Chapter 18: What a Novel Way to Commit Suicide

In the darkness, a crossbow bolt pierced through the forest, accurately striking a sentinel on the treetop.

The crossbow bolt directly pierced the sentinel's throat, and he couldn't even make a sound.

The sentinel fell powerlessly from the treetop, and before hitting the ground, Old Li caught him, gently lowered him, making no sound.

Parting the undergrowth, a huge manor hidden in the mountains and forests came into view.

Lin Zikai lowered his voice: "Sir, it's right there."

"I and Heigou only glanced, vaguely hearing them discuss something about a holy tree, but before I could listen closely, a purple-robed old man spotted us."

The scholar said: "What's the situation inside?"

Lin Zikai shook his head with an ugly expression: "Not good; I only took a glance and saw dozens of animal carcasses, plus seven or eight human bodies."

"Those corpses are all desiccated; I suspect they were all drained of their essence blood."

Shen Qing looked at the somewhat dilapidated manor before him, a pungent bloody smell lingering at the tip of his nose.

"You bunch of losers causing trouble on my turf and even killing people?"

All the Embroidered Uniform Guard looked toward Shen Qing.

"Sir, how should we fight?"

Shen Qing's face showed little expression, his tone flat: "How to fight? Just steamroll over them."

Killing intent condensed in the eyes of all the Embroidered Uniform Guard; steamrolling over them meant slaughtering them all.

In the next moment, Shen Qing leapt out like a leopard, his speed producing an afterimage.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard all drew their steel blades and followed closely.

But the next moment, all the Embroidered Uniform Guard stared blankly, and two of them even stumbled.

Only seen, Shen Qing's left foot suddenly gathered domineering inner force; the power of his sanctified flesh increased, plus the destructive force of that domineering inner force.

A single kick even produced a sonic boom.

With a bang.

The wall, as fragile as paper, was kicked apart by Shen Qing; debris flew, smoke and dust filled the sky, revealing a gap seven to eight meters long.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard all swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"Just steamroll like that?"

"A physical steamroll?"

"Who are they?"

Inside the manor, there were still many evil cultivators, all drawn out by the huge noise.

Amid the smoke and dust, a cold light flashed; Shen Qing rushed out like a demon.

Azure River, wrapped in domineering inner force, directly cleaved the nearest evil cultivator.

One strike, and the evil cultivator was no different from a watermelon—his whole body shattered like a watermelon.

In a flash, Shen Qing's right hand turned into a claw, he seized another evil cultivator's neck, applied slight force, blood spurted, and the cultivator's neck was directly snapped by Shen Qing.

Shen Qing held the evil cultivator's head in one hand, grasped Azure River in the other, stepped on the cultivator's corpse with one foot, and smiled at the evil cultivators in the courtyard.

"Who am I? The demon has arrived."

As his words fell, behind him in the smoke, the Embroidered Uniform Guard filed out one by one, their killing intent fierce like little demons, standing behind Shen Qing.

Shen Qing slowly raised his right hand, blade tip pointing at the evil cultivators in the courtyard; his voice was not heavy, but killing intent poured forth.

"Kill."

In the next instant, the Embroidered Uniform Guard burst into a battle cry and charged toward the evil cultivators inside the courtyard.

Soon, the courtyard descended into chaos.

At that moment, from the dark corner of the manor, two figures swiftly approached Shen Qing, throwing a punch and a palm at his head.

Shen Qing snorted coldly, sheathed his blade, with no intention to dodge at all.

The two ambushers rejoiced: "What guts, daring to take our brothers' attack head-on."

In the next instant, Shen Qing raised his hand and steadily caught their fists and palms; the two looked as if they had seen a ghost.

They were evil cultivators who sucked human essence blood; their inner force might not be very pure, but their physical strength was absolutely far beyond ordinary people, and even peers of the same realm could not match them in strength.

Moreover, they were attacking together, and yet he easily caught them?

The two gritted their teeth, exerting all their strength, even gathering their inner force at the risk of their lives.

Yet Shen Qing remained unmoved, his expression natural.

"As Lin Zikai said, you guys hit like you're throwing a tantrum!"

Terrifying force suddenly seized their palms and flung them hard.

Shen Qing directly employed the Wild Cloak Hammer Technique.

The two post-heaven realm evil cultivators were used by Shen Qing like hammers, slammed into the ground over and over.

Each strike made the manor's ground tremble slightly.

In the next moment.

Shen Qing grabbed the two and leapt high; the two evil cultivators traced a beautiful semicircle in the air before crashing heavily to the ground.

With a bang.

The ground was smashed into a small pit; the two lay like dead dogs in the deep hole, not a single piece of good flesh left on their bodies.

"Stop!"

A hoarse shout came from outside the courtyard.

Shen Qing snorted coldly, stepped on a shoulder, exerted force, blood spurted, and the arms of the two evil cultivators were directly ripped out by Shen Qing.

At that moment, a white-haired, petite old woman ran in from outside the courtyard.

The two lying on the ground whispered: "Mother... save me..."

Of course, Shen Qing heard those words loud and clear.

Turns out they're a family; upon closer look, the two people on the ground really resemble the two Shen Qing just killed in the forest.

Still, it's a family business.

But that's fine; it saves having to exterminate each household one by one.

Shen Qing lifted their head, smiling brightly, revealing two rows of white teeth.

"Are you their mother? You seem to have come a bit late."

Having said that, Shen Qing threw the two arms in their hand at the old woman, who just watched the arms fall before her.

Only now did a towering rage surge in her heart.

"Embroidered Uniform Guard? What have I done to offend you!"

"You all deserve to die!"

Shen Qing cursed.

"Spider-Man rides a horse, you drag a Peter along on your horse."

"A blood‑sucking thing can still say that? Your brain's not working? I now see why your four sons are each stupider than the last—turns out their mother is just a damn idiot."

"Who else has they provoked? Or did the person whose blood they drank provoke them?"

Everyone recognized the Embroidered Uniform Guard's uniform, yet they still hemmed and hawed.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard has all come; they're here to exterminate your clan—can they still reason with you?

If you fear the Embroidered Uniform Guard exterminating your clan, then stop drinking human blood.

The old woman shouted in anger, raised her hand, pointed her fingers at Shen Qing, and several blood arrows shot from her fingertips straight at Shen Qing.

"Blood Arrow Technique!"

They had just seen in the forest the corpses of their two sons—one torn in half, the other with half its head hacked off.

And in this manor, their other two sons had their arms torn off.

The old woman was certain that Shen Qing was a strength‑type martial artist, so a direct clash would be unwise.

She is at the eighth layer of the Acquired Realm, while Shen Qing is at the sixth layer—this is one advantage.

Second, strength‑type martial artists are somewhat slower in speed and agility, so using ranged attacks gives her a second advantage.

Third, Shen Qing has just killed her four sons, so her inner strength and stamina are surely depleted, while she is at peak condition—this is a third advantage.

Three victories beget ten thousand victories—victory after victory without end.

"Go die!"

Her blood arrows were extremely fast; in the blink of an eye they reached Shen Qing.

The old woman seemed to have expected Shen Qing to be unable to dodge, and to be turned into a sieve by the Blood Arrow Technique.

But the next moment, Shen Qing stepped with the Carefree Step, leaping several meters in a single stride and perfectly evading the Blood Arrow Technique.

The old woman's expression froze—how could this be? How could she have such great strength and yet be so fast?

And Shen Qing could no longer hold back laughter.

"Force the essence blood out of the body?"

What a novel way to commit suicide.