This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable

Since the Netherworld broke into chaos, and demon beasts started to rampage within the city, he had immediately started sheltering and protecting the commoners around him who had been slaughtered by the demon beasts.

To rescue these commoners from the ferocious demon beasts, he had already fought a fierce battle with a large number of them earlier.

However, no one knew exactly how many demon beasts were actually in the city.

Even though he had just cleared the surrounding demon beasts momentarily, more kept continuously gathering around.

With his strength, if he were only protecting Cai Xingchao and his mother, he might have had a chance to save their lives and survive.

But to protect so many commoners on his own was nothing but a fool's dream.

Yet, to abandon these commoners and ignore them was something he simply could not bring himself to do.

Just the thought of Teacher Youling and Cai Xingchao filled him with guilt.

He had gone through so much effort to find them both, intending to make amends, but he hadn't expected that they would encounter such a predicament so soon.

Had he not found them, perhaps Xingchao might have been able to avoid this disaster and live?

"I'm sorry to you both," Cai Heng said, looking at Teacher Youling standing behind him, his tall figure finally stooping slightly.

"The emperor guards the national gates, the monarch dies for his state.

As a Pacification Commissioner of Great Xia, and for protecting the citizens of Great Xia without cherishing my own life, it's both my duty and righteousness. What fault is there in that?

Neither my wife nor Xingchao blame you; on the contrary, we are full of admiration and share in the honor.

Since we both belong to the Cai Family, dying with the Cai Family is our rightful duty!"

Teacher Youling, who had just recovered from the red pearl snake's venom and was still somewhat weak, spoke in a soft but incredibly firm voice, her words ringing with conviction.

"Mother is right! How can we stand by and watch as these ferocious beasts slaughter our own kind?" Cai Xingchao clenched his fist, his young face resolute.

Such good children of the Cai Family they are!

Seeing the resolute expressions on Teacher Youling and Cai Xingchao's faces, Cai Heng felt a surge of warmth, his eyes reddening.

...

The sounds of commoners being bitten and screamed by demon beasts echoed intermittently by his ears.

In a building within sight, a demon hyena was gnawing on a man's arm.

Bloody.

Lu Qingshan, silent, led the Tiger Squad cultivators forward.

Along their journey, they had witnessed numerous scenes like this, and it could be said that nearly every corner of Zhenjiang City was displaying these kinds of scenes.

Yet, the Tiger Squad had not made a move even once during their journey.

Too many.

Explore stories on empire

Just the six cultivators of the Tiger Squad couldn't possibly take care of all of them.

Moreover, they needed to preserve their spiritual power for dealing with Underworld Cultivators.

And they were distinctly aware that even if they managed to save these commoners temporarily, given the city was swarming with all kinds of demon beasts, these commoners would inevitably encounter another demon beast attack.

So, they could only choose to ignore these scenes.

—

—

Sounds of hoarse cries, carrying from far and coming closer together, came from the sky.

Hearing this sound, Lu Qingshan's expression changed, and he called out to his team, "Quick, hide!"

Immediately after, Lu Qingshan's figure darted into a nearby standalone building in a flash.

Without any doubt, the members of the Tiger Squad followed Lu Qingshan and hid inside the building.

After concealing themselves and facing the puzzled looks of his team, Lu Qingshan with a grave expression said, "That was the cry of a Ghostly Specter."

"Ghostly Specter?"

Lu Qingshan explained, "A type of demon beast that is exceedingly cunning and generally moves in groups in dark environments, a group of Ghostly Specters numbers at least a thousand.

Although individually weak, they act purely on their bloodthirsty instincts. If they discover us, they will swarm.

With their numbers, handling them would certainly not be quiet.

However, aside from their sight, their other senses have degenerated. Thus, if we just hide here in the building for a while and wait for this flock of Ghostly Specters to pass, we should be okay."

Xu Hao suddenly understood and couldn't help but feel a bit relieved.

Xiao Zhi's green ferret could only detect conditions on the ground; they had no good way to defend against these airborne demon birds.

Lucky for them, the Tiger Squad had Lu Qingshan, a unique cultivator who could discern detailed information about the arrivals just from hearing their cries.

Yet, who exactly was this Lu Qingshan, and why did he know so much about these demon beasts?

This question rose in the minds of the Tiger Squad cultivators almost simultaneously.

"Why is there a smell of blood?" Xiao Zhi suddenly exclaimed.

Su Shu sniffled and said, "It seems to be coming from inside."

Lu Qingshan glanced around.

The small building they had hurried into wasn't large, just a single story.

It appeared to be a small business selling low-grade talismans, with the front serving as the business area and the back comprising of what were supposedly the storage and living quarters, separated by a curtain.

However, the counters that should have displayed various talismans were instead completely empty.

Recalling the faint scent of blood drifting in the air, Lu Qingshan furrowed his brows, lifted the curtain, and looked inside.

He saw the body of an elderly man, pierced through the chest, sprawled on the floor, with a little girl who appeared to be no more than seven or eight years old lying beside him.

The little girl's features were delicate, but her eyes were closed, and her face was frozen in an expression of shock and pain, with blood continuously flowing from the back of her head, her life force already extinguished.

The blood was rapidly being absorbed by the Asura Blood Formation, yet the blood scent it released into the air was not so easily dispelled.

Beside these two bodies, two young male cultivators were rummaging through the storage, their cultivation not high, one at the Qi Refinement fifth level, and the other at the fourth level.

"Big brother, what's that sound?" the Qi Refinement fifth-level man in black clothes asked, hearing the ghostly bats' squeaking coming from outside, looking slightly panicked.

It was this intermittent sound that had masked the noises made by the Tiger Squad as they entered the shop.

"Probably just some ferocious beast, forget about it, let's quickly gather these materials, and once this chaos is over, we can sell them off discreetly.

With these resources, it's not impossible for us both to attempt the Foundation Establishment."

"Big brother, is it really okay for us to do this?"

"What could go wrong? The city is in such chaos, people are dying every moment, who can tell if these two died from beast attacks or were murdered?"

"But Mr. Li used to take care of us too, purchasing our demon beast blood at prices ten percent higher than others, and Xiuxiu is still so young..."

The leading man's eyes filled with ferocity as he smacked the back of the head of the man in black, "Are you regretting this now?"

The man in black stumbled verbally when faced with the leading man's questioning, "I..."

The leading man's tone turned sinister and venomous, "A cultivator must strive for these so-called resources.

We, as loose cultivators, are battling with our lives, yet we can hardly ever earn enough resources in an entire lifetime to make progress. If this continues, how can we ever hope to achieve Foundation Establishment?

Now, with the city in chaos, opportuning in these muddy waters can grant us the cultivation resources we wouldn't earn in our lifetimes; this is the greatest chance we have ever encountered!"

The man in black muttered, "But why did we have to strike Mr. Li and Xiuxiu? It would have been better to target someone else..."

"You only have the Qi Refinement fourth-level cultivation, and I am only on the fifth level. If it truly came to a fight, what chances would we have?

It was only because Mr. Li, a foolish Qi Refinement ninth-level cultivator, had no defenses against us in such times, was willing to shelter us, and allowed me to strike him down easily.

As for Xiuxiu, I didn't want to kill her either, but you should know, if we didn't, our act against Mr. Li could have been exposed.

I had to eliminate all evidence!

..."

Thud!

An ice blade pierced through the throat of the leading man, cutting off his words.

The leading man clutched his bleeding neck, eyes widening, staring at the six cultivators of the Tiger Squad who had appeared at the curtain without notice.

Li Zu's expression was icy cold.

Unable to endure the beastlike justification of the leading man any longer, he had decisively struck.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Glancing at the black-clothed man who was still lost, unable to comprehend the situation, a look of disgust filled Li Zu's eyes.

"Though you did not act directly, knowing your brother was committing evil without intervening also makes you deserving of death!"

Li Zu waved his left hand, another ice blade, emitting chills, shot forth, slicing through the black-clothed man's neck.

Even being a simple spell from a Foundation Establishment cultivator, how could two minor Qi Refinement cultivators withstand it? They died instantly.

Looking at the two men's bodies next to the corpses of the old man and the girl, though he had anticipated such an event, witnessing it firsthand still stirred a complex emotion in Lu Qingshan's chest.

In the midst of great chaos, some fought desperately to save the city, while others unleashed the monsters within their hearts, no different from Underworld Cultivators, perhaps even more frightening.

Lu Qingshan peeked outside from the shop.

Beneath the gloomy sky, countless pitch-black ghostly bats swarmed, their round heads only featuring two large ears, their fine, sharp teeth revealing a thirst for blood, their hairless wings like thin membranes through which their bone structures were clearly visible.

The ghostly bats' crimson eyes were strikingly conspicuous against the dark canopy, densely packed, utterly horrifying.

They formed a dark tide covering the sky.

Their raspy screeching, their frenzied search for food, painted this city as a human hell.

The scene resembled a night parade of a hundred ghosts.

Lu Qingshan turned back to look at the bodies inside the shop, his heart chilling.

A myriad of ghosts and specters took the stage.

Yet the most terrifying were not these beasts, but rather the ghostly specters of human nature.

Look at that night parade of a hundred ghosts; there are people among them, happier than the ghosts themselves.