The stench of mold mixed with the smell of blood churned through the warehouse. Six burly men in black blocked the exit, their leader shouldering a mountain-cleaving axe. Beads of blood dripped from the blade down the iron handle, making a faint pattering sound as they hit the Blue Stone Slab. "Kid, hand over the jade token, and this lord will grant you a quick death." His missing-toothed mouth split open to reveal yellowish gums.
Ye Fan subconsciously rubbed the jade token in his breast pocket; the heat of the Jiuxiao Huanpei within his Inner World scorched his skin through his tunic. When he was ambushed and killed in his past life, it had been the exact same bloody wind, the exact same "quick death." He had died by the sword of the junior brother he trusted most, and even the Star-script jade token he had hidden for three hundred years had been crushed to dust. In this life, he lowered his gaze to the iron sword broken in half at his feet, his knuckles gripping it until they turned white.
"O-Old patron..." The old man cowering in the corner suddenly let out a sob, the wet stain on his trouser leg glaringly obvious against the mold-spotted base of the wall. "The back window... there's someone at the back window!" Before his voice even faded, a muffled "thud" slammed against the back wall, followed by the "plop" of a heavy object dropping to the ground—evidently cutting off the old man's escape route.
Chapter 51