Village, Mad Saber Sect

One reason was that the rain had started up again, accompanied by booming thunder and flashes of lightning that shook the heart.

The other was that night had fallen, and he needed to find somewhere to stay.

Chen Xiaofan descended to the ground and headed toward the village.

There were few people on the village streets. Everyone was sheltering from the rain indoors. From afar, Chen Xiaofan could see lamps lit in many homes, little red-clay stoves glowing warmly, filling him with a sense of comfort.

He soon arrived at a house. The homeowner was a middle-aged woman in her forties. Seeing a child stranded outside, she did not wait for him to speak before pulling him into the warm room and asking with concern, "You little thing, why are you still outside in such heavy rain? Hurry and come warm yourself by the fire. I'll get you a set of dry clothes."

Chen Xiaofan felt somewhat moved.

Before long, the woman brought out a new set of clothes for him to change into. She said they had belonged to her son, who had died young. He had happened to be seven or eight years old as well, and the clothes fit Chen Xiaofan perfectly.

After changing, Chen Xiaofan warmed himself by the stove while the middle-aged woman sat nearby sewing clothes.

Once he had warmed up, Chen Xiaofan drifted off to sleep, feeling pleasantly warm all over.

About half an hour later, Chen Xiaofan suddenly frowned.

He abruptly sensed waves of forceful, clanging footsteps steadily drawing closer outside. The ground trembled along with them.

Chen Xiaofan's eyes narrowed. When he opened them, he saw the homeowner's expression change drastically as she hurried toward the window.

From a distance, the middle-aged woman saw clearly that, in the rainy night, a group of burly men carrying vicious blades were killing people everywhere.

"Spare me..."

"Spare..."

"Spare..."

One villager after another had their heads cut off before they could finish speaking, collapsing into the rain-soaked ground.

The thunder outside grew louder, like boiling rolling thunder, ceaseless and unbroken.

The middle-aged woman's legs gave out, and she collapsed straight onto the floor.

Chen Xiaofan went over to look, frowning.

The group wore yellow robes, with distinctive patterns embroidered over their chests and several large characters engraved upon their shoulders—Mad Saber Sect.

There was no doubt about it. They were people from the Mad Saber Sect.

As the burly men killed, they roared angrily, "Damn it, we were in the middle of assassinating the Peacock Cult's Grand Elder when you blind fools just had to stumble upon us! Don't blame us for killing you to silence you!"

Chen Xiaofan suddenly understood. This group had just assassinated someone, and several witnesses from this village had happened to see them. That was why they intended to eliminate them.

Suddenly, he saw that killing those people was not enough for the burly men. They abruptly charged into a neighboring house, and all manner of screams immediately rang out from within.

Then came the sounds of heads rolling to the ground.

In an instant, the village fell deathly silent. No one dared show their face.

Everyone knew that danger had arrived.

The villagers were all ordinary commoners who knew no martial arts. At this moment, they had no power to fight back.

Before long, the burly men rushed out of the house, their clothes covered in blood. One look was enough to tell that they had killed many people.

Then, the leader waved a large hand. "Kill everyone in this village. Leave not a single one alive, lest word gets out!"

"Yes!" The others immediately nodded.

Chen Xiaofan understood.

They meant to pull up the weeds by the roots. Anyone who had seen them tonight had to die.

In other words, this village would not leave behind a single survivor!

"Go quickly! You're not from our village, this has nothing to do with you! Hurry and leave!" The middle-aged woman tugged at Chen Xiaofan and urgently said, "There's a back door behind us. Crawl out through it, quickly!"

Chen Xiaofan remained where he was.

In his perception, those people were only in the Innate Realm. Only their leader was a Grandmaster—but so what? With a casual stroke of his sword, he could wipe them all out.

"Don't kill us, don't kill us. We'll come out ourselves." Suddenly, a family of seven emerged from another house, crouching with their heads in their hands to show that they meant no harm.

Soon afterward, people from other homes came out as well.

Before long, half the villagers had emerged. One by one, they stood obediently in the rain, not daring to flee or resist.

The other side was so powerful that if they ran, they would likely be the first to die.

"Please don't kill me. We didn't see anything just now, truly. I was sleeping inside..." an old woman said in a trembling voice.

Other children were panic-stricken, bawling at the top of their lungs.

Their parents hurriedly covered the children's mouths, terrified of upsetting the group, yet they themselves could not stop tears from streaming down their faces.

The Mad Saber Sect members seemed to greatly enjoy the feeling of holding others' fates in their hands. They stopped, leaning on their sabers as they stood there with sinister grins.

What they loved most was seeing the despair on people's faces before death.

"I'll count to five. Everyone in the village, come out. Don't make us search house by house!"

"If anyone is still hiding when I reach five, don't blame us for slaughtering the whole village!"

The lead burly man sneered.

As soon as he finished speaking, family after family hurried out from the other houses, obediently raising their hands and standing silently in the rain.

In a short while, the entire village had gathered there.

"Child, you shouldn't have come. Sigh, I've brought misery upon you." Amid the crowd, the middle-aged woman let out a long sigh.

Chen Xiaofan held her hand and said, "Don't worry. I've just learned some excellent martial arts. No matter how many of them come, I'll make sure none return."

The moment those words came out, everyone inwardly groaned in anguish.

At a time like this, how could this child dare say something like that?

The woman staggered, nearly thinking she had misheard. She hurriedly shielded him and explained to everyone, "Look how frightened he is—he's babbling nonsense. Sigh, children's words can't be taken seriously."

"Yes, yes, they can't be taken seriously, can't be taken seriously." Seeing that Chen Xiaofan was only seven, someone quickly echoed her words out of pity.

The others also began pleading with the Mad Saber Sect members on his behalf.

"He's only a seven-year-old child. He was scared out of his wits, so he said such nonsense. Please don't take it seriously."

"Gentlemen, my family has several jars of fine wine stored away. How about..."

"Shut up, all of you!" One burly man thundered in rage, pointing at Chen Xiaofan. "You, come out!"