Boom! The mountain trembled violently, as if an earthquake had struck. Wen Jiu turned his head and saw the red maple forest collapsing in multiple places. Everything happened so suddenly that he was caught off guard. Only the area around the Chen family's ancestral land remained untouched. Without hesitation, Wen Jiu led the black ghoul toward that safe zone, and soon after, sword-riding cultivators began emerging from the cave in rapid succession.
It was the Night Patrol Division.
"Move, move, move!"
Mu Canglong was the first to fly out, carrying a few disciples who were at the second level of Qi Refinement and unable to fly on their own. After dropping them off, he quickly turned back to rescue more.
Following him, the rest of the Night Patrol Division disciples came rushing out, along with the disciples of Feixian Peak. Once they reached solid ground, everyone let out a sigh of relief, though their faces were still pale with lingering fear. After all, if they had been a little slower, they would have been buried underground. Even as cultivators, they wouldn't have been able to withstand the sheer force of the collapsing earth and stone.
As the cave continued to crumble, more and more Feixian Peak disciples emerged.
In less than a hundred breaths' time, four to five hundred people had escaped.
Soon, Wen Jiu spotted Wang Nian.
Wang Nian still looked shaken, but he couldn't hide the grin on his face—clearly, this trip had been very rewarding for him. When he saw Wen Jiu in the crowd, he immediately came over.
"Brother, I struck gold!" Wang Nian slapped Wen Jiu's shoulder excitedly. "I took down three Qi Refinement second-layer remnants from the Blood-Clad Tower, plus one at the third layer. Just from them, I looted over a hundred low-grade spirit stones! And that's not even counting the Peak Lord's reward—half a day's work, and I made a year's worth of spirit stones!"
"Congratulations, Brother Wang," Wen Jiu responded, though his mind was preoccupied.
Wang Nian's smile stiffened. "What's wrong? You don't look right."
"It's nothing." Wen Jiu quickly adjusted his expression. If even Wang Nian could notice something was off, how could the spies hiding in Feixian Peak not? "I only managed to kill a few members of the Chen family—not nearly as much profit as you."
"I told you to stick with me, but you wouldn't dare... Listen, this is how cultivation works—cowards starve, but the bold feast!" Wang Nian chuckled, completely ignoring the fact that the forest around the Chen family's land was still collapsing.
Before Wen Jiu could reply, Wang Nian continued, "If it weren't for those damn Blood-Clad Tower bastards suddenly shutting down the formation and causing the cave-in, I could've killed even more!" His voice was full of excitement, as if he still hadn't had enough.
Seeing Wen Jiu remain silent, Wang Nian eventually calmed down as well.
Not long after, Liu Xiao, Mu Canglong, and the others arrived.
The seven elders emerged from the cave one after another, three of them looking severely weakened, clearly having suffered serious injuries. Among them was Gong Chi, an elder from the Night Patrol Division.
Seeing their elders wounded, the stewards rushed forward, retrieving healing pills from their storage pouches.
"I'm fine, I can still hold on," Gong Chi said. The moment he spoke, Wen Jiu felt as if his mind exploded.
It's him!
It had to be him!
The voice was slightly different from what he remembered, but the tone and way of speaking were unmistakable. Wen Jiu knew it too well—because that night had been unforgettable. The feeling of being weak and insignificant in Gong Chi's grasp was something he would never forget for the rest of his life.
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But there was someone else.
Who was it?
Wen Jiu's eyes swept over the remaining six elders, but he didn't dare linger too long. He quickly withdrew his gaze and turned to Wang Nian. "Brother Wang, you okay?"
"I'm fine. Actually, I'm thinking of heading home to have a kid!" Wang Nian announced matter-of-factly, then chuckled. "I want a daughter..."
Wen Jiu nodded, smiling on the surface, but his mind was in turmoil.
A sense of unease crept in.
But then he thought about the descriptions of Three Rivers Ghost Concealment and Blood Corpse Evasion on his daily summary panel. He knew that no one could trace anything back to him—at most, they'd only detect traces of ghostly energy. That realization reassured him.
…
A short while later, the collapse finally stopped.
Under Mu Canglong's orders, Wen Jiu began clearing the battlefield, collecting the corpses of demons and remnants of the Chen family.
The busy work helped him regain some composure, shifting his thoughts from his unease to his gains from this mission.
The blood essence alone was already significant.
Even though he had only obtained half of the blood pool's contents, the sheer quantity was staggering. He wouldn't know the exact amount until his daily summary, but one thing was certain—whether it was for cultivating the black ghoul or advancing his Yin Fiend Blood Curse Body, he wouldn't be running out of blood essence anytime soon.
Moreover, the blood essence contained a considerable amount of death energy.
Perhaps… it might even push his cultivation to the next level.
At the third level of Qi Refinement? Most likely!
Aside from that, he also obtained Chen Feng's storage pouch, along with the storage pouches of the three Bloodrobe Tower members. As he cleaned up the battlefield and probed inside with his divine sense, Wen Jiu discovered 473 spirit stones.
Three low-grade tier-one magical artifacts.
Thirty-seven low-grade tier-one talismans.
Pills and other items worth at least a hundred low-grade spirit stones.
There were also some cultivation techniques and spells, likely of considerable value.
Among them, what stood out the most was a rather unorthodox technique inside Chen Feng's storage pouch—Blood Ghost Hand.
Originating from Bloodrobe Tower, it had a total of six levels.
This was the very technique Chen Feng had used to force Liu Xiao back in a single move, far superior to all the corpse-controlling arts of the Yinzhou Corpse Cultivation Method. The reason was simple—it was created by the previous master of Bloodrobe Tower, Xue Moqian.
One of the three great forbidden techniques of Bloodrobe Tower!
"Whether for personal cultivation or selling it, this is an excellent find," Wen Jiu thought to himself.
Aside from these treasures, Wen Jiu also discovered a peculiar-looking token made of an extraordinary material. On it were just two words—"Tian Zuo."
Although he had no idea what it was for, Wen Jiu didn't dare take it out for a closer look. The storage pouch had the ability to block external divine senses. If someone had left a spiritual imprint on the token, taking it out would instantly expose him.
It would be best to hide it somewhere untraceable within Fei Xian Peak when no one was around, ensuring no connection to himself.
He could dig it up later once he figured out its purpose.
...
A quarter of an hour later, the entire Chen family estate had been thoroughly cleaned out—nothing was left behind.
But just as the battlefield was cleared, a shocking piece of news began spreading among the disciples of Fei Xian Peak.
The peak master had yet to return!
Even the stewards who had been sent out to search had come back, yet there was still no sign of him.
A thought instantly surfaced in everyone's mind.
But at the same time, they all found it impossible to believe.
"Those Bloodrobe Tower remnants couldn't even withstand a single move from the peak master. How could they possibly have killed him?"
"The peak master is from the main peak and is a direct disciple under a main peak elder. His techniques are all top-tier, and he must have been given life-saving treasures by the elder. There's no way something happened to him!"
"Stop talking nonsense. Maybe the peak master was just delayed by something. He'll be fine."
As murmurs of speculation spread, Gong Chi stepped forward with a grave expression, suddenly coughing up a mouthful of blood. The people around him hurried to support him, but he pushed them away, resolutely saying, "All patrol officers and deacons, follow me into the cave immediately to search for the peak master!"
With Gong Chi's command, the other elders in charge quickly followed suit.
A group consisting of Qi Refinement third and fourth-level cultivators, along with seven elders, once again plunged into the collapsed underground cave.
Wen Jiu watched the scene unfold.
How ironic.
That Elder Gong Chi was quite the actor.
With such a vivid performance, no one would ever suspect that the peak master's death had anything to do with him.
"No. I have to take that assessment... I need to cultivate at the main peak. I can't stay at Fei Xian Peak any longer."
Wen Jiu made up his mind on the spot.
As for exposing Gong Chi?
Forget it.
Not to mention the other mysterious person involved, even if he knew their identity, he wasn't about to gamble his life on it.