I Can Merge Techniques-Chapter 134 - 105: Nine Blood Soul Blades Perfection, Archery’s Second Limit Break, Killing Zhou Ye, Slaughtering Long Zhan
The last rays of the setting sun cast a dim golden edge upon the gates of the Seven Stars Gang Sub-Branch.
Chu Fan strolled out of the sub-branch’s entrance at an unhurried pace.
His face showed a hint of fatigue from his training, but it was overshadowed by a deep, hidden composure.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted three men at the tea stall on the opposite street corner.
The three pretended to be chatting idly, yet their gazes kept drifting toward him, almost imperceptibly.
’They’re certainly keeping a close watch,’ Chu Fan sneered inwardly.
For the past few days, ever since Sun Zixuan had given him Zhou Ye’s mission to "track the Moon Worship Sect," he’d seen these same men every time he left the Seven Stars Gang.
These men didn’t just watch him from the main gate of the Seven Stars Gang; they would also tail him for a good distance before finally turning back.
Chu Fan paid them no mind and headed straight for home.
The moment he turned the corner and vanished from his stalkers’ sight, Sun Zixuan slipped out of a side door of the sub-branch.
"Boss Sun!"
A lookout hurried over and reported in a low voice, "Chu Fan just left."
"I saw." Sun Zixuan stared in the direction Chu Fan had disappeared, his brows knitted tightly. His face was filled with confusion as he muttered, "What in the hell? It’s been three days. How is he still alive and kicking?"
Three days ago, he had meticulously presented his plan to kill with a borrowed knife, and Zhou Ye had readily accepted it.
Then, Zhou Ye added another layer to the plan, creating a two-pronged attack—sending Chu Fan to clash with that tough nut, the Moon Worship Sect, while also using a Deacon Hall mission to unleash that "blade," Long Zhan of the Dragon Flame Hall.
By all rights, regardless of which side succeeded, Chu Fan should have died without a known grave.
And yet, every night, Chu Fan would go out as scheduled to "track the Moon Worship Sect," only to return to the Sub-Branch at dawn completely unscathed. It was just plain bizarre!
"To hell with it, forget him for now!" Sun Zixuan waved his hand in frustration. "Let’s go, boys! You’ve worked hard. Time for a drink! One good binge will wash away all our worries!"
At his words, his underlings’ faces immediately lit up. They crowded around Sun Zixuan and headed toward the liveliest tavern nearby.
But they had no idea that shortly after they left, Chu Fan emerged from the shadows of a narrow alley not far away.
He hadn’t left. Instead, like the most patient of hunters, he began to tail Sun Zixuan and his men from a distance.
...
As the night deepened, the clamor in the tavern gradually subsided.
Sun Zixuan and his underlings, now blind drunk, staggered out of the tavern.
Mumbling the words to a bawdy song, they propped each other up as they stumbled into a dim alley—a required path to return to the Sub-Branch.
The alley was deep and dark, with only a few slivers of moonlight managing to pierce the gloom, illuminating the potholed ground.
As they reached the middle of the alley, a figure suddenly emerged from the shadows, silently blocking their path. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
The man’s face was obscured by a bamboo hat, and he carried a blade that emanated a faint, ominous red glow in the weak moonlight.
"HIC... Who... who dares block your granddaddy’s path?" one of the drunks slurred, his tongue thick with alcohol.
Though his eyes were hazy with drink, Sun Zixuan felt a chill run down his spine that sobered him up a bit. "Who are you?" he demanded sharply. "We’re men of the Seven Stars Gang!"
His answer was the sudden flash of a blood-red blade!
"Nine Blood Soul Blades!"
Chu Fan moved, his body blurring into a Residual Image, like a tiger let loose among sheep!
Flashes of the blood-red blade flickered rapidly through the dim alley, thick with a potent Blood Evil Qi.
Already unsteady on their feet and with sluggish reflexes, the drunks were utterly helpless against Chu Fan’s fierce Sword Technique!
In just three breaths, all fell silent once more.
Including Sun Zixuan of the Blood Refining Realm, all four men collapsed, clutching their throats, unable to make a sound. Each had suffered multiple blade wounds.
Chu Fan took the money pouches from the four bodies, tucked them into his robes, and then, just as he had arrived, silently melted back into the shadows and disappeared.
...
Meanwhile, deep within the labyrinthine slums of North City, a burly youth dressed in martial attire was carefully opening a palm-sized wooden box.
The inside of the box was lined with soft black velvet, upon which several butterflies rested quietly.
The butterflies’ wings were as black as ink, shimmering with a faint luster in the dim light. Their shape was strangely reminiscent of miniature bird feathers, exuding an eerie and mysterious aura.
If any knowledgeable person from the martial world were present, they would surely recognize this wondrous tracking tool—the "Ink Feather Fragrance-Seeking Butterfly."
The youth muttered under his breath, ’This thing is great and all, but it’s just too slow... What the hell is up with this guy? How is he in the east one moment and the west the next?’
’Is he taking me for a dog on a walk?!’
Three days ago, he had accepted this lucrative secret mission.
He was to track a notorious bandit who had been marked with "Bone-Attached Butterfly Fragrance."
The reward, aside from a tempting sum of silver, was a high-quality "Smooth Strength Pill"—enough to increase his chances of breaking through to the Entering the Realm of Strength by a full thirty percent!
The temptation was too great.
To secure this mission, he had nearly come to blows with several others in the Bone Tempering Realm.
In the end, he had only managed to snatch the mission by invoking the name of his father, an Incense Master.
But the target’s movements were strangely erratic. He rarely stayed in one place for long and was constantly on the move.
The "Ink Feather Fragrance-Seeking Butterflies" were extremely sensitive to the scent of the "Bone-Attached Butterfly Fragrance" and would never follow the wrong trail, but the target seemed to be perpetually in motion, especially at night.
As a result, from yesterday to today, he had been wandering all over North City with his Butterfly Attraction Disc, following the butterflies, yet always remaining one step behind, unable to get a precise location.
The youth took a deep breath, his gaze sharpening as he clenched his left fist, producing a series of sharp CRACKS.
Then, he gently blew on a special whistle, producing a sound so low it was nearly inaudible to the human ear.
As if waking from a deep slumber, the "Ink Feather Fragrance-Seeking Butterflies" in the box stirred and took flight.
They circled in the air a few times, as if discerning an incredibly faint, unique scent. Then, they began to fly at a steady pace toward the southwest.
The youth put away the wooden box, then with a fluid motion, leaped as silently as a nimble ape onto a low eave. His gaze locked onto the inky silhouettes of the butterflies, which nearly vanished into the night, and he began to follow them from a distance.
