Under Suspicion

The night was deep, the building was tall, and the wind howled violently.

Master and disciple Zhang San and Wang Xiaoer stood in the shadow of the eaves on top of a tall building, a very safe position that allowed them to observe everything in front of the tofu shop.

Wang Xiaoer asked in puzzlement, "Master, because of you I didn't make a move this morning, could it be that you really took pity on them?"

Zhang San immediately punched Wang Xiaoer and scolded him in a low voice, "What do you think?"

Wang Xiaoer thought about it and secretly thought that his idea was indeed too far-fetched. He became even more puzzled and asked, "Then Master, why do you keep stopping me from killing those three fools?"

Zhang San pointed at the front door of the tofu shop and said, "See for yourself."

...

In the night, the three hoodlums sneakily emerged from the alley and walked towards the backyard of the tofu shop.

A flash of cold light!

Two of the three hoodlums had their heads separated from their bodies!

The attacker was a man dressed as a traveling peddler. He was holding a silver dagger with wolf engravings. His eyes were cold and the corners of his mouth turned up.

The moment the head hoodlum reacted, he turned around to flee.

He couldn't believe it!

Without even seeing the attack, his two brothers were already dead? What kind of expert was this!?

But unexpectedly, the peddler moved as quick as a ghost. He rushed up to restrain the head hoodlum with his left hand. With a kick, the peddler shattered the hoodlum's knee, forcing him to kneel on the ground, unable to stand up. Then with his right hand, the peddler covered the hoodlum's nose and mouth. With his left hand, the peddler took out his wolf-engraved silver dagger and slit the hoodlum's throat.

Blood gushed out.

The scent of blood intoxicated the man.

With his hand covering the hoodlum’s mouth, he reveled in the hoodlum’s struggles and pain. After not having seen blood for days, this brought the peddler immense joy.

The man smiled. He decided he wanted to enjoy this further and whispered to the hoodlum, "Do you know why I didn't directly chop off your head but chose to torture you first?"

Of course the hoodlum couldn’t speak.

The man asked and answered himself, "It’s because my superior instructed that anyone who harbors evil thoughts about Miss Bai must die. And for those who have lewd thoughts about Miss Bai, they must be skinned alive and pulled apart. So thank me. The fact that you’re dying so ‘happily’ now is out of my benevolence!"

The hoodlum leader became more and more terrified, struggling more and more fiercely.

But of course he was no match for this man.

Gradually, the struggling weakened. The hoodlum leader slowly died.

Reveling in all this, the man's inner brutality was satisfied. It felt extremely gratifying.

In the deep of the night, the low rumbling sound of a wooden cart rolling could be heard. A man dressed as a laborer was pulling a cart, slowly approaching the tofu shop. He frowned slightly.

The man dressed as a laborer complained, "Your bloodlust is getting more and more serious. Can't you just kill them faster? It's still me who has to come and wipe the blood off the ground."

The peddler licked the blood on his wolf-engraved silver dagger. Intoxicated, he complained somewhat resentfully, "If it wasn't for our superior ordering us to disguise ourselves, big brother, I rarely get the chance to play around killing a few reckless people. Don't blame me. It’s a pity these three had taken Wuxing Powder and died so soon before I could fully enjoy myself."

After he finished speaking, the two men cleaned up the bodies on the ground.

The man dressed as a laborer left, pulling the cart. As for the man dressed as a peddler, he observed his surroundings carefully before retreating to the other side of the street.

...

Wang Xiaoer watched with bewilderment, not knowing what to make of it.

Because he had seen both the peddler and the laborer before―the peddler often walked the streets peddling some odds and ends, while the laborer often ate at the snack shop next to the tofu shop.

Thinking it over carefully, among so many people coming and going on this street, these two were indeed inconspicuous.

But their appearance now immediately brought back Wang Xiaoer’s memories of them, which sufficiently demonstrated one thing―

Although inconspicuous, these two men often appeared here.

Otherwise, how could Wang Xiaoer immediately find memories about them in his mind?

Wang Xiaoer muttered to himself, "Master, could we have underestimated them?"

Zhang San shook his head. "Not completely. Mainly because what these two practice should be the long-lost Life-Devouring Skill, the martial arts that the Black Sect Leader \"Yu Xiansi\" died from. This is the most profound and restrained martial art of the Black Sect."

Although it was Wang Xiaoer who had volunteered to ‘investigate’ the background of the tofu shop, ever since moving here, Zhang San had taken every opportunity while eating breakfast, buying materials to renovate the shop, buying drawing paper, etc., to investigate the people around whenever he went out.

Therefore, although Zhang San had also seen these two men before, their performance was so ordinary at the time, and their martial arts so well restrained, that even Zhang San did not pay them much attention.

It wasn’t until yesterday’s incident with Bai Fang and her mother that when Wang Xiaoer was about to make a move, Zhang San sensed an extraordinary murderous aura within the crowd. After observation, he targeted the peddler in the crowd and the laborer who seemed ordinary.

Even if the Life-Devouring Skill was an extremely restrained martial art, these two hadn’t cultivated to the level of Yu Xiansi. When circulating inner strength, even without movement, Zhang San could sense the murderous aura they emitted, the subtle pulsing blood colors in the depths of their eyes, and the faintly swollen blood vessels on their necks. With his many years researching the martial arts of the Black Sect, Zhang San noticed something amiss.

As he watched the laborer leave pulling the cart, recalling the peddler’s bloodthirsty cruelty and martial skill displayed during his strike, what was speculation before Zhang San now confirmed—they were practicing the Life-Devouring Skill. In addition, considering that wolf-engraved silver dagger...

Zhang San muttered to himself, "The tenth-ranked killer on the Earth List who disappeared without a trace four or five years ago—the Twin Wolves!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Xiaoer asked doubtfully, "Master, which one are you talking about?"

"Both of them."

Wang Xiaoer pondered and guessed, "The tenth-ranked killer on the Earth List is two people?"

Zhang San nodded in agreement.

Wang Xiaoer then asked, "Are they very powerful?"

Zhang San said, "These two always work together when taking on tasks, so they are ranked together. Rumor has it they are blood brothers. One is bloodthirsty and cruel, the other cold and ruthless. They obtained this ranking after jointly killing the original tenth-ranked master. "

Among the Earth List killers, the top ten are all top-level experts on par with lower stage Celestial Steps masters.

As for the top three―Liu Hu, Hei Shanke, and Hei Shanhu before reaching the Celestial Steps―they were known as 'Little Celestial Steps' masters.

From this, one can see the worth of being a top ten Earth List killer.

That the Twin Wolves could kill the original tenth-ranked master, even if by jointly striking, shows their unfathomably profound skill.

Wang Xiaoer suddenly understood and said, "No wonder Master, you suddenly appeared this morning. Otherwise if I had made a move, wouldn’t I most likely have been discovered by them?"

He could deceive the ordinary people around them, but how could a Wang Xiaoer who had just entered the Human Order escape the eyes of two top Earth List masters? This explained Zhang San's appearance―on the surface, a scholar righteously saving someone, but in reality just trying to prevent Wang Xiaoer from being noticed by the two masters.

Having now realized the true identities of those two men, Zhang San felt fortunate that he had stepped forward that morning.

Wang Xiaoer asked, "Master, what should we do now?"

What to do? Although they couldn’t hear the words spoken by the Twin Wolves from where they stood, after finding out the identities of Bai Fang and her mother tonight, and realizing top ten Earth List masters were secretly protecting them, Zhang San now only had one thought in his mind.

"Retreat, retreat at once!"