146: The evil cultivators slaughtered the town, and black smoke rose up.

A small border town in the Great Jiang Imperial Dynasty.

The population was sparse, only a few thousand people. A small river flowed through the town, and ducks leisurely glided by.

A little girl with braided pigtails leaned against the green bricks of the riverbank, giggling as she greeted the ducks.

“Girl, come back for dinner!”

An old woman leaned against the doorway, smiling as she watched the girl.

The setting sun cast its warm light upon the copper tiles of the houses and the old woman’s face, making it soft and gentle.

The girl skipped back to the house, looked around, and let out a surprised “Eh?” “Where’s Daddy?”

“That scoundrel has gone off to seek Immortals again!”

The old woman cursed.

A few days ago, an old man in a Daoist robe arrived in the small town. He pointed out several strong men, claiming they had Spiritual Roots and could Cultivate Immortality.

For the first two days, he still remembered to come back for dinner, but today he didn’t even eat. It looked like he was about to leave home to seek Immortals.

“Girl, what’s so good about seeking Immortals? People like us, we just live a peaceful life and that’s it. You mustn’t follow your father’s example later.”

The old woman wiped away tears, sighing.

Outside, the small stream flowed quietly. Downstream, in a black brick house, several strong men lay on a pile of straw, barely breathing. Their limbs had been cut open, blood Qi overflowed, yet it was manipulated by a secret technique, forming a red thread that surged into the Daoist-robed old man.

“Hoo…”

After a long while, the Daoist-robed old man finally stopped. He looked at the strong men, now reduced to skeletal, inhuman forms, and with a flick of his hand, he conjured a spell that burned the corpses without a trace.

“The Great Jiang Imperial Dynasty is such a hassle. To find blood food, I have to pretend to be an Immortal and lure them away from home.”

The Daoist-robed old man was, in fact, an evil Cultivator, and one from within the Great Jiang Imperial Dynasty at that.

The Great Jiang Imperial Dynasty had extremely strong control over its territories. Evil Cultivators dared not act recklessly, and over the years, an unspoken understanding had formed: they had to use the pretense of seeking Immortality and Cultivation to trick people away, and then cautiously avoid detection.

Even so, they had to control the numbers. A town of a few thousand people could at most have a few individuals taken before they had to leave, otherwise, the unspoken understanding maintained by the Imperial Court would be broken, and the evil Cultivators would face a great disaster.

“Sigh, being an evil Cultivator isn’t easy these days.”

The evil Cultivator flicked his Daoist robe open the door, preparing to leave the small town.

Just then, his expression suddenly changed. He heard loud roars and incessant sounds of magical attacks, followed by the cries and screams of countless townspeople.

“What’s going on?”

The evil Cultivator was a bit bewildered. The Great Jiang Imperial Dynasty was usually peaceful, and he couldn’t immediately understand the situation, so he rushed out to investigate.

What he saw instantly left him dumbfounded.

Dozens of evil Cultivators surged in, their bodies overflowing with blood Qi, constantly casting spells to kill Mortals without any restraint.

“Girl, run!”

An old woman frantically pushed the little girl, trying to lead her to the town’s secret passage.

But just then, a blood-red stream of light shot from afar, piercing through the old woman.

“Mom!”

The little girl stared at the gaping chest, frozen on the spot.

“Run… quick… run…”

The old woman hadn’t drawn her last breath when she saw another stream of light fly in, knocking the little girl to the ground. Her eyes instantly dulled, and she finally lost her breath.

“Eh? Did I just trigger a plot event?”

“Who cares? They’re all just Mortals. The plot reward is probably just chickens, ducks, and geese at most. Missing it is missing it.”

“You’re right, never mind.”

“Quickly kill them all. Let’s refine the blood Qi together, otherwise, the next town will be snatched by someone else.”

The evil Cultivators laughed, their objective very clear: only kill people, not search for treasure. They clearly knew these Mortals wouldn’t have anything good.

“What’s going on?”

The Daoist-robed old man stared at this scene, his mind buzzing, unable to react for a moment.

From these Cultivators’ actions of killing Mortals, and their behavior of refining blood Qi and even devouring flesh and blood, they were undoubtedly evil Cultivators.

But… what kind of evil Cultivators would be so bold?

This was the Great Jiang Imperial Dynasty, under the rule of the Empress. The Imperial Court’s control was extremely strong. Immortal Foundation powerhouses could descend at any time, and even the Golden Core Empress might personally intervene. Under such circumstances, evil Cultivators still dared to brazenly slaughter a town?

This was no ordinary evil Cultivator.

“Oh, there’s a Cultivator here!”

Suddenly, a player evil Cultivator discovered the native evil Cultivator, laughing as he looked towards him. Several other players around also turned their gaze, already beginning to cast spells.

Cold sweat poured down the Daoist-robed old man’s back. He felt that he might meet his end here today, but he still held a sliver of hope and quickly said:

“I’m an evil Cultivator too!”

In his opinion, evil Cultivators in the Great Jiang Imperial Dynasty lived humbly and should help each other when encountered, at least not kill each other.

But that evil Cultivator asked, “Imperial Palace Jade Liquid Wine?”

The Daoist-robed old man was stunned for a moment, then replied, “This humble Daoist doesn’t have Imperial Palace Jade Liquid Wine, but I do have other fine wines, I wonder…”

“He’s a native, kill him!”

Immediately, a wave of blood mist surged forward. The Daoist-robed old man hastily responded. After all, he was an experienced evil Cultivator, and his mastery of spells, Talismans, and Medicinal Pills was beyond what ordinary players could match.

Unfortunately, the number of players was simply too great. They were all in the Qi Refining Realm, so there wasn’t a huge gap in power. Numbers decided everything. After a wave of them swarmed him, the Daoist-robed old man quickly fell, his chest pierced, his spiritual power quickly dissipated, and he collapsed.

“I got the last hit, the storage ring is mine!”

“Bullshit, that hit just now was clearly mine!”

“Stop fighting, this old fellow is an evil Cultivator too, and he has plenty of blood Qi. Let’s all share him first.”

The setting sun grew dimmer, and a cloud of blood mist rose.

The townspeople were slaughtered one after another, and houses were roughly torn down, merely to quickly determine if there were any good items inside.

The quietly flowing river gradually turned blood-red, and desiccated corpses were casually thrown into the river.

After an unknown amount of time, the noisy players finished their looting, still chattering as they rushed to the next small town… *click*.

A hard stone slab was pushed aside, and several young people emerged from the underground passage, looking painfully at the blood-stained town, tears in their eyes, their fists tightly clenched.

“Damn evil Cultivators, just you wait…”

“There are still people here!”

Before the survivors could express their emotions, they heard surprised voices from nearby.

It turned out that Great Love Sect members with high Cultivation would act in groups, slaughtering towns and absorbing blood, but those with lower Cultivation, even those in Spirit Nurturing, were unwilling to miss out, and so would follow behind, specifically to pick up the scraps.

“What?”

The last survivors of the small town looked at the dozens of strong players, their faces drained of color.

Thump.

The last townspeople fell, but the players were relentless.

“Hey, there’s an underground passage here. Are there still monsters inside?”

“Holy crap, it’s my turn to go. You beasts stole so many monsters from me, my Rank can’t keep up.”

“Let’s all go together, maybe there’s some treasure inside.”

A small town was completely annihilated under the ravages of the evil Cultivators.