Chapter 409 - 377: Killing Intent
Chapter 409: Chapter 377: Killing Intent
As the old saying goes, when people drown, men are found face down, and women face up.
This is due to the difference in body fat between men and women. While not always accurate, it holds true in most cases.
So when Zhao Lin found the body floating face up, a dreadful suspicion formed in his mind. ’It couldn’t be Liu Lian, could it?’
Just as he feared, the deceased was indeed Liu Lian, and her death had been horrifically brutal.
Liu Lian was stark naked, not a single part of her body left unscathed. Her lower body was a mangled mess of flesh and blood, and two pieces of flesh had been carved from her chest...
Her expression was a mask of despair, terror, and indignation. It was clear she had suffered inhuman torture before her death.
Tao Yan took one look and his mind went blank with a buzzing sound. He even forgot to maintain his Water Manipulation Skill, only snapping out of it when the icy seawater washed over his neck.
When he had seen Fu Dong killed before, he hadn’t felt particularly sad. It was more a sorrow for one’s own kind, a sympathy for another’s fate that made him worry for himself.
But this time, he felt an immense, desolate grief.
Tao Yan slowly turned his head and saw that Zhao Lin’s face was a ghastly, pale white, almost too terrible to look at.
"Those bastards!"
Zhao Lin gritted his teeth, a beast-like roar rumbling in his throat.
The moment he saw Liu Lian’s corpse, he felt blood rush to his head, his scalp prickling as if jabbed by countless needles.
It was normal for rival cultivators to kill each other. But to torture and humiliate a female cultivator like this was an act devoid of humanity, something only an animal could do.
His heart felt as heavy as a block of lead. He gripped the iron ruler in his hand so tightly his knuckles turned white, drained of all color.
Zhao Lin didn’t actually have much of an impression of Liu Lian. He had only taken slight notice of her because she was the only woman among the cultivators who had set out to sea.
But no matter what, she didn’t deserve to be treated like this!
After a long moment, Zhao Lin took a Spirit Dao Institute robe from his storage pouch and dressed Liu Lian in it.
He carried her body back to Di Tutan, placed it inside a reef cave, and sealed the entrance with a large boulder.
After doing all this, Zhao Lin sat at the mouth of the cave, silent, his expression terrifyingly grim.
"Brother Zhao, what do we do?"
Tao Yan approached and asked cautiously.
"Kill!"
Zhao Lin squeezed a single word from between his clenched teeth, his tone dripping with a bone-chilling cold.
Ever since his rebirth, he had always known when to advance and when to retreat, understood how to weigh pros and cons, and grasped the wisdom of self-preservation.
But ever since seeing Liu Lian’s body, rage had erupted uncontrollably from within him, leaving only one thought in his mind: ’I have to slaughter those four animals!’
Tao Yan gritted his teeth. "Alright, I’ll go with you to kill those sons of bitches!"
Zhao Lin looked up in surprise. "You’re coming too?"
Tao Yan wiped his reddened eyes. "Of course I am! I’m a disciple of the Chenghua Sect. A fellow sect member was defiled like this. If I don’t even think about revenge, am I even human?"
"Yes, I’m a coward, and my skills are weak. But if I turn a blind eye to something like this, I’ll never be able to sleep peacefully for the rest of my life."
"A Heart Demon is the greatest foe of all! What’s the point of cultivating the Dao then?!"
Zhao Lin had always looked down on Tao Yan for his timidity, but hearing this, he clapped him on the shoulder and said seriously, "You’re a good man. You’ve got guts."
Tao Yan took a deep breath. "Brother Zhao, do you know where they are? How do we kill them?"
Zhao Lin was silent for a moment, then said slowly, "Don’t worry, I have a way to find them. As for how to kill them... we have a day and two nights. We’ll find an opportunity."
Scents traveled slowly in water and wouldn’t dissipate for some time.
Following the scent, Zhao Lin quickly caught up to the four Earth Dark Sect cultivators and immediately gave Tao Yan a hand signal.
Tao Yan slowed down, minimizing the Mana fluctuations from his Water Manipulation Skill, and asked, "Is it the four we met before?"
Zhao Lin nodded slightly and focused his hearing, listening intently.
"Haha, how was she just now?"
"Tasted good, but her looks were just average."
"Brother Furukawa, that’s going too far. You were the one who went at it the longest. Besides, in the pitch dark, aren’t they all the same?"
"Hehe, true enough. A female cultivator at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer isn’t easy to find..."
Ultrasound carried the four men’s conversation to his ears. Hearing it, the veins on Zhao Lin’s forehead throbbed, and the killing intent in his heart grew even stronger.
Tao Yan, assuming Zhao Lin had cultivated some kind of hearing-enhancing Magic, wasn’t surprised and asked, "What are they saying?"
"They’re the ones who did it!"
Zhao Lin said coldly, continuing to monitor the four’s conversation.
From their conversation, he learned that the leader of the Earth Dark Sect cultivators was named Qingchi, the youngest was Changze, and the other two were brothers—the elder named Furukawa Yu, the younger Furukawa Hikari.
This group came from a Spirit Dao Institute within the Earth Dark Sect called the "Zhenyue Stream." There had originally been five of them, known as the "Five Tigers of Zhenyue," and their mission was to assassinate Chenghua Sect cultivators.
One of them, a cultivator named Cang Zhen, had been found dead this morning...
’Five Tigers? More like five dogs.’
Zhao Lin snorted internally. He had already guessed that the Earth Dark Sect cultivator he’d killed yesterday was Cang Zhen.
The four men were roaming between the pearl shoals, waiting for a chance to ambush and kill Chenghua Sect cultivators.
Zhao Lin and Tao Yan followed from a distance.
An hour passed, but they still couldn’t find an opportunity to strike.
Zhao Lin wasn’t anxious. This kind of thing was like hunting; it required immense patience.
"There’s probably no one else out here now. Why don’t we head into the pearl shoals to look?"
Having circled back near Kuimu Beach, Furukawa Yu suggested.
"No need. The pearl shoals are full of traps and mechanisms. We’re not familiar with the area, so we’d have to rely on the Dark Surge Skill to scout the path. It’s time-consuming and exhausting, and we might still come up empty."
Qingchi said, shaking his head.
"Then let’s call it a day. We’ll come back early tomorrow morning. The Chenghua Sect people are bound to come out of the shoals then."
Furukawa Yu suggested again.
This time, Qingchi didn’t refuse. He nodded slightly. "Alright, that’s enough for today."
Changze suddenly interjected, "Let’s go up to the surface and rest for a bit first. My Spiritual Power is almost depleted."
Qingchi shot him a displeased look and scolded, "Didn’t we just rest two hours ago? It’ll take half an hour at most to get back. Can’t you even last that long?"
"No matter what, this is still someone else’s territory."
Changze said with difficulty, "My cultivation is weaker than yours, so of course I can’t last as long. Besides... I used up a lot of energy dealing with that female cultivator just now."
Hearing this, the Furukawa brothers let out a sleazy laugh in unison.
"A lot of energy, my ass!"
Qingchi cursed with a laugh and waved his hand. "Alright, fine. Rest for thirty minutes." With that, he led the three of them as they slowly ascended towards the surface.
Hearing this, Zhao Lin’s heart skipped a beat. ’The opportunity has finally come,’ he thought.
Zhao Lin, with his martial arts foundation, could stay underwater for a long time without using Magic.
But other cultivators didn’t have this ability. While using water manipulation and circulating their energy, they likely consumed more Spiritual Power than they could replenish. Thus, they had to return to the surface periodically.
When Tao Yan heard this, his spirits lifted. He asked, "What’s the plan?"
"It’s two against four. We’re definitely no match for them in a straight fight. This time, we’ll take one of them out first."
Zhao Lin already had a rough plan in mind and answered without hesitation.
"Who do we kill first? You said that guy Changze has the lowest cultivation. Should we kill him first?"
Tao Yan asked.
"Not necessarily. We’ll decide based on their positions."
Zhao Lin shook his head slightly. "Once we succeed, we escape into the pearl shoals. That’s our home turf. With the help of the traps and mechanisms, we won’t have to fear them, no matter how many of those animals come after us!"