Chapter Ninety: Everyone Must Die

Thud.

The mountain sprite’s corpse hit the ground, blood spilling out. Lu Qian darted forward and caught the blood in a bottle. At first he had intended to use his own, but on reflection, he decided against it.

If the dao soldiers refined from it ended up looking like him, and carried the same bloodline, then was Lu Qian their master, or their father?

Better to use the blood of some other fierce beast.

After gathering the blood, he cut away the hide, flesh, bones, and the rest, and packed them into his cloth bag.

Whoosh.

His figure vanished into the night.

In the deep darkness, the streets were empty. A black shadow moved like a crow, slipping through eaves and corners.

These past few days he had been trying to learn more about the Azure Void Temple. Unfortunately, mortal channels of information were too poorly connected, and he still had nothing.

"I wonder whether Master is dead or alive," Lu Qian thought.

The invisible demon formed from the gathering of countless shadow fiends that day remained vivid in his memory. If a trace of that demon fire touched him, all this hard-won cultivation would be turned to ash.

This cheap master of his, Li Du, truly was astonishing.

No wonder he had been hailed as a genius once in five hundred years.

Even after a century of surveillance, he had still found a different path and walked the great way of the heavenly demon.

Such talent was rare in the world.

As for character, he was difficult to fault; a hundred years later, there were still those who remembered his kindness.

Had he belonged to an orthodox sect, he would have been nurtured as a future seed of the school. Sadly, he had been born in the wrong place.

"Moro... if we meet again, I doubt you will be the same old acquaintance."

Lu Qian silently rolled that name around in his mind.

The title Moro sounded a little like the extraterritorial demon lords of strange tales and folklore: Demon of the Moon, Shakra, and the like.

Most heavenly demons had a true name of their own, and to chant it was to draw their favor.

As he thought, he had unknowingly reached the rear courtyard.

He stepped into the room, and his body turned into a paper figure. The Heaven-Making cloth bag was placed before his true body.

Once again, he entered cultivation.

The path of cultivation lay in diligence and bitter effort.

For a full month, Lu Qian spent nearly all his time sitting in meditation, practicing arts, and preparing medicine. He did not dare relax for a single day.

Whoosh.

Late one night, he suddenly opened his eyes.

The Fish-Dragon Moonlight Blood Seed blazed with radiance.

His frame elongated, rising to nine feet, with purple hair and golden eyes. Dark yellow and black vein-like fish-scale patterns spread across his skin.

His temperament changed in an instant, becoming sinister yet noble. His extraordinary build did not seem bulky at all; instead, it was graceful and majestic.

Huff.

His golden eyes shone brilliantly as blue ethereal wood energy surged forth. The instant that blue light left his body, it became a streak of cyan radiance.

That light flowed onward, sinking into all things.

Then it flared again.

A breeze passed through, and tiny glimmers of light were drawn into his eyes, which shone with divine brilliance. Back and forth, the tally of the ethereal wood thunder rose a little.

Huff.

Lu Qian exhaled a mouthful of turbid air and returned to his original form.

He suppressed the urge to unleash lightning.

Such a disturbance would be too great.

"Right now, absorbing ethereal wood energy only lets me release a single azure bolt. Once I cultivate it to full mastery, it should increase quite a bit."

Both innate spells held tremendous potential for growth, advancing together with his blood-refinement realm. The next stage after ethereal wood divine thunder would be ethereal wood god thunder.

Still, the distance to nourishing the spirit, or transforming his blood throughout his body, was far off.

"I have to find a spirit-nourishing technique, or else I'll only be able to keep hammering away at body cultivation," Lu Qian thought.

His guiding method was nearing completion; without a cultivation art by then, there would be no road ahead.

Body cultivation would do, but it was only just getting started, and it would still demand years of bitter practice.

What he lacked most right now was power.

On another front:

"After hurting our young master, you still want to run? Stop!"

"Old dog! Bullying the weak with the strong—what kind of hero are you!"

Clutching his arm, Xie Han fled in a sorry state, weaving and dodging as he avoided the pursuit of the enemies behind him.

He had originally been drinking in a tavern with his second brother, Xie Ming.

Xie Ming had gotten into a minor dispute with a young noble over a woman, and things had turned heated.

Xie Han thought his standing in the martial world would earn them some face.

But when the other side spoke rudely, he lost his temper and smashed the man’s head.

He had not expected the other party to be the eldest son of Ten Thousand Swords Manor.

Ten Thousand Swords Manor was full of experts, and thus this scene came to pass.

Behind him, the black-robed elder moved as fast as a leopard.

Bang.

Inner force surged, his robes billowing as he struck with a palm.

The blow landed on Xie Han’s back.

Pfft!

"Aah!" Xie Han coughed up blood and flew backward, miraculously landing in the water.

"The Mighty Escort Bureau..." The black-robed elder savored those words over and over, murderous intent flashing fiercely in his eyes.

The next day, Ten Thousand Swords Manor issued a death warrant.

They demanded that the Mighty Escort Bureau hand over the culprit within seven days, or the entire Xie clan would be exterminated.

In the ancestral hall of the Xie family, both the clan elders and the head of the family were present.

The whole room was in an uproar.

"Ten Thousand Swords Manor cannot be offended. We must hand over Xie Han."

"Exactly. Ten Thousand Swords Manor is full of experts; we can only bow our heads."

Several old men stepped forward to speak.

Xie Xuan, seated in the chief chair, pondered in silence, then turned and asked, "What is your opinion?"

Beside him stood Xie Ji, the father of Xie Han and Xie Ming.

At the center of the crowd stood the two young men, Xie Han and Xie Ming.

Xie Ji was a middle-aged man dressed like a scholar, with three long wisps of beard drifting before his chest. "Though this affair was caused by Ming'er, the responsibility still lies with Xie Han. A man must take responsibility for his own actions. As my son, you should understand that."

The latter part was directed at Xie Ming.

At those words, Xie Ming felt as though his mind had exploded. His face turned ashen, and an absurd feeling rose in his heart.

"Xie Han, you must think of the family. This old man will spare no effort to preserve your life; at worst, you'll suffer some flesh wounds." Xie Xuan urged earnestly.

Xie Han said nothing.

He had done so much for the family, contributing marvelous arts and secret methods.

Yet at this crucial moment, they still cast him aside like something discarded underfoot.

He looked around. In the past, these people had treated him with great respect.

Now they wore faces of disgust, resentful that he had brought them trouble.

"Fine. In seven days, I will give you a satisfactory answer."

Xie Han walked out in a daze.

As he passed the rear courtyard, he vaguely heard the first madam muttering to herself.

"The wretch. We should have poisoned him to death together with that slut."

Xie Han’s steps faltered, but he pretended not to hear and went on.

Had anyone stood before him, they would have seen his eyes blood-red, his fists clenched, nails driven deep into his flesh.

Thud.

Xie Han walked to the front of Lu Qian’s room and knelt.

Creak.

The door slowly opened.

The Taoist’s face was hidden in the darkness, half smiling and half not.

"Have you made up your mind?"

"I understand, sir. No matter what the cost."

"I want your body and soul to serve me as master, life and death to rest in my hands, and no betrayal for the rest of your days. I also want the entire foundation of the Mighty Escort Bureau and all its holdings."

"Agreed!" Xie Han’s gaze was resolute, his expression sinister as a ghost’s.

A pale hand extended from the darkness, holding a bright red pill.

...

The seven days were up, yet Xie Han had mysteriously vanished.

The Xie family searched high and low, but could not find him. It was as though he had simply disappeared from the world.

Soon after, a group of white-clad sword-bearing men surrounded the entire residence.

Since the culprit could not be produced, battle began.

The number and quality of the other side’s experts far exceeded the Xie family’s. It was almost a one-sided slaughter.

The stone-paved road was dyed red, with corpses on both sides.

Then a man in a black cloak dropped down among them.

His hood fell back, revealing his closed eyes.

"Xie Han! Quickly apologize to them and save us!" Xie Xuan cried at once.

Then Xie Han opened his vertical beastlike pupils, his teeth sharp. "Who said I’m here to save you? Heh heh... everyone must die."