Chapter 332: The Uncle's Temptation

"Whoosh—"

Blood sprayed out in a torrent from the neck of Hong Gou's headless torso.

Hong Gou wasn't dead yet!

He clutched his neck in horror, pressing his head down as if trying to make amends too late, using his own vitality to reattach the wound.

Xu Xiaoshou was completely stunned.

Was this the vitality of a Wang Zuo?

Even with the Rampaging Giant and Explosion Stance, they hadn't finished him off!

The Passive Fist, which shook the heavens and the earth for ten li, hadn't taken him down either!

Now, even after being beheaded on the spot, he was still struggling on the brink of death?

Xu Xiaoshou swore this was the toughest survivor he'd ever seen.

In the past, he thought that once you reached a certain level, Wang Zuo was just another realm like Zongshi or Xiantian.

But today, Hong Gou's terrifying regenerative ability had completely baffled him.

And this was under the condition that Hong Gou had slipped up once and was being suppressed by him the whole time afterward.

If Hong Gou had snapped out of it and counterattacked even twice...

Would he still be alive right now?

"Struggling in vain, it's pointless."

The shabby uncle watched his actions and shook his head helplessly. He flicked his fingers lightly again.

The two were several zhang apart.

Xu Xiaoshou knew exactly what the uncle was about to do from that distance and his words.

But once again, Hong Gou couldn't react in time.

With two sharp whooshes, one of his arms and the other half-severed leg were both cut off.

Body was body, head was head, limbs were limbs.

This time, Hong Gou couldn't hold on any longer.

It was like being torn apart by five horses!

His head could no longer withstand the force of the gushing blood and was flung away.

"Thud-thud-thud—"

The head rolled across the ground for several circles, Hong Gou's lips twitching as if muttering something.

But no one could hear it.

Even in death, his eyes remained wide open.

He had planned a hundred twists and turns, even accounting for any delays, and had escape methods ready with his three techniques.

As long as he killed Xu Xiaoshou, no matter how many Wang Zuo came from Tian Sang Cheng, he could still slip away.

But none of that mattered now!

"Where did this guy come from..."

Hong Gou's doubts vanished with his fading soul, utterly gone from this world.

No answers!

He never even realized it!

"Gulp!"

Xu Xiaoshou swallowed hard.

"Dead?"

The Hong Gou who had been beaten half to death by him, leaving him crippled in the process, and still couldn't be killed...

Just two flicks of the fingers.

Dead?

He looked at the shabby uncle, his shock no less than when he first saw Hong Gou.

This guy...

If he remembered right, before encountering Hong Gou, he had been lost in thought and bumped into a big uncle...

"There can't be someone in this world with the exact same realm, hair, dirty clothes, and sack, can there?"

Xu Xiaoshou panicked.

This was actually a big shot!

That meant he wouldn't have just run into him by accident.

So, his appearance back then must have been intentional.

But why?

Xu Xiaoshou racked his brain and vaguely recalled that as he was leaving, the uncle had shouted something like, "You're going the wrong way"?

So, he was there to warn him?

But he hadn't noticed?

Then...

"Did you come to save me?" Xu Xiaoshou's face instantly turned pitiful and excited.

No matter if he was here to save him or not, acting tough now could end up like Hong Gou!

Two flicks...

Oh my god!

Two flicks took down a Wang Zuo!

Was it because Hong Gou was already weakened, with half his body gone?

No way!

Xu Xiaoshou knew that for that twisted freak, as long as he wasn't dead, his body could recover in a short time.

But he still died!

With just those two flicks, a Wang Zuo like Hong Gou couldn't even react.

That was terrifying!

The shabby uncle dragged his sack and slowly walked up to Xu Xiaoshou.

He let go and squatted down.

Xu Xiaoshou finally had a chance to examine this big shot again.

His face was strikingly handsome, the grime unable to hide that pure glow.

The large scar on his neck looked rugged and manly, a badge of battles and hot-blooded fights.

Even his four fingers were oddly endearing, with Jian Nian clinging to them, almost like...

Jian Nian?

Xu Xiaoshou finally sensed something off.

Among the people he knew, not many used Jian Nian.

Thinking back, the only one connected to it was...

"You."

His pupils dilated. "You're..."

"Who am I?" The shabby uncle smiled at the corner of his mouth.

Xu Xiaoshou was utterly shocked.

He carefully checked the uncle's cultivation level... Houtian!

He examined the uncle's eyes... Dull!

Ordinary!

Utterly unremarkable!

You could pull any guy crushed by life off the street, and they'd have eyes like that.

But...

There was one exception!

"The masked man?"

Xu Xiaoshou didn't dare say it out loud—he was scared of dying.

But in his mind, the shock was exploding through the nine heavens!

The masked man had eyes like that too!

He also practiced swordsmanship; did he use Jian Nian?

Even more so...

Xu Xiaoshou sneaked a glance at the man's four fingers with his peripheral vision.

"No thumb?"

He remembered clearly that during his first encounter with the masked man at E Lake, he had stabbed Zang Ku into the guy's heart.

Back then, the other had used both hands to slap the sword, not grip it.

That detail stuck with him.

The second time, when they met at the corner and he tackled the masked man on the spot, they had faced off.

The guy's palm was completely flat, no curve, as if he had no thumb.

He remembered that too.

And in both meetings, the guy was fully armored, face and hands covered tight—what for?

To hide the distinctive scar on his neck and the marks of his four fingers?

Xu Xiaoshou's head buzzed; he felt the world was too scary!

Was he still being watched?

"The masked man?"

Even knowing that saying the name might make him seem too knowledgeable and speed up his death, Xu Xiaoshou couldn't hold back and blurted it out.

"The masked man?" The shabby uncle repeated, a strange look flashing across his face.

"You've got the wrong person."

"Who I am doesn't matter; what matters is..."

He paused and pointed at Xu Xiaoshou's body. "You're about to die."

"Huh?"

Only then did Xu Xiaoshou realize his last burst of energy was nearly spent.

As soon as he focused, weakness overwhelmed his body, and his eyelids grew heavy.

"I can save you."

The uncle said with a smile.

Xu Xiaoshou wanted to speak but had no strength left; he couldn't get a word out.

He forced his eyes open with all his might, trying to stay awake.

The world flickered, bright one moment, dark the next.

His vision narrowed, shrinking bit by bit, turning gray at the edges...

Save me?

Hurry up, will you? If you keep dragging this out, I'll really be gone!

Xu Xiaoshou was too weak to complain. The uncle remained unhurried, as if waiting for him to close his eyes.

After a while, he sighed: "Not bad, really tough vitality—still holding on this long..."

"But your strength is just too weak!"

He turned his head, as if speaking to someone else, murmuring softly: "Your way of training him is too slow."

With that, he pulled an ancient book from his ring—thick as a palm—and slammed it down in front of Xu Xiaoshou with a thud.

Dust flew up.

The uncle smiled and said: "Want to live? Want to get stronger? Want to make sure that next time you face a Wang Zuo powerhouse, you can kill them in one strike?"

"Come on, just blink once, and all this can be yours."

"Of course, if you close your eyes, you can't take it back."