Just Passing By

"Who are you?" Yang Zhai asked the three people. Even though he knew them, he couldn't tell them this, after all, it was their first meeting in this life. 

"I am the seventh elder Jil Lu and the one to my right is the eighth elder Nain Kii. The one healing you has just become an elder a few weeks ago, Eun Woo. We were passing by when we saw her attacking you. She deserves death for betrayal." The man was the seventh elder of the Bai clan, Jil Lu. 

Yeah, just passing by.

"Oh, greetings elders." Yang Zhai greeted them respectfully. 

"Hmm, if there's nothing else, I will be going then." Jil Lu wanted to turn around and leave when he heard Yang Zhai. 

"Elder, if you allow me, can I ask who killed Ci An?" 

"Uh, it was me, why are you asking this?" Jil Lu didn't understand why Yang Zhai wanted to know who killed Ci An. 

"No, nothing, I just wanted to thank the one who killed her, you really saved a life." 

"No worries, it is my duty to protect my disciples, very well then, I will be going." Jil Lu left after saying this. 

What Yang Zhai meant was that Jil Lu saved the life of the one who had sent her. After all, she was just about to say the name of the one who had sent her to kill him. But, Jil Lu killed her at the exact moment she was about to whisper a name. 

He did not do anything when I was poisoned and was fighting her: however, he killed Ci An at the exact moment she was about to reveal the name of the one who had sent her. It could only mean one thing, Jil Lu did not want her to reveal the name of the traitor. 

Yang Zhai was now sure that Jil Lu was a traitor. As he had anticipated, there was really a traitor among the ones guarding him. In this way, a death sword will always be hanging above his neck. 

Yang Zhai looked at his arm and hand. Almost more than half of his arm and hand had rotted away. Not just that, but even the blood did not spill out, as it was all rotted away as well. 

This was the reason Yang Zhai did not activate the rank 3 Red Poison technique. He had the strength of more than five bulls, but not as much tough skin and body as he had the strength. Rank 3 Red Poison technique would have melted his arm into nothingness. 

Yang Zhai then looked at Ci An. Her head had disappeared, and brain matter was scattered around Ci An. When her head burst, everything inside her head splashed on her body and the surroundings. 

"Hey kid, you screamed earlier, it was just a facade, am I right?" Eun Woo asked Yang Zhai. 

She had dark Waterfall braid hair which was 20 inches (50.8 cm) long. She had Wide-Set eyes with brown color and was wearing a beautiful brown robe with black flower patterns. 

"Elder, what do you mean?" Yang Zhai showed a confused expression. 

"You have a really strong endurance, I wonder from where you learned this technique?" 

"Huh, this, when I went to the Ma clan, someone taught me this technique. It's only a rank 2 though." Yang Zhai pretended not to know the value of this technique. 

"Can you teach me as well?" 

"Uh, but you are an elder, and I am just a disciple, how can I teach an elder?" 

"That doesn't matter. If you teach me this technique, I might be able to make it stronger, or at least I think so. In return, I can help you with anything whenever you want, but only once. How does that sound?" Eun Woo said with a smile. She wanted to learn this technique from Yang Zhai. She was a healing cultivator and this technique might come in handy. 

What can he ask for anyway, he is just a kid after all? And with my talent with plants and herbs, I might be able to advance this technique by a rank or so: Eun Woo thought. 

Yang Zhai wanted to reject her; however, he thought of something. 

"Very well then, I will teach you, but in return, I want you to do something for me." Yang Zhai knew Eun Woo. 

In his previous life, Eun Woo had died during the war protecting a few disciples. She had a character of kindness. Yang Zhai was sure that she might have wanted to help him when Ci An poisoned her, but must have been stopped by Jil Lu. 

Not just that, she once even went against the Clan leader's orders to protect a single mortal child who was falsely accused of stealing from an elder's house. 

Yang Zhai knew that she was a perfect defense for right now. 

As I am sure that Jil Lu is most likely a traitor, I need to do something to protect myself in case he really is a traitor: Yang Zhai was contemplating how to protect himself from Jil Lu. 

"OK, what is it? Tell me and I will help you with it." 

"About that, I don't know myself, but when I need you, I will tell you."Yang Zhai whispered slowly. There were two more elders around, so he could not say anything more than this. 

He then looked at his right arm and saw that it had already formed its basic frame. 

"Does it hurt?" 

"Of course, elder, it hurts. It's like my soul is being pierced by thousands of small needles." 

"Then why are you not screaming like crazy?" Eun Woo's eyes twitched after listening to Yang Zhai: He is feeling this much pain, but he is announcing it like nothing happened. 

Of course, Yang Zhai's facial expressions were continuously being changed to show the pain he was feeling. But, Eun Woo knew what kind of Red Poison technique was and how ruthless it was: after all, she was a healing cultivator and saw how Red Poison was affecting Yang Zhai's arm. Yang Zhai managed to endure this much pain without rolling like crazy. It was just a miracle or extreme will. 

Of course, without an extremely strong will, enduring this much pain was impossible. 

It could be explained in such words, an itch could make a person restless even though it was not painful, but to not scratch on the place where it was itching in front of others was a matter of how strong a will someone had. 

Red poison was too piercing, even the bones and every cell would not be spared from it. It would slowly eat away everything until it ended. And Red poison was thousands of times more stressful and painful than an itch. What was even more terrifying was that the Red poison would do its work slowly and would make every cell feel the pain. 

Of course, if Eun Woo could evolve it, then she could have an even more powerful version of this technique. 

"Thank you, Elder, for coming all the way with me." Yang Zhai stood at his house door. 

Eun Woo just accompanied him all the way to his house. 

"Okay, I am leaving, be careful. Oh, and one more thing, I will be coming tomorrow to learn the technique that you promised me." Eun Woo left after saying this. 

"If I remember correctly, she has a craze to learn new things. If she manages to learn the rank 2 Red Poison technique, then I will simply tell her that I also know the Rank 3 Red Poison technique. She will be very handful until I reach rank 4." Yang Zhai muttered when he saw Eun Woo's disappearing figure. 

Even though he could handle almost everyone below rank 4, at rank 4, a qualitative change occurs. 

Eun Woo did not let her pride get in the way of learning new things. In a way, she was the same as Yang Zhai from this perspective. He also did not care as long as he could benefit, even if the creature to teach him something new was inferior to him. Eun Woo also did not even for once think of the pride of an elder when she asked Yang Zhai to teach her the Red Poison technique. 

It was people like this who could adapt to any situation easily. 

!*****!*****!