Something Is Wrong with This Place

Then,

A cold blade pressed against his ribs and stabbed in at an angle, piercing his lung with deadly precision.

The Cultist opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

Shen Chu's other hand had already clamped over his mouth and nose.

A moment later, another wisp of green smoke rose!

[Incense Offering to All Living Beings absorption progress: 15/100]

Shen Chu immediately began harvesting the battlefield again. Besides actively striking down Red Lotus Sect Cultists, he also finished off those Red Lotus Sect members who had lost their ability to fight.

[Incense Offering to All Living Beings absorption progress: ...]

As the number on the system panel steadily climbed, Shen Chu—who in his previous life had deeply despised kill-stealers—finally experienced the joy of stealing kills!

Amid the fight, Xu Zhibao gradually began to sense that something was off.

He had already cut down several Red Lotus Sect Cultists.

Some of his own men had been injured, but fortunately, no one had died.

By all rights, the more enemies they killed, the fewer enemies there should have been, and the more corpses should have been lying on the ground.

Yet when he swept his peripheral vision across the battlefield, he found that although the Red Lotus Sect's numbers had decreased somewhat, there were pitifully few bodies on the ground.

The people he had personally cut down should have collapsed where they fell, yet there were only two or three corpses on the ground around him. The rest had vanished without a trace.

It was as if...

As if someone had been secretly "collecting the bodies" for him!

Doubts piled up in Xu Zhibao's heart, but the enemies before him gave him no chance to be distracted. He could only suppress his misgivings and keep swinging his blade into battle.

The black-faced leader stood behind the crowd, watching the battle in the courtyard, his expression growing uglier by the moment.

He had thought that with a surprise attack, soporific smoke, and superior numbers, they could end this fight quickly.

But that constable on the other side was simply too formidable. He alone had blocked most of their attacks!

Even stranger, he kept feeling that his own men were dwindling without anyone noticing!

More than twenty men had charged in, yet only a dozen or so Cultists seemed to still be fighting in the courtyard!

Where had the others gone?

Even if they were dead, there should have been bodies, shouldn't there?

Where had the bodies gone?

A sense of foreboding welled up in his heart, but the arrow had already left the bowstring. There was no room for retreat.

Gritting his teeth, he leaped up from behind the crowd. At the same time, he drew the long saber at his waist, its silver gleam flowing, and personally charged into the melee!

Shen Chu continued to move soundlessly through the darkness, taking out two more isolated Cultists.

[Incense Offering to All Living Beings] had reached 30/100 in absorption progress.

Just as he was about to seek out his next target, he suddenly saw a tall figure leap up and pounce straight toward Xu Zhibao.

The black-faced leader had actually entered the fray himself!

Shen Chu immediately stopped and concealed himself in the shadow of a corridor pillar, his gaze fixed tightly on that tall figure.

Xu Zhibao was raising his blade to cut down a Red Lotus Sect Cultist when he suddenly felt a flash of cold light rushing at him. His reaction was swift; he instantly raised his saber horizontally to block.

Clang!!!

What tremendous strength!

Xu Zhibao's pupils dilated, and he staggered back several steps!

The attacker was none other than the black-faced leader!

With a single overhead slash, he forced Xu Zhibao back. Borrowing the rebound force, he sprang several steps backward and landed in the center of the courtyard.

Then he shouted sharply, "Fall back behind me!"

At his command, the surviving Cultists all withdrew. Scrambling and crawling, they retreated behind the black-faced leader, panting heavily as they gathered into a cluster.

The black-faced leader's gaze was like lightning as he swiftly swept it over the figures around him.

Of the twenty-odd brothers he had originally brought, only fifteen or sixteen stood behind him now, even counting every last one.

Nearly half were gone!

The black-faced leader's heart sank sharply.

He clearly remembered that twenty or thirty men had rushed in. Even if some had died in the battle, their bodies should have been lying on the ground.

Yet when he looked around, there were only five or six corpses sprawled across the courtyard at most.

What about the remaining dozen or so? Had they vanished into thin air?

His gaze swept through the darkness, but he found nothing unusual.

The air was thick with the smell of blood and faint smoke. Everything seemed perfectly normal, yet an indescribable eeriness seeped through it all.

He took a deep breath and suppressed the unease in his heart. In a low voice, he said to the Cultists behind him, "Stay sharp! Something is wrong with this place. Watch yourselves and look after one another. Clear out the remaining people in the courtyard first. Leave that constable to me!"

The Cultists answered in acknowledgment.

Though their hearts were somewhat chilled, they did not dare disobey their leader's orders. They gripped their weapons tightly and advanced toward the yamen runners and guards.

Xu Zhibao stood with his saber held crosswise, his gaze coldly fixed on the black-faced leader.

He wiped the splattered blood from his face, a cold smile curling at his lips. "The Red Lotus Sect's reach really is long enough. You even dare rob goods belonging to the Qingyang Prefecture Government. Aren't you afraid that the Xu Family Escort Agency and the Qingyang Prefecture Government will join hands and chop off your claws one by one?"

At that, the black-faced leader let out a low laugh, filled with undisguised mockery.

"The Xu Family Escort Agency? You mean those Xu Family escorts you arranged at the rear?"

The moment those words left his mouth, Xu Zhibao's expression changed.

The black-faced leader slowly turned the saber in his hand, his tone openly teasing. "No need to wait for them. Those Xu Family escorts of yours were already dealt with before you ever reached this relay station!"

Xu Zhibao's pupils abruptly constricted, and his hand tightened fiercely around the hilt.

Under the moonlight, his expression shifted between light and shadow. After a moment of silence, he slowly asked,

"What did you do to them?"

"What did we do?"

The black-faced leader tilted his head, a trace of cruel amusement in his voice.

"What do you think? They refused the wine only to drink the forfeit, insisted on fighting us, so we had no choice but to send them on their way. Speaking of which, your Xu Family people had pretty hard bones. Even the last one was shouting something like, 'The Xu Family Escort Agency won't let you off.' Tsk, tsk, tsk. Truly touching."

Xu Zhibao said nothing more.

He merely slowly adjusted his grip on the saber and took a deep breath.

At that moment, his eyes became completely different.

If he had merely been a dutiful constable before, then now he was more like an enraged beast, radiating danger from head to toe.

"Do you know?"

Xu Zhibao's voice was terrifyingly calm.

"I originally only wanted to finish this assignment safely and steadily. I didn't want trouble. But what you just said has changed my mind."

The black-faced leader sneered, the long saber in his hand glinting with chilling light beneath the moon.

"Oh? Then I'd like to see what you can do to me!"

Before his words had even faded, both men moved at once!

Xu Zhibao struck first. He stomped hard, shooting forward like an arrow loosed from the bow and crossing several zhang in an instant!