"Demonic arts? When did Yuan Hao ever practice any demonic arts? If you dare to speak nonsense again, be careful I—"
Before Shen Lanni could finish speaking, Ye Lan grabbed her hand tightly and whispered, "Sister, look at Yuan Hao's back, it's bleeding so much!"
In the dim light, Shen Lanni followed Ye Lan to his back and suddenly saw that Ren Yuan Hao's back was already soaked with blood. The blood was not dry, and in some places, it was still oozing blood!
Shen Lanni was hot-tempered to begin with. Upon seeing Ren Yuan Hao so seriously injured, her temper flared. Her figure moved, and she instantly transformed into a red mist. She was so fast that the man couldn't react before Shen Lanni punched him a few meters away!
White plaster fell from the wall. The man merely clutched his chest and let out a muffled groan as he sat up from the ground. His face was always hidden under his hood, and his expression was unreadable. As Shen Lanni was about to attack again, Ye Lan stopped her.
"Wait, Sister, Yuan Hao's injuries are more important."
Shen and Ye had never seen Ren Yuan Hao so badly injured. Their faces were pale, and their brows were furrowed. They only wished they could share his pain. However, the man said in a deep voice, "This kid is lucky, but it's a pity I don't know if he can get through this."
He slowly stood up from the ground, casually brushing the dust off his clothes, completely unfazed by Shen Lanni's punch.
"The wound on his back was sustained while saving a little girl. If you know him, you should know that this kid is a superpowered individual. Now, his body is blocked by qi formed from an unawakened superpower, and coupled with the severe injury, he can hardly resist it himself."
The man only knew so much, but Shen Lanni pressed on, "According to you, Yuan Hao is now on the verge of death?"
"He was, but now the situation is a bit different."
No one could see the expression on the man's face, but the two women heard his faint laughter.
"What are you laughing at!" Shen Lanni was furious.
"I'm laughing at myself for still thinking about helping him break through the qi formed by his superpower and stabilize his heart脉, which is simply unnecessary."
"Why?"
"As I said, this kid seems to be practicing some demonic arts. I can feel that although he's been coughing up blood repeatedly, his internal energy is gradually deepening, even becoming purer than before. It's truly a case of good fortune favoring the bold."
As they were speaking, Ren Yuan Hao finally opened his eyes after spitting out the last mouthful of dark blood.
"Yuan Hao, how are you? Did this man harm you?"
Shen Lanni's cold eyes stared at the man in the shadows. Although his words made some sense, in this environment, his words could not gain the absolute trust of the two women.
"Don't attack, it's not his fault."
Ren Yuan Hao held his breath and concentrated. After saying this, he closed his eyes again, his face covered in fine sweat, but his heart felt incredibly invigorated!
—I actually learned it!
Although the "Xixing Dafa" (Star Absorbing Great Method) was a bit unorthodox, the congested qi in his body was truly guided and unblocked one by one. His dantian felt empty, but his internal energy actually increased instead of decreasing!
This change perfectly matched the man's words: good fortune favors the bold. Not only did he turn misfortune into fortune, but through a stroke of luck, he learned the Xixing Dafa. All that remained was to master it and then diligently study the parts he didn't quite understand, and he would have made some progress!
"It seems this kid should be fine."
As soon as the man finished speaking, he was about to walk towards the door.
"Stop."
It was not the two women who spoke, but Ren Yuan Hao, who had opened his eyes again.
"Oh? Kid, I've told you very clearly. In three days, if I can return, I'll give your stuff back." The man shrugged, pulled his clothes tighter, and in the flickering candlelight, his figure appeared even more gaunt.
"What if you don't come back?" Ren Yuan Hao's pupils flashed with a peculiar light, as if trying to see through the man completely.
The man's voice suddenly became very ethereal. "If you don't come back, it means your luck has run out. If you want this ring back, perhaps you can be grateful and offer three sticks of incense daily. Maybe my soul will be touched by your remembrance and send the ring back here."
The two women were confused, but the sensitive matter of the ring did make them tremble. Shen Lanni thought, perhaps this kid had come to his senses and was planning to give a ring to a girl? Ye Lan's face turned slightly red, thinking if Yuan Hao had already made a decision among them?
Their hearts pounded, but Ren Yuan Hao's next words directly jolted them out of their beautiful conjectures.
"I've already promised my aunt that I must get this ring back for her no matter what, and she said this ring cannot fall into the hands of a man!"
"Aunt?"
"Aunt, what aunt?"
The two women were even more confused.
Ren Yuan Hao had no time to explain. Instead, he stood up from the bed, forcing himself to do so. After experiencing the tearing pain of level 12 or higher, the slight wound on his back was nothing.
Unexpectedly, the man laughed almost madly. "Ridiculous! This ring was passed down from my family. Who could understand its secrets better than I? The grandfather of the aunt you mentioned is the biggest thief! Returning? This is my clan's property, so what is there to return?"
"Now the ring is in your hands, you can say whatever you want."
"You don't believe me?" The man suddenly turned around and, for the first time, took off his hood in front of Ren Yuan Hao.
The man's face flickered in the candlelight, gaunt and withered. His voice was clearly young, but his skin was like a parched rice field, covered in wrinkles. His hair was like scorched straw, and extremely tiny holes covered it!
The two women were stunned by his appearance and couldn't help but take half a step back.
"I've been afraid of the cold since I was young. My parents said it's because an important item was lost from the family. It's not just me; my parents are the same as me." The man's body began to tremble, either from excitement or the cold. His wrinkled skin looked like a demon in his sneer!
"Because of our fear of the cold, we could only live in a thermostatic cave all year round, relying on fire to survive. Can you imagine that when I was 10 years old, I personally killed my parents and threw them into the fire? I watched their blood almost extinguish the fire, and the smell of blood after heating was more unpleasant than any smell in the world. I watched their skin turn white, curl, and crack open to the bone, finally turning into a charred lump, scattering into the air with the ashes. Can you imagine what that feeling was like?"
Ren Yuan Hao's biggest flaw was his tendency to believe people too easily. At this moment, his mind was in complete chaos, like two incompatible systems splitting and devouring his consciousness.