Chapter 106 - The Blood Blade Patriarch - Part 3

By dusk, a red glow stained the horizon.

Blood Scissors returned in a hurry to the place where his followers were gathered. Visibly shaken, he shouted, “Tell the Fragrant General, do not move yet! I repeat, stand down for now!”

“W-what happened, Boss?”

“The Blood Blade Sect has a patriarch, a living ancestor of sorts! Sun Jiangang, Sun Shufeng, Wei Yang, plus another Sun Family elder...all killed in an instant.

“Instantly, do you hear me? No chance to fight back!

“Hurry and tell the Fragrant General we can’t attack Gemhill now! Absolutely not!”

Blood Scissors’s voice grew hoarse with panic, and a chill swept over the gathered thugs.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

In the cramped cellar beneath Residence No. 38, Li Yuan sat quietly with Yan Yu and Xue Ning on either side.

The stale air stifled everyone; they had only cold steamed buns to eat, anxiously waiting for news.

“Dearest,” Xue Ning murmured, voice trembling. “I asked around among the merchants. They have nowhere else to go.

“They say just getting to this out-of-the-way county was already the safest option. Where else could they flee? The south is a demonic beast playground. The east means sailing across open seas in search of some remote island—but there are pirates, sea beasts, and who knows what else. Even if luck brought them to some isolated isle, there’s no guarantee it’d be safe.

“They have no escape at all. One merchant who used to sail trade routes said the seas are full of strange happenings. People stand on deck, and suddenly their heads fly off.

“In the middle of sweltering summer, it starts snowing goose-feather flakes. But the

snow

is actually this rotting, moldy meat that reeks terribly once it lands in your hand...

“Or someone dreams about a black house, hears the sound of a blade being sharpened, a woman screaming. And the very day they tell their dream, they vanish forever...

“Or someone watches a ship sail into a patch of fog...and it just disappears.

“The merchants can’t get away. Nobody can leave this place...”

Ordinarily, Xue Ning exuded confidence and poise, but now she clung to Li Yuan’s arm, softly recounting all these terrifying rumors she’d gathered. Curiosity had led her to ask questions, only to find herself overwhelmed by horror stories. The merchants, in their own panic, had revealed every dark secret and taboo they knew.

However, what she really feared was that she, Yan Yu, Li Yuan, and everyone else she cared for might be trapped.

Li Yuan had heard this before, recognizing that Xue Ning was keeping her fears bottled up. Now, huddled in a dark cellar with its heavy atmosphere, those anxieties came flooding out.

He gently pulled the trembling beauty into his arms, settling her on his lap, murmuring soft reassurances while stroking her back. Only then did she begin to calm down.

Still, Li Yuan knew she was right; they truly had nowhere else to go.

In this world, anywhere populated was full of political turmoil, and anywhere unpopulated hid unknown horrors. The deeper one went into the central region, the fiercer the conflicts. Gemhill was just a tiny backwater corner of it all.

Let’s just hope no one realizes it was me who did the killing...

Leaning back, Li Yuan closed his eyes but continued monitoring the outside via his ants.

Night fell. He heard a knocking at his gate, then someone vaulting into the courtyard, calling out.

“Junior Brother Li, everything’s fine now! The sect master has returned! Junior Brother Li, are you there?”

Li Yuan recognized the voice of a fellow inner disciple, but still feared a trap and remained silent. Eventually, that person left.

Turning to his companions, he spoke quietly, “Remember, when we heard the fireworks, I brought us straight down here to hide. If the sect master finds out I was wandering outside, saw the invaders, and ran off, I’m afraid he’ll punish me. Are we clear?”

He looked at Auntie Wang, the maids, and the rest, who all nodded in agreement.

Some time later, Tie Sha personally went door to door, coaxing each hidden family out. Only then did Li Yuan, with a discreet sigh of relief, emerge from the cellar with his household. He did not bring the Horse Butcher, leaving it behind in the cellar.

Tie Sha caught sight of Li Yuan and clearly relaxed. But in the next moment, his expression turned strangely conflicted, as though he couldn’t quite figure something out.

“You’re all right?” he asked.

Li Yuan forced a wry smile. “Forgive me, Sect Master. Once I saw the signal fireworks, I panicked and took my family down to the cellar to hide.”

Tie Sha beckoned. “Li Yuan, walk with me.”

Li Yuan glanced uneasily at Yan Yu and Xue Ning.

Tie Sha gave a light chuckle, “The inner district’s safe now.”

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Nodding, Li Yuan moved to join him. The two men strolled away from the courtyard.

Outside, the moon glowed like frost over puddles still lingering from the day’s rain. Their boots splashed through the water, silver shards of moonlight dancing on the ripples.

Li Yuan feigned confusion. He asked softly, “Sect Master, what exactly happened?”

“Someone or something smashed open the stone slab blocking the underground tunnel in the demon enclosure from the inside out. A number of intruders were mauled to death by demon dogs. Yet when we checked, all the dogs were neatly locked back in their cages,” Tie Sha said. Then, his tone grew cautious. “Could it be...you released those beasts?”

Li Yuan wore a look of astonishment. “Me? No, I wish I had that ability. Among those dogs are the ebony marquises, and also those oddstrider hounds. I can’t control them yet.” Lowering his head, he added with embarrassment, “I’m sorry, Sect Master.”

Tie Sha didn’t answer at first. Then he forced a smile and patted Li Yuan’s shoulder. “Don’t apologize. You did the right thing. When chaos strikes, going into hiding is the safest move. Let me explain what we think happened...”

He proceeded to recount the entire siege. But when he reached the key turning point—the deadly blow that wiped out the Sun and Wei forces—Tie Sha slipped in the explanation of the Blood Blade Patriarch.

Li Yuan listened, feigning awe, but inwardly reeling. On his face, however, he showed only wild admiration and excitement. “Our Blood Blade Sect actually has a patriarch?!”

“That’s right.” Tie Sha gave a somber nod. “He’s like a dragon, seen once, then gone. He guided me in my youth, and now he’s appeared again to save our sect. Yet he still won’t show himself to us. Alas...I guess I’m just not fated to meet him.”

With a sigh, Tie Sha clapped Li Yuan on the shoulder. “Get some rest tonight. Tomorrow morning, come to the Blood Fury Hall for a meeting. While the enemy is weak, we intend to seize the Sun Family’s territory.”

“Yes, Sect Master.” Li Yuan bowed respectfully.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Not long after, Tie Sha and Old Ding conferred in a nearby room.

Old Ding stood by the window, stroking his beard. “Sect Master, if you truly suspect Li Yuan, there’s a simple way to find out. Bring him to the demon enclosure. If he can really control the ebony marquises and oddstrider hounds, their behavior toward him will give it away. Demonic beasts are far more honest than people.”

Tie Sha grunted. “So...you think I should set that test?”

Old Ding laughed. “You’re not foolish enough to force him into a corner. That would be like stepping into a trap of your own making.”

After a moment of wry silence, Old Ding added, voice lowered, “But if it really was him, then he isn’t Li Yuan at all. Who is he?”

Tie Sha said, “We still don’t know for sure he’s the one. In any case, he saved our sect from disaster. That makes him our benefactor.”

He glanced out the window. In the courtyard, flames rose high, consuming the bodies of the fallen.

Tie Sha’s gaze darkened. “As far as I’m concerned, he is the Blood Blade Patriarch. After all, apart from you and me, no one knows the patriarch truly passed away a long time ago.”

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Ten days later.

At dawn, sunlight broke through leaden clouds over Gemhill County, while most households still slept.

Leaves spiraled down from the trees, yellow and withered, carried on the wind like scattered paper money in a funeral procession.

A train of ox carts rumbled toward the black market, their creaking axles grating in the hush.

Beneath the heavy, ominous tarps came an abrupt shriek, followed by more screams.

Alarmed, the merchants yanked one covering aside—and found rows of twisted faces, the women within ashen-faced and bleeding from every orifice.

Someone had passed them poison in secret.

Many of these women had belonged to the Wei or Sun families. Even the hardened smugglers were taken aback by the grisly sight, and a collective sense of panic spread as they heard curses rising in every direction.

“We curse you... Die wretchedly!”

“We curse you...to meet our same fate!”

“Curse you! Curse you!”

“Curse!”

Shivering, the traders rushed to stop any further suicides, flinging back tarps as fast as they could, only to find more death in every cage.

At the last iron cell, a young woman—the daughter of a Sun Family elder—smiled at them strangely, popped a green pill into her mouth, and said in a voice devoid of warmth, “You...will...all...die.”

Whatever the poison, it racked her body with horrible pain. She let out a blood-curdling scream, “All of you—everyone—will die!”