Chapter 82: The Path to Draw Water

After the demon hunter left the crowd, he pulled down his scarf, revealing his face painted with heavy clown makeup.

“Humans are truly foolish, hahaha.”

Indeed, everything was proceeding according to Xiao Zi’s plan. His scheme to spread terror was only just beginning. To be honest, Xiao Zi found himself thoroughly enjoying the way humans’ expressions shifted, little by little, from fear to despair.

So he intended to savor the game.

When he reached a place where no one was around, Jasmukh suddenly appeared before him.

“You… what exactly are you? What do you want?”

Indeed, he hadn’t killed Jasmukh yet, as the man could still be of some use.

Xiao Zi drifted out from Wang Hui’s body, ignoring him, and silently picked up the gun clutched tightly in Jasmukh’s hand.

“This gun of yours is quite interesting. Tell me about it.”

Hearing this, Jasmukh’s face twitched uncontrollably. “I, the Gun Saint of the Desert, would rather die—die out there, buried in quicksand—than reveal a single thing about this gun!”

“Oh? Is that so?” Xiao Zi couldn’t be bothered to argue. He simply activated Blood Fury, then unleashed Void Inferno.

Having previously absorbed the blood of many Silians, Xiao Zi’s Blood Fury skill now nearly tripled his strength. With Void Inferno at level 3, this skill was simply beyond what any human could endure.

Three minutes later, Jasmukh appeared before Xiao Zi once more. Xiao Zi toyed with the gun in his hand and asked, “Will you talk now?”

Jasmukh’s eyes were vacant, his whole body trembling uncontrollably, the whites of his eyes laced with blood, and his gaze toward Xiao Zi was filled with terror.

“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”

Xiao Zi squatted in front of him, his expression cold. “Very well, tell me—what’s the story behind this gun?”

He had noticed the gun during Wang Hui and Jasmukh’s duel. The gun itself was unremarkable, but in the spot where the magazine fit, there was a yellow gemstone. The energy radiating from this gem was unusual—at least, Xiao Zi had never seen its like.

“This gun is a relic from the previous era.”

“The previous era?” Xiao Zi seemed genuinely interested.

“At our level, you should have some understanding of this world. This gun dates back to the age when grotesque creatures roamed freely. I stumbled upon it by chance in the Desert Temple…”

Before he could finish, Xiao Zi interrupted, “Desert Temple?”

“Yes.” Before Wang Hui could continue, he reached into his clothing, gritted his teeth, and tore a strip of skin from his body.

He handed the blood-stained piece of skin to Wang Hui. “This is a map to the Desert Temple. I wasn’t strong enough to explore it fully. But you, perhaps…”

His words broke off abruptly, for his life had reached its end.

Wang Hui glanced at the map in his hand, curling his lip disdainfully. “All this effort for something like this? Letting you live this long was a waste.”

He tossed the gun to Wang Hui. “Keep this to protect yourself. You can use the energy I left inside your body.”

Wang Hui, receiving the gun, was elated. He inspected it closely, then spun it deftly in his hand. “Damn, I feel so powerful now!”

Xiao Zi paid him no further heed, instead turning his gaze toward Ox City.

He would visit the Desert Temple when the time came, but for now, his priority was to spread his own brand of terror!

The matter of the Dread Wraith had already spread throughout Ox City. Apart from a handful who witnessed the scene firsthand, most people refused to believe such a thing.

How could such a demon exist?

If it did, surely they would have heard of it before. Yet the being had appeared so suddenly, and it simply didn’t make sense.

But the next incident would plunge the entire nation into panic.

The country itself was built upon a vast desert, making water a scarce resource.

All of Ox City’s hundreds of thousands depended on a single oasis for water.

Due to the shortage, violent conflicts often erupted among the city’s factions over water rights. Thus, whenever water was to be fetched, every faction would send their strongest fighters.

Leimingke was the chief of police in Ox City. He still couldn’t get over the incident where Wang Hui supposedly killed six people with a single, unspent bullet.

As a spirit master, he knew what kind of power was required to achieve such a feat.

Later, however, he heard there was no Wang Hui at all—the so-called Wang Hui was actually a demon named Dread Wraith.

Frankly, he didn’t believe it. He had distinctly sensed human presence from Wang Hui, which meant the man was likely a powerful spirit master, not some demon.

But then, why had he vanished inexplicably, leaving behind strange bloodstains and an enigmatic demon hunter?

All these questions plagued him. He couldn’t fathom the other man’s motives. But now, he faced orders from his superiors: as the official representative, he was to escort the water-drawing squad.

The so-called oasis was little more than a sparse patch of jungle in the endless sands.

And fetching water wasn’t something they could do at any time.

Given its importance, whoever controlled the water controlled power. Every faction in the city vied for a share, so they’d agreed to strict rules: drawing water was only allowed at designated times.

With his mind full of doubts, Leimingke led his men toward the oasis.

The journey was unusually smooth, to the point that Leimingke found it unbelievable.

Usually, at this hour, the air was filled with the sounds of fighting and heated curses. Why was it so quiet today?

Yet after walking a while, he sensed something was amiss. How could such a small patch of jungle take so long to traverse? They still hadn’t reached the water source.

Gradually, the atmosphere grew strange.

“Chief, did we take the wrong path? This doesn’t look like the place we used to fetch water from,” one of his men finally asked, unable to hold back.

Truthfully, he didn’t know what to say to his subordinate’s doubts, but he retorted anyway.

“How many patches of jungle do we have in this country? And how many near Ox City? Could we possibly get lost?”

The subordinate fell silent—he was right. There were only a handful of jungles in the entire nation, and only this one near Ox City was of any size. It was impossible to get lost.

But if they weren’t lost, why did things feel so off? It was as if…the jungle had expanded several times in size.

“Could something have happened to make so many new trees grow in a short time?”

“We were here just three days ago—do you think trees can grow this thick in three days?”

That shut his subordinate up. But despite his words, Leimingke was uneasy.

The whole atmosphere was unnerving. The jungle seemed to have grown inexplicably, and the other water-fetching groups from neighboring cities were nowhere to be found. None of it made sense.

For some reason, the horse beneath Leimingke began to grow restless, causing the water containers it carried to clatter together.

“Chief! Look over here—what is that?”

One of his men stumbled and fell, and before he could get up, he pointed ahead and shouted in alarm.