Translator: Kazeyuki_ Editor: Jimmy_
Qin Wushuang jumped down from the horse and walked forward.
That group of martial artists immediately went forward to block him. However, like the blowing wind, they only saw the figure blurred from their eyes and in flash, they saw Qin Wushuang was already a dozen metres behind them. Like the translucent air, their layers of defense did not work at all.
Qin Wushuang rushed directly to that Honored Warrior with dishevelled hair. When he arrived close to him, suddenly, he lifted his arm and pulled the forward movement of that Honored Warrior.
Next, he poked continuously and blocked all the acupoints on that Honored Warrior. He sent out a wave of Spiritual Qi directly into the Honored Warrior’s sea of Spiritual Qi to suppress the tumultuous movements of Qi and to sort out the chaotic channels of arteries.
From afar, with his sharp eyes, Qin Wushuang had seen that this Honored Warrior was in too much shock. Vividly, his arteries were chaotic and had the signs of having gone mad. If he did not receive immediate treatment, he would die for sure. Instantly, he used his methods to fix his mind. While at the same time, he took the corpse and lay it on the ground to analyze.
After observing at a close distance, Qin Wushuang was sure that indeed, this person was Ba Liming, the second Martial Saint of the Ba Shu Country. All of his five major organs had been deeply caved in as if a strange power had absorbed it to a wizened state. Besides, something had chewed many parts of the body into a distorted shape. The body was shattered everywhere.
Currently, all those Pre-Sky elite warriors glanced at each other and rushed forward with weapons in their hand when they saw Qin Wushuang made a move on their Honored Warrior and took the corpse of the Martial Saint. They were ready to launch a group attack.
Qin Wushuang glanced at that Honored Warrior and saw that he was able to breathe normally. Since his internal sea of Spiritual Qi was no longer roiling as before, he stroke his face and awakened him.
He woke up and a trace of confusion flashed across his eyes. He glared at Qin Wushuang with a confused look, but it was more of a gratitude.
He lowered his head and looked at Ba Liming’s corpse and could not help but cry out miserably: “Teacher!”
“You are Ba Liming’s disciple?”
“Yes…” That Honored Warrior bowed, “Senior, you are…”
“I came from the Great Luo Empire, no need to ask more. Tell me all the details.”
When that Honored Warrior heard the word of “Great Luo Empire,” he was immediately overjoyed and spoke of all the misfortune that had happened during these days. After he had finished speaking all the details, finally, Qin Wushuang had understood what had happened. A few days before the new year, this Purple Cloud Town had been completely looted. Not a single person was left alive.
Since the Purple Cloud Town had been massacred and not a single person was left alive, the news had only been spread out after three days. It was when a foreigner arrived at this place and rushed out to report this matter after he had seen this devastating scene. Then, the news had shocked the officials all the way to the imperial capital.
In the history of the Tian Xuan land, such inhuman destruction has happened before. However, it would usually happen during wartime between two countries when one party wanted to unleash their hatred by ordering such a genocide.
Recently, the Ba Shu country had been involved in any warfare. The Purple Cloud was a trading town and not strong in military power, people from here had done nothing to incur this massacre.
The Ba Shu Country immediately sent Ba Liming, the martial saint, after receiving this shocking news. He brought a group of elite warriors from the Zhen Wu Holy Place to investigate.
When they arrived at the Purple Cloud Town, to their shock, Ba Liming and his two Honored Warrior disciples found that the situation was extremely complicated.
Firstly, this Purple Cloud Town must have been looted. Or else, all the property from the Purple Cloud would not have disappeared.
And if it was the case that only bandits had looted the town, it would be impossible to not let anyone escape from the Purple Cloud Town. Regardless of how sophisticated the organization of the bandits were, they were after all, a mob and incapable of killing every single person. Being a famous trade town, the Purple Cloud town had many big families. There more or less would be some secret passages. Some families would even have their own militia force. Even if they were to fight through the bloodbath, they could make it out.
Thus, the possibility of a bandit raid could be eliminated.
Undoubtedly, this was the act of a large group of elite and well-trained warriors. Among them, there would be elite warriors that excelled in tracking to find anyone in the secret passageways. Or else, they could not have killed everyone.
The most terrifying fact was that the tens of thousands of people of the Purple Cloud Town had not only gotten killed, many of the corpses appeared distorted. They were lacking many body parts as if some vicious beast had chewed on them.
Through layers of analysis, finally, Ba Liming found a trace of evidence. He targeted the Green Jade Mountain that stood before the Purple Cloud Mountain.
From Ba Liming’s analysis, the person who had conducted the massacre had retreated towards the direction of the Green Jade Mountain. Thus, he immediately brought his two Honored Warrior disciples to launch an in-depth investigation.
Then, he also ordered his subordinates to burn and bury all the corpses of the Purple Cloud Town to prevent a large epidemic for occurring.
At the same time, he passed down orders to block all travel paths toward the Purple Cloud Town!
He had been gone for three days. Unexpectedly, when he finally returned, even he had died. And his corpse’s appearance looked exactly the same as a portion of the corpses from the Purple Cloud Town.
His five major organs seemed to have been absorbed by some type of monster and appeared extremely terrifying.
Hearing the words from that Honored Warrior, Qin Wushuang put on a solemn expression and walked out. He waved his hand to his fellow colleagues to motioned everyone to come over.
As Zhou Fu and the others nudged the horses forward, those martial artists still wanted to block him. However, that Honored Warrior shouted: “Step down, do not be rude.”
Since Ba Liming was no longer alive, the Honored Warrior held the highest position. With his order, those Pre-Sky Realm warriors stepped back and made a path.
“Is this really Ba Liming?” Zhou Fu frowned and felt the hair standing on her back.
“Yes.” There was also a trace of seriousness in Qin Wushuang’s tone, “This is not a simple matter. For someone who is capable of doing something like this to Ba Liming, he must be extremely powerful. From my estimation, there are two possibilities.”
“Which two?” Zhou Fu asked while she blinked her eyes.
“Firstly, the opponent is an elite warrior that excels in practicing nefarious techniques and is extremely savage. Secondly, the enemy might be a vicious beast and not at the Initial Stage level.”
Initially, Qin Wushuang could only make these assumptions. Zhou Fu nodded: “Yes, if it were normal warriors, they would only kill and not be this savage and creepy.”
Qin Wushuang turned to ask that Honored Warrior: “When your teacher encountered some enemy, you guys didn’t see anything?”
That Honored Warrior shook his head: “At that time, us three went in three directions. We agreed to assemble every fifty miles. However, on the third day, I saw my teacher’s corpse lying across the path. I panicked and carried his corpse back in a rush. I don’t know the status of the other Honored Warrior.”
“Did you encounter any sneak attacks along the way?”
“No, but I also didn’t find any clues. I don’t doubt that my teacher’s path should have been where the clues were. That’s why he got killed.”
Qin Wushuang became silent and started to examine Ba Liming’s corpse with care. After examining for a while, he did not find anything and instructed: “The people you brought from the Zhen Wu Holy Place, you can return to make camp outside the Purple Cloud Town. Protect the scene. After you have burned all the bodies, you are done.”
That Honored Warrior nodded and asked carefully: “Should I report it to the First Martial Saint?”
“Of course. The death of Ba Liming is a serious matter. The First Martial Saint must prepare for any unforeseen events.”
“Yes.”
After a few hours, the people of the Zhen Wu Holy Place left some tents and food and withdrew.
With the arrival of the dusk, Qin Wushuang and the others started to light a bonfire in the open space. Four of their tents were set in square shape. As the fire ignited with the blaze, Qin Wushuang sat before it and was thinking on something.
“Junior Brother Wushuang, why are you not resting?” Zhou Fu walked out from the tent.
“Senior Sister, tell everyone to stay alert. I am afraid this is not an ordinary enemy.”
Zhou Fu said angrily: “I even want him to come. If he does, we must teach him a good lesson. Such brutal person that killed these people like weeds, I will cut off his head. Junior Brother Wushuang, tomorrow morning, we shall go into the mountain.”
“No rush.” Qin Wushuang said lightly, “We must wait to move when Senior Brother Wei Yi gets here.”
“Why?” Zhou Fu could not understand.
“With how far things have gone, it’s no longer a simple matter of the disappearance of the Herbalist disciples. For sure, a bigger plot is hidden behind this matter.”
Qin Wushuang analyzed and said: “If it was an elite warrior that had killed Ba Liming so easily, he must have exceptional strength. Most likely, he might be someone at the Middle Stage of the Spiritual Martial Force.”
“Middle Stage?” Zhou Fu’s face froze. There was a trace of surprise on her beautiful face, “Could it truly be a dirty scheme by the Heavenly Lake Empire?”
Qin Wushuang said: “It’s too early to make a definite conclusion. When Wei Yi gets here, we will enter the mountain in two groups. One group will go in and the other one would stay outside. However, we must make sure to never go by ourselves. Everyone from each group must stick together. We must prevent the enemy from launching a sneak attack when one of us is alone.”
This night was quiet and uneventful and nothing happened. On the second day, under the leadership of Wei Yi, the disciples of the Head Palace Master arrived.
When two groups gathered together, they had more confidence.
Qin Wushuang said to Wei YI: “Senior Brother Wei Yi, I would like to investigate further into the mountain. You are in charge here. When Senior Brother Zhao Muzhi arrives with his people, we will go in two groups, how about it?”
Zhou Fu opposed: “Junior Brother Wushuang, we don’t feel reassured about letting you enter the mountain alone.”
Qin Wushuang revealed a reassuring smile and said with confidence: “Senior Sister, no need to worry, I am not going to act brave by going in too deep. I will only investigate a little from the outside and follow the path of Ba Liming. I want to see exactly how Ba Liming was killed.”
Wei Yi nodded: “Ok, you must be careful, Junior Brother Qin. If the enemy is too strong, don’t face him head on. With the power from all ten of us, we will finish him!”
Qin Wushuang nodded in agreement. He packed his bags and rushed toward the Green Jade Mountain.
