"Form hand seals!"
The master of Flying Immortal Peak gave another command.
On the flying boat, the disciples began forming hand seals and casting spells. Sword shadows and fireballs appeared one after another.
They were poised to strike.
Wen Jiu followed suit, pretending to form hand seals. But since all he knew was Mana Finger Flick, he prepared to fire off a couple of shots as well.
Before long.
Once the flying boat had descended a little, the master of Flying Immortal Peak gave another command. In an instant, more than eight hundred spells fell like raindrops, completely engulfing the Chen family's estate in the maple forest.
One house after another exploded. A maid who had been carrying a fruit platter just a moment earlier was swallowed by flames.
But a formation suddenly appeared in the center of the Chen estate, blocking the descending spells.
From afar, Wen Jiu saw many people rush out of the houses. When they saw the flying boat from Flying Immortal Peak, alarm showed on their faces.
Some were panicked.
Others were stunned.
They seemed unable to believe Flying Immortal Peak had suddenly come for them.
At that very moment, the master of Flying Immortal Peak charged ahead, riding his sword and sweeping up a hundred sword shadows that howled toward the Chen family. The seven elders followed close behind, throwing the Chen family into disarray.
Just then, a man rushed out from the Chen family. His appearance instantly steadied the panicked people at the estate, like a needle pinning down the sea. Then, wrapped in a surge of chilling ghostly energy, he swept toward them.
His laughter was icy. At a glance, Wen Jiu recognized him as the Blood Robe Tower expert who had injured the master of Flying Immortal Peak that night.
"So you chased me here. It seems the layers of restrictions I left on the corpse must have concealed a Spiritual Sense mark even I couldn't detect... But you took a blow from my Soul Devouring Art and still dared to come. You truly don't know what's good for you!"
As soon as he finished speaking,
the Blood Robe Tower remnant raised a hand and hurled out a ghostly head. It swelled, then transformed into a purple-black lotus, surging toward the master of Flying Immortal Peak—Ji Qiubai—just as it had that night.
When the Chen family saw the purple-black lotus being unleashed, they stopped panicking. They steeled themselves and charged toward the seven elders of Flying Immortal Peak.
However.
Just as the battle between the two sides was about to erupt, the aura of Ji Qiubai, master of Flying Immortal Peak, suddenly climbed higher and higher.
In an instant, he no longer looked gravely injured.
His aura even reached a peak unlike anything before, crushing his opponent with overwhelming superiority.
Then, with a wave of his hand, he summoned a colossal sword. It rumbled into the sky and shot toward the black lotus at tremendous speed.
BOOM—
One strike was all it took.
The ghostly head and black lotus shattered completely, and the Blood Robe Tower remnant, who had been so imperious that night, was smashed down into the Chen estate.
"Retreat!"
"It's a trap!"
At that moment,
with blood pouring from his mouth, how could the Blood Robe Tower remnant still be so foolish as not to understand?
The instant the words left his mouth,
the paving stones cracked apart.
A huge tunnel was revealed beneath them.
The Blood Robe Tower expert rushed into it. The others quickly reacted too, their earlier composure gone without a trace.
Panicked, they hurried after him.
"Pursue them!"
Ji Qiubai, master of Flying Immortal Peak, gave a cold laugh and charged into the tunnel with his sword.
The Flying Immortal Peak disciples who had yet to jump down from the flying boat watched in astonishment, their spirits soaring.
So it had all been part of the master's plan!
So the master hadn't been injured!
It had all been an act!
But Wen Jiu wasn't surprised by what he saw. After jumping off the flying boat, he didn't join the disciples of Flying Immortal Peak as they surged toward the tunnel, vowing to kill every Blood Robe Tower remnant and member of the Chen family.
But Wang Nian was already charging ahead.
He was faster than anyone else.
He shouted the whole way, "We're getting rich! We're getting rich!"
With no other choice, Wen Jiu let him charge inside and fell back behind the others.
He was wary that the other side might be putting on an act too.
Truth and lies.
Lies and truth.
Who could say for sure?
So Wen Jiu decided to help the Night Patrol Division disciples deal with the Chen family outside first. After all, killing one member of the Chen family would earn him twenty Low-grade Spirit Stones.
He wasn't aiming to make a fortune.
He just wanted a sure profit.
"Old Black, get in there!"
Wen Jiu immediately led the Black Zombie into the burning Chen estate.
Whenever a Chen family member rushed at him, he killed them with a single Mana Finger Flick, then cut off their right thumb.
It would serve as proof when he claimed his reward.
"Twenty!"
"Twenty!"
"Twenty!"
In a short while,
he had earned a hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones.
That was the advantage of belonging to a sect.
A Rogue Cultivator could never get this kind of treatment for killing enemies.
Still, even though he'd earned Spirit Stones, one thing puzzled him.
Why had the Chen family joined forces with the Blood Robe Tower remnants?
As Wang Nian had said, the Blood Robe Tower was their enemy. They might not have fought to the bitter end, but at the very least, old enemies meeting should have been like sparks flying from flint.
It seemed that only profit could explain it.
But what kind of profit could make someone forget their family feud and join forces with their enemy instead?
As Wen Jiu pondered, Liu Xiao's voice rang out overhead. "Night Patrol Division disciples, quickly finish off every member of the Chen family, then search the area for any other exits. Don't let a single Blood Robe Tower remnant escape!"
Wen Jiu looked toward the voice.
Liu Xiao stood with his spear in hand, hovering steadily above a blazing house. Before him stood an old Chen family member, covering his face as he wept. He was also at the Qi Refining Third Layer. Liu Xiao seemed to have said those words deliberately for him to hear.
And the old man had clearly been enraged by Liu Xiao's words. Tears in his ancient eyes, he roared in fury and despair. "Flying Immortal Peak! Damn Flying Immortal Peak... The Chen family is finished. My Chen family's three-hundred-year legacy is finished!"
Liu Xiao replied coldly, "Chen Feng, the moment you betrayed Flying Immortal Peak, you should have known this day would come. I won't just kill you—I'll wipe out your entire family! I won't spare even your clansmen living elsewhere!"
Chen Feng roared, his Blood Qi bursting forth. "Then today, you'll be buried with us!"
As soon as he finished speaking,
Chen Feng shot forward.
With a wave of his hand, he conjured a bloody ghost hand that clutched fiercely at Liu Xiao. Liu Xiao met it head-on with his spear.
The moment the two clashed,
Liu Xiao was sent flying backward.
He retreated ten zhang before regaining his footing.
Then his expression changed.
"I never thought that the head of the Chen family himself, the eldest grandson of the previous master of Flying Immortal Peak, would become a Wicked Heretic and cultivate through blood, mastering the Blood Robe Tower's Blood Ghost Hand!"
Chen Feng roared, "To restore the Chen family's glory and stop you from trampling us underfoot, what does it matter if it's the Wicked Heretic path? If it makes me stronger, then it's the Righteous Path! Unfortunately, I'd only cultivated my Blood Ghost Hand to the third stage when you arrived..."
His words had barely faded,
when Chen Feng charged at Liu Xiao again.
Wen Jiu watched without any intention of helping.
He could feel the aura around the Chen family estate changing, a swell of Blood Qi slowly rising.
Perhaps an even greater danger was coming.
Sure enough,
the next moment, countless monsters burst out from beneath the ruins amid the flames, pouncing wildly on the Night Patrol Division disciples. Of course, they spared the Chen family no more than anyone else. They killed everyone they came across.
Thirty zhang away from Wen Jiu, several monsters pounced on Night Patrol Division disciples and Chen family members who were still fighting, before they even had time to react. The monsters clamped their jaws around their necks.
As the monsters violently shook them, the Night Patrol Division disciples and Chen family members were torn apart on the spot. Many Night Patrol Division disciples hurriedly retreated in terror. One or two monsters weren't frightening, but dozens were terrifying.
Wen Jiu retreated too.
There were not only many monsters; they were all powerful as well. Each one had a body comparable to a Body Tempering Second Layer cultivator.
Even at the Qi Refining Third Layer, facing Body Tempering Second Layer monsters wasn't easy, let alone for ordinary Night Patrol Division disciples at the Qi Refining Second Layer.
And there were at least five or six around him!
Fortunately, the Black Zombie was there to shield him.
Not one monster could get near.
But Wen Jiu couldn't bring himself to feel happy.
"So my guess was right. The Blood Robe Tower remnants weren't completely unprepared either."
Perhaps
they had long expected this day to come.
Just then, Wen Jiu noticed Blood Qi flowing from the wounds of the monsters the Black Zombie had ripped apart with its claws. It was incredibly dense. That immediately brought something to mind.
Blood Qi.
Monster flesh.
Monster flesh was exactly what he needed to cultivate Corpse Blood.
Wasn't this gift-wrapped?
Ranked monsters were hard to find under normal circumstances.
And he couldn't afford them anyway.
After all, a single catty of meat cost one Low-grade Spirit Stone.
These beast-shaped monsters were at least a hundred catties each!
At that thought, Wen Jiu ordered the Black Zombie to kill the monsters with all its might. With its upper-stage strength and third-stage Blood Transformation Body, the Black Zombie could tear apart ordinary ranked monsters with ease. Whenever it encountered one, it ripped it apart.
In a short while, three monsters had died at the Black Zombie's hands.
That saved him nearly three hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones outright.
Saving money was earning money.
It was as good as making three hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones.
At that moment, Wen Jiu no longer regretted coming here. It was dangerous, sure, but in just this short while, he'd earned more than ten years' worth of wages.
Wen Jiu raised his hand and swallowed them with his Corpse Eye, absorbing them. Then he continued leading the Black Zombie on a hunt for monsters.
However,
it seemed like the more he killed, the more appeared.
Only then did Wen Jiu notice that monsters kept bursting out from beneath the Chen family's houses, as if there were a monster nest underground.
"A monster nest!"
Wen Jiu was startled.
He instinctively glanced down at the ground beneath his feet.
Could there really be one?
The monsters kept pouring out in greater numbers. There were already more than a hundred, and they were chasing down the Chen family and Night Patrol Division disciples, biting and tearing at them.
Wen Jiu instantly understood. This was the Blood Robe Tower's mutually destructive tactic. They had indeed anticipated that this day would come.
Damn.
That was ruthless!
"We need to retreat."
The Black Zombie was certainly strong.
But it couldn't do much when besieged by more than ten monsters.
Rather than let them wear away its Corpse Qi, it was better to fall back for now.
With that thought, Wen Jiu glanced at Liu Xiao, who had gradually gained the upper hand with an extra ally. Seeing that Liu Xiao didn't need help, Wen Jiu drove back several monsters that pounced at him, then slowly withdrew.
He retreated beyond the Chen estate.
He retreated into the maple forest.
After teaming up with the Black Zombie to kill the three monsters that pursued them, Wen Jiu found a high spot and quietly observed the battle at the Chen estate.
Just then, Wen Jiu saw Chen Feng suddenly produce a talisman. It was a blood talisman made from demon hide, about the size of a palm.
Even from a li away,
Wen Jiu could tell it was extraordinary.
Blood talismans.
They were an even more Wicked Heretic method than Yin Talismans.
At least Yin Talismans were drawn in the normal way, but blood talismans were made from the Essence Blood of many cultivators.
It took the deaths of at least several cultivators to make a single blood talisman.
And the greater the talisman's power, the stronger the cultivators who had to be killed.
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