Chapter 2233: Malice

As soon as Su Xiao landed, he crouched low, and a large axe whistled through the air just above his head.

*Zheng~*

His long blade left its sheath. Seven "Axe Brothers" lunged from all directions; some held their large axes high, while others had opened the vertical mouths on their torsos.

"Blade Dao Blade · Time."

A ripple spread with Su Xiao as the center point. The seven lunging Axe Brothers suddenly slowed down, but it was only for a split second before the ripple generated by "Blade Dao Blade · Time" was forcibly shattered.

The delay was very short, but it was enough for Su Xiao to break through the Axe Brothers' encirclement.

*Boom! *

The seven Axe Brothers collided with each other. Su Xiao had already sprinted dozens of meters away. A wound had appeared on his back, and a chunk of flesh had been bitten off his left leg.

"Hey!"

A roar came from Mengde, who had just walked out of the gray fog. After shouting this, he turned and fled.

Su Xiao leaped continuously across the wooden rooftops. In less than 10 seconds, he had put nearly a hundred meters of distance between himself and the Axe Brothers. His left leg was injured, which would affect his speed.

Su Xiao stood on the roof of a wooden house, blood spreading beneath his left foot.

The crisp sound of wooden houses being smashed came from behind. Su Xiao took a deep breath. His left leg was severely injured, which would inevitably affect his speed; if he were caught again, he would surely die.

Thinking of this, Su Xiao leaped high and raised his right arm.

Baha swooped down from above, grabbed Su Xiao's right arm, and flew toward the black fog in the high sky.

After Baha flew up more than 300 meters, they reached the underside of the black fog. This black fog had a viscous texture, clearly not something to be touched.

A whistling sound came from below. Su Xiao exerted force to his right, forcibly guiding Baha, who was in flight.

*Whoosh! * A large axe flew past near Baha. This spinning large axe nearly chopped off Baha's head.

As soon as the large axe entered the black fog, it was rapidly eroded by the fog, covered in rust, and slowly turned into debris.

"That was close!"

Baha accelerated his flight, gradually shaking off the pursuit of the Axe Brothers.

Half an hour later, Baha descended from the sky. Below was still a stretch of wooden houses. As for the Axe Brothers, they were located a kilometer away, and Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang had already blended in among them.

Fleeing blindly was unwise. Su Xiao's plan was to first put distance between himself and the Axe Brothers and have Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang constantly pinpoint their location.

In this way, Su Xiao could easily lead the Axe Brothers in circles within an area, commonly known as "walking the Axe Brothers."

Sitting on the roof of a wooden house, Su Xiao unbuckled the backpack on Baha's back and took out a roll of bandages. He wouldn't use the Ancient Secret Medicine unless it was a critical moment; after all, he had only brought two bottles, and any more would be restricted.

Su Xiao wrapped bandages around the wounds on his leg, back, and shoulder, then sat on the wooden roof to rest. He couldn't waste stamina; the Axe Brothers' pursuit had another 20 hours remaining. During this period, he couldn't explore this area and thus had no chance to search for the "Forgotten Bone Tablet."

There were five Forgotten Bone Tablets in total. If Su Xiao found any one of them, he would pass the second stage of the Strongest Contest.

In other words, the trial of the Death House did not involve a competitive relationship. As long as one didn't want to die, once they found a bone tablet, they would choose to complete the Death House.

In Su Xiao's view, the reward for completing the death game was the main point.

Assuming the first round of the Strongest Contest was an elimination system to weed out most of the participants with insufficient strength, then the second stage was accumulation—accumulating advantages to gain a greater edge in the fourth and fifth stages.

While Su Xiao was deep in thought, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang sent his current location and distance from Su Xiao via the team channel.

The fact that the team channel wasn't blocked was good news and one of Su Xiao's advantages.

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang's current position represented the location of the Axe Brothers. Baha had just circled the area a few times and encountered no danger, meaning this nearby area was relatively safe—a good place to walk the Axe Brothers.

The Axe Brothers could track Su Xiao; he had thought of this long ago. The good news was that tracking was different from locking on: tracking meant the Axe Brothers were following Su Xiao's trail, while locking on meant they would lunge in a straight line.

Everything was ready. Su Xiao began to walk the Axe Brothers. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang provided the location, and Baha occasionally circled above to attract them, increasing the difficulty for the Axe Brothers to track Su Xiao.

Five hours into the pursuit.

Roars came from among the wooden houses. The Axe Brothers were very angry, but their speed was a fatal flaw; even at full pursuit, they were slightly slower than Su Xiao.

If it were only this, Su Xiao would still be in danger, but with the Axe Brothers' location known, he was at ease.

Ten hours into the pursuit.

Three Axe Brothers were already in a state of uncontrollable rage and began hacking at the wooden houses along their path.

Su Xiao had long discovered that the Axe Brothers were not monsters generated by some ability; they were a type of dangerous creature within the Death House and could also feel anger.

Sixteen hours into the pursuit.

Only 8 Axe Brothers remained pursuing Su Xiao. The other 6 Axe Brothers hadn't given up but had become smarter, starting to circle around to intercept Su Xiao.

Once the Axe Brothers had a strategy, the pressure Su Xiao faced increased sharply, and he was nearly intercepted several times.

Nineteen hours into the pursuit.

The Axe Brothers had completely dispersed. However, they had overlooked one crucial thing: Su Xiao didn't have to keep walking them in the vicinity; he could choose to increase the risk and switch to another area to walk them.

An Axe Brother stood among a stretch of unfamiliar houses. It sat on the ground with a *thump* and angrily threw the large axe in its hand to the side.

"Roar!!"

A deafening roar spread. This grudge was clearly settled today; it had nothing to do with the rules of the death game anymore—this was a personal vendetta.

*Click, click... *

A clock without an outer frame appeared beside the Axe Brother. It picked up the large axe from the ground and chopped at the clock, splitting it into gray fog.

"Time is up. Return to your territory."

An aged voice appeared. Hearing this voice, the Axe Brother hammered the ground beside it.

"Woo! Roar!"

"The rules are as such. By the way, the person you are pursuing... is a Law Destroyer."

Hearing this sentence, the Axe Brother's body stiffened. In the brain at the top of its spine, it recalled a scene from a long time ago.

"Oh~? A novel creature. Anna, how about you let me raise it for a few days? I'll trade you 'Little Ni' for it."

"No! This is a servant of the Death House. Also, I am now the master of the Death House, the Pain, Suffering, Queen."

"Stingy. It's not like I want your 'Glutton'. Then I'll call you the Pain Queen from now on."

"Hmm, fine. But if it's you, you can call me Anna."

Thinking of a certain terrifying person, the Axe Brother stood up and walked toward the banquet hall. It couldn't afford to provoke them, but it could afford to hide.

Two kilometers away, Su Xiao watched an Axe Brother walk away. He had successfully weathered the pursuit.

A full twenty hours had passed, and the other participants were far ahead. Su Xiao waited for a moment, and Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang ran over from the distance.

Bringing Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang and Baha to the Death House was a wise decision; Amu was better at assault, and Benny was for logistics.

At the moment, there was no clear direction to proceed. This area was full of wooden houses, and he hadn't encountered any "Dead" or other monsters within the Death House.

Su Xiao began to head toward the east side. After three hours of full-speed travel, the wooden houses came to an end, and the path ahead was blocked by black fog.

Following the black fog, Su Xiao continued to move. After walking only a few hundred meters, he saw a wooden door on the black fog.

Standing before the wooden door, Su Xiao hesitated for a moment before pushing it open. Inside was a dim wooden house, with candlelight flickering.

"Welcome."

A dry, hoarse voice came from within the wooden house. Under the flickering candlelight, a man thin as a skeleton was sitting against the wall at the back of the room. He wore iron shackles on his neck, and the chain of the shackles disappeared into the wall.

"Death House rule: help me break free from these bonds, and I will do one thing for you."

The skeleton-like man raised his head. Those eyes were pure black, with no distinction between whites and pupils.

"Fine."

Su Xiao agreed without hesitation.

"A wise choice. Find a Shadow Stone and place it..."

The black-eyed man's voice had a strange magic, but before he could finish, the wooden door was closed.

If it required a Shadow Stone, then forget it. Su Xiao had walked the Axe Brothers for 20 hours just to get 3 Shadow Stones. Besides, this black-eyed man was ill-intentioned.

As for the Death House rules? It was something that couldn't be verified at all, and its credibility couldn't be guaranteed, especially when the other party was ill-intentioned.

"You will regret this! The opportunity was given to you, you ignorant fool! Bastard! How could the induction trap fail? Bastard!"

The black-eyed man's expression twisted, as if he wanted to devour someone, his teeth gnashing with a *clack-clack* sound. But just at this moment, the door was opened again. As the door opened, the black-eyed man's expression returned to normal.

"Are there other ways to help you break free from the bonds?"

Hearing Su Xiao's words, the black-eyed man sighed and said, "Only with sacrifice will there be a reward."

"In other words, you cannot leave this room."

"Of course not, I just cannot leave the Death House."

The black-eyed man's expression was natural, but Su Xiao judged that the other party likely couldn't leave this wooden house—a 70% probability or higher.

"No Shadow Stone needed. My blade is very sharp. Stretch your neck out a bit."

"This has nothing to do with whether your blade is sharp or not!"

The black-eyed man naturally sensed something was wrong.

"No, it does."

Su Xiao drew the Dragon Flash from his waist. The other party had been very "enthusiastic" just now, with both bewitchment and mental control, so he would respond "kindly." Although he was a Blade Master, occasional "slips" were normal—for example, a slash "missing" and "accidentally" hitting the black-eyed man. ===== CHAPTER 2234 =====