Chapter Thirty-Six: The Slaughter of the Town

“Blood energy rising like wolf smoke?” Gongyang Yan was taken aback.

The sinister mist shrouding Mount Dali was so thick that even from the Demon Suppression Tower, it could be seen with utmost clarity. Yet, just before dawn, a column of blood energy shot skyward, as straight as wolf smoke, piercing through the darkness of night.

“When did Dongbin City gain a grandmaster of blood refining martial arts?” She understood well the peculiarities of the Blood Origin Technique. Even now, Gongyang Yan herself was still cultivating it, tempering her blood. At this moment, she was undergoing her fifth refinement.

“A talent indeed. If I could draw him under my banner, he would be a formidable general.” With a single stride, Gongyang Yan stepped out into the air, covering a hundred yards at a time with incredible speed.

She could sense that this person’s cultivation was low; to emerge from Mount Dali would be nearly impossible. To intervene now would be a timely act of goodwill—a perfect moment to win his allegiance.

Baili Feihong understood that, without a new cultivation method, the path of blood refinement had reached its end for him. He would not spend another five hundred skill points to deduce a new Blood Origin Technique. Further refining his blood would bring little improvement to his battle prowess.

Activating the “Blood Origin Refinement,” he gathered his blood energy and suppressed it completely. An extraordinary sensation welled up within him; his control over life had reached a level beyond human.

The breath of life gradually receded, finally hidden, like a piece of wood. Life returned to its origin, the whole dissolving into nothing.

“Hm?” Gongyang Yan stopped above Dali Town, refraining from barging in. Now, this martial grandmaster had concealed his presence so well that even she could not locate him.

Entering Mount Dali would only provoke the wrath of the ghosts.

“This place has become a cancer in Dongbin City. If not for the search for the Gate of Yellow Springs, I would raze Mount Dali to the ground,” Gongyang Yan said coldly.

Glancing around, she frowned at the eerie scene of Dali Town. Too many people here were engaged in funerary business. The very sky above Dali Town was tinged with a strange aura, unsettling to the senses.

It was Gongyang Yan’s first time setting foot in Dali Town, patrolling the territory guarded by her subordinates.

“Dali Town is odd—very odd.” She rested her hand on the hilt at her waist, murderous intent enveloping the town.

“Local constables, report to me at once.”

Her commanding voice swept through Dali Town, the tone brooking no refusal, startling many residents who hid in their homes.

Fang Delong’s expression was troubled. The previous day, a young man in white had entered his domain, leaving him anxious. He had barely fallen asleep before being summoned.

With anger in his eyes, Fang Delong charged out, shouting, “Who dares cause such commotion?”

“Demon Suppression Commander, Gongyang Yan.”

Those six words made Fang Delong’s heart tremble. He scrambled out, crawling and stumbling toward the source of the voice.

“Your humble servant, Fang Delong, captain of Dali Town’s constabulary, greets the Commander.”

He knelt, sweating profusely. Gongyang Yan, ruthless and well-connected, was the most untouchable figure in Dongbin City.

“Gather all residents of Dali Town in the square. I will root out demons and evil forces.”

Gongyang Yan did not spare Fang Delong a glance, her lips curling in a cold sneer as she surveyed the surroundings. Be it vampire bats or night fiends, though their origins could not be traced, all evidence pointed to a sinister force orchestrating events from the shadows.

She should have realized—few have the power to control monsters. The Underworld was one of them.

The darkness beneath the lamp—perhaps that was herself.

“My lady, it’s the middle of the night, the townsfolk are already—”

A black boot struck Fang Delong, sending him flying and coughing blood on the spot, grievously injured.

“This is an order, not a negotiation,” Gongyang Yan’s killing intent pressed down upon him.

Should she be displeased, his death would be certain. With her current status, not only could she kill a constable, she could annihilate Dali Town without the Yuan Empire giving her so much as a slap on the wrist.

Such was her authority, different from the confidence of sects. Behind her stood the entire Demon Suppression Bureau of the Yuan Dynasty, and the royal family’s support.

Trembling, Fang Delong crawled up, half-kneeling, voice quivering, “Yes, your servant will see to it at once.”

Having lorded over Dali Town for too long, he had forgotten that, in the eyes of the Demon Suppression Bureau, their lives meant nothing.

He rose, hurriedly summoning all his subordinates to go door-to-door, gathering the townspeople.

Baili Feihong held his breath, sensing a wicked yet powerful force sweeping the area, searching inch by inch for his trail.

The ghosts of Mount Dali were incensed. The blood energy, as strong as steel, burned hundreds, thousands of wandering souls. Such actions stirred a riot among the mountain’s spirits.

As the most formidable of Mount Dali’s ghosts, one stepped forward to restore order.

“Dawn approaches.” Baili Feihong steeled himself, resisting the temptation of skill points.

Mount Dali harbored great terror. The higher his cultivation, the keener his sense of it. Luckily, he had suppressed his blood energy swiftly, or else the mountain’s horrors would have come for him.

Now, the mist over Mount Dali was fading, Ghost Street vanishing—a good omen.

He looked up, catching sight of Dali Town at the mountain’s base. Flames soared, murderous intent surged, and the terrifying blade aura pierced the sky, scattering the mountain ghosts.

The suffocating blade aura enveloped all of Dali Town.

Baili Feihong’s eyes widened in disbelief at the scene before him.

Demon Suppression Commander Gongyang Yan, dressed in dark python robes, wielded her long blade, slaughtering Dali Town.

More than a dozen fearsome demons, radiating dreadful power, were mercilessly harvested beneath her blade.

Ghostly and demonic energies suffused the air, turning the entire town into a purgatory.

The massacre lasted less than half an hour, yet the number of Underworld’s peripheral members slain beneath her blade reached a thousand.

All of Dali Town became ruins.

The earth was riddled with bottomless ravines, carved by the force of her blade. Blood flowed like rivers, the world reduced to wasteland.

The Demon Suppression Bureau deployed all its personnel, encircling the town.

“Annihilating the town?”

“What terrifying might!”

Baili Feihong considered himself strong, but under Gongyang Yan’s blade, he could not withstand a single strike—heads rolled everywhere.

With dawn breaking, the blade aura drove away the ghosts. Baili Feihong seized the chance, descending the mountain and quietly blending into the Bureau’s ranks.

“Brother, you’re new, aren’t you? Were all the Demon Suppression apprentices summoned for this?”

A class C officer raised an eyebrow, eyeing the young man beside him with puzzlement.

It had been less than a month since the apprentices joined. Were they already involved in the purge of Underworld remnants?

“The Commander summoned us. We had no choice but to come,” Baili Feihong replied respectfully.

Not only he, but the other apprentices, seeing the special signals hanging from the sky, had hurried over as well.

Trained, they knew well what those signals meant. Moreover, the glow from the Demon Suppression token said everything.