Chapter 42 Massacre II

Judging from his clothes, he was one of the guards stationed at the village entrance.

“There’s actually a survivor?” Chi Hong hurried over, pushing aside the Gu Masters blocking his path.

The moment he saw the surviving guard, he frowned slightly.

A thick black thread had been stitched across the man’s mouth, leaving him unable to utter a single word.

His hands and feet were tightly bound, yet he struggled desperately and nodded at them again and again, as if trying to tell them something.

“It looks so painful.

Who could have done such a thing?

It’s simply too cruel.” Seeing the black thread stitched across the guard’s mouth, the female Gu Master subconsciously touched her own lips.

A chill shot down her spine, leaving her scalp numb.

“What is he trying to tell us?” The gentle-looking Gu Master frowned.

“Wait…

he’s pointing at his chest.

Is there something there?”

Instead of untying the guard or cutting the black thread sealing his mouth, everyone’s attention was drawn to his frantic gestures.

Without another word, Chi Hong stepped forward and pulled open the guard’s clothes.

The moment his chest was exposed, everyone noticed something was wrong.

His heart had swollen to an unnatural size, bulging beneath his flesh as though it were about to burst from his chest.

Countless black blood vessels spread outward from his heart, writhing ceaselessly like living tentacles.

“This feeling…

could it be…?” The moment Chi Hong saw the grotesquely swollen heart, his scalp went numb.

A horrifying possibility instantly crossed his mind.

But before he could react.

“Boom!”

A deafening explosion erupted.

The guard’s body exploded like a giant bomb.

The disappearance of the investigation team quickly reached Chijia Village.

An entire team of Gu Masters vanishing within the clan’s own territory was no small matter.

The Chijia clan leader had recently suffered a relapse of his old injuries, causing his strength to decline drastically.

His cultivation had even fallen to Rank Three.

News of something so significant could never remain concealed for long.

It had most likely already reached Xu Village.

Because of this, he immediately suspected Xu Village.

In his eyes, this incident was nothing more than a deliberate probe, an attempt to test both Chijia Village’s strength and whether his injuries were as severe as the rumors claimed.

We cannot show any weakness, nor can we let them discover that our strength has declined.

If we do nothing but simply accuse them and wait, they’ll only see us as weak and easy to bully.

With that in mind, the Chijia clan leader dispatched Chi mei, an elder renowned for his reconnaissance skills, along with another team of Gu Masters to investigate the place where the previous team had disappeared.

If this truly was Xu Village doing, Chijia Village would retaliate without hesitation and make them pay the price.

____

“This place is simply hell…” Even the experienced elders of Chijia Village felt a chill run down their spines when they saw the scene before them.

The once-thriving village had been reduced to ruins.

Mutilated corpses lay strewn across the ground, while the blood beneath them had long since dried.

“Blegh…”

The foul stench hung heavily in the air, forcing several Gu masters to cover their noses.

Chiyang Mountain was blanketed in volcanic sand, and the scorching heat lingered throughout the day.

After an entire night beneath such temperatures, many of the corpses had already begun to rot, filling the village with a sickening stench.

Several crows perched atop the corpses, tearing at the rotting flesh with their sharp beaks as they let out shrill caws.

Nearby, wild dogs and lynxes gnawed greedily at the bodies.

The Gu Masters’ faces turned deathly pale, and several began trembling uncontrollably at the horrific scene before them.

Fortunately, the team leader quickly regained his composure.

Waving his hand, he barked, “Drive those damned beasts away!”

The others finally snapped out of their daze.

Suppressing the nausea rising in their throats, they immediately activated their Gu.

“Fireball Gu!”

“Flame Spear Gu!”

The Gu Masters unleashed one attack after another, killing or driving away the scavenging beasts.

“This…

this is Chi Hong…” A female Gu Master covered her mouth, tears welling in her eyes.

Lying among the corpses was Chi Hong’s severed head.There was no longer any room for doubt.

The previous investigation team had been completely wiped out.

The rest of the team lowered their heads, their faces filled with grief.

Seeing their former comrade reduced to such a miserable state, each of them felt a heavy weight settle in their hearts.

The old elder stepped forward and stopped on a relatively clean patch of ground.

His weathered face was solemn as he surveyed the ruined village.

“Don’t worry, everyone.

We will avenge our clansmen.

Whoever did this will pay a bloody price for provoking our Chijia Village.”