Slaughter

With that strike just now, a massive surge of qi and blood power had erupted as he unleashed his greatest strength, yet the monster was completely unaffected. Fortunately, living corpses possessed no intellect, knowing only how to fight and kill by instinct. Otherwise, with its immense strength and terrifying, invulnerable defense, it would be virtually invincible. *Whoosh!* The living corpse moved with startling speed. Howling wind whipped through the air as it lunged toward Ren Jie like a humanoid ferocious beast, bearing down on him with immense pressure. Ren Jie's expression soured. He tightened his grip on the spiked club to parry. He excelled most at palm techniques, but facing a living corpse, he dared not employ them lightly. Living corpses carried potent venom; once corroded by its yin fiend power, numbness would seep into one's body. Although the qi and blood within his body could quickly flush away that numbness, a single moment of paralysis would spell doom. Ren Jie only dared to attack and defend with blunt weapons to avoid making physical contact with the living corpse or being struck by its palms. *Bang!* The living corpse's palm slammed into the spiked club with a dull thud. A terrifying jolt of force surged through, knocking Ren Jie flying. Ren Jie stamped several deep footprints into the ground to halt his backward momentum. "Fuck!" He cursed under his breath, spun around, and fled into the distance. This living corpse could not be fought with brute force! While his qi and blood were abundant, he could still clash head-on a few times by bursting with qi and blood power. But once his qi and blood were nearly depleted, he would be in grave danger. *Roar!* With a bellow, the living corpse pursued Ren Jie. The dense qi and blood power emanating from Ren Jie held immense allure for it—even more delectable than the many ferocious beasts in Beast Roar Mountain. "Whew..." "Everyone, return to your positions and stay on high alert!" Now that the numbness had subsided considerably, Qiu Gaoxuan struggled to his feet, his voice rather weak. His upper body was still somewhat stiff, and his face was ashen. Tearing open his clothes with both hands, he saw his chest stained a purplish-black that spread outward, completely devoid of sensation. With the living corpse lured away by Master Ren Jie and reinforcements finally arriving, Qiu Gaoxuan breathed a sigh of relief. Just then, another streak of fiery light rose into the sky not far away, bursting into a blossom of smoke. "It's the eastern defenses! A powerful enemy has appeared on the eastern defense line too!" Qiu Gaoxuan's expression changed drastically. He turned to the reinforcements and said, "Master Ren Jie has drawn the living corpse away from here. Go reinforce the eastern defense line!" "Yes, Master!" "Master, leave things here to us for now. Please go tend to your wound," one man said, pointing to the injury on Qiu Gaoxuan's chest. Qiu Gaoxuan did not argue. Nodding impassively, he headed toward the camp. ... South side of Baishi Mountain. Lin Zheyu narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched the dozen or so agile bandits below. The bandits in Lion Valley seemed to have formed an alliance; otherwise, they could never have mobilized so many Bone Tempering Realm experts. There were so many experts here alone; combined with the other sectors, their Bone Tempering Realm fighters might well exceed a hundred—nearly double the number in the Feihong Gang. *Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—* Arrows rained down toward the bandits below. Agile and swift, the bandits concealed their movements using the darkness of night. They advanced as if through an empty field; not a single one of the numerous traps and mechanisms laid below had been triggered. *An insider?* Lin Zheyu frowned. To know the placement of the traps and mechanisms so clearly, a spy had to have leaked the information. The image of Xu She involuntarily sprang to mind. The fellow had made a poor impression on him, though on normal days he behaved decently enough. Without evidence, Lin Zheyu only had his suspicions. "Aah... aagh!" Several agonized screams rose from below as a few bandits were struck by arrows and tumbled down the slope, yet even more men surged out from the woods. *Chirp! Chirp!* In the distant sky, two more streaks of fire flared up, blossoming into clouds of smoke. Two other locations had also encountered powerful foes. Lin Zheyu glanced up, his expression solemn. Calls for help were rising from all directions. Bandits alone could never possess such formidable strength—perhaps the Nine Stars Gang and the Wuding Gang had a hand in this as well. *Hold this position as best as possible. If things turn bad, retreat immediately!* Lin Zheyu thought to himself. More bandits poured out from below, showing signs of breaking through the defense line. Having just dispatched men to reinforce other sectors, they were shorthanded. Compounded by the failed traps and mechanisms and the sheer number of bandits, the Feihong Gang members simply could not keep up. "Haha, your grandpa has made it up!" "Here comes your grandpa!" Two burly men broke through the defensive line and leaped up aggressively, their blades glinting with a chilly gleam under the moonlight. Laughing wildly, they brandished their broadswords and prepared to charge in for the kill. *Thwack! Thwack!* Under the moonlight, two arrows shot out like lightning, piercing both burly men through their throats with wet thuds. Their eyes widened in sheer astonishment. Before they could even find their footing, the momentum behind the arrows swept them off their feet, tumbling down the slope. "Your uncle is co—" *Thwack!* Another figure bounded up, but before he could finish his boast, an arrow punched right through his throat. Lin Zheyu stood behind the Feihong Gang brothers. A quiver of arrows rested beside him while his right hand gripped an arrow, his gaze fixed coldly ahead. Whenever a bandit broke through the line and surged up, an arrow would fly from his hand, piercing straight through the man's throat in a single shot. Lin Zheyu did not use throwing daggers. For one, he didn't carry enough daggers to last. For another, throwing daggers were too distinctive and would easily give away that he was the one behind it. Using arrows was much the same as daggers, and after killing enemies, it could be chalked up to dying under a barrage of stray arrows. Lin Zheyu was not skilled in archery; using a bow or crossbow was far less convenient for him than hurling arrows like concealed weapons. With the power of qi and blood erupting through his arm, the force of his thrown arrows was in no way inferior to that of a heavy crossbow. *Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.* Holding the line against the ceaseless waves of charging bandits, the Feihong Gang brothers had no attention to spare and never realized that the arrows were flying from Lin Zheyu behind them. Bandits continued to breach the perimeter and charge up. Yet those who managed to survive the gang members' volley and surge forward barely had time to rejoice before being impaled by Lin Zheyu's arrows. He did not aim solely for throats. Some had their heads blasted open, others had their hearts pierced; every shot struck a vital spot. *Whoosh! Whoosh!* Two arrows flew in rapid succession—one taking an eye, one piercing the heart. Another bandit tumbled down the steep slope with a bloodcurdling scream. *Are these bastards courting death?* Lin Zheyu was growing somewhat numb from all the killing. In less than five minutes, he had killed at least twenty-seven men, including two Viscera Tempering Realm experts. It was as though experts were worthless fodder here. Down in the dense forest, a burly man watched his brothers being picked off one after another, his face turning thoroughly grim. "Retreat! Retreat!" "Damn it, that Xu She lied to us! There's an ambush up there!" The burly man bellowed loudly, ordering everyone to pull back. This place was naturally easy to defend and hard to attack; it wasn't something that could be taken by brute force through numbers and strength alone. Their original plan was that even if Xu She deceived them, it wouldn't matter as long as the locations of the traps and mechanisms were correct. Tonight, they were to launch surprise attacks across all the defense lines, drawing away the southern garrison to reinforce other sectors. With few men left behind, it would be the prime opportunity for a raid. Yet it had failed! Just now, they had dispatched two Viscera Tempering Realm and over a dozen Bone Tempering Realm experts to charge up under the cover of night and a swarm of brothers. Who could have guessed that the moment they reached the top, they would immediately be shot dead by arrows? In the burly man's eyes, ample manpower must have remained above. They had posted a small force along the front line to bait the bandits into attacking, only for anyone who breached it to be gunned down by troops concealed in the rear. What a clever trap! "Fuck! Under attack on all four fronts, with three sending up emergency distress signals, and they still kept so many men here? Are these people out of their minds?!" "Still, even so, the objective has been achieved." "With so many men kept here, the other defense lines are bound to be undermanned and unable to withstand our assault." "What a pity we couldn't infiltrate from here, hit them from behind, and slaughter more of their men." The burly man thought to himself, rueful that the losses in this raid had been so heavy. At the burly man's command, the charging bandits retreated in droves, leaving dozens of corpses behind. "They finally fell back... I thought I was done for just now." "Tell me about it! Several bastards broke through our line, only to be shot dead the second they got up here. Which brother was that fierce?" "Not me! I was panicking, only focused on aiming at the bandits down below." "Wasn't me either." Having repelled the bandits, the Feihong Gang brothers let out sighs of relief and began chatting among themselves. Hong Cheng glanced around, his eyes falling upon the quiver on the ground, then toward Lin Zheyu, who had walked over to the defensive line to gaze downward. *Could it be Master Lin?* Hong Cheng wondered, but soon shook his head. *Probably not. Master Lin isn't skilled with a bow.* *Several Bone Tempering experts charged up just now, and even Viscera Tempering masters. Even I couldn't guarantee shooting them down, let alone Master Lin.* *Maybe they were struck down by a stray volley from one of the brothers?* Hong Cheng thought. "Quiet. Return to your posts and stay on guard," Lin Zheyu said in a deep voice. "Those bandits might make a return thrust. Do not let your guard down." "Yes, Master!" the Feihong Gang brothers answered in unison. Having just beaten back a powerful foe, their morale was noticeably higher than before. "Hong Cheng, I'm putting you in charge here. I'm going to check on the brothers in the other sectors," Lin Zheyu instructed. "Yes, Master." Hong Cheng nodded. He dearly wanted to ask what a mid-stage Bone Tempering martial artist could possibly accomplish by going there, but after hesitating, he kept his mouth shut. Lin Zheyu checked the concealed weapons and poison powders in his pouch. Confirming everything was in order, he held his saber and walked toward the northern sector. The crisis here had been resolved. With so many experts dead, the bandits likely wouldn't attack again. Lin Zheyu intended to see whether Jia Yanyong and the others were safe. Within Songyi City, he had few friends; Jia Yanyong, Xie Jiang, and Ning Hui were three of them. If anything happened to them, he wouldn't have anyone to go out to the brothels with in the future, which would take away a lot of the fun. He arrived at the northern side of Baishi Mountain, the area under the charge of Jia Yanyong and his group. Along the way, the path was in utter disarray. "Brother Lin!" "Why did you come here? How is your post doing?" Jia Yanyong asked in surprise upon seeing Lin Zheyu. "All's well. A band of bandits tried to stage a raid, but they were repelled." "Didn't your side call for help? Why are there so few men here? Where did the rest go?" Lin Zheyu looked around, surprised. "The others went to reinforce the eastern and western defense sectors; they sent up distress signals too." "We ran into a living corpse at first, but Master Ren Jie lured it away. Now, only those bandits outside remain, surrounding us without attacking." Jia Yanyong pointed toward the figures watching hungrily from outside who refrained from attacking. Those bandits were merely there to pin Jia Yanyong and his men down. "Aren't living corpses mindless? How could it be working with bandits?" Lin Zheyu asked in surprise. "The bandits lured the living corpse here using horses brimming with qi and blood. Who knows how they managed it—horses full of qi and blood alone shouldn't have been enough to drag a living corpse this far," Jia Yanyong said with a frown, clearly perplexed as well. "Between Master Ren Jie and the living corpse, who is stronger?" Lin Zheyu asked curiously. If he could understand the power disparity between Ren Jie and the living corpse, he could gauge the gap between himself and the monster. "Master Ren Jie is very strong; he sent the living corpse flying with a single blow from his spiked club." "However, the living corpse has bronze skin and iron bones, impervious to swords and spears. After being blasted away, it wasn't injured in the slightest, remaining as ferocious as ever." "If they kept clashing head-on, Master Ren Jie would definitely have lost. So, Master Ren Jie had no choice but to lure it away." Jia Yanyong added, "Master Qiu took a palm strike from the living corpse. His chest turned black and his body stiffened; who knows if he'll pull through." *If it could be sent flying by a single blow from Master Ren Jie's spiked club, its raw power isn't impossibly absurd.* *What the living corpse relies on is its physique of bronze skin and iron bones, impervious to blades, along with the yin fiend poison it carries.* Lin Zheyu pondered inwardly, gaining a rough estimate of the living corpse's strength. Once he saw Master Ren Jie and determined his power, Lin Zheyu would be able to gauge his own disparity with the living corpse even more clearly. "Where are Xie Jiang and Ning Hui? I don't see them." Lin Zheyu looked around, finding neither Xie Jiang nor Ning Hui. "They went to reinforce the east." "That's where a large amount of excavated ore, smelted pig iron, and forged weapons and ironware are stored. That's the bandits' true objective tonight," Jia Yanyong explained. "As long as everyone is fine, I can rest easy," Lin Zheyu said with a smile. "I'll go check out the other places. You stay here and hold the fort—don't be reckless." "Don't go running around blindly. Fighting is still underway on the east and west; everywhere else is in chaos right now," Jia Yanyong cautioned. "Don't worry. I'm fast. If things look bad, I'll turn tail and run." Lin Zheyu waved a hand and set off in the direction Ren Jie had gone. He wanted to follow and witness the living corpse's power firsthand. ...