Chapter 147: Chapter 146: Who Said a Scabbard Can’t Kill?

Flying Serpent Canyon. At the pass.

Four figures sat leisurely on wooden chairs, blocking the middle of the pass.

All four men were advanced in years, perhaps in their seventies, with white hair and beards. Their skin was slack, and they had the look of withered trees.

But despite their appearance, no one dared to underestimate them.

They didn’t have to do anything. They just sat there, and anyone emerging from Flying Serpent Canyon knew to approach them obediently.

Only after handing over the required portion of the harvest from their bags could one leave in peace.

"Old Man Liu, you’ve got some real nerve!"

One of them said with a grin, patting the storage pouch at his waist,

"The Elders have repeatedly forbidden plundering our own sect’s disciples, yet you still dare to drag us into this?!"

"Which Elder forbids it? Let him come into this secret realm and say that to my face!" the man known as Old Man Liu retorted with a sneer.

"Heheheh! They’d never dare come in here!"

The whole group burst out laughing. After all, if the Elders actually dared to enter, given the nature of the Blood Slaughter Sect’s members, there was no guarantee they would ever leave.

Some of the more attractive female Elders might even find themselves passed around by the crowd before their deaths.

The thought made the four men roar with laughter.

"The Elders will definitely stay out. It’s just..."

After a moment of laughter, one of them sobered up, a look of worry crossing his face. He spoke cautiously,

"Old Man Liu, we’ll have to leave this secret realm sooner or later!"

His words made the atmosphere tense. The man continued,

"What if the disciples all report us for stealing their herbs? What do we do when the Elders come to punish us?"

"That’s right. We’re all in our sixties and seventies. Even if we’re at the late stage or Perfection of the Jade Bone Realm, we’re nothing more than external stewards."

The other two nodded in agreement, adding anxiously, "Our strength might not be bad, but we’re no match for the prodigies in the sect."

"Some of them reach Jade Bone Realm Perfection at a young age and are just a step away from the Organ Refining Realm."

"If they plunder and kill other disciples, the Elders praise their methods."

"But if we do it, we’ll be the ones taking the fall!"

They knew that even if their strength was comparable to those disciples, their age was a factor. The gradual decline of their Qi and Blood was inevitable, so sect resources were often funneled to the younger generation instead.

Even the sect’s rules were applied differently depending on who you were.

Unless they could break through to the Organ Refining Realm, their status was bound to decline.

Seeing their nervous expressions, Old Man Liu stroked his grizzled beard and chuckled.

"You can all rest easy. I guarantee you’ll come out of this unscathed!"

Seeing Old Man Liu deliberately keeping them in suspense, the men around him grew anxious.

"Old Man Liu, we know you have a backer! Just tell us which Elder it is. Even a surname would be enough to put our minds at ease!"

"Exactly!"

"We don’t have much time left. We just want to live out our last days in peace."

"..."

Listening to the clamor, Old Man Liu was momentarily speechless. He was about to say something vague to keep them guessing.

But before he could speak, a clear voice cut through the air, ringing in their ears like a crack of thunder.

"What’s there to worry about?"

"Just hand all the herbs over to me for safekeeping, and your problems will be solved!"

As the voice faded, a violent gust of wind suddenly swirled around the four men.

WHOOSH! RATTLE!—

The wind was so powerful it kicked up sand and pebbles from the ground. Clearly, this newcomer did not come in peace.

This didn’t feel like a simple robbery for herbs; it felt like they were here to take lives!

"How arrogant! Which Elder raised such an ill-mannered disciple with no respect for his betters!"

"I’ll have to teach you a lesson on your master’s behalf!"

The four men were old, but they had countless battles under their belts. Even as they spat out threats, their movements were anything but slow—as they fled!

The instant they felt the razor-sharp wind, the four men shot up from their chairs, curling their bodies to evade the attack and scattering in all directions.

It was a pathetic sight, but an effective maneuver.

Old Man Liu was the fastest of them all.

He had recruited the other three for two reasons. The first was to have the numbers to keep the nearly one thousand people in Flying Serpent Canyon in check.

The second was so they could take the fall—or the blade—for him if trouble came knocking.

SHLICK! SHLICK!

As he scrambled to put two zhang of distance between them, he heard the sound of a blade slicing into flesh from just behind him.

Two distinct sounds. It seemed someone had already taken the blow for him.

’What a fast blade!’

’Did he kill two of them? Or did one of my men manage to take the attacker down with him?’

A jolt of alarm shot through him, followed by a flicker of hope. He was about to draw his blade and counterattack when the clear voice rang out again:

"A pack of old dogs. All bark, but you run fast enough!"

Hearing how calm and steady the voice was, Old Man Liu completely abandoned any thought of fighting. His only plan was to escape.

After all, anyone who could kill two men right at the start—even if it was a sneak attack—had to possess considerable skill.

He was old. He no longer had the sharp, ruthless fighting spirit of his youth.

In the span of a single breath, Old Man Liu put another two zhang between them. Only then did he dare to glance back over his shoulder.

But when he saw the scene behind him, his pupils contracted violently.

Two headless corpses lay on the ground!

This meant that in the space of a few breaths, the attacker had killed two of his men! And had even taken their heads!

And in that same amount of time, he had barely managed to flee four zhang!

To Old Man Liu’s slight relief, however, the attacker was now chasing in another direction, heading for his last remaining accomplice.

’Even if it only takes you a few more breaths, that’s enough time for me to gain several more zhang.’

’Ten zhang! I’m a Jade Bone Realm Perfection cultivator, after all. At full sprint with that kind of lead, no one can stop me!’

"Unless you can kill someone with that scabbard of yours!"

Old Man Liu chuckled, relieved at his great escape.

But just then, a graceful figure darted out from the side, blocking his path.

SWOOSH!

As the figure landed, a bone-chilling blade aura swept silently toward his neck.

’There’s another one! Only... this one seems much weaker!’

He was a veteran, after all. Though surprised, Old Man Liu reacted to the sudden attack instantly, halting his retreat and dodging the blow without much difficulty.

But from that single exchange, he could instantly tell that this newcomer’s skills were a far cry from the first attacker’s.

If it had been the first one, he wouldn’t have stood a chance of dodging.

"Little girl, you’re asking to die!" He instantly drew his saber and swung it at Xue Hongling.

He knew he had to kill the person blocking his path quickly, without a moment’s delay.

Otherwise, once the man behind him was free, he would have no hope of escaping.

Therefore, with his first strike, Old Man Liu used every ounce of his Qi Power.

THUNK!

But with the sound of flesh being pierced, Old Man Liu’s saber arm froze in mid-air. The two thousand jin of force from his Jade Bone Realm cultivation dissipated into nothing, and his vision began to swim with black and white spots.

He looked down toward the sharp pain in his chest.

There, he saw a jet-black scabbard protruding more than a foot from the center of his chest.

It was as if his Jade Bone Realm Perfection physique was made of paper.

"Who told you a scabbard couldn’t kill?"

Wu Chen’s figure drifted over. The black blade in his hand flashed, taking the final head, which still wore an expression of utter disbelief.

"Four Jade Bone Realm Perfection fiends. That’s four hundred Contribution Points! And four storage pouches!"

"As expected, the loot is always best from these high-realm old-timers!"

Wu Chen handed the four heads to Xue Hongling. "Find some wood and set up a post at the canyon entrance. Hang these four heads on it."

Having killed the toll collectors, Wu Chen naturally became the new toll collector.

He sat down in the same commanding posture as the four men before him, and looked toward the entrance of the canyon.

A massive crowd was gathered there, standing frozen, not daring to advance.

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