Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou!

Liu Quan, Situ Nan and the others quickly backed away. Wen Shaoxiu, who was under siege, did the same thing. Despite his wounds, he gritted his teeth and hastily backed away. That was particularly true of Ma Tianfang and Liu Quan, who were suffering from the heaviest wounds amongst them all. They pushed themselves beyond their limits to swiftly pull away from the assassins.

Earlier, they had received a secret vocal transmission from Chen Feng. There were only four words: Back away right now!

Unanimously, every one of them chose to believe Chen Feng and they promptly backed away, even at the cost of burning their life force.

Explosion!

BOOM!!!

The massive ball of blood suddenly exploded and waves of blood spread out again and again. It was like a supernova and every wave of blood contained overwhelming power. It was such that cracks ended up appearing across the surrounding space and they could see the turbulent void through the cracks.

The first to be affected were the assassins hiding in the dark. Three assassins who were the closest to the explosion were instantly obliterated, becoming one with the sky-encompassing waves of blood. The other assassins were seriously wounded as well. Not a single one managed to emerge unscathed. That was true even for Xu Shan and Wu Lei, whose faces turned red. Several bloody holes could be seen on their bodies.

Rather, even Wen Shaoxiu’s team were affected. Thankfully, they had scrambled to retreat the instant they received Chen Feng’s secret vocal transmission. Although they were also affected by the shockwaves, the damage they received was relatively light when compared to the assassins.

In the face of the bloody explosion, the 100-mu courtyard was reduced into a stretch of wasteland. Not a single building was left intact. On the contrary, countless other buildings that were situated around the courtyard collapsed as well.

If it weren’t for the magic arrays that Wen Shaoxiu’s group had set up around the courtyard beforehand, the entire Mulberry Scholar City would have been engulfed by the explosion.

Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!

A series of explosions erupted and the magic arrays that Li Shilong and Jian Zhiqiu set up were smashed apart by the resulting shockwaves.

Pu! Pu!

Li Shilong and Jian Zhiqiu’s faces turned red and they sprayed out an arrow of blood each.

After a while, they revealed bitter smiles. “This move from Chen Feng is just too savage. It doesn’t differentiate between friend or foe.”

It was true. This move from Chen Feng was something of a killer move. If he had just tossed it into the midst of the enemy, it would have a great effect. At that moment, however, the two sides were still in the midst of fighting one another. If Wen Shaoxiu and the others had been too slow in retreating, they would have ended up in the same state as the assassins.

“The magic arrays are broken!”

Wu Huai’s team of three looked at one another. Speaking of which, the wounds on them were relatively light. After seeing the magic arrays falling apart, however, they sensed formidable, rampaging shockwaves coming at them from behind. Turning around, they saw the atomized courtyard and their faces turned ugly to behold.

The three of them were shocked. Wu Huai himself was feeling uncertain. If he had been standing at the centre of the explosion, with all the equipment he had on him, could he survive that?

Fearing another explosion of such magnitude, the three of them decided to run away. They couldn’t care less if the assassins were dead or alive.

“Jian Zhiqiu, it is not over between us! I’ll be settling this account with you next time!” Wu Huai left some parting threats before leaping high up into the sky. Together with Sun Jin and Zhao Guang, they rapidly flew away from Mulberry Scholar City. Only after putting a distance of 500 kilometres between them and the city did they stop.

“Senior Brother Wu, what should we do now? Truth be told, I don’t think there is a need for us to leave so quickly. The way I see it, Wen Shaoxiu and the others will not be able to hold on for much longer,” Zhao Guang could not stop himself from saying

“Forget it. Safety first. You fellows saw just how powerful the explosion caused by the ball of blood was. If we had been any closer, we would have been seriously wounded. If those guys can send out another one of that attack on us, even with Sacred artefacts to protect us, we would be left in half-dead states. Most importantly, I have this foreboding sensation. There is no need to fear Wen Shaoxiu’s group. However, that Chen Feng, who is attacking while hiding in the dark, is no ordinary character,” Wu Huai said.

“Chen Feng? He is just some guy with no place to call home. Any one of us could kill him off,” Zhao Guang said with a disdainful tone.

“Do not be careless. In a straight-up battle, we will surely lose. That Chen Feng possesses a Dao artefact,” Wu Huai said solemnly.

“Why don’t I return to observe the situation. Leaving like this just doesn’t feel right,” Zhao Guang said again.

Wu Huai pondered for a moment before saying, “Very well. I also want to know what happened. If news of us leaving just like this spreads out, we will suffer a loss of face as well. Junior Brother Zhao, you will head there and observe the situation. If you sense anything amiss, run back immediately. Either that or notify us immediately.”

“Alright, no problem. Don’t worry about it.” After saying that, Zhao Guang pasted an Invisibility Talisman on his body before flying back to the city.

…

Chen Feng appeared before everyone, the Blood Mustering Bead in his hand. He had utilized the Blood Mustering Bead to unleash the massive ball of blood earlier. He had displayed a thorough amount of resolution, using up all of the blood essence collected in this battle for it. In Chen Feng’s opinion, given how much blood essence he had poured into the move, such a scale of destruction was only right.

Streams of blood light shot out from the Blood Mustering Bead and the wounds on the injured assassins burst. Next, countless streams of blood gushed out before flowing into the Blood Mustering Bead.

Next, two large, blood-coloured hands suddenly appeared from the Blood Mustering Bead. They swiftly grasped the air and two black-clad assassins hiding in void space were captured. After that, the hands shrank and pulled the two assassins into the Blood Mustering Bead.

“There are two more here.”

Chen Feng turned his gaze towards Xu Shan and Wu Lei. Again, two large, blood-coloured hands charged through space, grasping at Xu Shan and Wu Lei.

“Earthen Shield!”

Xu Shan was no longer in a calm state. His eyes seemed somewhat crazed and he shouted. Next, a thick power of earth surged out from his body to cover him up tightly. At the same time, the lands quaked and streams of earthen power flowed up from the depths of the earth, stirred forth by Xu Shan. The streams of power then gathered upon his arms to form a dark-yellow shield. The power of earth flowed across the surface of the shield in a circular fashion while a thick layer of armour began emerging from Xu Shan’s skin.

Wu Lei, on the other hand, chose a completely different method of dealing with the bloody hand. Xu Shan mobilized all of his strength to defend himself. Wu Lei, however, radiated a will to fight from every part of his body. He fired out bolt after bolt of lightning, intent on destroying the bloody hand.

Boom! Boom!

Two violent booms rang out, one following the other. The earthen shield in front of Xu Shan was smashed into pieces. Even the streams of yellow energy enveloping his body were dispersed. However, despite his pale appearance, Xu Shan was not badly wounded by it. On the contrary, he made use of the momentum from the explosive power to rapidly fly away. In just an instant, he was already outside Mulberry Scholar City.

Wu Lei, however, fared worse. Even though he did manage to shatter the bloody hand, the bloody hand had managed to slap him, inflicting a grievous wound upon his body. There was no telling just how many of his bones were destroyed and blood flowed out profusely from his mouth.

More importantly, the Blood Mustering Bead’s aura had enveloped Wu Lei. Next, his muscular body began shrivelling at a rapid pace.

“Thunderlight Explosion!”

There was a struggling look in Wu Lei’s eyes. Thick bolts of lightning kept rampaging within his eyes. He knew that he had been too careless. His vitality was quickly diminishing, soon to be utterly devoured. He would face an ending worse than a shrivelled-up husk.

Thus, Wu Lei clenched his teeth and utilized a forbidden secret technique. Lightning shot out from both his eyes and all the power of lightning that he had spent over a hundred years cultivating converged into one spot before discharging outwards.

With a loud bang, Wu Lei’s chest exploded, causing a big hole to appear there as a pillar of lightning charged into the sky. At the same time, his Sacred artefact, the Spirit Mace of the Thundergod, radiated a dazzling lightning radiance to envelop him. Next, Wu Lei kicked and his figure charged up into the sky. He was so fast that Chen Feng did not even have the time to react to it.

Coincidentally, Jian Zhiqiu happened to be descending from the sky at that exact moment. Like a river flowing down from the firmament, he smashed against Wu Lei.

Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!

A series of booming sounds rang out as sword light and thunder light clashed. Wu Lei, who had only just charged high up into the sky, cried out miserably as his figure plummeted down, creating a crater on the ground in his wake.

“Chance!”

Wen Shaoxiu and Jian Luobo glanced at each other. Next, disregarding their wounds, they charged forward. Arriving before the big hole at the centre of the crater, they fired out one sword beam after another into the hole.

Finally, Wen Shaoxiu beckoned with his hand and the Spirit Mace of the Thundergod flew into his grasp. As for Wu Lei, he was already on his last legs when attempting to escape earlier. In the face of the attacks from Wen Shaoxiu and Jian Luobo, he croaked instantly.

“Good, killed one!” Wen Shaoxiu shouted out in a pleased tone.

Liu Quan and the other two took some medicinal pills and temporarily suppressed their wounds. Killing energy surged up from them as they began hunting down the wounded assassins.

Shua!

Li Shilong had arrived as well. With a wave of his hand, an overbearing sword beam swept the sky in a circular motion.

“Argh!”

An assassin was killed.

Bang!

Another killer was killed.

Chen Feng hovered in mid-air. The Blood Mustering Bead in his hand shone with a dazzling blood-coloured light, which enveloped all of Mulberry Scholar City. All of the blood essence from the dead Wu Lei and assassins flowed out from their bodies before entering the Blood Mustering Bead.

“Bloodlight Shockwave!”

Ray after ray of blood-coloured light radiated from the Blood Mustering Bead again. They were like red clouds spreading out across the sky, a sea of blood encompassing everything. Next, the remaining assassins who were running away cried out wretchedly as blood began flowing out from the wounds on their bodies.

One set of human skin after another fell to the ground and all the assassins were finally dead.

As more and more streams of blood energy were absorbed, the power of the Blood Mustering Bead kept rising. As for Chen Feng, he was enveloped by a thick layer of blood energy. It was like a cocoon made of blood. Not just that, Chen Feng’s eyes had turned blood-red as well. Waves of blood churned about within the depths of his pupils.

Kill! Kill! Kill!

Blood! Blood! Blood!

Seas of blood and mountains of corpses filled Chen Feng’s vision as wave after wave of killing intent assailed his sea of wisdom, desirous of transforming Chen Feng into a mindless killing machine.

Boom!

The Lifebound Flame within his sea of wisdom burned ferociously and waves of fire, giving off the appearance of a blooming flower, spread outwards. Everywhere they went, the blood-coloured light would disappear and everything became clear once again.

At the same time, his massive soul vortex began roaring, tearing the bloody thoughts within his sea of wisdom into shreds.

It did not take long for Chen Feng’s eyes to regain a look of clarity. At the same time, the blood-coloured light around Chen Feng kept fading away as the remaining strands seeped back into the Blood Mustering Bead.

1 li = 0.5 km. 1,000 li/ 500 km could also mean ‘far away’ in Chinese. Given how fast they can cover that distance now, i do not know which one the author means.

1 mu = one fifteenth of a hectare.

1 hectare = 10,000 square metre.