhaha! Who would have thought you would give up so easily!"

Eleven people appeared one after another. Among them were high-class women who were too beautiful to be allowed to die easily.

The Arsenic Pig's eyes gleamed with desire, his smile twisting into something vile.

"I'll make your death painless!"

Boom!

The mountainous figure moved. It only took one step, but because its stride was so long, it covered a lot of distance.

The Arsenic Pig charged at Zhou Xuchuan like a wild boar and swung the cleaver in his hand sharply.

Boom!

The large cleaver cut through the air. The strength from his fat and muscles, which were so obscenely large, seemed to split everything apart.

His subordinates could already picture Zhou Xuchuan's body being split apart like firewood.

But their expectations were shattered.

Swish!

One step.

Just a single step.

That was enough to dodge the Arsenic Pig's full-strength slash.

It was the Phantom's signature silent footstep.

Bang!

The cleaver smashed into the ground with a deafening thud, caving it in and sending dust billowing into the air.

The Arsenic Pig's face distorted.

He's slow.

Zhou Xuchuan had trained with the Phantoms one-on-many whenever he had the time.

Thanks to that, both his Hidden Nether Flying Dagger Art and Phantom Steps had reached the third stage.

The Arsenic Pig was relatively fast for his large body, but compared to the Phantoms, he was slow enough to make one yawn. Realizing that further testing was pointless, Zhou Xuchuan used the Arsenic Pig's arm as a springboard and dashed up the pig's body.

"Agk!"

The Arsenic Pig screamed in surprise and stood up.

Although the arm he was standing on shook violently, Zhou Xuchuan remained unfazed, quickening his pace.

My arm.

Zhou Xuchuan visualized his target clearly in his mind, recalling the advice the Phantoms had given him during their long training sessions.

He flicked his wrist slightly. As his sleeve fluttered, a dagger slipped out and landed perfectly in his hand.

He immediately spun the dagger around once, caught it in a reverse grip, and stabbed the Arsenic Pig's jianyu acupoint.[1]

Squelch!

"Agh!"

Instantly, the Arsenic Pig felt something go wrong with his neck, spine, and even his shoulder. He lost all his strength for a moment and couldn't move.

W-what the hell is this?!

The Arsenic Pig couldn't move. Worse, he couldn't even think about moving.

He couldn't keep track of the Silent Messenger's movements at all. He had never expected him to be this strong.

The Arsenic Pig was confused, wondering why such an expert would come to this shitty Black Hand street. But now wasn't the time to think about such things.

Considering he was like a mouse caught by a venomous snake, completely unable to move, this was the time he needed to start begging for his life while crying.

"I-I deeply apologize, great one!"

Saving face no longer mattered. An expert far beyond the normal standard had entered his street.

A number of questions flashed through his mind, but he didn't have the luxury of asking questions in this situation.

He desperately looked around, trying to find a way to save his life.

"Arsenic Pig."

Zhou Xuchuan looked down at the Arsenic Pig coldly.

"If you have any wishes, just tell me I'll…"

"What did I say about assassination?"

"…!"

The Arsenic Pig's face turned pale.

1. Within the hollow at the peak of your shoulder. Controls shoulder mobility. ☜