It was impossible to describe the look on the old shopkeeper's face—a mixture of astonishment, suspicion, and ghastly pallor—the moment he saw Hu Ma.
Clearly, far too many unexpected events had occurred that night for him.
However, no matter how intense the shock, his peripheral vision swept across the corpses of the Tan'er Sect members who had been brutally slain. He saw the shattered altars and the eerie gaze from the red lantern, which seemed to have been fixed on him all along.
He suddenly reacted. Forcing his now broken and battered body, he dropped to his knees before the red lantern and cried out,
"Wu Hong, Shopkeeper of the Green Stone Town branch, respectfully welcomes the Red Lantern Lady! Lady... Lady…"
"...Lady, please save my life! Wu Hong could never repay your great kindness, not even with ten thousand deaths!"
Hu Ma merely held up the lantern, standing calmly opposite the old shopkeeper, as if those kowtows were meant for him.
