Lu Zheng hid behind a wall, concealing him with the shadow of the burning torch ahead, sticking into the wall. 

He was staring at the two patrolling external members with predatory eyes, grinding his teeth, growling. 

One of them said, raising his voice, “The Azure Tide Clan had finally been annihilated! Our Scorching Blade Clan can finally rule Ebonshade City!”

The other hummed in delight, replying, seemingly raising his voice, “Right? Those bastards finally ceased to exist. They had been a headache, and their dumb sword techniques, claiming to be stronger than ours, had been proven wrong.

Who says theirs is much better than ours? It never has been!

Pathetic clan! Nothing but just a group of chickens trying to be a phoenix!”

Lu Zheng was furious when he heard their insults.

His frail body trembled in rage.

He was supposed to lie in wait and try to get closer behind their back to kill them in an instant, but the rage clouded his mind. 

Without hesitation, he pounced at them forward like a tiger.

The patrolling external members, on the other hand, did not expect that Lu Zheng would lose his patience, for they were purposely taunting him. 

Nevertheless, they were on guard, for they had long been aware of his presence due to his shadow frequently revealed by the dancing shadow from the torch and forewarning by the elders of their clan, and quickly unsheathed their swords. 

Lu Zheng only had a low-quality dagger and wore no protection but shabby clothes. 

Seeing his appearance, they sneered, expecting to behead the kid in a single motion. 

However, they didn’t expect him to suddenly grab a handful of dust while he was leaping and throw it in their line of vision. 

Before they could even wipe the dust out of their eyes, one of them screamed in terror. 

The other faced the direction of the scream hastily, his body trembling, panicking, as he soon followed his fellow comrade. 

“Argghhh!!! You puny brat!!!”

His howl even surpassed his fellow external members.

“You will not leave here alive! For the Clan!”

A resounding thud echoed two times before the only noise that resonated was Lu Zheng catching his breath. 

Lu Zheng was standing behind them, faced them, and his eyes flashed with killing intent. 

Despite his frail physique, he managed to kill two adults in a span of seconds. 

This was after he consumed the unknown pills by his benefactor, boosting his dopamine in exchange for a five-hour disabled body once half an hour passed.

Furthermore, it was not the only reason he had the capability to conquer them. 

After all, he learned fundamental techniques from his clan and was even regarded as a genius in martial arts. 

However, as though the Clan Head foresaw their clan’s annihilation, he was sent away under the pretext of a mission, together with other disciples. Now, seven days later, he came back to exact revenge on his clan. 

Standing before him was a normal wall in the underground parts of the clan’s manor, which heavily hid the three treasures that could aid him avenge his clan. 

The legacy sword, the Azure Tide Sword Technique, which was known to help him attain the Rank of Master, and the Necklace of Inheritance from his Ancestors who left behind to venture into the Murim World. 

The Scorching Blade Clan had a slight idea about this, as they spread their members underground, wanting to find the treasures of the clan.

However, they would never be able to find it.

Regardless, Lu Zheng only had limited time to open the treasury and obtained the three treasures before he would be discovered.

Hence, without hesitation, he cut his wrist, and blood poured out. 

He rubbed the cut wrist on his other palm with a twisted expression, ignoring the excruciating pain until his palm was all red. 

He then inserted his open palm in the wall with a conspicuous hand mark. 

It did not fit totally, but the blood spread throughout the handmark and to the wall. 

The place rumbled, and there was a sudden opening in the wall. 

He smiled in delight, but then something assaulted his body, causing him to cough out blood.

It struck him out of the blue, leaving him no room to react, as he simply fell to the floor, almost fainting from the collision of his head and the cold ground. 

Suddenly, he heard someone guffawing. 

“Gullible brat. Similar to your Clan Head. Out of all the disciples he sent away, only you, an external disciple, really thought of avenging your clan,” mocked someone behind him.

He arduously turned his head and was stunned to see it was his benefactor who promised him that the pill they gave would aid him in killing the guards.

He was enraged once more, veins jagged on his forehead.

Seeing Lu Zheng’s reaction, the benefactor stopped in front of him and sneered.

“Even the core disciples were aware of their clan’s annihilation, so they did not think twice but to escape from this place and hide from the Scorching Blade Clan, even most of the internal and core disciples did. Only you, who had just entered the clan for a year, really thought of taking revenge. What drove you to become this insane?”

He smirked.

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“Of course, other external disciples were also killed, especially others who came back, thinking of getting revenge, too. Only that, only you have lasted this long.”

He giggled.

He then directed his gaze to the opened wall in front of him, and Lu Zheng could see his eyes sparkling, even though his eyes were blurring, too.

“So, these are the treasures of a middle-grade clan? I wonder how it will help my society. I’m sure Uncle will reward me handsomely.”

He licked his lips and continued to walk forward, even stepping on the body of Lu Zheng, who grunted in pain.

“Oh, right.” He halted, turned his head, and gave Lu Zheng a mocking remark, “I forgot to say that the pills you have gotten from me contained a venomous poison. You will die slowly from the excruciating pain. Forgive me for not giving you a quick death.”

Lu Zheng ground his teeth as his blood seethed in anger.

He helplessly watched his supposed benefactor, entering the place where his clan contained the treasures known to everyone.

His heart ached. He couldn’t believe he was betrayed. 

He was consumed by rage, and unknowingly, his blood boiled as if it was alive. 

The blood, seemingly coming from the unknown, roared with extreme bloodlust. 

Lu Zheng fainted, but his consciousness filled with rage remained, controlling his body and mind. He entered the berserk state, and like a beast that only moved with instinct and desire, he pounced at his benefactor with the intent to kill him.

***

Lu Zheng’s benefactor failed to realize the reason Lu Zheng came back to exact revenge on his clan, when he was just a year present there, was for his mother.

His mother was a Handmaid of the clan, as well as the hidden concubine of the deceased Clan Head.

His mother was very proud of his son’s talent in martial arts, but he was hidden from the clan until he reached fifteen.

Only then did her mother agree to enter him into the clan.

He also badly wanted to enter the clan to meet his father, even from afar, and he succeeded.

However, there was nothing more rewarding for him to see his mother every day.

It was one of his desires why he worked hard to enter the clan, even when he finally was in the clan.

It was all to make his mother proud.

However, while he was on his first mission outside of the city, as inner disciples only had the privilege to accept the mission outside of the city, he received devastating news that his clan was slaughtered.

When he returned… all he saw was the endless and scorched corpses of his clan members.

He could not even determine which corpse belonged to his mother.

***

Lu Zheng lost his dagger, but it was reachable anyway.

However, he also lost his reasoning, for what only he had in mind was to kill the benefactor who betrayed him.

His heart ached when he recalled trusting his benefactor just in three days to the point he admired him.

Who would have thought it was nothing but just a fantasy?

He felt suffocated, tears crawling out of his eyes, pouring rain on the earth.

It was unacceptable.

Unbelievable.

Unknown to him, the rage continued to accumulate in his mind when new memories popped up.

It was also filled with betrayal, thirst for revenge, and hopeless vengeance.

Hence, not knowing where the energy came from, perhaps from the rush of adrenaline, even ignoring the poison running through his body, he leaped at the back of his benefactor like a predator brandishing his claw.

However, his benefactor smirked and casually slid to the side, making Lu Zheng pounce on nothing but the air.

“Do you still have that energy? I wonder where it came from?” His teasing voice echoed behind him.

Lu Zheng, who had lost his mind in extreme blood lust, roared in rage, knowing he failed, but he pounced at him again.

The benefactor’s lips curled up as he dodged it again.

Lu Zheng pounced once more, but his benefactor dodged it with ease.

It even reached the point where his benefactor was closing his eyes as he continued to elude his attacks.

Gradually, his benefactor felt it was not fun anymore and his mischievous face turned solemn.

He opened his eyes and gave Lu Zheng a ridiculous look.

Lu Zheng pounced at him again, aiming to swipe his benefactor’s face with his sharp claws.

“Where did you get the idea you could harm me?” His benefactor snorted, not aiming to dodge Lu Zheng’s attack.

“This?” His benefactor caught his wrist with his hand.

Lu Zheng roared.

Instead of trying to get his hand away from his benefactor’s grasp, he used the chance to attack him with his other claw at such a close distance.

“How about this?”

However, his benefactor caught it with ease.

Lu Zheng struggled.

He pointed to Lu Zheng’s crimson eyes, whose face distorted in anger as he growled at his benefactor.

“You really have lost your mind, huh?” He sneered.

Lu Zheng responded with a growl.

Suddenly, he tried to bite his benefactor, to which the latter backed away just in time.

However, due to their position, it was impossible to stop Lu Zheng’s bite.

So, he did not hesitate to raise his legs and kicked Lu Zheng away from him.

Lu Zheng flew backward.

Before he hit the wall, his benefactor suddenly appeared above and gave him a slap to his face.

He fell to the floor and stayed still.

He lost consciousness.

His benefactor landed gracefully on the ground beside the bloodied and disfigured face of Lu Zheng, looking down at him for a minute.

His face was solemn as he said, “Now, that’s better. Wait for your death as I feast on your clan’s meals.”

He finally beamed a smile.

He perceived Lu Zheng was still breathing, even hearing his heart palpitating.

But, with the poison on his body, it would only be a matter of time before Lu Zheng died.

So, he did not bother killing Lu Zheng with his own hand.

The treasure was more important than Lu Zheng's life.

Hence, without further ado, he began to saunter towards the opened wall, where treasures awaited him.

***

It was unknown how much time passed in Lu Zheng’s mind.

However, when he lost consciousness in rage, he was befuddled to discover he was standing in an eerie, bizarre place.

The place was filled with skeletons, even forming a mountain.

He scrutinized the place above and discovered it was all crimson.

When he looked below, his body trembled as his heart palpitated to see he was standing on the ocean of blood.

He stepped backward, and due to panic, he fell.

He unconsciously grabbed the surface of the ocean of blood to lessen the damage to his butt, but he panicked as he pulled his hand away from the viscous blood.

He glanced at his open palm and discovered it was dampened with blood.

He wiped it away by rubbing it onto his clothes.

“Is that the first time you have seen blood? Didn’t you just kill two people earlier?” An imposing, mysterious voice suddenly echoed from above, startling him.

He hurriedly searched for it, trying to determine where it came from.

He thought it must be coming from the sky, but he saw nothing but the crimson horizon.

“Where are you looking?”

When the voice echoed again, he finally guessed where it came from.

He glanced at the mountain of bones, sliding his vision below to upward, but only saw countless bones.

Lu Zheng had no choice but to ask, “W-Where are you?”

“Stop acting timid.” The voice snorted. “You were not like that seconds ago.”

This time, Lu Zheng knew where it came from.

It came from the peak of the mountain of bones.

But due to the distance, he could not see the face behind the voice.

He squinted his eyes to have a better look.

However, what he saw skipped his heart a beat.

There were two thin, crimson eyes staring at him as though seeing through his soul.

His mind wavered.

He felt like an insect being stared at intensely by a terrifying predator.