“Who is it?” Yue Zhuoran asked curiously.
Blazing Flame Grand Venerable replied, “Li Xiaofei isn’t the only one who walked out of the Forbidden Zone alive. Chu Xiang was one of them as well, wasn’t she?”
Yue Zhuoran’s heart trembled, We are on Chu Family territory, and he wants to target someone from the Chu Family?
It was well known that the current family head, Chu Zhongtian, doted on his granddaughter. Though she couldn’t inherit the position of patriarch, she was granted nearly everything else she desired.
Making a move on Chu Xiang... would the Yue Family even approve of this?
“Lost your nerve already?” Blazing Flame Grand Venerable sneered. “Don’t be afraid. As long as it’s done discreetly, the Chu Family won’t be able to pin anything on us. When the time comes, they won’t dare go to war over it. Heh... I want nothing more than to see that old bastard Chu Zhongtian consumed with grief and fury.”
His tone brimmed with vicious malice. Yue Zhuoran couldn’t help but feel a chill run down his spine. Their group returned to the Revered Protectors Corps’s quarters.
After a round of discussion, they began to take covert action. Within just a few hours, all of Chu Planet had fully entered a state of emergency. The skies were filled with the roar of flying vessels and wailing alarms. Enraged, the Chu Family made no effort to conceal their power, fully displaying their formidable strength.
The elite members of the Revered Protectors Corps were also divided into teams and dispatched to patrol various regions. Even though Chu Planet was vast, it would not take cultivators at the Three Origin Realm, Four Extremes Realm, and Five Dragons Realm long to conduct a full sweep.
Anyone who appeared even remotely suspicious was to be apprehended and subjected to strict interrogation. In less than half a day, thousands had already been thrown into the Chu Family's prisons.
At first, Yue Zhuoran remained fairly composed. But soon, his expression began to change. Some of those arrested by the Chu Family were spies planted by the Yue Family on Chu Planet, as well as individuals who had secretly been working to turn key personnel against the Chu Family.
They were using this chaos as an excuse to eliminate hidden threats. Still, Yue Zhuoran wasn't overly distressed. After all, they were expendable. Though they had been uprooted, replacements could be arranged later. The Yue Family could bear the loss.
Meanwhile, Blazing Flame Grand Venerable began to make his move. He left Mulin Base City openly with his men, moving hastily as if he had discovered something important. The scene naturally attracted the attention of many Chu Family scouts.
However, by midday, the group returned empty-handed. Blazing Flame Grand Venerable wasn’t the least bit flustered. The entire Revered Protectors Corps put on a show of diligence, acting as though they wouldn’t rest until Li Xiaofei was captured.
But trouble struck on the second day. A Four Extremes Realm cultivator named Liu Xianglin, a member of the Revered Protectors Corps, was slain by a lakeside over three thousand kilometers southeast of Mulin Base City.
Judging from the traces left at the scene, the killer was determined to be none other than Li Xiaofei. He had left behind another message.
When the Chu Family experts and Blazing Flame Grand Venerable rushed to the scene and saw the five blood-drenched words carved into a lakeside rock—The killer is Li Xiaofei—their expressions turned grim. This madman actually dared to strike again.
“Revered Liu was ambushed and caught completely off guard. He suffered a fatal blow.”
“Before he died, he was also subjected to interrogation. That madman was clearly trying to extract more information about our operations.”
“He was killed by having his life force ignited and drained away.” Updates are released by 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲·𝗻𝗲𝘁
“This Li Xiaofei truly is a demonic agent from Eden. His methods are utterly vile.”
After examining the scene, the group grew even more enraged. But soon, another message arrived. Over five hundred kilometers from their current location, a Chu Family expert had been found dead in a mountain valley. He had been accompanied by four companions, who were also all slain.
Upon receiving the report, everyone rushed to the site.
“The deceased is named Qu Bo, a third-stage Four Extremes Realm cultivator. He was a high-salary guard hired by the Chu Family and had served faithfully for the past twenty-one years. The other four were his sworn brothers, also serving as guards.”
“From the scene, it appears the five of them had discovered traces of Li Xiaofei and attempted to intercept him. However, they were defeated in battle and killed one after another.”
“This Li Xiaofei is a monster—he mutilated the corpses and left only the heads behind... truly wicked.”
After a thorough examination by experts from both the Chu Family and the Revered Protectors Corps, who specialized in site analysis and tracking, they quickly reached a conclusion.
Blazing Flame Grand Venerable also personally investigated the scene and largely found the same. He was slightly reassured that Li Xiaofei’s cultivation appeared to be only at the first or second stage of the Four Extremes Realm. In other words, he had only refined two of the four extremes.
At that level, he was no match for the many powerful Revereds within the Corps, nor for Blazing Flame Grand Venerable himself.
The reason he had managed to kill his targets twice was likely due to a secret technique that allowed him to unleash immense power in critical moments, possibly coupled with a rare treasure obtained from Heaven.
“My lord, we’ve made a new discovery,” one of the Revereds suddenly shouted.
Everyone hurried over. They had found a pool of blood outside the valley. It did not belong to Qu Bo or his men. It was Li Xiaofei’s blood. He was injured.
“Quick! Revered Zhang, use the tracing technique. Use the blood as a medium and search for his whereabouts!” exclaimed Blazing Flame Grand Venerable, overjoyed.
Revered Zhang possessed a secret art known as Blood Seek, which allowed him to track a living person using their fresh blood as a medium to locate their general position.
Upon hearing the order, Revered Zhang did not hesitate. He smeared a drop of blood between his fingertips and started muttering an incantation under his breath. The blood on his fingertip immediately writhed and squirmed like a mass of wriggling silkworms.
A loud explosion rang out as the blood abruptly burst into flames. Revered Zhang cried out in alarm and quickly flung away the fire. His finger had already been scorched black.
He circulated his cultivation to recover, his face grim and filled with lingering fear. He said, “Grand Venerable, it seems the target has used some kind of secret art. My Blood Seek technique cannot determine his precise location.”
Disappointment flickered across Blazing Flame Grand Venerable’s face.
“Keep searching,” he ordered coldly.
Chu Erfei, the Chu Family’s Grand Elder, shouted, “Even if we have to dig a thousand meters into the earth, we must drag that lunatic out and avenge Captain Qu and the others!”
All forces mobilized once again, moving swiftly and relentlessly. Blazing Flame Grand Venerable, together with his top experts, also became increasingly active. Everyone’s focus was locked on the hunt for Li Xiaofei.
However, the results were poor. Every few days, news came of more fallen experts from both sides. The most recent incident involved the fourth-ranked expert within the Revered Protectors Corps, Heavenly Blade Zhou Haimo, who was ambushed, poisoned, and killed by Li Xiaofei.
Zhou Haimo was a formidable cultivator at the fourth stage of the Five Dragons Realm. His strength was renowned. Yet he had died an incredibly humiliating death.
According to the joint forensic examination conducted by both sides, he had apparently succumbed to a bizarre paralytic poison. He had been completely unable to fight back and had been tortured to death in a brutal and drawn-out manner.
Leave Chu Planet or die without mercy.
This was the bloody message Li Xiaofei had left at the scene. It was outrageously arrogant. More than that, it was a direct provocation against the Revered Protectors Corps.
A cold sneer spread across Blazing Flame Grand Venerable’s face as he said, “A cornered dog will leap over a wall. He’s getting desperate. He’s even revealed a new trump card.
“Someone, analyze this poison immediately. Formulate an antidote and distribute it at once... This madman’s end is near.”