Even Among the Inhuman, There Are Differences

The situation was even more troublesome than the grassland warrior had reported.

Others might not have realized it yet, but Hexi Qing knew that the heirloom great axe wielded by his own younger brother had been stained with at least a hundred lives.

With such abundant blood-soaked Sha Qi, aside from hardened men like his brother, tempered alongside him amid the freezing winds north of the desert, anyone who gripped that weapon would lose their mind and become a crazed fiend who knew only slaughter.

Yet that was precisely where the problem lay.

A crazed fiend whose mind had already been consumed by blood Sha Qi could not possibly go mad a second time from accumulating more of it.

In other words, the more people that fiend killed, the stronger it would become.

And now, that fiend had already slain fifteen people.

"Why now of all times..."

An ominous premonition rose inexplicably in Hexi Qing's heart.

"We have to deal with that monster as quickly as possible."

After Hexi Qing spurred his horse forward, the carnage that unfolded before his eyes far exceeded the numbers reported by the grassland warrior.

Corpses. Corpses littered the streets everywhere. The grassland armored soldiers who had once rampaged through the streets had now been torn to pieces, mingled with the townspeople they had butchered.

"...Wait? Those aren't axe wounds!"

With only a glance at the bodies in the distance, Hexi Qing furrowed his brow.

It was the corpse of a grassland rider. Judging from the way he had fallen, he must have intended to charge with his lance—but some sort of long weapon had knocked aside its tip from a considerable distance.

Then, as their figures crossed, the horse's head and the rider's upper body had both been sliced off at an angle by a sharp blade.

Hexi Qing could not have known that heirloom great axe any better.

An axe simply could not leave wounds like that.

"So it isn't just the axe..."

The foreboding in Hexi Qing's heart grew ever stronger.

The farther he rode, the deeper Hexi Qing's frown became, for the corpses of the grassland armored soldiers on the ground bore even more varied wounds.

Some had been cleaved open by sharp blades, their cuts smooth and clean. Others seemed to have been stabbed by a storm of blades, shredded into heaps of flesh. Some appeared to have been hurled bodily to the ground, their organs shattered by the impact. Others had had their entire heads, helmets and all, smashed down into their chests.

But what drew Hexi Qing's attention most were the burn marks on those corpses.

This was no ordinary fire. He could smell something familiar in it.

It made Hexi Qing quietly grip the hilt of the saber at his waist.

"Could it be that this monster has already reached that stage as well?"

Hexi Qing's expression grew uglier still.

Everyone knew that slaughtering too much with blade in hand would inevitably let blood Sha Qi seep into the body, slowly driving one mad and leading one beyond the human—but few knew that even among the inhuman, there were higher and lower ranks.

Through deliberate slaughter, Hexi Qing had accumulated an immense amount of blood Sha Qi and had already stepped into that realm.

That was why this situation gave him such a headache.

Only he—and only he—could contend with a monster of that level. As for those soldiers who had likewise been invaded by blood Sha Qi... before a monster that had entered the next stage, their ordinary degree of blood Sha Qi could not even last a single exchange.

Just as Liu Yanran, the commanding governor of Jizhou, had fared against his single slash.

This was a difference in quality, an absolute difference.

Yet now, that monster had also grasped similar power and entered a realm close to his own.

"Killing him may prove a little troublesome..."

Hexi Qing continued riding forward.

It was then that he finally saw that familiar heirloom great axe.

With a shrill howl, the ancient great axe split a grassland armored soldier's head clean open, helmet and all. Immediately after, a five-foot-long saber swept out diagonally, slicing apart another grassland armored soldier from an unimaginable angle and distance.

More grassland armored soldiers rushed in. Their eyes had long since turned crimson from blood Sha Qi invading their bodies, transforming them into bloodthirsty fiends who knew only how to kill and take lives. But a blaze of searing fire blocked their path. In the instant those armored soldiers hesitated, a figure burst from the flames and, in the blink of an eye, stabbed the leading soldier full of holes.

Even now, no one had seen how that figure had drawn his blade.

Except Hexi Qing, who had arrived from afar.

"Fall back! You are no match for him!"

With only one look, Hexi Qing had confirmed it.

It was this person. It could only be this person.

The murderer who had killed his younger brother was the person before him!

"Fall back! I'll kill him myself!"

Upon hearing Hexi Qing's order, the grassland armored soldiers, though their eyes were red with slaughter, still gritted their teeth and withdrew to the side.

As Hexi Qing's direct subordinates, Hexi Qing was their sky.

"So it was you who killed my... Hm?"

Hexi Qing had barely dismounted and drawn his saber when his brow suddenly tightened.

The ones retreating before him were not just the grassland armored soldiers.

Even the figure carrying the great axe sheathed his weapon and began withdrawing toward the distance.

"Wha—"

Before Hexi Qing could even say a word, the murderer of his younger brother had already swung onto a horse and galloped away into the distance.

"Elder Brother is so imposing!"

"Amazing! Just as expected of Elder Brother!"

"He scared that monster away with just one look! Only Elder Brother could do something like that!"

Seeing the vicious criminal who had just slaughtered so many people now fleeing in panic, the grassland armored soldiers, though red-eyed from killing, could not help praising Hexi Qing's martial prowess.

Who besides the mighty Hexi Qing could drive off an enemy with nothing but a glance?

"No... no!"

Hexi Qing came back to his senses and immediately vaulted onto his horse.

"Chase him! Hurry! We cannot let him escape! He's normal! He isn't mad at all!"

"Th-This..."

Though they did not understand why their elder brother had suddenly become so anxious, the grassland warriors still obeyed Hexi Qing's command, found their horses, and set off in pursuit.

But after wasting so much time, how could they possibly catch up to that figure galloping far ahead?

"Elder Brother, what is it?"

Muer Shu, towering nine feet tall like an iron pagoda, also rode over and kept pace at Hexi Qing's side.

"If we can't catch him today, why not let it go? The armored soldiers have been killing all day, and they're all rather tired... Besides, the murderer's roots are in Yang Family Fort. No matter how he runs, he cannot escape our pursuit..."

"You have it backward, Muer Shu."

Hexi Qing's face was livid.

"Right now, it isn't us hunting him. He is hunting you."

Watching the crimson figure in the distance—a lone rider, far away yet refusing to leave for a long time—Hexi Qing clenched the hilt of his saber.

"The enemy hides in darkness while we stand in the light... Do you remember how we breached the Jizhou Governor's Office?"

"He is using my methods. He intends to swallow you all first."