Chapter 2166.4: Human Demon

Bloodbath had lost all of his cultivation for the moment and was nearly paralyzed, making him much worse off than Lu Xiaochi. Despite that, Lu Yun still had his ways of quickly recovering some of the senior’s cultivation level.

Lu Tianling was still in closed door cultivation after the earlier fight and Lu Xiaochi had completely relaxed upon learning that his nephew could heal his injuries and break the Severed Meridians Hold. He filled his days with planting flowers, raising birds, and living a completely carefree life.

Dark City had been engulfed in pandemonium since disaster beset the Ouyang and Yuwen Clans. A tense atmosphere filled the air and everyone looked fearfully over their shoulders.

None of this mattered to Lu Yun. After he brought Bloodbath back to the Lu residence, he arranged a house for all seven people to live together.

“Yu Qianhua, Chu Zhaoyang, Yin Tingyu, Chen Li, Huo Haoran, and Qiu Yuan, you six are the first batch of soldiers in the Vermilion Bird.”

The six men stood in a line in front of Lu Yun.

“Senior Bloodbath is your drillmaster.”

“Drillmaster?” Bloodbath stirred with interest from his soft chair.

“Indeed, drillmaster,” Lu Yun nodded. “Teach these six how to cultivate and turn them from six wusses into true soldiers.”

Drillmaster… What a far off title. It seemed to cross endless space and time to reappear here, like a dream. Lu Yun pursed his lips and suppressed the odd feeling rising in his heart. He also prevented himself from thinking further and avoided the impulse to break the seal.

Yu Qianhua and his men flushed with outrage.

“Now now, don’t be angry—the city guards are just the last of the army’s pickings. The true elites who survive the battlefield are snapped up by the imperial family and sent elsewhere,” Lu Yun murmured to himself and didn’t look at the six.

“Interesting.” Bloodbath had returned to his original appearance of long blood-red hair, bloody eyes, and long white robes. His features made him seem quite otherworldly. “If my guess is right, although the Vermilion Bird answers to Lu Tianling, it belongs to the Darklake imperial family.”

“I have my ways to take care of that, it’s just an empty military designation.” Lu Yun didn’t care in the slightest. Darklake was just a mere cultivation empire. So what if it was even the reigning dynasty of the world of immortals?

“What do you think, second uncle?” Lu Yun turned around and asked empty air.

“Hahaha, I knew I couldn’t fool you!” Lu Xiaochi walked through the door. “Junior Lu Xiaochi greets Senior Bloodbath.”

“You’re the legendary first genius of Darklake—Lu Xiaochi?” Bloodbath tilted his head and looked at Lu Xiaochi. “The Severed Meridians Hold?”

While he lacked all cultivation, the consciousness of a combination cultivator was still present in his body.

“Precisely.” Lu Xiaochi nodded with a smile.

“It looks like the waters are deep at the Lu Clan,” Bloodbath chuckled.

“As deep as they are, they won’t drown the senior,” Lu Yun interjected.

“Who knows?” A worried expression appeared on Bloodbath’s face. “I’ll be able to help if you can restore my cultivation sooner rather than later. Otherwise, I may very well drown in these waters.”

“Heh, all in due time,” Lu Yun chuckled. Old fox! You want some benefits before we’ve gotten anything from you?

“Do you want to reform the Vermilion Bird?” Lu Xiaochi asked solemnly.

“Yes.” Lu Yun nodded and didn’t say anything further.

There shouldn’t be any difference between the Lu’s Vermilion Bird and Darklake’s Vermilion Bird. Given Lu Yun’s capabilities and some time, it wouldn’t be hard if he wanted to claim Darklake Empire for himself. However, it seemed that his grandfather and the emperor shared a deeper than expected relationship.

Lu Xiaochi fell silent.

“No worries, I’ll meet with some people later on and reclassify the Vermilion Bird designation as my private army. If worst comes to worst, I’ll just discard the designation,” Lu Yun grinned.

The Vermilion Bird was an obsession of Lu Tianling’s, one that had formed after the entire crew was wiped out twenty years ago. It was clear from him gifting the designation to Lu Yun at birth just how fixated he was on the name.

Lu Yun naturally understood his grandfather’s point of view. The Lu Clan was attributed to fire and there were two such talents in each generation. Lu Tianling and Lu Yun possessed fire spirit roots. Lu Xiaochi was a foster son and also possessed a fire spirit root. The family’s cultivation methods were fire attributed and the Vermilion Bird was the legendary fire god of the south.

“Discard it? Your grandfather will never agree to that,” Lu Xiaochi sighed. “The Lus share an uncommon relationship with the Darklake imperial family.”

“I know,” Lu Yun nodded. “How else would Situ Wenxian have so easily given us the Nineturns Profound Life Pill?”

Situ Wenxian was the name of the Darklake emperor.

……

Ten golden cores and three nascent souls had died within the span of a day. This was a tremendous blow to the Ouyang Clan, one that nearly plunged them into the depths of despair. Yet, what happened next sunk the senior council into unprecedented levels of panic.

Bloodbath went missing!

When the last patriarch, Ouyang Baitian, encountered the heavily injured Bloodbath, he’d grounded the old man inside the northern quadrant. But now, the crippled Bloodbath without any cultivation to call upon had gone missing!

Bloodbath was a demon that killed without blinking an eye. The clan’s original plans were to have him teach those of the younger generation with sufficient potential, then send him to the ninth rank empires for the reward once all value had been extracted from him.

As plentiful as the bounty was, the ninth rank empires would never send a combination cultivator to teach the Ouyang’s younger generation. Although Bloodbath’s sins were monstrous and flagrant, he was still an ant in their eyes.

Within the Ouyangs, Ouyang Shengtian had coalesced a nascent soul at a young age and was a stunning genius of the third rank empire. All the same, he would be mediocre beyond belief in a ninth rank empire.

Ninth rank empires were the apex of the world of cultivation. They couldn’t be bothered to nurture the so-called geniuses of third rank empires. The Ouyangs were well aware of this, which was why they’d kept Bloodbath to nurture their most promising.

He was the reason why Ouyang Shengxiang was able to defeat a foundation establishment cultivator when she was only third level qi refinement.

Ouyang Shengmu and Ouyang Shenghe didn’t count for much in the old man’s eyes, so they didn’t receive his true teachings. If it wasn’t for the fact that they were Ouyang Baitian’s children, they wouldn’t even have the right to learn of the elder’s presence.

Thus, Bloodbath was behind the creation of these two genius young masters. His disappearance sent the family’s senior council into complete panic. They hadn’t been this thrown off-balance when Ouyang Baitian and two of their nascent soul elders died!

Once Bloodbath recovered, he was definitely the sort to slaughter the entire Ouyang Clan for revenge. No one would be safe.

“Bloodbath is severely injured and can’t even move. He can’t get out of Dark City, maybe he’s hiding in a corner somewhere,” said Ouyang Zhen, one of the few remaining nascent soul elders of the family.

An extraordinary young man of twenty-some years old stood in front of him with a noncommittal expression. He was the leader of the three gentlemen of Dark City—Ouyang Shengtian.

Dressed in long blue robes, he possessed natural grace beyond his years.

“My father’s death likely has something to do with Bloodbath.” Ouyang Shengtian’s upward slanting eyebrows slightly knit together.

Although he’d been taught by Bloodbath, the old man was just a tool in Ouyang Shengtian’s eyes. There was no affection of master and disciple between them. Bloodbath had decided to teach them only to ensure his own survival. The two sides were just using each other.

“Does Bloodbath belong to a sect?” Ouyang Zhen’s face suddenly shifted. “If he does…”

“No,” Ouyang Shengtian shook his head. “What kind of person is the legendary Bloodbath? He is completely lawless, as evidenced by his slaughter of the fifth rank empire one hundred years ago. If he really does have a sect supporting him, we would’ve been razed to the ground long ago.

“He must’ve secretly used some methods to recruit a few cultivators for his use. He is a mythical combination cultivator, after all. No one knows what he’s capable of.” Ouyang Shengtian shook his head.

The Ouyangs and Yuwens didn’t know how their patriarchs and powerhouses had died, even now. The power from an exploding nascent soul had been so domineering that Black Maple Peak was leveled and all traces erased.

The power from the explosions had also erased Lu Yun’s formation. All that was left were traces of a grand formation being destroyed. The presence of self-detonating nascent souls were dispelled by the formation’s destruction.

“Hmm?” Ouyang Shengtian frowned and brooded.

“What is it?” Ouyang Zhen asked. The genius had plainly received a secret transmission.

“How interesting, Lu Yun is robbing Ouyang storefronts?” Ouyang Shengtian breathed out heavily. “Whether or not Lu Tianling is truly in closed door cultivation to recover, it is true that Lu Yun has gone out of control. Since he’s delivered himself on an empty platter, we will take full advantage of it. I want Lu Tianling’s life this time!

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

“Elder Zhen, you are the Ouyang patriarch from now on.” Ouyang Shengtian’s eyes blazed with sharp light, making Ouyang Zhen shudder in spite of himself.

The two clans suspected that Lu Yun had engineered the last incident, with Lu Tianling pulling the strings from the shadows. They’d created an enormous trap for Ouyang Baitian and Yuwen Zonglin to set foot into.

etvolare's Thoughts

So what if they did, you're the ones who set foot into it lawl. So very "look what you made me do" vibes.

Yes, that's four parts for a chapter. You guys see what I've been dealing with?