What a Novel Way to Kill Yourself

In the darkness, a crossbow bolt streaked through the forest and struck a sentry perched atop a tree with unerring precision.

The bolt pierced straight through the sentry's throat, and he could not even make a sound.

The sentry fell weakly from the treetop, but before he hit the ground, Old Li caught him and gently lowered him down without making the slightest noise.

Parting the bushes revealed a massive manor hidden amid the mountains and forest.

Lin Zikai lowered his voice. "Sir, that's the place."

"Black Dog and I only caught a glimpse of it. We vaguely heard them discussing some Sacred Tree, but before we could listen closely, a Purple-robed Old Man discovered us."

Scholar spoke up. "What's the situation inside?"

Lin Zikai shook his head grimly. "Not good. I only glanced inside, but I saw dozens of animal carcasses, as well as seven or eight human ones."

"Those corpses were all shriveled up. Thinking about it now, their blood essence must have been drained dry."

Shen Qing looked at the somewhat dilapidated manor before him, his nose already filled with the pungent stench of blood.

So it was you bunch of pathetic bastards causing trouble on my turf—and killing my men?

All the Imperial Guards looked toward Shen Qing.

"Sir, how do we fight this?"

Shen Qing's face showed little expression, and his tone was equally calm. "How? We bulldoze our way through."

Killing intent gathered in the eyes of every Imperial Guard. Bulldoze through—that meant killing them all.

The next instant, Shen Qing lunged out like a cheetah, moving so fast that afterimages trailed behind him.

The Imperial Guards drew their steel sabers and followed closely after him.

But in the next moment, every Imperial Guard froze in shock. Two of them even stumbled.

Shen Qing's left foot had suddenly gathered Overbearing Internal Energy. The enhancement from Body Sanctification, coupled with the destructive force of Overbearing Internal Energy—

His kick even produced a sonic boom.

Bang!

The wall crumpled beneath Shen Qing's kick as though it were made of paper. Rubble flew everywhere, dust filled the air, and a gap seven or eight meters long opened up.

The Imperial Guards all swallowed.

So this was what he meant by bulldozing through?

Literally bulldozing through?

"Who goes there?"

There were still quite a few evil cultivators inside the manor, and the tremendous noise had drawn them out.

A cold gleam flashed through the dust. Shen Qing charged out like an evil ghost.

Qing He, wrapped in Overbearing Internal Energy, hacked directly into the nearest evil cultivator.

With one slash, the evil cultivator was no different from a watermelon. His entire body burst apart like one.

His figure flashed. Shen Qing's right hand suddenly curled into a claw and clamped around another evil cultivator's throat. With a slight squeeze, blood splattered, and Shen Qing snapped his neck outright.

Shen Qing held an evil cultivator's head in one hand and Qing He in the other, one foot planted atop the corpse as he smiled at the evil cultivators in the courtyard.

"Who am I? The evil ghost has arrived."

As his words fell, Imperial Guards emerged one after another from the smoke behind him, standing at Shen Qing's back like little ghosts, their killing intent chilling.

Shen Qing slowly raised his right hand, the tip of his blade pointing at the evil cultivators in the courtyard. His voice was not loud, but killing intent overflowed from it.

"Kill."

In the next instant, the Imperial Guards erupted in battle cries and charged at the evil cultivators in the courtyard.

Very quickly, the courtyard descended into chaos.

Just then, two figures rapidly approached Shen Qing from a dark corner of the manor, one throwing a punch and the other a palm strike at his head.

Shen Qing sneered, sheathing his saber without any intention of dodging.

The two attackers were overjoyed. "Bold of you to take our brothers' attack head-on."

The next instant, Shen Qing raised his hands and steadily caught their punch and palm. The two men looked as though they had seen a ghost.

They were evil cultivators who absorbed human blood essence. Their internal energy might not have been particularly refined, but their physical strength far surpassed that of ordinary people. Even opponents in the same realm could not match them in strength.

Not to mention that they were attacking together—yet he had caught them so easily?

The two gritted their teeth and used every ounce of strength they had, desperately gathering even their internal energy.

Yet Shen Qing remained utterly unmoved, his expression natural.

"Lin Zikai was right. When you hit people, it feels like you're acting cute!"

A terrifying force suddenly seized the two men's hands and flung them with brutal force.

Shen Qing directly unleashed the Wild Cloak Hammer Technique.

The two Houtian Realm evil cultivators were wielded as hammers by Shen Qing and smashed viciously into the ground, over and over again.

Each impact made the ground of the manor tremble slightly.

The next moment—

Shen Qing grabbed the two men and leaped high into the air. The evil cultivators traced a beautiful semicircle through the sky before crashing heavily to the ground.

Bang!

The ground was smashed into a small crater. The two lay in it like dead dogs, with not a single patch of intact flesh left on their bodies.

"Stop!"

An aged roar came from outside the courtyard.

Shen Qing sneered and planted one foot on each of their shoulders. He stomped down hard, blood spraying everywhere as he tore both evil cultivators' arms off at the roots.

Just then, a short Old Woman with graying hair ran into the courtyard from outside.

The two men lying on the ground spoke weakly. "Mother... save us..."

Naturally, Shen Qing heard every word clearly.

So they were family. Looking closely, the two men on the ground did bear some resemblance to the two Shen Qing had killed in the forest earlier.

Damn it, it really was a family business.

Well, that was good too. It saved him from having to wipe them out household by household.

Shen Qing raised his head and smiled brightly, revealing two rows of pearly white teeth.

"You're their mother? Looks like you came a little late."

With that, he tossed the two arms in his hands toward the Old Woman, who watched them land before her.

Only then did towering fury surge into her heart.

"Imperial Guards? How have I offended you?"

"You deserve to die!"

Shen Qing cursed.

"Spider-Man riding a horse—what the hell kind of Peter Parker nonsense is this?"

"You things that suck human blood can still say something like that? Is something wrong with your brain? Now I understand why each of your four sons was dumber than the last. Their mother turned out to be a fucking idiot."

Who had offended her? Had the people whose blood she sucked offended her?

She had already recognized the Imperial Guards' uniforms, yet she was still yapping away.

The Imperial Guards had come—they had come to wipe out her entire household. Did she think they were here to reason with her?

If she was afraid the Imperial Guards would wipe out her family, then she should not have sucked people's blood.

The Old Woman roared furiously and raised her hand. Her fingers pointed at Shen Qing as several blood arrows shot from her fingertips straight at him.

Blood Arrow Technique!

She had already seen the corpses of two of her sons in the forest. One had been torn in half alive, while the other had half his head cleaved off with immense force.

And here in the manor, her other two sons had their arms torn off alive.

The Old Woman was certain Shen Qing was a strength-focused martial artist, so facing him head-on would be unwise.

She was at the Houtian Realm Eighth Layer, while Shen Qing was at the Houtian Realm Sixth Layer. That was her first advantage.

Secondly, strength-focused martial artists were somewhat slower in speed and agility. She was using a long-range attack. That was her second advantage.

Thirdly, Shen Qing had killed four of her sons in succession. His internal energy and stamina had surely been depleted, while she was at full strength. That was her third advantage.

Three victories bred ten thousand victories—victory upon victory, without end.

"Go to hell!"

Her blood arrows were incomparably fast. In the blink of an eye, they had reached Shen Qing.

The Old Woman could already picture Shen Qing failing to dodge in time and being riddled with holes by the Blood Arrow Technique.

But in the next instant, Shen Qing used Carefree Steps, crossing several meters in a single stride and perfectly evading the Blood Arrow Technique.

The Old Woman's expression froze. How was that possible? Why was he so strong, yet so fast as well?

Meanwhile, Shen Qing could no longer hold back his laughter.

"Forcing your blood essence out of your body?"

"What a novel way to kill yourself."