145: Chapter 145 The Asura's Night Visit: Just to Collect Rent

"Click."

A crisp sound rang out, sounding exceptionally clear in the dead of the night.

The Lin family death soldier responsible for the outer perimeter defense didn't even have time to see the hand reaching out from the mist before his neck was snapped.

His body collapsed limply, but before it hit the ground, Gu Yan caught him with one hand and gently laid him down in a pile of withered leaves.

Gu Yan straightened up, the black soul-shattering knuckles on his right fist flashing with a faint light. A wisp of the remnant Soul that had just drifted up from the death soldier's corpse was instantly devoured by the spikes on the knuckles.

No screams, no alarms.

Only the knuckles emitted an extremely faint, low hum, like a satisfied sigh after a full meal.

"Thirty-sixth."

Gu Yan shook his hand, his gaze piercing through the thin gray mist to lock onto the entrance of the cave ahead, which was radiating a dark red, bloody light.

Along the way, he had been like a precise scalpel, severing all the defensive nerves of this stronghold. Those guards who were only at the Qi Refinement Stage or just at the Foundation Establishment were as fragile as paper before him.

[Host, the concentration of the smell of blood here has exceeded the limit.]

The System light screen flickered at the edge of his vision, the font turning a warning deep red: [Detected a high-energy spiritual power convergence reaction. Three hundred meters directly below, a huge 'blood pool' is boiling. That sub-Formation Flag is feeding.]

"Feeding?"

Gu Yan stepped over the corpse on the ground, his footsteps silent: "Then let it eat its fill. I will collect the final bill."

...

Underground cave.

This was a huge hollowed-out hinterland, the air permeated with a suffocating smell of rust and rot.

In the center was a blood pool ten zhang in diameter, and what was churning inside was not water, but viscous fresh blood. Above the blood pool, a small black and red flag hovered, with a ferocious ghost face painted on its surface. It was greedily extracting the essence from the blood pool; with every gulp, the red light on the flag grew brighter.

Around the blood pool, hundreds of ragged Loose Cultivators were hung in mid-air by iron chains. Their wrists had been slit, and blood dripped down from their fingertips, merging into the pool water below.

"Hurry up! Everyone, be alert!"

A middle-aged Cultivator wearing a blood robe stood on a stone platform by the blood pool, brandishing a long whip covered in barbs.

Snap!

A lash struck a fainted Loose Cultivator, tearing away a patch of flesh. The Loose Cultivator woke up in pain, emitting a weak groan, and the speed at which his wound bled increased slightly.

"Elder Lin has given instructions; tonight we must feed this 'Soul-Devouring Flag' until it is full!" The middle-aged Cultivator had a face full of flab, his eyes flashing with a cruel light, "Whoever dares to die before the bloodletting ends, I will pull out his Soul to light a lamp!"

Several guards around him sneered, watching those "livestock" struggling in pain as if they were enjoying a good show.

There was no warning.

Nor was there any sound.

A guard standing on the outermost perimeter suddenly had his head explode like a ripe watermelon.

Red and white matter splattered onto the face of the person next to him.

"Who?!"

The middle-aged Cultivator turned abruptly, the long whip in his hand instantly taut, pointing like a venomous snake toward the darkness at the entrance.

Tap, tap, tap.

Footsteps came from the shadows.

Gu Yan walked out. His black clothes almost blended into the darkness; only the soul-shattering knuckles on his right hand emitting a faint light, and those indifferent eyes, appeared exceptionally striking under the reflection of the blood light.

"It seems I have arrived just in time."

Gu Yan glanced at the hovering blood flag, then at those hanging in mid-air, and finally his gaze fell on the middle-aged Cultivator: "The meal is ready, and the guest has arrived."

"Who are you? How dare you trespass into the Lin family Forbidden Ground!" The middle-aged Cultivator shouted sternly, but he did not act immediately. Because he could not see through the cultivation of the person in front of him, and the dense Evil Qi on the other party made him instinctively feel palpitations.

"Who I am is not important."

Gu Yan raised his right hand, the spikes on the knuckles flowing with a cold glint under the blood light: "What is important is that the rent you owe should be paid."

"Rent?"

The middle-aged Cultivator was stunned.

Boom!

The next instant, the rock under Gu Yan's feet shattered.

He turned into a bolt of black lightning, smashing through the air, and instantly appeared in front of the middle-aged Cultivator.

Too fast!

The middle-aged Cultivator's pupils contracted violently; he only had time to retract the long whip in his hand to defend, turning it into a blood-colored barrier.

"Die!"

Gu Yan punched out.

The soul-shattering knuckles, carrying a shrill ghostly wail, slammed heavily into the blood-colored barrier.

Pfft.

It was like piercing through butter with a red-hot iron rod.

The Low Grade Spiritual Artifact-level long whip snapped instantly, and the knuckles, with undiminished momentum, pierced directly through the middle-aged Cultivator's protective true essence, imprinting onto his chest.

There was no sound of bones breaking.

Because at the moment of contact, the Divine Soul vibration erupting from the knuckles had already shattered the middle-aged Cultivator's Sea of Consciousness first.

The middle-aged Cultivator's movements froze.

His eyes widened, his mouth opened wide, but he could not make a sound. His Soul seemed to be forcibly dragged out of his body by an invisible giant hand, and then ground to pieces amidst the shrill wail of the knuckles.

Bang.

Gu Yan withdrew his fist, and the middle-aged Cultivator's corpse fell straight into the blood pool behind, splashing up a wave.

"Deacon has died!"

"Run! It's a devil!"

The remaining guards instantly collapsed. Even a Deacon at the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment was killed in one punch; how could they, these Qi Refinement Stage lackeys, have the courage to resist?

"Run?"

Gu Yan turned around, looking at the figures fleeing in all directions.

"Since you like treating people as livestock, then stay behind and be fodder together."

His figure flashed.

It was as if a black whirlwind had swept through the cave. Every pause was accompanied by a muffled groan and a falling figure.

Ten breaths.

Merely ten breaths.

The cave returned to a dead silence. All the Lin family guards lay on the ground; their appearance looked intact, but the light in their eyes had completely extinguished—their Divine Souls were wiped out.

Gu Yan stood by the blood pool, not a drop of blood on him.

He looked up at the "Soul-Devouring Flag" that was still devouring blood Qi. Seeming to sense danger, the ghost face on the flag surface emitted a shrill scream, rolling up a wave of blood to pounce on Gu Yan.

"Quite a temper."

Gu Yan snorted coldly, did not dodge, directly reached out his right hand, and grabbed the flagpole.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!

The blood flag erupted with strong resistance, the red light scorching Gu Yan's palm, making a sound like roasting meat.

"Down, obey me."

Gu Yan's arm muscles bulged, and an even more ferocious Evil Qi erupted from the soul-shattering knuckles. That was the suppression power evolved after devouring the fragments of the soul-locking bell previously.

Boom!

Two forces collided in his palm.

The blood flag let out a mournful cry, the originally arrogant red light fading rapidly, like a venomous snake whose vital point had been pinched, instantly going limp.

Gu Yan tore down the blood flag, casually wiped off the Divine Sense imprint on it, and threw it into the System space.

[Ding! High-risk item recovered successfully.]

[Obtained item: Blood River Formation Flag (Sub-flag).]

[System analyzing... This thing contains the coordinates of a back door to the 'Fallen Demon Valley' Secret Realm. Host, we have obtained the key to the VIP passage!]

Gu Yan ignored the System's cheering.

He turned around and looked at those Loose Cultivators hanging in mid-air. Most of them were already delirious, but a few who were still conscious were looking at him with eyes full of fear and hope.

"Save... save me..." a thin, elderly man made a weak sound.

Gu Yan raised his hand and waved.

Several streaks of energy shot out, precisely cutting all the iron chains.

Thump, thump.

Hundreds of people fell to the ground.

"If you don't want to die, get out now."

Gu Yan's voice echoed in the cave: "Run east; there are no guards there."

After speaking, he didn't even look at these people again, turned around, and walked toward the exit.

Behind him were cries of relief and expressions of gratitude.

When Gu Yan walked out of the Withered Bone Forest, the horizon was already showing the white of dawn.

He looked back at the underground stronghold full of sin and blood behind him.

"The Lin family..."

Gu Yan touched a new blood pattern added to the knuckles.

The harvest of this night was just interest.

The real principal was still waiting in the Fallen Demon Valley three months later.

"Let's go, System."

Gu Yan's figure flickered and disappeared into the morning mist.

"Go back and see how Jiang Wanrou's Medicinal Pill refining is going. The consumption tonight was a bit high; I need to replenish."

[Host, by your so-called 'replenish,' do you mean proper Medicinal Pills, or... the improper Dual Cultivation?]

"Get lost."