Chapter 221

Su Meiyao's steps halted, and on that face of ten-thousand-year ice, a rare ripple appeared, as if a firecracker had been tossed onto a calm lake.

She didn't turn back, but her voice sounded as if squeezed from between her teeth, carrying three parts chill and seven parts repression: "My master… she is already gone."

Indeed!

Zhang Jun's heart sank, damn it, another one with deep hatred and bitter grudges.

"As for the 'Blood Sacrifice'…" Su Meiyao suddenly turned, her icy eyes locking onto Zhang Jun as if to see through him: "Do you really want to know?"

Nonsense! I've practically taken off my pants… no, my ears are perked up, and you're telling me this?

Lin Xue and Murong Wanqing also came over; although Liu Qingxue had just escaped danger, she now forced herself to stay alert, nervously watching Su Meiyao.

This woman definitely knows some earth-shattering secret! More mysterious than the chamber pot supposedly used by Qin Shi Huang that Old Wang once dug up in Panyuan Garden.

Su Meiyao took a deep breath, the noticeable curves on her chest rising and falling slightly, making Zhang Jun… uh, making Tie Shan's eyes go wide.

"I am the sole successor of the Hundred Flowers Valley."

Hundred Flowers Valley?

Zhang Jun and Murong Wanqing exchanged a glance, both seeing shock in the other's eyes.

Murong Wanqing even lost her voice: "Could it be… could it be that the person my grandfather saved back then was one of your Hundred Flowers Valley?"

Su Meiyao nodded, acknowledging it.

"The Hundred Flowers Valley was once a reclusive sect that combined medical arts and cultivation, excelling in cultivating spiritual herbs and refining miraculous pills…" Su Meiyao's voice was soft yet carried a bone-deep sorrow: "Because we guarded a rare treasure—the Life-Creation Lotus—the Shadow organization, together with other heretics, wiped out our entire sect in a single night."

Life-Creation Lotus!

Just hearing that name sounds awesome—probably even more impressive than 1982 Lafite.

"Before my master died, she gave me the seed of the Life-Creation Lotus and part of the Hundred Flowers Valley's inheritance. She told me I must find a reliable person to revive the Hundred Flowers Valley and… expose the Shadow organization's monstrous plot!" Su Meiyao's eyes flashed with moisture, then quickly turned icy: "Senior Murong, you truly risked your life to save several injured disciples of my Hundred Flowers Valley back then; this kindness, I, Su Meiyao, will never forget."

So, her earlier rescue of Liu Qingxue was indeed to repay Senior Murong's favor. This girl, she's clear about gratitude and grudges.

"What does the Shadow organization want with the Life-Creation Lotus? Surely they're not just going to soak their feet in it?" Zhang Jun couldn't help but ask.

"Soak their feet?" Su Meiyao's lips curled in a sneer, cold as December ice shards: "They intend to use the Life-Creation Lotus to carry out an inhumane, humanity-exterminating 'Blood Sacrifice Grand Formation'!"

Blood Sacrifice Grand Formation?

Just hearing that name, it's damn spooky!

"Their hidden patron, that behind-the-scenes bastard, seems to seek immortality—or… a breakthrough into some unfathomable realm!" Su Meiyao gritted her teeth: "And this Blood Sacrifice Grand Formation requires vast amounts of martial artists' essence blood and even cultivators' souls as offerings!"

Holy shit!

Zhang Jun felt his scalp tingle; this is damn more thrilling than a horror movie! Using living people as fuel? These beasts are simply insane!

Suddenly, Su Meiyao looked at Zhang Jun with a complex gaze, that look making his heart go numb.

"Your 'Pure Yang Body'," she said word by word, her voice icy and bone-piercing, "to them, it is a rare supreme supreme! At the same time, it is the perfect medicinal guide they dream of!"

Holy crap!

Ten thousand grass-mud horses galloped through Zhang Jun's mind. Given his physique, in their eyes he's walking Tang Sanzang meat—everyone wants to take a bite. This feeling is like seeing discounted Australian beef in Walmart's cold section last Wednesday, only to find it expires tomorrow, leaving him depressed.

No wonder those bastards chase him relentlessly!

Destroy the Shadow organization's plot! Avenge kin and master!

At this moment, Zhang Jun, Su Meiyao, Lin Xue, Murong Wanqing, and even Tie Shan had blazing anger in their eyes.

A common enemy, a common goal, brought their hearts closer than ever before.

Su Meiyao took a deep breath, as if making a resolution: "If the Shadow organization is not eradicated, I, Su Meiyao, swear not to be human! Zhang Jun, I can temporarily cooperate with you, but I do it only for revenge."

In other words, don't expect me to throw myself at you.

Zhang Jun pursed his lips, little lady, still quite aloof. But having another strong helper is always good.

Just then, Tie Shan dragged over a guy beaten to a bruised face, barely alive—it was Fang Zhenyue.

"Brother Jun, this old brat isn't dead yet, and his mouth is tough!"

Zhang Jun's eyes turned cold as he stepped forward, looking down at Fang Zhenyue, his voice like icy depths of the Nine Abysses: "Speak! Where is the Shadow organization's secret stronghold in Yanjing? And who exactly is that so-called hidden patron of yours?"

Fang Zhenyue's spine was broken; he lay on the ground like mud, yet his mouth remained hard: "Pah! If you've got the guts… just kill me! I… I won't say anything!"

"Mouth hard?" Zhang Jun snorted, giving Lin Xue a look.

Lin Xue understood, pulling a small porcelain bottle from her medicine pouch, pulling the stopper, and a soul‑stealing, bone‑eroding strange itch fragrance wafted out.

"This is my newly developed 'Seven-Day Soul‑Breaking Itch'; after being hit, you'll know what it means to wish for death, as if millions of ants crawl in every bone crevice…" Lin Xue introduced it with a smiling squint, that smile looking more terrifying than a devil to Fang Zhenyue.

Fang Zhenyue's face instantly turned pale, cold sweat pouring from his forehead.

"I'll talk! I'll talk!" Before Lin Xue could act, Fang Zhenyue completely wilted: "The Shadow organization's base in Yanjing is in the southeast corner, near the mass graves—an abandoned distillery, one of their key strongholds, responsible for… transporting the 'offerings' and contacting… the hidden patron!"

"Who exactly is the hidden patron?" Zhang Jun pressed.

Fang Zhenyue's eyes flickered with fear: "I… I don't know exactly who it is, only that the hidden patron is very interested in that old madman who went missing decades ago… your master! They've been tracking his whereabouts and whatever he left behind!"

Master?

Zhang Jun's heart jolted! The Shadow organization is actually still searching for his master's whereabouts?

Could the master's disappearance also be related to this damn Blood Sacrifice Grand Formation?

The situation is getting more and more complicated.

Zhang Jun took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

"Now isn't the time to think about those things." Su Meiyao said coldly: "Since we know the stronghold, let's raid it!"

"Good!" Zhang Jun's eyes narrowed: "We'll split into two groups!"

He looked at Lin Xue and Murong Wanqing: "Xue'er, Wanqing, you take care of treating the wounded, and Senior Liu also needs looking after. Wanqing, use the Murong family's influence to investigate from within who is colluding with the Shadow organization, to be the insider!"