Rumors

"Mm?"

Just as Jiang Chen was preparing to launch an ambush, the man suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"The smell of blood?"

The man's nose twitched slightly, and he actually caught the scent of blood.

Had something happened?

"Quite perceptive."

Seeing that his opponent had noticed something, Jiang Chen stepped out from around the corner. He did not conceal himself as he had before, instead appearing in his true form.

"It's you?!"

The man recognized Jiang Chen at a glance.

His purpose in coming here was precisely to abduct Jiang Chen.

This left him extremely astonished.

As far as he knew, Jiang Chen had only entered the Three Qi and Blood Gates a few days ago, becoming a disciple of the White Ape Martial Hall's Inner Courtyard.

Yet both of his subordinates had reached perfection in the Three Qi and Blood Gates. No matter how he thought about it, they should not have fallen at Jiang Chen's hands.

Could it be that someone from the Jiang Clan had ambushed them?

"Stop looking. It's just the two of us here."

Holding the bloodstained dagger, Jiang Chen strolled toward the man as leisurely as though he were taking a walk through a spring garden.

His calm and unruffled appearance made it seem as if he were out enjoying the spring.

"This kid isn't right."

The man grew increasingly wary. Martial True Qi surged within him, and his right foot edged back slightly.

The calmer Jiang Chen appeared, the more abnormal the man felt it was.

There was probably an ambush here after all. It was better to leave first.

Whoosh!

Seeing that the man seemed ready to flee, Jiang Chen lunged forward in a swift killing charge.

He had no reason to let this fat sheep that had already reached his mouth escape.

"Three Qi and Blood Gates?"

Sensing the fluctuations of Jiang Chen's Blood Qi, the man, who had originally intended to escape, immediately changed his mind. His gaze turned vicious.

A mere practitioner of the Three Qi and Blood Gates dared bare his fangs at him?

"Perfect. This saves me the trouble of infiltrating the Jiang Clan."

The man stomped his right foot onto the ground. Carrying a blood-chilling stench, he shot forward like a bloodthirsty savage beast.

His speed was far beyond what Jiang Chen, who was only at the Three Qi and Blood Gates, could match.

The disparity between the Blood Qi Realm and the True Martial Realm was revealed in all its starkness at this moment.

"The distance is enough!"

When the distance between them fell below a meter, Jiang Chen immediately activated his Soul Seal.

In an instant, an invisible and intangible Soul Force shot through the air like a massive hammer, smashing viciously into the man.

The man instantly stiffened all over. His pupils trembled, and the savage ferocity on his face transformed into dazedness, numbness, and pain...

Bang!

The man toppled forward and completely lost consciousness.

Crack!

Jiang Chen immediately acted. With practiced ease, he dislocated the man's joints, severed the tendons in his hands and feet, and scattered soft-bone powder over him. The entire set of movements flowed as smoothly as clouds and running water.

"Mm? The consumption of Soul Seal Impact is this great?"

After successfully subduing the man, Jiang Chen looked inward with his mind.

The Soul Seal, which had still been bright and radiant moments ago, was now dim and lusterless.

This was a sign that his Soul Force had been completely exhausted.

He had still been thinking that he could rely on Soul Seal Impact to dominate the Prefecture City.

Now it seemed that he could only think about it.

"If I want to use Soul Force Impact multiple times, I have to cultivate to the second tier of perfection at the very least."

Before he accumulated enough Soul Force, he could not use this trump card lightly.

After all, no one knew when danger would descend. He had to keep a life-saving trump card in hand.

"Hiss!"

At that moment, the man who had lost consciousness from Soul Seal Impact actually began to awaken.

"What happened? I was just..."

Feeling the tearing pain radiating through his entire body, the man was utterly bewildered.

Wasn't he about to capture Jiang Chen?

Where was he now?

What had happened just now?

Why did his body hurt so much?

Why could he not muster even a bit of strength?

Had he been poisoned?

"As expected of someone in the True Martial Realm. You woke up so quickly. Your physical constitution really is impressive."

Jiang Chen's consciousness returned to his body. He walked over to the man and expertly searched him.

An ancient book.

A sheet of sheepskin paper.

Several bottles and jars.

A stack of silver notes. Judging by its thickness, there should be around five thousand taels.

"You... what did you do to me?"

The man had fully awakened by this point.

He had actually fallen into Jiang Chen's hands?

How was that possible?

He was a True Martial Realm cultivator!

Even if he had forcibly broken through to the True Martial Realm by taking a Saint Pill, he was still in the True Martial Realm.

Meanwhile, Jiang Chen was merely an ant in the Blood Qi Realm.

Normally, he could have slapped Jiang Chen to death with one blow.

Why was he now the one lying on the ground like a dead dog?

"It seems you still haven't grasped the situation."

Seeing the man prattle on endlessly, Jiang Chen stepped on his arm and snapped it.

The sound of bones shattering, accompanied by agonized howls, echoed through the narrow alley.

"Get your foot off me!"

The man was drenched in cold sweat from the pain, yet he was powerless to move.

"That isn't the attitude of someone asking for help."

Jiang Chen exerted more force with his foot and even ground it back and forth.

"I beg you! Please, I beg you! Get your foot off me!"

The man howled even more miserably. The gaze he directed at Jiang Chen held nothing but fear and awe.

Jiang Chen was absolutely abnormal.

Putting aside how he had inexplicably fallen into this calamity, just the calm way he was torturing someone was not the mentality a young man should possess.

"Is this the so-called Treasure Pill?"

Jiang Chen opened the bottles and jars.

He had no interest in the poisons, but the brown pills that spilled from one of the porcelain bottles caught his attention.

A pungent smell of blood emanated from the brown pills.

He was far too familiar with this sort of bloody stench.

Both the mole and the man before him carried the scent of these pills.

"That's right."

The man nodded.

"How are these refined? You'd better not test my patience. Otherwise, I won't mind skinning you alive, one cut at a time."

Jiang Chen crouched down and patted the poisoned dagger against the man's face.

"This was bestowed by the gang leader. The main ingredient used... is a martial artist's vital essence!"

At this critical juncture between life and death, the man did not dare conceal anything and obediently answered.

"A martial artist's vital essence?"

Jiang Chen's brows twitched.

Were they refining pills with living people?!

No wonder these pills contained such a dense smell of blood!

Wait!

A martial artist's vital essence?

"Were you responsible for the White Ape Martial Hall disciples who disappeared some days ago?"

Jiang Chen immediately questioned him.

"Yes!"

The man revealed the whole inside story.

Some disciples of the White Ape Martial Hall came from villages and towns outside the Prefecture City. After figuring out their circumstances, the gang would ambush them halfway.

It was not only disciples of the White Ape Martial Hall. They had also captured quite a few disciples from other martial halls.

However, the people they captured were all ordinary disciples. They had not touched the elite disciples, which was why no one had noticed anything until now.

"Your Azure Dragon Gang has ties to demons and evil entities?"

Jiang Chen asked another question.

Refining pills with the vital essence of martial artists looked, no matter how one saw it, like collusion with demons and evil entities.

"I don't know."

The man shook his head.

He had only joined the Azure Dragon Gang a few months ago. After taking a Saint Pill and breaking through to the True Martial Realm, he had followed one of the gang's protectors to White Cloud County.

As for the Azure Dragon Gang's internal secrets at the upper levels, he was not qualified to know them yet.

Pfft!

After obtaining the information he wanted, Jiang Chen cleanly sent the man on his way.

[Suppressing Evil Cultivator, Origin Source +2]

A line of illusory characters drifted across the Myriad Dao Chart.

"Two points of Origin Source?"

No wonder those two Evil Cultivators in the Three Qi and Blood Gates had only yielded one point of Origin Source.

Even this True Martial Realm cultivator had only yielded two points of Origin Source.

To fill the Soul Seal's second tier, he would have to kill at least ten True Martial Realm cultivators.

Relying solely on Soul Force Impact would be extremely difficult. He still had to raise his cultivation as quickly as possible.

Once he entered the True Martial Realm and combined it with Soul Seal attacks, he would be able to kill one with every strike.

Immediately afterward, Jiang Chen dragged the corpse to a corner and poured Bone-Eroding Powder from one of the porcelain bottles.

Hissing sounds rang out.

The three corpses were quickly corroded, ultimately turning into puddles of black water, without even a scrap of bone remaining.

"Next, it's time to deal with the Azure Dragon Gang."

Jiang Chen put away the poisons, disguised himself, and quickly left the alley.

"Have you heard? Recently, disciples from all the major martial halls have been mysteriously disappearing!"

"Martial hall disciples disappearing for no reason? Could they have encountered evil entities?"

"Have demons and evil entities really infiltrated our Prefecture City?"

"Hey, what demons and evil entities? As far as I know, the disappearances of those martial hall disciples have everything to do with the Azure Dragon Gang."

"The Azure Dragon Gang? That gang that appeared some time ago?"

"No way. A gang would dare lay hands on martial hall disciples?"

"Absolutely true. Someone personally saw the Azure Dragon Gang ambushing martial hall disciples outside the city."

"What does the Azure Dragon Gang want? Every one of those martial halls has a major power behind it."

"Who knows? Maybe the Azure Dragon Gang wants to provoke infighting among the various powers."

"Do you think the Azure Dragon Gang could be connected to those rebel armies?"

"It's possible..."

Before long, rumor after rumor spread through the streets and alleys.

For a time, the Azure Dragon Gang was pushed into the eye of the storm.