Chapter 272: Chapter 271: One Step, One Kill

Wu Chen calmly glanced at the panel, his gaze landing on the next Martial Art he could upgrade.

[Blood Wind Palm (Learned)]

[Based on the local Blood Qi concentration, reaching the entry-level for Blood Wind Palm requires ’one day’.]

[Blood Wind Palm entry-level proficiency +1]

[Blood Wind Palm entry-level proficiency +1]

[...]

This was a passable Martial Arts manual he had obtained after wiping out the last three stations.

According to its description, once this palm technique reached the Great Success stage, it could generate gusts of palm wind capable of injuring people unseen.

’But I can create a fierce wind just by flicking my finger...’

Wu Chen couldn’t help but scoff internally as he read the description.

At his current realm, even his spit was as sharp as a nail.

Despite this, he still decided to learn the Martial Art.

The main reason was the description of what came after: upon reaching the Perfection stage, the palm technique could suppress opponents two major realms higher. From over a hundred feet away, it could drain a target’s Blood Qi and flesh, reducing them to a skeleton in an instant.

’In the end, it’s still not that useful.’

Wu Chen shook his head. When he killed people now, why would he need to go through so much trouble?

But seeing that it required absorbing Blood Qi to accelerate its progress, Wu Chen knew he had made the right choice.

Based on his experience with upgrading other Blood Palace Martial Arts, techniques that required an extra step like absorbing Blood Qi could often raise his current cultivation realm!

That made this Martial Art exceptionally valuable.

Tearing his gaze from the panel, Wu Chen reached out and brushed the storage pouch at his waist.

In a corner of the pouch lay a small pile of bull’s-eye-sized beads, their colors varying from murky to translucent.

’Thirty-two Soul-Storage Pearls!’

This was his harvest from annihilating the five Blood Palace stations. Seeing this small pile of Soul-Storage Pearls, Wu Chen suddenly felt that the future was bright.

Aside from these, the rest of his spoils were insignificant.

"Let’s go. To the next one!"

Calling out to Sun Yuting, who had been offering nothing but moral support with her eyes the entire journey, Wu Chen followed the tracks left by the demon-men toward the next Blood Palace station, a place where they condensed their flesh-and-blood armor.

’But I’ve already destroyed five stations so far.’

’Four of them had a Leakless Realm expert. That should be a major blow to the Blood Palace, shouldn’t it?’

Wu Chen pondered this as he walked.

He didn’t know exactly how many Leakless Realm masters the Blood Palace had, but losing four of them would be enough to shake the foundations of any power.

But he quickly shook his head.

’So what if it hasn’t struck at their very core?’

’It just means I’ll have to keep on killing!’

’But surely the Blood Palace has to be making a move by now?’

Wu Chen began to consider the Blood Palace’s next move again, his expression growing solemn.

’It’s been almost half a month, from when I first arrived in Cold Rain City and slew the Tiger Demon to the annihilation of these five stations.’

’Even if I killed all the demon-men at each station instantly, they must have had some way to communicate with one another. They’ve probably figured it out by now.’

’Will the remaining demon-men be on guard? Will they join forces...?’

Wu Chen racked his brain for a while but could only shake his head.

After all, no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t possibly guess the Blood Palace’s specific plans.

’I’m just an ordinary person, after all.’

’All I can do is take it one step... and one kill... at a time!’

Following the trail left by a pair of demon-men, Wu Chen and Sun Yuting traveled in fits and starts. In the blink of an eye, another two days had passed.

"Looks like we’re here!"

Wu Chen rubbed his sore eyes, which ached from constantly using ’Pulse-Severing Dragon-Lock’ along the way, and stretched his back.

He watched the demon-men’s trail stretch toward a verdant mountain peak several miles away.

He knew he could finally relax a bit.

...

On the verdant green mountaintop.

Three stone chairs sat in a clearing at the summit.

Three elderly men were seated in the chairs.

They were all Upper Envoys of the Blood Palace, the men in charge of the disciples’ current session of condensing flesh-and-blood armor.

Two of them had just taken their seats. The elder in the main seat, a man with a head of white hair peppered with black who looked slightly younger than the others, had no time for pleasantries like pouring tea or wine.

He glanced at the two men on his left and right before speaking.

"I assume you both already know the reason I’ve summoned you?"

The man on the left, He Chen, who was the oldest of the three with his grizzled hair and deeply wrinkled face, nodded and said,

"We know. Five of our Blood Pools, used for condensing flesh-and-blood armor, have been destroyed. All of our disciples were slaughtered, with no survivors!"

"No, six,"

the goat-bearded elder on the right corrected him calmly.

Upon hearing this, He Chen’s wrinkled face creased into even deeper lines as he stared at the goat-bearded man.

"Six?"

The elder in the main seat also looked at the goat-bearded man, a hint of surprise on his face. This was different from the information he had received.

The goat-bearded man sighed and said slowly,

"A little less than half a month ago, a Tiger Beast and one of my subordinates from my station died."

"The two of them left under the cover of night and never returned. The sensory imprints planted inside them have vanished, so they must be dead."

"Thinking about it now, it must have also been the work of a Demon Suppression Bureau Captain."

HISS!

The elder in the main seat, Zhou Shi, and the wrinkled He Chen were both stunned. They exchanged a look, horror filling their aged eyes.

They knew of that Tiger Beast. Even they would have to tread carefully if they encountered it, lest its powerful body ram into them and cause grave injuries.

But that wasn’t the most important part.

Most importantly, this Tiger Demon had refined a suit of flesh-and-blood armor and, by a stroke of luck, activated a trace of its ancestral bloodline, allowing it to grow a pair of wings.

It was a literal case of a tiger growing wings.

So even if it couldn’t win a fight, it could still fly away!

Who could possibly stop it?

And yet, it was still killed?

For a moment, silence fell upon the summit, broken only by the sound of wind whistling through the forest.

"So, just how many people did the Demon Suppression Bureau send this time?"

It took a great effort for Zhou Shi, in the main seat, to digest this news. He asked with difficulty,

"Could it be that Cangwu City sent all its Cloud Pattern Captains and every last Demon Suppression Guard?"

He Chen and the goat-bearded elder didn’t know how to answer.

It wasn’t an impossibility.

After all, five stations had been destroyed, their disciples slaughtered to the last man, and on top of that, a Tiger Beast had been ambushed and killed.

Without a force of several thousand, how could they possibly have executed such a swift and overwhelming attack!

"Impossible!"

The goat-bearded man stroked his beard. "If a thousand Demon Suppression Guards had been deployed to Cold Rain City, we would’ve received news long ago."

"How could we not have heard a single whisper?"

"Besides, how could Cangwu City allow all of its Demon Suppression Guards to be sent to Cold Rain City? Have they decided to abandon their own city?"

"This..."

Zhou Shi and He Chen fell into contemplation. If the attacks on so many of their stations weren’t the work of thousands of Demon Suppression Guards, could it possibly have been done by a single person?

"Regardless, what’s done is done. Our most urgent task now is to slay these intruders."

Zhou Shi paused in thought before saying,

"But before that, as the ones overseeing this whole affair, we must report the destruction of the five stations to the Palace Master."

"This matter is too significant. Whether we succeed in killing the intruders or not, if we try to cover this up, all three of us will be implicated."

He glanced at the other two men, and they both nodded in agreement.

The intruders were alarmingly aggressive; in less than half a month, they had wiped out five stations hidden deep in the mountain forests. If they took out another three or five, the Blood Palace’s entire operation in Cold Rain City could be declared a failure.

But when he saw that the two just nodded without taking any action, Zhou Shi fell silent.

Then, he looked at the goat-bearded man and asked ominously, "The Palace Master entrusted you with the Tiger Beast. Don’t tell me you have no way to contact him?"

The goat-bearded man started, glancing at He Chen opposite him before his wide eyes shot back to Zhou Shi in the main seat.

"Don’t tell me... you two can’t contact the Palace Master either?"

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