Chapter 123: Lost Traces

The atmosphere in Blackstone City was simply like the apocalypse.

Actually, for Blackstone City, this was utterly the apocalypse.

Everyone died.

The Shi family's clansmen, the Shi family's warriors, the Shi family's hired hands, the Shi family's slaves……and the Changsheng Sect army stationed in Blackstone City.

Inside and out, clean and tidy, not a single one left alive.

Standing in the main hall of Blackstone City's castle, looking at the row of corpses laid out before him, even though Wu Tie had already experienced life and death, slaughter, he still almost vomited.

These corpses belonged to the Shi family elders who had defected to the Changsheng Sect.

They were already very old, with wrinkled skin and feeble appearance; age spots and wrinkles inevitably made their looks not so good.

Appearing before Wu Tie, they were now withered all over, like skin and bones, only their bellies swollen high, with bluish-black veins tangled messily across their bellies, looking especially ferocious.

Their bodies bore ferocious wounds, wounds inflicted by various weapons.

Inside the wounds there was no blood, only a turbid, viscous pus, like spoiled, stinking glue, constantly oozing out.

This pus does not coagulate like normal plasma; these elders have been dead for several days, yet the pus continues to slowly seep from their bodies, emitting a cold, withered aura.

Wu Tie obtained a copied manuscript of the Changsheng Sect's secret classic, the Classic of Longevity, from the bracelet left by Zhu Zixi. On the way back together with Shi Zhan, Wu Tie, bored, carefully read through this secret classic from beginning to end several times.

He realized that, before these Shi family elders died, all their essence and spirit had been extracted using the secret technique from the Classic of Longevity, condensed into the Changsheng Sect's unique secret pill, the Longevity Pill!

The Longevity Pill is an extremely evil secret medicine; its sole material is living beings, of all kinds. Sentient beings are better, sentient beings with cultivation are best, and if their cultivation is strong, they are even better raw material.

Mana, soul, essence blood, all energy within the body, all essence, will be drawn out by the evil art and condensed into one Longevity Pill after another.

The Longevity Pill can greatly replenish vital energy; activated by secret methods, it can also extend lifespan. Of course, for the young disciples of the Changsheng Sect, the Longevity Pill is the best secret medicine to aid cultivation; the young disciples of the Changsheng Sect have cultivation far above ordinary peers their age, the key being the Longevity Pill.

Wu Tie forcibly suppressed the urge to vomit.

He left the hall, went to the washroom nearby, took out dozens of bottles of top-grade Longevity Pills treasured by Zhu Zixi from the bracelet, crushed each one and poured them into the drain to be flushed away with water.

While reading the Classic of Longevity, although he was shocked by the Changsheng Sect's evil arts, Wu Tie had no direct impression of these Longevity Pills.

He personally saw these few Shi family elders.

Seeing their corpses was like seeing rotting, spoiled rats, constantly oozing that foul pus; Wu Tie could no longer accept the existence of the Longevity Pill. Seeing those exquisite blood-red pills, Wu Tie thought of those ferocious, ugly corpses.

After smashing all the medicine bottles that had held the Longevity Pills and throwing them into the drain, Wu Tie then thoroughly washed his hands several times, only then with a grim face did he return to the hall.

Inside the hall, only the severely injured Shi Meng, unable to move, lay slumped in a large chair, blankly staring at those corpses deliberately kept.

The other corpses in the city, whether Shi family members, or the Shi family's warriors and slaves, or those Changsheng Sect warriors, had all been burned to ashes and buried in the fields outside the city.

All this was done personally by the survivors Shi Fei and Shi Le leading the clansmen.

The three greatest families of the Cangyan Realm now have only over two thousand survivors who fled to hide in the Giant Ancestral Land.

Of those, the true direct-line clansmen of the three great families number less than a hundred, averaging fewer than forty survivors per family. The other over two thousand are all family warriors loyal to Shi Meng, Shi Fei, and Yan Hanlu.

The three greatest families of the Cangyan Realm exist in name only.

The Shi and Yan families are still okay; as long as people remain alive, they can propagate their bloodline and continue to strengthen the family.

As for the Lu family this time, they probably cannot endure.

The Lu family's foothold in the Cangyan Realm exists because they master profound casting techniques. In this trade, many high-level secret arts and techniques are held by the Lu family's elders; the young Lu clansmen have not yet been able or qualified to learn those secret arts and techniques.

The Lu family's elders were also completely wiped out; their casting skill can be considered cut off from inheritance.

For a family that lives by its craft, losing the very skill that founded it, one can easily imagine their future fate.

Wu Tie walked over to Shi Meng's side, staring blankly at him: "Hey, what are your plans?"

Shi Meng fell silent for a moment, then lifted his eyes to glance at Wu Tie.

He began to recount what happened after Wu Tie and Shi Zhan lured Zhu Zixi away; that day, after Zhu Zixi madly chased Wu Tie and left, several ordinary elders of the Changsheng Sect commanded a large number of followers and warriors, beginning a frenzied assault on the Giant Ancestral Land.

Although Shi Zhan had left, the Giant Ancestral Land's formation layout remained, controlled by Shibao and other giant elders; the Changsheng Sect still could not breach the Giant Ancestral Land.

After several days of frenzied attack, the Changsheng Sect's people suddenly withdrew.

Initially Shi Meng and company thought this was a Changsheng Sect ploy of retreating to advance, a scheme to lure them away from the Giant Ancestral Land.

But after they sent out ratfolk scouts to investigate, they discovered that the main cities of the three great families, as well as the main cities of over ten surrounding great families, had all been bloodbathed.

The slaughterers were extremely efficient, and their methods were ruthless, cold-hearted.

So many main cities, the larger ones housing tens of thousands, the smaller also thousands, plus the serfs in the fields outside the cities and the mine slaves in the pits, a total population of over a million, yet not a single one escaped.

"I really don't know how they managed it." Shi Meng looked at Wu Tie like a dead man, lifeless: "However, Ancestor Shi Zhan said, the Cangyan Realm's vital energy is gravely wounded; it can no longer connect with the outside realm."

"The ancestor is preparing to mobilize all the giants to seal off that passage leading to the outside world."

"Close the gates, wholeheartedly bear children and multiply, strengthen the clan. At least seal off the Cangyan Realm for a hundred years; wait until the clansmen recover a certain number, then talk about other things." Shi Meng gave a bitter laugh: "That would also be good; with Ancestor Shi Zhan holding the fort, our Shi family counts as now the strongest family in the Cangyan Realm……"

Wu Tie didn't know what to say.

He hadn't yet learned to offer hollow condolences like "grieve and move on."

He merely looked at Shi Meng and said in a low voice: "Well, I am going to leave. I will go find my older brother, find my mother. They are not in the Cangyan Realm; they are outside."

Shi Meng nodded, continuing to slump in the chair: "Also good, go ahead, Steward Xiao Tie, you are a person with a bright future; staying in the Cangyan Realm, frankly, there's nothing meaningful."

"Really……" Shi Meng gave a grim smile: "Those damned elders, although we hate them for defecting to the Changsheng Sect and betraying the family, but seeing them really dead…… When we were young, they were all kind elders, good to us; just why did this happen?"

"And those who followed the elders wholeheartedly, those brothers and sisters, are our kin, our brothers and sisters…… they too ended up like this, all dead……" Shi Meng muttered lowly: "Longevity, longevity, longevity not attained, each one became a short-lived ghost……"

Wu Tie said nothing, merely watching Shi Meng, letting him vent his emotions with words.

"Also, this should have been done by people inside the Changsheng Sect. Everyone's essence blood was drained; the plasma on the streets had not a trace of red, all essence sucked away." Shi Meng said in a deep voice: "This grudge, we cannot repay…… Steward Xiao Tie……"

Wu Tie looked at Shi Meng and said in a low voice: "What matter?"

Shi Meng hesitated a moment, then said with a hint of helplessness in a low voice: "This talk is really hard to bring up, but I'll just thicken my skin and say it."

"I and the second brother discussed it; the valuables in the Shi family's treasury have all been looted clean."

"But in the Shi family's external mine tunnels, there are several small secret vaults; the Shi family's truly valuable things are all inside, including some primordial herbs that are old in age and strong in medicinal power, all hidden there."

"These things, I'll give them all to you. Going out abroad, more travel funds, also good."

"We don't demand that you must do something, but if, suppose, just suppose, if one day you encounter them outside and you are able to act, considering today our Shi family's slight affection for you……"

Shi Meng gritted his teeth, squeezing out a few dry words from the gaps between his teeth: "Please, help us torture-kill them……Make sure they don't die too easily……We brothers beg you."

Shi Meng's eye corners split open, and two streams of blood tears flowed out.

He looked at Wu Tie with a bitter smile and said: "So many people, so many lives……Not only our Shi Family, but also the Lu Family, the Yan Family, and over ten nearby clans, adding up to over a million lives……How could they do this? How could they bring themselves to do it?"

Wu Tie's pores all over his body opened, continuously blowing out cold air in wisps.

He was also curious: what kind of 'person' could do such a thing? How could they bring themselves to do it?

Wu Tie remained silent, merely reaching out and firmly patting Shi Meng on the shoulder.

The atmosphere inside the hall was oppressive; the corpses of the few Elders deliberately left behind were truly gruesome. Wu Tie, leading the witch women, walked out of the hall, stood outside, and silently watched a busy group of dwarves and gnomes.

People died, but life must go on.

No matter how fucked-up the era, no matter how damned the world, people must always look forward.

The Shi Family's several main cities, as well as the slave settlements outside them, were slaughtered clean; but deep in the mines, some of the mining slaves responsible for extraction survived. The killers had no time to search everywhere for these fortunate ones.

The Shi Family's reputation stands here; Shi Fei has been running around these days, regardless of good or bad, recruiting another batch of wild tribes to ally with the Shi Family.

In the vast Black Stone City, a bit of liveliness has returned; everywhere are busy dwarves and gnomes, cleaning streets and dwellings, burning garbage, burying ashes, repairing the damaged city walls and buildings……

Above Black Stone City, the False Sun gradually brightened, its light illuminating Black Stone City and the vast plains outside it.

Wu Tie lifted his head to gaze at the dome, wondering what kind of world lay above that thick dome.

Does the spring rain apricot blossoms that Grey Master firmly believed in really exist?

Does the sea and starry sky that Lao Tie spoke of really exist?

If those beautiful things once existed, how did this world, surrounded on all sides by thick rock layers, come into being? Why do all the peoples survive in this lifeless, crisis-ridden stone world?

Wu Tie reached out his hand, striving to grasp the light emitted by the False Sun.

The light could not be grasped; within the light, large swirling motes of dust were clearly visible, each tiny particle hovering near the fine hairs on the back of Wu Tie's hand, occasionally landing on his hand, more often drifting away on the wind to unknown places.

Lao Bai panted heavily as he sprinted over, nearly collapsing when he reached Wu Tie's side.

"Wu Tie, Wu Tie, we didn't find those two girls."

"Yu Mo, not seen; Qing Yuan, also not seen……but we also didn't see their corpses."

"People of the three great families all have an impression of them, after all Zhu Zixi protected them like that, so everyone knows them. In short, no living person seen, no corpse found……Among the corpses found inside Black Stone City, they are certainly not there. However, the four personal attendants of Yu Mo, their corpses have been discovered."

"In Yu Mo's living quarters, the four maids were beheaded in a single strike, dying horribly. Moreover, the scene retained a layer of blue ice, very cold, very sinister ice."

Lao Bai spread his hands, looking at Wu Tie with a wry smile: "Well, this sort of thing is common. The two little girls are pretty; likely the captors couldn't bear to kill them, so they were abducted to be warm bed companions, or simply sold."

"Women, you either find them alive or dead……If you see neither the living nor the dead……then basically they suffer a hundred, a thousand times worse than death……" Lao Bai spat on the ground and muttered angrily: "This damned world, tsk, what a pity for those two lively little girls."

Wu Tie raised his head to look at the dome.

It seems he cannot fulfill Zhu Zixi's dying request.

However, Wu Tie feels no psychological pressure; this is not his fault.

Zhu Zixi is his enemy; Wu Tie can have Lao Bai send out his rat descendants to search for Yu Mo and Qing Yuan's whereabouts, and he has already done enough for Zhu Zixi.

"If I find them, I'll protect them; if I can't, there's nothing I can do." Wu Tie furrowed his brow and solemnly told Lao Bai: "I'm preparing to set out now, leave the Cangyan Realm, Lao Bai, help me ask your kin to spread the word……"

"I will offer a thousand Gold Snake Stone gold coins, or a thousand Changsheng Sect gold coins, to search for Yu Mo and Qing Yuan."

"Have your kin help me keep watch……All the rat people under heaven are one family."

Lao Bai's eyes turned red with excitement at the generous reward promised by Wu Tie.

But in an instant, Lao Bai stared blankly at Wu Tie: "Ah, you're already going to leave the Cangyan Realm? So soon……"