Jackals

The bloody freak, acting as if no one else were present, meticulously cleaned away the gore under the predatory gazes of the crowd.

The arrogance and insolence he displayed made everyone present feel deeply unsettled, yet because they did not know his true identity, no one dared to act rashly.

Pang Jian's gaze remained fixed on the freak's chest, but even before the man jumped into the lake, he had seen no sign of the hideous blood-colored phoenix.

"He is Dong Tianze!"

Zhou Qingchen furrowed his brows and, with an incredibly certain tone, revealed the man's identity.

Su Yuntian and He Rong's expressions shifted abruptly, and they whipped their heads around to look at him. "Dong Tianze?!"

"Yes, there is no mistake. He is the Dong Family's sharpest blade for murder," Zhou Qingchen said coldly.

Luo Hongyan, who had been feeling somewhat uneasy, felt a wave of relief upon hearing that the bloody freak emerging from the pit well was merely the foster son of Dong Qianfeng.

No matter how formidable Dong Tianze might be, he could not possibly be the creator behind the three forbidden zones of the Cenji Mountains.

"This guy..."

Pang Jian's brows tightened. He scrutinized the man in the lake, his expression gradually turning grave.

The young man washing away the viscous blood in Wulan Lake clearly saw everyone on the mountain, yet he showed not a shred of timidity or fear; instead, his blood-stained pupils gradually began to glow with excitement.

Pang Jian had only ever seen that peculiar sense of excitement in the most ferocious beasts within the Cenji Mountains.

Whenever the most powerful predators spotted a group of prey, their eyes would fill with that same light of excitement.

The gleam of excitement flashing in the man's eyes was eerily similar to the look in the eyes of the most cruel beasts before they hunted.

Pang Jian grew instantly vigilant and asked, "Who is he?"

Han Duping gave a bitter laugh. "A wolf cub with an insatiable bloodlust."

"The masked man you killed at Blackwater Pool was named Dong Qianfeng; he was Dong Tianze's foster father," Zhou Qingchen said, his face dark and filled with disgust. "He is not a true member of the Dong Family. He was taken in by Dong Qianfeng as a child and bestowed the name Dong Tianze."

"The Dong Family never truly regarded him as one of their own; they forced him to endure their most blood-soaked internal trials."

"His brilliance lies in the fact that he successfully passed every single one of the Dong Family's bloody trials. Anyone who participated alongside him, regardless of whether they were from the Dong Family or not, almost always died by his hand."

"Because of this, he earned the Dong Family's recognition. Whenever the Dong Family came into conflict with other clans, he was the one sent to kill in the shadows."

"Even our Zhou Family has lost many clansmen to him, and the other families have lost even more!"

When speaking of the man in the lake, Zhou Qingchen's mood was visibly foul, his rage threatening to boil over.

"All Seven Great Families loathe him, and since he isn't a true member of the Dong Family, he won't meet a good end sooner or later!" He Rong scoffed.

"And yet, a person like that was actually scouted by the Blazing Sun Sect, who even extended an olive branch to him. But because Dong Qianfeng was expelled by the Blazing Sun Sect, he actually rejected their goodwill," Han Duping interjected.

He paused, looked back at the pristine Heavenly Spirit Pagoda, and added, "It seems he had already gained the favor of the Yin Spirit Temple; otherwise, he could never have controlled the Heavenly Spirit Pagoda!"

"The Yin Spirit Temple!"

The group was startled, and after a moment of reflection, they felt Han Duping's assessment must be the truth.

The Yin Spirit Temple of the Upper Realm was a sect force capable of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Blazing Sun Sect. Moreover, its origins were even more mysterious; it had almost no dealings with the Galaxy Alliance, the Blood Moon, or Red Mountain, and it never recruited disciples from the Seven Great Families.

Since Dong Tianze had hooked up with the Yin Spirit Temple and secured a path to the Upper Realm, he had no need to care about the Blazing Sun Sect or the Dong Family.

"If it's him, then it's easier to handle."

Luo Hongyan, her mood lightening now that she knew the most terrifying Soul Array in the White Tower had been destroyed and that Dong Tianze was not the person she feared, was the first to leave the small hill.

As she moved, Zhou Qingchen, who had broken through to the Xisui Realm, followed immediately, saying, "I have crossed blades with Dong Tianze before; I do not fear him."

Seeing the two of them head down the mountain, Pang Jian followed as well, watching Dong Tianze curiously from a distance.

Dong Tianze, who had been washing the blood from his body in the lake, suddenly dove beneath the surface. When he surfaced again, he was biting down on a black-gold dagger.

The dagger had apparently been stashed somewhere beneath the island; its hilt was wrapped in shark skin covered in shield-like scales, and the pitch-black blade, shaped like a crescent moon, shimmered with a faint golden light.

Strangely, there was a row of nine holes along the crescent-shaped blade that whistled mournfully when the wind blew through them.

"That dagger is called Ghost Chant," Zhou Qingchen said in a low voice.

Pang Jian nodded slightly.

Splash!

Bare-chested, with his waist wrapped in the same shark skin as the dagger, Dong Tianze finally returned to the side of the pit well.

His upper body was covered in a dense network of scars that looked like earthworms; he had clearly survived countless bloody slaughters, having been gravely wounded time and again only to stubbornly cling to life.

Having washed away the gore, Dong Tianze gripped the black-gold dagger from his mouth, his long, narrow phoenix eyes filled with a chilling madness.

Upon reaching Shangguan Qin's side, he spoke in a gentle, feminine, and melodious voice, "Aunt, these people gathered on the hillside and secretly ruined my Heavenly Spirit Pagoda. You wouldn't happen to know about that, would you?"

Shangguan Qin was terrified; she shook her head, trembling, and stammered in a panic, "I don't know! I don't know anything!"

Dong Tianze smiled lightly, grabbed her by her black hair, and forced her face—now etched with terror—to look toward the approaching Pang Jian, Luo Hongyan, and Zhou Qingchen.

"I will ask one more time. When I was tempering my bones and washing my marrow with the Black Tortoise Essence Blood, did you see them?"

Dong Tianze was all smiles, looking as harmless as a lamb, his voice remaining soft and pleasant.

Looking at the three people approaching slowly, Shangguan Qin was scared out of her wits. Not daring to lie, she shrieked, "I saw them! I saw them!"

"That's more like it. You know, I've always liked people who tell me the truth."

As Dong Tianze affirmed her, he used a black-gold dagger named "Ghost Chant" to carve a deep, bone-reaching gash across Shangguan Qin's beautiful face, utterly destroying the beauty she took such pride in.

"That is a small punishment for you."

He gripped Shangguan Qin's hair, speaking in a gentle, melodic voice while committing the most cruel acts imaginable to her.

Lacking exceptional cultivation talent and possessing only her beauty to rely on, Shangguan Qin was being ravaged in both body and mind, letting out shrill, miserable screams as her face streamed with blood.

Luo Hongyan frowned and stopped in her tracks.

"Sick, feral dog!"

Zhou Qingchen roared.

Pang Jian's gaze turned cold; this was the first time he had encountered someone as insane and twisted as Dong Tianze.

"Aunt, isn't it nice to keep me company on this island?"

Dong Tianze, possessed by a pathological madness, affectionately called her "Aunt" over and over, as if he truly relished the title.

"Back in our Dong Family, you successively caused the deaths of two husbands. You either complained they were ugly or that they lacked romantic flair. Tsk tsk, yet you were so deeply infatuated with a spineless wretch like Ouyang Duanhai, who has nothing but a pretty face."

As if he could not see Pang Jian and the others, Dong Tianze kept smiling, speaking tenderly to Shangguan Qin.

"That piece of trash, Ouyang Duanhai, obtained a drop of Phoenix Marrow, but didn't he end up having his heart eroded by it?"

"In the Cenji Mountains, everyone who obtains a drop of Phoenix Marrow eventually comes to this island to fight me. I cleanse my marrow and forge my bones here with Black Tortoise Essence Blood precisely to wait for trash like Ouyang Duanhai, waiting for them to crawl here themselves to be slaughtered by me."

"Aunt, the reason I kept you here is that I wanted to use your life to threaten Ouyang Duanhai once he arrived. When that time comes, I will destroy your entire face with my own hands right in front of him."

Having said this, Dong Tianze reached out and pinched the other side of Shangguan Qin's cheek, the side that had not yet been slashed.

"Kill me! Just kill me!"

Like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow, Shangguan Qin suddenly shrieked hysterically, her hands flailing wildly in every direction.

On the mountain and at its base, everyone suddenly fell silent, each harboring their own thoughts as they watched Shangguan Qin and Dong Tianze.

Shangguan Qin had been betrothed by her family to a collateral member of the Dong Family with decent talent; though the man was born ugly, he had treated her with genuine sincerity.

Regrettably, that man died accidentally during an exploration of a secret realm, and after his death, Shangguan Qin was arranged to be a concubine for another member of the Dong Family.

Dong Tianze, who had been adopted as a foster son by Dong Qianfeng, was nominally a member of the Dong Family as well, and had previously called Shangguan Qin "Aunt."

No one expected that on this Lonely Island in the Cenji Mountains, Dong Tianze would actually imprison Shangguan Qin, intending to use her life to threaten Ouyang Duanhai when he arrived, all to ensure he could kill Ouyang Duanhai as quickly as possible.

"I heard you say this is the meeting point you and that wretch agreed upon. Do you really think you can wait for him here?"

Dong Tianze chuckled, saying with an expectant look, "I actually hope he appears. I hope he can see with his own eyes what you look like now. My foster father once had a handsome face, too—no worse than that wretch's."

"My foster father pulled me out of a pile of corpses and gave me a chance to live. After I kill Ouyang Duanhai, I might just give you to him; he might just like someone like you..."

Dong Tianze's humiliating words came to an abrupt halt.

He, who had been relentlessly insulting Shangguan Qin, looked at a person with slight confusion, his gaze fixed on an object he recognized.

At some unknown moment, a Bamboo Flute had appeared in Pang Jian's hand, and he was waving it toward Dong Tianze.

"Emerald Jade Flute?"

Dong Tianze was taken aback.

"After I pierced the forehead of the man wearing the golden mask with my spear, the mask on his face shattered, revealing a face covered in scars." Pang Jian looked at Dong Tianze's bare upper body, his eyes filled with disdain and disgust. "The scars on his face look just as ugly as the ones on your body."

Pang Jian, who was always taciturn, had chosen this very moment to provoke a madman like Dong Tianze.

Zhou Qingchen and Luo Hongyan, who were closest to him, immediately looked over with strange expressions, wondering why he would do such a thing.

The Su and He families on the mountain were also stunned by Pang Jian's words; their gazes, which had been fixed on Dong Tianze, involuntarily shifted to him.

Su Meng clenched her fists, her round face flushed red as she chimed in, "A guy covered in scars is truly ugly!"

Luo Hongyan couldn't help but roll her eyes, chiding, "That woman brought it on herself; why are you sticking your neck out for her? Her previous two husbands actually treated her quite well, yet didn't she scheme to kill both of them for the sake of Ouyang Duanhai? A woman like that deserves her fate."

Pang Jian said in a low voice, "I simply loathe this kind of person."

Zhou Qingchen laughed in spite of himself, praising, "You fellow, you always manage to do things that surprise me, yet make me admire you."

Dong Tianze froze for a moment, then bared his teeth in a savage grin and suddenly bit down on Shangguan Qin's snow-white neck.

Shangguan Qin screamed and struggled frantically, but she could not escape Dong Tianze's grasp; the more she struggled, the more blood flowed from her neck.

Like a bloodthirsty beast, Dong Tianze, teeth still buried in her neck, trembled slightly before quickly calming down.

Dong Tianze soon released his bite, and without wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, he tossed Shangguan Qin aside like trash.

He returned from his pathological, manic state, regaining his calm and reason, no longer having his mind twisted by rage and frenzy.

Only then did he look calmly at Pang Jian and ask in a gentle voice, "May I ask, what is your name?"

"Pang Jian."

"Very well, I have noted it. You will be the last person to die."

Dong Tianze nodded with extreme sincerity.

He stomped his foot, and accompanied by a thunderous roar from the earth, he shot toward the small mountain like a striking, vivid arc of lightning!

A biting edge sliced through the air, seemingly cleaving the space above Pang Jian's head in two, causing even Zhou Qingchen's expression to shift abruptly.

Dong Tianze had actually bypassed Zhou Qingchen and Luo Hongyan, appearing instantly atop the low hill to immediately unleash a slaughter upon the Su and He families.

"Woooo!"

The black-gold dagger known as Ghost Chant emitted a harsh, shrill shriek as Dong Tianze moved like a phantom, weaving through the members of the Su and He families.

One fine head after another fell like a dropped watermelon, and crimson blood surged into the air from those headless necks like a waterfall flowing in reverse.

This bloody and cruel scene instantly shocked Su Yuntian and He Rong; Su Meng, who had been filled with righteous indignation moments before, was now trembling so violently she could not utter a single stubborn word.

"Mr. Han, please, save my daughter!"

Su Yuntian's face drained of color, and without a second thought, he hurriedly shoved Su Meng toward Han Duping.

Han Duping, who had transformed himself into a massive silver sphere, watched Su Meng stumble toward him and cried out in alarm, "I may not be able to save her!"

"Su Meng! Run down the hill and find Zhou Qingchen!"

Watching his subordinates' heads fall one by one as blood gushed from their necks like fountains, Su Yuntian was shattered with terror, desperately urging Su Meng to flee.

"A truly beautiful scene."

Standing amidst the pile of corpses, Dong Tianze found the leisure to admire the spectacle of spraying blood even while butchering those people.

Many droplets of blood splattered onto his naked upper body, painting his hideous scars with crimson dye and revealing terrifying, evil patterns.

He suddenly looked up at the sky with a smile.

Watching the Spirit Sha that were capturing souls and ghosts above, Dong Tianze smiled faintly. "No matter who is controlling you, since you dare to come and damage my Heavenly Spirit Pagoda, you shall remain here."

"Woooo!"

He brandished Ghost Chant, its multiple apertures whistling sharply in the wind, and a magnetic field similar to the Soul Array within the Heavenly Spirit Pagoda suddenly emerged!

A Spirit Sha refined by a Pulse-Opening Realm cultivator, along with the surrounding souls and ghosts, was dragged down by the black-gold dagger known as Ghost Chant.

In an instant, they all vanished into the apertures within the blade of Ghost Chant.

Luo Hongyan, who had been calm and composed, immediately furrowed her brows upon seeing a Spirit Sha dragged down and absorbed by Ghost Chant.

A new week begins, asking for votes~~