Night of Slaughter

"You seem less devoted to your Buddha than you are to the Zhu Family."

With a casual kick, Chen Yuan sent Uncle Zhou's head tumbling off the cliff.

Up ahead, Zhu Chengzu's heart sank the moment he heard Uncle Zhou's scream.

Uncle Zhou was different from the other retainers. He was a consecrated guest of the Zhu Family and his father Zhu Chaofeng's sworn friend through life and death, an elder they could trust without question.

Moreover, Uncle Zhou was extremely strong. He was a disciple from a major sect like Vajra Prajna Temple, and those lowly wanderers of the martial world were no match for him.

Yet even Uncle Zhou had failed to stop that man. Just how terrifying was his strength?

When Zhu Chengzu finally made it down Sunwatch Peak's narrow mountain path, he immediately let out a breath of relief.

But before he could finish exhaling, a voice that filled him with terror suddenly sounded behind him.

"You're a really slow runner. That old monk risked his life to stop me so you could escape, but unfortunately, you didn't cherish the time he bought you."

Zhu Chengzu did not even dare turn around. He frantically circulated his inner force and sprinted forward.

But with the sound of a blade ringing out, he suddenly realized that his field of vision was getting lower and lower.

When he saw a headless corpse still running forward from inertia, his own head had already hit the ground and was rolling nonstop.

The Zhu Family retainers around him immediately scattered and fled.

They were retainers who had taken the Zhu Family's money. They were nowhere near as loyal to the Zhu Family as Uncle Zhou had been.

Besides, Zhu Chengzu was already dead. What were they risking their lives for?

Chen Yuan did not pursue them too far. He merely caught up to and slew every Zhu Family retainer within sight.

Leaving them alive would better allow fear to envelop the entire Zhu Family.

As night fell, within the Zhu Family estate.

Zhu Chengan felt deeply uneasy.

But Uncle Zhou had gone with them, so there should not have been any problems.

Just then, something was suddenly thrown into the estate.

The Zhu Family servants went over to inspect it and discovered that it was Zhu Chengzu's head. They immediately shrieked in panic and hurried to report it to Zhu Chengan.

Upon hearing the news, Zhu Chengan swayed, his face turning pale at once.

It was over!

A quarter of an hour later, in the Zhu Family's main hall.

Zhu Chaofeng covered Zhu Chengzu's face with his hand, trying to close his eyelids, only to find that he could not do so no matter what.

Just as Zhu Chengan was about to say something, Zhu Chaofeng suddenly slapped him hard across the face, drawing blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Your fourth brother is dead! Your carelessness got your fourth brother killed!"

Zhu Chaofeng's hand trembled, his eyes filled with rage and grief.

This was his most beloved fourth son!

"Father, calm your anger! Eldest Brother didn't do it intentionally."

"That's right, Father. What matters most now is finding the man who killed Fourth Brother and avenging him."

The two men consoled him from the side.

One was thirty-seven or thirty-eight, with square features and Qi Forging Realm cultivation. He was the second son, Zhu Chengguo.

The other was just over thirty and slightly short in stature. He was the third son, Zhu Chengze.

Zhu Chaofeng took two deep breaths, suppressing the grief and fury in his heart as he coldly said, "Who exactly was the man who killed Fourth? Even Old Zhou died at his hands."

Zhu Chengan lowered his head and said, "I had one of the retainers who escaped at the time captured and questioned him about what happened.

Fourth Brother had already invoked the Radiant Extreme Sect, but the other party still insisted on exterminating our entire Zhu Family.

However, according to that retainer, the man's strength was formidable. He didn't seem like an ordinary martial artist. He must have a powerful background!"

"Nonsense! Old Zhou came from Vajra Prajna Temple. Could an ordinary martial artist have killed him?"

Zhu Chaofeng cursed, his gaze cold and sinister like an eagle's.

"No matter who he is, even if someone from the Murong Clan wants to destroy our Zhu Family, we will not sit still and await death!"

Zhu Chaofeng said in a deep voice, "Eldest, lead fifty men with crossbows to seal off the mountain road. No one is allowed in or out.

Second, you and I will each take fifty retainers and search Lone Mountain City for that bastard.

Third, lead the remaining retainers and guard the estate."

"Yes, Father!"

Zhu Chaofeng's arrangements were quite reasonable.

There was only one mountain road. With Zhu Chengan and the retainers guarding it with crossbows, the enemy would not be able to escape even if he wanted to.

And apart from Zhu Chaofeng, the strongest member of the Zhu Family was not the eldest son Zhu Chengan, but the second son Zhu Chengguo.

With these two leading the elite retainers, once they found Chen Yuan's trail, they could crush him through sheer numbers.

After a single command, over a hundred Zhu Family retainers marched out of the estate in a grand procession and began searching the entire city for Chen Yuan.

Meanwhile, Lone Mountain City was in an uproar, with everyone discussing the Zhu Family's misfortune.

Over the years, the Zhu Family had dominated Lone Mountain City alone, acting tyrannically and ruthlessly.

Anyone who dared defy the Zhu Family would suffer a ruined household at best and extermination at worst.

Not long ago, the Zhu Family had even wiped out the always peaceful and law-abiding Chu Family, making everyone in Lone Mountain City feel endangered.

Now that the Zhu Family had fallen into trouble, no one dared say much openly, but privately, they were all gloating.

Yet even as they gloated, they did not believe the Zhu Family could truly be exterminated.

Zhu Chaofeng and his four sons were all quite strong, and the entire Zhu Family had several hundred retainers.

The enemy was only one man, yet he claimed he would destroy the Zhu Family. That was simply too absurd.

At this moment, beneath the cover of night, Chen Yuan, dressed in black, concealed himself in a tree less than fifty zhang from the Zhu Family estate, watching its movements.

After throwing the head, Chen Yuan had not left. He had remained hidden here the entire time.

The Zhu Family had never imagined that Chen Yuan would be so bold as to hide right beside their estate.

Three groups departed from the Zhu Family estate, the many retainers holding torches that stood out in the darkness like three fiery dragons.

Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly when he saw that Zhu Chengan's group was even carrying crossbows.

The Zhu Family truly was audacious to possess such things.

But Youzhou was far from the emperor's reach, and no one really cared about such matters here.

For a Qi Forging Realm martial artist, avoiding a single crossbow bolt was effortless, and shattering one was no great feat either.

But when dozens of crossbows fired in unison, their power became rather terrifying.

Even if you could withstand them, how much strength would you have left after several volleys?

Zhu Chaofeng had once served in the Great Xia Military in his youth. He was vastly experienced in dealing with individual martial artists of great strength.

Lone Mountain City was not large. After estimating the time and waiting until all three groups had gone some distance away, Chen Yuan moved and leaped directly into the Zhu Family estate.

The slaughter was about to begin.

"Enemy attack!"

The instant Chen Yuan stepped into the Zhu Family estate, a retainer immediately shouted.

Upon hearing the cry, Zhu Chengze, who had remained behind to guard the estate, abruptly changed expression.

He had not yet reached the Qi Forging Realm. Guarding the estate should have been the safest assignment, yet that man refused to follow the expected course and actually dared to charge into the Zhu Family!

"Fire arrows! Beat the drums! Archers, prepare! Shield-bearers, move up!"

Zhu Chengze steadied himself and began issuing orders calmly.

Zhu Chaofeng had come from the military, and his training of the Zhu Family retainers bore many traces of the Great Xia Military.

Arrows wrapped in oil-soaked cloth soared into the sky, while drums sounded. They were both meant to raise morale and to alert Zhu Chaofeng and the others that the Zhu Family was under attack.

More than ten retainers carrying shields stood in front, while retainers wielding all manner of weapons stood behind them, surrounding Chen Yuan in the middle.

Massive refined iron shields as tall as a man blocked the way before him, steadily pressing toward Chen Yuan with overwhelming force.

Chen Yuan moved. The Surging Waves, Flowing Clouds Formula stirred the inner force within his acupoints, and in an instant, powerful force surged and erupted like rolling waves.

Azure Dragon Blooddrinker left its sheath. A sky full of blade shadows rained down, blooming with brilliant radiance in the darkness.

Autumn Waters, Startled Goose—Autumn Wind Slash!

Amid repeated explosive booms, vicious blade marks appeared across the refined iron shields around him, some of them even being cut straight through.

The Zhu Family retainers behind the shields could not withstand that immense force and retreated one after another.

Those retainers at the Meridian-Unblocking Realm fared somewhat better, with only blood pouring from the webs between their thumbs and forefingers.

Some retainers who had only reached the Body-Tempering Realm and had never cultivated internal arts were directly shaken to death by the tremendous force of Chen Yuan's strike, their internal organs rupturing!

As soon as someone fell, a gap instantly appeared in the shield formation.

Chen Yuan charged straight into that opening. His swift blade left no shadow, and in the blink of an eye, the surroundings were littered with severed limbs!

Zhu Chengze's face was filled with horror. What kind of monster was this?

In truth, there was nothing wrong with his tactics. The Great Xia Military often used such methods when surrounding and eliminating powerful martial artists.

There was nothing wrong with the weapons either. Though these refined iron shields were of average quality, they were as thick as a palm and difficult to cut through at once even with a Mystic Weapon.

The problem was that Chen Yuan was too strong, while the Zhu Family retainers were too weak.

When the Great Xia Military employed such tactics, they did not use ordinary soldiers, but the finest among the elite.

The shield-bearers in the front had to be martial artists who cultivated external hardening techniques, otherwise they could not withstand a master's first wave of attacks.

But the Zhu Family retainers varied greatly in quality and cultivated all sorts of techniques. At best, they were only slightly better than a rabble.