Choosing a Lucky Noble Family to Exterminate

"Hello, delivery service from the Youhe Trading Company. Sorry for the trouble, but could Baron Outing sign for the package in person?"

It was already late at night, and Lou Shisui had knocked on the door of the last noble household.

Given the trading company's usual habit of currying favor with the powerful, being last meant this was the lowest-ranking noble household on his delivery route today.

With a creak, the door slowly and laboriously swung open, and a servant of the Outing Family appeared in the doorway.

Impatience written all over his face, he glared at Lou Shisui and shouted irritably.

"Tsk, why are you making so much noise? Commoners have no manners at all!"

Lou Shisui hastily lowered his head, his loose hair hiding his pitch-black eyes as he put on a meek, submissive manner.

The servant was an expert at bullying the weak and fearing the strong. Seeing that the deliveryman seemed to have backed down, he immediately grew even more overbearing.

"Why did you take so long to deliver something? Look what time it is!"

"What if you disturbed our master's rest? Could you bear the responsibility?"

The same look of contempt, but even more cutting words.

Even judging by the villa's somewhat less desirable location and its badly peeling walls, it was obvious what Baron Outing's current standard of living was like.

He might not even be as well-off as some wealthy commoner merchants.

But living standards were one thing, and noble airs were another.

The arrogance unique to those in power was on full display in his servant alone, without the slightest bit diminished.

Rather, it was precisely because the Outing Family lacked money and their noble standing was precarious that its members were especially overbearing.

It was as though only by putting others down could they barely hold on to what little dignity and face they had left.

Shisui watched the yapping watchdog, a practiced smile on his lips, though a trace of brutality showed in his eyes.

Clearly, his patience was running out.

I'm a little hungry. Anyway, they're just a low-ranking noble family. I'll start with them.

The servant who had answered the door suddenly felt a chill down his spine and shuddered.

Baffled, he shut his mouth. As he stepped inside, there was a hint of panic in his movements that even he failed to notice.

The heavy door slowly closed, sealing the scene inside the villa away in a cage.

Shisui's footsteps were exceptionally light. As a hunter who spent most of his time lurking in the shadows, his everyday movements were always soundless.

"Hey, hurry up and stop looking around!"

The servant's scolding rang out again. He had clearly recovered.

His incessant muttering was interspersed with slurs like "ignorant" and "lowborn," but Shisui ignored him.

He simply sensed his surroundings with a calm mind, then discovered that there wasn't even a decent hidden sentry. Only a single mid-stage Ninth Realm cultivator remained on guard deep inside the villa.

He understood.

No wonder they've fallen so far. As nobles, they don't even have the most basic awakened one who has entered the Profound Realm. They've probably escaped being stripped of their status so far thanks to their ancestors' lingering influence.

After walking for a while, Shisui finally followed the servant to Baron Outing's study.

He was allowed in only after the attendant announced him.

"Creak—"

The door made an unpleasant noise as it opened and closed.

"Put the goods down..."

Before the speaker could finish, Shisui struck without warning, driving Blade Scales into the heads and necks of the three people present.

"Finally, some peace and quiet."

The Blade Scales remained embedded in the wounds, keeping blood from spraying everywhere.

Shisui knew that the Ninth Realm cultivator had been alerted. In his current state, fighting a Ninth Realm cultivator head-on wouldn't put him in danger, but it would still take some effort.

A little of his Ukaku emerged and instantly scattered Radiant Feathers evenly in every direction.

The moment he finished, a massive Psychic Energy body charged into the study through the floor-to-ceiling window.

Crash—

The glass exploded inward, and at the same instant, the space was sealed off.

The Radiant Feathers, imbued with the power to cut through space, attacked the intruder as violently as a storm of spatial turbulence.

Realizing it was the space attribute, the Outing Family's Ninth Realm awakened one didn't underestimate it and used all his strength to activate his Psychic Energy for defense.

Pfft!

His defense had only just gone up, and a trace of contempt still lingered in the Ninth Realm awakened one's eyes, when he watched in disbelief as a scorpion tail pierced through him.

Only then did the vast energy that had remained hidden inside Shisui show any noticeable fluctuations. The mere ripples it produced stirred the Psychic Energy drifting freely through the air.

According to common knowledge on Ruolan Star, aside from the amount of Psychic Energy in one's body, there were also some "unspoken rules" for distinguishing realms.

Leaving the mundane behind meant entering the Fifth Realm, gaining a foothold in the supernatural meant the Sixth Realm, and achieving complete mastery meant the Seventh Realm.

Unity between heaven and man, and communion with heaven and earth, however, were the hallmarks of the Eighth and Ninth Realms, the highest realms of the Yellow Realm.

They were also the foundation for touching upon the laws of the Dao and striving toward the Profound Realm, a higher level.

The Ninth Realm cultivator belatedly realized he had been careless.

What lay hidden in the baron's study was not the Sixth Realm assassin he had thought he sensed, but an Eighth Realm Peak opponent who could threaten his life!

He seized the scorpion tail lodged in his body and tried to struggle.

But in the next instant, concentrated venom surged out through the tail's stinger and erupted!

The battle had begun suddenly, and ended even more unexpectedly.

Even in death, he never learned that Shisui really had still been in the Sixth Realm not long ago.

It was just that Shisui, having touched upon the "Way of Slaughter" ahead of time, had no need for so-called dedicated cultivation.

As long as he kept killing and eating, his realm would rise with [Metamorphosis] until he needed to break through the bottleneck to the Profound Realm.

The savage scorpion tail withdrew, bringing the Ninth Realm awakened one with it, his eyes still open in death.

Compared with Bikaku, Shisui actually didn't use the Rinkaku Scorpion Tail often.

After all, although Rinkaku had high attack power, explosive strength, and rapid recovery, the arrangement of its Rc Cells also made it relatively fragile.

But for sneak attacks, Rinkaku could definitely pierce an enemy's defenses and kill in a single blow.

Of course, there was another reason the kill had been so easy this time, aside from Rinkaku's tremendous attack power and the Ninth Realm cultivator not having used his full strength.

This so-called Ninth Realm expert was a silver-plated pewter spearhead, built up with the Outing Family's resources.

Despite the enormous resources spent on him, not only had he failed to reach the Profound Realm, but his actual combat strength had also been greatly diminished by his arrogance.

His Psychic Energy reserves, however, were extremely abundant. He could be called a "bucket."

All I can say is, thanks for nature's gift. Buddy, you can start cultivating again in your next life.

With the greatest threat eliminated, Shisui walked over to Baron Outing's corpse. After some work, he completed the first puppet he had made since awakening his talent.

After the puppet stood up, it gave its creator a stiff smile.

The expression was more lifelike than before, which pleased Shisui greatly.

He repeated the process, turning the other two servants into puppets and sending them to convey "Baron Outing's" order for everyone to gather in the villa's main hall.

He wanted to turn every yao in the Outing Family into a puppet, then have them carry large quantities of Blade Scales and Radiant Feathers and spread them everywhere.

As for the Ninth Realm cultivator, making him into a puppet would be too wasteful. It would be more worthwhile for him to become Psychic Energy and remain inside Shisui.

A moment later, Shisui stepped out of the baron's villa.

"The Youhe Trading Company looks forward to serving you again!"

He contentedly licked the vivid red residue from the corners of his mouth, his tone as sincere as that of a service-industry veteran with years of experience.

The servant seeing him off nodded like an exquisite puppet, then closed the door.

Behind its walls and the protective barrier over the city, Qiongfang City stood secure amid the turbulent wind and snow.