Chapter 60: The Ten Zhang Forbidden Zone

"Kill that bandit!" the Cui Patriarch ordered.

The guards and the martial artists instantly raised their crossbows and rushed forward to surround Lu Changsheng.

Lu Changsheng stood outside the furnace chamber, eyes locked on the approaching guards. Footsteps echoed from every direction as the distance between them quickly shrank

Twenty zhang. Fifteen zhang. Ten zhang... With his eyes closed, Lu Changsheng calculated the distance as the guards advanced. When they closed in to within ten zhang, his eyes gleamed.

That's close enough.

The Silken Thread Sword was most lethal within three zhang. Even a martial artist at the Organ Refinement Stage would struggle to defend against it at that range. Beyond three zhang, the Silken Thread Sword's power dropped sharply, and the blood qi required to sustain it increased significantly. However, with his immense amount of blood qi, Lu Changsheng didn't mind striking from ten zhang away. That was still well within killing range.

So, the moment the guards stepped into that ten-zhang range, blood qi erupted from Lu Changsheng.

Voosh!

The qi surged violently, swelling into a dense, rolling cloud above his head. Heat radiated from it, warming the air around him. As the cloud expanded, Lu Changsheng kept drawing more power, increasing the density of the blood qi.

"How is it possible for a martial artist below the Divine Strength Realm to possess such terrifying power?"

"No, even for someone at the Divine Strength Realm, their blood qi wouldn’t be this overwhelming!"

The Cui Clan members were shaken to their core.

Whoosh!

Lu Changsheng's eyes snapped open. "Blood Qi Silk Transformation!"

The blood qi cloud above his head split apart. In the blink of an eye, what had once been a single mass of energy quickly divided into countless threads of silkworm silk, each one glinting like a sharp blade.

Lu Changsheng raised his arm and brought it down sharply. "Silken Thread Sword, kill!"

Thousands of silken strands rained down like a storm upon the guards. The entire Cui Clan froze in disbelief, particularly the more experienced martial artists. Being familiar with blood qi projection and capable of it themselves, they realized just how ridiculous Lu Changsheng's feat was. Their own blood qi projection would lose all power and even dissipate beyond three zhang, let alone ten.

Just how powerful was this man that he could maintain the power of his blood qi from ten zhang away?

Whizz! Whizz! Whizz! Whizz! Whizz!

Chaos broke out among the guards as the threads were about to fall on them. A few of the Cui Clan's martial artists tried to reassure them.

"Don't panic! The blood qi loses its power past ten zhang!"

"Just guard your vital points!"

"He can't possibly hurt you from this distance. This is a waste of power!"

Hearing this, most of them only raised their arms to protect their faces from the descending threads.

Splurt!

In the next moment, the threads pierced straight into the guards’ bodies. Each thread stabbed them like a real blade, cutting deep into their flesh, and some of the guards even ended up with visible holes where the threads had passed through.

"

Ghah

!"

"My arm!"

"Help me!"

Screams filled the air as hundreds of guards collapsed at once. Some clutched their bleeding limbs, while others bled from their abdomen. Few had even died on the spot, their vital organs pierced.

Only those standing beyond ten zhang were left unharmed. Beyond that range, the power of the Silken Thread Sword simply faded—but within ten zhang, none escaped. Whether they were ordinary guards, Blood Strengthening or Bone Tempering martial artists, all had been crippled or killed on the spot.

The onlookers gasped in horror at Lu Changsheng's terrifying display of power. In one breath, the Silken Thread Sword had wiped out hundreds of people. Having witnessed such a slaughter, the remaining martial artists staggered back, instinctively retreating beyond ten zhang from the furnace chamber.

"How... How is this even possible?"

"How can that bandit's blood qi projection still be so powerful at ten zhang, to the point where not even Bone Tempering martial artists can block it?"

"Hell, he could kill even Organ Refinement martial artists with that..."

"We must not go within ten zhang. He even managed to kill the Three Elders, so I doubt anyone in the Body Tempering Realm could stand against strength like this."

"Patriarch, what do we do?"

The rest of the martial artists turned to the Patriarch for guidance.

The Patriarch looked at them and said in a low voice, "His blood qi is dangerous within ten zhang, but it shouldn't be able to seriously harm Organ Refinement martial artists. He must've expended a great deal of his strength for that previous attack. He won't be able to keep this up.

"Also, your Ninth Master Cui has returned, and we still have nine Organ Refinement martial artists here. If we strike together with full force, we should be able to kill him. What do you all think?"

Truth be told, the Patriarch was mostly addressing the three retainers. Two of them were peak Organ Refinement experts, and with the Three Elders dead, their role had become even more crucial.

One of the retainers, a monk, looked at the corpses of the Three Elders and then at the groaning guards writhing on the ground.

"Patriarch, I suggest we proceed with caution. Let's send word to Elder Lu Tong at Xuanjian Manor in the mountains and have him deal with the intruder," the monk proposed with a smile. "We just need to surround the furnace chamber until he gets here. There's no need to take unnecessary risks."

The Patriarch's expression darkened. Lu Tong? If we truly called on Lu Tong, we'd have to compensate him with Marrow Transformation Pills. By then, we'd be lucky if we have enough Marrow Transformation Pills left for ourselves.

"Master Kong Yan, Elder Lu Tong is certainly capable, but he's hundreds of li from Jubei City. Even if we dispatch a rider to send word now, it would still take him around ten hours to get here from the mountains, and by then, the bandit would have likely fled."

Master Kong Yan chuckled. "Flee? Patriarch, judging from the bandit's behavior, I don't think he plans on leaving anytime soon. He seems to be searching for something, and he'll probably not leave until he finds it. In that case, all we have to do is stall him until Elder Lu Tong arrives."

Master Kong Yan smiled again. "Patriarch, perhaps you know what this man is after?"

The Patriarch’s heart sank. The fact that the Cui Clan had refined a batch of Marrow Transformation Pills was a tightly guarded secret, and almost no one knew about it. Among the retainers, only Master Luo Tian knew. They would never easily release this kind of information, not even to their own retainers. If word got out, there was a risk of betrayal.

The Patriarch turned to the monk and replied, "Very well. Send a rider to Xuanjian Manor at once and request Elder Lu Tong's assistance."

He had no other choice. With the Three Elders dead and only a few Organ Refinement martial artists left, he couldn't afford to do anything rash. If more of his men got injured, it would become difficult to keep the retainers in check, and the Cui Clan's position in Jubei City would certainly weaken. There was too much at stake to take chances.

So the Cui Clan's martial artists only formed a tight perimeter around the furnace chamber and watched and waited. They were scared; Lu Changsheng understood that at a glance.

Lu Changsheng had actually expended most of his blood qi during his previous attack. Even so, with his current physical condition, he could still use Deathflash to break through the enemy line if they attacked. But since they kept their distance, he saw no need to act. He was here for the Marrow Transformation Pill, not to slaughter the entire Cui Clan. He wouldn't waste his energy as long as they stayed away from the furnace chamber.

"Anyone who steps within ten zhang of the furnace chamber dies!" Lu Changsheng shouted, his warning rolling across the courtyard.

Hearing this, the martial artists grew furious. It was humiliating for the great Cui Clan to be driven back and have part of its grounds declared off-limits by a single intruder. Still, they had no choice but to hold back.

"Let him be for now," one martial artist muttered. "Once Elder Lu Tong gets here, he's done."