Chapter 277 - 37: No, You’re Not Du Wei, You’re Chen Ye

Chapter 277: Chapter 37: No, You’re Not Du Wei, You’re Chen Ye

A vast power, immense as a mountain range, instantly crushed his wisp of Divine Thought!

Jian Wuchen let out a muffled grunt. It felt as if a sledgehammer had struck his head. Stars burst before his eyes, and the blood roiled in his chest.

’It’s the power of the Mountain God, the Great Demon Elder Jian spoke of!’

If the passive defense shrouding the village was this terrifying, what would happen if the Great Demon actually attacked...?

At the thought, Jian Wuchen’s back was instantly drenched in cold sweat.

He finally understood Elder Jian’s apprehension. This was an opponent on a completely different level.

Making a scene here was no different from courting death.

Therefore, Jian Wuchen could only suppress the churning humiliation and fury in his chest and force the words through his teeth. "I was presumptuous."

"Since your village is not harboring the fugitive, our intelligence must have been faulty. Please forgive the disturbance."

With that, he spun around and barked at the four equally grim-faced disciples behind him.

"We’re leaving!"

The five of them left in disgrace.

Only after they had fled the thick fog and soared high into the sky did the suffocating pressure finally begin to fade.

Jian Wuchen then halted his Flying Sword and looked back.

The village, nestled among the mountains, had once again vanished into the clouds and mist, as if the entire ordeal had been nothing but a nightmare.

But the bone-deep fear and humiliation were all too real.

"Kawa Village... Mountain God..."

He enunciated each word, his voice filled with a seething hatred.

"Just you wait! I, Jian Wuchen, will remember this humiliation!"

"Once I form my Golden Core, I will personally raze your village to the ground and slaughter that damned Mountain God you worship!"

"I’ll show you the consequences of offending Celestial Sword Manor and of offending me, Jian Wuchen!"

He vented his rage, his chest heaving violently.

Just then, a slightly bolder disciple cautiously approached and asked in a low voice, "Young Manor Master, what... what do we do now?"

’Yes, what now?’

’We didn’t find our target and got completely humiliated. How can we return to the Manor empty-handed? How can we face all those Cultivators in Qingzhou who are just waiting to see us become a laughingstock?’

The question was like a bucket of cold water, jolting Jian Wuchen from his rage.

He slowly calmed down, a vicious glint flashing in his eyes.

"Follow me."

Jian Wuchen then turned his sword, flying toward the outskirts of the Southern Wilderness Mountain Range.

Jian Wuchen felt like his luck had been absolutely abysmal recently, but he knew this was not the time to be venting. The most pressing matter was to clean up the current mess.

If he couldn’t find Chen Ye, Celestial Sword Manor’s kill order would become a colossal joke. He, Jian Wuchen, would become the laughingstock of the entire Qingzhou Cultivation Realm.

Therefore, he had to find *a* Chen Ye.

Whether this Chen Ye was real or fake no longer mattered.

What mattered was that Celestial Sword Manor needed a result to save face.

"Young Manor Master, where are we going?" one of the disciples couldn’t help but ask.

"To find someone," Jian Wuchen said, his voice as cold as ice.

He activated his Divine Thought, spreading it out over the vast mountain forest below.

This time, however, his target wasn’t some Swordsman at the Sea Condensation Realm. Instead, he searched for bandit lairs hidden at the edge of the forest, or solitary Loose Cultivators.

He needed an unlucky fool—someone weak, with no background, someone whose death would go unquestioned—to play the part of Chen Ye.

Soon, Jian Wuchen’s Divine Thought locked onto a target.

It was a hidden hollow between two peaks. Inside were several crude wooden huts and a fence; it looked like a bandit camp.

As his Divine Thought swept over it, Jian Wuchen could sense several dozen people inside, all of whom reeked of blood. The one with the highest Cultivation was merely a leader at the Unobstructed Realm.

’This is the place.’ A cold glint flashed in Jian Wuchen’s eyes as he steered his Flying Sword and dove toward the hollow.

The bandits in the hollow were currently feasting on meat and downing bowls of wine, completely oblivious to the impending doom.

"Boss, this new haul of ours will be enough for the brothers to live well for a long time!"

"Hahaha, you bet! In a few days, we’ll head down to the town and grab a few wenches to bring back for some fun!"

The man they called Boss was not very old. He slammed a foot onto the table, raised his wine bowl, and was just about to speak.

Just then, a brilliant Sword Light descended from the sky without warning!

The Sword Light was too fast for anyone to react. It carried an terrifying aura of utter destruction that instantly enveloped the entire hollow.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

The Sword Light rained down, and flesh and blood flew everywhere in its wake.

The bandits, who had been shouting and celebrating just moments before, didn’t even have time to scream as their bodies were sliced into countless pieces by the fierce Sword Qi.

Blood and entrails splattered across the entire hollow.

In a single instant, everyone in the bandit camp was dead, save for their leader.

The bandit leader froze where he stood.

The wine bowl was still raised in his hand and the smile was frozen on his face, but his eyes were filled with utter bewilderment.

Staring at the ground littered with severed limbs, at the men who had been his sworn brothers just seconds ago now reduced to a gory pulp, his mind went completely blank.

’What happened?’

’Was this divine retribution?’

As he stood there, lost and confused, five figures descended from the sky and landed before him.

The young man in the lead, dressed in white purer than snow, was inhumanly handsome.

The bandit leader’s body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Jian Wuchen watched the survivor with cold indifference.

’His age and build are close enough to the description of Chen Ye from the report.’

He was satisfied. With a wave of his hand, an invisible force slammed down on the bandit leader, who had collapsed in terror and was trying to crawl away. The pressure pinned him to the ground, rendering him immobile.

"You. What is your name?" Jian Wuchen asked, looking down on him, his voice devoid of all emotion.

"I... I’m called Du... Du Wei..." the bandit leader stammered, his teeth chattering.

Hearing the name, Jian Wuchen slowly shook his head. "Wrong."

"Your name isn’t Du Wei. It’s Chen Ye."