VIP Edition, Chapter 140: A Tragedy

A group of women were playing in the water, while the two grown men lay sprawled on the grass, shielding them from the wind. Each had one leg crossed over the other, both looking half-asleep.

Another rustle came from nearby. Ye Xiaoxuan sprang upright and shoved Ye Dajun beside him. Ye Dajun tilted his head, listening intently, then said gravely, “That movement was fast. A master is coming—at least a Martial Guard! Stop him!”

The instant the words left his mouth, a dark shape shot toward them. It rushed around Ye Xiaoxuan and Ye Dajun, bumping and nudging them, acting spoiled and exuberant.

It was Big Yellow.

Ye Xiaoxuan glared at Ye Dajun. “A master, you said? At least a Martial Guard?”

Ye Dajun flushed. “My temples have been throbbing these past few days. I think I’m about to advance. It’s made me overly sensitive to sounds. A mistake was bound to happen.”

Ye Xiaoxuan snorted twice, casually stroking Big Yellow as he asked, “You’re about to become a Martial Guard?”

Ye Dajun nodded. “Master said it would happen within the next few days. I can feel both sides of my temples swelling and aching.”

Ye Xiaoxuan pursed his lips enviously. “You’re about to become a Martial Guard, while I’m still a useless martial cultivator! I… Huh? What is this?”

His hand felt sticky. When he turned his palm over, it was covered in scarlet red.

Why was there so much blood?

Ye Xiaoxuan seized Big Yellow in horror. The animal had already turned completely red, its entire body drenched in blood, yet there was not a wound to be found. Clearly, the blood was not its own. Then Ye Xiaoxuan saw the way Big Yellow was frantically nudging and butting at his feet. There could be only one explanation:

Something had happened at home.

Ye Xiaoxuan shouted, “Get dressed quickly and stay here on the earthen cliff! Don’t go anywhere until I come back!”

Ye Dajun also shouted, “Girls, take care of Ya-ya!”

Then he followed Ye Xiaoxuan and ran desperately toward the village.

It was already past ten at night, a time when country folk had long since gone to bed. Strangely, the entire village was silent. Even the dogs had stopped barking. Big Yellow, who normally would have rushed inside, did not dare enter the village at all. It merely circled wildly at the entrance, trembling from head to toe.

The gate of the house stood wide open, yet the rooms were dark, as though no one were inside. Ye Xiaoxuan strode into the main house and called from the sitting room, “Dad! Mom?”

No one answered.

The doors to the side rooms were shut. Could they all be asleep?

Ye Xiaoxuan went over and knocked. He called out twice more, but there was still no response. The ominous feeling in his heart grew stronger. His parents had never slept so deeply that they could not hear him.

He pushed the door open. It had not been bolted and swung open with ease.

A thick stench of blood rushed into his face, and what he saw was a scene he would never forget.

Uncle Ye lay on the floor beside the bed. His eyes were wide open, his gaze fierce, but his pupils had already dilated. He was clearly dead.

There were two deep, bloody holes on either side of his throat, as though he had been bitten by a wolf. Blood had flowed freely across the floor.

In front of his head, Aunt Jiang Guihua lay facedown. Three bloody holes pierced the back of her neck. Her arms were stretched forward, and every finger on both hands had been broken. It was obvious that she had been protecting something before her death—and that someone had snapped her fingers while wrenching it away.

Beneath the bed, the black chest that the old couple had treasured above all else was gone.

Ye Xiaoxuan’s mind went completely blank. He stood there like an idiot, staring at the old couple lying in pools of blood.

Who had done this? Who had murdered his parents? Who could be so heartless as to kill an honest farming couple in such a brutal, blood-soaked manner?

Ye Xiaoxuan’s body trembled. His fists clenched tightly, and he threw back his head and roared, “Who?”

Ye Dajun rushed into the main room behind him and immediately switched on the light. He happened to see Ye Xiaoxuan slowly turning around—and was horrified to find fiery crimson flames blazing in his eyes, while two streams of bright red tears ran down his face. The sight was terrifying.

Then he saw his uncle and aunt lying in the blood. His eyes reddened, and he was just about to rush over when he suddenly shouted at Ye Xiaoxuan, “Little Third, behind you!”

Ye Xiaoxuan had already guessed from Ye Dajun’s expression that danger was approaching. The murderer had not left at all. He had been hiding in the room, waiting for Ye Xiaoxuan to lose himself in grief before launching a sudden attack.

Ye Xiaoxuan did not dodge. He was not even a Martial Apprentice; there was no way he could evade it.

His neck tightened, as though a wild beast had clamped its jaws around it from behind.

Ye Xiaoxuan clenched his fists and suddenly drove his right elbow backward with all his strength.

Bang!

His elbow struck the beast in the chest. He drew his arm back, then drove it backward again.

Once, twice, three times…

Ye Xiaoxuan’s elbow slammed into the beast’s chest again and again, each blow faster and more powerful than the last.

Yet the mouth clamped around the back of his neck could never close completely. It was as though the creature had bitten down on a rubber tube—not especially hard, but impossible to tear through or puncture.

Ye Xiaoxuan’s elbow, however, was like a sledgehammer, pounding into the creature’s chest with increasing force. The first two blows had not concerned him. He had already sensed that this man was not even a Martial Apprentice, and that his strength posed no threat.

But now he was nearly vomiting blood.

The boy’s strength had suddenly multiplied dozens of times, and his speed had increased just as dramatically. He could neither dodge nor withstand the attacks.

Bang!

Ye Xiaoxuan drove another elbow into the beast’s chest. The impact sent blood spraying from the creature’s mouth and forced him back several steps, where he clutched his chest and gasped for breath.

Ye Xiaoxuan slowly turned around and looked at the figure standing before him.

The man wore blue-green clothes from head to toe. He was thin, with a pale face and green eyes. Three sinister fangs protruded from his mouth, and the nails on both hands were long and sharp. He looked like a werewolf.

“Why did you kill my parents?”

Blood tears dripped one by one from Ye Xiaoxuan’s eyes, staining the front of his clothes and making him look terrifying. His voice was so cold that it sent shivers through the air.

The werewolf seemed incapable of speech. He retreated step by step. Ye Xiaoxuan had blocked the doorway, so he intended to escape through the window.

Unfortunately, he could not move.

He could feel that he had been locked in the gaze of this strange man who could not be killed by a bite. Those murderous eyes seemed to envelop him completely, leaving him utterly immobile.

Ye Dajun wanted to rush inside, but the moment he moved, Ye Xiaoxuan said without turning his head, “Don’t come over. Go check on Uncle and Aunt. You don’t need to worry about this.”

He stepped farther into the room and slammed the door shut behind him.

Ye Dajun turned and left at once. His uncle and aunt had already been killed, and he still had no idea whether his own parents were safe. Returning to check on them was the urgent thing to do.

Guarding the bodies of his parents, Ye Xiaoxuan was almost overwhelmed by grief and rage. Hatred set his entire body ablaze. His eyes fixed on the werewolf, he advanced step by step.

A sharp clatter rang out.

Dust and debris burst from the window and the roof at the same time. One blue-green figure after another leaped inside, roaring as they charged toward Ye Xiaoxuan, who stood before the two corpses.

At that very moment, the lights in the room went out.