By the time the sky had fully brightened, the Flying Magic Chariot had emerged from the canyon, and the Yin Clan City-State stood starkly visible ahead.
Inside the chariot, Wumu was hanging upside down from the ceiling in a slovenly posture. Silver claws a full two feet long had sprung from each of his ten fingers, clamped tightly around the neck of Yin Jiwu, an External Affairs Hall deacon. As if merely gripping Yin Jiwu's neck weren't enough, Wumu's claws kept scraping back and forth across it, shaving his body hair completely clean and raising gooseflesh all over him.
As for the few Yin Clan Warriors escorting Yin Jiwu inside the chariot, they had all been beaten black and blue and were curled up in the corners. Wumu had torn off their belts, ripped their trousers into strips, twisted them into ropes, and bound them until they looked no different from zongzi.
Yin Xuege sat upright across from Yin Jiwu, staring straight at the deacon whose face was livid with rage.
"Let's be frank. Yin 9937 and Yin 9938 aren't coming back, are they? Or should I say, they've already vanished from the face of the earth?"
Yin Jiwu gritted his teeth and finally forced a few words through them. "Young Master Xuege, what do you mean by this? Do you know what you're doing? Beating family warriors, kidnapping an External Affairs Hall deacon—you're causing internal strife. You're showing disrespect to your elders. This is a grave crime!"
Yin Xuege slapped Yin Jiwu squarely across the face. Yin Xuege was now only one step away from becoming a Moon Warrior, and the strength in his hand was no joke. The slap left Yin Jiwu dazed for a long while, with half his molars loosened.
Yin Jiwu, a faint thread of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, stuck out his tongue and licked his lips. He took a deep breath, then shook his head with a bitter smile. "I was only following orders, bringing people out to receive you and escort you back! As for anything else, I truly don't know, don't want to know, and even less dare to know!"
Yin Xuege rudely kicked Yin Jiwu in the lower abdomen. The kick was heavy and vicious, and his heel stopped less than half an inch from Yin Jiwu's most vital region. That alone was enough to inflict a devastating blow no male creature could endure. Looking at Yin Jiwu's pain-whitened face, Yin Xuege said coldly, "You came to see whether I was dead or not, didn't you?"
A wave of agony twisted through Yin Jiwu's lower abdomen, as though countless blades were churning inside him. He sucked in great gulps of air and looked at Yin Xuege with a complicated expression. "That wasn't my intention in coming out to meet you. I simply went to receive you! But I can guess at some things, because two days ago, the External Affairs Hall deacon who assigned you your trial mission died unexpectedly!"
Trembling, Yin Jiwu looked at Yin Xuege and instinctively lowered his voice.
"It wasn't only the External Affairs Hall deacon responsible for having you draw lots and accept the trial mission. Several others also died in an accident two days ago. A bottle of Fierce Blood Poison leaked, and they all melted into pools of bloody pus. Young Master Xuege, they're all dead. I only came on orders to escort you back!"
Yin Xuege stared coldly and mercilessly at Yin Jiwu. After being tormented half to death along the way, Yin Jiwu felt the chill around him grow heavier and heavier. Gradually, he could no longer withstand Yin Xuege's gaze and instinctively lowered his head, never daring to raise it again.
"What a pitiful fellow. You were pushed out to take the fall!" Wumu let out a heavy sigh, then punched Yin Jiwu unconscious.
With a light leap, Wumu jumped down from the roof of the chariot and squatted in front of Yin Xuege. His long arms scratched wildly at the floor before him, producing a constant, ear-piercing rasp. His greenish eyes fixed on Yin Xuege as he asked curiously, "What are you thinking about? I've noticed that life in the Yin Clan doesn't seem to be treating you very well. Why not come back with me to the Silver Wolf Family?"
"No!" Yin Xuege glared at Wumu and drawled, "A Silver Wolf Commander who was imprisoned in the Blood Prison for twenty-five years—I'm afraid that the moment I return to the Silver Wolf Family with you, someone will have me killed. If I remain in the Yin Clan, at least no one will dare lay a hand on me openly!"
Wumu's expression abruptly changed. Every strand of his silver fur stood on end, and a murderous aura surged from his body.
After quite some time, Wumu finally reined in his aura. His flesh and long fur began to writhe violently.
"Little fellow, that's not for you to decide. The Silver Wolf Family would never scheme against its own people from behind their backs like those stinking bats! We werewolves are the most united race. That trait is carved into our very bones. I was imprisoned in the Blood Prison because I was unlucky. It had nothing to do with my clansmen!"
With crisp pops ringing from every joint, Wumu slowly transformed from a gigantic werewolf over three meters tall into a broad-shouldered man around two meters tall, with long silver hair. The rough-featured Wumu lowered his head and looked at his naked body. Then he snatched up Yin Jiwu, violently tore off his coat, and wrapped it tightly around his lower body.
"Stop bringing up my clansmen! First, let's see how you'll deal with your own people!" Wumu smugly flexed his arm, showing off his well-developed muscles. Then he grinned and patted Yin Xuege on the shoulder. "And while you're at it, find me a set of clean clothes. I haven't had a hot bath in twenty-five years! If possible, find me two girls as well!"
The two well-developed muscles on Wumu's chest throbbed violently as he desperately winked at Yin Xuege.
"Pretty, plump girls, little fellow. Do you understand what I mean?"
Yin Xuege's eyes held not the slightest ripple of emotion. He glanced coldly at Wumu's flirtatiously bouncing chest muscles, then rolled his eyes hard at him. The Flying Magic Chariot swayed gently, and the deep roar of the Night Netherblood Leopard came from outside. The chariot had already stopped at the entrance to the Yin Clan City-State.
Yin Xuege pressed one hand against the chariot's inner wall, and a doorway opened soundlessly. He strode out of the chariot. Wumu muttered a few disgruntled words, then swiftly followed him out.
Yin Xuejiao was waiting at the city-state entrance with a group of his lackeys. When he saw the chariot come to a graceful stop, he laughed with overwhelming delight. He knew Yin Jiwu had been sent to receive Yin Xuege, and he also knew that his father had already swept away every trace for him behind the scenes.
Yin Jiwu must have brought good news. That damned Yin Xuege had opposed them since childhood, never willing to bow his head or submit. That Yin Xuege who had brought him such enormous humiliation—that damned bastard—should already be dead, right?
Just as Yin Xuejiao waited excitedly and smugly for the good news, Yin Xuege strode out of the chariot in tattered clothing and walked straight toward him. Yin Xuejiao's eyes widened in horror. He stared at Yin Xuege helplessly, nearly shouting aloud. How is this brat still alive? How could he possibly still be alive?
Hadn't the news sent back from the Great Berlin City-State two days ago said that several secret Yin Clan strongholds had been raided by the hunters, with numerous Yin Clan spies captured alive or executed on the spot?
"You—you, Yin Xuege, what do you want?" Seeing Yin Xuege advancing toward him in great strides, Yin Xuejiao instinctively retreated several steps and stammered out a cry. Meeting Yin Xuege's cold, merciless eyes, Yin Xuejiao felt a sharp pain in his neck. It was as if he had returned to the classroom in the Children's Hall several days earlier, once again feeling the icy, merciless edge of the flexible sword that had torn open his throat.
Yin Xuege strode up to Yin Xuejiao. Before Yin Xuejiao's lackeys could react, dazzling blood light erupted from his five fingers. Turning his palm into a blade, he viciously thrust it toward Yin Xuejiao's heart. Blood sprayed in all directions. Yin Xuege's palm pierced through Yin Xuejiao's body like a sharp knife and emerged from his back.
"How dare you hurt me?" Yin Xuejiao let out a hysterical cry of pain!
In his wildest dreams, he had never imagined that Yin Xuege would dare heavily injure him in full view of everyone, without any legitimate excuse or justification! What Yin Xuejiao found even more impossible to accept was the blood light around Yin Xuege's fingers. That was the distinctive radiance produced when a Blood Skill was activated. How could this fellow possibly know a Blood Skill?
He was only eleven years old—only eleven! How could he possibly master a Blood Skill that only Star Warriors and higher-ranked Blood Demons could wield?
Yin Xuege did not answer Yin Xuejiao's question. He launched a kick, violently driving it into Yin Xuejiao's lower abdomen. A muffled boom erupted like a leather ball exploding. Yin Xuejiao let out a shrill howl, spat out a mouthful of viscous blood, and was sent flying backward. His body, more than half a head taller than Yin Xuege, tumbled nearly a hundred meters through the air.
Nearly a thousand family warriors and high-ranking clansmen at the entrance of the Yin Clan City-State stood frozen in place. Every one of them was dumbstruck!
Yin Xuege—the eleven-year-old Juvenile of the Yin Clan, Yin Xuege—had actually used a Blood Skill to grievously injure Yin Xuejiao? Yin Xuejiao, three years older than Yin Xuege and hailed as the youngest Star Warrior in the history of the Yin Clan, had actually been beaten severely without the slightest power to fight back?
What they couldn't understand was that this wasn't the Children's Hall, nor was it a practical combat class at the Children's Hall. There was no legitimate excuse or reason, yet Yin Xuege had grievously injured a direct descendant of the Yin Clan right in front of everyone! This was a grave crime!
The middle-aged man who had beaten Yin Xuege with a python-hide whip a few days earlier, then seized Yin Xuege by the shoulder so forcefully that he had nearly crushed his shoulder blade, charged out in a furious rage. Several flashes of blood light swept across his body in succession. Faint blood-colored flames ignited around his legs, each step leaving a deep Blood Flame footprint on the ground. At the same time, blood-colored smoke billowed from his arms like wings, transforming into dozens of afterimages that smashed down toward Yin Xuege's head.
This middle-aged man was the personal guard Yin Jiwu had selected for his son—a powerful peak Night Warrior, a formidable expert with one foot already across the threshold of the baron rank. With his strength, even though Yin Xuege was now only one step away from becoming a Moon Warrior, he could still easily reap Yin Xuege's life.
But a long wolf howl rang out from behind Yin Xuege. Wumu, whose hands had been itching for a fight, sprang out from behind him in high spirits and threw a solid uppercut that struck the charging middle-aged man squarely on the chin.
******
It's Monday again. Please send in your recommendation votes for firepower support!!! (To be continued)
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