Slaughter

Xie Cheng looked grim as he asked, “Were the snakes and insects in the toxic swamp controlled by you?”

Wu Hao and his two brothers chuckled loudly, not denying it.

Although the toxic toad was somewhat troublesome to deal with, it was no match for Xie Cheng. The three brothers were skilled in driving toxic creatures. Knowing Xie Cheng cared about Xie Zhixun's safety, they deliberately summoned the swarm of venomous creatures lurking in the deep mud to attack Xie Zhixun, distracting Xie Cheng.

Sure enough, in his anxiety, Xie Cheng took a hit from the toxic toad, allowing the toxin to invade his meridians.

The poison wasn't severe; after taking a Detoxification Pill, he could have recovered with a single night of meditation. However, Wu Hao and his brothers caught him off guard, crushing a poison pill and using its scent as a catalyst to trigger the toxin in his body. This caused the spiritual energy inside Xie Cheng to violently clash without end, damaging his meridians and greatly reducing his strength.

As for the others, they too had let their guard down. While half-asleep, they were stung by the Spirit-Sealing Bees released by the brothers, rendering most of them unable to use their magic.

—All of this had transpired while Shi Yu was away harvesting the Dragon Bamboo Grass under the pretense of relieving herself.

Hidden behind a tree, Shi Yu's eyes flickered with a thoughtful glint.

She was by no means the type to risk her own life to save others, to say nothing of the fact that she was merely casual acquaintances with Xie Cheng and his servant, sharing no deep bond.

Besides, even if she wanted to save them, the Wu brothers were all at the sixth layer of the Qi Refining Realm, far beyond what she could contend with. Why play the hero for nothing?

However...

“These three had planned this long ago. My departure must have been under their watchful eyes as well.”

From the look of it, the Wu brothers were skilled at controlling toxic creatures. Shi Yu couldn't be sure whether they had done something to her or tainted her with some strange substance.

I'll wait and see first, she thought, her heart sinking as she made her decision.

Xie Cheng is, after all, a cultivator at the eighth layer of the Qi Refining Realm. Even if he fell into a trap, he shouldn't be completely defenseless.

She pulled out her only two Spirit Wandering Talismans and clutched them tightly. While keeping her breath concealed to observe the situation, she accelerated the refinement of the Dew-Condensing Pill—the round trip to harvest the Dragon Bamboo Grass had consumed more than half of her spiritual energy.

Over by the camp, Wu Hao shifted his gaze away from Xie Cheng's group and turned to the others, speaking in a tone that sounded remarkably sincere:

“My brothers and I are all at the sixth layer of the Qi Refining Realm. Though we hold an advantage over each of you individually, we are outnumbered. If you all join forces, we naturally won't be your match.”

He paced back and forth, a smile spreading across his rugged face. “However, you've all been stung by the Spirit-Sealing Bees, leaving your spiritual energy sluggish and unable to circulate... Do you really still want to stand by Xie Cheng and gamble your lives for him?”

With most of their power sealed, the group was already gripped by fear and panic. Hearing Wu Hao's words, they thought he was giving them an option.

Believing they had a way out, someone's face instantly lit up with joy, and they hurriedly declared, “What are you saying, Fellow Daoist Wu! We only took this bounty to make a humble living with a few spirit stones. Why would we throw our lives away!”

Another person broke into tears, chiming in beside him: “Yes, yes! Fellow Daoist Wu, if you let us go, we'll pretend we never saw or heard a thing!”

Xie Cheng stood in front of Xie Zhixun, clutching his chest with a dark expression.

Wu Hao exchanged a glance with his two brothers, their eyes filled with playfulness and mockery.

He tapped his artifact with a finger, appearing to ponder.

“It's not impossible...” But in the next instant, Wu Hao's artifact suddenly triggered. Two poison-tipped sleeve arrows shot out with a whoosh, flashing with cold light.

The two who had just begged for mercy clutched their necks in disbelief. They tried desperately to open their mouths, but no sound came out except for faint, gurgling gasps. Their bodies collapsed, breathless and lifeless.

Beside him, Wu Qian and Wu Shi burst into boisterous laughter alongside Wu Hao, thoroughly amused by the act of playing with human lives.

A chill ran through the remaining captives. They realized that they likely would not escape this calamity today.

After laughing his fill, Wu Hao stepped up to the two corpses and searched them thoroughly, finding some loose valuables and a storage bag.

Nearby, a cultivator at the third layer of the Qi Refining Realm trembled violently and voluntarily took off his storage bag. “F-Fellow Daoist Wu, all my wealth is inside. Could you spare—”

Wu Hao snatched the storage bag, and before the man could finish speaking, thrust a saber straight through him, drawing it out with complete indifference.

Hidden in the distance, Shi Yu's pupils shrank. She realized these three brothers were not just out for loot—they intended to leave no survivors.

Though Xie Cheng had never explicitly revealed his background, judging by his words and actions, it wasn't hard to guess he came from no ordinary background, backed by a formidable force.

To prevent today's incident from being exposed and to avoid retribution from the power behind him in the future, Wu Hao's group would definitely silence everyone present.

She had left under the excuse of relieving herself, which spared her from the Spirit-Sealing Bees. The Wu brothers likely hadn't cared about her due to her low cultivation, letting her wander off.

But if they intended to slaughter everyone to keep them quiet, she was bound to be on their hit list.

Unsurprisingly, she must have been tagged with some form of tracking technique.

Sure enough, the moment the thought crossed Shi Yu's mind, she heard Wu Qian say, “Big Brother, we missed a kid who went off to relieve himself.”

Hearing this, Wu Hao gave a playful chuckle and looked toward the spot where Shi Yu was hiding. “Oh, isn't he back already?”

Just as she thought.

She was standing quite a distance away and had intentionally suppressed her aura. Normally, a cultivator at the sixth layer of the Qi Refining Realm would have a limited range for divine sense and shouldn't have been able to spot her.

It seemed her guess was spot-on: the three of them had secretly used some method to track her, allowing them to locate her with ease.

In that case, even if she had tried to run earlier, she would have been tracked down.

With a gap of three whole layers in cultivation, her chances of escaping were slim. Gripping the Spirit Wandering Talismans tightly, Shi Yu stepped out from behind the tree and darted over to Xie Cheng's side.

Xie Zhixun was already pale with fright, his eyelashes trembling. Clutching Xie Cheng's arm, he turned his head to gaze at Shi Yu through silent tears, looking utterly helpless and innocent.

Xie Cheng gave a bitter smile. “I've dragged you into this, little friend. It's my fault for acting recklessly and being too ostentatious.”

“Yeah,” Shi Yu glanced at him and nodded in agreement, looking as if to say, at least you know.

She was not without a temper. Xie Cheng failed to understand the principle of hiding one's wealth. He was merely accompanying a young master to gather herbs, yet he had noisily spent lavish sums to hire so many bodyguards, feeding everyone Tier-3 spiritual grain and vegetables along the way as if afraid others wouldn't know how wealthy he was.

Now look what happened. He had aroused greed and dragged everyone down with him.

It wasn't victim blaming, but the Origin Realm was just that brutal—competition for cultivation resources was a constant theme. She had assumed that being older, Xie Cheng would understand this better.

“...” Choked by her blunt response, Xie Cheng pulled back his gaze in embarrassment.

Right now, his heart was filled with anger and regret.

Due to the young master's condition, the two of them had spent years living in an ice room, rarely interacting with outsiders. This time, taking the young master out to relax, he couldn't resist the boy's pleas and agreed to search for spiritual plants in the mountain range.

Xie Cheng had assumed they would only wander the outer edges, and having posted a bounty to hire so many bodyguards, there shouldn't be any danger.

He never expected... human nature was truly fickle and treacherous.

On the other side, Wu Hao and his brothers were already growing impatient.

The Spirit-Sealing Bees were remarkably effective, but the effect was short-lived, and the higher a person's cultivation, the weaker the effect.

“Everyone's here now, Big Brother. Let's do this.”

Wu Hao nodded and cast a glance at Shi Yu. “Be careful. I'm not sure if that kid still has any talismans on him.”

Earlier in the toxic swamp, when the snakes and insects swarmed them, everyone had seen Shi Yu use talismans to clear a path.

With those words, the three of them darted into the crowd, raising their blades to begin the slaughter.