Chapter 78: I Dare to Kill You

"Kid, stop standing there blankly, hurry up and return the secret manual to me!"

The bearded man before him had a fierce look, his face full of bulging flesh, radiating an aura of "I am not to be trifled with" from every aspect.

However, after approaching Shen Yu, he did not immediately make a move; instead, he feigned arrogance and shouted two sentences at Shen Yu in a loud voice, while carefully remaining on guard.

Given this posture, if anything went wrong, he would surely turn and flee immediately.

It was no wonder the bearded man was so cautious; the person who had just attacked was sent flying with a single strike and his life or death was unknown. Who knew if this young man before him was truly an expert?

If he happened to be an expert, he would have to run for his life!

Therefore, although his mouth was unforgiving, he remained quite cautious on the surface. In a godforsaken place like Xiaozhou, those who didn't know how to be cautious had long since been turned into meat buns.

"You want it?" Shaking the secret manual in his hand, Shen Yu smiled lightly. "You should have said so earlier, here you go!"

"That's more like it, kid, consider yourself smart!"

The fact that this weak-looking scholar before him was so sensible made the bearded man feel somewhat relieved; it seemed he had been overthinking it. Besides, one really shouldn't think experts are as common as cabbage, to be found everywhere.

Reaching out to snatch the secret manual, the bearded man carefully guarded against his surroundings, where the people around him were eyeing him covetously.

The bearded man was quite satisfied with Shen Yu's current attitude. Young man, knowing that those who submit to circumstances are heroes—you have a future!

However, when he tried to take the secret manual, he discovered that no matter how much force he used, the other party remained completely unmoved.

Oh no, a tough nut to crack!

The bearded man realized this just as it was too late; a hand had already landed on his body, directly slamming half of his torso into the dirt.

Yet he himself felt as if he were completely unharmed; such subtle control was even more terrifying to think about—this was definitely an expert among experts!

"Great Hero, I don't want the secret manual anymore, this little one offers it to you!" Quickly bowing his head, the bearded man was suddenly filled with panic.

In this godforsaken place of Xiaozhou, there was never a shortage of ruthless people, and even lunatics were a dime a dozen. Who knew if he had encountered that type, and whether they would think of playing him to death!

"It was this little one who was blind and offended the Great Hero, I'll roll away now, I'll roll away right now!"

"Want to run? You wish!" A hand rested on the other's head, directly rendering the bearded man unable to move.

"Great Hero, no, Grandpa, I really didn't mean to offend you. Please just let me go like a fart, I promise I absolutely won't dare to do it again next time!"

At this moment, the bearded man felt a strong urge to cry. Having traveled for two days straight without even a bite to eat, not only had he failed to get the secret manual, but he was also about to lose his own life—he felt so aggrieved!

He just wanted to obtain a powerful Cultivation Method to change his destiny and reach the pinnacle of life; was that wrong?

He had clearly worked so hard, so why did he end up with nothing in the end!

"I ask, you answer, understand?"

The calm voice rang in his ears, as if it could pierce straight into the depths of his soul, making the bearded man shiver uncontrollably and pulling him back from his delusions to reality.

"Great Hero, please ask. This little one will certainly tell you everything I know without reservation, and I wouldn't dare to be the least bit deceitful."

Standing there respectfully, the bearded man wore a face full of fawning and ingratiation; that sycophantic appearance was somewhat disgusting to look at.

Kneeling and begging for mercy before a young man, the bearded man felt not a shred of shame, but rather a sense of self-satisfaction.

In this day and age, one doesn't fight the tough, one doesn't fight those who don't fear death, one only fights those who are blind. He had survived until now by knowing how to submit to circumstances.

Drifting in the pugilistic world, what one relies on is not just strength, but also keen eyes and courage. If he didn't have the courage to cower when he should and kneel when he should, he would have long since been hacked into meat paste to feed the fish.

As the saying goes, one must endure the bitterness of bitterness to become a person above others; if he couldn't even endure this bit of humiliation, how could he become a person above others.

However, what the bearded man did not know, or chose to ignore, was that some people endure temporary humiliation to bear the burden of the future, planning to achieve great things later.

But for some, the more they kneel, the softer their knees become, and their spines bend; once softened and bent, they can never stand straight again.

Let alone achieving great things later, I'm afraid these knees would have to kneel every other day.

Watching the bearded man's cowering appearance, those who had been competing with him felt their old faces flush with shame; it was embarrassing!

How shameful! Just a moment ago, this bearded man had used his own strength to make them unable to lift their heads, yet in the end, he was such a character. When begging for mercy, he didn't even want his face anymore.

In other words, they were not even as good as such a person, and a thick sense of shame surged into their hearts. This guy wasn't ashamed, but they were!

At this time, Shen Yu did not care at all about what these people were thinking and hurriedly asked what was on his mind.

"I ask you, is the situation in Xiaozhou stable right now?"

"Th-this..." The bearded man didn't know how to answer this question for a moment. What did it mean to ask if Xiaozhou was stable? When had Xiaozhou ever been stable?

Every day it was either you hitting me or me hitting you, and bloody streets were a common scene. Stable? This word didn't fit Xiaozhou at all!

However, at this moment, the bearded man had a flash of inspiration and seemed to understand what Shen Yu was asking. He hurriedly replied: "Great Hero, Xiaozhou is indeed not stable recently!"

"You don't know, in our Xiaozhou, several treasure troves have been discovered. Inside, there are divine weapons, sharp blades, and secret Cultivation Methods, everything you could want!"

"Now, the experts of Xiaozhou have heard the news and moved, almost everyone has come out in full force. They are fighting and killing each other for these things!"

"I heard that not only in Xiaozhou, but people from outside Xiaozhou are also said to be rushing to Xiaozhou with all their might. The current Xiaozhou is almost a complete mess!"

Speaking of this, the bearded man greedily glanced at the secret manual still clutched in Shen Yu's hand.

The thing he had been longing for had been just one step away from him a moment ago. But now that it had fallen into the hands of this young scholar, that one step had become a chasm, and he didn't need to pine for it anymore.

In the bearded man's view, Shen Yu asking whether Xiaozhou was stable or not was fake; the root of it was to ask about those treasures.

It's just that he didn't ask directly, but asked in a roundabout way; scholars, after all, always like to play these secretive games. Fortunately, he wasn't stupid and saw through it at a glance.

Little guy, we are all the same kind of people, what are you pretending for!

"Diverting the disaster, how brilliant!" Whose handiwork this was, there was no need to say.

He didn't expect the people from Cannibal Valley and Evil Man City to act so quickly; the moment he left, they set this up.

And they even used so-called treasures to attract these pugilistic people to act as pawns. This way, they could fish in troubled waters in the dark, and finding them would be much more difficult.

Who says these villains have no brains? Look at these things they've done; in this day and age, if you don't have a few tricks up your sleeve, you can't even be a villain.

Look at those villains who want to enter Evil Man City; those with low IQs died on the road long ago and couldn't cross these treacherous mountains and evil waters at all.

Anyone who can successfully escape into Xiaozhou, into Evil Man City and Cannibal Valley, which one of them hasn't struggled through the mud, which one of them isn't extremely clever?

Looking up at these people, Shen Yu couldn't help but ask, "Have you never thought about whether such treasures might be problematic?"

"Even if treasures occasionally appear in the world, they shouldn't appear in several places at the same time. And even if they did appear, the people who discovered them would surely keep them tightly under wraps and wouldn't easily leak the news."

"How could it become known to everyone in just a few short days?"

"Great hero, we also know there is a problem, but we are suffering!" Speaking of this, Dahuzi almost shed tears.

"Great hero, for rogue cultivators like us in the Jianghu, with no background and no strength, we don't know when we might end up as corpses on the street; for us, there is no choice but to take a gamble!"

"If we lose the gamble, at worst we pay with our lives. If we win, perhaps we can change our current situation, or even soar to the heavens."

"The opportunity is right before our eyes; if we don't take a gamble, we simply won't be able to reconcile ourselves to it!"