Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior

Chapter 386 - 228: Back From the Dead, Bloodline Mark!_2

"Wang Xuantian is a curse... but he is an extremely proud man. He said that once he goes to Qingzhou, he will truly leave Qingyun Three Counties."

Thinking of this, Su Mu lightly exhaled.

"This place is not suitable for a long stay."

With Liu Zhengyuan’s ’Zheng’ character protecting his body, Su Mu in the Limit-Breaking State grasped a few mysteries of the Secret Realm, and burned his Qi Blood to use Gang Force to display the Molten Fire Golden Body’s nine-inch Cyan Flame for protection.

It seemed that Su Mu turned into a bloody figure in Tao Xingzheng’s final strike of resistance, quite miserable indeed, but in truth, he only suffered minor superficial injuries.

However, Tao Xingzheng and several others weren’t so fortunate. In the clash between the Tao Family’s ancestor and that ’Zheng’ character, they were completely obliterated, with three people, two Red Blood Horses, and one carriage vanishing into thin air.

Su Mu withdrew that ’Zheng’ character and quietly returned to the hidden wine courtyard on Yanque Street.

"Hmm?"

Once back in the courtyard, Su Mu carefully inspected his condition and soon his expression changed. On his chest, sometime unbeknownst to him, a blood-red mark had appeared.

If he intensifies his Spiritual Power close to the mark, Su Mu further faintly senses a feeling of being watched.

"Seems... the rumors are true!"

Su Mu instantly felt troubled, his brows slightly furrowing.

The Pharmacist, before dying, entrusted Yunhe Clinic to Su Mu, and naturally, the clinic’s collection of books belonged to Su Mu as well. He had seen records about Noble Sects in one ancient text.

Some Noble Sects have existed longer than the Great Yan Dynasty, their heritage deeply rooted and strength formidable, producing talents across generations. Even if they experience decline, the foundation remains; as soon as a genius or several geniuses emerge within the clan, they can rise again.

For this reason, these Major Sects, Noble Families regard their core disciples highly. The ancient texts mentioned that some sects and families would expend power, whether through bloodline or legacy, to leave a force within the core disciples’ bodies.

Once these core disciples encounter danger, this force can be deployed to repel enemies, or execute a mutually destructive strike.

Even if the aggressor barely escapes death, the mark within the Noble Sect’s core disciple would transfer to the assailant’s body.

Consequently, the elders and strong ones of the Noble Sect can pursue the murderer of their disciple!

For this reason, no one dares to try attacking these sects’ core disciples lightly, because doing so offends the entire sect, the entire noble family.

Tao Xingzheng’s previous words weren’t false; his status within the Tao Family was clearly high. Seeing no hope for survival, he decisively sought mutual destruction, aiming for Su Mu to accompany him in death.

Yet Tao Xingzheng never thought Su Mu could survive. Though the sentence of death was escaped, the punishment of living remained.

Su Mu’s expression darkened a bit; he reached out to touch the mark. Upon touching his chest, the blood-red mark eerily embedded deeper into his flesh, showing that ordinary means like scraping away the flesh were ineffective for removal.

Currently, Su Mu tried using Spiritual Power, nine-inch Cyan Flame, Fire Sparrow Gang Force among others, finding only the Fire Sparrow Gang Force within his body somewhat effective, yet he quickly discovered this blood-red mark was like a malignant growth, impossible to directly remove.

Every attempt to remove it saw the mark embed deeper into his body and generated a peculiar suction force, consuming Su Mu’s Life Force.

After several attempts, not only was the blood-red mark not diminished, but it became clearer instead.

"This thing... truly bizarre, ordinary means can’t remove it."

Su Mu was uncertain. With that ’Zheng’ character now dormant, he couldn’t activate it temporarily. After attempting various methods, he found them all useless; this thing presently exceeded his knowledge and understanding.

In the end, Su Mu could only activate the Fire Sparrow Gang Force to layer the mark on his heart, discovering this could isolate the feeling of intrusion.

Only, the blood-red mark remained restless, requiring Su Mu to continuously exhaust Gang Force to convert to Fire Sparrow Gang Force for reinforcement—its consumption rate nearly matched the natural recovery rate of Gang Force circulation.

Su Mu felt it troublesome, yet harbored no regret. Even with foreknowledge of the consequence in the same scenario, he wouldn’t spare Tao Xingzheng, only act with more caution.

"Just now... did County Magistrate Tao leave the city?"

The earlier battle outside the city stirred the entire Qingyun City, with the guards, recovering from shock, soon recalling the recent departure of County Magistrate Tao.

Suddenly, the whole city was startled, with the outside restoring silence, the Cyan Cloud Army went all out.

With things as they were, Su Mu listened to the sounds beyond the street, his mind turning with a crackle of flesh as Su Mu changed his clothes, altered his appearance and figure, then donned a White Wolf mask before leaping from the small courtyard towards the County Magistrate’s Office.

Tao Xingzheng fled hastily; much of his belongings likely weren’t taken with him, and surely left in Qingyun County Magistrate’s Office.

Soon after, Su Mu returned to Qingyun County Magistrate’s Office.

He carefully searched every room in that deep courtyard and soon found a secret chamber in Tao Xingzheng’s bedroom, where he pressed a hidden button behind the bookshelf vase.

A mechanism sounded, with the bookshelf splitting on both sides, revealing the entrance to the secret chamber.

"Hmm? This is the ’Red Blood Fruit’ known for enhancing the physique of Martial Artists. The ancient texts describe the fruit forming one stripe every hundred years. With three stripes on this one, these five three-hundred-year-old Red Blood Fruits are... I’ve seen this in medical books as Five-leaf Blood Ginseng, able to increase Martial Artist’s Qi Blood, assist in Sixth-Grade Martial Artist cultivation, and accelerate Blood Exchange..."

"These are Demon Beast Blood, judging by the quality, they are at least Seventh Grade, and all are essence blood, with as many as five jars!"

The secret chamber wasn’t large, and the items within weren’t numerous, but all were valuable, rare treasures; even with Su Mu’s current wealth and insight, he was left speechless and impressed.

"Products from the Qingyun County Magistrate, they must be exquisite!"

With a sigh of admiration, Su Mu took everything—all the ancient herbs, elixirs, Demon Beast Essence Blood, along with several secret manuals and ancient scrolls—into the Sumeru Ring.

Afterwards, Su Mu wandered through other deep courtyards at the County Magistrate’s Office, yielding some gold and silver items, but compared to Tao Xingzheng’s secret chamber, they were insignificant.

As Su Mu casually strolled through, scavenging and leaving, no guards at the County Magistrate’s Office were aware.

Outside the hidden wine courtyard, Su Mu paused, looking deeper inward before sighing secretly, then heading to the first courtyard he purchased on Yanque Street—his initial dwelling in the city.

In the courtyard, an unwelcome guest arrived uninvited under the city’s disturbance—his face filled with hesitation and anxiety.

The visitor stood in the courtyard for a long time, seemingly contemplating something.

"Uncle Wu."

Just then, a voice sounded behind the visitor. Upon hearing the familiar voice, the visitor trembled all over, swallowing hard.

"Gulp!"

This night’s unwelcome guest was none other than the current Workshop Master of the Forging Workshop, Wu Lie; unable to resist the puzzlement in his heart, he took the chance to break into the courtyard to verify his suspicions.

He was a Seventh-Grade Martial Artist who had undergone Third-Time Yijin, yet the person behind him approached unnoticed, even addressing him as Uncle Wu—could it be his previous suspicions were all true?!

Wu Lie trembled, slowly turning in disbelief.

In the dim moonlight, a tall figure stood like a pine, with a vaguely recognizable silhouette. Upon seeing that familiar young face, Wu Lie’s pupils contracted sharply.

"Uncle Wu, it’s been a long time... How are the three masters?"

...