Sichong was left speechless.
Then, his face set with determination, he said, "Our Sanyi Sect has no way back. Either Wu Gensheng and Li Muxuan pay for their crimes in blood, or someone reaches the peak of Senior Brother's second level once more."
That was why Sichong was willing to die for his obsession with finding Wu Gensheng.
Du Yang continued in a calm voice:
"Uncle-Master, please go back. If those two really are the ones who killed Master, I'll kill them myself."
"Even if Wu Gensheng doesn't show up, killing every member of Quanxing won't accomplish anything."
Sichong stubbornly replied, "I'm not leaving. This is the only thing I can do for the Sanyi Sect. I'll die content if I have to."
"Senior Brother is dead. If I can't avenge him, I don't intend to go on living."
Du Yang said nothing. There was nothing more he could say.
His earlier words had already been presumptuous.
After all, Sichong was his uncle-master, an elder.
Then Du Yang turned to Chengzhen. "Senior Sister, do you really not want to leave either? You shouldn't have come here with Uncle-Master. You should have stayed at the sect to oversee things."
Chengzhen hesitated, but finally said, "I'm not afraid of tarnishing the Sanyi Sect's name. It's just that Master shouldn't have met this end. He shouldn't have been brought to his death this way."
Du Yang sighed deeply, then looked at the two Quanxing newcomers. "You two can go."
The two newcomers had been sitting on pins and needles. With Du Yang's permission, they immediately sprinted away.
They couldn't shake the feeling that, even though Du Yang was facing two people and was only a junior of the Sanyi Sect, he was still in control of the situation.
Du Yang sat on the bench and spoke slowly. "Since Uncle-Master and Senior Sister won't leave, I can only stay and face this with you."
"But I have one request... I'll handle every Quanxing member who comes to deal with us tonight. Senior Sister and Uncle-Master can sit quietly to the side."
"I'll do everything I can to protect you. If I die here, then I simply wasn't strong enough. Once daybreak comes, please return to the Sanyi Sect."
His words left Sichong and Chengzhen dumbfounded.
Judging by the situation, plenty of Quanxing's strongest fighters would show up tonight. One person alone could never hold them off. It was nothing but a wild fantasy.
Besides, this was their obsession. They couldn't turn back, and they didn't have the courage to. Yet Du Yang was taking the burden upon himself.
Master Liu the Dough Sculptor couldn't help voicing his concern. "Are you really going to do this? If they find Old Woman Liu, plenty of people looking for trouble will come here."
"More and more will show up, and once they gather, it'll be a fight to the death. You'd better leave now."
Du Yang simply nodded. "It's fine. I can't just let you have things your way. This time, I'm going to be stubborn too."
Old man Sichong was about to say more, but Du Yang raised a hand, signaling him to stop.
Chengzhen seemed moved by Du Yang as well, and nodded.
The night was as dark as ink, and all was silent.
Wu Gensheng abruptly sat up.
Gao Gen, Gu Jiting, and Li Muxuan woke at the same time.
The four exchanged glances, each seeing the lingering terror in the others' eyes.
"掌門, you dreamed it too?" Gao Gen's voice was low.
"Old Woman Liu..." Gu Jiting said tersely, his brows knitted.
Wu Gensheng nodded, immediately realizing something was wrong.
Sichong and Chengzhen of the Sanyi Sect had found Master Liu the Dough Sculptor and were threatening his life to force Wu Gensheng to show himself within seven days.
"Something's wrong. All of us had the same dream." Wu Gensheng suddenly realized what it meant.
"Go!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Wu Gensheng moved, vanishing into the darkness like a ghost.
Li Muxuan, Gao Gen, and Gu Jiting followed close behind. The four pushed themselves to their limits, racing toward the secluded town where Master Liu the Dough Sculptor lived.
Wu Gensheng was frantic. For the sake of finding him and defending the Sanyi Sect's dignity, those two might really do something extreme.
But by the time they neared the small house with the courtyard, day had already broken.
A thick stench of blood, so strong it seemed almost solid, slammed into them like a wall.
Wu Gensheng's heart sank.
One corner of the courtyard wall had collapsed, and the gate was gone.
The scene before them made even Wu Gensheng, Gao Gen, Gu Jiting, and the others—men who had weathered countless storms—freeze in place, their pupils shrinking.
Hell.
The courtyard before them was a blood-soaked hell.
Bodies lay scattered across the yard, mangled beyond recognition.
Severed limbs were strewn across the frozen ground like dolls ripped apart by a gale. Dark red blood had soaked into the snow, freezing into grotesque patches of ice.
Shattered weapons, twisted bodies, faces frozen in terror with eyes wide open... It was a horrific sight.
Wu Gensheng's gaze swept sharply over the corpses.
Among them were formidable fighters, infamous throughout the Inhuman world for their vicious methods. Daoist Baisun, for example, was skilled in "Poison Miasma," while Ghost Elder was a master of the "Yin Fiend Palm"...
Now they were all cold, broken remains on the ground. Their deaths were so惨烈 that not a single one had been left whole.
Who?
Who had such terrifying strength that they could slaughter so many Quanxing fighters like chopping vegetables, and in such a short time?
Sichong and Chengzhen?
No. Though the two were powerful, they couldn't have done it so cleanly. They simply weren't strong enough.
A chill sharper than the winter wind rose from Wu Gensheng's tailbone and shot through his entire body.
Wu Gensheng drew a sharp breath and stepped into the courtyard.
Gao Gen and Gu Jiting flanked him, tense to the limit, their qi roiling as they guarded against any danger that might appear.
Beyond the mountain of corpses in the front yard, the inner courtyard opened up before them, yet the scene was even stranger.
The inner courtyard was relatively clean. There wasn't a single drop of blood to be seen.
In the middle of the yard, a figure sat with his back to them on a small wooden stool.
He wore a clean, white robe. Against the surrounding carnage and crimson, it stood out starkly, utterly spotless.
He sat there quietly, as if nothing outside the courtyard had anything to do with him.
Opposite him, near the house's doorway, stood three people.
Master Liu the Dough Sculptor was deathly pale and trembling all over. So terrified was he that he could barely stand, and only managed to stay upright by clinging to the doorframe.
Beside him stood Sichong and Chengzhen of the Sanyi Sect.
At that moment, the two highly respected experts could show nothing but unprecedented shock.
Their eyes were fixed on the boy sitting with his back to them.
They couldn't believe that this Sanyi Sect disciple had already cultivated Triple Inverse Life to such a level.
Wu Gensheng's footsteps alerted the people in the courtyard.
The boy seated with his back to them seemed only then to notice their arrival. He turned around unhurriedly.
His face was far too young, his features clear, his skin fair, his gaze limpid yet unfathomably deep.
A faint, almost imperceptible purity seemed to linger around him. In the ruined, bloodstained courtyard, he appeared like an immortal descended to earth, untouched by worldly filth.
The instant his eyes met Wu Gensheng's, Wu Gensheng felt his breath catch.
The boy looked at Wu Gensheng, the corner of his mouth twitching almost imperceptibly.
Then he turned away again, no longer looking at anyone. He sat as quietly as before, as if waiting—or perhaps simply lost in his own world.
The entire courtyard fell silent.
Master Liu the Dough Sculptor hurriedly said, "掌門, this is Du Yang of the Sanyi Sect."
Wu Gensheng didn't look at anyone else. He stared straight at Du Yang. "You killed them all."
"What kind of sense does it make to go to someone else's territory and kill the hosts who came to stop you?"
Master Liu the Dough Sculptor hurriedly said, "掌門, you've misunderstood. Last night, Du Yang of the Sanyi Sect just sat quietly in the courtyard. It was our Quanxing people who attacked first."
"They kept shouting that they'd kill the Sanyi Sect people. Then they all rushed in, and things spiraled out of control."
Du Yang seemed to have been sitting there quietly, waiting for Wu Gensheng. Only now did he speak.
"Wu Gensheng, you finally came."
"Let me tell you: the Sanyi Sect isn't without defenders."
"The Sanyi Sect isn't a place you can come and go as you please."
"I'll give you a month to think it over. If I don't receive your invitation by then, I'll come visit you on Quanxing's territory again."
"Next time, don't send these 'fake hosts' out to face me. You're the one in charge of Quanxing."
Before you continue