Chapter 14: The Blood Sacrifice Begins

Among the five Protectors of the Blackwater Gang, although Duan Kun was not the strongest, he was certainly ranked near the very top.

He was born with Divine Power, and when he swung his Ghost Tooth Blade, its momentum was appalling; in the military, he would have been considered a top-tier warrior.

However, when he encountered Chen Yuan, he was cut down as easily as crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood, and those subordinates of Duan Kun were even scared witless.

Only when Duan Kun’s head hit the ground did someone finally react and turn to flee.

But how could Chen Yuan possibly let them escape?

Bolstered by the powerful Internal Energy of the Blood Moving Realm, Chen Yuan’s own speed was incredibly swift.

A single leap covered the distance of several steps, and under the yanling blade, all became headless wandering souls.

The one who ran the furthest had only just reached the courtyard gate before being cut down by Chen Yuan.

Flicking the blood droplets off the blade, Chen Yuan had just returned the blade to its sheath when he heard a miserable wail.

That youth was sprawled over the corpses of his parents, weeping and howling in pain.

Chen Yuan was about to say something when the youth suddenly turned his head toward him and roared heart-wrenchingly.

“Why didn’t you come sooner!? Your martial arts are so high that you could have easily killed these villains. If you had come earlier, my parents wouldn’t have died. It’s you who killed them!”

The youth’s voice changed from a howl of pain to one of resentment, his eyes glaring fiercely at Chen Yuan, filled with a poisonous malice, as if Chen Yuan were the enemy who had murdered his parents.

Just now, when Duan Kun killed his parents and forced him to reveal the location of the Shenji Pavilion hidden weapon, he hadn’t even dared to show such a look to Duan Kun.

Chen Yuan sighed, and the yanling blade that had just been sheathed was drawn once more.

Accompanied by a splash of blood, the youth went to reunite with his parents.

“Ungrateful wretch.”

Chen Yuan mounted his horse and turned back toward Lianshan City.

The cause of all this was that the youth had ignored his parents’ teachings and exposed their identity, which was why they had ended up in this situation.

His final hatred for Chen Yuan was simply because he was unwilling to admit that he was the one who had caused his parents’ deaths; he just wanted to find a good person to blame.

A good person might be held at gunpoint, but unfortunately, Chen Yuan was no good person.

Anyway, in the original plot, they were supposed to be reunited as a family; Chen Yuan’s actions could be seen as keeping the plot from straying.

Returning to the Skill Transmission Hall, Chen Yuan locked the door and immediately opened the brocade box in his arms.

Inside the brocade box was actually a Jade Pure Bottle, but it was not made of porcelain; it was forged from metal.

Looking closely, it was actually assembled from dense layers of mechanical parts with extremely small gaps; without a careful look, one would think they were the natural textures of the Jade Pure Bottle itself.

The mouth of the bottle was also sealed, with a small button on top that required immense strength to press to prevent accidental activation.

This was the Advanced hidden weapon of the Shenji Pavilion, Guanyins Tears.

A small Jade Pure Bottle contained thousands of blades as thin as a cicada’s wing.

Once activated, everything within ten zhang would become a blade-wheel Hell, and any living creature would be torn into shredded flesh.

This item caused too much slaughter; after its use, even a Bodhisattva would lower her eyes and Guanyin would shed tears, which was how it got its name.

This thing was worth more than its weight in gold.

Most importantly, it was a rare item that money couldn’t buy; ordinary people didn’t even have the right to purchase it and had to exchange it for treasures needed by the Shenji Pavilion.

The number of Artifact Refiners in the Shenji Pavilion was very small, but they were usually equipped with a large number of assisting craftsmen and some servants for menial tasks.

The servant who stole the Guanyins Tears and defected was also brainless.

If he had stolen some low-level hidden weapons, he could have quickly sold them for gold and silver and found a remote place to live comfortably for the rest of his life.

But he just had to steal an Advanced hidden weapon like Guanyins Tears; this thing would be noticed immediately as soon as it was brought out.

Although he also stole some mechanism Materials along the way, these semi-finished products were only worth the price of refined iron and steel—not worth much—and they were easy to expose him because of the Shenji Pavilion marks.

So, despite holding a supreme treasure, he still lived in poverty for over a decade, and in the end, he was even brought to his death by his own son, which was truly miserable.

Putting away the Guanyins Tears, Chen Yuan sought out Zhang Xiaoyi and told him to keep a constant eye on the outside world and report to him daily, while he himself entered a state of secluded cultivation once more.

Martial arts cultivation requires hard study, but it also requires actual combat to exert its maximum power.

After fighting Duan Kun, Chen Yuan had gained a new level of insight into both the Surging Waves and Flowing Clouds Technique and the Qiu Shui Jinghong Sword Technique, which he needed to settle and digest.

Five days later, the people of the Blackwater Gang also discovered that Duan Kun and his men had gone missing.

The Blackwater Gang sent people to search for another two days before finally finding the corpses of Duan Kun and the others outside the city; by then, the bodies were already stinking.

Chen Yuan didn’t destroy the evidence this time because there was no need.

Whether from the reason Duan Kun left the city or from the nature of the wounds, they wouldn’t suspect him.

Of course, with the bodies rotted to such a state, it was unlikely any wounds could be discerned anyway.

After the news spread throughout Lianshan City, the people in the city felt a sense of paranoid tension.

First, Chu Ziping, one of the three heroes of the Heaven Wolf Gang, had gone missing without a reason, with no sign of him dead or alive.

Then, Duan Kun, one of the five Protectors of the Blackwater Gang, had died outside the city along with his trusted subordinates.

For high-ranking members of both gangs to meet with misfortune at the same time was indeed a bit eerie; could it be that some Evil Path criminals had entered Lianshan City?

And more than twenty days later, this conclusion was verified once again.

The entire Wang Family, a wealthy household in the city with over fifty members, was slaughtered, the entire family exterminated; most bizarrely, every drop of blood in their bodies had been drained.

Such an eerie manner of death was clearly not an ordinary vendetta.

Consequently, rumors spread in Lianshan City again, saying that the Blood God Cult had seen a resurgence and was killing people to suck their blood and restore their power.

Some also said that the Blood Ghosts in the mountains of Youzhou were about to hibernate, so they had entered the city to hunt and accumulate blood for the winter.

In short, there were all sorts of rumors, and for a time, the entire Lianshan City was in a state of panic, with many people not even daring to step out of their doors.

When Chen Yuan heard this news, he let out a long sigh of relief.

Jiang Kaitai had already begun the Blood Sacrifice for the Divine Artifact.

However, this time was more than ten days earlier than in the original plot.

Chen Yuan guessed it was likely related to his killing of Chu Ziping and Duan Kun.

With high-ranking members of both gangs dead, some Jianghu People in the city speculated they had died at the hands of outside Evil Path criminals.

Jiang Kaitai happened to take advantage of this speculation before it dissipated to perform a Blood Sacrifice, which would further draw everyone’s attention to the outsiders.

Two days later, the wealthy Zhou Family, along with over a hundred servants, was also exterminated in a Blood Sacrifice.

Hearing this news, even Chen Yuan couldn’t help but sigh; that old fellow Jiang Kaitai was truly ruthless.

To obtain the Divine Artifact, he no longer cared about anything.

The Zhou Family was different from the Wang Family; the Zhou Family was Jiang Kaitai’s own kin.

Jiang Kaitai came from a humble Jianghu background and had even been a bandit; his paternal relatives were all gone, and only his mother’s side had a few relatives left.

After he established the Heaven Wolf Gang and settled in Lianshan City, he brought his mother’s relatives over to settle in the city.

This Zhou Family was not very capable, and none of the clansmen had any talent for martial arts, so they didn’t join the Heaven Wolf Gang.

However, as Jiang Kaitai’s kin, the Zhou Family’s business in Lianshan City was not small.

Relying on Jiang Kaitai’s power, they acted overbearingly in Lianshan City, facing no obstacles and almost monopolizing all the grain, salt, and iron trade within the Heaven Wolf Gang’s territory.

In just over twenty years, they had grown from a dozen people to over a hundred now.

Jiang Kaitai chose the Zhou Family for the second Blood Sacrifice to clear himself of suspicion and create a smoke screen, serving as a cover for when the Murong Clan and the Yiqi Guanhri Alliance came to investigate later.

After all, how could any normal person imagine that Jiang Kaitai would actually exterminate his own last remaining relatives in this world?

After the Zhou Family was exterminated, Jiang Kaitai immediately summoned all the hall masters of the Heaven Wolf Gang to the Council Hall.

Inside the Council Hall, Jiang Kaitai had a look of profound grief.

“You all know the news of the Zhou Family being exterminated in a Blood Sacrifice. Those were my only relatives in this world!

I may not be an emperor, but I have now tasted the bitterness of being truly alone!”

Jiang Kaitai’s voice was hoarse, his eyes were bloodshot, and the muscles on his cheeks were trembling slightly, performing the mixture of sadness and anger to perfection.

Chen Yuan couldn’t help but marvel in his heart; this old fellow’s acting was truly good.

Qin Yuancheng quickly stood up and said, “Who says you’re alone? You still have me, your son! Those people from the Zhou Family were useless to begin with. I will definitely care for you in your old age and see to your final rites!”

Chen Yuan couldn’t help but lower his head and cover his face.

This fellow Qin Yuancheng really knew how to talk.

If the extermination of the Zhou Family had truly been done by an outsider, Jiang Kaitai would definitely have kicked him across the room by now.

Someone’s only relatives were exterminated, and you actually say those relatives were useless.

Although it was the truth, you can’t exactly speak ill of the dead like that at a time like this.

Furthermore, Jiang Kaitai was already suspicious by nature; although he was old now, reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm meant he could easily live to a hundred without a problem.

You’re talking about caring for Jiang Kaitai in his old age and seeing to his final rites now—what, are you impatient to inherit the position of gang leader?”

The corner of Jiang Kaitai’s mouth twitched slightly; he was also quite choked by Qin Yuancheng’s words.

If he hadn’t needed to keep up the act, he would have truly wanted to give him a couple of kicks.

Chen Yuan also stood up at this time and said, “Foster Father, please restrain your grief. The dead cannot be brought back to life. We will surely find the murderer and avenge the Zhou Family!”

Jiang Kaitai nodded and said hatefully, “During this time, pay attention to any suspicious outsiders coming to Lianshan City. If I catch the murderer, I will surely tear them into ten thousand pieces!”

After the act was over, everyone quickly dispersed, all preparing to go catch the ‘murderer’.

When Chen Yuan returned to the Skill Transmission Hall, he saw a waiter from the Wangyou Tower waiting for him.

“Young Master Chen, the Proprietress said she has something to discuss with you and asked you to visit the Wangyou Tower when you have time.”

Chen Yuan nodded. “Fine, I’ll go now. I also happen to have something to discuss with your Proprietress.”

Jiang Kaitai had already begun the Blood Sacrifice for the Divine Artifact; he also needed to start making his moves.