Chapter 413: The Sound of Pouring Rain Doesn't Stop |
Looking at this young man in black, the Clearwater Mountain cultivators present could not help but take a few steps back. After dominating Clearwater Commandery for so many years, they had never encountered such a situation. For a moment, many people's minds were even blank.
However, it seemed that the young man had no patience to wait for their reaction. With a single step, he closed in on the Clearwater Mountain cultivator nearest to him. Without hesitation, he drew his saber for the first time. Before anyone could even discern the trajectory of the blade, they only saw a flash of saber light. By the time they snapped out of their daze, a head had already appeared in that young man's hand. He casually tossed it aside and gazed silently at the Clearwater Mountain cultivators ahead.
As they watched that human head still rolling on the ground, and the blood trails it left behind, some of the cultivators felt as if they were waking from a dream. But they dared not spout wild talk anymore. All of them had similar cultivation realms, if this young man could decapitate a fellow disciple with one slash, there would be no surprise for them.
"Senior Brother Ge... is on the second floor..."
A Clearwater Mountain cultivator, unable to bear that young man's aura, began to stammer, unwilling to provoke this killing god any further.
Hearing this, Chen Chao did not say much. He just carried his saber and headed towards the second floor. The broken saber in his hand was still dripping blood non-stop.
But as soon as Chen Chao stepped onto the stairs, there was a creak from the second floor. A room on the second floor was pushed open. A middle-aged man's voice immediately followed, "Who's making noise here?"
But then, he immediately saw the corpses lying all over the first floor, and the head that had just stopped rolling.
Chen Chao raised his eyes and looked at the man, asking, "Are you Ge Ming?"
Chen Chao raised an eyebrow slightly. Well, now there was no need to confirm this man's identity.
"You abducted a mother and daughter along with an old servant. You killed the servant, but what about the mother and daughter?"
Chen Chao looked at Ge Ming, while his aura spread out at the same time, searching for the little girl's presence in this Clearwater Pavilion.
Ge Ming was taken aback. He never expected this young man to be standing up for the mother and daughter. However, he was not afraid at all. After all, outside of this Clearwater Commandery was Clearwater Mountain. He had nothing to fear. "Come for revenge? Let me tell you, I killed the old servant. His body was thrown into the river to feed the fish. As for the woman, she's probably already been eaten by those demons, bones and all. And as for that little girl, she's already inside my belly."
Chen Chao did not find that little girl's presence at all. Upon hearing this, he immediately erupted in anger. "You deserve death!"
Ge Ming sneered, "I think you're the one who deserves death! To dare cause trouble on Clearwater Mountain's territory, you're seeking death!"
Chen Chao remained silent, taking large strides towards the second floor.
Seeing Chen Chao approaching in a menacing manner, Ge Ming immediately prepared to bring forth his magic artifact to face the enemy. He dared to be so arrogant because he had confidence. Unlike his fellow disciples stationed at the Clearwater Pavilion, his cultivation realm had already reached the Bitter Sea Realm. How could the average person stand against him?
However, when he threw out the ancient cauldron that he had sacrificially refined for many years, wanting to use it to suppress this young man in front of him who was obviously just a martial artist, he looked up and saw a flash of saber light pass before his eyes. Immediately after, a dazzling saber light instantly collided with the ancient cauldron. Before he could use any magic spells, countless cracks appeared in the cauldron in the instant of collision, and then countless cracks appeared. Then, it directly shattered, the fragments of the broken cauldron flying everywhere as qi surged
In an instant, the young martial artist had arrived in front of him, and threw out a heavy punch.
Ge Ming narrowly avoided this punch, but before he could react, the next punch landed firmly on his chest.
The force of a single punch caused a large bulge to appear on Ge Ming's back.
Ge Ming felt an unbearable pain. From head to toe, it felt as if his body had been smashed to pieces by a single punch.
Chen Chao's expression was blank as he used the broken saber in his hand to slap Ge Ming's face. With a heavy blow, several of Ge Ming's teeth were knocked out, and his face swelled up visibly.
Ge Ming's mouth was full of blood, and his eyes glared at Chen Chao with resentment. Before he had a chance to speak, Chen Chao smashed his saber on the other side of his face.
After two strikes, Ge Ming was almost unrecognizable.
Although both were in the Bitter Sea Realm, Ge Ming's cultivation was a heretic and unorthodox path. In addition, he was facing Chen Chao, an exceptionally fierce martial artist not bound by common sense. He virtually did not have the strength to make any resistance or fight back.
Chen Chao grabbed Ge Ming's hair with one hand, then sheathed his saber and delivered another punch to the mouth of this Clearwater Mountain cultivator.
With this punch, Ge Ming's teeth shattered, and the sharp fragments pierced into the flesh and blood inside his mouth, causing him even more pain. But at this moment, he could not even open his mouth to beg for mercy, let alone speak.
The Clearwater Mountain cultivators who witnessed this scene widened their eyes at this moment. Then, they felt lingering fear. Ge Ming was already considered an extremely outstanding cultivator of their generation on the mountain. How could he be so helpless in the hands of that young martial artist, awaiting slaughter like a dog?
After a few punches, Ge Ming was already on his deathbed. But Chen Chao seemed to have gone mad, smashing punch after punch on his body without regard.
This scene was horrifying to behold.
The Clearwater Mountain cultivators on the first floor had no intention of helping. After exchanging glances, they all rushed out of the Clearwater Pavilion, intending to leave the city and report this.
Chen Chao knew about this, but paid no heed. Right now, there was only Ge Ming in his eyes.
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Punch after punch, Ge Ming's fragile body was reduced to a mass of flesh and blood, from his ribs shattering at the beginning, to his entire body resembling a lump of minced meat at the end. If it were not for Chen Chao holding him by the hair, Ge Ming would have collapsed long ago.
But Chen Chao seemed oblivious to it all, throwing punch after punch without knowing fatigue, as if he had been possessed by madness.
As soon as Chen Chao realized that the little girl had been eaten by Ge Ming, his mind had already fallen into a trance. At this moment, there was only fury in his eyes, and deep in his heart, that voice had quietly sounded out once again.
If the brief intrusion of the heart demon on that night had merely planted a seed of latent danger for Chen Chao, then at this moment, his true heart demon had begun to gradually take hold of his body and mind.
Just as Chen Chao was swinging his fist for the nth time, a soft whimpering suddenly sounded out from behind him.
The mist in Chen Chao's eyes cleared in an instant.
He abruptly raised his head, released Ge Ming from his grasp, and looked toward the room behind him.
Then Chen Chao rushed into the room and saw the medicine cauldron still emitting a medicinal fragrance. Approaching the cauldron, he peered inside and saw many spiritual medicines floating in the cauldron, along with a little girl with closed eyes. Her blood had already mixed with the medicinal soup. Chen Chao reached in, lifted the girl out of the cauldron, and then tore a piece of cloth from his garment to bandage the wounds on her wrists.
He reached his hand out to check the girl's nose and mouth.
Her breathing was weak, but she was indeed still alive.
Chen Chao became much more lucid.
Carrying the little girl, Chen Chao gently infused a breath of qi into the girl's body.
Then Chen Chao gave a medicinal pill that Xie Nandu had prepared for him before leaving the Divine Capital to the little girl.
The girl let out a muffled groan, but her eyes remained tightly shut.
Chen Chao's brows were knitted tightly.
Her breathing was extremely weak at this moment, and she could pass away at any moment.
Chen Chao felt overwhelming regret. If he had not separated from her earlier, this tragedy would not have happened.
Then Chen Chao remembered the immortal medicine he had obtained before. If the immortal medicine were still around, perhaps he could still save her. But now, he was powerless.
The biggest difference between a martial artist and other cultivators was that martial artists lacked those so-called miraculous methods. They only possessed a physique that could look down upon the world, and their martial arts prowess.
The qi within Chen Chao's body continued to flow into the girl's body, but besides this, he did not know what else to do.
He called out softly to the girl, but received no response.
……
……
On this night, heavy rain unexpectedly fell over Clearwater Commandery City.
The bookshop owner, who had planned to close early for the night due to the rain, was about to shut the door when a hand suddenly pressed on it. Looking up, he was surprised to see the young man from earlier.
Before he could speak, the young man had already opened his mouth, "Do you have any way to save someone? Can you save this little girl?"
Only then did the shopkeeper notice that the young man was holding a frail little girl in his arms.
He was shocked and said in disbelief, "Did you snatch her from the Clearwater Pavilion?"
Chen Chao nodded silently.
"Come in quickly."
After Chen Chao entered, the shopkeeper looked at the little girl in the young man's arms and reached out to check her breathing. Frowning, he said, "Her breath is weak. If it weren't for you maintaining her life force with your qi, she would have died by now."
Chen Chao asked, "Do you have any solutions?"
This was not the Divine Capital, and Chen Chao did not have anyone to turn to. The only person he felt might be able to help was this scholar he had met briefly before.
The shopkeeper shook his head. "Her life force has dissipated severely. The heretic techniques from Clearwater Mountain are extremely malicious. You're a bit too late. Her life force has likely been drained already. She's on the verge of becoming a medicinal fruit. Even if a real immortal were to come now, I'm afraid there's nothing that can be done."
Chen Chao furrowed his brows, and opened his mouth to speak, but did not know what to say.
The shopkeeper sighed softly. "My condolences."
Chen Chao remained silent, just lowering his head to look at the little girl in his arms.
The last time they met, she was still so cute, with her hair in pigtails, talking about how eating sugar figurines would ruin her teeth.
It was all his fault. If only he had not left, it would have just added a little more time to his journey.
Chen Chao closed his eyes in pain.
But after a moment, a weak voice suddenly sounded from his arms, "Big Brother."
Chen Chao abruptly opened his eyes, looking at the little girl in his arms.
She struggled to open her eyes, gazing at Chen Chao's face, unable to distinguish between tears and rainwater.
"Big Brother, it hurts."
Chen Chao's heart clenched, but he could not find the words to say.
"My mother... and Grandpa Fu... were killed by someone... Big Brother, help me... avenge... them..."
The little girl spoke intermittently, some brownish medicinal soup flowing from her mouth. There was no blood left in her body.
Chen Chao nodded gently and whispered, "I've already killed him."
The little girl opened her mouth, "Thank you..."
Chen Chao whispered, "It's my fault."
The little girl shook her head laboriously. "Don't... say that... I... thank you... Big Brother..."
Before Chen Chao could speak, the little girl continued softly on her own, "Big Brother... don't be sad..."
Chen Chao could not say a word.
"Big Brother... you don't know... my name yet."
Chen Chao shook his head and said softly, "Don't tell big brother. Big brother haven't asked yet."
The little girl struggled to stay awake, seemingly aware that she did not have much time left, and whispered with great effort, "My name is Xie... Ying... the ying in 'firefly'... What about you?"
Before Chen Chao could speak, the little girl whispered again, "I'm sorry... Big Brother... I lost... the gift... you gave me..."
These words struck Chen Chao like thunder.
After a moment, Chen Chao said softly, "It's okay, I'll get you another one later..."
His voice suddenly stopped.
Chen Chao widened his eyes, looking at the little girl in his arms.
She had already slowly closed her eyes.
At this moment, outside the bookshop, the sound of pouring rain did not stop.
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