Misery: There is a pawn shop here

Chapter 18 A Pawnshop Becomes Famous

The setting sun shone like blood, staining the scorched earth. Dead branches and broken armor littered the desolate path, each step shattering a speck of blood. The drummer stumbled, clinging to the jagged rocks, his fingertips sinking deep into the moss. Behind him, the withered forest rustled, startling crows that flew away.

"Ahem..." Blood continued to flow from his mouth, dark red staining his white clothes. After the continuous fighting, the drum master was exhausted. He only looked back at the empty space behind him and said with a sinister smile: "When did you, the pinnacle of Taoism, behave like such a villain? Show yourself, Sword Master Immortal Trace."

A sudden breeze blew through the forest, and an emerald green porcelain vase flew out, landing steadily in front of the drummer. Then, a white-robed Taoist gracefully stepped out, his whisk sweeping away the falling leaves. Jian Zi Xian Ji kept his distance between them, carefully examining the person's face. A flicker of surprise flashed in his eyes. "I was a little unsure at first, but it seems it's really you. Your appearance now truly astonishes Jian Zi Xian Ji."

"Heh." The drummer didn't even glance at the medicine bottle on the ground. He just sneered. When he escaped from the battle earlier, he was not completely unaware of everything behind him. When the sword energy blocked the pursuit of the murderer, he felt the slightly familiar breath in it.

In the past, the astrological master, Diji Si, wreaked havoc in the martial arts world with his human-skin stone drum, slaying numerous masters, including the Three Religions Weirdos and Yibu Tianlu. To stop Diji Si's continued evil, Su Huanzhen invited him out of seclusion. At that time, he had some contact with Su Huanzhen, Jianzi Xianji, and others. However, now gravely injured, even though the man before him had helped him, the skin drum master still considered him untrustworthy.

"Save those unnecessary polite words. You've tracked me down here. If you have anything to say or ask, just tell me directly." The drummer said, "For the sake of your assistance, I will let you know."

Jianzi Xianji breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's straightforward. Jianzi will not be polite then. Let's start with your current appearance. If I'm not mistaken, you have now restored your former appearance, one of the Three Xuanyins, He Changling."

"Yes, these are all murders of passion." The drummer replied directly.

"A murder of passion? The one from the previous battle as well?" Jian Zi Xian Ji thought of the evil figure on the previous battlefield. He and Linghu Shen Yi were close friends, so he naturally knew the man called "Killing of Passion". The two had met before, but he could not connect the man on the previous battlefield with the image of "Killing of Passion" in his mind.

"Yes." The drummer sneered, "Ha, are you surprised? The moment I saw him, I was as surprised as you."

"Why did a murder of passion turn out like this? What on earth happened in between?" Jian Zi Xian Ji asked.

The drummer took a deep breath and said, "This is a long story. It all started with a pawnshop."

"Is there a pawnshop?" Jian Zixianji looked puzzled.

"That's right. This pawnshop takes intangible things from the human body, such as emotions and lifespans, and trades them for what one needs. I speculate that the murder of love was caused by pawning something of my own body for something that could restore my appearance. How ridiculous! The drummer has never met such a foolish person in his life. He thought that relying on this would make him grateful, but he didn't know that if he wanted it, the drummer could return this skin to him at any time. Hahahaha."

If he truly cared about this skin, why would he have destroyed it when Linghu Shenyi returned the skin he had been stripped of? He Changling was already a thing of the past, and now only the leather drum master existed in the world. However, that fool who committed the murder of love didn't understand and still thought he had done something great. How ridiculous!
Jianzi Xianji ignored the strange laughter of the drummer and was in a bad mood. There was a pawnshop that traded intangible things. This kind of place had never been heard of before, but it didn't sound like a legitimate place.

Suppressing his doubts, Jian Zi Xian Ji then asked, "Then why did you fight with Qing Sha again? What happened?"

The leather drum master did not hide anything and said frankly: "I made a deal with the pawnshop in exchange for the ability to kill Fan Qiliang. Previously, I razed the twelve levels of the Love Heaven, and Fan Qiliang betrayed his subordinates and escaped by luck. When I was chasing him, I was obstructed by Qin Juexian, and then the love killing appeared. Judging from the looks of it, I'm afraid he has made a second deal with the pawnshop. Ridiculous love has made him no longer resemble a human being, hahahaha." Thinking of the appearance of the love killing, Jianzi Xianji felt more and more depressed. Although the previous love killing had an extreme temperament, he was not completely unreasonable. However, even he was quite frightened by the evil skills displayed in the previous fight with the leather drum master.

"Is it true that a pawnshop has the power to transform someone completely?"

"Hmph." The drummer snorted coldly. "Yes, there is a pawnshop with extraordinary capabilities, but the price is beyond the reach of those of you who claim to be righteous. But you don't need to ask me what I pawned. I don't need to answer your question."

"I understand. I have two more questions."

"speak!"

"First, do you know where the pawnshop is?" Jianzi asked.

The drummer shook his head. "I was lucky to get in. I guess he's not in this world. But if I'm right, he'll find someone in need."

"I see." Jian Zi Xian Ji nodded thoughtfully, "Also, what you traded with that pawnshop was the giant drum you used when fighting against the Emotion Killer."

The drummer didn't think he could hide this from Jian Zi Xian Ji, so he said frankly, "Yes, so, do you want to make another deal with me?"

"No." Jian Zi Xian Ji shook his head. "But could you please not use the full power of this drum for the time being? When you fought with Qing Sha before, the cracks in the Xingyun River were already showing signs of abnormality. I'm worried that what happened to Yin Dai will happen again..."

"What does that have to do with me?" Before Jian Zi Xian Ji could finish his words, the drum master rudely interrupted him. "To hold onto a divine weapon and not use it is to seek death. If you want the drum master to hold back, then bring me the heads of Fan Qiliang, Qin Juexian, and Qingsha. Farewell."

After saying this, the drummer did not stay any longer and turned around and left.

Jian Zi Xian Ji did not try to stop him again. The information he had obtained had already made him feel that there was going to be another storm in the martial arts world.

The transaction between the drummer and the murder of love has proved the ability of a pawnshop. If this pawnshop is really that magical, there will probably be an endless stream of subsequent traders, and a bunch of traders will represent a lot of grievances and hatreds, as well as turmoil in the world.

"One wave has not yet subsided, another wave rises, this is the world of martial arts."

(End of this chapter)