Chapter 892: Corpses in the Wilds

The wilds.

Xue Jiao, a disciple of Yipin Tang, had just returned online when he sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere around him. There was no more endless chatter from his teammates, not even a trace of light—only the smell of extinguished ashes from the small campfire they had lit earlier. The air also carried the scent of others, rather unpleasant…

“This isn’t right, guys. I just went offline to eat and pay some fees. You three just skipped work and ran away, even putting out the fire… Aren’t you afraid I’ll report you to the forum leader and have your contribution points deducted?”

In the pitch-black wilds, only his voice echoed.

The surroundings were desolate and eerie.

A few seconds later, Xue Jiao began to frown, his voice rising unconsciously: “Enough! Stop playing around, guys! Come out—someone should stay here at least…” He then started calling out the names of the three members in his team one by one.

Silence in the wilds!

At that moment…

As time passed, Xue Jiao gradually got used to the darkness, and he could faintly make out some shapes around him. What he saw shocked him greatly!

“Who’s there?”

Vaguely, three people lay on the ground, their postures looking extremely strange…

As he bent down, a pungent smell of blood hit his nose. Anxiety and fear surged instantly. The cold air mixed with the scent of blood filled his chest, nearly making him collapse to the ground. He fumbled in his Qiankun Bag to retrieve a torch.

Whoosh!

The torch caught fire as soon as it was exposed to the wind. The blazing light could be seen for miles in the wilds. The intense flame illuminated a radius of fifty meters around Xue Jiao. The horrific scene of the camp filled him with an overwhelming sense of chill. His heart seemed to be gripped by something as he clutched the torch tightly, staring at his three companions lying there in various poses from their sudden deaths. Their faces were blurred, their blood dried up, and only the trampled, extinguished campfire still emitted a faint warmth.

“Hiss…”

A gust of cold air rushed into Xue Jiao’s chest. He quickly extinguished the torch he had just lit, as if it were on fire.

With the light gone, darkness reigned once again.

From light to darkness…

In an instant, Xue Jiao felt his vision blur slightly. But being back in the darkness somehow diminished his fear. He quickly regained his senses.

The three companions, though young, had decent skills within the First-Class Hall. Unless they encountered extremely powerful experts, they wouldn’t be killed in a sneak attack without even noticing the opponent approaching, let alone manage to escape.
The Mu Family!
In the entire Central Plains, only the Mu Family possessed such strength.
And… Xue Jiao suddenly realized that there weren’t just these camps in the wilderness—the First-Class Hall set up sentry posts every two or three miles. But now, looking around, the entire wilderness was pitch black, devoid of any sign of life…
It meant everyone from the First-Class Hall was dead.
“…”
Xue Jiao, his face pale, took out a snow-white homing pigeon before giving up in despair, torn with conflict:
“Damn it! That bear guy said things would be fine these next few days, that the four major factions of the Mu Family would wait until the end to launch another attack. Looks like trouble has struck.”
“…What to do?”
“Maybe the Mu Family members are still nearby. Lighting a fire to write a letter now would be seeking death…” Xue Jiao’s eyes darted rapidly as he quickly left his previous location, thinking hard. “But it’s unnecessary now. The dead ones must have already sent messages via homing pigeons to alert the hall’s people to be on high alert.”
At this thought, Xue Jiao sighed in relief—only to gasp sharply:
“The Mu Family members must have gone to Kui Town. There aren’t any inns within dozens of miles around here. Where am I supposed to go…?”
Before he could finish speaking, a cold aura suddenly struck from the side.
Damn!
Xue Jiao reacted quickly, sensing the threat. He opened his eyes and immediately activated his protective barrier at full strength. His body shot in the opposite direction like a cannonball.
Whoosh!
The sound of his heavy robes cutting through the air.
Thwack! Thwack!
Two consecutive sounds of hidden weapons hitting the ground.
Xue Jiao managed to dodge the ambush. But before he could breathe easy, an even faster sword beam rushed toward him…
The sword beam carried the sound of unstoppable wind and thunder!
An expert!!
Xue Jiao gasped, his mind reeling.
Unfortunately, the sudden outburst had exhausted most of his energy. He could no longer mobilize his internal strength in an instant, leaving him no chance to dodge—it was as if he was charging straight into the blade, crashing headfirst into it!
Thud!
The sound of his flesh being pierced was unnaturally clear in the dark wilderness.
Xue Jiao could only let out a brief, muffled groan before hanging upside down from his enemy’s sword…
“Brother Knife! Amazing!”
In the darkness, Xue Jiao faintly heard a strange young voice exclaiming, “As expected, this guy rushed straight toward Brother Knife!”
“…”
Xue Jiao almost spat more blood: Even dead, he still had to endure contempt.

But the guy who made the Blood Wyrm tremble with fear—known as “Brother Knife”—didn’t say a word, waiting until his consciousness was completely erased…
Thud!
Brother Knife lazily pushed the Blood Wyrm’s corpse away from him and turned his gaze to his young acolyte.
A freshman at Nanhua University:
“Remember! Since it’s a sneak attack… stay silent until the enemy is dead…” His tone was icy and firm.
The young guy nodded quickly in fear, promising not to make the same mistake again.
Brother Knife didn’t scold him further. He scanned the wilderness once more, then looked back at the corpse, muttering,
“Good thing I stayed. Otherwise, once they realized we’re not many and all the people from First-Class Hall rushed out, things would get chaotic!”
“Brother Knife, where are we going now?”
“Wait!”
Brother Knife came from the military and was extremely strict. Facing a young kid, he had no desire to talk—less talk was better.
Yet the young guy admired this expert from the Heavenly Demon Branch even more:
An expert!
Should be cold-hearted!
A few minutes later, the sound of homing pigeons came from the wilderness.
Soon after, Brother Knife’s voice rang out again:
“Let’s go! Kui Town!”
“Okay!”
The young guy had gotten used to Brother Knife’s speaking style and became more concise himself, asking fewer questions about the situation.
…
Kui Town!
On the dark streets, over thirty experts from First-Class Hall, holding torches, surrounded the five experts from the Mu Family who emerged from the darkness.
Although the vice leader had ordered Yin Shang and the others to break through immediately and figure out how many people the Mu Family had, the torchlight revealed that there were only five of them, so they decided to take care of these five first.
Although the Mu Family was the largest gang in the Central Plains and had many experts, these five in front of them looked unfamiliar—likely unimportant figures.
“The people from the Mu Family must have gone to the branch!”
“Finish it quickly!”
As soon as the vice leader spoke, the five people in the circle all showed intriguing smiles.
“We’re being underestimated, Lei Zi.”