"Heard about it." Xiao Qi nodded calmly.

"Tempted?" he asked again.

"Tempted."

Xiao Qi nodded.

"Are you going to report it?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Xiao Qi was silent for a moment, then said, "The bounty from Ganlu Hall is tempting, but staying alive is more important. Master Qin could kill them once, so he can certainly kill them a second time... If I had planned on going for it, I wouldn’t have greeted Master Qin when I ran into him just now."

Hearing Xiao Qi’s words, Qin Fang pondered for a moment before finally nodding.

...His impression of Xiao Qi was actually quite good.

And people are strange. You can know someone for years and still not be able to trust them. But with others, you might only be passing acquaintances, yet you feel you can trust them.

Xu Meng was like that... He had known Xu Meng for longer than Xiao Qi, of course, and the man had never done anything questionable in their interactions. But he just couldn’t bring himself to trust Xu Meng completely.

But with Xiao Qi, even though they hadn’t known each other long, his intuition told him he could be trusted.

...You could only say that intuition is sometimes truly irrational.

They chatted idly for a while longer. Qin Fang was quite happy to have run into an ’old friend’ like Xiao Qi today.

Even though... it had only been about twenty days since they’d last seen each other.

The silvery laughter of a girl rang out. The two men turned toward the sound and saw Xiao Jiu having fun playing with Xile... It seemed the two had already gotten familiar with each other. Xile seemed to like Xiao Jiu quite a bit, too.

Thinking of this, Qin Fang suddenly recalled a detail he had overlooked...

’...Xile never seemed to have any ill feelings toward Monkey or Xiao Qi. Whenever they came over, Xile would never bark wildly.’

’But with Xu Meng... even after I specifically had Xu Meng help feed Xile for a day, Xile would still let out a wary, low growl every time it saw him afterward.’

’...I never thought much of it before. Dogs can bare their teeth at anyone, after all.’

’But now that I’m gradually becoming aware of Xile’s special Talent for perceiving danger, this whole thing... suddenly seems a lot less simple.’

Just as he was thinking this, a chaotic clamor suddenly erupted from the fish market not far away. Even from a distance, it startled Qin Fang and Xiao Qi.

The two of them instinctively turned to look. Qin Fang furrowed his brow and stood up.

Xiao Qi quickly followed.

The two men walked out of the courtyard. Xiao Jiu, holding Xile, looked at them with some confusion. After a moment’s hesitation, she followed them, still carrying Xile.

The fish market was now a scene of chaos, buzzing with discussion.

"...I don’t know."

"Suddenly went berserk, started slashing wildly..."

"...Must be some kind of grudge, right?"

"Hiss, how brutal!"

They murmured amongst themselves, brows furrowed, as they stared into the fish market.

Qin Fang walked closer and saw a shack not far away. The ground was covered in fresh blood. Inside, Jiang Xin was pinning a man to the ground with his knee.

The man was covered in a mist of blood, his face contorted into a savage expression, his eyes filled with madness.

"Kill, kill, kill you, kill you all!!"

he roared, his voice hoarse and frenzied.

The veins on his forehead bulged as if they were about to burst.

But under the suppression of a Mingjin Martial Artist like Jiang Xin, his violent struggles were completely useless.

Beside them lay several bodies in a tragic state. The one closest to Jiang Xin was hacked to pieces, its intestines spilling out as blood pooled on the ground.

"Dad?!"

A heart-wrenching scream rang out. A young man ran in from outside the fish market, fell to his knees beside the body, and frantically cradled it, crying out in anguish.

But the corpse, of course, could not answer him...

Many people who saw this scene showed looks of pity.

"It’s Old Cai... Such bad luck, running into a madman..."

The crowd murmured among themselves.

Qin Fang’s brow tightened as he watched. He happened to spot Yuan the Second maintaining order nearby and, after a moment’s thought, walked over.

"Second Uncle Yuan."

Yuan the Second quickly turned his head. Seeing it was Qin Fang, he let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, it’s you, Xiao Jiang..."

"What’s... the situation here?" Qin Fang asked, frowning at the scene.

"I just got here myself, so I’m not entirely clear. But I heard... this person was originally here to buy fish. Then, for some reason, he suddenly went crazy, shouting things like ’Kill you, kill you all’... Then he grabbed a knife and started hacking, killing several people. Luckily, the boss was patrolling the fish market, heard the commotion, and came over to subdue him before he could cause more trouble..."

’Sudden? Went crazy?’

Qin Fang’s brow furrowed deeply.

He instinctively looked at the man pinned to the ground by Jiang Xin’s knee. Jiang Xin’s expression was grim. Seeing the man still struggling, he barked, "You dare move?!"

He pressed down hard again. A CRACKING sound immediately came from the man’s back. Clearly, he hadn’t held back, and it was likely a bone had fractured.

The struggles of the man beneath him lessened, then his face slowly stiffened, and finally, he took his last breath...

’He’s dead?’

Feeling the struggling force beneath him suddenly vanish, Jiang Xin froze for a second. He looked again, and his brow furrowed.

The man’s face was stiff, savage, and terrifying. The bulging veins on his cheeks hadn’t even receded.

Jiang Xin hesitated, relaxed his pressure slightly, and placed his right hand under the man’s nose to check for breath. A moment later, he stood up, his face dark.

The man didn’t move at all...

It seemed he was really dead.

’...Did I use a little too much force just now?’

Jiang Xin thought.

At that moment, the others noticed this as well.

"Looks like... he’s dead?"

"He was a madman. If he’s dead, he’s dead. Poor Old Cai..."