Chapter 18: Chapter 17: Murong Qing
Murong Qing looked at the Celestial Wolf Gang Hall Masters present, his gaze disdainful and slightly impatient. He gave a casual wave of his hand, allowing them to rise.
He had been cultivating just fine in Longcheng, only to be suddenly dispatched to a godforsaken little place like Lianshan City.
The Murong Family controlled many cities, some of the larger ones being quite lucrative. But Lianshan City was clearly not one of them.
However, arrogant as Murong Qing was, he had every right to be.
He had already reached the Sea of Reincarnation Realm in his early thirties, while Jiang Kaitai, at over seventy, had only managed to cultivate to the Qi Casting Realm.
Compared to Murong Qing, Jiang Kaitai’s cultivation speed was practically a snail’s pace.
"Tell me, what exactly is going on with these blood sacrifice massacres in the city?"
Jiang Kaitai immediately explained the situation.
There had been four blood sacrifices in total. Before Murong Qing’s arrival, two more wealthy families had been targeted.
After he finished, Jiang Kaitai added, his eyes red-rimmed, "My only relatives were also massacred by that Evil Demon. It is a shame that my strength is so meager; I’ve been unable to catch the damnable fiend. Now that Master Murong is here to oversee things, we will surely capture him!"
Jiang Kaitai kept his head lowered, but inwardly, he had already cursed the Murong Family a hundred times over.
He knew the Murong Family’s ways and was well aware that they didn’t place much importance on a small city like Lianshan City.
Therefore, by his estimation, it should have taken the Murong Family at least half a month to a full month just to get wind of the situation, after which they would have dragged their feet before sending someone to investigate.
’But it’s only been a few days. How did the Murong Family get here so fast?’
Now that Murong Qing had arrived, he was operating right under the Murong Family’s nose. The risk of performing blood sacrifices was now dozens of times higher!
"So, after all these days, with four families massacred and hundreds dead, you haven’t caught so much as a single trace of the culprit?"
Murong Qing looked at Jiang Kaitai, his face a mask of undisguised contempt. "Useless! Absolutely useless!"
Watching their Gang Leader receive such a vicious tongue-lashing, the assembled Hall Masters didn’t dare to breathe.
Jiang Kaitai kept his head lowered, his attitude deferential.
"This old one is indeed useless. We must rely on you, Master Murong, to handle this."
Murong Qing snorted. His fingers drummed on the armrest of his chair as he pondered for a moment. "Bring me a map of Lianshan City," he said suddenly. "And tell me the times of the blood sacrifices again. I want them accurate down to the hour."
Jiang Kaitai’s body gave a slight shudder. After a brief pause, he immediately ordered someone to fetch a map.
"Of the four massacred families, two were only discovered after daybreak. For those, we only have an estimated time of death, not a precise one."
Jiang Kaitai didn’t dare to conceal anything, reporting everything truthfully.
"It doesn’t matter. A rough estimate will do."
Murong Qing glanced at the map and made some silent calculations. After a long moment, he gave a cold snort.
"I’d thought this was just some Demon Dao practitioner using an Evil Technique, choosing a small place like Lianshan City to harvest the Qi and Blood of the living."
"But to think it’s actually an Ancient Array for blood sacrifice, one that channels the power of heaven and earth. How interesting. What could someone possibly hope to achieve by setting up such an array in a place like Lianshan City?"
Putting the map away, Murong Qing said bluntly, "Whoever is behind these blood sacrifices is indeed setting up an array, but one look tells me they’re just blindly following an Array Map. A complete amateur."
"When setting up an array for a blood sacrifice like this, the time and location must strictly follow the Array Map’s pattern. He doesn’t have the ability to alter it, nor would he know how. Therefore, this person will certainly strike again."
"If I’m not mistaken, he will continue with another blood sacrifice tomorrow night."
"Find me someone familiar with the layout of Lianshan City to act as my guide. I need someone strong, not someone who’ll be unable to keep up with me."
Chen Yuan was slightly surprised.
’This Murong Qing might be arrogant, but he’s got real skill.’
’From the looks of it, he’s not only an expert in the Martial Dao but has also studied Arrays. He immediately spotted the pattern behind the massacres and deduced that the culprit was performing blood sacrifices according to an Ancient Array.’
’That makes catching the person responsible much, much easier.’
The corner of Jiang Kaitai’s mouth twitched.
’If they had sent some incompetent fool, I could have stalled and covered my tracks.’
’I never expected this Murong Qing, who seems so arrogant and reckless, to be this capable. He saw through to the core of my blood sacrifice plan with a single glance.’
But just as Murong Qing had said, Jiang Kaitai knew nothing about something as advanced as an Array.
He was just blindly following the instructions for the Divine Artifact’s blood sacrifice; he didn’t know how to alter the process, nor would he dare try.
Even with Murong Qing here, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and proceed with the blood sacrifice.
Fortunately, he had plenty of Death Warriors under his command. Even if it meant sacrificing them, he could probably force the blood sacrifice to completion.
"Eldest, you will accompany Master Murong."
Jiang Kaitai had no intention of deliberately obstructing Murong Qing by providing a poor guide.
Lianshan City was just a small town; Murong Qing only wanted a guide because he couldn’t be bothered to memorize the map himself.
If he tried to play tricks with this, he would easily give himself away.
"Yes, Adoptive Father!"
Qin Yuancheng was instantly thrilled.
The chance to speak with and build a connection to a great figure from the Murong Family was something he had always dreamed of.
"Third, you go with Master Murong as well."
Jiang Kaitai paused for a moment before assigning Chen Yuan to go along too.
’I can’t have him say the wrong thing and anger Murong Qing, leading him to ’deal with’ the Celestial Wolf Gang first. That would be a tragic joke.’
Murong Qing rose to his feet and waved a hand. "Alright, that’s enough. Everyone, dismiss. I’ve been traveling all day and I’m a little tired. Old Jiang, you should be aware of my Murong Family’s customs, right?"
Jiang Kaitai quickly replied, "Of course, of course. The silver cups and golden bowls have already been prepared. I’ve even specially invited the head chef from Huide Building to let you sample some of Lianshan City’s local specialties."
"The maids assigned to attend to you are all virgins under the age of eighteen, from respectable families. They are absolutely clean."
"I’ll give you this, old man, you know how to handle things."
Murong Qing yawned and turned to leave, escorted by Jiang Kaitai.
’Say what you will about this descendant of the Royal Family, but he certainly knows how to put on an extravagant display.’
’Even the actual Great Xia Royal Family probably can’t match his pomp.’
However, despite his penchant for extravagance, Murong Qing wasn’t one to be careless now that he was in Lianshan City.
Just as night began to fall, Murong Qing summoned Chen Yuan and Qin Yuancheng to prepare for their ambush.
The three stood atop the tallest building in Lianshan City: the roof of the five-story Huide Building.
Night had just fallen, and they could still make out the faint silhouette of Lianshan City.
"It really is a small place. A city of this size, jointly run by two gangs... It’s laughable, really."
Murong Qing sneered, then suddenly turned to them. "Your Celestial Wolf Gang has my Murong Family for a backer, yet after all these years you still haven’t swallowed up that good-for-nothing Black Water Gang. Your adoptive father is utterly useless, wouldn’t you say?"
Qin Yuancheng froze.
’What was he supposed to say to that?’
’If he agreed that his adoptive father was useless and Jiang Kaitai found out, he’d be finished.’
’But he certainly didn’t dare talk back to Murong Qing.’
Chen Yuan smiled. "In fact, it is precisely because we have the Murong Family’s backing that the Celestial Wolf Gang can avoid being swallowed up by the Black Water Gang. All of us in the gang are deeply grateful for the Murong Family’s patronage."
"Hahaha! You’ve got a silver tongue, kid."
Murong Qing gestured toward Chen Yuan, clearly pleased with his answer.
Qin Yuancheng looked at Chen Yuan in slight surprise.
’Third has gotten awfully smooth-tongued lately.’
’He’s not just good at flattering Adoptive Father, he’s even got this guy from the Murong Family eating out of his hand.’
"Based on the pattern and timing of the blood sacrifices, I did some rough calculations last night. The next sacrifice will be either to the northwest or the southeast."
"The culprit always massacres large, populous households, so they clearly have a requirement for the number of victims."
"Are there any prominent families in those two directions?"
Chen Yuan looked to Qin Yuancheng, gesturing for him to answer.
’Chen Yuan genuinely didn’t know the answer. It wasn’t mentioned in the original story, nor was it in his memories from before he transmigrated.’
’After all, the previous Chen Yuan had been a reclusive martial arts fanatic who spent all day cooped up in the gang’s headquarters practicing. He didn’t even know all the streets in Lianshan City.’
Qin Yuancheng immediately came to life. "To the northwest, the most populous household belongs to Landlord Hu. His family are the biggest cloth merchants in the city, with over a hundred people."
"To the southeast, the largest is the Zhang Family. They own several merchant caravans, and in addition to their own family, the caravan Stewards also reside in their compound. They also have over a hundred people."
"Show me their locations."
After seeing the locations Qin Yuancheng indicated, Murong Qing waved a hand and led Chen Yuan and him to a tall building midway between the two households to lie in wait.
Once they were in position, Murong Qing sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began circulating his True Qi.
Chen Yuan could sense that strands of ambient aura were being drawn into Murong Qing’s body, carried by his True Qi.
’It must be some kind of perception-based Secret Technique, one that can amplify his senses to detect surrounding sounds and movements.’
After about an hour of waiting, Murong Qing’s eyes suddenly snapped open, a sharp glint flashing within them.
"Northwest! Let’s go!"
The words had barely left his lips before Murong Qing was in motion, leaping down from the building like a great bird and heading straight for the northwest.
’So fast!’
Chen Yuan was slightly startled.
’Coming from a major family, he’s certainly not lacking for Cultivation Techniques. Regardless of how good his Lightweight Skill is, of course he would have trained in one.’
Chen Yuan couldn’t reveal his true cultivation level, so he could only do his best to keep pace and hang back behind Murong Qing.
Qin Yuancheng, on the other hand, was struggling badly and could barely keep up.
At the same time, he wondered, ’Third’s cultivation is lower than mine, but he’s surprisingly fast.’
By the time Chen Yuan arrived on the scene, Murong Qing was already engaged in combat with the Death Warriors Jiang Kaitai had sent to carry out the massacre.
Jiang Kaitai had sent only ten Death Warriors. They must have used a knockout drug, as all one hundred-plus members of Landlord Hu’s household were in a death-like slumber, making it easy for the assassins to bleed them out one by one.
By the time Murong Qing arrived, more than a dozen people already had arteries slashed all over their bodies and were bleeding out.
Seeing Murong Qing’s arrival, the Death Warriors neither hid nor fled. Instead, they silently charged him in unison.
Chen Yuan did not intervene. He remained in the back, his eyes fixed on Murong Qing.
’Even if Jiang Kaitai hadn’t ordered him to accompany Murong Qing, he would have found a way to stick close to him.’
’Before he made his move to seize the Seven Kills Stele, the more he learned about Murong Qing, the greater his chances of success would be.’
’This was especially true since Murong Qing was a character who had never appeared in the original story. Chen Yuan had to study him carefully.’
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