The "Earth Yin Blood Talisman!"

  Liu Xiao and another Night Patrol Division officer immediately recognized the talisman—it had an infamous reputation. Even after all these years, it remained a nightmare for many Qi Refining cultivators.

  The number of Dead Peak disciples who perished under this talisman wasn't just a thousand—it could've been three thousand. Many others suffered lifelong disabilities because of it.

  What made it terrifying was that even though it was only a low-grade Rank One talisman, it could still threaten a Qi Refining fourth-layer cultivator, while those at the third layer were almost guaranteed to die upon contact. Neither Yang Talismans nor Yin Talismans could compare to this.

  The reason was simple—it consumed lifespan.

  Activating one could cost as little as a year or two.

  Or as much as eight to ten years.

  For an old man like Chen Feng, even using just one talisman might mean he wouldn't have much time left to live.

  So when Chen Feng pulled out the Earth Yin Blood Talisman, Liu Xiao and his companion instantly realized—Chen Feng was planning to die with them!

  "Retreat!"

  Liu Xiao swung his spear backward, using the force to propel himself away, while the other officer immediately followed.

  But Chen Feng sneered and gave chase, unwilling to let them escape. He clenched the talisman tightly, and in the next moment, a massive surge of fresh blood gushed from his palm into the talisman.

  In just a blink, he looked seven or eight years older.

  Liu Xiao and his companion's expressions changed dramatically. The instant they saw Chen Feng throw the Earth Yin Blood Talisman, their faces twisted in horror—they instantly tossed out their magic weapons and frantically activated seven or eight defensive talismans from their storage bags.

  Then—

  A deafening explosion tore through the sky.

  BOOM!

  A violent surge of Earth Yin energy and blood essence erupted from the talisman, expanding outward in a crimson shockwave.

  Wherever the blood-colored wave passed—whether it was demons, members of the Chen family, or disciples of the Night Patrol Division—

  They all turned to dust in an instant.

  They didn't even have time to react.

  When the crimson wave finally dissipated, everything within a hundred meters had vanished—wiped out by the explosion.

  Aside from Liu Xiao and his companion, nothing remained.

  Though the two had survived, the cost was immense—they had to self-destruct their magic weapons, completely depleting their defensive talismans. Their bodies had taken a severe hit, leaving them with less than thirty percent of their strength, barely hanging on and teetering on the brink of severe injury.

  "What a shame… it was only a mid-grade, low-rank Earth Yin Blood Talisman…" Chen Feng muttered regretfully when he saw that Liu Xiao and his companion were still alive.

  The moment he spoke—

  Blood spewed from his mouth.

  His aura grew even weaker, but his expression turned even more manic and ferocious.

  Then—

  Chen Feng suddenly turned and, using a flying artifact, fled from the Chen family estate.

  His speed was astonishing—clearly, he had used another talisman to enhance it.

  Liu Xiao wanted to give chase, but the Night Patrol officer beside him stopped him. "Don't! If we pursue him, he'll likely drag us down with him. We need to deal with the demons first—if we delay any longer, more people will die!"

  Liu Xiao glanced at the Night Patrol disciples still locked in fierce battle with the demons. He could also feel his own disrupted qi and his nearly-crippled body. With no other choice, he gave up the pursuit, allowing Chen Feng to escape.

  The other Night Patrol officers, witnessing the scene, also refrained from chasing. They focused on handling the demons instead.

  A strong enemy wasn't scary.

  What was terrifying was an enemy who didn't care about their own life.

  What if he had another Earth Yin Blood Talisman?

  With no higher-ranking officer present, whoever chased him would be dead for sure.

  However—

  In the Red Maple Forest, Wen Jiu was dumbfounded as he watched everything unfold.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Sh*t!

  He was coming straight at him!

  "What kind of rotten luck is this?!"

  He had only hidden in the Red Maple Forest to avoid the chaos for a bit.

  How the hell did the strongest, most insane member of the Chen family end up charging straight toward him?

  Without a second thought, Wen Jiu activated Three Rivers Ghost Veil to conceal himself. He just wanted to lay low and let Chen Feng pass—after all, that Earth Yin Blood Talisman had been terrifying. Even he felt a deep fear lingering in his heart.

  However—

  Chen Feng barely made it a few steps into the forest before he suddenly collapsed. Clearly, he could no longer sustain his flight.

  As he hit the ground, his body curled inward, and another mouthful of blood splattered out. The crazed, bloodthirsty aura from before was now almost completely gone.

  Wen Jiu watched as Chen Feng fumbled in his storage bag, pulling out several speed-boosting talismans.

  Instinctively, Wen Jiu glanced at the Black Ghoul beside him.

  Right now—

  He, the Black Ghoul, and Chen Feng were only three meters apart.

  A sneak attack might work.

  And if not, he could always use the Blood Corpse Escape technique to flee.

  The Black Ghoul instantly understood his intent. Without hesitation, it surged forward, wreathed in eerie ghostly energy, lunging at Chen Feng.

  "A ghoul?!"

  Chen Feng's face twisted in shock.

  But at such close range, and given the Black Ghoul's Three Rivers Ghost Veil-enhanced speed, there was no time for him to cast a spell to block it.

  In his desperation, Chen Feng yanked out a talisman—not a blood talisman, but a standard low-grade Rank One Yin Talisman.

  However, it was of the highest quality!

  The moment the Yin Talisman activated, a massive, sinister ghost face materialized and lunged toward the incoming Black Ghoul.

  In an instant, the ghostly face bit down on the Black Ghoul.

  Chen Feng's face lit up with joy.

  But a split second later, his expression changed drastically.

  The Black Ghoul effortlessly tore the ghostly face apart with a single claw—like ripping through thin paper.

  In the blink of an eye, it was right in front of him.

  Squelch—

  Two ghostly, deathly cold hands plunged into Chen Feng's chest. He was already at his limit, so drained that he couldn't even activate another protective talisman. He could only stare in disbelief as the black ghoul tore him apart.

  Seeing this, Wen Jiu couldn't help but be shocked—so this is the power of a peak-stage black ghoul, combined with the Blood Transformation Body and the Three Rivers Ghost Concealment! A top-tier, low-grade first-rank Yin talisman, which could match the full-force strike of a third-layer Qi Refining rogue cultivator, was torn apart just like that.

  "If it evolves into a Jiangshi... just how strong will it be?"

  A glimmer of anticipation rose in Wen Jiu's heart. Could it tear apart a fourth-layer Qi Refining cultivator by hand?

  Shaking off these thoughts, Wen Jiu instinctively glanced outside the red maple forest. The commotion had already drawn the attention of the Night Patrol Division's overseers.

  Without hesitation, he swept the area with his spiritual sense, grabbed the storage pouch, and swiftly disappeared into the woods with the black ghoul.

  All that remained was a shredded corpse and an eerie, lingering ghostly aura.

  Just like when he had killed Fang Zheng and the others before.

  ...

  A few dozen breaths later.

  Wen Jiu was already deep within a dense forest three miles away.

  It was silent.

  Not even the chirping of birds or the rustling of insects.

  From the direction of the Chen family estate, the muffled roars of spells and magical artifacts colliding could still be heard from underground.

  Originally, Wen Jiu had planned to find a quiet place to compose himself and check his spoils. But just as he stopped, he felt an overwhelming surge of blood energy erupting from the direction of the Chen family estate.

  He turned his head—

  A crimson beam of light shot skyward from the underground cavern.

  The sheer intensity and density of that blood energy made Wen Jiu momentarily dazed. Even the black ghoul beside him became visibly excited.

  Two thoughts surfaced in his mind.

  Just how much blood energy is down there?

  Why does it feel even richer than the Dead Remains Blood Field?

  Despite his excitement, Wen Jiu forced himself to stay rational. A sudden eruption of blood energy like this was far from normal.

  "What's happening down there…?"

  After some thought, he decided to wait and descend with the main group to assess the situation.

  If things got dangerous, he could always use Blood Corpse Evasion to escape.

  No matter how deep the underground cavern was, it couldn't possibly stretch twenty miles.

  Blood Corpse Evasion covered five miles per use.

  With the abundant corpse energy currently stored in the black ghoul's body, he could use it three more times.

  By the time Wen Jiu circled around the Chen family's rear mountain and returned to the battlefield from another direction, the demons had already been wiped out. When he saw Mu Canglong and Sikong Bai standing within the Chen family's ancestral grounds, he immediately understood the situation.

  The moment he appeared, Mu Canglong, Sikong Bai, and Liu Xiao all turned their eyes toward him.

  Mu Canglong's grave expression softened slightly upon seeing Wen Jiu, perhaps because he had assumed Wen Jiu was dead. Sikong Bai, however, remained cold, with a faint hint of hostility in his gaze.

  It was obvious.

  He still hadn't forgotten about Li Ye.

  And he held a grudge.

  Wen Jiu didn't care.

  As long as Mu Canglong was here, Sikong Bai wouldn't dare to make a move.

  As he approached, Liu Xiao, who had been sitting and tending to his wounds, stood up in surprise. "Wen Jiu!"

  "Brother Liu."

  Wen Jiu walked forward at a steady pace, gripping the severed thumbs of several Chen family disciples in his hand. As he saluted Mu Canglong and Sikong Bai, Liu Xiao stepped closer and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Not bad, not bad. You not only survived but even killed a few of them."

  "Just luck," Wen Jiu replied humbly.

  His eyes swept across the battlefield.

  There were many demon corpses.

  But there were also many bodies of Night Patrol Division disciples.

  Their corpses had already been arranged neatly in an open space—over thirty in total.

  The sight left Wen Jiu with a mix of emotions.

  At the same time, Mu Canglong examined Wen Jiu with a satisfied look, though his gaze eventually settled on the black ghoul beside him. Something felt off. He probed it with his spiritual sense—still off. But he couldn't quite pinpoint why.

  Yet, his intuition told him—

  The black ghoul had grown stronger.

  It was likely close to breaking through.

  This kid…!

  This kid's talent in the unorthodox path is terrifying!

  He might even surpass the one who originally created the Yin Province Corpse Cultivation Method!

  Mu Canglong looked at Wen Jiu, his expression a mix of surprise and other complex emotions. But he didn't voice them aloud.

  "Alright, take what you can. Leave behind what you can't. As long as I'm here, no one will dare to steal from my Night Patrol Division!" Mu Canglong declared, then turned toward the bottomless cavern behind him.

  "All units."

  "Prepare to descend!"

  With that, Wen Jiu shifted his gaze from the corpses to the blood-filled cavern.

  At this close distance, the blood energy leaking from within was already as dense as the very heart of the Dead Remains Blood Field.

  If they ventured deeper…

  He couldn't even imagine how much there would be.

  This only made him even more curious.

  Just what exactly were the remnants of the Blood-robed Tower doing down there?

  ****

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