novelraw Chapter 150: Origin
Chapter 150: Origin
"Fool! I call you ’Grandpa’ out of respect for my parents. What do you think you are?!
Back then, you despised my mother and kicked my family out, and now that you’re old, you’re playing pitiful. My parents are soft-hearted and let you stay, but you really think you’re the patriarch of the Jiang Family, don’t you?
It’s so obvious you’re being used, yet you can’t even see it. You’re even happy to sell out your own granddaughter. What a waste of all your years."
Jiang Ning’s expression was icy.
The old man’s face turned red with anger, and then his head lolled to the side as he fainted.
Jiang Ning paid it no mind. As she spoke, her eyes remained fixed on Chen Feng.
With a light tap of her foot, she quickly distanced herself from him.
At the same time.
Among the guests at the banquet who had been watching the show, some suddenly pulled out guns and aimed them at Chen Feng.
This sudden turn of events made some of the ordinary guests scream and scatter in terror.
However, before they could reach the doors, a fully armed special operations team swarmed in through the estate’s gates.
By this point, even someone as slow to react as Chen Feng realized something was wrong.
The smile on his face slowly vanished.
His gaze fell on Jiang Ning.
"Interesting. I didn’t expect Miss Jiang Ning to be a Secret Martial Artist."
Although he said this, his face showed no trace of nervousness.
It was as if he paid no mind to the dark muzzles of the guns surrounding him.
"I advise you to have these men put down their guns. Otherwise, the consequences will be very serious.
Also, you added a little something to that wine just now, didn’t you? A pity, but it’s completely useless against me."
As he said this, he took a deep breath. A small ball formed in his throat, scurried down into his abdomen like a mouse, and then shot back up.
SPIT!
Then, he opened his mouth and spat out all of the wine he had just drunk.
"You have no idea how powerful a Martial Arts Family member is. Even if I hadn’t spat it out, my stomach acid alone is strong enough to melt gold and dissolve iron.
I’ll admit I’ve been had this time. I didn’t expect you to see through my plan. It’s a shame. I prefer to make women fall in love with me willingly; I’m not a fan of forcing them. But there’s no better way now. No woman I set my sights on can escape my grasp..."
Chen Feng chuckled, no longer hiding his intentions. His greedy eyes scanned Jiang Ning’s entire body.
He took a step forward, circulating the Qi Blood True Strength within his body, apparently preparing to strike.
However, the next moment, his expression suddenly froze.
The Qi Blood True Strength in his body, which he could normally command as easily as his own limbs, wouldn’t budge an inch. Furthermore, his Essence Element Divine Treasure, once like a Qi Blood Furnace, seemed to dim and wither.
Not only that, but he felt his reaction time and thought speed slowing down, and a wave of weakness washed over his body.
It was as if, in an instant, he had returned to the time before he had successfully cultivated his Qi and Blood, back when he was still an ordinary person.
This situation made it impossible for him to remain calm any longer.
"You... bitch... what... the hell did you... do to me?"
Seeing this, a cold sneer appeared on Jiang Ning’s lips.
’The glass of wine was just a diversion. Ever since he entered this place, I’ve already administered several powerful toxins to him through scents, food, and objects he touched.
Although a Martial Arts Family member’s physical attributes are extremely inhuman, they still have weaknesses.
For Extraordinary beings like Secret Martial Artists and the Black Blood Species, the Federation has gathered a group of top scientists, established multiple internal research laboratories, and initiated various projects for research and analysis.
After all these years, although they haven’t created anything capable of killing a Middle Black Blood Species, they have developed drugs that can, for a certain period, make a Lower-Rank Black Blood Species or even a Martial Arts Family member lose their power, soften their muscles and skin, and temporarily turn them into an ordinary person.’
’There was no need to explain all this to him, though.’
"First, cripple him!"
Jiang Ning said coldly.
As her voice fell...
BANG! BANG! BANG!...
The people around her pulled their triggers. In the instant the gunshots rang out, Chen Feng, with his sluggish mind, couldn’t dodge at all. Bullets easily burst into blossoms of blood on his limbs.
He fell directly to the ground.
After confirming that he had truly lost his strength and the drug had taken effect, on Jiang Ning’s orders, several figures quickly moved forward, simultaneously pulling out syringes and injecting the entirety of a fluorescent, azure-blue drug into Chen Feng’s body.
"Captain Jiang, the target has been apprehended!"
A fully armed figure stepped forward to report.
"Very good!"
Jiang Ning said.
Her gaze then swept around, landing on the guests cowering in the corners with their hands over their heads.
"My apologies, everyone. You’ve been frightened. This is a Zhu Xi operation to apprehend a criminal. I hope that none of you will speak carelessly about this once you leave."
Hearing this, the guests looked at each other in dismay.
Everyone here was a tycoon with assets of at least a hundred million; the circles they moved in were far beyond those of ordinary people.
Naturally, they had heard of Zhu Xi.
They never expected the Jiang Family’s daughter to be a member of Zhu Xi.
They all immediately indicated their understanding.
After the crowd dispersed, a middle-aged couple emerged from the back.
Judging by their faces, they bore a slight resemblance to Jiang Ning.
It was her father and mother.
"You saw what happened just now. I told you, that old man’s nature will never change. For a measly bit of profit, he would turn around and sell me, his own granddaughter, off to someone.
If I were just an ordinary person, the most likely outcome would be for Chen Feng to toy with me like all the women he’s played with before, then discard me once he got bored. Worse, if I did anything to provoke him in the process, the entire Jiang Family could have been destroyed."
Jiang Ning said coldly.
"Ning, you’re right. I know what to do about this!"
Her father was silent for a long moment before nodding.
Jiang Ning merely glanced at him.
Then she turned, left, and got into a car, heading for the local Zhu Xi headquarters.
The so-called birthday banquet was, of course, just a front to catch a big fish like Chen Feng.
Everyone thought the Jiang Family had become so successful because her father and mother were good at business.
But in reality, it was because they had a good daughter.
From a young age, Jiang Ning had displayed a powerful talent for Martial Arts. After joining the Red Scale Martial Arts Hall, it wasn’t long before she became a disciple of the Shexin Sect.
Now, only in her early twenties, her cultivation had already reached the Qi Blood Third Transformation.
Moreover, she had become one of the leaders of the Zhu Xi branch in Linchuan City.
It was only with her help from the shadows that the Jiang Family was able to develop to its current state.
’With the addition of this Martial Arts Family member, I should have enough points.
I might even be able to exchange them for a personal training session with one of my senior brothers or sisters.
Given time, it’s not impossible for me to break through and become a Martial Arts Family member myself.’
After ordering her subordinates to give Chen Feng two more injections of the suppression drug, Jiang Ning watched the receding shadows of the trees outside the car window, a flame called ambition flickering in her eyes.
...
Similar events were occurring all over Donglin Province.
The Zhu Xi members stationed there were acting as if they’d gone mad, carrying out an unprecedented purge of the Black Blood Species and even unaffiliated Secret Martial Artists with criminal records in their territories.
However, aside from a few exceptions, they didn’t kill these Secret Martial Artists and Black Blood Species directly, but captured all of them instead.
They were then all sent to Anshan City.
Other Schools and the upper echelons of the Federation had heard about this situation, but they didn’t think much of it.
They speculated that it was perhaps because the Shexin Sect’s Sect Leader had died at the hands of the Black Blood Species.
This had spurred the Shexin Sect to seek revenge.
Donglin Province was the Shexin Sect’s jurisdiction to begin with.
Setting aside whether there was anything wrong with this, even if there was, as long as it didn’t involve extremely vicious incidents like the large-scale massacre of ordinary people, the Federation would basically turn a blind eye and not interfere.
...
The second day of the second lunar month, the day the dragon raises its head.
The winter snow had begun to melt, and the earth was gradually awakening from its silver-white coat.
In an office within the new Zhu Xi park in Anshan City.
Orange-yellow sunlight streamed through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, casting mottled patterns of light and shadow on the ceiling.
The sunlight fell upon a person.
It was completely different from the unbearable heat of summer, which made one feel as if they were in a giant steamer.
Winter sunlight on one’s skin brought a warm, pleasant feeling that was extremely comfortable.
"I see. So the Black Blood Species didn’t appear two hundred years ago."
At the desk, Hu Qi had returned to his original appearance.
He leaned back in his chair, flipping through an ancient, yellow-paged book, a strange look flashing across his face.
On one of the pages, there was a striking entry.
[Ninth year of the Ling Country.
Suddenly, a Demon Fiend appeared in the world. Its form was hideous, with two wings, eyes like pools of blood, and a mouth like a great chasm.
It delighted in eating flesh and blood. Wherever it passed, the skies changed color, the vegetation withered, and corpses littered the ground.]
Below the text was a simple sketch.
The figure was wreathed in black mist—clearly a Black Blood Species.
And according to the description, its strength was at least that of a Lower-Rank, or perhaps even a Middle-Rank Black Blood Species.
The Ling Country recorded in this ancient book existed over two thousand years ago.
There were many similar records in the book.
In past history, the presence of the Black Blood Species was not uncommon.
It was just that those creatures weren’t called Black Blood Species back then, but rather Demon Fiends, Evil Ghosts, and the like.
’It seems you can only learn more of this world’s secrets by standing in a higher position.’
Hu Qi tapped his fingers lightly on the desk.
His eyes were thoughtful.
According to the book, the Black Blood Species have always existed, their origins so ancient they could even be traced back to the beginning of humanity.
This coincided with a guess he had made earlier because of the Camphor Tea Duck’s identity as an Exotic Beast.
’The origin of humanity in this world... should be from the Inner Earth World.
The reason they came here is impossible to determine.
But one thing is clear.
In terms of the surface world alone, their existence stretches back an extremely long time.’
From what is currently known, this should be the fifth era of human civilization on the surface.
Before this, there were four other civilizational eras, each spanning at least five thousand years.
However, those civilizations have all been destroyed.
And there isn’t much information recorded about the reasons why.
Only some information about world-ending catastrophes remains.
The reasons given include heavenly fire, great floods, a Divine Spirit’s apocalypse, and so on.
But Hu Qi knew these were all false.
There was only one true reason.
The Black Blood Species were harvesting the humans on the surface.
They treat this place as a wild pasture, placing humans—or "blood food" as they call them—here to wait for them to reproduce on their own.
After a certain period, once the population reaches a certain number, they conduct a purge to hunt and feed.
But they don’t kill everyone; they always leave some behind.
They wait until the human population reaches a critical point before purging them again.
This cycle repeats endlessly.
It wasn’t that these civilizations never thought of resisting.
Although a few of them were extremely powerful, even capable of standing on equal footing with the Black Blood Species, the final result was always the same: their civilization was destroyed, and they ended in failure.