A Way Out

"You actually killed Eunuch Wei?" Chen Laosan's face was full of shock, as though he were dreaming.

A top-tier powerhouse like Eunuch Wei had been beaten to death with a brick by his nephew, who had only practiced martial arts for a little over half a month, even while facing three opponents alone. If Chen Laosan had not seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it.

But once the shock passed, only panic remained.

Eunuch Wei might not have been a good man, but his identity was extremely special. Being a eunuch meant that the force behind him was far beyond what insignificant people like them could contend with.

"They came right to our door. It was a fight to the death—what was there to hesitate over?"

After the killing, a wave of weakness washed over him. Chen Luo knew he had overexerted himself just now, unleashing an attack beyond all reason. Now that the tension had ebbed away, the exhaustion naturally caught up with him. That was normal. An Internal Training Master like Eunuch Wei, who had practiced martial arts for several decades, had inexplicably died at Chen Luo's hands. He surely had not died willingly. But sometimes that was simply how it was—especially when experts clashed. A higher realm did not always guarantee victory; courage mattered too.

"This is serious. We have to run away immediately."

Chen Laosan came back to his senses as well. This was no time for shock.

"The farther we get before dawn, the better." Chen Laosan glanced at the corpses in the courtyard, then immediately turned and went back inside.

After a bout of rummaging through boxes and cabinets, Chen Laosan emerged carrying a dark green bottle.

Corpse Dissolving Water.

This was the treasure that Corpse Buriers relied on to make their living.

"Third Uncle, wait."

Chen Luo had come back to his senses by then. Seeing that his Third Uncle was about to dissolve the corpses, he immediately stopped him. Then, under Chen Laosan's puzzled gaze, he reached out and touched the heads of the three dead men in turn.

'Dead Person's Brainwaves detected. Damage Degree: 12%. Read?'

'Dead Person's Brainwaves detected. Damage Degree: 7%. Read?'

'Dead Person's Brainwaves detected. Damage Degree: 32%. Read?'

The three corpses had indeed died only recently, so their Damage Degrees were all very low. Eunuch Wei's was only slightly higher because Chen Luo had beaten him to death with a brick, damaging his brain. The other two had extremely low Damage Degrees. Once Chen Luo touched the corpses, he quickly discarded the three most useless brains in his consciousness and replaced them with these.

A wave of dizziness struck him.

Chen Luo only felt that his understanding of martial arts had improved again.

Fortunately, his Golden Finger only read the brains of the dead and did not store their memories. Otherwise, with the lives contained in so many heads converging together, he would probably have gone insane long ago.

"Done."

Chen Luo stood up and said this to his Third Uncle beside him.

Chen Laosan did not care what his nephew had been doing. Once Chen Luo stepped away, he expertly used a knife to draw a wound across each of the three corpses, then dripped Corpse Dissolving Water onto them. Corpse Dissolving Water had to stain a wound before it could dissolve anything; dripping it onto intact skin would have no effect.

The poisonous liquid corroded the flesh and quickly spread.

With a series of "sizzles," white smoke rose. Bloody water bubbled out from the bones and flesh as the corpses slowly melted and collapsed. In the blink of an eye, only three sets of clothes remained. The corpses had completely disappeared, leaving behind only a foul stench that lingered in the courtyard for a long time. Fortunately, Chen Luo had often practiced martial arts and brewed medicine in the courtyard these past few days, and the surrounding neighbors had gotten used to unpleasant smells. Otherwise, with such a commotion tonight, someone would certainly have come to investigate.

"You go back inside first. I'll deal with the traces."

Chen Laosan did not let Chen Luo help. For something like destroying corpses and wiping out evidence, it was safest to leave it to an old hand like him.

Chen Luo did not stand on ceremony and returned to the room alone to rest.

After dealing with the clothes left behind by the corpses, Chen Laosan expertly dug up some dirt to fill the area and buried the bloody water, covering up the last trace of odor. Then he took a sack from beneath the bed and scattered quicklime over the filled ground, making sure everything was spotless.

A Corpse Burier's home had no shortage of things used to deal with corpses.

Time passed. By the time Chen Laosan had finished cleaning everything up, it was already 1:45 AM.

Outside was utterly silent. Even the dogs had stopped barking, and the watchmen had gone home to sleep.

Creak.

The door opened.

Having washed his hands, Chen Laosan returned from outside. He looked back once, then carefully closed the door.

Chen Luo had rested enough as well. Seeing his Third Uncle come in, he walked over and sat down by the table.

He felt that he needed to have a proper talk with his Third Uncle. If he had not happened to break through today, the uncle and nephew might have both met their end here.

"This began half a month ago."

That was why Chen Laosan had come in as well. He lowered his voice and told Chen Luo everything from beginning to end, including the Imperial Clan Member Token he had discovered and how he had tried to run away during the day, only to find the checkpoints sealed.

One matter after another gave Chen Luo a rough understanding of what had happened during this period.

Of course, the information Chen Laosan had seen was limited. Given his identity and position, he could only see the tip of the iceberg; he could not see the deeper struggle behind it. Trapped at the bottom of the whirlpool, he could only vaguely sense the danger.

"Then the Magistrate of Qingya County must be involved."

Chen Luo recalled the sealed streets he had seen during his visits to Crippled Ma's home these past few days.

According to Chen Laosan, this had begun half a month ago. Whatever Eunuch Wei and the others had been plotting when they secretly murdered a member of the Imperial Clan, it had to be significant. Judging from their actions, they were likely searching for something. As the local insider of Qingya County, the Magistrate of Qingya County must have been involved, or this net could never have been cast. Thinking of the Bai Family, which had been implicated and wiped out, Chen Luo felt Qingya County was becoming more and more unsafe.

"What do we do now?"

Chen Laosan did not know what to do anymore. He had lived for several decades and never encountered anything like this. If his nephew had not suddenly erupted, his corpse would already have gone cold. Now, the only person he could rely on was Chen Luo, his genius nephew.

"Escape first. Staying alive comes before anything else."

Chen Luo also wanted to settle scores freely and kill the mastermind behind it all.

But his strength did not permit it.

Eunuch Wei alone had nearly killed him. If someone stronger came, the uncle and nephew would surely be finished.

Such a huge matter would certainly involve no shortage of experts. Chen Luo was no longer a hotheaded fool who knew nothing. An Internal Training Master might count for something in Qingya County, but there were still quite a few who could match them in the Provincial Capital. According to Crippled Ma, the Martial Dao had three steps.

The First Step was Blood Refining and Strength Accumulation, the Second Step was Internal Training and Qi Generation, and the Third Step was Bone Forging and Spirit Condensation.

At his peak, Crippled Ma had been a Bone Forging Master.

But even Bone Forging was not enough before a colossal entity like the Imperial Court. Crippled Ma had been crippled by the Imperial Court back then. If he had not been lucky enough to meet Chen Laosan, his bones would have rotted away completely by now.

"But the outside has already been sealed off."

Chen Laosan was anxious as well.

The sky outside was growing brighter and brighter. If the uncle and nephew could not escape before dawn, they would certainly draw the attention of the people behind this afterward.

At that point, those who came would not be on the same level as the three people from tonight.

True experts might very well arrive.

Chen Luo pondered a way out.

Forcing their way through was definitely impossible, but Qingya County was so large that there had to be mountain paths unknown to the authorities. Like the gaps beneath the city walls, they were roads only people at the bottom would take.

"Third Uncle, where was the place you buried corpses last time?"

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