Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

It's over now.

Zhang Renfeng vaguely remembered that during his berserk state, he relied on his formidable physical strength to withstand many of Lu Aniu's skills, including the third of the Six Swords, the "Well-Turning Sword," and the fifth, the "Falling Leaves Sword." The problem was that his defensive capabilities against external attacks were completely different then compared to now.

Back then, I couldn't even withstand falling leaves; now... it's even less likely I could. In fact, due to my weakened constitution, the damage from that sword strike is slowly spreading.

Zhang Renfeng was very confident in his self-healing ability, but being injured by sword energy was a different story; it would take him some time to fully recover.

And now… even the slightest increase in movement causes him such acute pain. This means he has been completely knocked off the stage and is no longer eligible to fight Lu Aniu in the second round!

"Damn it...damn it! How could you be so useless?!"

Zhang Renfeng clenched his teeth in an instant, overwhelmed by frustration and resentment at his failure, as well as disappointment and self-blame for his current situation. He tried to clench his fist, but found his arm limp and powerless, unable to even make a proper fist, so he slumped down and let out a long sigh.

Turning his head, he saw that the wolf was curled up in the corner opposite him in the small wooden room.

All negative emotions were replaced by worry at this moment.

"Wolf!"

Zhang Renfeng hurriedly rolled out of bed, nearly tripping and falling to the ground. Fortunately, he managed to grab the edge of the bed in time, and after regaining his balance, he felt dizzy. He took a shaky step forward, but dared not let go of the bedside, fearing he might fall at any moment.

He has now truly experienced what it means to be a dragon trapped in shallow waters or a tiger fallen on flat land.

Back then, those legs were incredibly powerful; their running ability rivaled that of a racehorse. But now, even taking a single step forward is so difficult.

Zhang Renfeng could not bear this feeling of being unfree. Although his body was still resisting, he gritted his teeth and insisted on taking this step forward.

……

"Snapped!"

Before he could fall uncontrollably forward, a hand reached out from behind and grabbed his shoulder, preventing him from crashing headfirst to the ground.

“From the moment the dressing was changed, this girl stayed by your side for days and nights without closing her eyes or moving an inch. She only took a short nap because she couldn’t hold on any longer. She even told me that if you woke up, I had to wake her up no matter what.”

"No one but me can endure this; even someone made of iron couldn't take it. Let her sleep a little longer; don't disturb her."

"..."

Zhang Renfeng's reaction was somewhat slow, but judging from the other party's tone, there was probably no malice.

Upon hearing about the wolf's situation, he felt nothing but heartache. But now, he also agreed with the other person's point of view: they had endured too long and it was time to rest.

Holding onto the edge of the bed, I slowly turned around and saw a white robe, white armor, and white helmet—a snow-white four-piece suit.

Zhang Renfeng's heart skipped a beat. After a moment's thought, he recognized the other person.

"You are... Qasim, Istavo's personal bodyguard?!"

"To be precise, I was the 'former' bodyguard. After Kenji boarded the ship, this position was officially handed over to him, and I was in charge of some behind-the-scenes affairs of the Istavo fleet."

Qasim nodded to him. "We meet again, Zhang Renfeng."

Chapter 832: US Dollars Still Support People

"God……"

The businessman adjusted his leather hat and couldn't help but exclaim that he had never seen such a way of eating in his entire life.

It was as if they had just been released from prison and immediately dragged down into the mine, where they had worked for a day and a night and were nearly starving to death. The young man and woman seemed to know each other, but they didn't exchange a single word the entire time. They ate separately, stuffing the food they had brought into their mouths and swallowing it with hardly any chewing.

"Hey buddy, where did you pick up these two from...?"

Beneath the white helmet, Qasim's eyes peered out, devoid of any emotion.

The businessman immediately realized he had talked too much, covered his mouth, and half-raised his hand to indicate that he would not ask any more questions before he looked away.

"How much?" Qasim asked.

"Wait a moment, let me see the list..." The merchant took out a crumpled little piece of paper from his pocket, unfolded it, squinted, and read it aloud with some difficulty, "Twenty cans of beef, three roasted Appa bass, some miscellaneous meat, a few cans of chickpeas, cans of peaches, two boxes of coffee powder, two carrots, a few oat cakes, brandy, Kentucky bourbon, and some medicines... All put together, it's about... $76."

“One hundred dollars.” Qasim decisively pulled out a large denomination bill and handed it to him. “Consider the rest as a reward for your hard work.”

The merchant was overjoyed and reached out to take it.

Qasim added another bill to the pile, saying, "Here's another twenty dollars for you."

"This was a last-minute request of mine, and since you brought so much food, I should pay for the rental of the carts and horses."

"These two friends will be staying with me for a while longer, and I would like to ask you to bring us some food."

"I hope our cooperation can continue to be as pleasant as before."

"Yes, yes, yes, of course! We've always had a great working relationship!"

Money can move mountains; this is a universal truth.

Seeing how generous the other party was, the merchant immediately beamed with joy, and his slight dissatisfaction with Qasim for giving him extra work vanished.

……

There were no houses here originally. About a few months ago, this guy dressed in all white suddenly appeared and built this simple wooden house.

No one knew who he was, and judging from his attire, he didn't seem like a hunter or fisherman.

He made a long-term agreement with himself: if he needed anything, he would write a note and the merchant would buy it from a nearby town. Most of the time, it was just a few bottles of alcohol—whiskey, brandy, bourbon, tequila…any kind of alcohol would do, he wouldn’t refuse.

Most importantly, he was very generous, giving him money far exceeding the value of the "errand running" itself.

It's hard to imagine where this guy, dressed like a missionary from a mysterious organization, got so much money.

But the businessman didn't care. No matter where the money came from, once it was in his pocket, it was his. He was more than willing to continue cooperating with such high-quality clients, but he still had to explain the objective difficulties he encountered.

"Um, may I ask, your two friends..." he carefully chose his words, trying to be as tactful as possible, "will their food rations continue to be... at today's standard?"

Qasim glanced back, and the two men who were wolfing down their food looked up, their eyes meeting his... or rather, their eyes met. The atmosphere seemed to freeze at that moment, somewhat awkward. The businessman's tone was practically a direct insult, calling the two gluttons.

After a moment of silence, Qasim didn't let Zhang Renfeng speak, but asked directly, "Is there a problem?"

"You may not know, but recently our town has been holding an event to celebrate the completion of the 'Sun Wheel Cathedral,' and it's been turned into a festival. The town's butcher shops and stores are giving priority to supplying the celebration, but your two friends have enough appetites to feed almost ninety people."

"A day or two might be fine, but if it goes on for any longer, it'll get a bit..."

"I'll give you another two hundred dollars," Qasim said casually. "Take care of the necessary favors. If it's not enough, come ask me for more."

----

Perhaps it was just my imagination, but when the merchant left the cabin, his back as he rode away on horseback seemed joyful and excited, and even the horse's legs seemed to be jumping higher than usual.

These cold, hard banknotes are still too comforting.

Zhang Renfeng's tone was somewhat apologetic, "Will this cause you trouble?"

“It’s alright, he’s a pure businessman who only wants to do business with me,” Calaway said in a deep voice. “Communicating with people like that is the easiest.”

……

Transported from the town, the meat had been jostled along the way by carriage, and having come directly from the butcher shop, it was naturally cold and inevitably had a dusty smell. At this moment, its only advantages were that it was cooked and there was a large quantity of it; the two starving people had no complaints about the taste of the food.

Having finally filled his stomach a little, Zhang Renfeng breathed a sigh of relief, only then realizing that Qasim had been sitting opposite him the whole time, never reaching for the food, not even glancing at it.

"Little Wolf and I are starving, I'm so sorry, but don't just stare, have some..."

“No need, I won’t eat.” Qasim’s refusal was very formulaic, giving him no room to discuss further, he simply said, “I don’t need food, you guys eat.”

"..."

Only then did Zhang Renfeng recall some details of his first meeting with Qasim, and his expression changed slightly.

Concentrating his attention, he listened again, and found that beneath the snow-white robes and mask before him, there was still no breath or heartbeat.

Even if he was starving, he should put down the food. He also nudged the girl next to him with his elbow, signaling her to stop for a moment.

"I mean no disrespect. Please believe me, I am truly, truly grateful to you for saving my and my junior sister's lives."

"But……"

Zhang Renfeng spread out his hands, doing his best to stack them together to make his body more flexible.

Deep down, he didn't think Qasim wanted to harm him. Firstly, he was the captain's personal bodyguard, and that alone was enough to greatly increase Zhang Renfeng's initial goodwill towards him. He trusted his partner, Istavo; the captain's judgment couldn't possibly be that bad.

Secondly, if he really wanted to harm me, why would he bother to get so much food so that I would have the strength to fight back?

but……

Regardless, sitting face to face with someone who has no heartbeat and no breath is still quite eerie.

The situation was already as bad as it could get, and Zhang Renfeng dared not take any more risks. He was willing to bring up the topic and get to the bottom of it.

"How did you happen to appear near this beach?"

----

"Before answering your question, I also have a question I'd like to ask you."

Qasim said calmly, "Do you believe that there exists a power in this world that transcends nature and is beyond human comprehension?"

Chapter 833: The Living Dead

“I’m certain that the kind of power you’re talking about exists in this world.”

As Zhang Renfeng said this, many figures flashed through his mind. Silverfrost's handprints with strange effects; the King of the Tall Trees' voodoo curse that killed without drawing blood; those strange fungus people he had fought more than once; the angel eyes that could glimpse the future... and Evelyn's older brother who had long since died on the antlers, but would occasionally show up in his life to assert his presence.

To take a closer look, several of my fellow disciples don't seem like normal people.

Zhu Kuilong's illusions and magic tricks, Senior Sister He's eternal youth, and Little Wolf's super-fast self-healing... Even someone like Lu Aniu, with over thirty different martial arts techniques combined and cultivating both internal and external skills, could still rise to the sky with his left foot on his right. Any normal person who faced him would be scared to death.

Actually, his question was unnecessary. Whether something is beyond common sense can only be determined through comparison.

In New Orleans, New Elizabeth, Granite, and many other southern states and counties, the prevailing narrative is that Zhang Renfeng himself was not quite human, but rather became an agent of some kind of will.

Some people even regard him as a kind of real-world belief.

Igor had mentioned this issue to him before and expressed considerable concern—Igor was not fond of relying on this kind of "faith" to achieve control over a region. In his words, although the base of support was stable, the potential for future troubles was endless.

Thinking about these things now will only add to your troubles.

Zhang Renfeng composed himself and focused his attention on the table.

……

"It would be great if you could understand, as it would make it easier for me to explain what's next."

Qasim placed his hands on the table as if bound by invisible shackles, and said in a deep voice, "The crew of the Water Demon came from all over the world, and all boarded the ship in Istavo with different goals."

"My goal is to find her. I have been looking for her all these years, but I have never found her."

"Her?" The wolf noticed the detail, swallowed the food in her mouth, and after eating her fill, her gossipy curiosity was aroused. Her emerald eyes sparkled. "It's a girl?"

“To be precise, she should be a woman between twenty and thirty years old with Eastern European features,” Qasim said in a deep voice. “I met her once a long, long time ago, and she is the one who turned me into who I am now.”

After saying that, he lifted his snow-white sleeve for the first time, revealing his hand underneath.

For a moment, Zhang Renfeng thought he would see something like inhuman claws. He was mentally prepared; at worst, it just wouldn't be human. Counting on his fingers, he realized he had actually seen quite a few non-human beings, so one more wouldn't matter!

Reality was different from what he had imagined.

Beneath the white robe were still normal human hands and fingers, only wrapped in bandages, from which a strong smell of alcohol emanated.

Zhang Renfeng vaguely guessed what the wine that Qasim had the merchants buy had been used for.

The bandages were unwrapped one by one, and the true face revealed beneath them made both of them frown.

Qasim's skin was completely bloodless, the color of a drowned corpse, except it wasn't swollen or had an unbearable putrid odor. Rather, he smelled nothing but alcohol.

Zhang Renfeng was initially somewhat alarmed, but then he thought, if it was the stench of a rotting corpse, how could it be masked by soaking it in a little alcohol?

"You... what exactly is this...?"

“A long, long time ago, that woman placed a blood curse on me. Since then, I can no longer be considered alive; I've just never truly died.” Kasim let out a cryptic laugh, perhaps mocking his current predicament. “I think only that woman can lift this curse and let me truly die…”

"Return to peace."

Zhang Renfeng and Lang exchanged a glance, both seeing the shock in each other's eyes.

This kind of plot is still a bit too much for two martial arts practitioners.

“Um, Qasim, if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask…” After hesitating for a while, Zhang Renfeng finally spoke up, “How old are you this year?”

After a long silence, Qasim shook his head. "I can't remember."

"I can't remember!?"

Qasim recalled with some confusion, as if flipping through a very thick book, “I have served many people, the earliest one… should be the Achaemenid dynasty.”