The entire Xue family was rocked by the news.
"How is this possible?" The Seventh Elder exclaimed distressingly.
However, no matter how outrageous it seemed, nobody could deny the fact that they had all died in the hands of a single bounty hunter.
The Seventh Elder played the videos sent to him one by one with a trembling hand.
He was not the only one being stupefied. Every member of the Xue family found it difficult to swallow the hard truth.
All the young blood dispatched along with the elders this time encompassed an entire generation of young talents painstakingly developed by the Xue family.
Similar to the colony, teenagers were the greatest asset for this family. Youngsters would be awakened at the age of sixteen and cultivate for another sixteen years before they could serve the family.
Other than talent, the development of an aptitude user also lay heavily on the opportunities present. To any young user, the chance to observe the fight of a D-tier aptitude user first hand was hard to come by. Those who were given such an opportunity were no doubt the top of their class.
Who would have thought that they would all be annihilated?
If Xue Yuan was considered the best talent in the seventh generation, then those who went with Xue Yuheng would be ranked in at least the top twenty.
The Xue family would probably run out of descendents in a few years after this disaster.
"How could this happen? Could there be a trap? Is someone trying to hunt us down? Who would that be? Who has such bravery to challenge us?"
While they were speculating, the subsequent videos silenced everyone.
Apparently, there was neither an ambush nor another D-tier aptitude user on the scene. Bloodhunter was the indisputable culprit that had killed every last one of them.
"I thought he was only an E-tier? How did he manage to kill the Fifth Elder?"
"Look, we can view the fight between Fifth Elder and Bloodhunter clearly from this angle. Could it be that the Fifth Elder was suffering the repercussions from Inferno Blood in the middle of the battle?"
"Sigh. The Fifth Elder was severely injured in the past. He should not have been given the job after all."
The effect of Qin Feng's Asteroid Assimilation at the end of their battle indeed resembled the side effects of the Inferno Blood Secret Art. Thus, it led to the speculation that the Fifth Elder was killed by accident.
Regardless of the truth, the current pressing issue was whether they should continue seeking revenge.
This was when another message was delivered.
"How dare you!" The Seventh Elder bellowed infuriatingly.
Everyone else clenched their fists and stared at their communicators furiously.
Those were evidence proving Bloodhunter had claimed the bounty for Xue Linhan and the two deacons from the Xue family. A huge stamp that read "completed" was clearly seen imprinted on the posters.
Below the wanted poster was a string of numbers representing the reward on their heads. Killing three of them had earned Bloodhunter at least one billion.
Bloodhunter had even left a comment below, "It's too bad that Xue Yuheng's bounty had expired."
As if that was not enough to humiliate the Xue family, other bounty hunters chipped in and commended Qin Feng's achievements.
"I noticed that Bloodhunter is just an E-tier user. Is that true? If my memory serves me right, Xue Yuheng was a D-tier elder from the Xue family. How did this guy defeat him?"
"1 billion! That's a lot of money."
"What kind of grudge does this Bloodhunter hold against the Dark Coalition?"
"Clearly, the elder from the Xue family was trying to avenge his family member killed earlier but he paid with his own life instead."
"Wonderful!"
Everyone in the network cheered for Qin Feng after someone brought up the dark history of the Xue family.
Those from the Xue family were exasperated. Before Bloodhunter emerged, anyone who dared to bad mouth about the Xue family was no different from having invited destruction to his or her entire family.
Now, nobody seemed to be afraid anymore. Many joined in on the denouncement openly. Years of the reputation built up by the Xue family was smashed overnight. Qin Feng had successfully lifted the people's fear toward the Xue family with his heroic act.
"Seventh Elder, we can't let this go just like this. I suggest we inform the head of the family!" The family members had clearly become irrational out of anger.
"Shut your mouth, moron! Do we need to startle him for a mere E-tier bounty hunter?" The Seventh Elder rebuked the suggestion. His name was Xue Yukui, who acted as the current patriarch of the Xue family.
The actual chief of the family was naturally the strongest user of the family—A C-tier elder at a hundred and twenty years old.
He was currently roaming about the world looking for materials to prolong his life. He had gone beyond the North Sea searching for a way to break through and become stronger.
Even in his absence, other factions and colonies still respected and feared the Xue family's power.
Unexpectedly, the balance was now destroyed by an E-tier user, who had single-handedly killed Xue Yuheng. This sent out a message, whereby those from the Xue family were not actually as scary as the rumor sounded.
To the Xue family, such a blow was catastrophic.
Yet, the first idea that came to Xue Yukui's mind after watching the videos was to avoid clashing with this Bloodhunter directly at all cost.
It was because he could not deny Bloodhunter's supreme skills.
'He is probably stronger than we know. There's no way he is just an ordinary aptitude user. Otherwise, he would not have destroyed an E-tier ancient warrior's organs in an instance.'
'Facing such a fighter is like battling an E-tier beast king. We would merely be sending more people to be sacrificed if we act recklessly now.'
'Moreover, he is now residing in Niumeng City. It would be tricky to ambush him there.'
Xue Yukui's mind spun feverishly.
His family members were furious as they felt humiliated by the open provocation. They looked at Xue Yukui expectantly, hoping that he could provide them with a satisfactory solution.
Xue Yukui came to a decision quickly under the immense pressure. "Immediately put a bounty on Bloodhunter. Three billion!"
The others were first shocked, then happy with the decision.
That was a wise judgment. This was indeed the best solution at the moment.
There was no need to do the dirty work with their own hands. With the lucrative reward, many would definitely answer the call. No matter how powerful this Bloodhunter was, he would still succumb to being heavily outnumbered.
Those from the Xue family immediately spread the news.
***
Qin Feng checked into the most luxurious hotel in Niumeng after submitting the mission in the bounty hunter hall.
His wound was revealed after he had taken off the battle suit.
Xue Yuheng's Sanguine Palm did hurt Qin Feng. Luckily, it did not damage his meridian and bones. Even so, his skin swelled at where Xue Yuheng had hit him. It popped and bled after Qin Feng poked it.
Bai Li circled Qin Feng worryingly.
"Don't worry, this is nothing serious!" Qin Feng took out some high-tier beast meat as he spoke.
"Absorb!"
He absorbed the energy stored within the meat, and soon, the swelling was reduced as the wound healed rapidly. The four holes left behind by the Sanguine Palm were also healing at an observable speed.
Bai Li stopped hopping around nervously after seeing that and curled within Qin Feng's crossed legs to accompany him quietly.
Qin Feng adopted the meditation posture and checked his dantian.
The seas of clouds in it had increased by twenty layers after today's fight.
"Absorb!"
The internal force rapidly surged to his head, then descended to his limbs and strengthened all his meridians. The surplus of internal energy was then recycled back to his dantian.
That left his dantian with forty layers of dense seas of clouds—Four times the amount as compared to an ordinary E-tier ancient warrior at his or her peak.
His internal force might not lose even if he were to contest a D-tier ancient warrior now.