Chapter 47: Three Steps, Three Kills

  That vessel recisely the【Life-Nurturing Vessel】on the Medie Manor Lord’s desk!

  And what these Heavenly Will Demonic Sect cultists were doing now was quite simple.

  Regardless of whether these 【Great Blood Pills】 had fully matured, uhe onsught of the Red Armuards, they had to recover the blood pills as quickly as possible to minimize their losses.

  Calm.

  An Jing practiced the Serene Sword Teique, taking a deep breath to steady himself. “These people… are no weaklings!”

  He could not use a firearm, because it would make too muoise. Moreover, if he failed to end the battle swiftly, more members of the Heavenly Will Demonic Sect might e, and then he would have no way to rescue the other children locked in the dungeons.

  Among the three cultists, An Jing reized ohe martial arts instructor called Instructor Han. His strength was sed only to the chief instructor, Instructor Li. The other two were new faces, or at least had never appeared before the children.

  An Jing frowned slightly. Instructor Han was no pushover; he was at Internal Breath Like Rivers pinnacle, a notch above An Jing, and he specialized in toughened-body martial arts. His body was strong and sturdy, his skin a matte shade of bronze, making him look extremely tough.

  The other two were weaker in parison, but one was Internal Breath Like Rivers, and the other was Internal Breath Like Threads. Both were martial artists.

  If there were only one, An Jing could have assassinated him easily, but with two, it was nearly impossible to prevent them from sending out a warning. With three, it would be absolutely impossible.

  “After all, resg the living is more important than dealing with the dead… My goal is to save the children imprisoned in the dungeon. As for these instructors… fet it.”

  At this moment, An Jing forced himself to remain calm.

  His feelings toward the Heavenly Will Demonic Sect were plicated, and they were even more plicated toward these instructors who had been with him for so long.

  If these instructors simply took the Great Blood Pills a, then he would just take the children a as well, parting ways food—ideally o meet again.

  But if…

  An Jing’s expressirave, even as the cultists themselves looked grim.

  “Damn it, why’s this so slow?” Instructor Han still had blood smeared on his face. He scowled, cursing incessantly. “We hese pills to save our brothers’ lives—every moment we waste is another brother lying at death’s door!”

  “That Life-Nurturing Vessel usually refines blood essence pretty fast, doesn’t it? Why is it crawling at this lousy speed now?”

  “My lord, a Fate Artifact requires someoh the corresponding Heaven-Ordained Fate to use it smoothly,” expihe younger cultist. “Only the Medie Manor Lord has the 'Borrow Qi to Restore the Soul' Fate in the manor, so if we want to use it, we have to go slow…”

  “Damn!” Instructor Han spat to one side, then gred westward, swearing through ched teeth. “Damned Red Armuards! Damurncoat traitor!”

  “Even the Northern Patrol Envoy got held back. We ’t keep fighting here; as soon as we collect these blood pills and heal our brothers, we’re getting out!”

  An Jing focused ily on the se.

  The Northern Patrol Envoy was an important figure in the Heavenly Will Divihe True Person at the Void-Pierg Divireasury realm who had been fighting someone in the distance earlier.

  A majure of that level had e to Hanging Fate Manor almost certainly for the ritual.

  If An Jing had not rebelled, and if the Red Armuards had never arrived, the Northern Patrol Envoy would have taken him, Bai Qinghan, and those other children who had awakeheir Heaven-Ordained Fates back to the Heavenly Will Divi’s main stronghold.

  Still colleg blood essend densing blood pills, the younger cultist at Internal Breath Like Threads murmured, “Even though our luck was bad, in some sehose injured brothers are the ones who gained from the misfortune… Blood pills, eh? We only got one each back when we offered devotion to Heaven upon joining the sect. After they recover from their wounds this time, their martial power will definitely improve dramatically.”

  “I wonder when I’ll finally have enough merit to earn another one.”

  “You should have had one,” Instructor Han said, casting a gloomy look toward Hanging Fate Valley. “I saw two ns of bzing light shooting skyward from the valley earlier—that meant twe Fates were born. In the old days, each time that happened, we martial artists could expect a Great Blood Pill as a reward!”

  “If either of them had turned out to be a Stelr Heavenly Official, a Demon War General, a Dark Yin Divine Maiden, or even a Holy Son of the Seven Fiends Fate… then it wouldn’t have been just a reward of Great Blood Pill. Our entire Northwestern district of the sect would have soared!”

  They drifted into wistful daydreams for a few seds, but fantasies always ended. Instructor Han quickly lowered his head again, waving impatiently. “Get tet to work… These vats of life bones haven’t even dissolved, and the version is way too slow.”

  “Right, there are still some brats in the dungeon.”

  A vicious gleam flickered in Instructor Han’s eyes as he goward the dungeon. “Even though we don’t hose materials anymore, we ’t let that Emper get them… You, keep extrag the blood pills. You, go fetch all the top-grade Fate Artifacts from the ste room, theroy it!”

  “What we ’t keep, we won’t leave for that dog the Emperor!”

  “Yes, Captain!”

  With that, Instructor Han pced one hand on his saber hilt and strode toward the dungeon. His heavy steps striking the ground produced the etal upon stone.

  Clearly, in the earlier battle with the Red Armuards, he had pushed his Internal Energy to the limit until his entire body seemed to have turo iron. As he passed the stone railing at the dungeorance, his elbow brushed it casually—and a k of solid mountain rock crumbled like tofu. Instructor Han, however, appeared entirely unfazed.

  Copper Skin and Iron Bones!

  An Jing, fists ched, narrowed his eyes. Instructor Han’s hardened body skill likely stemmed from an awakened Heaven-Ordained Fate—this had already surpassed what the Internal Energy realm alone could aplish. Even the Medie Manor Lord probably could not match that level of defense!

  Could his Death Bde pierce his copper skin and iron bones? Even if it could, how muternal Energy would it cost him? Could he handle all three?

  From what he had seen with the Medie Manor Lord, bullets might not be of much use against a prepared martial artist. Even if they could kill him, the noise would be too great, and they would surely be discovered.

  But then… when An Jing heard that the man po “take care of” the children in the dungeon, all of his earlier hesitation vanished. His mi calm, free from stray thoughts or tension.

  So that was it? They would not even leave those children to possibly burn to death by ce? They inteo kill them ht?

  An Jing did not feel furious, only found it somewhat ironic. “Seems like it’s my turn to take care of some ‘old materials’ as well.”

  Time to fight.

  He had just obtaihree Qi Boosting Pills from the Medie Manor Lord, and without hesitation, An Jing swallowed ohere was no point in saving them—if there was ever a time to use o was now!

  Instructor Han chose to hahe easiest task—eliminating the youths in the dungeon—while the other two cultists seemed to find that arra perfectly reasohey each responded and theuro their duties.

  One tio operate the Life-Nurturing Vessel to extract medial power, and the other proceeded toward a separate courtyard to gather the more precious Fate Artifacts.

  Their three-person team was now reduced to two, creating an opening for a sneak attack.

  “That jade dagger is at least a Magical Artifact, so you use it as a base to form a more lethal Death Bde,” the Sword Spirit reminded him. “Use blood as the sourd a bde as the medium te a ‘Scarlet Death Magical Sword,’ which will be tougher and strohan an ordinary Death Bde.”

  Alright.

  Without pausing, An Jing drew out the jade dagger, slit open his palm, and smeared blood onto its bde. Following the method taught by the Sword Spirit, he densed his blood esseo a scarlet haze.

  Thin wisps of crimson energy rose from An Jing’s blood, gathering around the dagger’s edge. Gradually, they formed a half-illusory, half-real Scarlet Death Bde.

  Moreover, as the Qi Boosting Pill dissolved in his abdomen, An Ji a bzi ighin. That searing power surged through him, making his blood essence roil and spread across his entire body. Red veins seemed to appear on his fad arms, and he felt a primal urge to roar from his chest.

  The medial power, mingled with his Vital Energy, caused strands of Internal Energy to crystallize from his meridians, muscles, and even ans, replenishing his nearly depleted Qi Sea!

  “Huh?!”

  Instructor Han—of brawny build—had been p what method he might use to kill the children in the dungeon, to further refiheir lives intreat Blood Pills. Abruptly, he caught a faint whiff of blood in the air, and his eyes widened. “Something’s off!”

  He started to turn around to face whatever threat had appeared, but that instant, he smelled a faint trace of some medial st—Meridian Severing Powder carried by the wind. Even though it had little real effe him just yet, his copper skin and iron bones could not block the swirl of airboroxins, causing him to hesitate by sheer instinct. “The Deputy Medie Envoy’s poison?!”

  In that same moment, a figure radiating seari dropped from above. A sword thrust downward with a screaming whistle!

  The fierce wind gusted against Instructor Han’s hair, blowing it back. In front of him, a bde’s silhouette greidly until it occupied his entire field of vision—aimed straight at his oal weakness: his eye!

  Startled, Instructor Han raised his arm in a hurry to shield his face. He relied on his copper skin and iron bones; ordinary ons could never pierce his hardened body. At worst, they might make him dizzy or bruised.

  —All he had to do was ehis blow, and then…

  He never fihe thought. The blood-hued Death Bde streaked with a silvery gleam pierced directly through his hand, then his eyeball, and sank into his brain.

  Glrk.

  The bde ed. The shadowy figure withdrew the sword, pulling free a spray of blood mixed with whitish brain matter.

  “What?”

  By the time the young cultist operating the Life-Nurturing Vessel noticed something amiss and turned his head, he saw only a red-eyed figure rushing toward him.

  Instinctively, the cultist brought his arms up in a cross-guard, but the instant, he was horrified to find both forearms had been severed ly at the elbow. A boy stood before him, sword in hand, with a scarlet glint of killing i in his gaze.

  Ssh.

  Everything spun. Spun. In that dizzying rotation, he saw his own neck, his own back, his legs, theony ground… and then only darkness.

  “Captain, what’s going on?”

  The younger cultist sent to retrieve the “precious Fate Artifacts” heard the disturband returned. He stepped into the courtyard, puzzled, but before he could take in the se, a metallig of blood assaulted his nose.

  He heard a sudden boom!

  An Jing stomped on the ground and sprang at him like an eagle on prey, sword crashing forward into his chest!

  Splorch! Thud!

  A dual impact rang out as two figures smmed onto the grou only one rose again.

  A massive wound had opehe returning cultist’s torso from chest to abdomen, snapping ribs all across. Viscera spilled out in a mixture of blue-green cartige and scarlet blood that pooled on the courtyard floor. His eyes, dimming rapidly, stared at An Jing in shod disbelief as life ebbed away.

  Buzz.

  A faint sword hum resouhe Scarlet Death Bde in An Jing’s hand, once made of only a few wisps of red, had grown nearly solid, c with blood-like fmes as if they were flowing rivers.

  In scarcely tehs’ time, that Death Bde had drunk the blood of three men and now glowed a dark, menag red, lighting up the entire courtyard.

  Standing there, half his fa shadow, An Jing gazed silently at the se. Slowly, he exhaled a breath tinged red.

  (End of Chapter)