Zhou Ping blended into the crowd, occasionally striking out to cut down members of the Liu clan. His formidable strength struck terror into the hearts of everyone present, whether they belonged to the Wang, the Sun, or the Liu clans.
No matter how he struck, Zhou Ping always kept seven strands of Spiritual Qi in reserve for self-defense, wary of being ambushed by the Wang and Sun clans. He also constantly avoided getting trapped, roaming around the edges of the crowd. Several figures in the crowd suddenly moved, attempting to quietly encircle Zhou Ping, but all ultimately failed.
Taking advantage of the intense fighting, Zhou Ping slipped away in time and headed deeper into the Liu clan compound.
The moment he stepped into the rear courtyard, his first action was to sweep his gaze over the surrounding doors and windows. Only after noting which windows would allow for an easy escape did he relax slightly.
From the beginning of tonight, Zhou Ping refused to place himself in true danger, always plotting his exit routes in advance.
He soon spotted Liu Ming and one other person slipping into a room, and immediately followed them with a few quick strides.
He refused to believe that the Liu clan, having managed this place for so many years, would lack an escape tunnel.
Just as Liu Ming opened the lid of the tunnel beneath the rice vat, before he could even jump down, he saw Zhou Ping arrive. His expression changed drastically, and he broke into furious curses.
“Zhou Erlang, helping the Wang and Sun clans against my Liu clan now is the height of stupidity!”
“Those two clans are tied by marriage, sharing the same breath and branches. With my Liu clan gone, do you really think your Zhou clan will survive?”
“When the time comes, none of your family, young or old, will escape their butcher’s knives! This is what you deserve! You brought this upon yourself!”
Perhaps pushed to the brink of death, with his entire clan exterminated, Liu Ming roared in madness, shrieking like a wild beast.
“Come on, kill us! Then wait for the ruin of your Zhou clan!”
Zhou Ping’s expression remained calm. He grabbed Liu Ming by the neck, then tossed him onto the ground, saying slowly, “Who said I was going to kill you?”
He then subtly flicked something onto Liu Hao, an action neither of them noticed.
Liu Ming lay on the ground, stunned. He seemed to forget even his pain in that moment, staring at Zhou Ping with suspicion.
“You’re going to let us go?” Liu Ming asked uncertainly. He looked nervously at Zhou Ping, his heart inevitably pounding with unease.
He had personally witnessed Zhou Erlang slaughtering members of the Liu clan. Was Zhou Erlang truly some indecisive fool who did not know to sever the weeds at their roots? Or did he want to pull the Zhou clan out of the crossfire, ensuring that they would only seek revenge against the Wang and Sun clans in the future?
“My actions today were forced upon me. I was coerced by the Wang and Sun clans,” Zhou Ping said with a helpless expression, acting as if he had suffered some tremendous grievance.
Liu Ming sneered inwardly. He did not believe a single word of Zhou Ping’s nonsense. But since Zhou Ping was not killing him now, he would play along. Surviving was what mattered most; only by living would there be any hope of slaughtering his enemies with his own hands.
“Hurry and go. Do not let them catch up,” Zhou Ping urged. He then pulled several stitched books from his robes, tossed them onto the ground, and set them ablaze.
“What are you burning?” Liu Ming asked suspiciously.
“Cultivation methods,” Zhou Ping said calmly.
Liu Ming’s eyes flickered as unreadable thoughts raced through his mind. Then, he grabbed Liu Hao and ran toward the other end of the tunnel.
Zhou Ping watched until the books he had hand-copied were mostly reduced to ash, only then following after them.
Since the Wang and Sun clans wanted cultivation methods, he would simply write a few for them. It remained to be seen if they believed them-and if they dared to practice them!
These methods were naturally cobbled together by Zhou Ping using several random techniques for gathering the energies of heaven and earth. They could not draw in Spiritual Qi, but they could absolutely attract and condense impure, chaotic Qi!
Even for a Spirit Awakening Realm cultivator, rashly gathering tyrannical energies of heaven and earth would result in bodily harm at best, and losing one’s life at worst. Let alone for mere mortals.
Now that they were mostly burned, it would simply be a matter of whether the Wang and Sun clans dared to practice the remaining fragmented pages.
Meanwhile, in the chaotic melee in the Liu clan’s front courtyard, several sturdy men had constantly kept their gazes subtly fixed on Zhou Ping, as if watching to see if he was exhausted. Now, seeing Zhou Ping give chase deeper inside, they exchanged glances and immediately followed.
Their clan leader had told them: if Zhou Erlang entered a room with no means of escape, they were to swarm in and hack him to death!
Although an immortal master was powerful, if his mana was drained, he was still just a mortal man. This story is hosted at g.com.
A few among them showed signs of cowardice, but they were viciously grabbed by the men beside them, who hissed in a low voice, “What are you afraid of? That Zhou Erlang is just an ordinary immortal master, barely stronger than us. With so many of us, we could bury him in bodies alone.”
“Haven’t you heard? Fifteen years ago, an arrogant immortal master provoked the Black Wolf Gang in the city. He was cornered in a house by dozens of men. Even though he killed quite a few, he was eventually beaten into a bloody pulp all the same!”
“The clan leader promised that as long as we kill Zhou Erlang, even if we’re unlucky enough to die by his hand, our families will be provided for by the clan. Every household will be given an extra fifteen mu of land!”
Spurred by these words, even those who were still afraid mustered their courage and pushed deeper into the Liu clan compound.
“Careful, brothers. Although Zhou Erlang has spent a lot of mana just now, he definitely has some strength left. Don’t fall for his tricks.”
They carefully searched room after room, both to find Liu Ming’s pair and to locate Zhou Ping. But despite scouring the area, they found no trace of the three. Finally, beneath a rice vat, they discovered a pitch-black tunnel.
“Dammit, when did the Liu clan dig a tunnel? After them!” the leader cursed, immediately taking the lead and jumping down into the passage.
No wonder they couldn’t find any trace of them. Even with the compound surrounded by guards who saw nothing, it turned out they had escaped through a tunnel.
The moment they dropped in, they spotted flickering flames carrying the scent of burning paper.
“Crap, it’s cultivation techniques!”
Panic gripped the men, and they scrambled forward to stamp out the fire. But despite their timely rescue, only a few intact pages remained.
“Brother, Zhou Erlang is gone. Do we still chase?” someone asked.
“Of course we chase! If we don’t kill him, how are we supposed to swallow up the Zhou and Liu clans!”
With that, the group sprinted toward the other end of the tunnel.
Zhou Ping had been following behind Liu Ming’s pair. Emerging from the tunnel, he found himself standing on a field ridge outside the village, not far from the dense mountain woods.
The tunnel exit had been concealed beneath a large boulder, obscured by weeds and thorny brambles. Coupled with the fact that the surrounding land belonged to the Liu clan, Zhou Ping would have never discovered it had he not taken this exact route tonight.
At this moment, it was still late at night, and a ceaseless, drizzling rain fell, chilling the bone.
Liu Ming clutched Liu Hao, watching Zhou Ping warily. Their robes were disheveled and they cut a wretched figure. Seeing that Zhou Ping made no move, they slowly backed away toward the mountains. Once they had put enough distance between them, Liu Ming scooped Liu Hao into his arms and ran.
“Zhou Erlang, you truly are a fool!”
“To completely ignore the principle of severing the weeds at their roots! Rest assured, when we return to Baixi Village to exact our vengeance, we will give your entire Zhou clan a quick and merciful death!”
Zhou Ping watched for a few moments. Only when Liu Ming and the boy had completely vanished from sight did he channel Spiritual Qi into his feet and give chase into the mountains.
His reason for sparing Liu Ming’s pair for this long was simply to let them get further away from the village. By killing them then, the Wang and Sun clans would be unable to find their corpses, leaving them suspicious and fearful.
If he had acted in the tunnel, dragging two corpses would have slowed his movements considerably, making it easy for the Wang and Sun clans’ pursuers to catch up. That situation would have been highly precarious.
But now that the two were in the forest, he could kill them and dump their bodies in a hidden place. Even if the Wang and Sun clans searched high and low, they would find nothing, leaving behind an unsolved mystery.
Zhou Ping cast a technique, and instantly, a faint, obscure trail illuminated in the darkness, stretching out into the mountain woods.
Pant… pant…
Liu Ming gasped for breath, hugging Liu Hao tightly as he desperately pushed deeper into the mountains, not daring to rest or slacken for even a moment.
But the forest beneath the continuous drizzle was terribly quiet; the only sound was his panicked footsteps crunching on the fallen leaves.
After fleeing for several li through the woods, an exhausted Liu Ming finally collapsed to the ground. Letting the rain splash over him, he looked at Liu Hao with the relief of a survivor. “Hao’er, we will live through this! We definitely will!”
“As long as we survive, there is hope to avenge our clan and exterminate everyone in those three families!”
Thunder rumbled, and a flash of lightning illuminated Liu Ming’s ferocious, terrifying face.
Even though Liu Hao was extremely young, witnessing the horrors of tonight taught him that his family was gone, and his grandfather was dead.
His small face was covered in droplets-whether rain or tears, it was impossible to tell-as he glared with resentment toward the direction of Baixi Village.
But right at that moment, Liu Ming suddenly caught the sound of crushing leaves amidst the rainfall. It was incredibly faint, but it made his expression warp in horror!
It was Zhou Erlang! He must have planted some kind of tracking method on him!
Liu Ming recalled how Zhou Erlang had gripped his throat by the tunnel entrance. He frantically rubbed and clawed at his own neck.
“Hao’er, I am going to lead Zhou Erlang away. You must stay hidden, do not let him find you!” Liu Ming said with absolute resolve. “You are the hope of our Liu clan. Remember, never forget the blood debt of our forty-seven kin!”
“As long as you live, you must avenge us!”
With that, Liu Ming shoved Liu Hao down into the tall grass, then scrambled up and bolted toward the opposite side of the woods. Even when he slammed into tree trunks, he did not dare to linger!
In the pitch-black woods, he repeatedly collided with rocks and trees. His body was soon dripping with blood from countless small cuts. He even took a terrible tumble that snapped his left leg. Agonizing pain flooded his heart, yet he still did not dare to pause.
The rustling behind him lingered like a ghost that refused to scatter!
Zhou Ping stopped exactly where Liu Ming had just been hiding. Then, he cast a Golden Light Technique directly at the nearby patch of tall grass. A foot-long streak of golden light burst forth, carrying a chilling sharpness!
A child’s miserable shriek rang out from the brush, followed immediately by silence.
Just in case, he had naturally planted tracking marks on both of them, wary that if one was discovered, it would leave behind future troubles.
Still somewhat uneasy, Zhou Ping cast another Golden Light Technique into the opposite side of the thin, small corpse. Just in case Liu Hao’s heart happened to be on the right side.
Only then did he dash off in the direction Liu Ming had fled.
He eventually found a thoroughly exhausted Liu Ming slumped beneath a massive boulder. Not daring to be careless, Zhou Ping stood atop the boulder, in a blind spot Liu Ming could not see, and hurled a heavy stone down with vicious force. A sharp cry of pain echoed from below.
To be entirely safe, Zhou Ping hurled several more stones until all movement and sound below ceased. Only then did he cautiously approach.
He saw that half of Liu Ming’s body had been smashed to a pulp. Blood flowed freely, washing away with the rain. Strikingly, Liu Ming’s left hand was tightly gripping a dagger, and his eyes remained wide open in death.
Zhou Ping remained silent. This was not his first time killing. Back in the Azure Cloud Sect, he had carried out bandit extermination missions, where the cunning and treachery of his foes far exceeded this. In one instance, Zhou Ping had very nearly lost his life, which was exactly why he was so incredibly cautious.
He brought a stone down hard onto the hand clutching the dagger, mangling bone and flesh alike until the blade went flying. Only then did a weak, muffled gasp reach his ears.
“You… will die a horrible death…”
The hoarse voice drifted up. Zhou Ping watched with cold indifference as Liu Ming finally died.
He then hauled the two corpses to a steep cliff. He patted them down but found no trace of any supposed Liu clan cultivation methods. Drawing his blade, he dismembered the bodies into eight pieces and hurled them down into the abyss below.
As for the lingering bloodstains, after tonight, they would be thoroughly washed away by the rain, leaving nothing to be discovered.
The next morning, the hundreds of residents in Baixi Village, who had long been awakened by the previous night’s commotion, were in a state of restless panic.
Learning of the Liu clan massacre first thing in the morning terrified them out of their wits. They were utterly panic-stricken, and everyone paled at the mere mention of it.
Meanwhile, in the main courtyard of the Sun clan, the Sun clan leader was furiously smashing things.
“Tell me, what exactly do I feed you for?!”
“Failing to kill Zhou Erlang is one thing, but you couldn’t even find the remnants of the Liu clan! Do you have any idea what kind of disaster you’ve left for us?!”
“To not sever the weeds at their roots… you are truly a pack of useless trash!”