Seven Kill Stele

"Where is the place where Jiang Kaitai is conducting the blood sacrifice for the divine artifact? Do you know?"

Murong Qing asked impatiently.

Only now did he truly believe Chen Yuan.

Of course, he did not believe him completely—at most, eighty percent.

Still, he could not help feeling a trace of excitement.

If he truly obtained the Seven Kill Stele, not only would the Murong Clan have a chance to restore their kingdom, but he, Murong Qing, would soar to greatness as well!

Within the Murong Clan of Dragon City, although Murong Qing was of the direct line, he was not one of the core disciples. He could only be considered middling.

Simply put, the position of clan head was absolutely beyond his reach. In the future, becoming a steward with real authority, then perhaps earning the title of elder in his old age, would already be the best possible outcome.

But if he could obtain the Seven Kill Stele, he, Murong Qing, would be qualified to have a page of his own in the clan genealogy!

"Of course I know. Young Master Murong, please follow me."

Naturally, Jiang Kaitai would never have told Chen Yuan where the true hidden site was, but the plot had made it perfectly clear.

Chen Yuan led Murong Qing all the way to the very center of Linked Mountains City, where the city government office stood.

The entrance to the hidden site where the divine artifact was buried lay beneath that government office.

By the time Chen Yuan and Murong Qing arrived, corpses already littered the grounds.

The county magistrate of Linked Mountains City, along with the constables and runners he had brought, had all been killed by Jiang Kaitai.

Those constables and runners were good enough to intimidate commoners, but before Jiang Kaitai, they were utterly helpless.

In the center of the government office's rear courtyard was an opening in the ground. Inside lay a spiraling stone staircase leading downward, from which an icy chill seeped out.

The staircase was crude and ancient. Judging by its appearance, it had likely existed for several thousand years.

As they descended the stairs, relief carvings and murals covered the surrounding walls.

These details might have existed in the original plot, but Chen Yuan had never personally experienced this part of the story. When revisiting it, he had only skimmed over it, so he now made many new discoveries.

These relief murals had likely been left behind during the late Primordial Era, not long after those powerful gods and demons vanished.

Modern history books collectively classified the era from ten thousand years ago as the Primordial Era.

That period had no clear historical record. The human race was largely organized into clans and sects, or small kingdoms controlling several cities. There was no unified dynasty.

There might have been writing, but every small kingdom had its own system, making it impossible to use as reference.

Afterward, the endless warfare among countless sects and clans gradually became conflict among several hundred small kingdoms, until only the turmoil of the Seven Kingdoms remained.

Only after two thousand more years did a great unified dynasty finally emerge. Writing was standardized, vehicles followed the same tracks, and measurements were unified. Only then did history become precise.

From the background depicted in the murals, this should have been the period after the powerful gods and demons disappeared in the late Primordial Era. Its writing was obscure and difficult to decipher.

Still, Chen Yuan could understand what was depicted merely by looking at the images.

Roughly speaking, a small clan had discovered the Seven Kill Stele and wanted to take control of it. Thus, the clan's priests began setting up an array, while its martial artists waged war outside and captured members of other clans for blood sacrifices.

But halfway through the blood sacrifice, that small clan was jointly exterminated by other clans and sects because it had provoked too many bloody conflicts.

The high priest led some of the clansmen to completely seal off the hidden site containing the Seven Kill Stele, where they remained forever.

The clan head led another group of clansmen through the encirclement and escaped, taking the map with him. He intended to return and continue the blood sacrifice once the clan had grown strong again.

However, something had clearly happened to the clansmen who escaped. Not only did they fail to return, but even the map fell into someone else's hands.

Chen Yuan secretly shook his head.

Wrong. They had been wrong from the very beginning.

What was needed to fuse with the Seven Kill Stele was not a blood sacrifice.

The small clan that had obtained the Seven-Kill Stele Fragment had gotten it wrong, and Jiang Kaitai, following the map, had gotten it wrong as well.

Murong Qing, however, was trembling with excitement.

Previously, he had only believed eighty percent. But after seeing these murals, he believed completely.

The two continued downward, and a pungent smell of blood drifted toward them.

Murong Qing suddenly thought of something and turned to Chen Yuan. "Go back up and guard the entrance. Keep those people from the Blackwater Gang from coming here to cause trouble."

Murong Qing was arrogant in how he carried himself, but exceptionally cautious when it came to action.

Even at a time like this, he had not forgotten that Linked Mountains City still had the Blackwater Gang as a force to reckon with.

Under normal circumstances, Murong Qing would not have regarded the Blackwater Gang as worthy of his attention.

Even if he wiped out the Blackwater Gang outright, the One Qi Piercing Sun Alliance would not do anything to him. At most, he would have to offer an explanation and an apology.

But with a divine artifact before them, there was no telling whether those people from the Blackwater Gang might harbor other intentions.

"Rest assured, Young Master Murong. I'll guard the entrance well."

Chen Yuan patted his chest in assurance.

Murong Qing headed straight for the bottom.

Only after hearing the roar of true qi did Chen Yuan slow his pace and continue downward.

At the bottom of the passage stood a blood-red altar.

The entire altar was carved with densely packed crimson runes. Looking closely, those runes were actually formed from countless streams of flowing blood, moving like living creatures.

At the center of the altar stood an enormous blood-red stele.

Boundless killing intent and blood qi surged from the stele. On closer inspection, it was not a stone stele at all, but something piled from countless bones and cast in blood!

Two lines of writing were inscribed upon the bone-and-blood stele.

The line on the right read: Heaven gives birth to all things to nourish mankind, yet mankind still resents Heaven for its lack of mercy.

On the left were seven black-red, constantly twisting characters for "kill."

Every "kill" was different, written in a different script. As they writhed, their forms continuously changed.

Yet no matter how they changed, the moment one looked at them, one would immediately know that they were seven characters for "kill."

This was the ultimate divine artifact from the first version of Jianghu II, the Seven Kill Stele. It was said not to have been forged after the fact, but to have been formed from the Source of Killing Intent between Heaven and Earth—a divine artifact of slaughter born innately!

Chen Yuan also noticed that among the seven "kill" characters, only one was unusually solid, while the other six appeared somewhat illusory.

The Seven Kill Stele before them looked complete, but it was actually only a fragment. The other portions had been formed from killing intent.

Jiang Kaitai did not know the full story. He truly believed that what lay buried beneath this hidden site was a complete divine artifact.

Before the Seven Kill Stele, Jiang Kaitai was already wrapped in endless blood qi. He desperately tried to squeeze himself into the Seven Kill Stele, attempting to fuse with it.

Murong Qing held the Dragon-Pattern Azuregold Sword. Sword qi crisscrossed from his hand as he frantically attacked Jiang Kaitai, but every strike was blocked by the incomparably dense blood qi surrounding Jiang Kaitai.

"Jiang Kaitai! You dare steal the fortune of my Murong Clan? You're courting death!"

Murong Qing's gaze was icy. Watching Jiang Kaitai draw closer and closer to the Seven Kill Stele, he became increasingly anxious.

"Courting death? Once I fuse with the Seven Kill Stele, we'll see who is courting death!"

Jiang Kaitai turned back and gave Murong Qing a savage grin. "Your Murong Clan is nothing but a fallen household. You shout every day about being descendants of royalty, but who doesn't treat you as a joke?

"The fortune of your Murong Clan? As if you deserve it!

"I discovered the Seven Kill Stele. I planned for twenty years to conduct the blood sacrifice for this divine artifact. This is an opportunity that belongs to me, Jiang Kaitai, alone!

"Once I fuse with the Seven Kill Stele, not only will you die, but your Murong Clan will die too!"

Over the years, he had bowed and scraped before the Murong Clan, fawning over them without a shred of dignity.

If he stood at the pinnacle of the martial world someday, how could outsiders be allowed to know such shameful history?

Therefore, the Murong Clan had to be destroyed. He could not let everyone in the martial world know that Jiang Kaitai had once been the Murong Clan's dog!

"Wishful thinking!"

Murong Qing sneered. "Do you really think that merely fusing with a divine artifact will make you the supreme master of the martial world?

"A divine artifact may be powerful, but it still depends on who wields it.

"The Kunwu Sword is the sharpest weapon under heaven only in the hands of the Sword God Xie Kunwu. In someone else's hands, it is merely a useless poker."

Jiang Kaitai gave a disdainful snort and continued pouring all his strength into fusing with the Seven Kill Stele.

At the same time, he was calculating the timing. Why had the last wave of blood qi not arrived yet?

Could it be that Murong Qing had dealt with Chen Yuan and the other one first, then found this place afterward?

The flowing crimson runes on the altar slowly seeped into Jiang Kaitai's body, becoming fewer and fewer. With no further replenishment, the array's light gradually dimmed.

"Damn it!"

Jiang Kaitai's expression changed.

Without the final blood sacrifice he had arranged, too little vital blood had accumulated—not even half of what he had planned.

If Murong Qing were not here, he could still stop the blood sacrifice and begin again.

But Murong Qing stood right beside him. If he stopped the blood sacrifice now, he would undoubtedly die without a burial place!

Jiang Kaitai suddenly gritted his teeth, and the boundless blood qi around him instantly surged into the Seven Kill Stele.

The next moment, the blood qi returned to Jiang Kaitai's body, carrying boundless killing intent with it. A vast and powerful force instantly emerged.

Jiang Kaitai's aura surged madly, even becoming stronger than Murong Qing, who had reached the Sea Wheel Realm.

Veins bulged across his body and his muscles swelled. He grew two or three feet taller out of thin air, his entire body wrapped in an incomparably powerful Blood Fiend aura.

When he opened his eyes, they were blood-red and filled with savage killing intent.

A long saber appeared in his hand. With one slash, Blood Fiend True Qi surged forth, raising a blood-red saber light several yards long.

Murong Qing's expression changed. He used the Wandering Dragon Step and retreated repeatedly, barely dodging Jiang Kaitai's slash.

Jiang Kaitai had now entered a berserk state. Empowered by boundless Blood Fiend qi, his strength was nearly several times greater than Murong Qing's.

Though his power had surged, that overwhelmingly violent killing intent seemed to have affected Jiang Kaitai's mind.

Chen Yuan could clearly sense that Jiang Kaitai's mind now contained only primal killing intent. He could not even use basic martial techniques.

Jiang Kaitai's trump card, the Northern Dipper Sky Wolf Slash, was at least a Profound Tier saber art. Paired with such extreme Blood Fiend Power, its might would certainly have been even greater.

Yet Jiang Kaitai did not use the Northern Dipper Sky Wolf Slash, nor even the Heavenly Wolf Saber Art. He merely swung his saber in simple, mechanical motions.