Chapter 10: Trouble Brewing

"My uncle Yuchi Shan, my mother Yuchi Xue, my father Ji Yichuan!" Ji Ning looked at him, his eyes filled with pain and madness. "Back then, you didn't even take them seriously; you might have even forgotten about it long ago. And now I've come, to avenge them!"

Ji Ning's words burst forth from the deepest part of his heart, each syllable wrenched out.

Yu Tong could feel the hatred radiating from this beast-hide-clad youth: "This youth... is the child that woman was carrying back then?"

"Twenty years..."

"In just twenty years, that child was born, and now he can easily slay my master, Cruel Moon. I, Yu Tong, what kind of enemy have I offended?" Yu Tong had always been cautious, never daring to offend formidable figures, and even when killing some geniuses, he left no trace.

But he never imagined that merely to flatter that young master 'Dong Qi,' the pregnant woman he targeted would give birth to such a terrifying youth.

"And I... I've fallen because of this."

Yu Tong was tormented with unbearable pain, yet scenes flashed through his mind—scenes of his journey from childhood, climbing higher by any means necessary! He had even manipulated many powerful figures, turning them into his pawns, until now he had become a Wanxiang Adept.

"I schemed all my life, only to fail because of this." Yu Tong's eyes were filled with agony, and he suddenly let out a hoarse roar: "Heaven does not favor me! I am not resigned, I am not resigned!!!"

As the roar echoed through the courtyard, Yu Tong's heavily charred body suddenly began to hiss and emit flames, the entire body starting to burn.

Ji Ning watched silently, a censer magic treasure appearing in his palm.

"Collect!" Ji Ning willed it.

Ji Ning's divine sense clearly 'saw' a soul being directly drawn into the censer magic treasure.

There were many magic treasures specifically targeting souls, like the 'Ten Thousand Ghost Banner,' which could directly absorb souls... Ji Ning's censer treasure had a similar effect, but it only had the power to absorb and erode souls, making it a rather useless treasure, incapable of active attack.

"This Yu Tong is indeed a formidable figure," Woodchild Zi muttered softly. "He managed to rise from an ordinary person to a Wanxiang Adept, and even made Cruel Moon's daughter die for him! Impressive!"

Woodchild Zi suddenly stopped, glancing at Ji Ning beside him. Yu Tong was Ji Ning's great enemy.

Ji Ning's gaze was deep as a lake. He silently looked at the corpse burned to ashes on the ground and said calmly, "Indeed a formidable figure, but he acted without scruples... doing anything to climb higher. To please that Dong Qi, my mother was still pregnant! And they dared to strike. To protect my mother, my uncle died in battle, and my father's path of cultivation was severed."

"In the end, my mother and father still died."

"Just to please Dong Qi, they did that..." Ji Ning recalled the scene his divine sense had witnessed earlier, where Yu Tong treated that 'Yue Wei' like a slave girl. "This man stops at nothing. The pitcher goes so often to the well that it is broken at last. Even if he hadn't fallen by my hand today, some other powerful figure would have slain him in the future."

The path of immortality relies on oneself!

Relying on schemes, leveraging others, ambushing, and such methods... may bring temporary success, but in the end, one will take a great fall.

Only relying on oneself is the way to lasting success!

"Whoosh."

Ji Ning waved his hand, collecting all the magic treasures in the courtyard.

"Let's leave quickly," Ji Ning said to his junior apprentice-brother Woodchild Zi and Uncle Bai. "That Cruel Moon gave me a very bad feeling. He likely has deep connections. This place is not safe to stay."

"Mm," Uncle Bai nodded.

"Right, that North Mountain Blood Token looks really creepy," Woodchild Zi added hastily.

Soon, Ji Ning and his group quietly left Cruel Moon Mountain, unnoticed by anyone.

...

High in the sky.

The dragon-headed warship had changed its color and appearance again, now pitch black, drifting slowly.

"Father, mother, uncle," Ji Ning said silently. "Of the three enemies, I have now slain one. Rest assured, not one of them will survive! And as for uncle's only bloodline... I will find a way to locate her in the future."

According to his father, his uncle had only one daughter.

Unfortunately, where this cousin was, what her name was, what she looked like—Ji Ning had no idea. Finding her would be very difficult.

But Ji Ning hadn't given up, because the more powerful a cultivator became, the more formidable their methods... It was said that some legendary immortals could even calculate future events with a snap of their fingers. If he gained such abilities in the future, finding his cousin might not be so hard.

The Whitewater Hound watched silently, his heart surging with excitement and relief that one enemy had been slain. At the same time, he felt deeply gratified: "Big brother, Ning'er grows stronger and stronger. He can even slay a powerful Wanxiang Adept outright. Ning'er will surely become famous across the endless lands, a true figure of renown in the boundless territories ruled by the Grand Xia Dynasty."

"Senior apprentice-brother," Woodchild Zi spoke up.

Ji Ning looked over.

"Are we going to Snow Cloud Wilds now?" Woodchild Zi asked.

Snow Cloud Wilds was the base of the Dong clan. Shui Yi was a Zifu Disciple within the Dong clan. To kill Shui Yi, they naturally had to go to Snow Cloud Wilds.

"Yes, let's go now," Ji Ning said.

"But that's also a powerful tribe," Mu Zishuo quickly said. "They have over ten Wanxiang Adepts alone, and it's the tribe of a Primal Daoist. Although that Primal Daoist is stationed at Snow Dragon Mountain, he must have left some tribe-guarding measures behind, and in an emergency, he might even rush back."

Ji Ning nodded. "I know. Don't worry, Junior Apprentice Brother. I won't be so arrogant as to fight a Primal Daoist head-on."

"Good, you're still clear-headed." Mu Zishuo nodded. Watching Ji Ning kill Yu Tong earlier, Mu Zishuo was worried... because he had been through something similar. He knew that when facing the enemy who killed one's parents, one could become red-eyed and hot-headed, capable of anything. He didn't want Ji Ning to throw his life away.

"Ning'er," the Whitewater Hound urged from the side. "In my opinion, let's first carefully examine the treasures left by Cruel Moon. That Cruel Moon—I always felt he was very dangerous."

"Mm." Ji Ning and Mu Zishuo both nodded.

They immediately began to refine the magic treasures and storage treasures left by Cruel Moon, starting their inspection.

...

Cruel Moon Mountain was as peaceful as ever.

The servants and underlings didn't even know that Cruel Moon and the others were dead. Nearly an hour after Ji Ning and his companions left.

"Huum~~~"

Ripples spread through the surrounding space.

Whoosh!

A pitch-black sword-shaped warship appeared directly in midair. From within the sword-shaped warship, figures in blood-red robes flew out one after another—swish, swish, swish. In an instant, thirteen blood-robed figures stood in midair. The leading blood-robed man had a silver flying-sword pattern on his sleeve.

The other twelve blood-robed men had gray flying-sword patterns on their sleeves.

"Huum~~~" A powerful divine sense swept down, covering the area below.

The leading blood-robed man was bald, with strange patterns on the crown of his head. His gaze was icy as he looked down.

"Captain? Second Brother, he...?" A blood-robed man beside him said in a low voice.

"Dead." The bald blood-robed man's voice was hoarse, grating like the clash of blades. "Although the murderer destroyed the corpse, the aura of the earlier battle still lingers, and the scent of Second Brother's blood still drifts around. In fact, earlier, among the many soul lamps placed in our 'Xuan' army, Second Brother's lamp went out—he was already dead. It's just that none of you were willing to believe it..."

"How could this be? Second Brother was nearing his end, returning to Cruel Moon Mountain to enjoy his remaining years. He had no enemies. And even if he did, wouldn't showing our Northsea Blood Token intimidate them? Who would insist on killing Second Brother?"

"Second Brother's strength was also formidable. The Cruel Moon Sword Formation, which he exchanged for with years of military merit, is extremely powerful. Among Wanxiang Adepts, there might be some monstrous geniuses who could defeat Second Brother, but he should have been able to stall for time. With his escape skills, fleeing shouldn't have been hard."

"Unless someone knew Second Brother's background and set a trap to kill him in one blow."

They all discussed animatedly.

"Second Brother fought alongside us in the squad for over a century. Countless old brothers shared life-and-death bonds with him! Now, in his own Cruel Moon Mountain, he was killed. When the other old brothers learn of this, they won't swallow this insult. We don't bully others, and no one bullies us! This grudge must be avenged!"

"It must be avenged!"

"Whoever killed Second Brother, we'll kill him and destroy his soul."

"A brother of our Xuan army isn't someone anyone can kill."

The other blood-robed men exuded murderous intent.

The leading bald blood-robed man said coldly, "Investigate! Investigate thoroughly! Find out who killed Second Brother. He had returned to enjoy his remaining years, yet they wouldn't let him go... We must find the murderer."

"Mm."

"Right."

They all nodded.

"Let's go back. I'll ask the old captain for help, and have the Xuan army headquarters investigate and find the murderer." The bald blood-robed man said coldly, "Let's move."

Whoosh.

The group of blood-robed men all flew back into the pitch-black sword-shaped warship. Then ripples spread through the surrounding space again, and the black warship vanished directly, having torn through the void.

...

Ji Ning, Mu Zishuo, the Whitewater Hound, and Qingqing were all examining the magic treasures left by Cruel Moon. In contrast, the storage treasure left by Yu Tong was only of the Mortal rank and was refined first. The items inside Yu Tong's storage treasure surprised Ji Ning and the others a little, because Yu Tong's treasures were not inferior to those of Dong Yi, Beihe Zhou, and others.

But Ji Ning and the others mainly focused on refining Cruel Moon's magic treasures. After examining them, they finally refined Cruel Moon's storage treasure. They took out the items inside one by one and began to inspect them carefully.

This inspection made all their faces change.

"We're in trouble," Qingqing muttered.

...