Strange Incident

A day later,

Bai Ze had already arrived in Blackwater County. What had happened before had not affected him much.

However, he had remembered Chang Wen's attempt to have someone ambush and kill him.

After all, Bai Ze was not the sort of person who would only take a beating without striking back.

And the best opportunity would be the Resource Contention Battle half a month later. As the Chang Family's second young master, Chang Wen should also participate. That would be the perfect chance.

As long as he could take first place, so what if he earned the Chang Family's hatred? The Li Family would never stand idly by.

As soon as Bai Ze arrived at the Li Family's business, a middle-aged man came out with seven or eight clerks behind him.

His face was full of smiles as he said, "My lord, I am the temporary person in charge here. These are the account books."

"All the expenses and income of our Blackwater County branch are recorded here. Please inspect them."

"Mm."

Bai Ze nodded expressionlessly at that, but he did not even open the account books.

Instead, he calmly said, "I will be stationed here for one week. As for what arrangements will be made afterward, the Lineage will notify you again."

"For the next few days, keep handling everything as you did before."

"Arrange a courtyard for me. Only notify me if there is something you cannot resolve."

"Yes, this way, my lord."

Upon hearing that, the man before him visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, the people in charge of branch businesses scattered throughout the various counties would inevitably skim some silver.

But that had nothing to do with Bai Ze. He did not want to bother with it, nor could he be bothered to.

Once the time was up, he would return directly to Pingfeng City anyway. Whatever happened here would have no effect on him.

After arriving at the courtyard prepared for him, he waved the man away.

This assignment was clearly absurdly easy. It was nothing more than changing locations to cultivate.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Other than someone bringing him meals every day, Bai Ze did not leave the courtyard even once. He spent all his time cultivating.

Yet even so, he could clearly sense that the speed of his blood changing had slowed considerably.

By now, his blood changing degree had only increased by five percent.

After once again feeling the soreness throughout his muscles, Bai Ze had no choice but to stop.

Back in his room, he applied Body Recovery Paste while thinking to himself, Could it be that I can only slowly grind away at the progress bit by bit with time?

At this rate, I can reach around seventy percent within half a month, but increasing my blood changing degree further will require even more time.

By then, I might not even gain one percent after several days.

Thinking of this, Bai Ze felt helpless, but even more than that, unwilling to accept it.

But since things had come to this, he could only take one step at a time and see where the road led.

If it truly did not work out then, he could only break through.

Yet during the days Bai Ze was cultivating, something strange happened in Blackwater County, leaving everyone on edge.

The next day,

The gates to the courtyard suddenly began pounding.

Bai Ze stopped cultivating. This was the first time someone had knocked on his door outside of mealtime.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Bai Ze did not think much of it. Hearing the urgency in the knocking, he went straight over and opened the gates.

The man outside was the temporary person in charge of the business from before. Compared to earlier, his face had gone several shades paler.

After letting him in, Bai Ze calmly asked, "What has you so flustered?"

"Something terrible has happened, my lord. Last night, a blood changing realm martial artist died inside the shop."

"What? Tell me the details."

"Yes, yes."

The temporary shopkeeper before him did not dare conceal anything and immediately explained the entire situation.

At the Blackwater County branch, aside from Bai Ze, there were also four blood changing realm martial artists.

However, because they were too old and their potential had been exhausted, they had been assigned here to stand guard.

Last night, it had happened to be the turn of one of them, a blood changing realm martial artist named Zhou Si, to keep watch.

But the next morning, they found signs of a fight in the room, while Zhou Si's corpse lay in a pool of blood. He had clearly been killed by someone else.

And that was not all. Over the past few days, this was not the first such case in Blackwater County.

Although those forces had tried their utmost to keep it hidden, news had still reached them.

As the shopkeeper spoke, terror appeared on his face.

Trembling, he said, "My lord, all of them died in a very similar manner. Their corpses were somewhat shriveled."

"After examining them, we discovered that the slain martial artists seemed to have lost half the blood in their bodies, as though it had been forcibly drained out."

Bai Ze's expression also turned grave upon hearing this.

This matter was indeed strange. If someone had been discovered stealing, killing them would have been enough—but how could their blood have vanished as well?

Most importantly, it was not only their business. The same thing had happened to other forces too.

And all those who had died were blood changing realm martial artists. Could there be some special reason?

Seeing Bai Ze fall into thought, the shopkeeper stood silently to one side. Yet the expression on his face said everything.

Looking at the man's nervous appearance, Bai Ze asked in a deep voice, "How many blood changing realm martial artists have died in Blackwater County so far, and how many remain?"

"Five have already died."

The shopkeeper did not dare hesitate in the slightest. After thinking for a moment, he hurriedly said, "You must know that the strongest people in Blackwater County are blood changing realm martial artists. They are basically the leaders of the various forces."

"Now, aside from the county government's two blood changing realm martial artists, only our business remains."

"And last night, one of ours was killed without a sound. Other than you, my lord, only three remain."

Bai Ze had not expected Blackwater County's overall strength to surpass Changqing County's by so much, with far more blood changing realm martial artists.

Yet after hearing this, Bai Ze clearly had no clues either.

But he could not ignore this matter. After all, the reason he was stationed here was to ensure the safety of the business.

Thus, after pondering for several seconds, Bai Ze said in a deep voice, "Go call the remaining three blood changing realm martial artists here. I will make unified arrangements."

"As for everyone else, until this matter is resolved, have them gather in the rooms of the rear courtyard at night."

"When the time comes, I will personally keep watch with them and do my best to ensure your safety."

"Yes, thank you, my lord! Thank you, my lord!"

Hearing this, the shopkeeper thanked him excitedly before quickly leaving to notify the others.

Although those being killed now were blood changing realm martial artists, who could guarantee that martial artists of other realms would not be next?

Watching the man's departing back, Bai Ze lightly tapped the table with his fingers and fell into thought.

Whoever was killing these people definitely had a purpose, but it did not seem to be revenge, robbery, or anything of that sort.

After all, the slain blood changing realm martial artists belonged to several different forces. It was impossible that all of them had grievances with the killer.

Even their business had suffered the same fate yesterday. The killer had only murdered someone and taken nothing at all.

For the moment, Bai Ze could not make head or tail of it. He could only wait for the other party to appear again that night for a chance to uncover the reason.