Chapter 23 - Conspiracy (1/2)
“Get out!”
In the dead of night, Zhuo Fan was trying hard to staunch the flow of blood from his chest while sitting on the bed. Luo Yunchang wanted to help him but Zhuo Fan’s bellow drove her out.
Despite winning against You Quan, his victory wasn’t a sweet one.
If not for his sneak attack, the fight would’ve been one-sided, a common occurrence when demonic cultivators were involved. But he felt a deep sense of powerlessness from today’s fight.
Although they were 4 layers apart, he believed himself to be a Demonic Emperor, that using all his power would have certainly finished off a kid still wet behind his ears.
Yet reality showed that not only he couldn’t win, but he also couldn’t even get the upper hand in the fight. He had to rely on scheming to lure Veiled Dragon Pavilion out in the open and kill his enemy when he least expected by inciting chaos among the houses, while also providing the Luo clan a way out.
It all went according to plan, yet it didn’t leave a good taste in his mouth.
“Too weak…”
To get rid of their trouble with the Cai clan and Sun clan, they got tangled up in the Seven Noble Houses’ conflict. It was trading one poison for another. All was quiet for now, but they’d have to face the music sooner or later.
Yet, with his meager power, he couldn’t protect himself, let alone the Luo clan.
“I need to get stronger fast!”
Zhuo Fan clenched his teeth and performed strange hand gestures as his eyes let out an eerie red light.
At this moment, Cai Xiaoting was meditating in a room when a sudden ache in his abdomen twisted his face in pain. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead and he soon passed out.
A bloody light flashed from his abdomen and a palm-sized infant came out.
It was Zhuo Fan’s Blood Infant.
At the time he was in Cai Manor, Zhuo Fan inserted the Blood Infant in Cai Xiaoting, to control Cai Rong. Because his movement was too fast, no one saw him. And under the threat of his son’s life, Cai Rong was forced to let the Luo clan go.
Thanks to the Blood Infant in Cai Xiaoting’s body, Zhuo Fan could monitor their affairs. He would get an early warning to any plan they might come up with.
But now, spying on the Cai clan has lost its value.
The Blood Infant saw the unconscious Cai Xiaoting and let out a sneer in Zhuo Fan’s voice, “Humph, I won’t take your life so you could bear witness to the fall of the Cai clan.”
The Blood Infant then turned into a red light and flew outside.
In a dark garden, a Cai clan guard was patrolling when a red light entered his body. He couldn’t utter a sound as his body numbed. He soon shriveled up and a light wind scattered him to dust, leaving behind the red glow.
In this manner, more than thirty guards disappeared from the Cai clan.
In the tavern, Zhuo Fan snickered and sent Blood Infant for the next prey.
He and the Blood Infant were one. When the Blood Infant entered a cultivator, he used the Demon Transformation Art to absorb the person’s blood essence and Yuan Qi for Zhuo Fan to refine later.
He didn’t plan on using the Blood Infant so soon, but he needed it to heal his heart. So he might as well reduce Cai clan’s numbers while he was at it.
The Blood Infant reached the Qi Condensation and even an early Bone Tempering expert would find it troublesome to fight with. As for Qi Condensation opponents, it would kill them in an instant.
If Zhuo Fan had the Blood Infant on him in his fight with You Quan, he could’ve won without having to resort to any schemes.
He could only sigh as he thought of how it was the perfect match to have both the Blood Infant and the Demon Transformation Art.
Raising the Blood Infant was very difficult, and even Patriarch Blood Demon only reached Saint Stage with it. Yet, thanks to the Demon Transformation Art, Zhuo Fan raised it to Qi Condensation after ten days of hard work in the tavern.
He did it during his previous seclusion. The first day he used to bind the Blood Infant and the rest to provide it with blood essence. Since the Blood Infant reached such a level, it was time for it to collect blood essence.
And in a clan like the Cai clan, Bone Tempering experts were rare, so Zhuo Fan wasn’t afraid the Blood Infant would be harmed. This led to an unrestrained hunt as he sucked dry fifty more guards.
But just when he planned to wipe away any Cai clan remnants, an eerie energy caught his attention.
“A Demonic cultivator expert?”
Zhuo Fan was startled and guided the Blood Infant to the source.
It arrived near a small room, where a faint light burned. There were two dozen peak Qi Condensation cultivators standing guard.
It stirred Zhuo Fan’s curiosity and drew Blood Infant to a window. As for those guards, they couldn’t even detect the Blood Infant, not to mention see it.
Three elderly sat in the guest and main seats inside the room.
The one in the main seat was Cai Rong. The first seat on his left was occupied by a bald old man with cloudy eyes and exuding a peculiar energy.
Zhuo Fan recognized it in a second, it was from a demonic cultivator expert.
The old man on Cai Rong’s right wore noble attire and faint traces of demonic energy leaked from him. It showed he was in the middle of changing to a demonic cultivation method.
Yet Cai Rong and the noble dressed old man were showing great respect to the bald demonic cultivator.
[Can it be…]
Zhuo Fan felt he was onto something when Clan Head cupped his hands before the bald man, “Elder Jian, to what do I owe the honor of your and Clan Head Sun’s visit?”
Cloudy eyes stared at Cai Rong until he trembled. It was then that Elder Jian smiled, “I’m sure you know that a disciple from my Hell Valley was killed today by a Veiled Dragon Pavilion.”
“Uhm, wasn’t it done by the Luo clan?” Cai Rong let out a dry laugh.
“You think the Luo clan would have the nerve?” Elder Jian laughed as his cloudy eyes shined, “The feud between my Hell Valley and Veiled Dragon Pavilion was at a stalemate where neither dared to make the first move and break the balance of the seven houses. Yet the Veiled Dragon Pavilion used the Luo clan to kill my disciple. What are they aiming for?”