Tainted Blood

by Tinalynge

  Only Xue Wei knew that the Azure Dragon Spirit from his dantian had entered this Devouring Qi Azure Dragon and was controlling it.

  “Go, my Devouring Dragon,” Xue Wei muttered with a strange smile on his face. The many experts were observing the scene with great fear in their hearts. They knew he was doing something, but they could not figure out who the attack was aimed at.

  The dragon’s long body was coiled around Xue Wei. Its large head suddenly faced the skies and released a thundering roar that made every single person in the city feel tremors running through their bodies. The humans in the capital had a hard time withstanding this strength.

  Some of them spat blood. Some were thrown backward from the shockwave. All the faces of the Heavenly Warriors in the sky were ugly.

  “Everyone, gather together—send your strongest attack at that dragon!” The King was the first to speak. Although he had not wanted to take part in this, he knew he had no choice since it had ultimately been his choice to use Tie Haolong as bait to lure Xue Wei out.

  If he had taken the oath, he would have died on the spot, so fighting for his life was his only option. Since he had reached the point where he was fighting for his life, he stood in the middle of the entire group. Many had the thought of protecting him, as he was after all, the kingdom’s king.

  There were even some deathsworn that had sought to avoid this confrontation who had flown into the air to protect their king.

  As soon as the roar had been released, the Azure Dragon and Xue Wei made their moves. They attacked from one side each. The dragon chomped down on one expert after another; the moment its victims entered its mouth, strings of Azure Qi Dragons entered their body and consumed their cultivation bases before they simply imploded into a bloody mist from the inside out, leaving not even an intact corpse behind.

  On the other side, Xue Wei had used Inner Might: Qi Sword Style. He used the Qi sword with a flourish. Xue Wei was much faster than the Heavenly Warriors in aerial combat.

  Every flourish of his sword took off their heads from their necks with the same effort it took him to breathe; and with his speed, no one could escape from him.

  Within a mere five minutes, more than half of the experts had been either fed to the dragon or executed by Xue Wei. Even though his cultivation base had dropped a layer to the sixth level of the Ordinary Knight rank, it did not change that fact that he was dominant in every imaginable way against them.

  Xue Wei looked at his Devouring Qi Azure Dragon. It had lost quite a bit of its strength, but it was still fighting on. In its stomach was the Azure Dragon Spirit that had consumed the cultivation bases of around ninety Heavenly Warriors. When it returns to Xue Wei’s body at some point, those would serve as nourishment for Xue Wei’s cultivation base. Still, it was limited what the cultivation bases of Heavenly Warriors could do for him, even if there were this many.

  Looking at the remaining thirty experts, Xue Wei could see the undisguised fear in their eyes. It had merely taken five minutes, but more than a hundred experts had been wiped out in that time. This was not a fight—this was a direct slaughter!

  Chapter 35 - Rest in Peace

  The king was still alive together with around ten of his deathsworn. All their faces were ugly as Xue Wei reached out his hand and beckoned the Devouring Qi Azure Dragon to return to him.

  As soon as it came back to him, he dispersed it and took the Azure Dragon Spirit back into his dantian once more.

  He felt invigorated, filled to the brim with energy. Although he knew that this energy did not belong to him yet, he could feel it pulsating within his body, waiting for him to refine it.

  The remaining experts posed no threat to him. Even if they were to flee, he could catch them all with the aid of Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou.

  So far no one had tried to flee, but it was not because they were not scared. It was because the massacre in front of them had happened so fast that they had been incapable of processing it, and thus they ended up becoming severely shocked and scared when Xue Wei’s rampage came to a halt.

  Panic grew in their hearts and quickly many of them turned tail and ran, but Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi caught up to their meager dregs one after another and executed them easily before they could get anywhere.

  The deathsworn did not flee. They were surrounding the king and had their weapons drawn. Xue Wei looked at them and pondered.

  These deathsworn had nothing to do with Tie Haolong’s death, so allowing them to live should not be a problem. If he killed every single Heavenly Warrior in the Heping Kingdom, it would be quite problematic for them in the future. Although he did not care about the Heping Kingdom, he cared about a few people who lived there. Amongst these were Luo Zhirou, Mu Shen and Manager Su.

  Xue Wei wanted his revenge, but it did not sit well with him to do something that dirty.

  “Why don’t you order your deathsworn to stand down?” Xue Wei finally decided to speak to the king, stunning him and making him tremble with fear.

  “The deathsworn had nothing to do with Tie Haolong’s death, and since your son will become the next king, don’t you think that it would be better to let them work for him, rather than killing them now for nothing?”

  Xue Wei tried to reason with the king. He truly felt that this was for the better. However, when he saw the ugly expression on the king’s face, he knew that his words fell to deaf ears.

  “Deathsworn, attack him and cover for me as I flee!” he yelled out. The deathsworn had sworn to follow their king’s order regardless of content, and thus they rushed at Xue Wei despite knowing full well that death was waiting at the end of that road.

  The king had forgotten everything about Bai Tianyi and Hei Gou. These two were like wolves waiting to pounce at any person who tried to weasel their way out, which meant that even if the deathsworn threw themselves at Xue Wei, they had no way of actually creating an opening for him.

  Without thinking about this, the king turned and ran. He ran as fast as he could, but how could his speed possibly rival that of Hei Gou?

  In less than a second, his head had been separated from his body and he collapsed, plummeting from the skies.

  Xue Wei looked at the two surviving deathsworn who were staring at their dead ruler with dim eyes. Xue Wei did not press the attack.

  “Stop the battle now,” he said. “There will be a new king soon, and he will be in need of new deathsworn. If you wish to be free men and no longer deathsworn, then why don’t you become Primordial Beast Hunters? This is a profession that the Kingdom of Heping truly needs now.”

  Hearing that Xue Wei was being considerate, the two deathsworn did not know whether to laugh or to cry. The reason the Heping Kingdom needed Primordial Beast Hunters—was it not because of Xue Wei and his massacre?

  Still, the two deathsworn had lost their master and nodded their heads. They had followed their master’s every order until the end, and now that he was dead, they had regained their freedom. As to what they choose to do in the future, it had nothing to do with Xue Wei.

  “We will not thank you,” one of the deathsworn said silently as he looked at Xue Wei. “We have lost all our brothers to your attacks. Even our master died at your friend’s hands.”

  “This is something that we cannot easily overlook, but considering that you are letting us keep our lives,it is only fair that we make sure that their legacy is upheld. That the widows and fatherless children will be looked after now that their men and fathers will never return.”

  Xue Wei nodded his head. “I know. Tell them all that if they ever wish to seek vengeance, then I will always be waiting for them. Just as I was entitled to my revenge for my brother, they too have the right to seek revenge for their parents and lovers.”

  The deathsworn were shocked when they heard this, but they quickly nodded their heads. “We will tell them that they died because they killed Tie Haolong, the brother of the Crimson Devil, a ferocious Primordial Beast that rose to prominence in the Kingdom of Heping. I am sure
that one day they will find you if they truly wish to do so.”

  “They will have to work hard, or else they will just be throwing away their lives,” Xue Wei added. The two deathsworn agreed. They too had forgotten every idea of revenge for their brothers and their master. They simply did not have the strength to take revenge. And it seemed Xue Wei’s meteoric rise was only now beginning.

  The children would have even less of a chance, considering that they were all much younger and that they hailed from the Heping Kingdom. To overcome the Heavenly Warrior rank, one needed much more luck and resources. A backwater kingdom might be able to once in a millennium produce an Ordinary Knight, but that was usually the limit.

  Xue Wei had been able to break through it because of many factors. One of them was because of no lack of resources. He had been poor at the beginning, but slowly he had built up a wealth and stockpile of resources that could be used whenever he needed it.

  He also had the ability to make inscriptions and he could create pills. Although he was still not at a level where he could make Rainbow Pills, the ones he could make could assist him slightly.

  But all of this was aided by luck. Had he not stopped by the Black Iron Fortress, he would not have been given the mission to get the Seven Star Nightflower and then stumbled upon the legacy of the Moon Prince.

  If he had not gone further and further towards the center of the continent, he would not have had the opportunity to cultivate in an environment with a much denser heaven-and-earth essence, which had made it easier for him to break through.

  He even had the luck of getting lost in a forest and finding Bai Tianyi. However, you win some you lose some. He had luck, but he was equally unlucky. He was currently the continent’s most wanted person. Both men and beasts had a thing against him. He had no peace of mind anywhere.

  But although luck had given him many chances, the reason that he had succeeded was due to his hard work and determination.

  He was a very determined man. In fact, it was borderline stubbornness. He was not willing to give up on anything. He would continue until he mastered it completely.

  But few would have the same experiences as Xue Wei, so chasing after him might be a suicidal idea. Especially since he had a high natural talent because of the Azure Dragon Blood that flowed in his veins.

  Shaking his head, he did not think more about it. He gestured for the surviving two deathsworn to leave and then regrouped with Hei Gou, Lin Xiao and Bai Tianyi.

  “Lan gave us a month,” he said seriously, while contemplating what to do. He had already finished what he wished to do.

  “Do you want to visit those two friends of yours?” Hei Gou asked. “What was their names again... Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu I think?”

  “I do want to meet them.” Xue Wei nodded, but then a complicated light shone in his eyes, “but I cannot.”

  “Why not?”

  “It is really quite simple,” Bai Tianyi explained. “He just killed a majority of the Primordial Beast Hunters in the entire kingdom, alongside the king. If he were to visit them, would it not be the same as telling the world that they are traitors?”

  “Not to mention that they might not want to see me anymore,” Xue Wei added. “I was a normal human when I knew them, but now the truth ironically shows that I am indeed a beast—if only partly, but that part of me is what they hate.”

  Hei Gou sighed. It was truly a shame that all it took to divide them was the fact that he was partly Azure Dragon.

  “Let us just return to Lan,” Xue Wei finally decided. “We can also learn by watching how he makes a transdimensional tunnel.”

  The others had nothing to say. They had no ties to the Heping Kingdom, so for them it did not matter where they went. Hei Gou could not return to his family either. He was unaware of the fact that Chu Huiyin had visited his family and informed them that he was on a special mission.

  With one last glance at the capital of the Kingdom of Heping, Xue Wei turned around. He was momentarily blinded by the sharp sunshine of the setting sun.

  The clouds were painted red from the setting sun, and the pungent smell of blood was still heavy in the air. The ground beneath them was littered with corpses. No one had bothered scavenging for storage treasures or other treasures. They were not here to rob them. This was an act of vengeance. Any wealth they would earn from it would feel dirty.

  Eventually, the citizens would rush out to rummage through their clothes to get a bit of their wealth. It might even erupt into fighting, but Xue Wei simply did not care.

  With this bloody scene imprinted in his mind, a deep sigh escaped Xue Wei’s lips. He suddenly felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

  “My dear brother Haolong, do you see now? I got rid of the ones who caused your death!” he muttered to the air.

  He was aware that this bloody scene was something that Tie Haolong had not wished for—he might even have been against such a devastating way of getting revenge—but Xue Wei had to act according to his beliefs. He could not bring himself to let anyone who had had something to do with Tie Haolong’s death go unpunished.

  “This is over,” Xue Wei said to himself, as he started flying towards the direction where Lan was waiting for them. “All ties between myself and the Heping Kingdom have been cut. In the future, I will no longer find fault with them unless they once more cause problems for me. I hope that they will be able to survive in their own way.”

  Lin Xiao and the two others could see that Xue Wei was in deep thought. It was clear that he was thinking about what had happened in the past, alongside the sudden lightheadedness he now felt and the feeling of being free of all burdens. This was an experience he had never experienced before, so he was trying hard to grasp it.

  Eventually, Xue Wei smiled. “I will let my name resound throughout the entire world. And one day I will end the war between humans and beasts here on this continent. I will make it so that no more people will suffer a fate like yours, brother. This will be your everlasting legacy!” Xue Wei said to nothing in particular, but in his mind he saw the once familiar figure of Tie Haolong smiling at him.

  Chapter 36 - Blue Phoenix Carriage

  “Oh, you finished already?” Lan sat on a reclining chair in the middle of the snow-covered landscape. He seemed as if he was enjoying himself greatly.

  His face had been looking up at the clouded sky all this time. His lips were curled into a slight smile which grew in size when he spotted them in the distance.

  “Revenge does not always take a long time,” Xue Wei said honestly. “I am from the Kingdom of Heping, but it is for the best that I do not meet my old acquaintances after killing so many of their kingdom’s most important people.”

  “So you have a bit of reason left within you,” Lan praised while nodding his head. “Well, in that case, I will create a transdimensional tunnel for you,” he said and stood up in an elegant fashion.

  Lan was as always wearing white clothes with blue embroideries of a snake with four wings—a mingshe. Mingshes were known as treasure hoarders, and the mingshe on Lan’s clothes was embroidered with blue thread.

  As to whether or not this meant that Lan had something in common with the beast, since he too seemed to enjoy hoarding treasure, or if there was another reason, Xue Wei did not know, but he realized that all the clothes the prophet had worn so far had had this four-winged snake as a pattern.

  Lan seemed to notice his glance, but he said nothing and just smiled. “So how is a transdimensional tunnel made?” Xue Wei asked curiously. As far as he was aware, he and the others were not going to leave the dimension they were in, so how could it be called a transdimensional tunnel?

  “This tunnel is similar to the one used when leaving this world,” Lan said seriously; for once the smile on his lips had vanished. “If I were to make a normal space tunnel towards the Demon Phoenix Continent, it would take you at least a year or two to arrive, but the transdimensional tunnel can expedite that down to only a few mon
ths.”

  “The reason it is so much faster is that you will actually be leaving our dimension and traveling through the void. This is extremely fast, but it is also quite dangerous,” Lan continued.

  “Dangerous?” Xue Wei frowned. Why had he not mentioned this before?

  “Well, I did mention the spatial storms, right?” Lan asked. Xue Wei had a pondering look on his face. It did sound somewhat familiar.

  “Anyway, if you have not heard about it before, then let me explain it now. Spatial storms are dreadful because they consist of heavenly tribulation lightning. It is impossible to survive if you get blindsided by one, but it is quite rare to encounter a spatial storm. So hope for the best!”

  “Maybe we should take a spatial tunnel instead?” Xue Wei asked with a little vexation. He did not like the idea of hinging his chances of surviving the trip on luck. Certain death was something he was not a big fan of.