At the foot of the mountain where Crimson Hair Stronghold stood, the peaks stretched endlessly, and the forest sea was vast and boundless.
The winter mountains should have been silent as death, with only the cold wind howling.
Yet today, this foothill, silent for who knew how many years, had been utterly shattered by an air of murderous slaughter.
A black figure flitted through the forest like a ghost.
Su Haoran drove the Major Accomplishment Breath Concealment Art to its utmost limit, seeming to merge completely with the mountain forest.
His purpose this time was clear. He would not rush to settle scores with Xiong Ba just yet. First, he would inspect Prajna Temple's properties down the mountain one by one.
Elder Hui Jue and the others thought he was still in secluded cultivation, so he would act as a secret scout and thoroughly uncover Crimson Hair Stronghold's movements.
Following the route in his memories, Su Haoran stealthily headed toward the nearest temple estate.
This estate supplied most of the temple's oil and was one of its lifelines.
Yet before he could approach, Su Haoran abruptly stopped.
His keen five senses had caught something unusual.
It was neither a sound nor a scent, but an extremely faint tremor coming from deep beneath the earth!
Thump... thump... thump...
It was as though countless massive beasts were stampeding in the distance, or war drums were booming. The sound was dull and oppressive, making one's heart beat erratically along with it.
Su Haoran's expression hardened. Without another moment of hesitation, he became a wisp of green smoke and shot toward the source of the tremors.
He moved so quickly that he left only a nearly imperceptible shallow mark in the snow.
The farther forward he went, the thicker the faint smell of blood in the air became.
Soon, his pupils suddenly constricted.
A glaring patch of crimson appeared on the snow ahead.
A corpse lay curled beneath a dead tree by the roadside.
The dead man appeared to be an ordinary tenant farmer, dressed in coarse hemp clothes. A huge bloody hole gaped in his chest, and his blood had dyed the white snow beneath him red before freezing into ice.
The terror on his face had frozen there even in death.
Su Haoran did not stop walking, but his gaze turned several degrees colder.
He continued onward. Bloodstains covered the road, a sight too terrible to behold.
The corpses of tenant farmers—one, two, three...—lay scattered haphazardly across the road. They had all been ordinary people under Prajna Temple's protection.
Yet now, they had become ghosts beneath bandit blades.
Suddenly, Su Haoran's gaze fixed on a particular corpse.
The man was not wearing ordinary cloth garments, but a set of standardized black iron armor! Though the armor was covered in marks from blades and axes, Su Haoran had seen that distinctive style from afar when he went down the mountain.
This was... Qingshi City's city defense force, the Qingshi Army!
Why were imperial troops here? Had they clashed with Crimson Hair Stronghold's men?
A heavy sense of foreboding instantly shrouded Su Haoran's heart.
He no longer held anything back. Power surged through his feet, and his speed soared again. He transformed into a blurred afterimage and charged ahead like wind and lightning.
The wind whistled past his ears while the scenery on both sides flew backward.
Finally, at the entrance to a mountain hollow, Su Haoran came to an abrupt halt.
His eyes locked tightly onto a figure in the snow ahead.
It was a monk. His gray Monk Robe had been soaked through with blood, turning dark red and stiff.
He leaned against a boulder, still clutching a broken monk's staff tightly in his hand. His eyes were wide with fury as he stared ahead, as though he had fought desperately until his final breath.
Su Haoran knew that face all too well.
It was Cao Yi, the supervising monk from the Labor Courtyard who had taken great care of him and had even made an exception to let him study martial arts!
Senior Brother Cao Yi...
A series of scenes flashed through Su Haoran's mind.
"Su Haoran, I can see that your bones are extraordinary. You are a fine seedling for martial arts. Take these Steamed Buns first and fill your stomach."
"You brat, your progress is astonishing! Train hard, and do not squander that talent of yours!"
"I had someone bring this wound medicine from down the mountain. You train hard, so injuries are inevitable. Keep it for emergencies."
"..."
Boom!
An uncontrollable fury erupted from Su Haoran's chest like a volcanic explosion!
Bone-piercing killing intent spread wildly, making even the air around him seem to freeze into frost.
Since crossing into this world, one of the few scraps of warmth Su Haoran had felt in this cold world had come from Cao Yi.
And now, that warmth had been ruthlessly snuffed out!
"Crimson. Hair. Stronghold!"
Su Haoran forced those three words out through clenched teeth, one by one. His voice was icy, devoid of the slightest trace of emotion.
He slowly stepped forward, reached out, and gently closed Cao Yi's unseeing eyes.
"Rest in peace, Senior Brother."
"I will avenge you."
"I'll kill them all. Not a single one will be spared!"
As the words fell, he no longer concealed himself. He suddenly raised his head and looked deep into the mountain hollow.
The earth-shaking cries of battle and clangor of steel were already close at hand!
He took one step forward, becoming an arrow loosed from the string as he charged into that blood-red battlefield!
The sun was setting, and the dying light was red as blood.
The sight before him resembled an asura slaughterhouse!
Nearly a hundred Qingshi Army soldiers in black armor had formed a battle formation and were locked in a frenzied slaughter with several hundred ragged mountain bandits wielding all manner of crude weapons.
Blades flashed, swords gleamed, and flesh and blood flew!
The Qingshi Army soldiers were well-trained and coordinated perfectly. Every strike was lethal, displaying the true bearing of elite troops.
Yet their opponents, the Crimson Hair Stronghold lackeys, were far more troublesome than expected!
Though these bandits were poorly equipped, with many holding nothing more than woodcutting knives or Wooden sticks, every one of them was fearless in the face of death, crazed as demons.
Their eyes were blood-red, and faint crimson patterns emerged beneath their skin. Their bodies exuded a violent, berserk aura.
Every axe stroke and every slash carried immense force, far surpassing that of ordinary men!
A Qingshi Army soldier split one lackey's shoulder open with a slash, sending blood spraying everywhere. Yet the lackey seemed utterly unaware of the pain. With a savage grin, he swung his axe backhandedly and sheared off half the soldier's head!
Elsewhere, three soldiers worked together to drive a bandit leader into a dead end. Their spears shot out together, about to skewer him through and through.
But the leader roared wildly and actually rammed his chest straight into the spearpoints. At the same time, he swept his broadsword sideways, cutting one soldier in half at the waist!
"What drug did these bastards take today?!" a Qingshi Army banner officer roared. He hacked down the enemy lunging at him, but the foe's final desperate counterattack also carved a bone-deep wound into his arm.
On the battlefield, although the Qingshi Army held the advantage in equipment and formation, Crimson Hair Stronghold's bandits had relied on their bizarre brute strength and frenzied fighting spirit to forcibly drag the battle into a brutal deadlock!
The two sides were evenly matched. At every moment, someone fell!
Amid this chaotic meat grinder of a battlefield, a black figure suddenly barged in.
Su Haoran dispersed the Breath Concealment Art. His cold, pure killing intent was like a peerless murderous weapon drawn from its sheath, instantly attracting the attention of the two Crimson Hair Stronghold lackeys nearest to him.
"Heh, another bald donkey coming to die!"
"Kill him!"
Seeing Su Haoran in a Monk Robe and empty-handed, the two lackeys immediately revealed cruel grins.
They abandoned the opponents before them and charged Su Haoran from either side, waving steel blades. Their eyes were bloodshot, like two bloodthirsty wild beasts!
Su Haoran's gaze remained calm as he watched the two men pounce. His steps did not stop, nor did he show the slightest intention of dodging.
Just as the lackey on the left was about to split his face open with his steel blade, Su Haoran moved.
He merely raised his right hand. Though he moved later, he arrived first, curling his fingers into a claw and seizing the man's wrist.
Crack!
A crisp sound of breaking bone rang out!
The savage grin on the lackey's face instantly froze, replaced by boundless horror.
He felt as though his wrist had been clamped tightly by a pair of red-hot iron pincers. An irresistible force surged through it, instantly crushing the bones in his hand to powder!
"Ah—!"
His miserable scream had only just left his mouth when it abruptly stopped.
With a flick of his wrist, Su Haoran unleashed the immense force of the Dragon Elephant Skill. The lackey's one-hundred-and-fifty-pound body was swung up as lightly as a straw dummy and viciously smashed into the other lackey attacking from the right!
Bang!
With a dull boom, the two men crashed together like rolling gourds. The sounds of breaking bones were clearly audible as they both spat out mouthfuls of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, dying on the spot!
The entire process flowed as smoothly as drifting clouds and running water, as swift as a hare leaping and a falcon swooping. It took no more than one or two breaths.
Su Haoran withdrew his hand expressionlessly, as though he had merely swatted two flies to death.
But he frowned slightly.
Killing these two lackeys had indeed been as easy as crushing ants for him.
Yet he had keenly noticed that there was something wrong with their strength!
Whether it was their power or reaction speed, they were more than a level stronger than the lackeys he had encountered outside the stronghold before!
They were almost... fifty percent stronger!
No wonder!
Su Haoran understood in an instant.
No wonder the well-equipped, well-trained Qingshi Army had been able to trade blows with this rabble and become trapped in such a bitter battle!
It was not that the Qingshi Army was too weak. Crimson Hair Stronghold's bandits had simply become too strong!
"Th-this, Master..."
A voice filled with shock and ragged breathing sounded beside him.
The Qingshi Army soldier who had just been fighting those two lackeys stared blankly at Su Haoran.
Several places on his armor had been damaged, and the web of his thumb was split open, blood flowing freely.
Just moments ago, he had fought one against two and been suppressed into a precarious situation, nearly dying on the spot.
Yet in the blink of an eye, the two ferocious bandits he had struggled with all his strength to resist had been casually killed barehanded by this Martial Monk, who looked even younger than him!
This... what terrifying strength was this!
Su Haoran ignored him. His cold gaze passed over the chaotic crowd and landed on the very center of the battlefield.
There, a berserk aura far exceeding everyone around it soared into the sky!
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