Chapter 15: A Blood-Soaked Street

Su Chen left the Origin Bureau and stepped out onto the road.

He didn’t know when it had happened, but the road had become completely deserted at some point.

As he looked along the road, he could faintly see peoples’ heads moving around near the tops of the surrounding walls.

Those were the Origin Bureau’s people watching Su Chen.

At the end of the road, a group of people was headed in Su Chen’s direction.

He turned around and found another group of people also headed in his direction.

The walls lining the street glowed brightly. A formless Origin Energy wall cut off any hope of Su Chen jumping over the wall to escape.

All of his possible escape routes were cut off. There was nowhere he could run.

Su Chen stood still.

A young man was leading one of the groups walking in his direction. There was another person following behind him. It was Sun Mao, who now only had a single arm remaining.

The young man laughed, “Knowledge Executor Su! Let me introduce myself since this is our first time meeting. I, your humble servant, am Long Shaoyou, the Long Clan’s Young Master. Even though this is our first time meeting face to face, I have heard of Knowledge Executor Su’s name before. After all, I let Knowledge Executor Su have the Li Clan’s old palace outside the city.”

Su Chen laughed, “You let me have it? Sorry, the way I see it is that someone fought with me over that residence, forcing me to spend an extra five thousand taels of gold.”

Long Shaoyou’s expression sank. “That’s exactly what I wanted to say. Dammit, you wanted to fight with me over a residence that has been infested by demons. Originally, I wanted to have a friendly chat with Knowledge Executor Su once Knowledge Executor Su came. If Knowledge Executor Su was tactful, I wouldn’t have minded giving Knowledge Executor Su that residence as a gift. But before we even met, Knowledge Executor Su arrested one of my clan’s servants and even ruined his arm. Now, we’ll have to settle both the old and new debts at once.”

“Oh? How are you planning on settling them?” Su Chen asked.

“The things that you are carrying will belong to him, while your person belongs to me.”

He turned around and found a red-clothed woman striding towards him. There was a person following her as well - Yu Chengshui.

“I am called Lian Jiao. The character for ‘Jiao’ is that of ‘shining brilliantly’, not ‘throwing a tantrum’[1. In Chinese, words can have the same sound but different meanings. Usually when you introduce yourself it’s common to also include a word that incorporates multiple characters so that people know exactly what characters your name include.]. Don’t get it wrong.” She stopped a few feet away from him, a rope whip in her hand.

Su Chen said indifferently, “I hear that the Lian Clan has a secret technique that enslaves living human beings and can control them. However, those who are enslaved become like corpses; their movements are sluggish, and they lose the ability to think for themselves, drastically decreasing their combat prowess. It seems like that’s the truth.”

Lian Jiao laughed, “Your investigative skills are quite commendable. Don’t worry; as long as you behave yourself, it might even succeed.”

“So it’s not guaranteed to succeed? What a terrible secret technique,” Su Chen laughed.

Lian Jiao’s expression sank. “You’ll know how our secret techniques taste once you’ve experienced it yourself.”

“Why continue wasting words on him?” Long Shaoyou harrumphed. “If he isn’t willing to, then just forget about it. Let’s make a move.”

As he spoke, he waved his hand. The large group of hired guards he had brought with him began to advance.

Even though these hired guards were only of the Body Tempering realm, they had a numbers advantage. There was also no lack of Qi Drawing Realm Origin Qi Scholars present as well.

There were also at least six Blood Boiling Realm cultivators present. When paired with such a large group of people, it was evident that they were treating Su Chen with extreme caution.

Even so, Su Chen was still laughing.

He said, “If you can catch me, then you can divide me up.”

As he spoke, he pulled out a vial of medicine from within his Origin Ring and shattered it on the ground.

Boom!

A plume of smoke and fog immediately engulfed Su Chen as well as the nearby surroundings.

Long Shaoyou’s expression changed. “Not good! He wants to run!”

“Block the exits! Don’t let him get away at any cost!” Lian Jiao also yelled.

Both sides’ hired guards and guests charged forward into the cloud of smoke and fog.

Two more vials of medicine flew out from the cloud of smoke and fog, landing on the ground. Again, plumes of smoke and fog arose, but they engulfed the entire street this time.

“I can’t see!”

“Dammit, I can’t see where he is!”

“Quick, get rid of this fog!”

“We can’t get rid of it! It’s a fog concocted by an alchemist. It’s thick and dense, and it would be hard to drive away even if a hurricane were to come blowing through!”

“Get rid of it anyways!”

“Whoosh!” The sound of wind blowing could be heard amongst the group of people. Even though there was no way for the wind to immediately disperse the fog, the fog was beginning to fade.

At that moment, a tragic cry suddenly rang out.

“AHH!”

This cry was piercing and mournful, but it was cut short, stunning everyone present.

“Old Huang? Old Huang, are you okay?” Someone recognized the person who had cried out.

There was no response.

Rather, the person who yelled out suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back. He lowered his head, only to find that a blade had pierced out his chest from his back.

His eyes bulged in disbelief as he glanced at the blade sticking out of his chest. He wanted to cry out, but a hand covered his mouth. He felt himself being gently laid down onto the ground.

Su Chen retrieved his blade, then continued to dart amongst the group of people.

Yes, he hadn’t run. Rather, he was borrowing the smoke and fog to constantly kill his targets.

Six Blood Boiling Realm cultivators and fourteen Qi Drawing Realm cultivators - he had memorized their locations while conversing earlier.

He was going to find them, then kill them.

This was how Su Chen was going to deal with them.

He was like a seasoned hunter operating in the night, taking the lives of his prey one after another.

Whoosh!

The blade pierced through another guard’s throat, sending a splash of blood through the air. The fog suddenly became blood red. Su Chen expertly withdrew his blade, then turned around and swung the blade down at another target in front of him. Su Chen, who was cut off and isolated, didn’t need to worry about accidentally injuring his allies.

Everyone began to realize that they were being hunted, and they began to yell.

“He didn’t run!”

“Everyone, be careful! He’s hunting us!”

“Quick, get rid of this damned smoke!”

“Watch me!” a guard yelled, thrusting out his hands. “Cloud Waves!”

As he yelled, the dense fog actually began to ascend to the sky, clearing up the field of view below.

“Yes!” everyone yelled excitedly.

That big man laughed loudly, clearly happy that he had made such an important contribution.

An instant later, however, another three vials of medicine shattered on the ground. Plumes of smoke and fog reappeared immediately.

In addition, just before the fog enveloped everyone again, they saw a person’s shadow fly by them, rushing right at the big man who had just used “Cloud Waves”.

As the fog once again began to obscure their vision, they saw a head fly high into the sky.

“No! This damned bastard!” Long Shaoyou was infuriated by the decapitation of one of his subordinates. “Kill you, I’ll kill you!”

“I’m the opposite,” a voice suddenly said from next to Long Shaoyou’s ear.

Long Shaoyou’s heart seized. He hurriedly struck back with his blade.

“AH!” A tragic cry rang out.

Long Shaoyou was ecstatic at first, but that joy quickly turned into shock.

The person he had managed to hit was his subordinate.

Not good!

Long Shaoyou realized what had happened.

Bang!

A heavy blow slammed into the back of his head. Long Shaoyou’s eyes flipped into the back of his head as he fainted.

At the same time, the people in the smoke began to grow frenzied. In order to avoid being ambushed by Su Chen, they began to furiously swing their blades around themselves, preventing anyone from getting near them. Because of this, they injured a lot of their allies.

Lian Jiao realized that the situation wasn’t looking good. She yelled, “Retreat! Let’s get out of here!”

“You aren’t going anywhere!”

Su Chen’s icy voice reached her.

Lian Jiao yelled as she struck out. With a series of bangs, waves of energy began to surge around her, but what met her was a sea of flames roaring over her and engulfing her vision......

Finally, the fog dissipated.

The people still fighting in a frenzy on the street also began to stop.

What appeared before their eyes was the sight of corpses littered all over the ground.

Worst of all, Long Shaoyou and Lian Jiao had disappeared.