Slaughter

In a fit of rage, Ye Yun flew straight above the courtyard. Once he was there, though, he regretted something—not his recklessness, but the fact that he hadn't brought a weapon. Then he spotted the weapon rack on the nearby training ground and smiled.

Ye Yun hovered in the air, his expression calm as his hands formed one hand seal after another. With each seal, weapons on the training ground rose into the air and attacked the nearest people. In the blink of an eye, seven or eight men had been cut down by the sudden assault. Those lucky enough to escape the first wave didn't fight back when they saw the weapons flying by themselves. They dropped their own weapons and ran. But there was no way they could outrun the weapons Ye Yun controlled. In the end, they met the same fate.

Looking down at the people he had killed, Ye Yun's face was a little pale, but he didn't stop. What they had done was enough to deserve death ten times over. He was simply carrying out justice and killing these scum, these beasts.

The screams outside finally woke Boss Chen, who had been peacefully cultivating in his room. He took up a long sword and opened the door, but the sight before him made his pupils contract.

Most of the elite subordinates he had placed such high hopes in were already lying in pools of blood. Only a few remained, stubbornly resisting from behind the terrain. But the terror on their faces made it clear they wouldn't hold out much longer. Their opponents were weapons flying through the air.

Boss Chen was horrified, but not surprised. He had once had the good fortune to accompany his employer and meet an extraordinary person. That man was supposedly a Daoist cultivator. Though he looked to be in his thirties, he was actually over a hundred years old. Most incredible of all, he could control magical treasures and make them fly freely through the air. Even after leaving his hand, a treasure still responded as though it were an extension of his arm. In other words, this wasn't the work of ghosts or monsters. A Daoist cultivator was attacking them.

Realizing this, Boss Chen didn't dare waste a moment. He looked up into the sky.

Sure enough, he found the cultivator above them. What surprised Boss Chen was that the cultivator looked only thirteen or fourteen years old. But there was no time to dwell on that. If he didn't stop the other man soon, not only would his subordinates die—he would, too. His employer had said that to cultivators, ordinary people like them were no different from ants. They didn't need a reason to kill you.

"Immortal Master, please spare them! May I ask what we did to offend you and make you so angry? Please give us a chance to make amends!"

"What did you do to offend me?" Ye Yun burst out laughing.

"You don't understand? You'll find out when you get to hell. But killing you just like that would be letting you off too easily. I'll deal with you properly after I've finished off the others." As he spoke, Ye Yun never stopped moving his hands. More people fell with cries of pain. Boss Chen seemed to realize something. His face turned deathly white, and he collapsed to the ground. He understood that his life was over.

A while later, Boss Chen sat slumped on the ground, his eyes dull with despair. Suddenly, they lit up. Forgetting all dignity, he scrambled back into his bedroom and frantically crawled beneath the bed. He opened a hidden compartment and laboriously pulled out a fist-sized piece of dull yellow metal. Then he scrambled back to the doorway, placed the metal on the ground, and knelt. Trembling with fear, he cried, "Immortal Master, this is a piece of Meteorite Copper I happened to acquire. I offer it to you. Please spare my life!"

Boss Chen knew this was his last hope. He also knew there was no escaping from a flying cultivator; running would be pointless. That made the Meteorite Copper his only lifeline. As far as he knew, cultivators prized things like this above all else. If this cultivator accepted the Meteorite Copper, he usually wouldn't attack him again. In their eyes, Meteorite Copper was worth far more than his life.

Ye Yun watched everything Boss Chen did, but paid him no mind. He had come here for the Meteorite Copper, but something else mattered more right now: killing every last one of these scoundrels. The Meteorite Copper was right there. It wasn't going to grow legs and run off, so there was no need to hurry.

After killing the last scoundrel in the estate who still held a weapon, Ye Yun drifted down in front of Boss Chen, who knelt by the doorway and shook like a leaf. Without so much as a glance at him, Ye Yun swept his left hand out and drew the Meteorite Copper to himself. He examined its quality, then waved his hand again. Boss Chen rose into the air, his face filled with terror.

Suspended in midair, Boss Chen saw that Ye Yun didn't seem to intend to kill him and felt a little relieved. But when he realized which way they were heading, his face went pale. He began struggling and begging Ye Yun to let him go, but Ye Yun remained unmoved and continued carrying him toward that room.

By the time Ye Yun brought Boss Chen to the door of the room they had visited earlier, his pants were wet. He had understood Ye Yun's intentions as soon as they started heading this way. That was exactly why he was so terrified. He knew better than anyone what he had done all this time. Every woman in that room must have wanted to eat him alive. If they got their hands on him, they would make sure he died horribly.

"Immortal Master, please! For the sake of the Meteorite Copper, kill me, but don't hand me over to them! I know I was wrong, Immortal Master. I know I was wrong! Please let me go! Please, just give me a quick death!" Boss Chen had completely given up hope of surviving. All he begged for now was a quick end.

"Give you a quick death?" Ye Yun sneered. "When the women inside begged you for mercy, did you ever think about sparing them? You didn't. Since you showed them no mercy, why should I show you any?"

"Buddhism teaches that laying down the butcher's knife makes one a Buddha. Confucianism teaches that we should repay hatred with virtue. But I'm a bit petty, and I believe in answering hatred with justice, repaying a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye. So now, I'm asking you to die." As he spoke, Ye Yun pushed open the door.

The first person Ye Yun saw when the door opened was Gu Dahai, holding a steel saber. Gu Dahai had carried out Ye Yun's instructions admirably. All the women in the room were dressed and huddled together behind him. When Gu Dahai saw Ye Yun come in, he visibly relaxed. But the moment the women behind him saw Boss Chen, they erupted. Several of them went red-eyed, and if the others hadn't held them back, they would probably have rushed him already.

Seeing this, Ye Yun gave Gu Dahai a meaningful look. Gu Dahai was quick-witted and immediately walked out with his saber. The women grew visibly uneasy when he left, since they didn't know Ye Yun. But his next words eased their concerns.

"I'm here to rescue you. I know you're all furious right now, so I'm leaving this man in your hands. I hope it helps you feel a little better." Ye Yun said this, then slapped Boss Chen on the back and sent him in front of the women before turning to leave. That one strike had severed all of Boss Chen's meridians. He was now a cripple, with about as much strength as an ordinary seven- or eight-year-old child. He couldn't cause any trouble.