Shortly after, the sounds of weapons clashing suddenly traveled from ahead, faintly accompanied by shrieks.
Gu Chang'an's heart tightened, and his pace quickened.
Turning a dilapidated alley, he saw Liu Wei and the others being swarmed by five or six Firewood Gang thugs. Chen Qi bore a slash across his shoulder, dripping with blood, and was being shielded in the center of the formation.
Those thugs were each fierce and valorous, evidently elites of the Firewood Gang, and their sabers aimed straight for vital spots, entangling the group tightly so they could not break away.
Damn it, they pursued us so fast!
Zhou Yue gnashed his teeth in anger, his blade stance already showing fatigue.
"Fall back—" Song Zong roared through gritted teeth while parrying.
Right at that moment—
"Kill!"
A thunderous low shout erupted from the flank.
A figure burst through a wall, blade light tearing through the air like thunder: Mountain Shattering Saber Technique, Third Form—Falling Peak!
Before a Firewood Gang thug could even turn his head, his entire body was slashed across diagonally, blood spattering wildly.
"Brother Gu!" Liu Wei was overjoyed.
Gu Chang'an did not stop, his saber acting like a wind wheel, continuous forms unspooling one after another as he slashed into enemy ranks like a gale sweeping away clouds!
"Stop him!" a Firewood Gang leader roared, charging forward with his saber.
"You think you can stop me? You're courting death!"
Gu Chang'an let out a low drink, stepped forward, and shook his shoulder, his entire body wrapping around to the opponent's back like a ghost before slicing across his waist in a single stroke!
Splat—
The enemy did not even manage to let out a grunt before falling to the ground in two halves!
Seeing this, the remaining Firewood Gang thugs experienced a plummet in morale.
Seizing the opportunity, Song Zong roared, "Kill!!"
The group's morale soared, and they swarmed forward.
Before long, the enemies were all executed, blood staining the broken bricks and leaving the alley in absolute stillness.
The battle ended.
Gu Chang'an slowly sheathed his saber, his chest heaving violently. The robes on his shoulders were long since dyed red with blood, and droplets hung unfallen from the blade edge.
Liu Wei strode over, his eyes full of concern, and asked in a low voice:
"Brother Gu, how are you? You're covered in wounds..."
Gu Chang'an smiled faintly and waved his hand:
"I'm fine. These are all just superficial injuries."
"Then... what about Zhang Yuying?" Song Zong asked, frowning.
Gu Chang'an's gaze darkened slightly as he said flatly, "She swallowed a blood pill, but she also went completely mad. However, I've already slain her."
"She went mad?" Zhou Yue drew in a sharp breath. "This blood pill... truly demonic, even able to drive a person insane."
"Demonic?" Song Zong's gaze was like iron as he said coldly, "This is the Demonic Way, not merely demonic. They refine pills with human lives and extinguish human nature. Even a fiend is no different."
Glancing around, he spoke in a heavy tone: "Say no more. We must head back as quickly as possible and report everything here to Director Wang. We must stop them from continuing to refine blood pills; this Firewood Gang... must be completely eradicated."
The group's expressions tightened, and they nodded in unison.
In the main hall of the County Office, the night was like ink and the candlelight tranquil.
After Gu Chang'an's voice died away, the hall fell into an instantaneous dead silence, as if the air had frozen.
Wang Hao sat quietly in the seat of honor, his eyes lowered slightly and his expression like iron.
The silence lingered for a breath, two breaths—
He finally stood up slowly, his wide official robes swaying with the movement and feeling as heavy as a mountain.
He flicked his sleeve and turned, gazing out the dark window with a low, bone-chilling tone that rolled like muffled thunder:
"Blood pills... refined from living people?"
"This subordinate witnessed it with his own eyes." Chen Qi stepped out, bowing with gritted teeth. "That pill was entirely blood-red, its pill marks like veins, and it was actually pulsing faintly. Before her death, my wife was forced by the Firewood Gang to brew medicinal ingredients and trade her life for pills."
With that, he carefully drew a sealed brocade box from his bosom. Inside the box rested a single pill.
Wang Hao took it and opened the lid. In an instant, a fishy, sweet scent of blood rushed over him, as if countless wronged souls were whispering and weeping.
The surface of that pill flickered with blood light, as though it were still "breathing."
His nostrils flared, and his complexion immediately underwent a drastic change: "...Dammit, it really is a blood pill!"
"I knew it! Back then when Daoist Chai surrendered with his remnant forces and claimed he wanted to wash his hands of crime and turn over a new leaf, I felt something was amiss."
Wang Hao's voice grew colder and colder, a fierce glint rising in his eyes. "How could someone formerly of the Demonic Way truly turn over a new leaf? Some people in the imperial court protected him at the time, so it wasn't convenient for me to move against him. Looking at it today—"
He slammed his hand violently onto the desk, instantly fracturing the wooden table with several cracks!
"I was wrong!" Wang Hao gnashed his teeth, the veins on his temples taut. "That Daoist Chai should have been killed sooner!"
He turned to look at the others, his gaze as sharp as a blade:
"The Firewood Gang is already a demonic den; if we don't eradicate them, there will be no peace! I shall immediately draft an order to summon the elites of the Martial Guard Division, wipe out the alchemy site in the western suburbs, and exact blood for blood!"
"Furthermore, we shall purge the Firewood Gang, uproot their foundation, and slaughter their wicked disciples without leaving a single one!"
At these words, the people in the hall cupped their fists in unison and responded in a unified voice:
"Understood!"
Wang Hao looked back at Gu Chang'an, his tone softening slightly but losing none of its weight:
"You have done well. In this campaign, you took the lead, investigated the truth, and rendered a meritorious service. But you are also heavily wounded; go back tonight to recuperate properly, and tomorrow report to the Appointment Hall of the Martial Guard Division to be assigned to the first rank of the eradication force."
"This matter is of grave importance and brooks not a moment of delay."
Gu Chang'an cupped his fists, his tone resolute: "This subordinate understands."
Wang Hao nodded, turned to pick up his brush, and personally wrote out the troop deployment orders. One seal after another was dispatched rapidly out of the County Office.
In the depths of Black Wind Ridge, within the secret cave of the Firewood Gang.
The rock walls were rugged and gloomy fires leaped, reflecting the entire cavern to look as distorted as hell.
The alchemy furnace was deep red and the fire blazed fiercely. Several young Taoist acolytes sat surrounding the furnace, attentively throwing medicinal ingredients and human blood into it one by one.
An acolyte holding a silver needle drew a commoner from an iron cage, pressing him expressionlessly against the side of the alchemy furnace before stabbing him through the chest to channel his blood into the furnace without even changing expression.
Shrieks and the roar of the furnace intertwined, resembling the wails of evil ghosts.
Upon seeing this, the remaining commoners in the iron cage all trembled in terror, some desperately shouting, "Let me out—don't kill me—"
But no one paid them any mind.
Deep within the grand hall, upon the main seat, a grey-robed elder stood with his hands behind his back, his brow deeply furrowed and his visage as stern as cold stone.
He was none other than the leader of the Firewood Gang, Daoist Chai.
Before him knelt a grey-robed scout, his entire body dripping with cold sweat.
"Wang Hao is leading the elites of the Martial Guard Division to make their move at dawn tomorrow?" Daoist Chai asked in a deep voice, his tone like an iron awl scraping against stone, grating on the eardrums.
"Indeed. This subordinate received word from an insider that Wang Hao has secretly summoned eighty elites of the Martial Guard Division, all well-trained men. Within two days at most, they can press upon Black Wind Ridge." The scout trembled in fear, not daring to raise his head.
Daoist Chai's gaze narrowed, his complexion instantly turning as gloomy as ink.
"Hmph... This old dog Wang Hao can't sit still after all."
He struck the stone table with a single palm, sending stone chips flying.
"Left and Right Protectors!"
"This subordinate is here!" two voices echoed in unison from both sides of the hall's entrance.
A person stepped out from the left side, draped in a black robe with a tall, thin figure like a withered bamboo. His facial features were deep and his gaze was as sharp as a falcon's, exuding a bone-chilling coldness throughout his body—he was the Left Protector of the Firewood Gang, Yin Jiu.
The person on the right was wrapped in red robes, short and stout yet exceedingly heavily built. With an ugly visage and a face full of fleshy bulk, his eyes were as red as fire, resembling someone who had crawled out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. A terrifying aura of blood-slaughter lingered around him without dissipating—he was the Right Protector, Liang Hu.
"What do your views entail?"
Yin Jiu licked his lips, his eyes full of cold light: "Kill them. Since they've come, we'll make sure they never return."
Liang Hu snorted coldly: "We still have three hundred brothers under our command, every last one of them a desperate gambler. If it truly comes to a fight, I guarantee at least half of them will die!"
Daoist Chai's gaze was sinister as he slowly sat down.
"We must not be careless."
"Zhang Yuying has yet to return... I fear something has happened to her."
"Since they are making their move, we shall lay our plans in advance."
He flicked his sleeves and unfolded a map. It was the terrain map of the Black Wind Ridge area, complete with caves, dense forests, and waterways marked upon it.
"Pass down the order for three things."
"First, the alchemy furnace continues to operate at an accelerated pace. The Blood Spirit Pill must be refined today—once this pill is successfully refined, I will be able to break through to the seventh rank. By then, no one will be able to stop me, Daoist Chai!"
"Second, summon all Incense Masters to return for reinforcement and withdraw all outer outposts. We shall settle the battle in a single engagement!"
"Third—" His voice dropped low, his gaze fierce. "Prepare all those 'medicine men'. If the situation turns unfavorable, I will carry out a blood sacrifice of ten thousand souls on the spot!"
"Understood!" Everyone replied in unison, a bloodthirsty gleam rising in their eyes.
Yin Jiu smiled softly: "If the leader truly breaks through to the seventh rank, then Wang Hao will likely have to come crawling on his knees to beg for mercy."
Liang Hu tightened his grip on his wolf-tooth club, grinning with a sneer:
"The grievances we've suffered over these past few years are also due to be collected in full."
Daoist Chai closed his eyes and murmured in a deep voice:
"All who obstruct my path to the Dao shall serve as medicinal ingredients."
Before you continue