Threads of Black GasBi Fan had learnt a lot of new moves in recent times that he hadn’t been able to put to use in a fight, until now, but as fight wore on, he was able to use all those techniques seamlessly.His strength seemed to have increased a bit, but, was still no match for his opponent.Bi Fan had been using blood devil technique to its full extent and rather ruthlessly.He kept repeating the same tricks again and again, as he had nothing new in his a.r.s.enal.“Boy, you are a pract.i.tioner of the sacred way but surprisingly, you’re using the devil’s techniques. I’m amazed, and I might be tempted to let you go, if you surrender yourself.”Bi Fan was quite sure that he shouldn’t trust a devil’s follower. Surrendering to this man will only make things worse and death will be upon him sooner.“Tell me who sent you and I will surrender.”Up till now Bi Fan had no idea why he had been attacked in this fashion, so he figured that he should at least know why this is happening to him.“Boy, if I tell you, then I will have to kill you, but …… if you do not surrender, then you…..” the man looked at Bi Fan coldly, his glance reeking of threat.“It’s obvious that I’m only a beginner compared to you, and yet you’re afraid that I will get away from you.” Bi Fan reasoned.“Well, you’re right. Since you’re about to die, I might as well tell you. I met him outside Quiyang, I didn’t bother to ask his name, but he was rather fat. You figure out his ident.i.ty.”“Zhu San, he would even be willing to collaborate with a devil’s follower to kill me!” Bi Fan said, surprised.“Now you will surrender to me, right?” The man asked, somewhat anxious.“Ha ha….” Bi Fan laughed as he stated: “I will die before I surrender.”He was standing tough to the end; he didn’t want to die a cheap death.“Then die!” the man gnashed his teeth and attacked Bi Fan’s face with blow that came with a gale as sharp as the edge of a knife.“Why G.o.d?! Why would you give me a hope for a better life and then obliterate it in this way? Why could you have not left me in the mediocre state that I was in? Why did you give me false hopes?!”Bi Fan heart roared with rage, his eyes red, bloodthirsty.“Die in h.e.l.l!” Bi Fan poured every last bit of spiritual influence inside his body in this final attack as he recklessly charged his opponent.“Boom!” the impact was devastating, Bi Fan fell backwards as blood splashed out of his body.Bi Fan swallowed a lot of blood, but wanted to get up again and fight on.The man on the other hand was sure that Bi Fan’s death was only a matter of time now and didn’t seem to be interested in attacking him again.He extended his hands towards Bi Fan, in an attempt to take him alive.Bi Fan had almost given up, and he made no attempts to dodge as his attacker grabbed him.“ARRGHHH!!” He suddenly started struggling again, but couldn’t break free now.“Boy, surrender yourself, or else you will die.” The man said, angrily.“ARGHHH!” Bi Fan roared again, like a wild animal. His mind was almost on the verge of unconsciousness.Suddenly, threads of a black gas emerged from within Bi Fan’s body and rushed into his attacker’s body.“OW! OW!…” the devil’s follower issue started issuing screams, earth shattering screams.He drop Bi Fan, and started rolling on the ground in pain, his face started getting distorted and his body started curling into a ball, like that of a prawn.Bi Fan’s hands were still stiff in a flurry, he had no idea what was happening, but still he wasn’t going to give up, not till the very end.Suddenly, the man’s body started withering down and slowly dissipated into nothingness. All that was left behind was his skeleton, clothes, weapons, his broadsword, and a Yin Yang pouch.The threads of that black gas hung over Bi Fan’s body. They seemed rather excited for a while, and then dissipated back into Bi Fan’s body.Bi Fan completely unaware of his surroundings, relaxed on the soft ground as his body gave in to the exhaustion and injuries.Then, after a long time, Bi Fan opened his eyes again, and looked around.“Hey! I didn’t die!” Bi Fan said out loud, in a surprised tone. “That’s the man’s clothes, weapons and a Yin Yang pouch!”Bi Fan got up, and started looking around, trying to make sense of things: “Looks like my ancestors came to my rescue! And also the enemy’s treasures have been left behind for me!”“Unknown ancestors! Thank you!” BI Fan shouted loudly.After Bi Fan had calmed down a bit, he started looking at the remains of his attacker.The dress was low grade, the broadsword was good quality, other things were mostly useless, but Yin Yang pouch was good even if it didn’t contain anything useful.Bi Fan knew that his injuries were pretty serious and he need to heal.He climbed up a tall tree nearby, lay down on a branch, swallowed a healing Dan pellet and started practicing Longevity burst to restore his health.Two hours later, Bi Fan’s injuries had healed completely owing to the healing support provided by the Dan pellet.Bi Fan jumped off the tree, feeling normally agile.The battle with the devil’s follower had been a very fruitful encounter from one perspective for Bi Fan. His martial arts techniques had improved by a lot, he had been able to use them in battle like never before.Bi Fan had gained a lot of experience through this fight, and even though he didn’t feel the need to hurry, he started on his way right away.His boxing was as smooth as the wind, and his sword play, vivid.He had learnt a lot new skills in the past few weeks and had just been able to understand the true extent to which he could use them.Bi Fan kept replaying the fight in his mind as he continued on his path.Bi Fan quickly got out of the forest and reached a small town, it was already evening and he felt that he could use some rest. So he decided to rest there for the night and then carry on his journey the next morning.In the evening, he spent some time recalling the fight, and then began practicing again.After such an extreme battle, Bi Fan felt that he might have become strong enough to breakthrough to ‘inner organs’ layer.Later that night, he kept trying hard, but still couldn’t make the breakthrough. However, he felt as if he was almost there, and should be able to make the breakthrough soon enough.The next morning, after a hearty breakfast, Bi Fan set off again.Since Bi Fan’s motive behind travelling on foot was to experience the country side, he didn’t worry much about anything and continued on his way, enjoying the journey, almost like a tourist.After a while, Bi Fan started feeling as if he was being followed.There were many other pedestrians on the road, and Bi Fan had no idea about this tracker’s ident.i.ty.Bi Fan wanted to speed up his footsteps a bit, as he felt that he was being watched constantly, and the feeling was only getting stronger with every pa.s.sing moment.He had felt something similar right before running into the man in the woods. However, this time, the feeling was a lot less intense.“How is it that I have such a strong sense of danger?” Bi Fan thought to himself, amazed with his instincts.After everything that had happened, Bi Fan couldn’t help being a bit skeptical.In general, as the pract.i.tioner becomes stronger, the ability to sense danger also becomes stronger.Bi Fan wasn’t strong enough to possess such ability at present. But even then, he had a very powerful ability to sense danger, which he found quite surprising.Whether the danger was real or not, Bi Fan was prepared.If the enemy was real, then Bi Fan was ready to defend himself and even launch a counter attack.Bi Fan kept pretending as if everything was normal and continued walking on his path, but he kept an eye out for any trouble that might await him.Bi Fan was baffled; he had only just got down from the mountain, why were so many enemies waiting for him?The devil’s disciple was sent by Zhu San to kill Bi Fan, but what about this new threat, Bi Fan was both anxious and curious.Bi Fan started walking towards a more desolate part of the town, in an attempt to draw out his enemy.Sooner or later, there would be a confrontation, and Bi Fan preferred if there were less people around when it happened.