"Let me find out who ruined my plans, and I shall devour your flesh alive, drink your blood..."
"Curse you, and may you die a horrible death, I will devour all your relatives and friends clean!"
The Black-Clothed Leader’s voice was suppressed and husky, as if he couldn’t contain the brutal killing intent in his chest.
The other Black-Clothed Cultivators all bowed their heads with pale faces, trembling and daring not to speak.
A deadly silence thickened in the air, even exuding a strong scent of blood.
The Black-Clothed Leader’s face contorted, his hands trembling as he took out a wine gourd, took a big gulp, wiped the fresh blood from the corner of his mouth, and then he felt somewhat calmer.
"Chase!"
The Black-Clothed Leader ordered.
Everyone sighed in relief, hurriedly bowing as they said, "Yes!"
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The crowd chased outside.
One of the Black-Clothed Cultivators stepped out, but as he reached the doorway, the wind suddenly picked up, sharp as a knife, slicing him into pieces, with blood spilling everywhere.
A suave young master, his hand holding a folding fan, with a face as cold as frost, appeared inside the tavern.
"Where’s the child?"
His gaze was cold as a knife.
The Black-Clothed Leader looked at him and sneered, muttering:
"Young Master Gu..."
At the same time, dozens of cultivators dressed in Taoist robes appeared, surrounding the entire decrepit tavern.
The Black-Clothed Leader looked around with disdain in his eyes, "Taoist Court’s Hawk Dogs..."
Young Master Gu looked at the Black-Clothed Leader and, smelling the blood on him, said coldly:
"You demon-tainted abomination, whose skin are you really wearing?"
The Black-Clothed Leader looked at Young Master Gu and laughed:
"People of this world wear the skin of hypocrisy, harboring evil thoughts in their hearts. Aren’t you the same? I am merely wearing a skin of hypocrisy that is a bit more than yours and hiding an evil that is a bit more real..."
Young Master Gu, not wishing to argue, demanded:
"Where is the child?"
The Black-Clothed Leader pointed towards the tavern, "You saw for yourself. When I arrived, it was already like this. The child you want to save... someone else took him away..."
"It’s even possible..."
The Black-Clothed Leader smiled ominously, "that he’s already been torn apart..."
Young Master Gu angrily said, "Fine, fine, then leave your life here to accompany the child in death!"
The Black-Clothed Leader sneered, "With your Gu Family, and these running dogs of the Taoist Court, you still cannot hurt me..."
With no agreement between the two sides, a big battle was on the verge of breaking out.
Young Master Gu wielded the folding fan in his hand, sending out Wind Blades with each flick—sharp, dense, and deadly.
The Black-Clothed Leader, seeming unwilling to reveal his trump card, relied only on his flesh and the filthy Blood Qi around him to engage with Young Master Gu’s Wind Blades and the many cultivators from the Taoist Court.
As they fought, they intentionally avoided the tavern, as if neither wanted to destroy the clues within it.
It was a fierce battle, and neither side showed any mercy.
However, because this was only a Second-Grade Prefecture Border, Young Master Gu and the Black-Clothed Leader couldn’t go all out, making it difficult to fight to the death.
The fierce battle lasted for half an hour.
In the end, the Black-Clothed Leader, severely injured, escaped.
Young Master Gu’s breath was weak; he too had suffered serious injuries.
The rest of the Black-Clothed Cultivators, however, all died.
Young Master Gu instructed, "Record the appearances of these people; I will settle accounts later."
An Enforcement Leader went to do so, but after a moment, he reported back:
"Young Master, it’s not clear..."
Young Master Gu went forward to look, and that’s when he discovered that these Black-Clothed Cultivators had been poisoned with demonic toxin; after death, the Demonic Qi destroyed their flesh, contaminated their meridians, and Spiritual Roots, leaving only black, stinking piles of flesh and blood that made it impossible to distinguish their identities.
Young Master Gu cursed, "A bunch of cowards, scum!"
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"Dare to turn to demons, but don’t dare to leave their faces behind!"
This way, they could only investigate under the pretense of "missing cultivators" at various Great Sects and Clans.
But that was virtually impossible to track.
Cultivators go missing for many reasons.
Some are delayed too long on a mission;
some are assassinated by cultivators with nefarious intentions;
some become trapped in secret realms while out adventuring;
and others simply grow rebellious at heart, dissatisfied with their clan arrangements and run away from home...
The causes are numerous and far too complex.
It is impossible to conclude that a cultivator has gone rogue just because they have disappeared.
And whether it’s a Sect or a family, for the sake of Taoist cultivation interests, along with the reputation of both the Sect and the family, admitting such a thing is out of the question, let alone conducting an investigation.
Young Master Gu became more infuriated as he thought about it, and with a casual wave of his hand, he obliterated a black-clothed cultivator.
But anger did him no good; at the moment, the whereabouts of the young master were of utmost importance.
He had also examined the scene and the conclusions he reached were not much different from those of the group of black-clothed cultivators.
Boss Jiang and others were either killed or seriously injured by the Second-grade Earth Fire Formation.
This was most certainly a premeditated, well-designed and pre-arranged ambush.
It was impossible for someone to spontaneously decide and set up such a formation to kill these traffickers...
If a cultivator was truly capable, they wouldn’t use such a complicated method; they could probably wipe out all these cultivators with a flick of their finger.
Moreover, most of the traffickers died from the minor Second-grade Fireball Technique.
This was surely to divert attention, to not reveal one’s own Taoist skills, using such a common Fireball Technique to commit murder...
No cultivator would truly spend so much effort perfecting such a trifling technique.
And then, the young master was gone...
It seemed that the group of black-clothed cultivators didn’t lie.
They were beaten to the punch by someone unknown...
Young Master Gu furrowed his brows.
"A turf war?"
"Or is there some other scheme..."
"The young master is the union of two Great Clans; just which power, which cultivator, has the audacity to target him..."
"And who would dare to snatch him away midway, ’kidnapping’ the young master?"
"And not fear the consequences, triggering the Heavenly secret?"
The hardest part of this case was that the Heavenly secret was obscured, hiding the cause and effect, impeding foresight...
Who could have done this?
Young Master Gu was in utter turmoil.
A moment later, he thought of his cousin, how distraught and anguished she looked after the child’s disappearance, and it pained him even more.
Young Master Gu’s eyes grew colder, and despite his injuries, he ordered, "Those with severe injuries may rest; those with light injuries, continue the pursuit with me."
"The Spiritual Power in the area hasn’t dissipated for long; we should still be able to track them..."
A Supervisor hesitantly said, "Young Master, shall we continue the pursuit..."
They had been chasing for several days without food or drink, utterly exhausted and having just weathered a fierce battle, which overwhelmed them, typically lax and prone to taking the easy way out.
They were from the Taoist Court, and even if the Gu family had great sway, they couldn’t simply be commanded at will.
Young Master Gu’s gaze became sharp, and he said with a cold laugh, "Don’t blame me for not warning you—if anything happens to that young master, you and all your brothers will be flayed alive!"
The Supervisor’s heart skipped a beat.
Only then did he realize that the rumors he had heard before were incorrect.
That young master wasn’t the Gu family’s young master!
If he wasn’t the Gu family’s young master, then he was...
The Supervisor felt as if he had been doused with cold water, and couldn’t help but shiver.
"Rest assured, Young Master Gu, we will make every effort to find the young master!"
He then scanned the group, "Quickly consume the Pills; as soon as your injuries improve a bit, we depart at once!"
Though the people were dissatisfied and somewhat confused, they understood the gravity of the situation and did not dare delay, hastily taking time to heal their wounds...
But Young Master Gu’s gaze was fixed on the distance, his expression shadowed by a veil of gloom.
"This child Yu Er... whose hands has he fallen into..."