Chapter 16: Change of Circumstances

"Lead the way. As long as we can leave this forest safely, I promise not to kill you."

Cang Yinyue flipped onto the mule, gesturing for Yu Changlu, whose arms hung limp at his sides, to walk toward the mountain path ahead.

Yu Changlu did not resist; he immediately began walking at the front, his arms swaying.

He knew very well that he had no choice. In his current situation, his only hope for survival was to endure this humiliation and wait for the arrival of the experts from the Alliance.

Therefore, as long as Cang Yinyue did not kill him, he would do whatever she asked.

Li Musheng observed everything but said nothing. He reached out and patted the mule's back, signaling it to follow slowly.

Regarding Cang Yinyue's misunderstanding, he felt no need to throw a punch right then and there—an act that would have leveled the entire region and forced her to open those wide, Karaz-like eyes to truly witness just how formidable his peak martial arts prowess actually was.

It was unnecessary. Having reached his current realm, he was long past the age of seeking petty competition.

His only desire now was to wander the world and seek the opportunity for martial transcendence, and Shangyang City of the Great Li Empire was his first stop.

...

The journey following that was relatively peaceful for a long stretch. They did not encounter anyone from the Blood Bath Alliance again, nor were there any signs of slaughter or combat along the way.

However, Yu Changlu's expression was somewhat abnormal.

After the bald man had signaled, he had immediately led his subordinates to ambush the nearby mountain path.

However, Meng Shan and Yuan Mei were too formidable; despite losing several men, Yu Changlu had failed to stop them, and they had instead escaped.

Since he was not skilled in lightness skills, he had been forced to remain behind to continue guarding the mountain path.

Logically, after such a long time, the experts of the Blood Bath Alliance should have seen the signal and arrived, just as he had.

Yet, throughout this journey, he had not seen a single expert from the Alliance, nor even a single low-level lackey.

"Could something have happened to the Alliance? Have those people from the Yinshan Sect and Yanjiu City attacked?"

Yu Changlu thought deeply, his brow furrowed, as he walked along the rugged mountain path.

He failed to notice a blood-soaked hand emerging from the waist-high weeds by the roadside, which suddenly lunged forward and gripped his ankle.

In an instant, Yu Changlu's eyelid twitched. Although his tendons had been severed and his martial arts were reduced to less than a tenth of their former strength, he was not prone to panic.

He immediately stomped down hard to shake off the hand, then performed a lateral sidestep. With an explosive burst of internal energy from a single leg, he delivered a heavy kick into the thicket.

*Thud!*

With a dull sound of cracking bone, a figure was sent flying by Yu Changlu's kick. The person tumbled several times in mid-air before finally rolling onto the mountain path.

At that moment, having clearly seen the figure's face, Yu Changlu froze.

He realized that the person who had grabbed his ankle was the bald man.

Yu Changlu had encountered him earlier; the man was clearly supposed to be chasing Meng Shan's trio, so why on earth was he hiding in the roadside weeds?

"What happened?"

Yu Changlu rushed to the man's side, his arms swaying, only to find that after being kicked, the bald man was gasping for air, clearly on the verge of death.

Cang Yinyue rode her horse forward, frowning as she scanned the bald man on the ground.

The man's condition was gruesome: his eyes had been gouged out, blood was flowing from his seven orifices, and his skin had turned an eerie bluish-black, clearly indicating he had been poisoned.

"Tell me, who wounded you like this?"

Yu Changlu leaned in and asked urgently, but the bald man only managed a difficult gasp. In the end, he could not utter a single word before his legs gave out and he expired.

"If you hadn't kicked him, he might have said a few words."

Cang Yinyue shook her head, her expression contemplative.

"Judging by the style of martial arts, this person was likely wounded by a sinister claw technique. It doesn't look like the work of those two, though it's hard to say for certain—someone might be hiding such a skill."

She had observed Meng Shan and Yuan Mei's movements earlier, so she was familiar with their martial arts.

While the bald man's state didn't immediately seem like their doing, she couldn't rule it out entirely.

Beside them, Li Musheng looked at the bald man's corpse thoughtfully. He said nothing, but turned to Yu Changlu with a smile.

"Let's continue our journey. If this happens again, remember to go easy. Leave a survivor among your own people."

Hearing this, Yu Changlu's face turned pale and then flushed with anger, but he dared not say anything. He could only leave the bald man's body behind and continue along the path.

However, the situation that followed made Yu Changlu's expression grow increasingly grim and terrified.

Almost every short distance along the mountain path, several corpses would appear.

The deaths were horrific: some had their eyes gouged out, others had their hearts ripped out. All were bleeding from their seven orifices and had been struck by potent poison.

And without exception, every person killed belonged to the Blood Bath Alliance. Beyond ordinary disciples, several Xiantian-level Hall Masters had also been killed.

"It must be those bastards from the Yinshan Sect. Their martial arts are the most ruthless and sinister!"

Yu Changlu's face was dark with dread, and fear began to take root in his heart.

Given the current situation, it seemed unlikely that reinforcements from the Alliance would arrive in time.

If even the Hall Masters, who were stronger than him, had died so pathetically, then in his current state, he would likely meet an even more miserable end if he encountered the Yinshan Sect.

"Young hero, lady, you have seen the situation. If we continue forward, we will likely encounter those bastards."

Yu Changlu suddenly stopped halfway and tried desperately to persuade Li Musheng and Cang Yinyue.

"We should turn back now while there is still time. I swear on my life that I will ensure you both leave Chuzhou safely via another route."

At this point, Cang Yinyue's expression also looked grim, and for the first time, a hint of hesitation appeared in her eyes.

She had seen everything that had transpired on this journey.

Moreover, she saw deeper than Yu Changlu and understood the true nature of the problem.

She realized that the members of the Blood Bath Alliance were likely not victims of an ambush by a rival faction.

From beginning to end, there was actually only one killer!

In Cang Yinyue's view, this person was not only brutal but possessed immense martial strength, likely surpassing her own.

More importantly, the individual was extremely proficient in poison arts.

Whether facing a Xiantian expert or an ordinary disciple, the killer used poison without exception.

Cang Yinyue had attempted to examine the toxicity in the corpses and discovered that this person was not just killing; they were using the killings to cultivate poison arts.

The more recent the victims, the stronger the toxicity in their bodies, which indirectly proved that the killer's poison mastery was continuously growing stronger.

(End of Chapter)