81 Dead?

In a luxuriously decorated room, a frail, skinny male laid on the bed. Although he was asleep, he was constantly turning about while muttering in a fearful voice as if he was in a nightmare. Suddenly, he sat up as he yelled, "Bro Pro!"

Then, he looked around and realized that he was in a room. A puzzled looked appeared on his face for a moment, but when he saw his skinny body, he realized what he saw in his mind was not a dream. He hurriedly tried to get off the bed, but within a couple of steps, he toppled over as he knocked over the contents on a nearby side table while landing face first into the ground.

*Cling Clang*

The door bolted open as a middle aged man dashed in while howling, "Intruder! You dare to infiltrate even here!? Leave your life-"

Then, the middle aged man froze as he recognized the 'intruder'. He then calmed himself as he coughed awkwardly, "Young master! You're awake!"

"Ah, Uncle Pan? Why are you- better yet, mind helping this me up here?" the Fatty whimpered as he struggled to get his face off the ground.

"Oh," the middle aged man responded before hurriedly lifting the male off the ground and placing him back on the bed.

"Young master, let me go get the old master. He's been waiting for you to wake up," the middle aged man said with a wry smile as if conveying a message to the male.

"A-ah? U-Uncle Pan, there is no need right? Hahaha, this young master is perfectly fine. There is no need to tell grandpa. More like how did I end up back here?" the male asked while cold sweat broke out on his back.

"After posting the task in the missions, someone brought you back after finding you in the forest unconscious," Uncle Pan replied.

"Ah? Found me ... AH! Did they find Bro Pro as well?" the male asked hurriedly.

"Bro Pro? Who's that?" Uncle Pan asked with a puzzled face.

"Ah, he's a guy about my age, with black-ish hair. He's the reason I'm still alive!" the Fatty replied.

Although the middle aged man remembered that other person that was brought back, but he didn't remember seeing black-ish hair on him as that male was nearly bald. Hence, the middle aged man replied, "No. There was no male that fits that description young master. He probably left after saving you as the injuries on you were not that severe," Uncle Pan replied.

"Ah, that makes sense. Tsk~ and he said we were bros. We still haven't drunk in Spring's Night yet!" the male retorted as he humphed.

"Young master, if you were to let old master-" Uncle Pan whispered, but he was interrupted.

"Let me hear what?"

The duo froze in the room as the male on the bed cranked his head in the direction of the voice. There stood a midget with white hair and wrinkly face. Most would believe him to be harmless, but the strictness of his teachings has engraved fear in the male's body.

"H-haha, Grandpa, it's nothing. Uncle Pan and me were just talking about ... cultivation! Yes! That's right!" the male responded.

"Humph! Ma Yun! You dare to talk about cultivation?! If you were willing to even put a bit of effort into that on your own, would I need to pull my beard out thinking of ways to get you to do it? All you do is lazing about all day, munching on pills like no tomorrow. And where did that get you? A boatload of fat!" the old master said in a fit of anger.

"Ahahaa... grandpa, calm down, calm down. Look, didn't I slim down now?" Ma Yun said wryly as he directed his eyes to signal Uncle Pan for help.

"Humph! Don't think that you can fool me! You forcefully consumed your fat which is basically like burning your life force. If you hadn't been saved on time, I really want to see if you have any gall to talk back to me now," the old master retorted.

"Old master, please calm your anger. We should be grateful that young master made it back alive and well," Uncle Pan tried to persuade.

"Humph! This time he got lucky! With his measly cultivation, if he had encountered any of the monsters out there, he would have become dog food!" the old master retorted.

"I must agree that the young master was wrong for escaping this time, but at least we managed to capture the kidnapper. If we could find out the one behind these schemes, we can stop it from happening," Uncle Pan tried to change the topic.

"Humph, you're right on that part. That reminds me, I should go interrogate him again. He's a tenacious one, not even responding after starving him for so long," the old master said with a frown.

"Eh? Kidnapper?" Ma Yun questioned confused.

"Yes. Young master, when you were brought back, your kidnapper was also brought back with you," Uncle Pan said with sigh.

"EH? The b*st**d that dare to kidnap this young master was captured?! This young master wants to see who dares to kidnap this young master! Bring me over!" Ma Yun said with anger on the surface, but a snicker in his mind as he finally diverted the topic away.

"Humph, originally I wanted to let you heal up before you go, but I don't think that tenacious one will last much longer, nor will I keep him alive longer as he will not respond even when I injected the myriad poisons that I concocted into him. So, let's see if you're able to recall if you offended anyone by seeing his real face," the old master responded as he strolled out.

Ma Yun nodded as Uncle Pan supported him to follow after the old master. Not long after travelling through a corridor, they entered a dark room that had no lighting. With a wave of his hands, the old master lighted up a candle room, bringing light to the completely pitch dark room. A mangled body was revealed, nailed to a large pillar with spikes.

"Humph, seems like he couldn't last much longer. Though his tenaciousness would keep him alive with the tort-" the old master was saying, but was interrupted by a scream.

"BRO PRO!" Ma Yun howled in grief as he rushed out of Uncle Pan's support.

With unknown strength, Ma Yun dashed over to the body as tears ran down his eyes.

"N-No, how could you end up like this? You said if we were to live, you would come to Spring's Night with me!" Ma Yun howled in grief as he tried to pull the spikes out, but to no avail.

The old master eyes widen in shock as he froze in place. Uncle Pan had a bad feeling as he staggeringly asked, "Young master, this is-?"

"T-this is my Bro, Pro. He was the one that saved my life over and over again. If not, I would have already died in the inheritance ground," Ma Yun said in grief and anger, "How could you treat him like this?!"

Uncle Pan looked over at the old master before he sighed. Then, he hurriedly rushed over to the pillar, removing the spikes from the body as he caught the body.

"U-Uncle Pan, can my Bro be saved?" Ma Yun asked worriedly with bloodshot eyes.

Uncle Pan hurriedly took the pulse of the body, but he could only frown as the pulse said that his condition was as good as dead.