Mu Qingyan's words seemed to make the snowy night grow even colder.
Qian Xueshen looked bewildered: "Who is Chen Shu?"
Cai Zhao frowned in confusion: "Chen Shu had a younger brother?"
While they were still exchanging puzzled glances, Zhou Zhiqin stepped forward and said solemnly, "Young Brother Yan, are these words true?"
Mu Qingyan replied, "After the southern Yunnan master who created the Five Venoms Palm joined the Demonic Cult in his later years, the manual for this technique fell into the hands of the Cult Leader. Later, Nie Hengcheng taught this skill to his second disciple, Chen Shu."
Qian Xueshen couldn't help but whisper, "Young Master Yan... is being too hasty. Couldn't someone outside the Demonic Cult have learned the Five Venoms Palm?"
Cai Zhao whispered back, "Idiot, the Demonic Cult has rules—to learn their techniques, one must first join the Cult. Even the Cult Leader can't casually teach their skills to outsiders."
Zhou Zhiqin advanced on Chen Fuguang: "When I first saw you yesterday, I thought you looked familiar. So you're Chen Shu's brother! You do bear a sixty to seventy percent resemblance to that Demon. Good, very good!"
Chen Fuguang stammered in panic, "I... I... You can't just slander me like this..."
Mu Qingyan continued, "Chen Shu wreaked havoc in the Martial World, arrogant and unrivaled, yet few knew he had a younger brother with poor innate talent, unsuitable for martial arts. Though Chen Shu was despicable and tyrannical, he cherished his brother deeply. To protect him, he kept Chen Fuguang away from the Cult's affairs and secretly taught him the Five Venoms Palm. Pity..."
He glanced at the dead rabbit on the ground and smirked disdainfully, "Pity that after all these years of practice, Brother Fuguang has only reached the first two levels of the Five Venoms Palm—barely enough to kill a rabbit."
Qian Xueshen couldn't see the issue. "I think that's already quite impressive. How is it only the first two levels?"
"Lei Shibo from our sect once said that the deeper one progresses in the Five Venoms Palm, the darker the emerald hue of the palm imprint becomes. Back then, Chen Shu's palm strikes not only carried poison but left deep green imprints. Look at this rabbit—the imprint is only light green," Cai Zhao whispered.
Qian Xueshen examined the dead rabbit again and saw it was indeed so.
In truth, the Five Venoms Palm was a sinister technique that yielded quick results but lacked long-term potential. For practitioners of the same aptitude training for three to five years, the Five Venoms Palm would allow one to make a name early, sweeping through opponents, but eventually hit a wall.
Take Qi Yunke, for example. In his youth, he was no match for Chen Shu. But had Chen Shu not died, within a few more years, Qi Yunke would have easily defeated him.
To confront Duan Jiuxiu, Nie Hengcheng had also practiced the Five Venoms Palm in his youth. But he soon recognized its limitations and abandoned it for other techniques. His original plan for his impatient second disciple, Chen Shu, had been the same—first use the Five Venoms Palm to establish a reputation, then, once his position in the Cult was secure, switch to other techniques.
But the overwhelming power of the Five Venoms Palm allowed Chen Shu to repeatedly crush righteous heroes, earning him fearsome prestige. Seduced by these victories, he delayed switching techniques. By the time Cai Pingshu neutralized the palm's toxicity, he had no life-saving skills left and no time to change techniques—leaving him with nothing but regret.
Zhou Zhiqin's face was icy as he said slowly, "Chen Shu slaughtered the innocent, his crimes towering to the heavens. Countless righteous heroes of the Martial World suffered under his Five Venoms Palm, enduring agony before death. Chen Fuguang, come here and accept your fate!" With that, he stepped forward.
Chen Fuguang turned deathly pale. "I... I... My elder brother was indeed Chen Shu, but I never joined the Demonic Cult!"
Zhou Zhiqin froze.Chen Fuguang fell to the ground, pleading repeatedly: "It's true, it's all true! Your Divine Cult—no, the Demonic Cult—has been fighting for so many years, but have you ever heard of me? Back when you were hunting my elder brother, you investigated everyone around him thoroughly, yet you never knew he had a younger brother—because I never joined the cult! I’ve never been involved in any Demonic Cult affairs!"
Zhou Zhiqin paused and looked back at Dongfang Xiao.
Dongfang Xiao whispered, "I think he’s telling the truth. Since he isn’t a Demonic Cult demon… the sins of the father shouldn’t extend to the family."
Everyone understood Zhou Zhiqin’s hesitation. Though the sins of the father shouldn’t extend to the family, simply letting go of the younger brother of a notorious villain from back then still felt somewhat…
"So it seems Chen Shu violated the cult’s rules," a leisurely voice interjected.
The group turned to see Hu Wei approaching slowly, followed by his concubine Qi Nong and the mute old servant.
Hu Wei looked at Chen Fuguang and said, "Nie Zhe may only be the acting cult leader, but he still shows some respect for his uncle’s former confidants. Zhao Ba’s family is being well taken care of even now. I distinctly remember Chen Shu had a younger brother, yet after Chen Shu’s death, you never showed yourself. Now I see—you were afraid the Divine Cult would discover your brother had broken the rules and secretly taught you the Five Venoms Palm, weren’t you?"
Zhou Zhiqin frowned, his aura slowly condensing around him. "Judging by your words, it seems you’re also from the Demonic Cult."
Hu Wei grinned. "I don’t hide my name or lineage. I am the chief disciple under Elder Ji—Hu Wei."
Zhou Zhiqin immediately drew his sword and lunged forward with a sweeping strike like a cascading river—the "Moonlight Overhead," a rare and fierce move from Jade Pendant Mountain Manor’s sword techniques. Cai Zhao had once heard Cai Pingshu describe this move—its imposing and unyielding force. She had even tried practicing it herself, but her skill was insufficient, and she couldn’t muster its power. Now, watching Zhou Zhiqin execute it, the moonlight seemed to pour across the ground, leaving no room for the opponent to evade. She couldn’t help but softly exclaim in admiration.
Hu Wei sidestepped and spun, his palms striking out one after the other. With a sharp crack, he deflected Zhou Zhiqin’s sword, bending it backward.
Seeing this, Dongfang Xiao also raised his sword, joining his friend in a coordinated assault from left and right. Yet Hu Wei’s palm techniques were sinister and domineering—even fighting two opponents at once, he didn’t lose ground.
Cai Zhao clicked her tongue in amazement. "As expected of Elder Ji’s chief disciple. This Hu Wei’s skills are impressive."
Qian Xueshen, trailing behind her, asked, "Could you beat him?"
"…Not right now," the girl’s voice wavered slightly.
Qian Xueshen smirked. "Then you’re not as good as your aunt, huh? I heard that by your age, Lady Cai was already feared by both Demonic Cult members and petty rogues of the Martial World."
"Tell me about it," Cai Zhao sighed softly. If only she hadn’t slacked off after leaving Fallen Blossom Valley—if she had trained as diligently as before in those three years after her aunt’s passing, she’d surely have more confidence now.
Qian Xueshen pressed, "Could Young Master Yan defeat this Hu Wei?"
Cai Zhao glanced at Mu Qingyan, standing a few steps away, and whispered, "Honestly, I still can’t gauge the depth of his cultivation." Because she had yet to see Mu Qingyan forced to use his full strength.
As they spoke, the three fighters had already exchanged over a dozen moves, and Hu Wei’s bare hands were gradually being hemmed in by the two flashing blades.Qi Nong suddenly let out a sharp cry, "So the righteous sects resort to ganging up now?!" As she spoke, she flung a handful of plum blossom needles—cold glints under the moonlight tinged with dark blue, clearly poisoned. Zhou Zhiqin and Dongfang Xiao immediately leaped back to evade.
After steadying himself, Hu Wei turned and delivered a heavy slap, cursing, "When I'm exchanging blows with two masters, who gave you permission to act on your own?! Go and help Young Master Chen over here at once!"
Qi Nong's cheek swelled high, tears welling in her eyes, yet she dared not retort. Obediently, she lowered her head and walked toward Chen Fuguang.
The guards behind Jin Baohui couldn't help but murmur in pity.
Cai Zhao's heart burned with fury. "Hitting a woman—what kind of man does that?!"
Qian Xueshen tugged at her sleeve with all his might. "Calm down, calm down! Master and servant squabbles might just be their way of flirting. Besides, aren't you supposed to be playing the delicate maiden?"
Remembering Mu Qingyan's instructions, Cai Zhao had no choice but to suppress her anger.
Hu Wei laughed heartily and said to Zhou Zhiqin, "In a one-on-one, you're no match for me. But two against one would tarnish your righteous sect's reputation. Why not set aside sect grievances for now and let me ask a couple of questions first."
Zhou Zhiqin snorted and took a step back.
Hu Wei continued, "Dare I ask, Young Master Yan, how is it that you know Chen Shu had a younger brother—something even few in our cult are aware of? Just who are you?" By the last half of his sentence, a murderous glint had surfaced in his eyes.
Zhou Zhiqin and Dongfang Xiao also turned suspicious gazes toward him.
Mu Qingyan, however, merely chuckled lightly.
Hu Wei frowned. "What are you laughing at?!"
Mu Qingyan replied leisurely, "I just thought of something amusing. Earlier, Brother Hu boasted about 'never changing your name or hiding your identity'... Heh. If only you had truly 'never changed your name or hid your identity' back when Heroine Cai Pingshu exterminated Elder Ji's disciples. Then perhaps I could've visited your grave—now overgrown with three-foot weeds—to offer incense."
His words dripped with such biting sarcasm that the crowd couldn't help but snicker.
"Brother, what are you saying?" Cai Zhao smiled sweetly. "When Heroine Cai slaughtered Ji's remnants, their corpses were either dumped in mass graves or fed to swamp alligators. There are no graves for you to offer incense at."—Cai Pingshu had loathed the Ji faction's cruel and savage atrocities against Clear Wind Temple, showing no mercy in her retribution, deliberately making it brutal.
Mu Qingyan feigned surprise. "Oh, is that so? Thanks to Heroine Cai, we've saved on incense money."
Hearing this, the crowd laughed even louder. Even Zhou Zhiqin and Dongfang Xiao shed their grim expressions, shaking their heads with wry smiles.
Hu Wei's face darkened with humiliation. "Enough nonsense! Answer my question first!"
Mu Qingyan leisurely smoothed his sleeves. "If you have the ability, go ahead and deduce my origins. If not, quit your blathering. But I'll say this much—Duan Jiuxiu is a pig, Nie Hengcheng is a dog, and the Demonic Cult's high-ranking members are nothing but swine."
As the two adopted sons of Mu Qingyan's great-grandfather, Nie Hengcheng and Duan Jiuxiu were ambitious and selfish, showing no gratitude for the Mu family's kindness. Over the years, they had sidelined the Mu clan's authority, purged dissenters, and expanded their own power. Their factions, each with ulterior motives, engaged in constant infighting, ultimately leading to the death of Mu Qingyan's father. By that measure, they were indeed worse than pigs and dogs.
However, while Cai Zhao understood the implication, others might not.They speculated that Mu Qingyan's family or sect must also have a deep-seated blood feud with the Demonic Cult, hence his years of meticulous investigation into the cult's secrets, all for future vengeance.
Zhou Zhizhen and Dongfang Xiao's attitudes softened.
Hu Wei took a step forward, his voice rough: "Seems you're unwilling to speak honestly?"
Mu Qingyan replied indifferently, "If you want to fight, I’ll oblige. Let’s see if you can discern the origins of my martial arts."
Hu Wei hesitated.
Cai Zhao inwardly chuckled.
Mu Qingyan’s great-grandfather and grandfather were both weak and disinclined to fight. Though Mu Zhengming had considerable cultivation, he had never set foot in the Martial World and rarely displayed his skills even within the cult. Given that, the Mu family’s martial techniques hadn’t been seen for three or four generations—guessing them now would be impossible!
Unlike her. Cai Pingshu had once wreaked havoc across the land, and hundreds had witnessed her skills. The moment Cai Zhao made a move, she’d be recognized—thinking of this, she couldn’t help but sigh.
"What’s happening?!" Lan Tianyu suddenly exclaimed, staring straight at the sky.
Unnoticed by the group, who had been preoccupied with their conflict, layers of dark clouds had gathered, slowly obscuring the bright moonlight. The night grew increasingly darker.
A chilling cold surged in waves, seeping into their bodies. The darkness thickened like ink, allowing not a sliver of light. With a series of snaps, the icy wind extinguished the bonfire in the open-doored house, plunging the snowy ridge into absolute darkness.
"Back inside, now!" Lan Tianyu’s urgent voice rang out in the pitch black.
Before the last sliver of moonlight vanished, Cai Zhao saw Mu Qingyan’s robes fluttering as he moved toward her. Then she felt her right hand clasped tightly in his grasp, while Qian Xueshen cried out in panic beside her.
Since the snow reflected light and the moon had been bright enough to see clearly, they hadn’t brought torches. And as they’d come out in the middle of the night, none carried fire starters—except the ever-cautious Lan Tianyu, who lit a feeble flame.
The group stumbled and groped their way back toward the house, pulling each other along. Then, a deep beastly roar sounded, as if right beside them.
The roar was neither tiger nor leopard, carrying an indescribable eeriness and terror—like the ghastly laughter of an owl or the screech of a night cat disemboweling prey. The faint-hearted covered their ears. Cai Zhao did the same.
She wasn’t afraid to face a formidable foe, but against this unknown terror, she couldn’t help trembling slightly.
Mu Qingyan swiftly struck Qian Xueshen’s mute and paralysis acupoints, causing him to collapse stiffly and silently, only his eyes darting wildly. Ignoring him, Mu Qingyan pulled Cai Zhao down, pressing her close to the ground.
Just as panic gripped the group, a flash of white light appeared. A massive beast-like creature leaped from midair, lunging straight for the only source of light—Lan Tianyu.
Lan Tianyu reacted instantly, extinguishing the fire starter with a flick of his wrist. The world plunged into total darkness.
Cai Zhao could see nothing. She only heard Jin Baohui’s side erupt in screams, the frantic clatter of drawn blades, and Zhou Zhiqin’s shouts for calm—all drowned out by the deafening roars of the beast. The thick stench of blood soon permeated the entire slope.
Gritting her teeth, Cai Zhao wanted to rush out and save lives, but Mu Qingyan held her firmly in his arms, his other hand gripping her wrist’s pressure point, rendering her immobile.
"Let me go!"
"Unknown enemy—reckless action is unwise.""You must be practicing the turtle technique, so timid and shrinking—you'll live a thousand years at least!" Of course, Mu Qingyan was neither timid nor shrinking; when unrestrained, he could even be quite mad. Cai Zhao said this deliberately to provoke him.
Mu Qingyan's voice was cool and detached. "No need for that. Living about as long as you will suffice." As he spoke, his warm breath brushed against the girl's ear, making Cai Zhao feel hot despite the icy surroundings.
Fortunately, the dark clouds soon dispersed. In the faint light, an enormous white-furred beast, its maw dripping with blood, tore open a guard's abdomen with its front claws before swiftly leaping away with the body clamped in its jaws.
The bright moon hung high in the sky once more, illuminating the gruesome scene of scattered corpses below.
Mu Qingyan pulled Cai Zhao to her feet and bent down to undo Qian Xueshen's pressure points.
Qian Xueshen scrambled back to the hunting lodge on all fours, screaming that he would never come out again, no matter what.
Cai Zhao surveyed the surroundings.
The heaviest losses were undoubtedly Jin Baohui's. His once-mighty squad of guards had been halved—either torn apart alive or left with limbs bitten off, wailing in agony on the ground. The scene was horrifically bloody.
Jin Baohui and Lan Tianyu had rolled into a snow pit two zhang away, hiding beneath the snowdrifts to escape unscathed.
Two of Chen Fuguang's guards had been bitten.
One had half his chest ripped open, his bloody heart lying plainly on the snow, still faintly pulsing. The other had half his skull torn off, his brain matter splattered red and white across the ground.
The terrified guards who witnessed this screamed hysterically.
Chen Fuguang himself had collapsed earlier, but Qi Nong had dragged him behind a snowbank to hide, leaving him shaken but unharmed. Now, he clung tightly to Qi Nong's hand, his expression full of dependence, unwilling to let go.
Hu Wei remained unharmed, though his mute old servant had been grazed by a claw, suffering a flesh wound on his left arm.
"...Yulin, did Yulin encounter this thing?! Was Yulin torn in half alive by this beast?!" Zhou Zhiqin stared at the severed limbs and mangled corpses strewn across the ground, his voice trembling with despair.
Dongfang Xiao sighed and stepped forward to pull him away. "Don't look anymore. Let's go back inside first."
"I—I must avenge Yulin!" The thought of his only son's terror and suffering before death filled Zhou Zhiqin with agony and hatred.
Lan Tianyu shoved aside Jin Baohui, who was shaking like a sieve, and dusted the snow off himself, grumbling, "I told you all—coming up the mountain in early spring is the worst. The beasts have starved all winter and are at their most vicious and hungry now."
Mu Qingyan raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Oh? You said that before? To whom?"
Lan Tianyu immediately fell silent.
"Speaking of which..." Hu Wei circled the remains on the ground, examining them. "What exactly was that thing?"
"It was a Snow Mountain White-haired Hou," Jin Baohui answered. Though pale with fear, his words were still clear. "A mythical beast said to guard sacred gates. Legend has it Old Ancestor Bei Chen kept two as gatekeepers. A fully grown White-haired Hou can stand over two zhang tall, with a powerful build, sharp teeth, lightning speed, and a taste for living flesh."
Mu Qingyan gazed into the distance and smiled faintly. "It seems this great snow mountain still holds many unknown... surprises."
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