The crowd dispersed in a swarm.
Returning to his study, Chen Tianhua waved a hand to open the doors and sat upright in his chair.
Before long, two figures emerged slowly from the shadows.
Both were cloaked entirely in black robes, which they removed as soon as they crossed the threshold, revealing their true appearances.
Chen Tianhua's eyes narrowed slightly, his voice flat and devoid of emotion. "So you two are the ones who accepted my bounty?"
A tall, gaunt old man with a goatee nodded slightly.
His throat had been violently torn away, leaving behind a massive gap of scar tissue, and his eyes glinted with cold malice.
Yet Chen Tianhua's gaze turned chilling as he lifted his teacup.
With the cup concealing his face, a vast, crushing pressure erupted with a roar!
*Bang, bang!!*
Blood rushed to their faces as both men dropped heavily to their knees with a thud!
The immense force shattered the floor tiles beneath their knees with a crack!
Blood trickled from the corners of their mouths. Bewildered, their eyes flickered with rapidly shifting shock.
The pressure of the True Immortal realm was far beyond what either of them could withstand!
Chen Tianhua crossed his legs and set down his teacup, his expression turning steadily grimmer.
With a slight downward press of his hand, their spines bent under a weight as heavy as ten towering mountains!
*Thud, thud!!*
Their heads slammed violently into the floor, staining the tiles with crimson blood.
The earless old man spoke in a harsh, grating, trembling voice. "Sect... Master Chen... what is the... meaning of this?"
A cold sneer tugged at the corner of Chen Tianhua's lips. His gaze was icy as he slowly leaned forward. "What is the meaning? You two should know very well in your hearts."
Frowning, the old man remained prone on the floor and exchanged a baffled glance with his companion.
Chen Tianhua's lip twitched slightly. He had no idea what whoever mutilated these two had been thinking back then.
One was deaf and the other mute, their senses so thoroughly stripped that even divine sense voice transmissions were impossible.
The mute frantically gestured with his hands, moving fast enough to leave afterimages.
Only then did the deaf one speak. "We... do not understand."
Chen Tianhua tossed out a jade slip, from which Zhao Chengyong's voice happened to ring out!
Hearing it, the mute's heart sank instantly.
Watching the gesturing mute, Chen Tianhua sneered. "Business requires credibility. You accept my bounty, yet you dare play both sides? Are you two tired of living?"
At those words, the mute waved his hands in a panicked frenzy, clasping them repeatedly to beg for mercy.
Having heard nothing, the deaf man nudged him, but how could the mute have the mind to explain...?
Chen Tianhua stood up slowly and stepped down hard on the mute's hands.
*Crack! Crunch, crunch, crunch!!*
Flesh tore from bone as both hands were crushed to splinters, the white jade floor tiles cracking beneath the heel.
Bending down, he grabbed the deaf man by his hair and inspected where his ears had been—twisted flesh tangled together into a scarred mess, leaving no ear canal in sight.
Parting his lips, he made sure the deaf man clearly saw the shape of his mouth. "If you want to play both sides, be prepared to choke to death!"
Yet right then, heedless of the agonizing pain in his mangled hands, the mute scrambled forward on all fours to grab the hem of Chen Tianhua's robe.
A flash of disgust crossed Chen Tianhua's eyes. Glancing at the bare bones still clinging to torn flesh, he kicked the man straight in the head.
*Bang!!*
The mute's body skidded across the floor before slamming violently into a stone pillar.
"Don't dirty my clothes."
Kneeling on the ground, the man continued gesturing frantically.
Watching him, the deaf man spoke intermittently. "No... money... We will kill him... for you!"
Hearing that, Chen Tianhua's gaze shifted slightly. He slowly released his grip and returned to his chair. "I know who you two are—Tianlong and Diya, murderers for hire in the Northern Region."
Taking out a handkerchief to wipe his hands, he looked down at them with disdain. "One million. Bring me his head. Seven days. If you fail to kill him, I will kill you both. Get out."
Tianlong hurriedly helped Diya up, bowed repeatedly, and backed out of the room.
Once the doors shut, Chen Tianhua sneered. "Eighth tier of the Mystic Immortal realm, and together comparable to the ninth tier. Formidable enough."
Tapping his fingers on the tabletop, Chen Tianhua muttered with his eyes closed, "The brat's offensive lethality reaches no higher than the eighth tier. Disciples of the sixth tier gathered in groups of three or more were completely fine. The power that slew my consecrated elder clearly did not belong to him—likely something Lin Chuanqing left behind for him, and certainly not much of it. Hmph. A mere ascended rogue cultivator, yet he managed to win such high favor from the Lin family. However... Lin Chuanqing alone won't be enough to shield you! Once he is dead, the Lin family won't make things difficult for me over a corpse!"
This incident had thoroughly disgraced the Tianhua Sword Sect. If they failed to capture and kill him, their prestige would suffer immensely!
Exhaling a breath of turbid air, Chen Tianhua narrowed his eyes. "He's merely at the second, at most third tier of the Mystic Immortal realm. How on earth did he bridge so many realms to kill? Was it that sword? Or was it... the fanged ghost mask on his face?"
He looked down at his desk, where a portrait depicted Li Guanqi slaughtering disciples in the city.
A blood-red robe, a fiendish sword sheathed in white bone, and a fanged ghost mask laced with patterns of crimson and black.
The man licked his lips, greed flashing deep within his eyes.
***
Meanwhile, Li Guanqi was still peacefully tending to his injuries, unaware that danger was creeping toward him.
Two black-robed figures slowly manifested. In Diya's hand rested a jade flask containing a single drop of essence blood.
Li Guanqi's essence blood!
Back when he guarded Shi Lin's realm breakthrough at the Tianshu Ascension Platform, he had suffered grave injuries.
The jade flask was translucent and filled with an unknown azure liquid, within which the essence blood floated suspended.
When Diya turned the jade flask toward the south, the drop of blood inside suddenly pulsed with luminescence.
Stowing the flask, the two dashed toward the south at full speed.
Li Guanqi, his eyes shut in meditation, snapped awake!
The hairs on his arms stood on end; his instincts warned him of imminent peril.
He had always placed great faith in this uncanny sixth sense!
Without packing anything, Li Guanqi unleashed a blaze that incinerated the entire cave.
Slipping into a black robe and donning his mask, he altered his appearance to look like an ordinary traveler and shot off toward the city!
With the wind howling past his ears, Li Guanqi's eyes narrowed. *Who could it be? Has someone tracked down my trail?*
In his perception, two extremely discreet auras on the horizon were closing in rapidly.
Given his current cultivation realm, if even he could detect them, they were already remarkably close.
Spurring himself forward, Li Guanqi slipped silently into the city in the blink of an eye.
Naturally, the cultivator seated atop the gate tower found an extra storage ring tucked into his robes.
The guard was no weakling, standing at the seventh tier of the Mystic Immortal realm.
Li Guanqi had not dared bypass him directly to sneak inside.
The bustling streets teemed with noise and vitality, steam rising from vendors' food stalls along the road.
Yet a chilling cold gripped Li Guanqi from head to toe, as if he had plunged into an icy abyss.
As expected, his pursuers had followed him straight into the city.
Li Guanqi spotted them in the crowd at first glance: two tall, gaunt old men.
Neither made the slightest effort to conceal their presence, their eyes chilling and laden with murderous intent.
As though certain of victory, one of them even raised the jade flask in his hand and gave it a taunting shake before his eyes.
Seeing it, Li Guanqi's heart plummeted. He had caught sight of the drop of essence blood sealed within.
It seemed there was no running away from this...
Chapter 1626