Poison of Estrangement

"You're asking for death!"

After a brief moment of shock, Wang Hu's face was instantly replaced by boundless ferocity.

He was, after all, a battle-hardened guard captain. His powerful cultivation at the Eighth Level of Body Tempering allowed him to snap back from his terror in an instant.

He didn't retreat. Instead, he let out a beast-like roar, stomped his foot down, and the solid wooden floor cracked with a boom. His fists, as large as cooking pots and imbued with potent Blood Essence, shot out like cannonballs, neither dodging nor evading, heading straight for Chen Chen's head!

Feinting to rescue the besieged Wei by attacking Dai! Attacking an attack!

He was confident that with his strength at the Eighth Level of Body Tempering, he could smash this little bastard's head into a pulp before the opponent's blade could even fall!

However, he was facing someone with two lifetimes of combat experience, a revenger who had calculated everything to the extreme.

A flicker of mockery flashed in Chen Chen's eyes.

Just as Wang Hu's punch was about to land, Chen Chen's figure suddenly became indistinct, like a wisp of smoke, shifting half a foot to the left.

Seven Shadows Step!

Wang Hu's seemingly certain punch missed, grazing Chen Chen's afterimage and blasting a huge hole in the wall behind him with its violent force!

Meanwhile, Chen Chen had latched onto him like a parasite, closing in on his flank.

The steel saber in his hand drew a tricky and vicious arc, not aiming for Wang Hu's vital points, but for the relatively vulnerable area beneath his right ribs!

Wang Hu's face changed drastically. He had never expected the opponent's movement technique to be so bizarre!

In his haste, he could only forcefully twist his body, using his heavily muscled arm to block the saber strike.

"Pfft!"

The blade sank into flesh, and blood splattered!

Chen Chen's saber left a wound deep enough to see bone on Wang Hu's arm.

But Wang Hu also managed to create some distance, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief.

Ninth Level of Body Tempering!

This little bastard was actually at the Ninth Level of Body Tempering!

The intelligence was wrong! Terribly wrong!

"Guards! An assassin..."

Wang Hu opened his mouth to call for help.

But he only managed to utter three words before his voice abruptly stopped.

Because Chen Chen's attack had not paused in the slightest. One strike missed, and the second, the third followed, like a continuous storm!

The saber light wove a net of death within the small room.

Slash, chop, lift, stab!

Each strike was simple and direct, yet lethally vicious, a desperate, life-for-a-life approach.

Wang Hu was forced to retreat steadily under this frenzied assault, only able to clumsily swing his arms to block, not even having time to draw his own saber.

The more he fought, the more alarmed he became.

Not only was the opponent's cultivation higher, but their combat experience and grasp of timing were as sharp as an old veteran's, not like a mere youth!

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The collision of arms and saber produced a dense sound of metal striking metal.

Wang Hu's arms were already bloody and mangled, blood staining half his body.

"You little beast, I'll fight you to the death!"

Wang Hu knew that if this continued, he would eventually be worn down and killed. A look of determination flashed in his eyes. Ignoring the saber strike aimed at his chest, he condensed all his Blood Essence into his right fist and, abandoning all defense, threw a fierce punch!

A mutual kill!

However, Chen Chen was waiting precisely for this moment of madness.

The instant Wang Hu threw his punch, the saber Chen Chen had swung at his chest suddenly plunged downwards at an unbelievable angle.

The blade twisted, fiercely slicing towards Wang Hu's punching wrist!

Wang Hu's pupils contracted sharply!

He wanted to retract his fist, but it was already too late.

"Crack!"

A bone-chilling sound of cracking bone.

Wang Hu's entire right fist, along with his wrist, was severed clean off!

"Ah--!"

A piercing scream finally broke through his throat.

But in the next second, a cold blade ruthlessly swept across his neck.

[Ding! Killed a martial artist at the Eighth Level of Body Tempering, gained 80 Cultivation Points!]

Wang Hu's massive head flew into the sky, his face still etched with extreme pain and unwillingness.

Chen Chen's expression was blank as he kicked the headless corpse away.

He walked to the wall, dipped his hand in the warm blood, and next to Wang Fugui's character "Chen", he wrote another bloody, large character.

"--Chen!"

Having done all this, he didn't linger. He turned and leaped out the window, sticking to the wall like a gecko, silently sliding down and disappearing back into the dark underground sewer.

From his infiltration, to killing Wang Hu, to his safe retreat.

The entire process took less than fifteen minutes.

When the other guards and Blood Guards in the martial arts hall noticed something was wrong and broke down the door, all they saw were two corpses and the two shocking blood characters on the wall, as if mocking them.

"Great Commander!!!"

A roar of utter horror once again shook the night sky of Qingyang City.

Wang Family Manor, the council hall.

"Bang!"

Another table made of hundred-year-old ironwood was smashed into a sky full of wood chips by Wang Wei's palm.

"Trash! All of you are trash!"

His eyes were bloodshot, like a beast ready to devour, and he stared fiercely at the guards and Blood Guards kneeling on the ground, trembling.

"Nearly a hundred guards! Ten Blood Guards! A commander at the Eighth Level of Body Tempering! And yet, you let a mere child slip through your fingers, kill someone, and retreat with ease!"

"Do I, the Wang Family, raise you to be mere gluttons?!"

His roar made the entire hall hum.

Everyone in the hall kept their heads down, not daring to even take a deep breath.

Fear, like dark clouds, shrouded everyone's hearts.

That remnant of the Chen Family was too terrifying!

He was like a ghost walking in the dark night; you never knew when he would appear, or in what manner he would take your life.

The first time, it was the Foreign Affairs Manager.

The second time, it was the Captain of the Guards.

So, what about the third time?

Would it be himself?

This kind of unknown fear was more torturous than facing an army of thousands.

"Patriarch, that... that little thief's cultivation has likely reached the Ninth Level of Body Tempering..." a Blood Guard captain said, his voice trembling.

"Ninth Level of Body Tempering?" A flash of undisguised fear flickered in Wang Wei's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by deeper malice.

"So what? My Wang Family is not a pushover that can be kneaded at will!"

He suddenly turned to the two family heads sitting in the guest seats, their faces equally grim.

"Brother Li! Brother Zhao! You both saw it! This little beast has gone mad! If he can kill someone from my Wang Family today, he can kill someone from your families tomorrow! We are all in the same boat now. If we don't work together to capture him and tear him to shreds, Qingyang City will never know peace!"

The Li Family Patriarch and the Zhao Family Patriarch exchanged glances, seeing the solemnity and... a hint of wavering in each other's eyes.

They had initially thought this was just a private feud between the Wang Family and the Chen Family.

Now, it seemed that this Chen Chen had become an uncontrollable madman, a huge hidden danger threatening all of them.

The Li Family Patriarch pondered for a moment and said, "Brother Wang, this brat is elusive. Searching the entire city is like finding a needle in a haystack. In my opinion, it's better to guide than to block. Let our three families join forces and release news that a 'Crimson Blood Ginseng' about to mature has been discovered at 'Sky Eagle Cliff' outside the city. Such a spiritual medicine is enough to drive countless rogue cultivators mad, and that brat Chen Chen, in order to increase his strength, will surely be tempted!"

"As long as he dares to leave the city, Sky Eagle Cliff is an open area with nowhere to hide. At that time, experts from our three families will emerge, setting up a net to ensure he never returns!"

This was an open scheme.

A poisonous plan to lure the snake out of its hole with a great treasure.

A sharp glint flashed in Wang Wei's eyes, and he slapped his thigh. "Good! A good plan! Let's do it!"

He seemed to already see the scene of Chen Chen being dismembered by a thousand blades, a cruel smile appearing on his face.

However, none of them knew.

On the roof of a civilian house not far from the Wang Family Manor, a figure lay quietly.

Chen Chen.

Thanks to the powerful divine soul of the Nine Nether Soul Refining Art, he could "eavesdrop" on all the conversations in the council hall from hundreds of meters away.

"Sky Eagle Cliff? Crimson Blood Ginseng?"

A cold sneer curved Chen Chen's lips.

They want to lure me out of the city?

Unfortunately, your plan is mistaken.

He didn't leave; instead, he continued to lurk.

What he was waiting for were people from the Li and Zhao families to emerge from the Wang Family's residence.

Half an hour later.

The Li Family Patriarch and the Zhao Family Patriarch, along with their respective guards, hastily departed the Wang Family mansion.

Chen Chen's figure, like a falling leaf, silently followed them.

However, he wasn't following the two much stronger family heads.

Instead... he followed two Li Family guards who had fallen to the back of the group, responsible for bringing up the rear.

After passing through several pitch-black alleyways.

Chen Chen made his move.

His figure, as if teleporting, appeared behind those two guards.

Before they could react, two knife-hand strikes had precisely landed on the backs of their necks.

Those two guards, at the Body Tempering Third Layer, collapsed to the ground without even a chance to grunt.

Chen Chen dragged the two into the deeper darkness.

A moment later.

He emerged from the darkness, already clad in a set of Li Family guard attire, and his face had been disguised with a special potion to appear unfamiliar.

He hung one of the guards' waist tokens on his own waist.

Then, he walked to the side of the other guard's corpse, and using that guard's saber, he left a blade mark unique to the Wang Family's Blood Fiend Saber Technique on the corpse.

After completing all this, he tossed the corpse onto the road that was the only path to the Zhao Family mansion.

"Wang Family, Li Family, Zhao Family..."

"This pot of water isn't murky enough yet."

"I'll help you stir the flames a little more."

Chen Chen's figure once again merged into the darkness, his direction clearly towards... the Zhao Family mansion!