But for Your Sake

Loud smashing and banging sounds echoed continuously from the diagonally opposite courtyard, accompanied by a man's incessant screaming of “Go die!”

“Shut up! It's so noisy! What are you doing? Can you be quiet!” After a while, an annoyed female voice shouted from a courtyard directly ahead, a short distance away.

“Shut up, you bitch! Watch it, or I'll come over and kill you!” Immediately, the male voice from the diagonal courtyard roared back.

Instantly, the woman's voice vanished.

At the same time, all the surrounding courtyards fell dead silent.

Whoa, he actually scared everyone into applying the happy survivor's retreat principle. What's wrong with that guy? Why is his temper so explosive today? Zhuang Xun had lived here for nearly a month, and the neighbor diagonally opposite had always been very quiet. Nothing like this had ever happened before.

The smashing and roaring continued for a while before suddenly coming to a halt.

Not long after, within the perception range of Zhuang Xun's Spiritual Sight, a tall man walked out of the diagonal courtyard. He went door-to-door, knocking and apologizing.

As he apologized, his tone was gentle and full of sincerity, showing absolutely no trace of his previous madness.

However, given his earlier performance, when the man came to knock on his door, Zhuang Xun fully activated his Heart Hibernation Technique to pretend he wasn't home, just in case the man was trying to memorize faces or pull some other stunt.

Soon, the man, who had been knocking gently, left and headed to the next house.

Zhuang Xun took this opportunity to scale the back wall and slip out, preventing the man from suddenly barging into his courtyard.

Quickly moving along the path behind the courtyards, Zhuang Xun thought to himself, What is up with that guy? Is it a “Run, everyone, I have split personalities” situation? Or is he just acting to scheme something?

Suddenly, Zhuang Xun remembered that the sentries of the Shengxue Cult in the Wanxing Market had been lingering outside the Wanxing Martial Academy recently, not to mention the still-unclear “Blood Son's plan.”

Since he currently had three permanent clones to control, he only occasionally had the time to use the Debt-Lending Bladesman to keep watch on the Shengxue Cult sentries in the market. Trying to overhear any intelligence was entirely a matter of luck.

Unfortunately, his luck had been rather poor lately.

Despite going there over a dozen times, he still hadn't managed to overhear any information regarding the “Blood Son's plan.”

After thinking it over, Zhuang Xun decided to keep observing in secret.

...

Seven days later, the sounds of smashing objects and the man's roars echoed from the diagonal courtyard once again.

Zhuang Xun used a clone he had created beforehand to leap over the wall and slip into the man's courtyard.

He didn't notice me. It probably isn't evil god possession, Zhuang Xun thought as he stood behind the man, watching him furiously smash things.

If it really were evil god possession and the host couldn't sense him from this close, then this Ancestor of Primordial Blood Creation was truly pathetic.

After pondering for a moment, Zhuang Xun picked up a broken chair leg from the ground and tossed it near the man.

With a light clatter, the chair leg hit the ground. The man didn't react at all, continuing to roar and smash things.

This time, Zhuang Xun picked up the chair leg and threw it directly at the man's head.

“Who! Who is hurting me!” The man spun around. He searched but couldn't find Zhuang Xun, who had already slipped out of the courtyard. He then looked down at the chair leg, and then looked back up...

“It's you!” The man stared at his own left hand in disbelief, letting out a painful wail.

“Ah! Why is it you? Why is it you, Left Hand! Why did you betray me? I've treated you well, why! Why! Speak to me!”

“You bitch! Ahhh!” He raised his right hand and violently began to beat his left hand.

After striking it a few times, he suddenly felt a wave of pain. Screaming, he turned his head blankly to look at his right hand, which had just been fighting alongside him.

“R-Right Hand, even you betrayed me? Tell me, you have a good reason, right? Right? Right! Why are you silent?!”

“Ah!” The man roared to the sky, crying out in desolation, “Today, my hand trembles... today, my heart aches...”

He hung his head weakly and muttered, “For the sake of our past, just leave. I don't want... to see you ever again...”

“Why won't you leave! Why do you still stay! If you love me, why do you cause me such pain...”

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, the man saw his left hand resting on his left leg. His pupils shrank instantly. Word by word, his voice suppressed an infinite rage:

“You cheating bastards! Left Leg! I'm going to kill you!”

“Ahhh!” He raised both hands and began to furiously beat his left leg with a roar.

“And you, you bitch, I'm going to strangle you!” He raised his right hand again and squeezed his left hand in a death grip.

“You bitch! You bitch! Ahhh!”

Suddenly, the man calmed down. He stared at his motionless left hand in disbelief, looking like a bewildered child.

“I'm sorry, Left Hand. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I really didn't mean it...”

“It's still warm... I'm sorry, I love you. I'm sorry, I love you. I'm sorry, I love you...”

“Left Hand, you can move?! That's wonderful...”

“Revive! My love!”

The man tightly hugged his left hand, unwilling to let go. “Come back to my side, I can't bear a life without you. As long as you don't go back to Left Leg, I...”

“Ah!” The man suddenly let out a cry of pain. He clutched his aching left leg, utterly confused.

Suddenly, he remembered that his two hands had been beating him just now. He roared in anger, “You're faking death?! So this whole thing was a conspiracy cooked up by the three of you!”

“Hahaha, great, just great. Left Hand, Right Hand, Left Leg...” He laughed as he looked at each limb, his laughter incredibly desolate.

He sat on the ground and hung his head. His voice shifted, becoming extremely deep. “Right Leg, this is my story. I have been betrayed three times...”

“Oh no!” Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Left Hand, Right Hand, and Left Leg, which had appeared nearby at some point. He paled in horror:

“They've caught up! Right Leg, let's run!”

The man began running in circles around the courtyard. Looking at the relentlessly pursuing Left Hand, Right Hand, and Left Leg, he roared in anger, “I'm already a cripple! Are you still refusing to let me go?”

He took a deep breath and lowered his head in humiliation. “Let Right Leg go, and I'll go with you...”

At that moment, he caught sight of his crotch connecting his Right Leg and Left Leg. He froze for a long time, then suddenly burst into laughter.

“Hahaha, hahaha! So that's how it is! So that's how it is! I should have known! No matter where I hide, why is it that you can always follow right behind me...”

“It turns out, from beginning to end, I was always alone.”

“Infinite heavens, why have you forsaken me!”

“Hahaha—”

“Mother, I can't tell them apart! I really can't tell them apart!” Suddenly, he began to wail loudly, as if he had been saved, yet also as if he had plunged into the abyss.

Outside the courtyard, Zhuang Xun watched the entire performance expressionlessly, with only one thought left in his mind.