More than an hour later.
Inside the Xue family's cellar.
The scene had been sealed off, and all the officers had left. Only twenty-six skeletons remained, lying silently where they were, still in their original positions. Not a single bone had been moved.
In the dim light, two figures stood quietly: a man and a woman.
Compared with ordinary people, however, both were far more powerfully built.
They stood tall and straight, their muscles rising and falling like mountain ridges in the faint light. A stifling presence radiated from them in silence.
Just then, the woman in the black leather jacket crouched down, her gaze fixed on the ground beneath the pile of gleaming white bones.
On the floor, dried, blackened blood twisted and wound its way across the surface, joining together to form a bizarre flame-shaped pattern that gave off an indescribably sinister aura.
"This is a blood-sacrifice cultivation method from the Old Arts,"
she said in a low voice.
"Judging by the style of the runes, it was probably left behind by the Pure Fire Sect."
"The Pure Fire Sect? The one that was wiped out forty years ago?"
The man beside her frowned slightly.
"That's right."
The woman nodded.
"After the War of Extinguished Arts, the Pure Fire Sect was one of the few Old Arts sects that hadn't been completely eradicated."
She paused, her voice turning cold.
"Had this happened in the past, they might have posed some threat.
"But now, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Essence has long since dried up. Aside from wicked arts that rely on blood sacrifices and shorten the user's lifespan, most Old Arts have lost their efficacy.
"Even those who cultivate the Old Arts gradually grow weaker, until eventually they're no different from ordinary people."
The man was silent for a moment before speaking. "Then we have to find that person as soon as possible. He may have obtained the Old Arts left behind by the Pure Fire Sect."
"It's not that simple."
The woman stood up, her expression grave.
"It's highly likely that one of the Pure Fire Sect's own people did this."
"Besides, it's no coincidence that the Pure Fire Sect survived the joint purge by the major clans back then.
"Even those wicked arts with severe side effects would be extremely troublesome for us if we got involved. That's what makes the Old Arts so terrifying.
"This matter involves too much. We should report it first and avoid putting ourselves in danger."
The man nodded and said no more.
The incident in Wulin Village was extremely heinous and quickly attracted widespread attention.
The murder of Xue Hai and his family wasn't the most horrifying part of the case.
What truly shocked people was the family's outward appearance of kindness, which concealed their countless brutal crimes.
The investigation revealed that they had long used various methods to abduct young women and children, imprisoning and torturing them before cruelly killing them. Their actions seemed to be part of some kind of cult ritual.
The cruelty of their methods and the depravity of their actions were appalling.
If the case hadn't come to light this time, it was impossible to know when these crimes would have been exposed.
Indeed, they might never have been uncovered at all.
Within a single day, the news had spread far and wide, and numerous media outlets rushed to report it.
Not long afterward, however, coverage of the case seemed to be deliberately suppressed, and public interest gradually faded.
There was another reason for this as well.
The police soon identified a suspect: a wanted murderer who had been on the run for a long time and had committed countless crimes.
After all, according to the villagers, the perpetrator hadn't tried to conceal his tracks. Quite a few villagers had seen him.
So it was no surprise that the police had quickly tracked him down.
Only the fugitive, hiding somewhere unknown, knew the truth.
He knew just how outrageously he'd been framed.
But no matter how wronged he was, he couldn't come forward to clear his name.
His own criminal record meant that if he exposed himself, he'd be executed by firing squad—even if he proved he hadn't committed these crimes.
So he could only swallow the bitter pill and take the blame.
The outcome would be the same either way. In a sense, he already had so many lice that a few more wouldn't make a difference.
Cloud City, beneath a pitch-black night sky.
As the border city farthest from the heart of Yu State,
it had always been a gathering place for all kinds of shady characters. Smuggling and black-market trade ran rampant, and the city was even more chaotic at night.
"Just wait a bit, big brother's gonna make you feel amazing."
"Aw, you're so impatient~"
"Heehee!"
In the dim alley, their flirtatious laughter sounded especially grating.
A man with dyed blond hair and a floral shirt staggered toward a cheap hotel at the alley's entrance, one heavily made-up woman clinging to each arm.
Tap, tap.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the alley.
Just then, a man in a black coat and baseball cap walked toward them.
The light revealed only the hard line of his jaw.
Just as the two groups were about to pass each other—
Whoosh!
The sound of a blade slicing through flesh rang out abruptly.
In an instant, all sound ceased.
The blond man and the two women froze, their eyes wide with sheer terror.
The next second, their bodies seemed to be torn apart by an invisible force. They split cleanly, their severed edges smooth as mirrors, as blood gushed out like a fountain and instantly drenched the filthy ground.
The man in the black trench coat didn't stop walking. He continued onward.
At that moment—
Whoosh—!
A piercing whistle tore through the silence as the air split apart.
The man came to a halt. Both hands shot out from his wide sleeves, hanging at his sides, fingers slightly spread.
The next instant,
a spark burst in his palm.
Clang.
A dull metallic thud sounded.
A twisted, deformed bullet rolled across the ground.
Between his fingers, several nearly transparent threads writhed like living creatures, gleaming with a bone-chilling light.
Then the threads slipped quietly back into his sleeve, as if they had never appeared.
He slowly lifted his face.
His gaunt features emerged in the dim light.
Most striking was the white flame-shaped mark at the center of his forehead, radiating a strange and dangerous aura.
His gaze shifted to one side.
Atop a gray-white utility pole stood a slender figure who hadn't been there before, a gun in her hand.
"Bai Ling, are you trying to get yourself killed?"
The man spoke, his voice icy.
"I was just joking. Don't be so serious."
The woman called Bai Ling gave a soft laugh.
She wore a white mask, and her skin was exceptionally pale.
She put away her pistol.
She leaped down, moving as lightly as a wildcat without making a sound.
Her gaze swept over the three corpses nearby.
"The world is filthy. Killing people like this won't solve anything. And if you keep killing ordinary people so carelessly, aren't you afraid those people will find out?"
"I don't need you telling me how to do things!" the man snapped.
"Try that again, and I'll kill you."
"All right, Tail Fire. I came to find you about something important."
Feeling the killing intent rising from him, she dropped her smile and spoke more seriously. She knew this lunatic really would attack her.
She wasn't afraid of him, but she had urgent business that couldn't wait.
"We've found the woman who stole the Green Bag Fragment. The sect leader ordered us to retrieve it."
As she spoke, she took out a black token and tossed it to him.
"The sect leader?"
The man in black—Tail Fire—looked up and caught the token Bai Ling had thrown him.
Sensing the powerful energy emanating from it,
a profound hint of wariness flashed through his previously calm eyes.
"If it's the sect leader's order, then I'll obey."
As soon as he finished speaking,
a night breeze swept through. The two figures vanished, along with the twisted bullet on the ground.
All that remained was a heap of mangled flesh and the stench of blood spreading through the air.