Chapter 251: Chapter 123: Ninefold Thunder Shock Saber’s Limit Break, Cyan Yang Ancient City’s Storm

Outside the window, the moon was hidden by thick clouds, not a single star in sight. The night wind made the window lattice creak softly, yet the sound couldn’t penetrate the door, only serving to accentuate the deathly silence within.

A black fog, thick as ink and reeking of rot and mildew, swirled and churned between the ceiling beams and in the corners of the room.

An old wooden table and two sandalwood chairs—what little furniture there was—were swallowed by the black fog, reduced to blurry silhouettes. Not even a hint of their wood grain was visible.

In the center of the room, only two points of eerie green candlelight swayed.

The wicks sputtered with cyan sparks, illuminating the two figures seated across from each other in fits and starts. Their shadows stretched long across the wall, like two writhing specters.

The fog seemed to possess a will of its own, writhing slowly. When it touched the walls, it let out a faint SIZZLE—recoiling as if scalded, unable to pass the faint ring of gray light that lined the room.

All sounds and prying eyes, both from within and without, were completely sealed off by this layer of light.

This was no ordinary darkness, but a barrier created by a Secret Technique.

One of the men raised a hand, flicking his sleeve. The cloud patterns embroidered on the collar of his cyan official’s robes had faded to a dark cyan. In the black fog, it glinted coldly, giving the uniform an eerie aura that ordinary robes lacked.

He had a refined, scholarly face and appeared to be around forty. It was none other than Zhang Yunpeng, the County Magistrate of Cyan Yang Ancient City.

But his once-kind face was now shrouded in an impenetrable gloom, his brows knitted so tightly they seemed to form a knot.

"Two years..."

Zhang Yunpeng’s voice was calm, yet it carried a bone-chilling cold. As he spoke, the candlelight flickered violently, and the black fog seemed to recoil from the chill in his words.

"We’ve spent two full years searching Cyan Yang Ancient City and Dragon Ridge Mountain. The aura of the ’key’ definitely appeared here, but it vanished without a trace, as if it had dissolved into the sea."

The black-robed man across from him kept his head bowed.

A spacious hood concealed his face, revealing only his hands.

Those hands were as pale as if they’d been soaked in corpse water. The fingers were long and slender, the knuckles an unnatural ashen-gray, with flecks of dark red still caked beneath the nails.

His fingers picked absently at the corner of his sleeve, the movement as stiff and unnatural as a corpse’s.

"I have failed in my duty."

The black-robed man’s voice was somewhat hoarse, sounding particularly jarring in a room so quiet you could hear the candles burn.

Zhang Yunpeng shot him a cold glance. As his gaze swept over the man’s hands, the candlelight leaped again. "Failed? This is far more than a failure! We could have continued our search in secret. But no, you had to provoke the Blood Saber Sect and let the situation spiral out of our control!"

The black-robed man looked up. Two points of red light flashed from beneath his hood, his tone as agitated as a cornered beast. "The Blood Saber Sect has been coveting our sect’s treasured artifact. I only wanted to teach them a lesson and intimidate the other powers in Cyan Yang Ancient City at the same time—"

"Intimidate the other powers?" Zhang Yunpeng cut him off, his voice rising sharply. The candlestick on the table wobbled violently. "After you used the Snake Demon to slaughter the Blood Saber Sect, were those other powers intimidated?"

A few drops of wax dripped onto the wooden table and were instantly swallowed by the black fog, leaving no trace.

"Now, is there anyone in all of Cyan Yang Ancient City who doesn’t know the Moon Worship Sect is searching for the ’key’?"

"Our sect’s disciples, the ones searching for the ’key’, are fighting bloody battles with other factions every night. They’re dying one after another!"

"We haven’t found the ’key’, our plans are in shambles, and the whole of Cyan Yang Ancient City has been thrown into chaos!"

"How many times did I warn you?"

The black-robed man’s voice lost some of its edge. "That bastard knows the Ghost Shadow Illusionary Body Step and the Extreme Night Cold Prison Hand. He’s even cultivated the Extreme Night Cold Prison Hand to a level far beyond that of an ordinary disciple... but I’ve investigated every one of my subordinates and still haven’t found him..."

"Stop looking. He’s definitely not one of us in the Moon Worship Sect," Zhang Yunpeng sighed, a hint of weariness in his voice.

As he exhaled, the black fog pulsed faintly with his breath, rising and falling like a living creature.

"What?" The black-robed man was taken aback, and the red glow under his hood wavered. "If he’s not one of ours, how could he have mastered those two techniques to such a degree?"

Zhang Yunpeng took a deep breath. "I’ve received intelligence," he said. "The Ghost-faced Man who destroyed the Seven Stars Gang’s Blood Refining Array and threw everything into turmoil is most likely a member of the Blood Saber Sect."

"That’s impossible!" the black-robed man blurted out, his voice turning shrill and startling the candlelight into another frantic dance.

"And why is that impossible?" Zhang Yunpeng sneered, the curl of his lips looking exceptionally sinister in the eerie green candlelight. "That Ghost-faced Man used the Nine Blood Soul Blades. His mastery of the technique is such that I fear only the Gang Leader and a few Hall Masters of the Blood Saber Sect could match him." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Besides the core disciples of the Blood Saber Sect, who else could reach that level of mastery?"

"Destroying the Blood Refining Array, passing information to Cao Feng, spreading the word that the Moon Worship Sect is searching for the ’key’..."

"I fear all of this is the handiwork of that Ghost-faced Man!"

"And why would he do all this?"

"Isn’t it because you used a Demon Fiend to slaughter the Blood Saber Sect?"

"If you had just listened to me, would any of this mess have happened?!"

The black-robed man’s body trembled slightly. From beneath his hood came the soft grinding of teeth, a sound like splintered bone scraping together.

His fists clenched with a CRACK. "But Lin Luoxue said he’s just some trash who hasn’t even passed the five hurdles of Foundation Establishment..."

"Hasn’t passed the five hurdles of Foundation Establishment, yet he was able to kill Qin Fei, the Hall Master of the Seven Stars Gang’s Cyan Wood Hall." Zhang Yunpeng’s voice was dripping with scorn. "And even now, you still see him as nothing more than an ant..."

"...failing to realize that this entire predicament we’re in is all thanks to him!"

The black-robed man said coldly, "If we know the Ghost-faced Man uses the Nine Blood Soul Blades, then catching him won’t be difficult."

"I’ll take action myself and annihilate the Blood Saber Sect! Then I’ll perform Soul Extraction and Spirit Refining on their Gang Leader and the remaining Hall Masters. I’ll search their memories. I’ll find that bastard one way or another!"

"And what if you find him? What if you kill him? It’s too late for that..." Zhang Yunpeng sighed, his voice laced with exhaustion. "Do you think our Moon Worship Sect cares about the insignificant Blood Saber Sect?"

"But that Ghost-faced Man helped the New Seven Stars Gang fight Seven Stars Castle. He didn’t just cripple Seven Stars Castle, he also destroyed the Blood Refining Array..."