"Hah... hah..."
Song Ji sucked in cold air, wanting to pull out the arrow, but the intense pain in his shoulder left him too weak to do so. Gritting his teeth, he suddenly lurched forward.
The arrow remained firmly nailed to the tree trunk, while he voluntarily let it pierce all the way through him. Even the white fletching was thoroughly dyed red with his blood. Just as he tried to move, a cold blade settled against his neck.
"Master Song, would you like to wager whether this blade of mine will fall?" Jiang Che looked down at Song Ji. Compared to the ambush back then, the situation had now completely reversed.
Song Ji stared at Jiang Che for a breath, then let out a soft sigh and lowered his head helplessly.
The fighting around them was gradually drawing to a close. Against the elite soldiers of Wind Camp, these Crouching Tiger Mountain bandits were helpless, no matter how many years they had spent as hardened outlaws.
In the mountain forest, a young man in black xuan armor, carrying a pale golden longbow on his back, slowly approached Jiang Che. He looked him up and down before casually asking,
"You're Jiang Che? Your strength is passable."
"May I ask your name?"
Jiang Che looked at the valiant young man with grave eyes. His armor was identical in style to Zhu Sheng's, so his identity needed no further explanation.
He was definitely of captain rank.
His strength was even more terrifying. From a hundred paces away, he had pierced a shoulder with a single arrow; his angle and timing had been impeccable. If Jiang Che, at his current strength, faced someone like this—
He would have no chance of victory at all.
"Qi Huan, commanding captain of Wind Camp."
The black-armored man lifted his chin and answered calmly.
"Many thanks to Captain Qi for lending a hand."
Jiang Che cupped his fists in thanks.
"As long as you don't resent me for snatching your prey." Qi Huan chuckled, glancing at Jiang Che before walking over to Song Ji. After examining him, his gaze swept over the faint azure hue that had yet to fade from Song Ji's arm.
"The Azure Fiend Body Refining Scripture... No wonder Crouching Tiger Mountain has stood for more than a decade. The body refining method they cultivate is indeed extraordinary."
Jiang Che's gaze flickered slightly at those words. When he looked at Song Ji again, his eyes had changed.
As expected of prey. The body refining method is settled!
Song Ji merely raised his head to look at Qi Huan, sneered, then turned away again.
Before long, every bandit from Crouching Tiger Mountain had been put to the sword. Only Song Ji and Protector Ren, whom Jiang Che had knocked unconscious earlier, remained alive.
"Can these people establish the Cao Gang's crimes?"
Qi Huan turned to Jiang Che.
Last night, Zhu Sheng had sent someone to see him overnight, saying there was a lucrative deal to discuss. He had not been interested at first, but once he learned it involved the somewhat renowned Cao Gang, he accepted Zhu Sheng's invitation.
He had long heard of the Cao Gang's rolling wealth over the years. Naturally, he would not let such an opportunity slip away.
"It's more than enough!"
Jiang Che nodded.
In truth, in Jiang Che's view, with Zhu Sheng and Qi Huan joining hands, even without ironclad proof, they could casually pin several accusations on the Cao Gang. There was no need to go to such trouble.
"Fine. Then let's move out."
Qi Huan beckoned, and several soldiers seized Protector Ren and Song Ji, preparing to leave.
"Captain Qi, please proceed first. Jiang has a small matter to attend to and needs to remain here for a moment."
Jiang Che had not come merely to seize solid evidence against the Cao Gang. He also had expectations for the Yin Sha Land. After all, he only lacked Yin Fiend Qi before he could perform a sacrifice.
"I'll give you the time it takes to burn an incense stick."
After saying that, Qi Huan left directly.
Watching the group gradually depart, Jiang Che turned toward the cave.
The moment he entered, Jiang Che felt a bone-piercing chill, as though he had fallen into an ice cellar. His cold-weather clothes seemed to have completely lost their effect.
Yet Jiang Che did not care in the slightest. Instead, joy rose in his heart.
To lure him out of the city, Kou Yuansheng had truly put thought into it. He had actually found a Yin Sha Land.
The deeper he went, the more Jiang Che felt the chill intensify. When he reached the deepest part, he found the source of the Yin Fiend Qi: a Fiend Eye the size of a bowl's mouth.
Strands of Killing Intent surged outward from the eye. Many corpses, long since turned into white bones, lay around it. One could imagine that no small number of people had died here.
This was a Fiend Eye that had been artificially cultivated.
But that had nothing to do with him.
At this moment, he had only one thought.
Sacrifice!
Sitting cross-legged, Jiang Che swiftly closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into the Heavenly Stele Space.
Sacrifice target: Three Absolute Shocking Fiends—entry level. Sacrifice cost: ten drops of Heart Blood from each of three Inner Breath Realm martial artists, ten strands of Yin Fiend Qi, one Corpse Blood Mushroom, two years of lifespan. Sacrifice?
Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang Che willed it at once.
Sacrifice!
Red light bloomed upon the heavenly stele. A gray glow, like a nimble wandering serpent, coiled around and devoured every sacrifice before the stele. Then it slipped out of the Heavenly Stele Space and continuously circled through the void.
If Jiang Che opened his eyes at that moment, he would have seen strands of azure-red Killing Intent converging toward the gray glow, until all ten strands had been devoured.
Only then did the gray glow return to the Heavenly Stele Space.
After that, a surge of vitality far greater than before was forcibly drawn from his body. This time, he could keenly feel it—like suddenly going limp and powerless just as one was nearing the finish.
Several strands of Jiang Che's black hair at his forehead turned gray-white.
Two years of lifespan shaved away!
A red light and an azure light followed, escaping and circling around his body and above his head.
The azure light moved first every time. In an instant, it burrowed into his spiritual platform.
In the blink of an eye, the world around him changed.
It became entirely blood-red. The stench of blood constantly flooded his nostrils, as though he had truly been cast into a sea of blood.
The next moment, Jiang Che saw a hazy glimmer flash.
Boom!
The bloody space shattered with a thunderous crash.
Killing intent, malicious intent, and evil intent completely filled Jiang Che's mind. His eyes turned blood-red, his body trembled without cease, and even his soul shuddered at that moment.
Boundless, endless killing intent filled him completely. At that moment, he forgot everything.
He remembered only... slaughter!
No one knew how much time had passed. When that red glow entered his body, Jiang Che suddenly awoke. Dense beads of cold sweat already covered his forehead.
So Three Absolute Shocking Fiends was not merely a blade technique. No wonder the silver foil recorded no moves at all.
This was a method of demonic possession, plunging a martial artist into complete madness and causing their strength to soar dramatically.
No wonder Liu Zhi had studied it for so many years without ever grasping its essence.
This... was not a blade technique!
It was a sinister and bizarre mental cultivation method disguised under the name of a blade technique.
But he had no time to think further, because when that red glow surged into his body, his entire body felt as though it had been thrown into a steamer. The scant inner breath within him was also rapidly growing.