Blood Fiend Art (Not Initiated)

"Huh?"

"What's this?"

Chen Fan saw that Cao De's clothes over his chest had been blasted to tatters. A corner of animal hide was exposed beneath them, and he pulled it from Cao De's body.

It was a scroll of animal hide, yellowed throughout and steeped in the aura of passing years. Unfolding it, Chen Fan found it covered in densely packed tiny characters.

However, the hide scroll was incomplete; a small portion had been destroyed.

At that moment, Chen Fan's Attribute Panel popped up:

Discovered Divine Aperture Realm cultivation technique "Blood Fiend Art"; recorded successfully!

"Blood Fiend Art" (Not Initiated)

"Is this the Blood Fiend Art Cao De cultivated?"

"Why would he carry something so important on him?"

Chen Fan muttered to himself in confusion.

"It was precisely because the Blood Fiend Art was so vital that he carried it with him, making it convenient to read and comprehend at any time."

"Moreover, for a powerful martial artist, nothing precious is safer than keeping it on one's person!"

"The Blood Fiend Sect's Blood Fiend Art does have its merits. Cultivated to the utmost, it can open thirty-six acupoints throughout the body. But this technique's side effects are far too severe."

"The Dragon Abyss Prefecture Brocade Guard Thousand-Household Office's armory contains Divine Aperture Realm cultivation techniques no weaker than this Blood Fiend Art, and those techniques have virtually no side effects."

"With your talent, cultivating those orthodox techniques is the wise choice. You must not let this ready-made Divine Aperture Realm technique before your eyes blind you."

Lu Xuening spoke up to warn him.

Chen Fan was a good seedling, but his origins were too lowly and his horizons too narrow. If he failed to withstand the temptation and rashly cultivated the Blood Fiend Art, it would be disastrous.

Because the Brocade Guard would absolutely never permit the emergence of a Blood Demon!

Back then, although the Blood Fiend Sect had a poor reputation, the imperial court could still tolerate it. After all, while the sect's disciples were each like mad dogs, they truly did not hold back when slaughtering demons and monsters.

For the sake of their ability to slay demons and eliminate monsters, the imperial court could allow them to exist.

But later, an unparalleled genius appeared among the Blood Fiend Sect's disciples. In only ten years, he cultivated the Blood Fiend Art to perfection and opened all thirty-six acupoints throughout his body.

Later still, he deduced the Blood Fiend Art to a higher level and developed the Blood Fiend Demonic Art.

Relying on the Blood Fiend Demonic Art, he rampaged across the land. Then, little by little, Baleful Intent eroded his mind, turning him into one who had fallen to madness. He called himself the Blood Demon.

Relying on his extraordinary strength, the Blood Demon slaughtered innocents without restraint. Before long, the name Blood Demon resounded throughout Dragon Abyss Prefecture. Later, he even massacred an entire city by himself, blood-sacrificing hundreds of thousands of living beings to aid his cultivation of demonic arts.

Such actions were simply more demonic than demons themselves!

His every deed eventually provoked the imperial court's utter fury. The Brocade Guard Myriad-Household Lord stationed in Cloud Prefecture personally acted to kill him, then ordered the Brocade Guard to destroy the Blood Fiend Sect.

Afterward, the Brocade Guard classified the Blood Fiend Art as a demonic art and thoroughly destroyed every means by which it could be spread.

Yet though they claimed to have completely destroyed the channels through which the Blood Fiend Art was transmitted, fragmented copies of the Blood Fiend Art still circulated among certain forces.

It was merely that no one admitted to possessing a fragmented copy of the Blood Fiend Art.

Although the Blood Fiend Art in Cao De's possession had also been partly destroyed, its mental cultivation method was complete, and it even recorded the Blood Fiend Palm, a martial skill paired with the Blood Fiend Art.

Who knew where Cao De had gotten his hands on it.

"Don't worry. I'm not that foolish!"

Chen Fan smiled faintly and said.

"The demons and monsters within Ping An County have already been completely purged."

"Your move of luring the snake from its hole also made Cao De expose his tracks, ultimately leading to his death."

"Our rear is finally secure now."

Lu Xuening let out a long breath. Fortunately, Chen Fan was here; otherwise, she truly had no idea how she would have cleaned up Ping An County's mess.

"Still, don't let down your guard. At least one-third of Black Mountain's demons and monsters died within Ping An County. This will surely draw the attention of Black Mountain's demon horde soon."

"If the three great demons on Black Mountain attack Ping An County together then, it will be dangerous."

Chen Fan had never seen the famed Three Demons of Black Mountain. If they were merely at the peak Divine Treasury Realm, then even if their origins were extraordinary and they far surpassed Demon Race members of the same realm, Chen Fan did not fear them at all. After all, even a Divine Aperture Realm martial artist like Cao De had been driven to suicide by him, let alone three mere demons.

But if one of them had also reached the Divine Aperture Realm, Chen Fan truly could not guarantee what would happen. After all, the gap between the Divine Aperture Realm and the Divine Treasury Realm was still quite vast.

The reason Cao De had not been his match was, most crucially, that Chen Fan's body was simply too powerful. As a result, the Blood Fiend Palm Cao De had been so proud of was completely ineffective against him.

If Cao De had been a martial artist who had broken through to the Divine Aperture Realm normally, and the true qi he used had also been ordinary true qi, then even Chen Fan would not have found it so easy to kill him.

The Demon Race found breaking through realms more difficult than humans, but every breakthrough was a qualitative transformation for them. Added to the fact that the Demon Race's physiques already surpassed those of humans, this gap was displayed in the most vivid fashion between the Divine Treasury Realm and the Divine Aperture Realm.

Therefore, if one of the Three Demons of Black Mountain broke through to the Divine Aperture Realm, its strength might greatly surpass Cao De's.

"I have already asked Dragon Abyss Prefecture for aid. Early tomorrow morning, I will write another letter and send the situation here to Dragon Abyss Prefecture by carrier pigeon. A carrier pigeon from Ping An County to Dragon Abyss Prefecture will take no more than three days."

"Dragon Abyss Prefecture's reinforcements should take even less time to arrive. As long as we can hold out for three to five days, the reinforcements should be nearly here."

Lu Xuening spoke with great certainty.

"As far as I know, Cao De sought aid from the Dragon Abyss Prefecture Brocade Guard Thousand-Household Office several times, yet they never sent anyone to rescue him. Why are you so certain that your letter asking for aid will definitely bring reinforcements?"

Chen Fan looked at Lu Xuening with some confusion as he spoke.

This newly appointed Chief Squad Leader held the eighth rank, while Cao De, a Centurion, held the seventh rank. Lu Xuening was merely a Ninth-Rank Black-Robed Constable, on the same level as a Brocade Guard Squad Leader.

Yet Lu Xuening had dared to directly collect evidence of Cao De colluding with demons and monsters, and she could coordinate directly with the Brocade Guard Thousand-Household Office through the Dragon Abyss Prefecture government office.

Centurion Cao De had personally gone to Dragon Abyss Prefecture again and again to seek aid, only to return empty-handed. Yet Lu Xuening, a Ninth-Rank Black-Robed Constable, simply sent a letter by carrier pigeon and firmly believed she would obtain reinforcements.

Why?

Chen Fan examined Lu Xuening once more. He felt that this Ninth-Rank Black-Robed Constable, who had been transferred down from Dragon Abyss Prefecture, was truly not simple—far from simple!

"I..."

"I once studied under a master in Dragon Abyss Prefecture. My master is a Divine Aperture Realm expert, and my senior brothers and sisters all hold important posts throughout Dragon Abyss Prefecture."

"So although my official rank is not high, all sides are willing to give me some face. Even if others refuse to give me face, how could my senior brothers, senior sisters, and master bear to watch me die in this tiny Ping An County?"

"Therefore, I dare say with certainty that Dragon Abyss Prefecture will definitely send people here, and those who come will certainly be Divine Aperture Realm martial artists."

Hearing this, Lu Xuening was briefly at a loss for words. Then her eyes rolled, and she immediately came up with an extremely reasonable explanation.

"So that's how it is."

"I never expected your sect background to be so formidable."

Chen Fan nodded upon hearing this. Lu Xuening's explanation was indeed reasonable.

But it was also very unreasonable.

Since Lu Xuening's sect background was so formidable, and her senior brothers and sisters all held important posts throughout the prefectural city, why had she been transferred down from Dragon Abyss Prefecture to become a mere Ninth-Rank Black-Robed Constable in Ping An County?

Was it truly only because she came from Ping An County?

Or had she come with some other purpose?