Ghost Cultivator Suspicions, Ruthless Torture

Just as Chen Mu set out to kill his way to Rubble Ward.

In the west of the city, the Red Whale Gang's main hall was steeped in panic.

Those martial men who had once been so fierce now all looked ashen and haggard, as though they had not slept all night.

"Gang Leader, what are we supposed to do?"

"Who could have imagined that Bai Le Ward had a ghost cultivator hidden there?"

"We rashly charged in and provoked that ghostly old woman. Now Corpse Venom has entered all our bodies—we may not have many days left!"

Everyone spoke at once, making such a din that Wei Chen, the gang leader seated at the head, wore a face as dark as storm clouds.

Yesterday, he had suffered a loss at Zhao Dong's hands. Not only had he failed to seize the Waterway Map, he had been mocked besides.

Zhao Dong had laughed at the mighty leader of the Red Whale Gang for being toyed with by some nameless brat who had crawled out of nowhere, and for even having one of his hall masters beheaded.

When Wei Chen returned, rage had rushed to his heart. He issued a death order for his men to search for Chen Mu.

But Chen Mu had already left the city. Where could he possibly find him?

Then the situation took a sudden turn. One of Ma San's subordinates whom Yan Rong had captured back then had not yet died, and he revealed a piece of news!

Chen the Butcher still had a sickly wife at home! He guarded her tightly in ordinary times, treating her like a priceless treasure.

Wei Chen ordered a thorough search, and they eventually tracked her down in Bai Le Ward!

Everything had originally gone smoothly, but the trouble was that Old Madam Li, who lived behind the City God Temple, actually possessed some wicked art of controlling corpses and commanding ghosts.

Several hall masters of the Red Whale Gang led a crowd of thugs to kill their way in, intending to smash, loot, and slaughter.

Who would have thought that, the moment they met, a sinister wind swept over them and ghostly mist shrouded their bodies? Several Refined Corpses burst out and beat them until they toppled horses and overturned men.

By the time they came to their senses, the people in the courtyard had vanished, while every one of the hall masters was wounded and tainted by Corpse Venom.

If they did not receive high-grade yang-aspected pills for treatment, they would likely turn into stiff corpses within days.

"Gang Leader! You have to think of something!"

"We've braved death and spilled blood for the Red Whale Gang! We can't just die so inexplicably at a ghost cultivator's hands!"

At this moment, everyone's faces were blackened and bruised, their lips purple-black. They surrounded Wei Chen, weeping and wailing as they begged him to save their lives.

Wei Chen immediately grew irritated and slammed his palm on the table.

"Enough! Shut up, all of you. What are you making such a racket for?"

"Have the men sent to Rubble Ward returned? Where is that butcher surnamed Chen?"

"That ghostly old woman must be deeply entangled with Chen the Butcher. Have the men below capture him. Then we won't have to fear that we can't trade him for the antidote to the Corpse Venom."

The hall masters immediately quieted at those words, then promptly erupted into a clamor.

"Right, we have to capture that damned brat alive!"

"If not for him, how would we have been poisoned by Corpse Venom? Let's go! We'll all go together!"

As they spoke, the crowd truly surged out in a swarm, gathering men and heading toward Rubble Ward.

Wei Chen sat in the seat of honor and watched the scene without saying a word.

"Alas, troubled times indeed."

He let out a deep sigh. Recently, demon and ghost incidents had been occurring frequently in the city, and deep winter was fast approaching.

Just this morning, scouts outside the city had sent word that someone had seen a northern village suffer a bloody massacre.

It looked like barbarians from beyond the pass had slipped in to raid for grain.

The Red Whale Gang's waterway business could not continue for the time being either. This winter would likely be hard to endure.

The more he thought about it, the more Wei Chen resented Chen Mu.

Come to think of it, the Red Whale Gang had started suffering such rotten luck only after running into Chen Mu.

"You little beast! Just don't let this old man catch you!"

With a cold snort, he turned and went into the inner courtyard to practice martial arts, having no intention of personally going out to lie in wait.

That brat was merely at Body Tempering. He was not worthy of the "Ghost-Hand Saber" personally making an appearance.

Meanwhile, in Rubble Ward.

Chen Mu had already returned to the vicinity of his home.

He did not rashly reveal himself. Instead, he used his lightness skill to creep closer, and soon spotted several furtive figures in a corner of his backyard.

They were Red Whale Gang disciples, crouching by the wall and keeping watch.

"When will these days ever end?"

"This broken courtyard doesn't even have a single hair in it. What use is there in squatting here forever?"

One of the saber-wielders muttered under his breath.

The companion beside him was just about to speak when his pupils suddenly widened. "Watch out!"

Splat!

The instant the man spoke, a cold flash carrying deep, mysterious saber radiance streaked in from the side.

Two heads flew up almost at once, then rolled across the ground.

[ Ding! Killed two martial men. Seized vital blood: +20. Gained Karmic Slaughter: +2 ]

Chen Mu swiftly sheathed his saber, grabbed the two corpses, and shoved them into the tangled grass.

Killing these two now yielded only a meager amount of mixed, impure vital blood. The moment it entered Chen Mu's body, it was refined away, bringing scarcely any improvement.

Even the Karmic Slaughter was far less than what he gained from killing Corpse Fiends.

This made Chen Mu realize that if he wished to further improve his cultivation in the future, he would likely have to leave the city like disciples from the other martial schools and slay demons and exorcise evil.

But there was something more urgent at hand. Finding A-Ning came first.

After his cultivation had advanced greatly, his five senses had become sharper as well. The instant he arrived, he had sensed no fewer than seven or eight people hiding nearby.

That was why Chen Mu had struck cleanly and decisively, leaving no survivors.

He immediately leaped and darted about, arriving at another corner of the wall in a few flashes. His large palm silently pressed down, clamping around a man's throat.

Crack!

The man did not even have time to react before his throat was crushed, and he died on the spot.

[ Ding! Killed one martial man. Seized vital blood: +10. Gained Karmic Slaughter: +1 ]

Chen Mu flung aside the corpse and repeated the process. Within moments, he had killed another five men.

Finally, he reached the back gate and threw two punches with a bang, bang, knocking out two saber-wielders who were cowering beneath the wall.

A short while later, inside the courtyard.

Chen Mu tightly bound the two men and tossed them into the livestock shed.

He then scooped up a bucket of icy water mixed with chunks of snow and, after a long time, picked up the Bone-Splitting Knife he used to slaughter pigs and sheep.

When he came before the two men, Chen Mu directly splashed two ladles of ice water over them.

Splash!

"Cough, cough, cough..."

The two men became drowned rats, coughing violently as they awoke.

"Who... No, wait, i-it's you? Chen the Butcher!"

Seeing Chen Mu sharpening the Bone-Splitting Knife before their eyes with a ringing scrape, they were so frightened that they kicked frantically against the ground, smearing through bloody mud as they shrank into the corner.

"You're awake? Good, then..."

Chen Mu did not waste words. With a sweep of his palm as broad as a fan, he grabbed the two men and flung them onto the butcher's block where he used to slaughter sheep.

"Come on. Choose for yourselves."

"I'll keep only one of you alive for questioning. The other, I plan to take apart bone by bone and sell as meat."

As he spoke, Chen Mu seized one man's hand and directly hung it from a meat hook.

The man's palm was pierced clean through by the curved iron hook. Blood instantly poured out as he wailed in agony:

"Don't! Don't kill me! Master Chen, ask away! I'll tell you anything!"

Seeing Chen Mu treat people as though he were slaughtering pigs, the other man's legs shook so badly that he dropped to his knees and kowtowed.

"Grandpa Chen, spare my life! We're just gang lackeys! Ask whatever you want, this little one will tell you everything he knows! Please don't kill me!"

Before Chen Mu had even used his knife, the two men had already been scared out of their wits.

Seeing this, he did not delay. Taking advantage of the moment, he pressed them. "Listen carefully. I'll only ask once."

"Whoever answers too slowly, or if your answers differ, both of you will die."

The moment Chen Mu said this, the two men swallowed hard in terror.

"Ask us!"

They spoke in unison.

Chen Mu immediately barked, "Speak! Where are the people you captured in Bai Le Ward being held?"

The two men froze at the question. The man hanging from the hook hurriedly shook his head. "I don't know! We didn't capture anyone at all!"

The other man also cried out his innocence. "Master Chen! A misunderstanding! It must be a misunderstanding! We never went to Bai Le Ward!"

Chen Mu deeply furrowed his brows upon hearing this.

He had just applied every bit of psychological pressure he could. Judging from how these two looked as though they were about to piss themselves, they did not seem to be lying.

They had not gone to Bai Le Ward. Then who had taken A-Ning?

Or were these two only telling half the truth?

"You still dare deceive me? You're courting death!"

Violence rose in Chen Mu's heart, and the Ox-Slicing Saber Technique that had long seeped into his bones flowed forth at his fingertips.

Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat!

Flesh and blood flew from the saber-wielder hanging in the air. In the blink of an eye, the boning knife had flayed him to a bloody mess, yet avoided his vital points, leaving him unable to die despite his screams.

The man on the ground saw the bloody scene and nearly had his soul flee in terror. He no longer dared conceal the slightest thing and hurriedly kowtowed.

"Don't! Don't kill me! I'll talk! This little one knows who went to Bai Le Ward!"

"It was Hall Master Zhao! Last night, Hall Master Zhao personally led several brothers to Bai Le Ward!"