The End IV

We exited the Underground Palace.

Outside the Jade Buddha Temple, the blood and severed limbs of the monks were everywhere.

The rescued female slaves, like a flock of livestock, followed the Blood Daoist blankly as they walked out.

A few who were still conscious followed behind Ding Yu, holding sharp blades, their eyes filled with sorrow and pleasure, as if they had just finished taking their revenge.

"Master!" The Black Daoist approached and respectfully clasped his hands in greeting.

"Is everything taken care of?" Zhang Rongfang asked casually.

"Yes, among those rescued, more than ten wanted to follow you and join our ranks. I wonder..." the Black Daoist asked in a low voice.

"Take them back to check their qualifications, then assign them to positions. We'll discuss it further after a period of observation," Zhang Rongfang nodded. Only those who have experienced such harsh realities will have stronger wills.

If one also possesses martial arts aptitude, and is transformed into Blood Descendant, their martial arts skills will improve rapidly.

"Yes!"

"Alright, let's move on to the next place."

"Yes!"

Zhang Rongfang looked up at the sky, which remained calm.

Next stop, we'll visit the Su Muda Clan that my sister mentioned.

*** Great Capital · True Buddha Temple.

The once vast and magnificent Great Ling First Buddhist Temple is now deserted, and even the gate is no longer guarded by welcoming monks.

Rows of stone steps extend from the foot of the mountain all the way to the mountainside, until they reach the tightly closed gates of True Buddha Temple.

Buzz. A little bee with golden patterns fluttered its wings and flew over the gate.

We walked through the spacious martial arts training ground.

Overlooking the ten-meter-tall, nine-tiered bronze Incense Burner.

A bee gently landed on a pear tree to the right of the golden glazed tile temple and darted into a white pear blossom.

"Still haven't found it?" A calm male voice slowly rang out from under the pear tree.

"We've searched the entire Buddhist temple, but we don't know where Master Yuan hid the item," another cold, stern male voice quickly replied.

"Perhaps not here?" the peaceful man asked doubtfully.

"But according to our undercover intelligence, this is the most likely location," the cold, stern male voice replied.

"Then, is it possible that Master Yuan took it with him when he fled?"

"Sir, you are unaware of the truth. Too many people are watching that thing. Even if Master Yuan only takes it out for a short time, without special means of concealment, he will still be discovered. Even without us, the Ling Ting will never let him go," the cold-faced man replied.

"What about the Great Sect Alliance? Is it possible that they've taken it?"

"Impossible. The last intelligence we found indicated that the item was still at the True Buddha Temple last month. Yue Dewen of the Great Sect Alliance is currently busy dealing with another major matter. He and the new emperor have had some friction because of this."

At this point, both of them fell silent.

"Yue Dewen knows I'm here," the calm man spoke. "But now is not the time for me to meet with him. Therefore, let Hunter Tiger Fan Heng handle this."

"So the Great Sect Alliance has tacitly approved of this. This can be seen from the actions of the Human Immortal Temple. The Human Immortal Temple was founded by Yue Dewen's personal Daozi, whom he nominally abandoned but has actually been supporting. Ultimately, many things will still have a bias," the cold-faced man explained.

"Stay for two more days. If you still can't find it, it's time to leave," the man said softly.

"Yes!"

The Western Sect represented the last remaining branch of Buddhist School, but just as they were about to make a move, the True Buddha Temple received the news. It is likely that Master Yuan Hong took what they wanted and quietly fled.

The two have now disappeared without a trace.

However, now that Master Yuan Hong has left, the Western Sect has little power to resist.

***Outer perimeter of Great Capital, at the eastern gate of the East City.

Zhang Rongfang changed his clothes and, like an ordinary person who knew a little martial arts, swaggered into the city with a maid following behind him.

He made a slight adjustment to his appearance and then walked straight into the city.

The wanted posters of that era were extremely inaccurate. He even stood at the city gate, looked at his own wanted poster, and carefully inquired about his details from those around him.

No one recognized him from beginning to end.

"Where are we going now?" asked Ran Xin Yue, the maid, from behind.

After the Sea Dragon Zhang Rongfang not only didn't return, but also rushed to Great Capital at top speed, heading straight into the city. No one knows what he's planning.

"It's been so long since I've been back, I've missed it quite a bit," Zhang Rongfang sighed. "Now that I have some ability to protect myself, I can finally come back here to visit some old friends."

"Old friends? What old friends do you have here? The people from the Heavenly Treasure Palace have all left, and this place is full of new people from the new construction," Ran Xin Yue asked in confusion.

Zhang Rongfang smiled but remained silent.

He strolled leisurely, seemingly taking a leisurely walk, but in reality he was moving very fast. He crossed several streets and arrived at a quiet area where half of the street was lined with luxurious shops.

This is an antique and jewelry shop run by the Su Muda Clan. In the entire Great Ling, anyone who wants to sell antiques or tomb-related items has to come to this street.

The neighborhood is named Ruan Heng. It is said that it was originally the name of a Lineage of the Su Muda Clan. Later, this person was the first to open an antique shop here and start doing this kind of business. As it grew bigger and bigger, he simply changed the name of the entire neighborhood to be the same as his.

Zhang Rongfang strolled leisurely into Ruan Heng Street, his gaze sweeping across the street before stopping at the largest and most luxurious shop.

The shop was sparsely populated with people coming and going, averaging only seven or eight people per minute, which was the busiest spot in the entire neighborhood.

"This is a shop run by Spirit Noble, shall we go in?" Ran Xin Yue whispered a reminder from the side.

"Don't dare?" Zhang Rongfang retorted.

"A few Spirit Noble are naturally not enough to frighten me, but this is a Great Capital. If I'm not careful, I'll attract the City Guard and the powerful retainers of those Noble. Even the Earth Mother Walker can arrive in a very short time," Ran Xin Yue said solemnly.

"You should know that with the speed and movement techniques of a Grandmaster, Great Grandmaster, or even Spirit General, it wouldn't take much time to travel back and forth across the entire Great Capital."

Zhang Rongfang smiled slightly.

He walked into the shop first, his hands behind his back.

The shop was named Changxin Building. There were no waiters to greet customers. The counters were arranged in a U-shape in a spacious hall.

Several pretty women were introducing the items in their hands behind the counter to customers who were entering.

Each of these items has a small wooden sign next to Upper Capital with a price tag, and each sign has a terrifying number that is hard for ordinary people to imagine.

Zhang Rongfang casually walked to a counter and tapped on the surface.

Knock knock knock.

"Is your manager Hengsha, here?"

The woman was taken aback for a moment, then quickly answered.

"Yes, and who are you?"

"Go and inform him that an old friend is visiting, and present this as proof." Zhang Rongfang took out a black carved jade pendant from his sleeve and handed it over.

The woman took the jade pendant and examined it carefully.

"Please wait a moment." She quickly turned around and walked towards the small door behind the counter.

Zhang Rongfang waited quietly in place, a faint smile still on his face.

He came here in person to verify whether what his sister Zhang Rongyu said was true.

Here, a third-generation Blood Descendant provided by one of his Blood Descendant serves as an inside agent.

That is, the shopkeeper he just mentioned.

But before long, Zhang Rongfang's smile suddenly froze.

He sensed that the blood aura behind the shop, which shared the same origin as his, was rapidly moving away into the distance.

"Interesting. Did they recognize me? Or is this actually a trap?"

Puff! Puff! Puff!

Suddenly, all the doors and windows around were pierced, and black arrows shot through the shop windows and landed on the ground inside.

Boom! The blazing flames exploded instantly, engulfing everything around them.

That was the gunpowder carried inside the arrow being ignited.

There were still some real customers in the shop, but they were completely ignored. Some were nailed to death on the spot, while others were protected by guards and barely managed to escape behind the counter.

Zhang Rongfang raised his sleeve to shield himself, then grabbed Ran Xin Yue with one hand.

"Let's talk outside."

He touched the ground with his toes and shot out like an arrow in an instant.

With a loud crash, one wall of the shop was smashed down.

The two leaped out, still in mid-air.

A dense barrage of arrows rained down from all sides, interspersed with the deafening explosions of musket fire.

Bullets and arrows rained down on Zhang Rongfang, who was at the front, making a clanging sound.

All the bullets and arrows were deflected and fell to the ground.

The outskirts of the neighborhood.

A handsome young man dressed as a wealthy young master stared at the street in front of him with a distorted expression.

"What a Thousand-Faced Hidden Heart, Blood Chaos Qiankun! Since you dare to swagger into East City today, I will risk my life to kill you completely and eliminate any future troubles!"

"Brother Sang Lan, rest assured, with us all here, this time we will definitely succeed!" A tall woman dressed as a man, with an irregular black birthmark on the right side of her cheek, was playing with a snake-shaped silver scimitar in her hand, squinting at Zhang Rongfang and Ran Xin Yue who were being besieged.

"He's on the Crimson List, his aura has been pinpointed, yet he still dares to be so ostentatious. It seems he doesn't understand what the Crimson List represents. Today, we'll teach him a lesson. No, after today, perhaps the seventh-ranked person on the Crimson List will have to be reshuffled," Sang Lan said through gritted teeth.

"Brother Sang Lan, don't worry. With me, Ai Fu, here, he won't escape this circle in Great Capital," the tall woman said with a relaxed smile. "Besides, besides me, you've also invited that guy..." Her gaze unconsciously drifted towards a shadowy corner.

That was a top expert whom even she, as the Earth Mother Walker of the Su Muda Clan, was wary of!

"They're here!!" Suddenly, the woman's eyes narrowed as she looked towards the distant street.

Above the shops in the distance, a Bloody Figure, as if possessing foresight, easily dodged a hail of arrows.

Aside from the bullets being too fast and too dense, making it impossible for a small number to withstand them, the figures casually dodged left and right, as if taking a stroll, and suddenly rushed into the ranks of Crossbow and Firearm Soldiers outside.

Swish! A bloody path was instantly carved out of the white-armored soldiers. Dozens were killed or wounded.

The Bloody Figure traversed dozens of meters in the blink of an eye, heading straight for Sang Lan and the woman Ai Fu.

Ordinary people couldn't see it clearly, but both of them were Spirit General, and at this moment they could see Zhang Rongfang's calm to the point of indifference, blood-red eyes rapidly approaching.

Smack

Sang Lan unconsciously took a step back, but his face immediately turned red and his hands clenched into fists.

"The Final Form! Momentary Thread!"

Countless Silver Spirit Thread instantly covered his entire body, transforming him into a tight-fitting silver suit of armor.

Immediately afterwards, rhomboid blue light spots quickly covered his entire body. Silver tentacles also grew from his legs.

As Sang Lan faced Zhang Rongfang, her eyes also lit up with a silver light.

The killing move from the Fleeting Moon Finger was unleashed instantly. He extended his right arm forward, creating a fan-shaped beam of light that struck Zhang Rongfang.

"Together!!" Sang Lan shouted.

"Brother Sang Lan, why bother?" Ai Fu tossed her serpentine dagger aside, looking relaxed.

"Let me observe first."

With a whoosh, a blood-red shadow flashed by, suddenly accelerating dramatically, and passed right by Sang Lan's side.

Tens of meters away.

Zhang Rongfang landed, stopped, and slowly turned around. Countless tiny blood lines, like snakes, converged from the ground onto his body from the blood-soaked passage he had forcibly pierced behind him.

A second later, all the blood lines, like silk threads, wove together a Blood-colored Daoist Robe on his body.

The Daoist robe rustled slightly in the wind, and a large character was clearly visible on the back.

That's... an immortal!

"Long time no see," Zhang Rongfang said softly. He raised his hand, in which a large clump of blood enveloped a silvery-white rhomboid crystal.

That's Sang Lan's Spirit Core!!

Bang!

The Spirit Core shattered instantly.

Sang Lan stood there blankly, raising her hand as if to cover her chest.

Unfortunately, a large chunk of flesh and Spirit Thread had long since disappeared there, leaving only an empty void.

He looked at his friend Ai Fu again, but as soon as he raised his hand, the other half of his body began to turn into black ash and completely dissipated.

Ai Fu stared blankly at the scene, not even bothering to catch the scimitar tossed into the air, letting it fall to the ground with a clang.

"The weak should rely on others." Zhang Rongfang discarded the Spirit Core fragment and strolled towards Ai Fu.

"But you all dare to rely on yourselves. Don't you find that ridiculous?"