Thanks to what those two had been up to, Roche looked visibly sleep-deprived the next morning. She kept glaring at Li Ke and Ruohua with a face full of sheer resentment, looking thoroughly annoyed.
Still, she had no intention of saying anything out loud. After all, she felt this whole mess had nothing to do with her anyway.
As far as she was concerned, Li Ke was just a giant gorilla who only cared about massive breasts. And because of that—
She, Roche, was absolutely invincible!
Although this particular brand of invincibility made Roche deeply annoyed, it did genuinely succeed in wiping away all her previous anxieties.
Since they weren't traveling with a slow merchant caravan, their pace was incredibly swift. By evening, they had already arrived in Hendon Myre. Li Ke quickly found another inn for them to settle into, while Seria, Ruohua, and Roche headed out to buy daily necessities.
Li Ke was incredibly generous with his funds. Back during his time in the Demon Slayer world, he had stockpiled quite a massive hoard of gold. Consequently, now that he was in Arad, his financial reserves were exceptionally deep.
Wasting no time, he headed straight for the Adventurer's Guild to find a local tracker. Approaching the reception desk, he posted a commission requesting someone to guide him directly to G.S.D.
The quest was accepted almost immediately. But the exact moment Li Ke laid eyes on the person who took it, his eyebrows shot up in pure astonishment.
Because this guy...
He looked exactly like Aganzo.
The man standing before him appeared to be middle-aged, draped in a hooded cloak with a massive greatsword strapped to his back. He reeked entirely of alcohol, and his eyes were completely hollow and lifeless. Upon meeting Li Ke, he didn't show even a shred of the typical deference usually reserved for a client.
Most importantly, Li Ke could sense a profoundly dangerous aura radiating from him.
Yet, as the man looked Li Ke over, his demeanor remained completely flat, lacking even a hint of tension.
"Are you the one looking for G.S.D? You don't exactly look like a Ghost Knight to me..."
The middle-aged man glanced at Li Ke's arms, noting that his hands were perfectly normal. But just as a wave of doubt crossed his face, he let out a soft, self-deprecating chuckle.
"Whatever, none of my business. Just follow me."
With that, he flashed the Guild's quest receipt at Li Ke, gesturing for him to fall in line.
Li Ke was genuinely surprised because the identity details verified on the slip explicitly bore the name Aganzo.
Wait, has Aganzo actually fallen so far that he's taking random fetch quests?
That was his immediate thought, though the reality of the world quickly caught up to him.
While Aganzo was undeniably a famous figure, he was fundamentally a commoner who didn't even possess a last name. He wasn't like the other three legendary weapon masters, who all owned their own estates or factions to some degree.
Back when Aganzo was actively thriving as a Sword Grandmaster, he naturally never lacked money, and people from all walks of life constantly sought him out. But ever since his lover, Roxy, perished, calling Aganzo "depressed" would be a massive understatement—the man was practically a hollow shell of his former self.
He had spent the last several years living in a complete, alcohol-induced haze, drowning his sorrows day after day. While his raw martial prowess hadn't visibly deteriorated, he certainly hadn't made any massive breakthroughs like the other legendary weapon masters had.
Though his strength was still far beyond anything an ordinary person could ever hope to challenge, his wallet was a completely different story. As one of the Four Legendary Weapon Masters of the Arad Continent, he wasn't the type to drink without paying his tab. Therefore, running low on cash and stepping out to do some casual adventurer work was actually perfectly in character.
He just wondered why the man had specifically chosen his commission.
"You're really not big on pleasantries, are you, Mr. Aganzo?" Li Ke quipped, though he quickly picked up his pace to keep up.
He didn't really have any intention of trying to strike up a deep conversation with him either. Even though running into Aganzo was a massive coincidence, attempting to truly communicate with him right now was a lost cause—the guy was essentially functioning as a broken man.
"You're a magnet for trouble, that's why," Aganzo replied casually. Despite his heavily intoxicated state, his sharp focus remained firmly locked on Li Ke.
The exact moment Li Ke had stepped into the tavern earlier, Aganzo had picked up on a fierce, formidable aura radiating from him. He instantly recognized that Li Ke was cut from a completely different cloth compared to standard adventurers, which was the sole reason he had stepped up to accept the request.
After all, while Aganzo wasn't incredibly close with G.S.D, they shared a history and had even cooperated on missions past. He held a deep sense of respect for the old senior.
And for good reason—G.S.D had spent his entire life dedicated to aiding swordsmen plagued by the Ghost Hand, helping them keep their volatile powers in check. That was a lifelong mission Aganzo truly admired.
"Oh?"
Li Ke was slightly surprised. Aganzo's words clearly implied that Li Ke's sheer strength was enough to put a master like him on high alert.
"Interesting. But there's really no need for caution. I'm simply here to consult Old Man G.S.D on a few matters."
The primary reason Li Ke had returned to the world of Arad was to seek out G.S.D. If there was anyone alive on this continent who understood the inner workings of the Blood-Qi Secret Technique better than G.S.D—and who was perfectly suited to serve as a teacher—it would probably only be Kazan himself.
Thus, his goal in tracking down G.S.D was to have the grandmaster review his current progress and verify if his fundamental theories were on the right track.
"Suit yourself. My job is strictly to get you there," Aganzo muttered. Pulling a flask from his cloak, he took two deep, aggressive swigs of alcohol, then lapsed into total silence, quietly leading the way.
The pair didn't walk for long before transitioning from Hendon Myre's dazzling, pristine main avenues into a cluster of dilapidated, abandoned back alleys. The moment they stepped into this sector, Li Ke felt a palpable shift in the atmosphere.
Unlike the suffocating, pitch-black shadows that hung over the turf ruled by local Street Fighters, this particular district—while exceptionally quiet and barren—was still kissed by the warm rays of the sun. It lacked that bone-chilling, sinister dampness that usually triggered a primal sense of dread.
However, the walls of the surrounding structures bore extensive signs of destruction. Judging by the distinct shapes of the fractures... they had clearly been gouged out by bare human hands.
Not only that, but Li Ke also spotted several young children scattered around. Their arms were wrapped tightly in heavy layers of bandages, yet the jagged outline of a restraint ring and the telltale trace of iron chains pressed visibly against the fabric.
Unmistakably, every single one of these children possessed a Ghost Hand.
Their clothes were mostly tattered rags, and the gazes they cast toward the newcomers were completely hollow and indifferent.
Li Ke knit his brows slightly but kept his thoughts to himself. It was a well-known, brutal reality that victims of the Ghost Hand frequently ended up slaughtering their own families when their power went wild. Given that the ghost-binding chains weren't a flawless cure-all, it made perfect sense that these tragic souls had been cast out and forced to congregate here.
While he was reflecting on this grim reality, Aganzo suddenly came to a halt.
"We're here. Go on in by yourself."
Li Ke shifted his gaze forward. Sitting at the entrance of a narrow alleyway was a scruffy old man, basking quietly in the afternoon sun. He looked frail and weathered, as if he might keel over and pass away at any given moment.
Two strips of cloth formed a stark 'X' across the old man's face, the fabric intricately stitched with countless complex runes. Seated right beside him was a white-haired young man with a face etched in profound weariness. Like the elder, the youth sat entirely motionless, staring blankly into the empty space ahead.
Yet unlike G.S.D, the skin around the youth's eyes was completely mapped with horrific scar tissue. He was unmistakably blind.
Li Ke didn't say much. He simply tossed the completed quest receipt to Aganzo. This was the token issued when he posted the commission; with it, Aganzo could head to the Adventurer's Guild to collect his payout.
Naturally, the Guild would take a tiny cut to keep their operations running.
Li Ke stepped toward G.S.D. Before he could even halt his stride, G.S.D spoke up.
"The scent of fresh blood, and a somewhat hurried stride... Young man, you haven't been cursed by Kazan, have you?"
G.S.D 'looked' in the direction of the youth. The very moment Aganzo brought him over, the old master had sensed something distinct about this traveler.
The blood-qi within this young man was exceptionally robust—hardly weaker than that of a seasoned Berserker. Yet, his body bore absolutely no trace of ghostly or demonic auras. It baffled the old senior as to why someone like him would seek this place out.
After all, most who came to these dark alleys looking for him were desperate Ghost Knights driven to their wits' end. Normal people simply didn't show up here.
Li Ke held immense respect for G.S.D. The old gentleman was not only kind-hearted but also a legendary senior who guided adventurers all the way to the end of their journeys. Though G.S.D himself was a magical swordsman who mastered Waves, he possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of every single school of swordsmanship and excelled at helping warriors break through their limits.
His own martial prowess was staggering. He had even mastered the Mind's Eye, allowing him to perceive truths hidden from ordinary sight.
This was exactly why Li Ke had sought him out. As for why he hadn't found him during his last visit... it was purely because his understanding of this world back then had been far too shallow.
Therefore, Li Ke didn't waste time with pointless pleasantries and stated his purpose directly.
"Because you are one of the few who deeply understands the Blood-Qi Secret Technique, I wanted to consult you on a few matters. I'd also love to see if there is anything I can assist you with here."
Since he was here to ask for guidance, basic courtesy was required. Li Ke didn't remain standing; instead, he sat cross-legged right on the bare dirt, facing the veteran swordsman as a relative equal.
"The Blood-Qi Secret Technique, you say?"
G.S.D's brow furrowed slightly. Anticipating what the old man was about to say, Li Ke reached out his hand and instantly activated his blood-qi.
In the next moment, every drop of blood in his body surged violently. His eyes turned a stark, vibrant crimson as the energy circulated at high speeds.
Yet, within the perception of G.S.D's Mind's Eye, Li Ke suddenly transformed into a colossal, roaring furnace of vitality. The sheer density of his blood-qi was absolutely staggering!
It wasn't just that Li Ke was powerful—G.S.D had encountered plenty of Berserkers far stronger than him. What truly shocked the old master was that he had never, in all his years, witnessed someone whose blood-qi had reached such heights while remaining completely pure!
Typical Berserkers amplified their strength through a brutal, straightforward method: slaughtering enemies and continuously absorbing the victims' foreign blood-qi into their own vessels. To prevent this chaotic, volatile cocktail of energies from tearing them apart from the inside, they were forced to hunt down even stronger foes—using the might of superior blood-qi to violently suppress the discordant energies within them while using the carnage to harden their own flesh and essence.
Consequently, by the time a Berserker accumulated as much blood-qi as Li Ke possessed, their internal energy would be so utterly corrupted and muddy that its original state would be completely unrecognizable. He had truly never seen anyone like Li Ke, whose life essence remained thoroughly untainted, devoid of a single speck of discordant aura.
Furthermore, cultivating the Blood-Qi Secret Technique almost strictly required the Curse of Kazan. One had to rely on the corrupted Ghost Hand to act as a buffer, filtering out the volatile anomalies that came with walking the path of blood-qi.
"Incredible... Just how did you pull this off?"