Chapter Nine: The Death of Cheng Tianyou

Nangong Yuchen’s body trembled. Though he had not yet turned around, the pungent scent of blood had already reached his nostrils. In that moment, his face turned paper white as he stiffly twisted his head to gaze at the blood-stained figure that had appeared by his side. His lips quivered as he stammered, “Se... senior!”

Unfortunately, Cheng Tianyou showed none of the demeanor of a true master. With a vicious glare, he already regarded the youth before him as a dead man. His face contorted with ferocity, and with his still-intact left hand, he reached out to grab Nangong Yuchen.

“Ah!” Nangong Yuchen jolted with fright. As Cheng Tianyou stretched out his left hand, blood dripped from his right arm, the flesh mangled. The hand that approached him was drenched in crimson, and the sight left Nangong Yuchen’s eyes wide with terror, his fear reaching its peak.

Dread spread through his heart, the shadow of death slowly occupying his mind. His legs grew weak, unable to support him; all he could do was crawl backward, trembling.

“Trying to escape?” Cheng Tianyou strode forward, but he made no effort to use his physical prowess, for the terror that the youth displayed filled him with a twisted sense of pleasure.

“Thud, thud!” He relished this feeling, deliberately making each step loud, hungry for a greater surge of exhilaration.

But the thought had barely formed before it was extinguished.

Without warning, Nangong Yuchen—pale-faced and trembling—produced a brick in his hand. Without thinking, he hurled it at Cheng Tianyou, unaware of where he found the courage.

“Bang!” The brick struck Cheng Tianyou’s head unguarded, opening a bloody gash. Though he was a first-tier physical cultivator, he was still flesh and blood. Nangong Yuchen’s blow carried a force of 130 kilograms; the sudden impact sent pain raging through Cheng Tianyou’s skull, his face twisting in agony.

“Ah! You court death!” Furious, he lunged at Nangong Yuchen, seized him by the throat, and lifted him off the ground.

He had never imagined that even an ant would dare to resist him. Driven by murderous intent, he increased the pressure, intent on strangling Nangong Yuchen to death.

“Cough, cough!” Nangong Yuchen’s pale face turned purple, his breathing growing increasingly labored. With death looming, he began to struggle violently.

He clutched at Cheng Tianyou’s left hand with both hands, while his legs kicked ferociously at Cheng Tianyou’s body.

“Despicable insect, die!” Cheng Tianyou’s left arm bulged with veins from the exertion. Nangong Yuchen, though stronger than most, was still no match for him.

Slowly, Nangong Yuchen’s complexion grew darker, his struggles weakening.

Yet Cheng Tianyou did not relent. Instead, his grip tightened, eager to finish the youth quickly, for he felt his own strength ebbing from blood loss.

But he failed to notice that at the sides of Nangong Yuchen’s eyes, extending to his temples, a black mark appeared on the left and a white mark on the right, like faint shadows or patterns spreading across his face.

“Am I about to die?” As he suffocated, Nangong Yuchen’s consciousness grew muddled. He had not expected that his curiosity would cost him his life.

Just as he was on the verge of death, a hallucination blossomed in his mind.

It was like a dream.

A beautiful moonlit night unfolded, tranquil and serene, cool moonlight pouring down upon a sprawling courtyard.

Suddenly, the scene shifted. From the distant night sky, a horde of monsters flew in—creatures with bat wings and sharp fangs protruding from their lips. Their bodies and features resembled humans, but their eyes were a deep blue. Bloodthirsty and savage, they killed at sight, their claws slashing at the people fleeing in the courtyard. With each swipe, another bloody corpse appeared on the ground.

“Lowly humans! Kill!”

“Ah... why are there monsters here!”

“Uncle, Aunt, wailing and crying!”

The courtyard was overrun with screams and chaos. Ordinary adults and children, powerless to resist, were slaughtered mercilessly by the monsters.

“Run, quickly!”

“Wasn’t this supposed to be a safe zone? Why are there monsters...”

“Calamity star—it must be the misfortune brought by that child!”

“Yes, it’s him!”

“You are the calamity star! It’s all because of you that the monsters have come!”

“Calamity star! Leave this place!”

The adults fled with their children, cursing and screaming in panic.

“I’m not a calamity star! I’m not!” Nangong Yuchen protested desperately, but it was futile. The slaughter continued, screams echoing, the courtyard swallowed by blood.

“I really am not!” At that moment, the scene darkened, and Nangong Yuchen saw pairs of blood-red eyes appearing around him—the eyes of dead adults and children, unable to rest in peace, pressing ever closer to him.

“Ah... don’t come near!” Nangong Yuchen clutched his head in terror. He remembered how, as a child, he would faint at the sight of too much blood. Though he had grown more resilient with age, his fear of blood remained. That was why he had been so terrified when he first saw Cheng Tianyou.

Outside.

Under the same night sky, two young women stood gracefully atop the abandoned building. The girl on the left was young, only sixteen or seventeen, while the one on the right was mature, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight. They were Angel and Mu Lin.

They gazed down at Nangong Yuchen, whose vitality was fading, almost lifeless, their expressions differing.

“Mu Lin, are we really not going to help? What if Nangong...” Angel said anxiously.

Mu Lin’s face was delighted. She pointed to Mu Feng, who lay in a pool of blood nearby, and reassured her, “Miss, don’t worry. Look over there!”

Angel turned and saw the burly man in the blood pool—he was not dead. He gripped his greatsword and staggered to his feet.

He looked at Cheng Tianyou, who stood a dozen meters away with his back turned, and thrust his sword at him.

As a first-tier strength-type warrior, his body was far tougher than an ordinary person’s. Earlier, Cheng Tianyou’s spear had not pierced his heart; he fell only because the spearhead grazed his heart as it was withdrawn, causing him to faint.

Of course, an ordinary person would have died from such a blow, but a first-tier physical cultivator was beyond such limits.

“Thud, thud!” The dozen meters vanished in a blink. By the time Cheng Tianyou heard the commotion behind him and turned, the greatsword was already looming large in his vision—and it pierced his chest!

“How could you—”

“Shlick!” The greatsword was withdrawn, and Cheng Tianyou collapsed, eyes wide open in death. With such a massive sword through his chest, survival was impossible.

“Bang!” Immediately after, Nangong Yuchen also fell to the ground.

“I’m not a calami—” His face was purple-black, still trapped in his hallucination, but the sudden fall startled him awake. His tightly shut eyes snapped open, and instead of countless bloody eyes, he saw the abandoned building.

“I... am I... I’m not dead?”