I Can Merge Techniques-Chapter 139 - 105: Nine Blood Soul Blades Perfection, Archery’s Second Limit Break, Killing Zhou Ye, Slaughtering Long Zhan
Zhou Ye shrieked wretchedly. The powerful kick sent him flying backward, lifting him completely off the ground. He spat a mouthful of blood as he crashed to the earth, rolling several times in a pathetic display.
Without even glancing at Zhou Ye, Chu Fan locked his gaze on Xia Huanhuan, who was struggling to get back up.
He drew the long saber from his waist in a reverse grip.
"Who in the world are you?!"
Xia Huanhuan was horrified. "I am Xia Huanhuan of the Seven Stars Gang! There must be some misunderstanding between us..."
She was certain she had never offended such a formidable person.
And as far as she knew, no one like him existed in either the Blood Saber Sect or the Iron Armor Sect.
’So why is he inexplicably pushing me toward my death?’
HUM!
Chu Fan remained silent. The long saber in his hand trembled slightly, and the blade instantly turned blood-red. A dense Blood Fiend Qi billowed out, casting a ghastly light over the alley.
"The Nine Blood Soul Blades... Don’t!"
Despair finally filled Xia Huanhuan’s eyes. She wanted to beg for mercy, to flee, but her severe injuries made her movements sluggish.
Chu Fan’s eyes were ice-cold, devoid of pity. The blood-red saber light flashed repeatedly!
SHINK! SHINK! SHINK!
Three slashes fell. Xia Huanhuan’s head lolled to one side as her body slumped to the ground, her life cut short.
Both Xia Huanhuan and Long Zhan were at the Bone Tempering Realm.
An expert of the Bone Tempering Realm shouldn’t have been so weak...
But the surprise victory brought by the Vajra Iron Fist was simply impossible to defend against.
When experts clash, the difference is a hair’s breadth.
Losing the initiative and falling into a panic meant only one path: death.
...
Having dealt with the greatest threat, Chu Fan finally turned to look at Zhou Ye, who was scrambling and crawling toward the alley’s entrance in a desperate attempt to escape.
A foul stench of urine and feces drifted on the wind. Zhou Ye had been so terrified he’d lost control of his bowels, his face a mask of utter horror.
"Don’t... don’t kill me! My father is..."
Before he could finish his plea, Chu Fan was upon him like the grim reaper.
The blood-red saber light flared once more and slashed down without mercy!
A few slashes later, Zhou Ye also fell into a pool of blood, following in Xia Huanhuan’s footsteps.
The alley returned to a dead silence, filled only with the thick stench of blood and filth.
Chu Fan quickly searched the two bodies, taking their valuables and any clues that might reveal his identity.
The eastern sky was already showing the first hint of dawn’s light.
Chu Fan lingered no longer. With a few leaps, he vanished like a phantom into the depths of the labyrinthine alleys, leaving behind two cooling corpses as a testament to the bloody revenge enacted before dawn.
Under the cover of pre-dawn darkness, he hurried home to change his clothes and hide everything he had taken from the bodies. Only then did he return to the Seven Stars Gang and head straight for Cao Feng’s residence.
He knocked lightly on the door...
But the one who opened it was Li Qingxue.
"Good morning, Senior Sister. Is Master Cao home?" Chu Fan peeked inside but didn’t see Cao Feng.
"He is," Li Qingxue said, sparing her words.
Chu Fan walked into the inner hall and saw Cao Feng polishing a short blade.
Without looking up, Cao Feng said flatly, "Is this about the reward money? Zhou Ye has some nerve, daring to pocket anything he wants. If you want justice, I’ll have Qingxue find him for you."
At that moment, Li Qingxue also came in.
Chu Fan cupped his fists in a salute, his voice calm and even. "The silver coins are a small matter. I wouldn’t dare trouble Master Cao. This disciple has already taken back the principal and interest."
"Oh?" Only then did Cao Feng look up, his sharp gaze sweeping over Chu Fan’s face.
After a moment’s thought, Chu Fan asked, "This disciple came here to ask Master Cao if he knows about the Ink Feather Fragrance-Seeking Butterfly and the Bone-Attached Butterfly Fragrance."
"The Bone-Attached Butterfly Fragrance is made from the ground-up powder of a Ghost-faced Moth’s scales," Li Qingxue explained. "This powder has its own faint, strange scent and is extremely sticky. It’s then refined by soaking it in a medicinal solution. As for the Ink Feather Fragrance-Seeking Butterfly, it can track the scent of the Bone-Attached Butterfly Fragrance from several miles away."
"Once the Bone-Attached Butterfly Fragrance gets on you, it is extremely difficult to remove, and the strange scent can last for several months."
"Extremely difficult to remove, and it can last for several months?" Chu Fan’s brow furrowed slightly.
"Someone sprinkled you with Bone-Attached Butterfly Fragrance?" Cao Feng’s expression shifted slightly.
"Yes," Chu Fan said. "That bastard Zhou Ye tried to kill me with a borrowed knife. He sprinkled Bone-Attached Butterfly Fragrance on me and then had someone hunt me down."
"Is that so?" Cao Feng started to laugh. "For that idiot to come up with such a method... that’s rather interesting."
Then, he looked at Chu Fan with a meaningful gaze. "How do you plan to handle this?"
Chu Fan looked up, his gaze as placid as a deep well, and said slowly, "This disciple dares not forget Master Cao’s teachings from that day: be clear about your gratitude and your grudges, remember your enemies’ names, and when the time is right, kill them."
"Excellent, excellent!" Cao Feng nodded in satisfaction. "Just like me when I was young!"
Seeing Chu Fan glance at Li Qingxue and hesitate, he said, "You can speak freely about the details."
Chu Fan was silent for a moment before saying, "...On my way here just now, this disciple killed Zhou Ye and Xia Huanhuan."
Cao Feng’s face showed no surprise.
Li Qingxue, however, was shocked!
It wasn’t Chu Fan’s decisiveness in killing that surprised her—she had known his nature since he killed Huang Yu and wiped out the Huang Family.
What shocked her was...
Xia Huanhuan was in the Bone Tempering Realm!
’Chu Fan’s only been cultivating for three months, and he’s already strong enough to kill someone at the Bone Tempering Realm?’
She knew that among the menial workers of the Seven Stars Gang, many had been cultivating for five months and still hadn’t broken through to the Blood Nourishing Realm!
Chu Fan’s victory over Liang Yuhen of the Iron Armor Sect a few days ago had already surprised her.
But Liang Yuhen wasn’t even at the Blood Refining Realm, after all.
’I never thought...’
The speed of Chu Fan’s improvement was simply terrifying.
"Good! Good lad!"
Cao Feng’s face lit up with admiration. He clapped his hands and laughed softly. "Decisive in killing, no hesitation! That’s how a real man should act! No need for that womanly compassion!"
Chu Fan added, "The ’borrowed knife’ Zhou Ye used was Long Zhan. Before he died, Long Zhan said he was the son of the Dragon Flame Hall’s Incense Master."
Cao Feng’s eyebrows twitched slightly. "You killed Long Zhan, too?"
"Yes," Chu Fan said. "Long Zhan ambushed me. I countered with the Twelve Forms Fist. Even after he realized I was a disciple of the Seven Stars Gang, he showed no mercy."
"So I killed him."
"..." Li Qingxue was silent.
Long Zhan was also in the Bone Tempering Realm, and quite a bit stronger than Xia Huanhuan.
But from Chu Fan’s tone, it sounded as easy as crushing an ant.
"Mm," Cao Feng nodded slightly. "If you killed him, you killed him. It’s no big deal."
With that, he went into the house, retrieved a small porcelain vial, and pushed it to the edge of the table. "Go to the Hundred Herbs Pavilion in the west of the city and buy Purifying Dew. Soak in warm water for half an hour, and it will remove the Bone-Attached Butterfly Fragrance."
"It doesn’t hurt to be careful. There’s no harm in being cautious... You did very well."
He looked at Chu Fan, unable to hide his smile, a feeling of regret at not having met sooner in his eyes. He added, "If you run into any trouble you can’t solve, come find me."
"Within this Cyan Yang Ancient City, these old bones of mine can still stir up some trouble."
The implication was clear: if the sky were to fall, he would be there to hold it up.
"Thank you, Master Cao." Chu Fan took the porcelain vial, bowed, and retreated.
After he left, Cao Feng finally said, "Qingxue, what do you think of Chu Fan?"
"His talent is astounding, his intelligence is extraordinary, and he is decisive in killing," Li Qingxue said, her expression blank. "...It’s unimaginable."
"In all of Cyan Yang Ancient City, besides your cousin Cao Yan, no other man has ever received such an evaluation from you." Cao Feng smiled. "Since you rate Chu Fan so highly, I can rest easy."
Li Qingxue was taken aback. "What do you mean by that?"
But Cao Feng changed the subject. "The Iron Armor Sect, the Seven Stars Gang, the Four Great Clans, and even the White Tiger Gang and the Giant Shark Gang all know that the Moon Worship Sect is searching for the ’key’."
"Overnight, a great storm has been stirred up in Cyan Yang Ancient City."
The change in topic was so abrupt... Li Qingxue raised an eyebrow, slightly annoyed.
She had a vague idea of what her second uncle wanted to say.
’This old fellow always leaves his sentences half-finished. How infuriating!’
Li Qingxue said thoughtfully, "The Li Family and the Cao Family absolutely must not get dragged into this whirlpool."
"Whether it’s a treasure or a trove, let the others fight over it."
"It’s not that easy." Cao Feng shook his head. "When you’re in the martial world, you can’t always do as you please..."
"Lately, my eyelid has been twitching uncontrollably."
"And I feel a certain unease in my heart..."
"I’m afraid an unavoidable storm is coming."
"A storm..." Li Qingxue looked up at the sky outside.
She saw the clouds on the eastern horizon gradually lighten, revealing a sliver of dawn’s pale glow.
A moment later, a red sun leaped above the horizon. A myriad of golden rays, like sharp swords, pierced the heavy night curtain, sweeping away all the gloom and darkness between heaven and earth.
The sky, at last, had brightened.
