937 People Eventually Die

One of them stumbled and quickly retreated into the trees.

"Technology is changing the world," Miao Tianchuan said in a low voice. "Your thoughts need to change too."

"Yeah, right. Drop the act. Infuse your skin with the meds and harden them like steel. If you can't even manage that much, don't even think about fighting Miao Xihe," Miao Chengfeng said toward the woods before detecting flickers of light shooting from the trees.

Miao Tianchuan dodged to the side.

"Throwing projectiles?"

Swoop! Boom!

Explosions were seen, kicking up a lot of dust.

Cough, cough.

Shing! A glimmer of light tore through the dark of night. It was from a blade.

Clang! Sparks flew.

"Now, would you mind giving all you've got?" Miao Chengfeng coldly asked.

Miao Tianchuan, who was just several steps away from Miao Chengfeng, lost his gun.

"Sure!" Miao Tianchuan smirked. A dagger about a foot long appeared in his hand.

The glimmer of blades crossed under the moonlight. Both of them dashed in and out at each other at great speeds. The sound of metal clanging was heard now and then.

Boom! Another explosion was heard. Dust was kicked up again. One of the combatants was seen covering his stomach and escaping. The other tailed right behind him like a leopard.

"You're not getting away."

The dark of night was gradually dispelled by the light of the early morning sun shining all over the place.

A body was found in the woods. There was blood all over the place.

Someone discovered the body at about 10 a.m. The incident was quickly relayed to those in the valley, causing many to come to the scene. Miao Xihe was present. He thoroughly inspected the body. His expression became grim.

"He had severe injuries. His was eventually caused by a single hit with a blade."

By tracing the blood on the ground, they were able to easily where the fight had started.

Bullets were also found.

"It's probably the same bunch as last time," Miao Xihe added.

"Chengfeng was a formidable one, yet he was killed so cleanly," a middle-aged man said. "The other party must be very capable."

"Yeah." Miao Xihe nodded as he looked at the ground, not knowing what to make of it.

"That person was here again to check that cave over there." He looked up at that sealed cave. It was obvious that getting inside it was not possible.

"There's no need for anyone to keep guarding this place."

"Who is this person?" the middle-aged man asked.

"Let's head back," Miao Xihe said.

"Yes, Chief."

Three from the valley had died in a short period of time. It was something that had happened for many years.

"Chief, people in the valley have been talking lately," the middle-aged man said.

"We'll wait," Miao Xihe said.

"Sure."

"How are things with Xiao He?"

"It's going well," the middle-aged man said. "Things look stable so far."

"Very well," Miao Xihe said. "Look after his family. Xiao He is a good kid."

"Yes, Chief."

In another county town hundreds of miles away…

"Is another one dead?"

"Yeah," Miao Tianchuan said.

"Who was it this time?" Miao Qingshan asked.

"Miao Chengfeng," Miao Tianchuan took a sip of the tea and calmly said as if the murder was nothing to fret about.

"Is it good for you to just keep killing like this?"

"They're all lackeys of Miao Xihe," Miao Tianchuan replied. "They all played a part in the deaths of my parents. All of them deserve death."

"What are you trying to do? Obliterate the entire place?"

"If that place is going to go down because of this, so be it," Miao Tianchuan said. "That place will only be Miao Xihe's private land if it stays around. It's too bad none of them know anything about fighting."

"Those who dared to do so were either dead or have escaped," Miao Qingshan said as he looked outside the window.

He did not want to leave. That was where he was born and raised. That was his home. He had not given up returning even now.

"That's why I said there is no need for it to continue existing," Miao Tianchuan said.

"There are hundreds of people living in that place!"

"People eventually die," Miao Tianchuan coldly said. The tone in his voice made it seem as if the hundreds of people in the village were of little difference from hundreds of ants.

In truth, ever since his parents died in that village accident more than a dozen years ago, he lived only to take revenge. To be precise, his only thought was to get revenge for his parents by killing Miao Xihe. However, his target was too powerful and had a home advantage. As such, he ventured far to the north for many years, painstakingly building an organization from the ground up and gathering all manner of dangerous people. His goal was to take revenge, yet fate saw his organization destroyed instead. All that work he had been putting in for years was lost. Furthermore, he was severely poisoned. His days were numbered. He was thinking about checking out the place that had once been his home before eventually biting the dust.

Ironically, that was also the first place he thought of destroying.

When a door was closed, there was often still a window open. His end had not quite arrived. He had been able to find the Blood Orchid. It had not only cleared his body of the poisons, which disabled the greatest threat looming over him, but it also boosted his abilities. From then on out, he began to bring his new plans to reality.

That was not his first time killing someone, so he did not suffer from any psychological trauma. However, things were different with Miao Qingshan since he was a kindhearted person to begin with. As such, he had his fair share of psychological trauma doing all of those things with Miao Tianchuan. Even now, he had a tremendous sense of guilt.

His was a typical case of being at a dead end. Unfortunately, the only savior was an unsavory type.

"How powerful is the chief?"

"Powerful enough," Miao Tianchuan replied.

He actually had no idea just how powerful the chief was. When he had escaped, the chief caused him severe injuries with just a single hit. It was a prowess in martial arts and not poisons that the chief was most proficient. That was what made the older man so terrifying. It was clear that the older man never gave all he had back then. Even now, Miao Tianchuan was oblivious to how powerful the older man truly was. For the past 16 years, Miao Tianchuan had been doing all he was able to constantly grow and enhance his powers.

"Do you have any certainties of being able to take him down?"

"Certainty? None." Miao Tianchuan shook his head.

"How are you going to take revenge without any certainty to speak of?"

"Sometimes, one's power isn't necessarily everything."

He stayed silent for a bit after saying that. He was reminded of that young man who struck him with despair.

"Maybe he could take on Miao Xihe instead," he muttered to himself.

"What?"

"Nothing. You just reminded of someone. Someone who is very formidable."

He had nothing but seething hatred from the depths of his heart for Miao Xihe. As for that young man, he felt only helplessness and fear. That fear stemmed from the fact that he was unable to do anything to resist him.

Maybe I could use him to take out Miao Xihe instead!

If he were to use that young man, he first needed to know more about him.

Then again, given that he was in Qi Province, it was best not to make the trip at the moment.

In county town several hundreds of miles away…

"Are you heading back now?"

"There's no use in me staying around," Miao Qingfeng said. "Sorry that I couldn't have been more helpful."

Miao Qingfeng and Miao Changhong were bidding farewell to Yang Guanfeng and his team, leaving the county and preparing to head back to the Valley of Thousands of Medicine.

"You've been of great help to us," Yang Guanfeng said. "At the very least, we now found ourselves a suspect, right?"

Miao Qingfeng only smiled and did not say anything else.

"How about lunch before you guys leave?" Lu Xiufeng asked. "I've made the arrangements here."

"Thank you, but I best be leaving," Miao Qingfeng replied.

"Well, the host gets to call the shots, and you two are guests here. So, lunch it is." Lu Xiufeng was insistent.

"Very well."

Seeing how there was no refusing Lu Xiufeng's invitation, the two of them remained behind for lunch. They left shortly after they ate.

"I have a hunch that something must have happened to their place," Lu Xiufeng said.

"Yeah, I best get some rest." Yang Guanfeng waved.

Lately, he often felt tired. This case was exasperating. It seemed something always happened at key moments. Just when there seemed to be a silver lining, all their previous efforts were derailed.