Blown Apart

"Loose the arrows! Loose the arrows!"

Seeing Chen Yuan shatter the shield formation in an instant, Zhu Chengze immediately hid behind the numerous retainers and roared at the top of his lungs.

After undergoing Blood Fiend Body Tempering, Chen Yuan's five senses had become exceptionally sharp. When there were few arrows, he relied on his perception to evade them directly; when there were many, a single slash of his blade shattered them all.

After that volley of arrows, quite a few of the Zhu Family's retainers were injured by friendly fire instead, provoking a chorus of furious curses.

Yet Chen Yuan seemed utterly unstoppable. His figure darted back and forth through the Zhu Family retainers, raising great sprays of blood and countless severed limbs wherever he passed, vicious and ruthless to the extreme.

Of the more than one hundred retainers present, nearly half were cut down by Chen Yuan in the blink of an eye.

In an instant, the Zhu Family retainers broke down and scattered in all directions.

But when those Zhu Family retainers looked back, they discovered that Zhu Chengze, who had been directing them from the rear, had vanished without a trace.

Zhu Chengze cherished his life dearly.

The moment he saw that things were going wrong, he turned and fled, yet he had not told the Zhu Family retainers to retreat. He had been using their lives to buy himself time.

After killing another dozen or so people, Chen Yuan felt the timing was about right and leaped directly out of the Zhu Family estate.

It did not matter if Zhu Chengze had escaped. Zhu Chengze had never been his target.

Not long after Chen Yuan left, Zhu Chaofeng and Zhu Chengan hurried back to the Zhu Family with their men.

The moment they saw the signal Zhu Chengze had sent, they were shocked. Neither had expected that bastard to be so bold as to take the initiative and attack their home.

Knowing they had fallen for the tactic of luring the tiger from the mountain, they immediately rushed back.

When they pushed open the gates and saw the courtyard littered with mangled limbs and severed arms, Zhu Chaofeng's vision went black.

He had never imagined that he would lose two sons in a single day!

"Father! Big Brother!"

Just as Zhu Chaofeng was searching the ground for his son's corpse, Zhu Chengze suddenly poked his head out from behind an ornamental rock.

"Third Brother, you're alive!?"

Zhu Chengze forced out a smile uglier than weeping. "I led more than a hundred retainers in trying to surround and kill that man, but we simply couldn't stop him. All the retainers fled.

"The moment I saw things were bad, I escaped. That man did not continue pursuing me. He must have realized that Father and Big Brother had returned with reinforcements."

This time, Zhu Chaofeng did not rebuke him. He merely sighed. "It is good that you are all right. Let those retainers scatter if they must. As long as we have money, the Zhu Family will never lack retainers."

"Father, where is Second Brother?" Zhu Chengan suddenly asked.

"I was afraid that bastard might be hiding too well, so I sent Second Brother to investigate the cliffs at the edge of the city."

Lone Mountain City was built atop a mountain, surrounded by sheer cliffs that few people ever visited. It truly was a suitable place for someone to hide.

After saying that, Zhu Chaofeng suddenly sensed that something was wrong. His expression changed drastically. "Damn it! Go save Second Brother!"

As soon as the words fell, Zhu Chaofeng grabbed Zhu Chengan and raced toward the place where his second son, Zhu Chengguo, was.

The enemy truly had been luring the tiger from the mountain—but he had lured it away twice in succession!

His target had never been the weakest, Zhu Chengze, but Zhu Chengguo, the second son whose strength was second only to Zhu Chaofeng's!

At this moment, Zhu Chengguo was also heading back toward the Zhu Family.

However, he had taken his men farther away, so he was the slowest to return.

Chen Yuan stood atop a building, gazing down at the group below.

Among the Zhu Family's Five Tigers, aside from Zhu Chengzong, who was not at the Zhu Family estate, Zhu Chengguo was the strongest, possessing cultivation at the middle stage of the Qi Forging Realm.

In terms of cultivation realm, Zhu Chengguo was even one minor realm above Chen Yuan.

But a realm was a realm, and combat strength was combat strength.

A lower realm did not mean one could not kill.

At that moment, Zhu Chengguo suddenly felt a chill rise within his heart.

He abruptly stopped. In the next instant, heaven-shaking Killing Intent erupted above his head!

Chen Yuan leaped down from the rooftop, activating the Source of Killing Intent and drawing the Blood Fiend into his body. He drove the Surging Waves, Flowing Clouds Formula to its utmost, shrouding his entire body in an eye-searing crimson Blood Fiend aura!

Once Zhu Chaofeng returned to the Zhu Family estate, he would surely notice something was amiss and come to reinforce them at once.

Therefore, to avoid being surrounded by three Qi Forging Realm experts, Chen Yuan had to kill Zhu Chengguo at the fastest possible speed.

To be safe, Chen Yuan directly activated the Source of Killing Intent and unleashed his strongest power.

At present, he could only ensure that the Blood Fiend entering his body would not lose control for five breaths. But five breaths were more than enough to kill Zhu Chengguo.

Blood Fiend light blazed from the Azure Dragon Blooddrinker. As Autumn Wind Slash descended, it brought down scarlet blade shadows that filled the heavens.

This was no longer an autumn wind sweeping across the earth, but an endless rain of blood and storm of gore descending without warning.

Within a radius of one zhang, any martial artist caught even at the edge was instantly torn apart by that supremely tyrannical Blood Fiend Power.

Zhu Chengguo let out a furious roar. His inner force surged madly through his body, sword radiance flickering from the long sword in his hand as he raised sixteen blossoms of sword light in an instant to meet Chen Yuan's attack.

However, the Zhu Family's Heavenly Water Qi Condensation Formula was merely an ordinary lower-grade Profound Tier inner cultivation technique. Its cultivation speed was fairly decent, but its explosive power was extremely weak.

Before that utterly tyrannical Blood Fiend blade radiance, the sword blossoms shattered, the sword light scattered, and the long sword in Zhu Chengguo's hand was instantly ripped into fragments!

Even Zhu Chengguo's right hand was injured by the Blood Fiend aura. Blood immediately streamed from it, deep bone-revealing wounds covering it.

Rather than retreat, Zhu Chengguo advanced. He rapidly tapped several acupoints around his body, and his blood and qi instantly began burning wildly. In an instant, an incomparably violent black Baleful Intent erupted!

This was a secret technique within the Zhu Family's Black Fiend, Fire Cloud Palm.

It burned one's blood and qi to strengthen one's Baleful Intent. Though its explosive force was astonishing, such injuries were irreversible. It could even scorch one's meridians and leave one a complete cripple.

Boundless, violent Black Fiend Force surged over Zhu Chengguo's palms.

With one palm strike, black-red palm force erupted through the air in dense Black Fiend flames, like fiery clouds descending from the sky, dazzling beyond compare in the night.

Chen Yuan struck with his palm as well. Crimson Blood Fiend Power gathered into a massive handprint, and boundless killing calamity descended abruptly!

The palm force of the Bloodslaughter Heaven-Calamity Hand was overwhelmingly tyrannical. With a single strike, all true qi of every attribute in the surroundings was completely suppressed in an instant.

Zhu Chengguo's Black Fiend, Fire Cloud Palm appeared imposing, but beneath Chen Yuan's Bloodslaughter Heaven-Calamity Hand, its fiery clouds were instantly extinguished, its Black Fiend Force suppressed and dissolved.

Before he could react, the handprint crashed down. Astonishing Blood Fiend Power poured into his body, and Zhu Chengguo was blasted into fragments by that palm strike!

Chen Yuan took a deep breath and mobilized all his inner force to suppress his own blood and qi.

Three breaths.

One slash and one palm strike—killing Zhu Chengguo had taken only three breaths.

The surrounding Zhu Family retainers had all been frightened senseless.

From their perspective, Chen Yuan had suddenly descended from the air with a single slash, then brought down one palm and violently blown Zhu Chengguo apart.

The entire sequence unfolded like a hare leaping and a falcon striking, so fast that they could not comprehend it.

They had become retainers of the Zhu Family, so they had all seen their share of Jianghu bloodshed.

But cutting off someone's head with a blade and smashing someone into a puddle of mangled flesh with a palm strike were entirely different things.

Was he even human?

After standing there dumbly for a moment, the Zhu Family retainers under Zhu Chengguo's command scattered in terror.

It was not that they were cowardly. Chen Yuan's palm strike had simply been too horrifying, beating all courage out of them.

At that moment, Zhu Chaofeng and Zhu Chengan finally arrived. Seeing the Zhu Family retainers fleeing in all directions, Zhu Chaofeng roared, "What are you running for!? Where is Second Brother? Where is he!?"

But which of those Zhu Family retainers still had the mind to care about Zhu Chaofeng?

The Zhu Family paid well enough, but it was not worth fighting such a terrifying opponent to the death for them!

"Stop shouting. Your son is right here. These things on the ground are him, and some of him is on the roof too."

Chen Yuan pointed at the puddle of mangled flesh on the ground. Part of it had even splattered onto the rooftop.

Zhu Chaofeng's face went deathly pale. His eyes reddened as he stared fixedly at Chen Yuan.

He had never expected that the man who had killed two of his sons and nearly caused the Zhu Family to fall apart would be so young—young even compared to his youngest son, Zhu Chengzong.

"Who exactly are you!? Why have you dealt such a vicious hand to my Zhu Family!?"

Zhu Chaofeng asked through gritted teeth.

Chen Yuan lightly shook his head. "Every member of the Zhu Family asks me that whenever they see me. I am merely a blade catcher. I accepted a task to wipe out your Zhu Family.

"Eradicating an entire family, that is all. Your Zhu Family has done plenty of this yourselves, so what is there to make such a fuss about?"

"A blade catcher? Do you take me for an idiot? Even if that bitch from the Chu Family sold herself, she could never hire an expert like you to deal with my Zhu Family!"

No matter what, Zhu Chaofeng refused to believe that the expert before him—the one who had killed two of his sons—had been hired by Chu Hongshang to avenge the Chu Family.

"Sigh, I am telling the truth. Why are you all so unwilling to believe it?"

Chen Yuan shook his head, looking utterly helpless.

"Kill him!"

Zhu Chaofeng shouted furiously. True qi erupted around him as he lunged toward Chen Yuan.

Zhu Chengan also attacked with all his strength, following close behind.

But Chen Yuan had only just suppressed the boiling Blood Fiend within himself. He had no desire to risk his life against these two.

He drove the Surging Waves, Flowing Clouds Formula to its absolute limit. With one leap, he crossed several zhang, vanishing into the night in the blink of an eye.