Chapter Eighteen: No Chance of Victory

I had thought my blunt manner of speaking would offend the old man before me, but I was mistaken.

He laughed heartily a few times, then slowly said, "You youngster, I like you."

How peculiar. In this village, none could speak, yet suddenly an old man appeared who could—and even claimed to like me... I certainly didn’t want to offer up my dignity.

“Child, you shouldn’t have come…” he said unexpectedly, just as I was caught in bewildered thoughts.

“What do you mean?” I tilted my head, even more confused.

The old man refused to answer, instead untying the ropes that bound me.

“Go now. Don’t return. This place… will soon vanish from the world.”

I scratched my head, clearly unable to comprehend his words. All I could gather was that he didn’t want us lingering here any longer.

At that moment, Qian Xiaozhen awoke, wobbling as he stood. His first instinct upon seeing the old man was to draw his sword, but both his blade and mine were nowhere to be found.

“All right, all right, I’ve said my piece. You should leave now… There’s nothing else I’ll tell you,” the old man stated.

Qian Xiaozhen looked bewildered, displaying one of his rare moments of hesitation. With no other choice, he clasped his hands and said, “Elder, we mean no offense. I hope you’ll return our weapons—we can’t leave empty-handed.”

He meant that since we’d come, we had to investigate something. If the old man wouldn’t tell us, we’d search ourselves.

I thought perhaps the old man’s mind was slow and hadn’t understood, but he replied, “You have half a day. You must leave before five o’clock.”

With that, he flipped his palm, and two short swords and a dagger appeared out of thin air, which he handed over.

Seeing my astonished expression, Qian Xiaozhen whispered, “That’s called a storage ring. It can store anything, and has existed for many years.”

The old man surely heard, but said nothing, just smiled as he gave us our weapons.

After returning them, he began to walk away.

“Elder, what is your name?” I called after him, watching his departing figure with an indescribable sense of sadness, a deep melancholy.

“Hongshan!” he replied, never looking back, striding straight out the gate.

“Hongshan? Hong… Shan,” I echoed, as I noticed Qian Xiaozhen fiddling beside me. I asked him, “What’s up?”

“I remember hearing that Elder Hongshan was once a wizard of the Demon Realm. He fled because he couldn’t tolerate the Demon King’s rule…”

Demon Realm? Wizard? Demon King?

A slew of strange terms flooded my ears, nearly too much for my mind to process.

“But that’s just what I heard. Not sure if it’s true—maybe it’s just someone with the same name.”

I pondered. The chance of a duplicate name was slim, and judging by his attire and aura, it really fit. And the way the lead young man glared at him as he left—there was certainly something suspicious here.

Lost in my own analysis, I forgot about the other old man still tied up nearby.

Just as I was about to untie him, something felt off. I carefully checked his breathing. As I suspected—the old man was already dead.

I instinctively stepped back. Qian Xiaozhen hadn’t expected such cruelty from these people either.

So I decided to start investigating with the lead young man.

I shared all my thoughts with Qian Xiaozhen.

“Good plan, but how will we know which house is his?” he asked.

I already had a solution. “Since they don’t treat us as human, we needn’t be polite with them!”

It reminded me of a line from a movie: “Evil must be met with evil.”

Qian Xiaozhen and I walked down the street, picking up our pace to a jog as time pressed.

It was about one o’clock; we had four hours before five. Having met Elder Hongshan, we couldn’t break our promise—we had to uncover every secret here within those hours.

“Lin Yao, there’s someone ahead,” Qian Xiaozhen said.

I had been paying attention only to the small stones underfoot to avoid tripping, not noticing the person standing ahead.

Slowing down, I peered forward—it was the young man.

He stood with his back to us, his clothes whipping in the wind, a broad sword strapped across his back. He looked every bit the skilled warrior.

He shifted his feet and slowly turned, his entire aura transforming.

His once bright eyes turned green, and his scarred face appeared even more aged.

Could he be a ghost?

He brushed the dust off himself, and without drawing the sword on his back, he beckoned us with a taunting curl of his finger. His face remained utterly expressionless.

Qian Xiaozhen and I exchanged a glance—there was no avoiding this confrontation. We each drew our weapons.

Without waiting for Qian Xiaozhen, I surged forward—strike first!

But he simply sidestepped, evading my sweeping kick.

I tried to stab with my dagger, but failed to notice he had already locked my hand in a vice grip.

I struggled desperately, but he only squeezed harder.

His cold, powerful hand held mine, leaving us each with only one hand to attack.

I thought I could exchange a few blows with him, but I was wrong.

He smiled with intrigue, then aimed a vicious strike at my head.

Just then, Qian Xiaozhen launched a fierce attack with his twin swords.

The young man finally released me, but the force of his grip lingered.

…A loud crack—my arm was completely broken.

“Ah!” I howled in agony, then was kicked five or six meters away.

Such strength—could he be possessed by a ghost?

I gritted my teeth, clutching my shattered arm. The injury wasn’t the worst, but the pain in the bone was something only those who’d experienced it could understand—a pain that pierced the soul.

On the other side, Qian Xiaozhen had forced the young man to draw his broad sword. They seemed evenly matched, but judging by Qian Xiaozhen’s numerous wounds and increasingly ferocious expression, the outcome was clear.

Finally, after a lapse in defense, Qian Xiaozhen was kicked away.

Barely able to stand, I wanted to keep fighting, but before I could reach him, I collapsed from exhaustion.

The young man wiped the blood off his sword with his clothes, then sheathed it with precision.

He glanced at me, then strode over to the struggling Qian Xiaozhen.

Suddenly, he burst into laughter—a hollow sound that made me more certain than ever that he was a ghost.