Chapter 31: Bloody Hands

Wang Bo saw the group's unwelcoming expressions and didn't mind. Putting himself in their shoes, if he were sitting with friends chatting and a stranger suddenly sat down without a word, he too would be displeased.

Wang Bo smiled and said, "Don't mind me, gentlemen. I just want to ask you something."

With that, Wang Bo took out a gold ingot and placed it on the table.

The men glanced at the gold, a hint of desire flickering in their eyes.

Despite their swords and daggers, posing as chivalrous heroes,

Wang Bo could tell they were the lowest rung of the martial world—mediocre in skill and short on cash. A gold ingot was enough to tempt them.

Not every martial artist could drink large bowls of wine, eat big chunks of meat, and spend silver freely. Those who could were either famous masters or came from wealthy families.

Most martial artists, when entering a tavern or inn, would call out, "Waiter, a bowl of plain noodles."

As if not eating plain noodles meant you weren't part of the martial world.

In truth, plain noodles weren't tasty. The name sounded nice, but ancient plain noodles were just clear soup noodles—nothing but noodles and broth, no meat or vegetables, barely more than water.

So why did so many people love plain noodles?

The main reason was... they were cheap.

The martial artists before Wang Bo weren't eating plain noodles, but the few vegetable dishes on the table showed they weren't well-off.

A gold ingot for a few questions—no one would refuse.

Sure enough, after Wang Bo revealed the gold, the previously unwelcoming faces broke into smiles.

"Easy, easy," said the man who had earlier questioned Wang Bo, now grinning. "What would you like to ask, brother? If we know, we'll tell you everything."

The others nodded eagerly.

Wang Bo said, "I want to ask about someone."

"Who, brother?"

"Feng Siniang."

The men's expressions shifted slightly. One asked, "What do you want with that woman?"

Wang Bo said, "Never mind why. I just want to know—is she still beyond the Pass?"

"Yes, of course," they nodded, speaking over each other. "I heard she recently killed the Eighteen Eagles who roamed beyond the Pass."

"Right, right. The Eighteen Eagles were skilled beyond the Pass. They always moved together and knew a joint attack technique. Three or five of them could trip up many, and all eighteen together could overwhelm even a veteran. But Feng Siniang wiped them out in one go."

"I also heard she was utterly ruthless—none of the Eighteen Eagles had intact bodies. She twisted off all their heads with her bare hands."

"Feng Siniang used to kill, but not so cruelly. No one knows what's gotten into her lately—her style has changed drastically, and she's become more vicious."

"Many call her a she-devil behind her back. Some think she's been provoked, maybe dumped by a man."

"Others believe she might have joined the demon cult, which is why she's changed."

For the gold ingot, the men spilled everything they knew.

After listening, Wang Bo grew curious. Why had Feng Siniang turned so brutal?

She had been turned into a zombie. She should be using the Thousand-Change Puppet Threads inside her to create more zombies, not tearing off people's heads.

That would render them useless.

Without a head, an infected person was little different from a corpse.

Surely that didn't serve the Zombie King's purpose.

Wang Bo's mind raced with guesses, but he said, "Does any of you know exactly where Feng Siniang is?"

The men exchanged blank looks.

One said bitterly, "Brother, you're asking too much. Women like Feng Siniang—we avoid her. How would we know her whereabouts?"

Wang Bo rolled his eyes. "If you don't know her whereabouts, how do you avoid her? What if you run into her by accident?"

The men suddenly realized, "Right! We never thought of that."

Wang Bo had given up on these fools. "Is there any well-informed organization beyond the Pass?"

The men shook their heads.

One of them thought of something and said quietly, "Maybe the Azure Tower would know."

Wang Bo said, "So there's an Azure Tower beyond the Pass too."

"The Azure Tower is everywhere. Of course there's one beyond the Pass."

"Where?"

The men told Wang Bo the location of the Azure Tower, and Wang Bo left the gold ingot before turning to leave.

Soon, Wang Bo arrived at the Azure Tower.

The Azure Tower beyond the Pass was a step below those inside the Pass. After all, this wasn't a prosperous place—far inferior to the Central Plains.

The tower here had only three stories. To Wang Bo's surprise, the master of this Azure Tower was Du Sha.

Du Sha was the leader of the Ten Great Evils in the world of The Legendary Twins.

Du Sha's nickname was Bloody Hands, because he wore gloves soaked in a hundred poisons, covered in barbs laced with deadly venom.

He had once been defeated by the "Southern Sky Hero" Lu Zhongyuan and fled into the Valley of Evil to escape him.

He was called the leader of the Ten Great Evils not because he was the most wicked, but because he had the highest martial arts.

Though he was indeed a villain, he was far from the rotten-to-the-core types.

In the world of The Legendary Twins, Du Sha, being straightforward, was deceived by Ma Yiyun's delicate appearance among the Twelve Zodiacs. He insisted on standing up for her, only to be stabbed to death by Ma Yiyun in a sneak attack.

Clearly, Du Sha was no scheming villain.

But undeniably, Du Sha wasn't a good person either—the kind who deserved to die.

In this world, after the Valley of Evil mutated, most of the villains were killed by vengeful spirits, and only a few escaped. Du Sha was one of them.

Having lost the Valley of Evil, Du Sha joined the Azure Tower to survive and became one of its masters.