A tall figure in a black robe stepped out from the crowd.

His ferocious build was suffocating.

You Shengnan’s eyes widened in disbelief. "Tu An!"

According to their intelligence, this Demon Sect successor should have been in Yunyang County, a thousand miles away. Why had he suddenly crossed such a distance to appear in Qinghe?!

Tu An slowly removed his black hood, sneering at You Shengnan.

"The Divine Mansion Sect is truly foolish. Did you really think sending two lowly Inner Sect Disciples would be enough to contend with my Demon Sect?"

He had never left Qinghe County.

The reason You Shengnan and Xiongshan had been deceived was that what they had seen was his Illusion Technique.

Besides being the Demon Sect’s successor, he had another identity—a demon!

Tu An could truly be called a devilish demon.

"After I crush you two little brats, I’ll go and take care of Dong Wanjun."

Tu An bared his ghastly white teeth, a chilling sight to behold.

An intense sense of danger made You Shengnan tremble. This man was an expert who had reached Entering the Realm!

She and her Senior Brother Xiongshan were no match for him at all.

The ever-silent Xiongshan shifted to stand in front of You Shengnan. "Junior Sister," he said in a hushed voice, "go. Quickly."

You Shengnan stared at his broad back, her heart a mess of conflicting emotions.

Reason told her that staying meant certain death, while fleeing offered a sliver of hope. But she gritted her teeth. "If we die, we die together."

Xiongshan gave his stubborn junior sister a helpless look. He didn’t try to persuade her further; he knew he couldn’t hold Tu An back for long. Even if she fled, she would most likely die anyway.

Tu An took a step forward. "Don’t worry. You’ll both die, and then I’ll suck you dry into withered corpses."

He slowly raised his right hand.

A bizarre scene unfolded. His once-human palm began to sprout fur at a visible rate, finally transforming into a tiger’s paw!

The Officials from the County Magistrate’s Office were scared witless by the sight, a pool of yellow liquid spreading on the ground.

You Shengnan and Xiongshan, however, were not particularly surprised.

As disciples of the Divine Mansion Sect, they knew far more about the Demon Sect than the average person.

The Founding Ancestor of the Demon Sect taught all without discrimination; whether human or demon, anyone could join. Thus, it was not at all strange for there to be demons in the Demon Sect.

Only demons that had reached Entering the Realm could maintain a human form.

Just as Tu An was about to smash Xiongshan, who stood at the very front, into a pulp—

An ethereal voice suddenly rang out.

"A mere beast dares to bully my people?"

Agonized cries came from the entrance to the County Magistrate’s Office as the Soul-Chasing Tower Assassins guarding it were thrown into the courtyard one by one, like sandbags.

A somewhat thin, gray-robed old man appeared before Tu An as if walking through an empty battlefield.

Seeing the gray-robed old man, Tu An ground his teeth. "Dong Wanjun!"

He would recognize this gray-robed old man even if he were reduced to ashes. He had suffered a great loss at Dong Wanjun’s hands and had even been on the verge of being killed by him.

When You Shengnan saw the gray-robed old man appear, she cried out in delight, "Master?!"

Indeed, the newcomer was none other than Dong Wanjun of the Divine Mansion Sect, the Thousand-Handed Butcher.

If Bai Yuan were present, he would have surely recognized this man as the old man from the Five Flavors Pavilion who had offered him a word of advice in exchange for a meal.

Although Dong Wanjun was in enemy territory, he was as calm and composed as if he were on his own turf.

Tu An stared at the gray-robed old man before him with apprehension.

Suddenly!

His figure shot up, leaping into the air. His tiger paw, wrapped in a fierce wind, swiped down at the crown of Dong Wanjun’s head.

This single strike was enough to instantly kill ten Strong Internal Martial Artists.

But then, a scene that no one could have predicted occurred.

Tu An’s leaping body was now bizarrely suspended in mid-air. No matter how much he struggled, it was useless.

Only upon closer inspection could one see that countless silver threads, as fine as silk, surrounded Tu An, densely packed and having appeared from nowhere.

Dong Wanjun watched the struggling Tu An with a look of utter disdain.

"Did you really think that just by Entering the Realm, you were worthy of being my opponent?"

With a light flick of his hands...

The countless silver threads vibrated, and Tu An was instantly diced into innumerable chunks of flesh. Blood rained down from the sky.

This was the origin of the name "Thousand-Handed Butcher."

Some Martial Artists practiced the sword, others the saber...

But Dong Wanjun was different. If it could kill, he would practice it.

Saber, sword, throwing knives, silver threads, poison... He resorted to any and all means, as if he had a thousand different techniques, which was why he was called the Thousand-Handed Butcher.

"Thousand-Handed" referred to his many methods, while "Butcher," of course, referred to the many people he had killed.

So many that even he couldn’t remember the count.

The Soul-Chasing Tower Assassins were all frozen in terror. Compared to him, Dong Wanjun was the true demon.

So fucking bloody!

Like startled sparrows, the Assassins scattered in a panic.

Dong Wanjun had no intention of giving chase. He merely glanced at You Shengnan and Xiongshan. "Remember to clean up."

You Shengnan nodded obediently, like a little girl.

Her master’s "cleaning up" was, of course, not literal. It meant wiping out the remaining remnants of the Soul-Chasing Tower in Qinghe County.

A storm of blood and gore immediately swept through the city of Qinghe.

...

「At dawn.」

The Soul-Chasing Tower at the bottom of the Qinghe River had collapsed, and the Nine Heavens were no more.

Along with the Soul-Chasing Tower, its Assassins also vanished. The power that had loomed over Qinghe for a thousand years had dissipated into thin air, just like that.

Aside from those still cleaning up the battlefield and hunting down the remaining survivors, everyone else returned to where they belonged.

Like the Huwei Arts Hall, for instance.

Old Xue and Bai Yuan had joined forces to eliminate all the Assassins within the Martial Arts Hall, then fled the city with the surviving disciples, only returning after the storm had subsided.

"The Soul-Chasing Tower was destroyed?"

"The Thousand-Handed Butcher appeared in Qinghe?"

"The Liu Family was wiped out?"

One explosive piece of news followed another, but there weren’t many people interested in the gossip. They were all busy tending to their wounds.

The hidden strength of the Soul-Chasing Tower had been too terrifying. Even with the full power of Qinghe County, they had nearly been annihilated. The casualties within the city were countless.

In comparison, the Huwei Arts Hall had suffered the fewest losses.

This was, of course, because Bai Yuan was simply too savage.

Who would have thought that a mere Bone Forger Disciple could cut down Yijin Martial Masters like they were cabbage?

The Soul-Chasing Tower had deployed its forces based on intelligence reports, which was why the Assassins sent to the Huwei Arts Hall had been almost completely wiped out.

In the small courtyard of the Huwei Arts Hall.

The bodies of the assassins had long been cleared away, and the courtyard had been restored to its original appearance.

Only the bloodstains in hidden corners served as a testament to the ferocity of the previous night.

Old Xue squinted, looking Bai Yuan up and down.

"You little rascal, you really know how to hide your strength."

If not for last night’s sudden turn of events, this kid probably would have hidden it for even longer.

He even suspected that if Bai Yuan launched a sneak attack, he might actually be able to kill him.

’What kind of monster did I take as my disciple?!’

Old Xue suddenly felt that accepting Bai Yuan as the successor of the Black Fiend lineage was the greatest honor for his line.

"Master, can I go now?"

Seeing that Old Xue had no intention of letting him leave, he asked helplessly.

"Go on, my good disciple."

Old Xue’s face was lit up with a brilliant smile.

In Bai Yuan’s previous life, this would have been described as an "old chrysanthemum."

But he was in no mood to admire chrysanthemums right now. He just wanted to add points!