"How did you know Qin Qing was here?" Ye Xiu stared at Qin Jiuyou, his expression grave and his eyes wary, filled with immense surprise.

On the surface, Qin Jiuyou had come to capture Qin Qing, but his real target was him, intending to use Qin Qing as leverage. However, Qin Qing had only arrived in Guoyang last night, yet Qin Jiuyou showed up this morning. This meant the people behind him were either constantly tracking Qin Qing or had a pervasive and extensive intelligence network in Guoyang. Of course, that was not the important part.

What mattered was that Qin Jiuyou’s Martial Prowess was so great it made Ye Xiu suspect he came from the Temple or one of the three great Judicator Families.

"Get lost. A lowly housekeeper like you has no right to speak to me." Seeing the apron Ye Xiu was wearing, Qin Jiuyou mistook him for a housekeeper.

He doesn’t recognize me? Ye Xiu was stunned for a moment. The gravity disappeared from his face, and the wariness in his eyes vanished. So, this guy was not from the Temple or one of the three great Judicator Families.

Still surprised, he probed, "Hexia Road is truly a den of crouching tigers and hidden dragons. It has the Long Family and Medicine King Valley, two superpowers unknown to the world. Now, another mysterious organization has appeared, wielding a pervasive intelligence network and power almost equal to the other two."

Qin Jiuyou was slightly surprised, but said with disdain, "Well, look at you, a mere housekeeper knows quite a lot, even about the Long Family and Medicine King Valley. But a housekeeper is still a housekeeper. A frog in a well can’t see the size of the sky. In my master’s eyes, the Long Family and Medicine King Valley are nothing but farts."

"Who is your master?" Ye Xiu asked.

"A mere housekeeper has no right to know my master’s name," Qin Jiuyou said haughtily. "Now, I will take Qin Qing. As for you two, it’s time to send you on your way!"

With that, he flicked his fingers, shooting two strands of Blade Qi straight at Ye Xiu’s and Chloe’s foreheads. To his surprise, however, the Blade Qi vanished into thin air just a meter away from them.

Qin Jiuyou’s pupils shrank. "Oh? I didn’t expect you two to be experts. What a pity. For two so young to possess such strength, yet you had the misfortune of meeting a master like me. Your lives end here."

As he spoke, he slowly drew his blade. From five meters away, he slashed out toward Chloe.

A colossal Dao Mang, over five meters long and carrying the power to split the heavens and sunder the earth, hurtled toward Chloe.

This scene startled Qin Qing. She had never imagined someone could manifest their Martial Prowess into physical form and unleash such a terrifying Dao Mang. What level of strength is this? But in the next moment, she saw Chloe’s pupils suddenly turn purple, and the massive Dao Mang abruptly stopped just ten centimeters from her head. My god! Did Chloe just block that terrifying Dao Mang with her eyes alone?

"You’re merely in the Third Realm, yet you dare to show off before me? You don’t know your own limits," Chloe snorted coldly. With a slash of her sword, she shattered the massive Dao Mang and dashed toward Qin Jiuyou.

"How is this possible?" Qin Jiuyou panicked. He hadn’t expected a foreign woman in her early twenties to possess such terrifying strength.

Seeing Chloe charge, he quickly brandished his blade and met her in combat.

Recognizing the swordsmanship Qin Jiuyou was using, Ye Xiu exclaimed in shock, "Seven Kills Blade Intent?" Then he yelled, "Chloe, dodge!"

Chloe quickly pushed Qin Jiuyou back with a sword strike and leaped to the side.

At that exact moment, Ye Xiu appeared like a phantom, his hand already clamped around Qin Jiuyou’s neck.

"This..." Qin Jiuyou stared at Ye Xiu as if he were a monster. This housekeeper’s strength is terrifying! He’s so fast I couldn’t even capture his trajectory. He seized my neck in a single, effortless move! Moreover, with Ye Xiu’s hand on his neck, his body went limp, and he instantly lost all power to resist.

"Who... who are you?" Qin Jiuyou asked in terror. Only then did he realize that this housekeeper, whom he had looked down upon, was the true expert.

"Speak. Who taught you the Seven Kills Blade Intent?" Ye Xiu asked coldly, his body radiating a murderous aura as if he were the God of Slaughter incarnate.

Ye Xiu’s murderous aura terrified Qin Jiuyou to his very core. At first, he had considered being defiant, thinking death was the worst that could happen. However, the look in Ye Xiu’s eyes and his murderous aura told him that in his hands, death would be an unimaginable luxury.

He quickly said, "It was... it was taught to me by my master."

"Who is your master?" Ye Xiu asked.

"My master... my master is the Valley Master of Seven Killings Valley. No one knows his origins or his name, but... but the name he uses while undercover in the Long Family is Er Gouzi," Qin Jiuyou said hurriedly.

Er Gouzi?

"Impossible!" Ye Xiu and Chloe exclaimed almost simultaneously.

Qin Qing looked baffled, as the name Er Gouzi seemed to have profoundly shocked Ye Xiu and Chloe. She asked, "Who is Er Gouzi?" 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Chloe did not reply. The name Er Gouzi was a thorn in Ye Xiu’s heart, and she dared not speak of it without his permission.

"Where is Er Gouzi?" Ye Xiu asked.

"He... he is the disciple of the Sixth Elder of the Long Family, Long Tianhao. He’s always by Long Tianhao’s side," Qin Jiuyou said.

Ye Xiu took a Blood Pill from his pocket, stuffed it into Qin Jiuyou’s mouth, and commanded, "Swallow it."

Qin Jiuyou froze. Is this housekeeper trying to control me with poison? If so, I’ll be safe. Master is an expert in Medical Skills; he can definitely cure the poison.

He immediately swallowed the Blood Pill. The next moment, he felt his Martial Prowess surge, his strength instantly multiplying several times over. "This... what... what did you give me?" Qin Jiuyou asked in shock.

At the same time, the sudden increase in strength renewed his confidence that he could kill Ye Xiu and Chloe and take Qin Qing away.

"Go ask the King of Hell!"

Ye Xiu took the Bloodstone from his pocket. It immediately emitted a searing, sanguine light, breaking free from his grasp and floating above Qin Jiuyou’s head.

Then, Qin Jiuyou found he couldn’t move. His Martial Prowess and blood rushed uncontrollably toward his head. The acupoint at the crown of his head exploded, spurting out Martial Prowess and blood, all of which was devoured and absorbed by the Bloodstone.

In an instant, Qin Jiuyou turned into a mummified corpse, and the Bloodstone, now back to normal, fell into Ye Xiu’s hand.

Ye Xiu noticed that the Bloodstone had become much paler after draining Qin Jiuyou.

"Young Master, the Er Gouzi mentioned by Qin Jiuyou cannot be that traitor," Chloe said. "You personally took action years ago and shattered Er Gouzi’s heart meridian. How could he possibly still be alive?"

"Then how do you explain the Seven Kills Blade Intent?" Ye Xiu asked. "That set of swordsmanship is something I only taught to Er Gouzi. If he’s dead, who did Qin Jiuyou learn it from?"

"It’s possible Er Gouzi passed on the Seven Kills Blade Intent to an outsider before he died. Or perhaps he left behind a Seven Kills Blade Intent Manual that Qin Jiuyou’s master obtained." Chloe still refused to believe that Er Gouzi was alive.