Chapter 31: Chapter 30: Family Extermination

SWISH!

A crescent-shaped, cyan Wind Blade, as nimble as a swallow, flashed through dozens of yards of air. In the span of a breath, it sliced across the neck of the third brother, who stood frozen in place.

With a sickening squelch,

the third brother—his mind roaring, his consciousness plunged into chaos—couldn’t react at all before his head tumbled to the ground.

His headless body remained standing as blood gushed from his neck like a fountain.

At the entrance of the main hall,

Shen Changchuan’s figure had appeared at some point, silent and unnoticed.

In his left hand, he held the Soul-Attracting Bell; in his right, he carried Zhao Hanguo’s body.

A flicker of delight flashed through his eyes as he glanced at the Soul-Attracting Bell in his hand.

’This truly is an unparalleled weapon for Magical Battles.’

With just a single, instantaneous move,

that third brother, a Cultivator at the Qi Introduction Fifth Layer, had been effortlessly slain without a chance to react.

Although the process consumed a great deal of Magical Power.

But with a Magical Artifact like this,

below the Qi Introduction Late Stage,

he feared few would be his match!

’Practically invincible!’

Thoroughly satisfied, Shen Changchuan tucked the Soul-Attracting Bell back into his sleeve.

Carrying Zhao Hanguo’s body in his right hand, he walked into the main hall,

and tossed him onto the floor.

"Did you get a good look just now? The deaths of these men, and the devastation of Zhao Family Village... it all seems to be the work of those ’guests’ you invited."

As he spoke,

a faint, mocking smile touched Shen Changchuan’s lips.

"You invited the wolf into your own home, bringing disaster upon yourself. Brother Zhao, I must say, I’m truly astounded by your move."

At this point, the battle in the woods twenty li away,

had ended half an hour ago.

Half an hour earlier,

after cleaning up the battlefield, Shen Changchuan hadn’t immediately returned to Dawan Village. Instead, he found a hidden corner nearby to sit in meditation, restoring his body’s Magical Power through Cultivation.

To recover his Magical Power as quickly as possible,

Shen Changchuan had completely drained the Spiritual Qi from two Spirit Stones.

He finally managed to restore eighty to ninety percent of his Magical Power,

and his depleted Heart Spirit had also recovered significantly.

With that, his combat strength was restored.

At that time,

Shen Changchuan had initially planned to take Zhao Hanguo back to Dawan Village and pry from him the inside information on the people who had ambushed him.

But he soon realized something.

During the fight,

the scar-faced man had clearly called the weakest one—the Cultivator at the Qi Introduction Fourth Layer—’fourth brother’.

’There were only three of them, so why was the youngest one called ’fourth brother’?’

’Did this mean,’

’they had another accomplice, a ’third brother’?’

At this thought,

Shen Changchuan grew restless.

Heaven knew what future troubles he might face if one of them had escaped after this failed assassination attempt.

Would more trouble follow?

Besides, although Zhao Hanguo’s Zhao Clan was just one of the minor Immortal Cultivation Clans, they had managed Zhao Family Village for many years. They must have accumulated some wealth.

For Shen Changchuan, who was currently dirt-poor,

it was best not to let it go to waste.

So, Shen Changchuan turned around and headed toward Zhao Family Village, dragging Zhao Hanguo with him.

When he was still a few li from Zhao Family Village,

he saw black smoke rising in the distance from the village’s location.

After quickly drawing closer,

he found that, sure enough, more than half of Zhao Family Village had been reduced to ruins,

with flames blazing fiercely.

Considering he needed to extract information from Zhao Hanguo’s mind later,

Shen Changchuan splashed him awake with cold water,

forcing him to witness the scene with his own eyes, hoping to plant a seed of despair in his heart.

Afterward, with the help of his Spiritual Eye Technique, Shen Changchuan followed the killer’s tracks all the way to the main hall in the center of the village.

He arrived just in time to witness the third brother stabbing Zhao Jingming to death.

"Brother Zhao, as they say, every debt has a debtor. That man killed your son, slaughtered many of your family and friends, and destroyed your village. I have now avenged this great grievance for you."

"In return, I want to know who these people are and why they attacked me. That’s not too much to ask, is it?"

Shen Changchuan said in a low, haunting voice.

However,

Zhao Hanguo didn’t respond.

At this moment, Zhao Hanguo was staring blankly at Zhao Jingming’s corpse not far away.

His eyes were vacant.

He knelt beside Zhao Jingming’s body,

scenes of bodies littering the village flashing through his mind, muttering words like, ’Retribution... this is all retribution...’

In that instant, he seemed to have aged into a sixty-year-old man in his twilight years, on the verge of death.

It was as if the last breath holding him up had completely dissipated.

Shen Changchuan glanced at him.

He didn’t say anything more to provoke him.

This was a good thing for Shen Changchuan.

This way,

his psychological defenses had collapsed.

’It looks like I’ll be able to dig out more information after we get back...’

’This is good.’

Zhao Hanguo’s Dantian was already destroyed, so he couldn’t cause any more trouble. Shen Changchuan paid him no more mind, leaving him where he was.

He walked out of the village’s main hall,

and his figure leaped lightly into the air, landing on the highest point.

Facing the roaring fire in the village and the deathly silent mountain forests all around, he shouted:

"I am Shen Changchuan, the Guardian Immortal Master of Dawan Village! The villains who attacked this village have all been executed! Villagers, return quickly and attend to the aftermath!"

Aided by his Magical Power,

Shen Changchuan’s voice echoed through the mountain forest, reverberating across the open valley.

Shen Changchuan shouted three times in a row.

But clearly,

after experiencing such a terrible disaster,

few of the survivors dared to show themselves.

Fortunately,

just as Shen Changchuan was growing impatient,

a few people finally emerged from the woods one after another.

Then,

more and more people appeared.

With mournful sobs, they began to clean up the ravaged Zhao Family Village.

Afterward,

Shen Changchuan selected a new acting village head from among the first few people who had emerged.

He ordered them to temporarily handle the affairs of Zhao Family Village,

and stabilize the situation for the time being.

At the same time,

he also sent a messenger to Dawan Village, asking his maternal grandfather, Han Qinhu, to bring some people over.

After this disaster,

Zhao Family Village had suffered heavy losses.

Furthermore, that third brother had been extremely ruthless.

Anyone with a direct bloodline connection to the Zhao Family, the minor Immortal Cultivation Clan of Zhao Family Village, had been slaughtered.

One could say their entire clan had been annihilated.

As a result,

Zhao Family Village was now effectively without a master.

After all, there were two acres of Spirit Fields here.

Now that they had been delivered right to his doorstep, Shen Changchuan had no intention of letting them go.

Having Han Qinhu bring people over,

was naturally part of his plan to take practical control of this place.

’Since Zhao Hanguo dared to plot against me, and I succeeded in turning the tables on him, this property is rightfully my spoils of war!’

Although Zhao Hanguo wasn’t dead yet,

Shen Changchuan felt he had a clear conscience about occupying the two acres of Spirit Fields in Zhao Family Village.

Who asked Zhao Hanguo to conspire with outsiders to kill him?

They failed to kill him and were instead killed by him.

Everything that belonged to his enemy naturally became his spoils.

’However, outsiders cannot know the inner details of this matter.’

’To prevent rumors from spreading, I need to use facts to shut people’s mouths!’ 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

A glint flashed in Shen Changchuan’s eyes.

He remembered the three corpses in his Storage Bag.

He had initially put the three bodies in his Storage Bag just in case.

If Zhao Hanguo refused to talk, he could still use their appearances to track down their origins.

But now,

there was clearly a better use for them!

Immediately,

Shen Changchuan issued another command,

ordering his subordinates to send word to the Cultivators in charge of the six villages under Dawan Village’s command, telling them to come to Zhao Family Village as quickly as possible.

The bodies of the enemies who had attacked him, the tragic state of Zhao Family Village,

the perpetrators,

the truth—it would all be laid out for everyone to see.

’The witnesses and physical evidence are all here.’

’This way, some people might have their doubts, but it won’t be a major problem. Most people will accept this outcome.’

’And I won’t have any major issues acquiring these two acres of Spirit Fields...’

Shen Changchuan mused to himself.