The blood is not warm

The bandits were furious.

The one who died was Old Song, who had followed the leader for seven years and had taken a knife for him.

"fuck your mother--"

The one who shouted was a young bandit, about seventeen or eighteen years old, riding a yellow horse.

The moment he saw the gray horse fall, his eyes turned red, he pointed his knife at Shen Gui, and his voice cracked: "What kind of dirty trick did you use?!"

He spurred his horse forward, but an old bandit next to him grabbed the reins.

"Why are you pulling me! He killed Old Song!"

"Shut up." The old bandit didn't look at him, but at the leader, waiting for his boss's order.

No one noticed that their leader's brows were furrowed, and the reins were tightened three times in his hand.

The bearded leader had studied martial arts at a martial arts school in the county for two years when he was young, and later learned swordsmanship from a retired soldier.

He remembered what the veteran had said: an ordinary person who trains for a lifetime and can only take on five opponents at once is considered a good fighter.

Only by moving up to the next level can one truly enter the ranks of martial arts.

The Body Tempering Realm was the only threshold the bearded man had ever reached.

In his youth, he spent eight years at the martial arts school, enduring countless beatings, before he finally mastered the skills to the point where he could split five stacked bricks in one stroke and take down ten strong men by himself. These skills allowed him to dominate the official road for many years.

But beyond body tempering, there is the realm of observing the dust.

I remember the veteran's tone changed when he said those two words back then.

The Observer of Dust Realm can perceive the primordial energy of heaven and earth, possess keen hearing and sharp eyesight, shatter stone tablets with a single punch, and leap over walls in an instant.

The bearded man had seen Guan Chenjing before. That person walked silently, and when he looked at people, his eyes shone with light—not a metaphor, but a real light, like the reflection of a cat's eyes in the night.

The gray-clad man before him had an unfathomable beard, so he worried that he might be that kind of person.

He switched the knife to his left hand, wiped his palm on his pants, and found his hands were sweaty.

"Friend," the bearded man spoke, his voice low and menacing, "which gang are you from? Give me your number, lest I accidentally offend someone else."

Shen Gui didn't answer, but took a step forward.

The bearded horse was backing away, and the bandit tightened his grip on the reins, the veins on the back of his hand throbbing.

"I am a man of Master Liu from Beiyang Prefecture." The bearded man changed his identity. "All the businesses in this area belong to Master Liu. If you happen to pass by, leave your name and I'll have someone prepare some wine for you."

Shen Gui continued walking.

The bearded man frowned and gave one of his men a look.

His subordinates had been itching to get back at him for a long time. How could they face each other in this business if word got out that a group of people had been forced to retreat by one person?

Unable to rely on the beast, he dismounted, brandished his knife, and charged forward.

"Fuck your mother!"

The glint of swords illuminated the twilight.

Shen Gui placed a finger on the bandit's wrist and pushed it in the opposite direction.

Click.

The sound wasn't loud, but everyone heard it.

The bandit's wrist was broken, the bone protruding from under the skin, stained with blood. He squeezed out a cry that sounded inhuman, then curled up on the ground.

Shen Gui stepped on the bandit's chest and continued walking.

With another crack, blood gushed from his chest cavity, splashing into the air.

The bearded man swallowed hard and lowered the tip of his knife slightly.

"That guy from earlier," he gestured with his chin toward the corpse on the ground, "he threw himself into the fire. We were blind to his true nature. We can let this matter go."

There was a commotion behind him, and the young bandit almost shouted out, but the old bandit grabbed his arm.

The bearded man ignored them and continued, "Brother, if you're just passing by, we'll make way for you."

He pronounced the words "give way" very clearly.

This is underworld slang, meaning to admit defeat and to accept compensation.

Shen Gui stopped upon hearing this, reached out and touched the necklace on his chest, seemingly deep in thought.

Thinking his earlier words had worked, the bearded man apologized as he led his men back.

All the horses were backing away, their horseshoes scraping harshly on the road.

As he watched the distance between himself and the gaunt figure gradually widen, the bearded man finally let out a breath. He felt like he was dreaming, and at the same time, a thought flashed through his mind—this was definitely not the Observation Realm.

The Observation Realm isn't that scary!

Run! The wind's getting strong, get out of there!

Before the thought had even settled, Shen Gui suddenly looked up.

At this gaze, all the horses that were retreating suddenly stopped and stood obediently in place, refusing to budge no matter how much the bandits on their backs pulled on the reins.

The distance between the two sides began to shorten again.

"Friend...what do you want? We can talk about it," the bearded man called out.

"I'll use your lives as a test." Shen Gui held a stone pendant necklace in his hand.

As the distance closed, a bandit shouted, "Boss, give the order!"

The bearded man was somewhat confused, and before he could say anything, several of his men rushed forward wielding machetes.

It's not that these people are brave, but rather that their fear has gone too far, turning them into rabbits jumping over walls—a kind of reckless anger.

The bearded man couldn't hear what his subordinate was shouting; his ears were ringing.

They surrounded the man in gray, who went to meet them...

A few breaths later.

The mountain path was filled with people lying down, their cries of agony overlapping.

Some people were rolling around in the mud clutching their broken legs, some were curled up in a ball, barely breathing, and some were lying on their backs, making "hoarse" sounds. Blood mixed with mud and water flowed down the ruts on the official road.

The blood flowed to Shen Gui's boots, and he walked around the pool of blood.

The bearded man was still on his horse, the black horse beneath him with its nostrils flared wide and a low whimpering sound coming from its throat.

Shen Gui walked to the front of the horse.

The bearded man threw away his knife.

The knife fell to the ground and bounced. He rolled off the horse, his knees hitting the mud. He looked up at Shen Gui, his mouth moving as if he wanted to say something.

Shen Gui didn't let him speak, twisting the necklace with one hand and placing the other on the bearded man's shoulder.

Shen Gui gradually increased the pressure on his hands, and the bearded man's screams grew louder.

The first sound was the loudest, the second sound broke down, and the third sound turned into a low, whimpering howl.

As he continued shouting, he started talking, saying that Master Liu had connections above him and that killing him would cause trouble.

Shen Gui didn't stop, and the bandit leader screamed even more pitifully, begging for mercy, saying that he had an old mother and children at home.

Shen Gui didn't stop; he was still testing.

Since the stone pendant requires the purest of the seven emotions and six desires.

Fear should be considered one of them.

The fear he deliberately provoked must be related to him; the fragments should be absorbed, should generate heat, and should heal even the slightest crack.

Half a cup of tea has passed.

Shen Gui stopped. He looked at the stone pendant in his palm. The cracks were still the same, unchanged.

Is it that the fear is not enough?

Shen Gui's fate is uncertain.

The bearded man has stopped barking; only a gurgling sound comes from his throat, with more air in than out.

The test was unsuccessful. Shen Gui stood up and heard someone muttering something. The voice was very soft, carried on the wind, and intermittent.

He followed the sound and found the youngest bandit, still holding the knife in his hand like a crutch. His leg was broken, the broken bone piercing his pants. He was looking at the sky and muttering something.

Shen Gui leaned closer to listen.

"...Mother...Mother..."

The voice was very soft, like a child having a nightmare.

Shen Gui remained silent for a moment.

Then he reached out and flicked his hand through the air, and the young bandit's chest collapsed with a thud, and the sound stopped.

Shen Gui finished them off one by one, without delay, each strike precise and each one ending a life.

After killing the last bandit, he squatted down and pulled a heavy money bag from the bearded man's chest.

He weighed it in his hand and then put it in his pocket.

After doing all this, Shen Gui turned around, glanced at the woods, and then left along the official road. His gray clothes blended into the light night and gradually became invisible.

In the woods.

The gaunt man squatted in the bushes, feeling a chill run down his spine.

He witnessed the entire process from beginning to end.

He wasn't unfamiliar with experts; in all the years he had traveled far and wide since leaving the village, the most powerful person he had ever met was surnamed Cheng, a master of the Observation Realm.

The man smashed the stone tablet used for training with a single punch, and at that moment, he thought that this was the most powerful person in the world.

Now he's uncertain.

The gray-clad man attacked in a different way than Master Cheng.

Master Cheng is fast, so fast you can't see him clearly; the man in gray is slow, so slow you can see every move clearly, but you just can't dodge him.

The gaunt man swallowed hard.

It gradually got dark.

Corpses were scattered all over the official road, the blood had stopped flowing and congealed into a blackish-red layer, and crows began to gather in this direction.

The man waited for a long time, making sure the man in gray wouldn't turn back, before crawling out of the woods.

He first went to check on his skinny horse. The horse hadn't gone far; it was standing at the bend in the road. When it saw him, it snorted and flicked its tail. The gaunt man patted the horse's neck and breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he walked up to the bandit's corpse.

The man in gray only took the bandit leader's money bag; the other corpses' money bags, jewelry, and bundles from their horses were all left untouched.

A look of surprise flashed in the skinny man's eyes. He squatted down to touch the corpse, but paused when his hand touched the money bag.

Then he stood up and bowed in the direction the gray-clad man had left.