Discarding Bodies

Over the past half month, Bi Changsheng had not only raised his cultivation level to the late Bone Forging Realm by circulating the Body Burning Art, but had also diligently trained in martial skills, cultivating both the Bi Family's inherited ultimate art, the Thirteen Swords of Qingfeng, and the movement technique Qingfeng Sword Steps to the Great Accomplishment Realm. His progress had been nothing short of meteoric.

One had to know that Bi Tiancheng, the original owner's father, had trained bitterly for most of his life, yet had only brought the Thirteen Swords of Qingfeng to the Great Accomplishment Realm.

Bi Changsheng was fairly satisfied with this progress, but he still did not dare relax in the slightest. He was still far too weak.

"Young Master Bi, spare my life! Tian Dazhuang, that despicable wretch, orchestrated all of this. This lowly one was merely forced by his tyranny into aiding evil!"

Ding San, standing nearby, had been frightened senseless by this sudden turn of events. When he saw his elder brother get instantly killed by Bi Changsheng, he immediately dropped to his knees and begged for mercy, all while shoving the blame onto the dead Tian Dazhuang.

He did not even entertain the thought of fleeing. Judging by Bi Changsheng's speed just now, he feared that before he could run a few yards, the sword in Bi Changsheng's hand would already have fallen upon him.

Having killed someone for the first time, Bi Changsheng did not have many thoughts about it. He only felt that life was truly fragile, which further strengthened his resolve to grow stronger as quickly as possible.

The long sword still dripping with blood shifted and pointed at Ding San as he said coldly:

"Then tell me how Tian Dazhuang coerced you, and how you planned this."

At the sight of the icy sword pointed at him, Ding San was so terrified he nearly wet himself. He immediately spilled everything from beginning to end.

"That bastard Tian Dazhuang happened to see this little brother buying expensive medicinal ingredients several times, and greed arose in his heart..."

"This was all Tian Dazhuang's idea, that despicable little man. This lowly one truly had no choice!"

As he spoke, Ding San did not forget to embellish the story, pushing every bit of responsibility onto Tian Dazhuang in hopes of grasping that slim thread of survival.

But Bi Changsheng did not care who the mastermind was. Once Ding San's account confirmed that no one besides Ding San and Tian Dazhuang knew of the matter, he swung his sword. A flash of cold light passed, and before Ding San could react, he followed in Tian Dazhuang's footsteps.

The succession of events beyond Uncle Fu and Liu Zhengqing's understanding left their hearts churning for a long time. Though they both knew Bi Changsheng had become an official martial artist, the clean and decisive way he had dealt with Tian Dazhuang showed that Bi Changsheng had made tremendous progress in this short half month.

If the master's spirit is watching from heaven, he will surely be greatly comforted by this sight.

Uncle Fu sighed inwardly once more. Bi Changsheng's meteoric advance in such a short time was enough to show his exceptional talent. If Bi Changsheng could continue growing at this pace, thoughts Uncle Fu had never even dared imagine before—avenging the destruction of the Bi Family, restoring its glory—began to spring up like bamboo shoots after rain.

No. With the talent Young Master has displayed, all of this is inevitable. It will not even take too long to achieve.

Uncle Fu silently affirmed this to himself.

"Young Master, you're incredible!"

Compared to him, Liu Zhengqing had no such complicated thoughts. What filled him instead was yearning and worship for the power Bi Changsheng had displayed.

"Tian Dazhuang, their strongest, was merely at the initial Skin Refining Realm. There is nothing worth mentioning about dealing with them."

Facing Uncle Fu and Liu Zhengqing, who looked at him with two equally fervent but different gazes, Bi Changsheng spoke calmly. With an absolute crushing advantage in both cultivation level and martial skills, it would have been strange if he could not kill them instantly.

As he spoke, Bi Changsheng began searching the corpses and collecting the spoils. He found over six hundred taels in silver notes and silver on Tian Dazhuang, while Ding San only had a few taels of loose silver on him—better than nothing.

Over the past few days, Bi Changsheng had undergone Life-Spending Cultivation four times in total, including the first time. Each session required a serving of All-Inclusive Great Tonic Soup as support, and each serving cost a little over two hundred taels.

The thousand taels had now been nearly spent. Bi Changsheng had originally planned to carry out the plan in his heart after one more round of Life-Spending Cultivation, to secure the resources for his subsequent cultivation.

Now, these six hundred-odd taels would allow him to raise his cultivation level several more times and carry out that plan with greater ease. It had resolved Bi Changsheng's pressing need.

"Young Master, how should we deal with these two?"

After Bi Changsheng finished searching the bodies, Uncle Fu asked how he intended to handle the corpses. Although no one knew where the two had gone, leaving the bodies unattended might invite unforeseen trouble. Uncle Fu's idea was to dig a pit in the courtyard and bury them on the spot.

"Put them in the corner. I have another use for them."

But Bi Changsheng had a sudden idea and came up with something else.

Naturally, Uncle Fu and Liu Zhengqing would not object to Bi Changsheng's words, and they began cleaning up the aftermath.

It was the third watch of the night, and darkness had already swallowed everything.

By then, Bi Changsheng had disguised himself. He wore black night-traveling clothes and a black face covering. Reaching the corner, he lifted Tian Dazhuang's and Ding San's corpses with one hand each, then left the residence.

With Bi Changsheng's current cultivation level, even carrying two corpses did not affect his speed in the slightest. At this hour, there was virtually no one on the streets. His agile figure darted swiftly through the night. Avoiding the night watchman and several patrols of city guards, Bi Changsheng quickly arrived before the gates of a grand residence in the North District.

As he looked at the tightly shut gates, memories in Bi Changsheng's mind surfaced involuntarily. This had once been Bi Manor, but the plaque above its gates now read Sun Manor.

Two months ago, the Sun Family had relocated their entire clan to Lin'an City. As outsiders, no one knew what means they had used to persuade the Zhao Family and the county magistrate to join forces against the Bi Family.

The Bi Family had originally been the weakest of Lin'an City's three major powers in both strength and foundations. It had only one Inner Strength Realm martial artist: the original owner's father, Bi Tiancheng.

The Zhao Family and the yamen each had two Inner Strength Realm martial artists, while the Sun Family, that fierce dragon crossing the river, had three Inner Strength Realm martial artists.

Thus, the outcome was easy to imagine. Under the thunderous strike of the three forces joining hands, the Bi Family shattered at the first touch, then was devoured cleanly by the three parties. The Sun Family replaced the Bi Family as one of Lin'an City's new three major powers.

Bi Changsheng was not the original owner, after all, and did not feel much about it. He tossed the two corpses before the gates, then turned and departed.

This had been Bi Changsheng's spur-of-the-moment idea. Over the past half month, he had learned that since the Sun Family replaced the Bi Family as one of Lin'an City's new three major powers, the three sides had constantly clashed, in conflicts both large and small, over benefits.

Because the yamen had Great Gan's deep backing, the other two sides often yielded to it. But the struggle between the Sun Family and the Zhao Family had only grown fiercer and fiercer.

The Zhao Family had a Bone Forging Realm retainer who cultivated the Thunderclap Sword Technique, whose fighting style resembled the Thirteen Swords of Qingfeng. Bi Changsheng's move was meant to add a little oil to the blazing fire of their conflict and make it burn even hotter.

Even if it failed to achieve that goal, being able to disgust the Sun Family a little would still be a fine thing.