Xue Qilin is walking along the allay, with Phecda right behind her.
The moment when light meets darkness has already passed. Heavy dark clouds obscure the sky, leaving only half of a bewitching red moon suspended high on the curtain of night.
There is a strange smell in the air. It’s the smell of blood.
… of more than one person.
It is impossible for one person’s blood to emit such a strong smell. Not a small number of people must have died.
“It’s a bit irritating…”
The disgusting smell raged inside the nasal cavities, forcing Xue Qilin to cover her nose with a sleeve to block the smell.
With the perception ability of a Heaven Realm master, her five senses are far more developed that those of ordinary people, which is why her sense of smell is so impacted by the thick stench of blood.
Without any better option, she adjusted the circulation of true qi in her body to reduce the acuity of her five senses, and the smell of blood became much fainter.
As a cost for suppressing the five senses, her vision dimmed instantly, and even the noise coming from afar disappeared along with a “hum” sound.
“It’s not a little, but rather quite irritating!”
Phecda covered her mouth and nose, causing the voice to sound muffled.
“Why have we come to such a place? I want to go back.”
Frowning in disgust, Phecda complained while pulling on Xue Qilin’s sleeve.
“Stop it, the road has become difficult to traverse as is.”
Xue Qilin stopped and pulled the sleeve away from Phecda.
Then she assumed an expression of teasing, turned her head around, and looked sideways at Phecda who has shrank behind her.
“Hey hey hey, that takes the cake! Anyway, you are a sword spirit, can’t you bear with it?”
“That has nothing to do with anything! Even as a sword spirit, I still find disgusting things disgusting!”
With that, Phecda puffed up her cheeks and stared at Xue Qilin with her big eyes.
“Really…”
Xue Qilin faced forward and narrowed her eyes.
“Then wait for me outside, I will go by myself.”
Her bright eyes shine faintly in the deep darkness.
“But, but…”
Xue Qilin’s proposal made Phecda feel extremely embarrassed.
“What if something goes wrong, what will you do without me by your side?”
Hearing Phecda’s concern, Xue Qilin poked fun at her.
“Hey, who was it that put a certain naughty sword in order a while back?”
“Boo…you’re bullying me again. I already apologized.”
Aggrieved, Phecda bit her lower lip and put on an expression of someone about to tear up.
“Besides, it wasn’t fair, it was two-on-one…”
Xue Qilin wrinkled her nose in resignation and displeasure.
“Yes Yes Yes. At that time, I had two choices, to fight you alone or together with Little Zhen. I chose the latter.”
At this point, she cracked her fingers.
“Now you also have two options, either follow me or wait for me outside. Which one do you choose?”
“… Do I have to choose?”
Phecda rubbed her toes together in distress.
“Then follow me if you can’t decide!”
Shooting a glance at Phecda’s white embroidered shoes, Xue Qilin spread her hands.
Without wait for Phecda to make a decision, she set off again.
“Boo hoo, why are you being like this!”
Phecda made a cry and quickly caught up.
The two walked for a short distance, and the faint bloody smell has gradually become stronger.
After turning around a corner, the sound of stepping on water sounded.
Xue Qilin who stepped on something stopped in her footsteps immediately.
“Whoa!”
Caught off guard. Phecda knocked into Xue Qilin in front of fer and almost plopped on the ground with her but.
She took a few steps back to stabilize herself, and then rubbed her nose and complained: “Why did you stop so abruptly?!”
“…”
Xue Qilin lowered her head, silent.
The blue embroidered shoe stepped on an ineffable liquid, which died the tip of the shoe crimson. The liquid even penetrated the cloth and moistened the lass’s toes.
Xue Qilin remembers this color, this tactile sensation very clearly – they both belong to blood.
Xue Qilin stooped down silently and touched the pool of blood on the ground.
It’s lukewarm.
The blood hasn’t lost its heat yet, which shows that it hasn’t been long since it was spilled.
Phecda popped out her head suspiciously and looked in front of Xue Qilin.
“What are you doing… eh!”
The doubtful voice was interrupted by a short and sudden sound.
“So much blood…”
Startled, her voice became a bit unstable.
“… Why is there be so much blood here!”
The surprise in her tone is more prominent than fear.
It’s no wonder that Phecda is this surprised.
She who has lost a greater part of her spirit is not as perceptive as she used to be. Unlike Xue Qilin, she cannot detect the clues in a scene and make conjectures.
Not saying a word, Xue Qilin raised her head and looked ahead.
In the dark, a severed arm broke into her field of vision.
Still holding a blade, the arm’s cross-section is not smooth. Xue Qilin can even see torn muscles.
This arm was pulled off by someone.
Looking further ahead, she found the place where the severed arm should have been attached to – a sturdy body is lying in a pool of blood.
Wearing black clothing, he should be one of the black market’s thugs.
Xue Qilin doesn’t know if she had seen this person before, because his head is not intact, with only half of it remaining. The upper part of the head is completely gone. The lass cannot tell who he was from the remaining half of his face.
That’s a barbaric and cruel way of killing… Xue Qilin feels uncomfortable inside.
“Little Phecda, stay here.”
“But…”
“No buts! This is an order!”
Xue Qilin stood up abruptly and spoke in a unyielding tone.
“… I understand.”
Phecda agreed weakly.
Xue Qilin is well aware that what lies ahead is a scene of hell, so she forbid Phecda to follow her.
… If you pry into hell too much, you’ll end up falling into it one day.
“Wait for me here.”
Xue Qilin glanced at Phecda and left this sentence behind.
Then she stepped across the severed arm, walked around the mutilated body, and continued forward.
The narrow and dark alley is covered with traces of blood.
On the walls, on the stone blocks, on the junk scattered on the ground, blood can be seen everywhere.
Placed in the alley, almost everyone would feel like they are going to drown in a sea of blood.
There are body parts scattered all over the alley.
Even though relatively complete corpses can be seen occasionally, but their death was still miserable.
Some have their head facing behind them.
Others have their bones broken as if they were crushed by something.
Still others have a hole opened inside them, and their innards spilled out.
Regardless of how they died, these bodies are all male and are dressed in black clothing. They are all thugs of the black market.
Perhaps they had some kind of track method that enabled them to find the martial demon lass, have a fierce battle with her, and eventually die due to not being a match for her.
Xue Qilin continued to pursue the weakening aura while making conjectures.
Finally she came to the end of the alley.
At this time, the thick clouds in the sky parted and revealed the red moon hidden behind.
The moonlight illuminated what lies before her eyes.
Then Xue Qilin finally saw her.
