Chapter 79: Death by a Thousand Cuts, Exterminate the Evil Completely

It was near the fourth watch of the night.

Far from the clamor of the drill grounds and similar places, inside a pavilion within the Jingwu Division guarded by soldiers.

At this very moment, on the bed in the second-floor bedroom, Suo Helie lay sleeping in his clothes, wearing his inner armor and the Soul-Suppressing Talisman gifted by Chen Chuanying.

This building was his residence within the Jingwu Division in his capacity as Superintendent.

For the past few months, in order to deal with Qingyike, he had spent most of his time in the Jingwu Division to facilitate receiving first-hand information and directing personnel, rarely returning home to spend the night.

And just at this moment, as he breathed evenly in peaceful sleep.

Suddenly, a slight, noisy sound came from outside the building:

"Lord Suo, I must see Lord Suo!"

"I have an important situation to report!"

As a great expert at the Five Realms Peak, the moment the movement reached his ears, Suo Helie opened his eyes abruptly, then rose to throw on his robe, walked to the top of the stairs, and barked a question:

"What has happened!?"

The personal guard standing watch at the door was just about to go upstairs to report, and immediately responded from the stairwell:

"My Lord, it is Duyuan Li Zhenguang, saying he has an important situation to report."

As he spoke, he raised his hand in a gesture.

Subsequently, the figure of Li Zhenguang hurried into the pavilion and arrived at the stairwell, bowing to Suo Helie:

"My Lord, there is a situation. Just now, when I was walking off the wine alone after drinking with two of my subordinates, I saw a great fire suddenly break out in the Jinhua Street area.

After I went over, I discovered that the place on fire was actually the residence where you had settled those three experts from Youxian Temple. The fire inside was raging, and there was no response to my shouting; I do not know what happened."

"Hm?"

Suo Helie's expression changed slightly; he immediately equipped his long saber, threw on his cloak, and walked downstairs:

"Prepare the horses; I will go over and see for myself!"

Li Zhenguang, who had a guilty conscience, immediately agreed. In a short while, he led the horses out, then followed Suo Helie and his two personal guards as they galloped toward the secret residence.

It was only four or five li away from the residence of Chen Chuanying and the others. Galloping along the empty main road, it was not long before they could see the raging fire above a certain residence in the night sky.

And after arriving at a gallop.

Suo Helie, still on his horse, immediately saw that the house where Chen Chuanying and the others lived had already turned into a sea of flames. Around it, a team of firefighters from the Fire Administration Bureau had arrived late and were just beginning to connect water hoses to fight the fire; further away, at the corners of the streets and alleys, a few scattered residents and commoners, braving the cold wind to watch, were peeking and peering.

Li Zhenguang, reading the situation, immediately stepped forward to scold them:

"What are you people doing? Why haven't you started fighting the fire yet!"

Li Zhenguang was still wearing his Duyuan uniform, and Suo Helie, on his horse, also had a grim expression. Seeing that this fire had actually alarmed a big shot from the Jingwu Division, the firefighters hurriedly shouldered their water tanks and hoses, whipping their horses to begin putting out the fire.

However, by this time, most of the residence was completely ignited, and with the cold wind fueling the fire, the meager stream of water from the hoses was of no help at all against such a large blaze; for a long time, the fire showed no signs of diminishing.

Suo Helie dismounted with a livid face, came before the residence with flames shooting into the sky, and shouted coldly:

"Chen Chuanying, where are you all!?"

His lungs thundered, his voice vibrating like thunder, rolling and shaking through the night, startling the soldiers who were fighting the fire nearby.

At the same time, the sound echoed for a long while, but there was no response from either inside or outside the house.

Li Zhenguang, who had completely become a mole, stepped forward and asked a question he already knew the answer to:

"Lord Suo, those three are all experts in Daoist Arts; it is impossible for them to be trapped by the fire. Have they perhaps already left this place?"

Suo Helie said with a cold face: "Do I need you to remind me!?"

In his view, this fire was indeed extremely strange.

Even if Chen Chuanying and the others wanted to destroy the evidence and the secrets within this residence, they should have notified him in advance. There was no reason for them to act so arbitrarily, and they had not been seen since.

He had wanted to suspect that Chen Chuanying and the others had burned the bridge after crossing it once the Spirit-Startling Bell was refined, and had run away on the spot.

But then he thought that Youxian Temple was a sect enfeoffed by the imperial court and located within this very province; Chen Chuanying and the others would not have the guts to pull such a trick on him!

He suppressed the anger in his heart and ordered:

"Li Zhenguang, you immediately go and take men..."

*Chi! *

Before he could finish his sentence, Suo Helie suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back, and at the same time, a sharp golden light pierced through his chest and dissipated into the air.

A blood hole was instantly pierced through his chest. He staggered, turned his head in horror, and saw that behind him in the vast night, there was nothing but two personal guards and the soldiers busy fighting the fire!

"Lord Suo!"

"What happened to you!?"

Suo Helie coughed blood in terror. At this instant, Li Zhenguang and the other sturdy personal guard not far away also discovered the abnormality, letting out terrified shouts, whether genuine or feigned.

However, just as they spoke, bolts of violent golden light erupted like thunder, tearing through the darkness in an instant and shooting toward the heavily wounded Suo Helie again, accompanied by a cold, ethereal voice that was difficult to locate:

"You! As a Superintendent, you condoned the three from Youxian Temple to use living people for a Blood Sacrifice to a Dharma Artifact. You deserve to die!"

*Chi! *

The moment the golden light struck, Suo Helie's face was filled with horror. He endured the pain of his chest being pierced and tried to dodge in panic, but his left arm was grazed, snapped off, and fell to the ground.

"You! You aided the tyrant in his evil, causing dozens of people to die in agony for your own selfish desires. You deserve to die!"

Having lost an arm in an instant, Suo Helie's eyes were splitting with rage. He desperately hid behind a personal guard, but a golden light struck like a maggot on a bone, not only cutting that personal guard—who had not yet reacted—in half, but also carving a huge wound across Suo Helie's waist and ribs, nearly disemboweling him!

"You! You broke the law while enforcing it, treating human lives like grass. You deserve to die!"

With the final cold shout, several more sharp golden lights, like blades and lightning, shot out like a storm, sealing off all space for Suo Helie to dodge!

Three consecutive "die" words shook the darkness, accompanied by violent golden light that seemed to cut the eyes just by looking at it, causing Suo Helie's liver and gallbladder to shatter. A nightmarish name instantly surfaced in his heart:

Qingyike!

It's Qingyike!

How does he know everything!

Under the repeated heavy injuries.

Suo Helie had no time to wonder why Qingyike could be heard but not seen, nor did he have time to think about why the Soul-Suppressing Talisman gifted by Chen Chuanying had no reaction; instead, with eyes splitting at the corners, he erupted with absolute ferocity, first grabbing the upper body of his own personal guard—who had been cut in half at the waist—to use as a shield against the incoming golden light.

At the same time, his own muscles and bones cracked and roared, his Qi and blood surged wildly, and a fierce blade light erupted from his waist as he lunged madly toward the source of the golden light!

After all, he was a former Martial Top Scholar and currently a Five Realms Peak expert; this sudden burst was like a landslide or the charge of a thousand troops, and in the blink of an eye, he had lunged several zhang away, his violent blade light fiercely slashing toward the source of the golden light.

Although he had not seen the shadow of any enemy under the reflection of the raging fire, Suo Helie was absolutely certain that this invisible enemy was right here!

Just as he had thought.

The next moment.

Clang!

A clear, resonant sword chime rang out, and violent sparks bloomed amidst the sweeping blade, as if the invisible person had blocked this strike with an unparalleled Sword Technique.

Caught!

"Die, you monster!"

Under the excruciating pain of his shattered chest and severed arm, Suo Helie knew his injuries were extremely severe and he could not fight for long; amidst a roar, ignoring his own wounds, the hundred-refined steel long saber in his hand transformed into a blood-sea mad dragon, twisting and killing toward the invisible enemy!

Clang, clang, clang—!

In an instant, crisp sounds of metal clashing rang out in succession; amidst the spraying blood, Suo Helie's figure flickered, a gale whistled, and the blades collided violently, exploding with large clusters of sparks in mid-air.

At this moment, neither Li Zhenguang nor the dozen or so surrounding firefighters could do anything but stare in astonishment at this scene, not only daring not to step forward but instead retreating in terror.

In the eyes of everyone around, Suo Helie was clearly fighting a bloody battle with a completely invisible existence, which looked bizarre to the extreme.

What made them feel even more terrified was that after Suo Helie fought desperately with a suicidal momentum for less than ten moves, the arm holding his long saber was inexplicably severed, flying up into the night sky!

In an instant, Suo Helie became an armless man, roaring in pain and retreating wildly as blood splashed like a tide.

Then.

Chi, chi, chi!

A bizarre sword chime rang out, the sound of flesh being torn was incessant, and accompanied by Suo Helie's heart-wrenching roars, strips of flesh were inexplicably sliced from his body, as if he were enduring the cruelest torture in the world!

Countless blood shadows flew about; even the bone-chilling cold wind could not cover the thick, bloody stench, and coupled with Suo Helie's extremely tragic roars rolling outward, all the onlookers around retreated in sheer terror.

With a plop.

Droplets of blood fell at the feet of Li Zhenguang, who was relatively close; seeing those thumb-sized, sliced pieces of flesh, his hair stood on end, and he felt extreme terror in his heart.

No one dared to step forward to intervene; even Suo Helie's remaining personal guards were completely terrified, and despite having Three Realms Bone Forging cultivation, they didn't even have the courage to draw their guns, just standing in the distance watching as Suo Helie's flesh was sliced away, as if they had been scared witless.

Then, after only three or five breaths of time.

Under the reflection of the raging fire.

On the street, Suo Helie's roars gradually faded, and his upper body and limbs were no longer covered by a single piece of intact skin; what was exposed was nothing but bloody, mangled bones!

With a thud.

Amidst the stunned silence of everyone, the sword chime stopped, and the blood-skeleton-like Suo Helie collapsed to the ground.

In the darkness, a low, hoarse voice echoed:

"Should there be another offender, their end shall be the same as this man's!"

Under the sword chime, a thousand cuts.

Everyone's gaze froze, as if falling into an ice cellar; a terrifying, hellish coldness rose from the depths of their hearts, and some even retreated in terror again and again; the few remaining firefighters who hadn't run only stayed because their legs were too weak to move.

In the darkness, the fire crackled, and after a full several breaths, no further movement occurred.

Sensing that Qingyike seemed to have left, Li Zhenguang swallowed his saliva and gathered the courage to speak:

"Suo, Lord Suo!?"

He gathered his courage and stepped forward, only to see that Suo Helie, who had turned into a bloody mess, still had a breath left.

But although he still had a breath, such injuries meant there was absolutely no chance of survival, and the pain he suffered before breathing his last was more miserable than death itself!

Clearly, Qingyike's purpose was to let the other party taste every bit of pain before dying.

"Suo, Lord Suo..."

Beside him, the only remaining personal guard's face was pale, hesitating and not daring to step forward:

"How could this be, what should we do now..."

Suo Helie was a Commissioner of the Jingwu Division, equal in rank to the Prefect of Fengyang Prefecture; the impact of such a figure dying in front of them was no less than the sky collapsing and the earth sinking in this Fengyang Prefecture.

The key was that from beginning to end, they hadn't even seen what Qingyike looked like, as if the other party had used some kind of Invisibility Supernatural Power!

This caused his understanding of the world to almost collapse.

"What are you still standing there for?"

Now, Li Zhenguang, who had completely become a turncoat, felt both shocked and fortunate, and he hurriedly shouted, putting on a show:

"Quick, send Lord Suo back to the Division for treatment; we must save the Lord's life!"

A moment later.

In Boxiyuan.

In the pitch-black room without lights, Lu Yuan's figure rose silently from the ground and appeared out of thin air.

His face was slightly pale, and he immediately sat cross-legged on the bed, consuming a prepared Bait Stone Pill to restore his Dharma Power.

Although his Dharma Power had greatly increased during this period from consuming Bait Stone Pills, he had fought several major battles and unleashed various Earthly Fiend Arts, consuming too much, and the True Qi in his body was basically exhausted.

However, the results were extremely remarkable; both Chen Chuanying and Suo Helie were famous experts in the region, yet they had all been defeated and killed by his hand.

Of course, it was not as if he had paid no price other than his Dharma Power.

After consuming and refining a Bait Stone Pill and restoring a little True Qi.

Lu Yuan let out a long breath and took two three-inch-long wooden staves from the inner pocket at his waist.

Naturally, these were the two Sending Staves he had refined one after another that could block and transfer damage.

Now, of the two Sending Staves, one was relatively new and intact, but the one he had refined first was now completely broken and had lost its function.

That was when he was injured by the other party's life-for-life tactic during his final close-quarters battle with Suo Helie.

Suo Helie was, after all, a top expert at the Five Realms Peak; if he were to fight for his life with a scorched-earth approach, even a Martial Arts Master at the Sixth Realm level could be severely injured.

Although his current Sword Technique was extremely sharp, his combat experience was still somewhat lacking, which was why he ended up taking a slash from the opponent at the very end.

However, he had a Dharma Artifact as heaven-defying as the Jishanzhang on his person, so Suo Helie's final desperate slash became a complete joke.

"Invisibility, Earth Travel Technique, Jishanzhang, Generating Light... I suppose I can be considered a well-rounded warrior who can both take a hit and dish one out now."

"I probably won't be able to use this Qingyike persona anymore in the future; I just wonder how much Qi Luck I'll gain from this action?"

Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes and pondered silently.

He had openly revealed Generating Light and Invisibility under the gaze of so many eyes just now not out of carelessness, but because he had already made plans to discard the Qingyike persona.

After all, having taken out the Superintendent of the Martial Peace Bureau this time, the news would inevitably alarm the Jin Dynasty once it spread, leading them to dispatch even more formidable experts to investigate.

His primary goal was to cultivate immortality and attain longevity, and having the Stone Boiling technique to assist his cultivation was the top priority; he didn't really want to expend more energy playing any cat-and-mouse games.

Even for the sake of Qi Luck, killing a few corrupt officials in this small corner was merely a minor affair; it would be better to wait until his cultivation had improved further before starting to do things that could truly gather the Qi Luck of the world.

With this thought in mind, Lu Yuan stopped overthinking and continued to sit in meditation, preparing to welcome the arrival of the Qi Luck tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)