In the dim interior, Chen Yong, the Black Dragon Emissary, was resting with his eyes closed when a sudden palpitation seized his heart. He snapped his eyes open.
Chen Yong pricked up his ears warily. Snores rose and fell from both sides—his subordinates were sound asleep inside their tents.
Aside from that, two men on night watch were murmuring to each other not far away.
Both had clearly drunk quite a bit of wine; one was speaking with a thick tongue.
As a seventh-rank cultivator, Chen Yong possessed extraordinarily sharp senses.
Through continuous blood sacrifices over these past days, he had also forged a subtle connection with that flood dragon remnant soul.
With the completed Black Dragon Ritual Altar as well, he had already gained rudimentary control over this small secret realm.
If anything were truly amiss, it ought not escape his perception.
Still, Chen Yong was not entirely at ease. Yunlong Branch Abbey had always kept a close watch on Lake Heart Island, and they were very likely to send someone again to investigate.
With just one more blood sacrifice, he should be able to refine the flood dragon remnant soul and elevate his Black Dragon Gu to the sixth rank, perhaps even to the fifth rank!
The closer one was to success, the more vigilant and prudent one had to be; no lapse or complacency could be permitted.
Even though he had detected no abnormality, Chen Yong climbed down from his wooden cot, grabbed the long saber propped beside it, and walked out of the tent.
The two men guarding the front of the ritual altar scrambled to their feet the moment they saw Chen Yong approaching.
"Altar Master," both greeted him with deep bows.
The Five Dragons Gang worshiped the Five Dragons Gods. Though called a gang, its internal hierarchy followed the structure of a religious sect, split into numerous ranks.
Its members were all boatmen, so the helmsman of a single vessel was called a helmsman master, in charge of that ship's crew.
A helmsman master led anywhere from ten to several dozen men.
One who led the members in burning incense and worshiping the Dragon Gods was called an Incense Master. An Incense Master typically oversaw a dozen or more helmsman masters.
Above an Incense Master was an Altar Master, one authorized to establish an altar and perform rites—a master of a ritual altar.
In the vast Five Dragons Gang, there were only five Altar Masters.
The Black Dragon Emissary was the Altar Master of the Black Dragon Ritual Altar. As the Black Dragon Emissary, Chen Yong's status was second only to the gang leader, wielding immense power within the gang.
Though the two men had followed Chen Yong for years, they dared not show the slightest carelessness before him, even after drinking quite a bit.
Chen Yong swept his gaze over his two subordinates; the smell of liquor on them even overpowered the surrounding stench of blood.
Yet he could hardly reproach them harshly.
In the dead of night, keeping watch over a mound of severed heads alongside a terrifying flood dragon remnant soul, a person likely couldn't endure without a bit of drink.
Chen Yong asked, "Has there been anything out of the ordinary?"
Both subordinates shook their heads vigorously. "Nothing unusual, Altar Master."
"Not a sound."
As the two burly men spoke, their eyes turned toward the entrance of the secret realm, sealed by yin qi like a colossal black mirror.
So long as any living creature entered, it would inevitably cause the yin qi to ripple and emit light.
One of the men offered an ingratiating smile. "The yin qi is like a mirror. Even if a mosquito flew in, we'd see it right away. Rest assured, Altar Master."
Seeing that the two were still reasonably sober and that there truly seemed to be no irregularity, Chen Yong nodded. "Keep your wits about you. If something goes wrong, you won't be able to bear the consequences."
As he spoke, he glanced at the severed heads piled messily together.
The two men understood his meaning. Their flushed, drunken faces abruptly paled, and cold sweat broke out across their foreheads.
The Altar Master had already slaughtered hundreds for the blood sacrifice; two more heads would hardly make a difference to him.
They had done plenty of dirty work under the Altar Master, but butchering this many people at once for a blood sacrifice was a first even for them.
Through this ordeal, they had witnessed his utter ruthlessness and held their Altar Master in ever greater dread.
Still uneasy, Chen Yong made a circuit around the ritual altar.
He paid special attention to inspecting the soul-nourishing jar upon the altar. This bone-china jar, fired from the bone powder of powerful demon beasts and inscribed with runes, was the most crucial vessel in their Five Dragons Divine Gu Art for nourishing souls and refining gu.
The ritual altar bound the flood dragon remnant soul, the soul-nourishing jar tamed it, and blood sacrifice was the simplest, most direct method to nourish it.
All Five Dragons Gu required blood sacrifices. However, this flood dragon remnant soul had slumbered for too long and stood on the brink of dispersal; it demanded massive blood sacrifices to restore its power.
Fortunately, the victims were all displaced refugees from Lake Heart Island—lowborn folk without the protection of influential clans.
If several hundred of them went missing, no one would care.
Having verified that nothing was amiss, Chen Yong finally returned to rest.
In a corner out of Chen Yong's sight, an oddly shaped green snake was slowly slipping through the black mirror of condensed yin qi.
The Heavenly Puppet was not a living creature; though imbued with Zhou Wuji's divine sense, it did not disturb the yin mirror.
As it exited, it merely left a tiny ripple on the dark mirror surface without emitting any light.
The two men on watch were conversing in hushed voices, neither noticing the slight disturbance on the black mirror.
Zhou Wuji recalled the Heavenly Puppet and let out a long breath of turbid air.
Even after breaking through to the sixth rank, manipulating the Heavenly Puppet over a distance still consumed an extraordinary amount of divine sense and true qi.
Maintaining it for a hundred breaths in one stretch had pushed him to his limits.
Zhou Wuji did not cast the Rejuvenation Technique, instead finding a quiet spot to sit in meditation and regulate his breathing.
It was not that he begrudged the ten days of lifespan, but that the Rejuvenation Technique had its limits.
If applied three times consecutively, its efficacy would diminish rapidly.
Judging from what the Heavenly Puppet had observed, the group inside belonged to the Five Dragons Gang. Among them was a seventh-rank martial artist who was likely also a gu master.
Upon the altar lingered another powerful, sinister aura.
Zhou Wuji did not know the full story, but deducing from the altar, these Five Dragons Gang members were conducting a blood sacrifice.
The Five Dragons Gods of the Five Dragons Gang all demanded blood sacrifices, which had earned the gang its notorious reputation.
The Five Dragons Gang's blood sacrificial rites were conducted with great secrecy; even if outsiders caught wind of them, they could never uncover evidence.
Moreover, Gang Leader Chen Dalu was remarkably capable, having unified thousands of boatmen along the great river, so that no one in Yunyang Prefecture dared act against him lightly.
Having slain Chen Dagou and the Azure Dragon Emissary, Zhou Wuji had paid extra attention to the gang's affairs.
Seeing the piled heads, he immediately knew it was a blood sacrificial ritual.
Taking in the dress, speech, and mannerisms of the people inside, he guessed at once that they were from the Five Dragons Gang.
Yet sacrificing hundreds of people—including the elderly, women, and young children—at such a scale left Zhou Wuji profoundly shocked and deeply enraged.
In the eyes of these water bandits, common folk truly were mere grass to be scythed down at will.
He recalled what Lao San and Lao Wu had mentioned: the Five Dragons Gang had ferried away hundreds of residents from Lake Heart Island.
Hundreds of people! That was no small number anywhere.
Only because the residents of Lake Heart Island had been forced from their homes and wandered adrift in search of survival—so numerous that a portion vanishing would never attract the authorities' attention.
For the authorities, fewer displaced refugees even meant fewer headaches—a welcome development.
Zhou Wuji had never considered himself a virtuous man, nor did he harbor grand ambitions to deliver the world. He only wished to manage his own affairs, seek the Dao and cultivate, achieve eternal youth, and ascend to immortality.
Yet the madness of the Five Dragons Gang stirred a fierce killing intent within him.
A gang formed of commoners at the bottom of society, yet showing no mercy whatsoever to other commoners at the bottom—these people were truly evil...
Angry as he was, Zhou Wuji remained calm enough to plan his battle.
The space inside was clearly an independent pocket realm, what Daoist sects commonly referred to as a secret realm.
High-tier secret realms could span ten thousand li, and some even formed independent worlds of their own. In Daoism, such realms were called grotto-heavens and blessed lands.
The secret realm before him seemed very small, and its environment was quite normal, no different from the outside world.
Its only peculiarity was the covert nature of its entrance, which was extraordinarily difficult to detect.
Had he not combed the area step by step and discovered the faint path formed by numerous footprints, he would never have found it.
The Five Dragons Gang members were likely all hiding inside. The strongest among them was merely that seventh-rank martial artist; the remaining dozen or two posed little threat.
The only real threat to him was the powerful remnant soul upon the altar—or perhaps some form of evil spirit.
Though both arose from remnant souls, ghosts originated from humans and followed relatively stable patterns of transformation.
Evil spirits, owing to differences in their soul origin, exhibited bizarre and unpredictable transformations.
Generally, evil spirits were also categorized into nine ranks; the lower tiers were evil qi, evil wraiths, and evil shades.
Once an evil spirit could manifest as a shade, it became exceedingly terrifying.
An evil spirit capable of maintaining a stable physical form could essentially be recognized as sixth-rank.
Zhou Wuji could not be certain of the remnant soul's rank on the altar. However, the Five Dragons Gang gu master was only seventh-rank; a remnant soul that a seventh-rank could control and refine could not be absurdly powerful.
Setting aside his massive advancements in cultivation and spells, killing this lot would not have been difficult even before he had received ordination and registers.
Zhou Wuji went over his battle plan multiple times to ensure nothing had been overlooked. Only then did he take out his sword and hang it at his waist, gripping the Tiger Wing Saber in his right hand.
He temporarily set aside the bamboo-laminated iron staff and sundry belongings.
With preparations complete, Zhou Wuji activated the Five Yin Pouch to shroud himself and stepped directly into the Osmanthus Tree Secret Realm.
The mirror-like condensed yin qi rippled almost imperceptibly, then smoothed over in an instant.
Primarily, it was because Zhou Wuji had concealed his vitality with the Five Yin Pouch; the yin qi of the restriction merged with the yin qi of the pouch, preventing any real trigger of the boundary's alarm.
It was deep into the night, and though the two night watchmen were facing the entrance, they were quite far away, entirely blind to the subtle shifts in the entrance's yin qi or Zhou Wuji cloaked in the Five Yin Pouch.
Ignoring the two night watchmen, Zhou Wuji put away the Five Yin Pouch and locked onto the seventh-rank martial artist with his Six Yang Dharma Eyes.
Among the crowd, this person's spiritual aura of life blazed bright and strong, making him unmistakable.
Zhou Wuji calculated the distance: less than fifty paces apart, which for him was already remarkably close.
His left hand rapidly formed a mudra while silently reciting an incantation. Within a breath, an azure light sword condensed before his fingertips.
The azure glow radiating from the Big Dipper Seven Stars Sword was rather conspicuous in the pitch-black night.
The two night watchmen immediately spotted the sword of light. From their perspective, a streak of blue luminescence had emerged from the darkness, though they had no idea what it was.
Both men were bewildered and alarmed, unsure whether to raise an alarm or step forward to investigate.
Before they could make sense of it, Zhou Wuji willed his divine sense, sending the Big Dipper Seven Stars Sword shooting forward through the air.
Formed of mana rather than forged steel, the Big Dipper Seven Stars Sword tore through the air with virtually no sound.
Even so, Chen Yong, resting inside, still sensed the danger.
The Black Dragon Gu he refined was bred specifically for battle.
Such creatures were extraordinarily sensitive and alert.
Though Chen Yong knew not where the danger originated, he jerked awake instantly, backhanding a grip around the long saber beside his bed.
The next instant, he saw a streak of azure light shooting straight toward him.
Chen Yong possessed sharp eyesight and instantly recognized it as an azure light sword about a foot long.
He gasped in horror, "A Daoist spell flying sword—disaster!"
Chapter 95