Chapter 351: Blood-Sea Deep Grudge
After his duel with Di Yi, Zhang Ruochen immediately rushed back to Yunwu Commandery.
He pushed his true qi to the extreme, his feet leaving the ground as if treading on the tips of grass, his speed reaching its peak.
After running for a day and a night, crossing tens of thousands of miles, he only stopped briefly when the true qi in his body was nearly exhausted.
"I should already be within the borders of Yunwu Commandery. I hope I can still make it in time."
Despite his extreme anxiety, he had no choice but to stop and rest for a while.
Zhang Ruochen walked into a desolate temple, sat cross-legged beneath a stone statue covered in spider webs, took a blood pill, activated his cultivation technique, absorbed the sacred dragon power from the dragon pearl, and began to recover his expended true qi and physical strength.
"Woo—woo!"
The howling cold wind poured in through the broken wooden door, making a sound like a weeping ghost, adding a touch of chill to the air.
In the middle of the night, a heavy footstep sounded outside the broken temple.
Zhang Ruochen was awakened by that footstep. His true qi had already recovered by more than half. He summoned the Abyssal Ancient Sword and stared warily toward the direction of the temple's wooden door.
"Creak!"
A large, fat figure slammed the wooden door open, missed a step on the stone stairs, stumbled, and rolled down into the temple's courtyard.
"Ouch! That hurts! It hurts so much!"
That large, fat figure kept wailing, apparently having taken quite a fall.
Zhang Ruochen looked closely and discovered that the fat figure that had fallen in was actually a rabbit covered in long, crimson-red fur. Its body was especially huge, standing a full two meters tall when upright.
Its ears stood atop its head like two giant palm-leaf fans.
Its head was round and smooth, like a fluffy ball of fur, with a pair of big, round eyes that kept rolling around as it looked everywhere in the temple. Eventually, it spotted Zhang Ruochen sitting cross-legged beneath the statue.
With a strange cry, it pounced over.
"Guoguo, how did you end up here?" Zhang Ruochen asked, somewhat puzzled.
Guoguo plopped down beside Zhang Ruochen, revealing two snow-white rabbit teeth, and spoke in human language: "It's a long story! I swallowed a piece of meat in the water, and my whole body caught fire. So I ran as hard as I could, trying to put out the flames, but they just wouldn't go out. It pissed me off! Then I kept running. Later, I saw you running too, so I followed behind you. I followed and followed, and ended up here. I ran and ran, and finally caught up with you."
After absorbing dragon blood, Guoguo had opened its spiritual intelligence, but its intellect was still limited. Not only did it speak very quickly, but its words were also slurred.
It talked for a long time, gesturing with its claws and making all kinds of exaggerated expressions, but Zhang Ruochen's head was spinning from listening. He had no idea what it was saying!
However, Zhang Ruochen did understand one thing: the whole incident started because it had swallowed a piece of meat.
What kind of meat?
Zhang Ruochen's heart stirred. Could it be...?
He immediately reached out one hand, grabbed one of Guoguo's claws, and injected a strand of Azure Void true qi into its paw.
"Boom!"
A powerful demonic qi actually corroded Zhang Ruochen's true qi and surged back out from inside Guoguo's body, spreading toward Zhang Ruochen's arm.
That mass of demonic qi was icy cold to the bone, numbing Zhang Ruochen's arm.
Zhang Ruochen immediately activated his true qi to neutralize the demonic qi, then stared at Guoguo with some surprise, a grave expression on his face.
Guoguo looked at Zhang Ruochen with a bad feeling, its eyes wide with tension. "Master Chen, I... I didn't eat something... I shouldn't have, did I...?"
Zhang Ruochen stared at it deeply and nodded. "You did eat something unclean."
Guoguo was so frightened that its mouth twisted, its tongue lolling out, and the whole rabbit froze.
After a long moment, it let out a miserable shriek, immediately stretched out its claws, and frantically dug into its mouth, trying to pull out that unclean thing.
It wailed loudly, rolling on the ground, knocking over the stone stools and incense table around it.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "You don't have to look so miserable. If I'm not mistaken, what you swallowed should be Di Yi's demon heart."
Guoguo immediately flipped over and scrambled to its feet, shoving its fat face in front of Zhang Ruochen. "Master Chen, Di Yi was so cocky and arrogant—how did his demon heart end up in the water? What exactly is a demon heart? Tell me! Come on, tell me!"
Zhang Ruochen said unhurriedly, "The demon heart is Di Yi's heart. I cut it out with one sword strike, and it fell into the Tongming River, only for you to swallow it in one gulp. The demon heart, though it grows in a person's body, is a congenital spiritual object, containing extreme yin and extreme evil power. I just used my martial soul to investigate and found that the demon heart has formed a crimson flame demon ball inside your body, merging with your flesh and blood. It's quite peculiar."
"Oh no! I'm done for! I'm a vegetarian rabbit, and I accidentally ate a demon heart. I'm afraid that thing will kill me. Master Chen, you have to help me take that demon ball out! Our Swallowing Elephant Rabbit clan has been passed down through a single line for generations—I can't let the line end with me!" Guoguo stared at Zhang Ruochen with its round eyes, looking pitiful.
Zhang Ruochen said, "Passed down through a single line... How did your father give birth to you?"
"Don't worry about the details," Guoguo said.
Zhang Ruochen said, "And you're not a vegetarian either. Didn't you still eat the spiritual meat I gave you before?"
"Master Chen, when Xiao Chang taught me to talk, he told me that when listening to people, you have to learn to grasp the main point. Why can't you grasp the main point? Whether it's a single line of inheritance or being a vegetarian doesn't matter. The most important thing now is to help me take out that demon ball inside me!" Guoguo said.
Zhang Ruochen shook his head. "Truly, like teacher, like student. Following Chang Qiqi, you haven't even learned to speak properly yet, but you've already learned to talk nonsense. Don't worry! That demon ball should do you no harm—in fact, it might bring you great benefits. In the future, you might even be able to cultivate it into an inner pellet."
Hearing Zhang Ruochen's words, Guoguo felt greatly relieved and let out a long breath before sitting back down.
"Master Chen, where are you going? Why are you in such a hurry? I almost couldn't catch up," Guoguo asked, unable to hold back as soon as it sat down.
Zhang Ruochen's gaze grew heavy. After a long pause, he said, "Going home."
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen's ears twitched slightly. "A large group of people is rapidly approaching this direction. They're about a hundred and thirty miles away..."
Zhang Ruochen immediately closed his eyes and released his martial soul.
The martial soul left his body and flew toward the area a hundred and thirty miles away.
"He can hear movement from a hundred and thirty miles away? Really? Or is it fake?"
Guoguo looked at Zhang Ruochen with some doubt, not quite believing it. It lay down on the ground, pressed its ear to the floor, and listened carefully.
"Not good—it's Fourth Brother."
Zhang Ruochen's eyes snapped open. He waved his arm, and a sword intent emanated, summoning the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
"Whoosh!"
The Abyssal Ancient Sword let out a sword cry, turning into a streak of light that flew out of the temple, dragging a long tail as it disappeared into the deep night sky.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen soared into the air. With a "bang," he burst through the temple's roof.
The true qi inside his body was released, forming a dragon shadow over twenty meters long that wrapped around his body. Breaking the sound barrier, he shot forward.
"Master Chen, why are you running again? Where are you going? Don't leave me behind... I'm afraid of the dark..."
Guoguo smashed through the temple wall, tumbling and scrambling down the hillside, chasing after the dragon shadow in the sky as it rushed forward. Its speed was surprisingly fast as well.
A hundred miles away.
Fourth Prince Zhang Shaochu was leading a squad of soldiers in a desperate escape. Behind them, dozens of black-clad evil path martial artists from the Black Market were in hot pursuit.
Zhang Shaochu, clad in armor, fought fiercely, covered in blood. But the soldiers around him grew fewer and fewer, one by one falling into pools of blood. In the end, fewer than ten remained by his side.
Five days ago, Zhang Tiangui had returned to Yunwu Commandery, slaughtered all the royal clan members, killed his father and brothers, and seized the throne of commandery prince.
At that time, Zhang Shaochu was leading a large army to attack the surrounding commanderies. When he heard the news, he was heartbroken and immediately led his troops back to the capital, intending to punish Zhang Tiangui and avenge his father, brothers, and mother.
Unfortunately, Zhang Tiangui had many experts by his side, backed by the Black Market's power. Before Zhang Shaochu could even breach the city gates, he was defeated and hunted down by Black Market experts.
Fleeing all the way, Zhang Shaochu was utterly exhausted. Not only the physical pain but the pain in his heart had made him shed tears many times.
A soldier, covered in blood, with disheveled hair, said bitterly, "Fourth Prince, it seems we won't escape today."
Zhang Shaochu was also severely wounded, using his sword to support his body. "Don't be afraid. Mr. Hua has already returned to the Martial Market Academy to report the news. As long as Ninth Brother can come back, we can regroup, fight back to the royal city, and kill that bastard Zhang Tiangui."
"I'm afraid you won't have that chance."
Xue Jingtian stepped out from among the Black Market martial artists, staring at Zhang Shaochu with a smile. "Fourth Prince, all the other princes have been executed. Why do you still struggle so hard? You're not still hoping that Zhang Ruochen can come back to save you, are you? Let me tell you the truth—Zhang Ruochen is already dead in the Tongming River. He's not coming back! Haha!"
Zhang Shaochu gritted his teeth in anger. "Xue Jingtian, my father trusted you so much and appointed you as national preceptor. I never thought you would be a beast in human clothing."
Xue Jingtian laughed heartily, looking at Zhang Shaochu with pity. Using sound waves, he transmitted his voice directly into Zhang Shaochu's ear, smiling. "You guessed right! I am indeed a beast in human clothing. Not only did I kill your father, but I also slept with your father's woman."
"You... what did you say?" Zhang Shaochu exclaimed in shock.
Xue Jingtian was extremely pleased with himself, laughing. "Zhang Tiangui is my son. Now do you understand? From now on, Yunwu Commandery belongs to our Xue family. It has nothing to do with your Zhang family anymore! Haha!"
"So that's it... So that's how it is... So that's how it is..." Zhang Shaochu wept bitterly. "I knew it. No matter how ruthless Zhang Tiangui was, he wouldn't lay such a heavy hand on his own biological father and brothers. So this is the truth..."
The reason Xue Jingtian had just revealed the truth was that he knew Zhang Shaochu was doomed to die today. So he told him the secret he had been holding in his heart.
Keeping a secret was a painful thing. Xue Jingtian had never dared to tell anyone.
But telling a dead man—that should be fine, right?
Speaking the secret in his heart was a very comfortable feeling, giving Xue Jingtian a sense of riding the clouds. Finally, someone could share in his achievement.
"Now that you know the secret, you can go die."
Xue Jingtian used his hand as a blade, swinging it in an arc toward Zhang Shaochu's neck.