Chapter 46: Zong Wu's Vengeance

Luo Hou appeared instantly in the sky above the Rakshasa Sect, flanked by a group of elders, confronting Zong Wu.

"I wondered who had the audacity, and lo and behold, it's you," Luo Hou sneered.

"You've kept me searching for quite a while, and now you've delivered yourself right to my doorstep."

Zong Wu said coldly, "I hope you can still manage to smile in a moment."

With that, he drew a kitchen knife.

Seeing Zong Wu pull out a mere kitchen knife, Luo Hou burst out laughing.

"Have you lost your mind? If you don't have a weapon, I can lend you one."

Looking down at the kitchen knife in his hand, Zong Wu felt a brief flash of embarrassment, yet this was undeniably a genuine Emperor-grade artifact.

Without wasting another word, he charged straight at Luo Hou.

Luo Hou raised his Luohou Sting and met him head-on.

Clang!

Upon impact, Luo Hou was knocked directly backward.

Regaining his footing, he was astonished to discover a distinct nick on his Luohou Sting.

He stared in utter shock at the kitchen knife in Zong Wu's hand, stammering, "An Emperor-grade weapon?"

Then, his shock slowly morphed into jubilation. "It seems you really are a boy bearing treasures."

"Hand over the Emperor-grade weapon, and I'll spare your life."

Hearing this, the surrounding elders immediately formed a circle, trapping Zong Wu in the center.

"If you have the ability, come and take it," Zong Wu said with utter disdain.

Luo Hou's expression turned frigid. "I let you slip through my fingers last time, but this is my territory, and you won't be so fortunate today."

With that, he immediately activated the sect-protecting grand array, and the entire compound was instantly enveloped in a pale golden barrier.

Unfazed, Zong Wu charged forward, gripping his kitchen knife.

His plan was to eliminate the others first, targeting the First Elder, who was at the First Layer of the Emperor Realm, as his initial target.

Seeing Zong Wu lunging toward him, the First Elder hastily retreated; he was certainly no match for Zong Wu.

Ignoring the chaos, Luo Hou began chanting incantations, preparing to unleash his lethal Death Curse once again.

Since the distance was short and the First Elder's cultivation was lower, Zong Wu caught up to him in no time.

Zong Wu brought the kitchen knife down in a ferocious slash, and the First Elder raised his sword horizontally to block.

Crack!

His longsword was cleanly severed, and in that split second, he hurled himself backward in full retreat.

Zong Wu pursued relentlessly, sidestepping the First Elder's counterattack to close in beside him once more.

Another strike came crashing down, while on the other side, the Death Curse condensed by Luo Hou drifted toward Zong Wu.

If Zong Wu persisted in his attack on the First Elder, he would be struck by the fatal curse.

However, Zong Wu refused to dodge, bringing his blade down with unstoppable momentum.

This time, the First Elder had no weapon to parry with, and it was too late to evade; he could only rely on his physical body to endure the blow.

Yet, even if he survived the first strike, there would be a second.

Until his dying breath, he could not comprehend why Zong Wu was willing to risk taking a lethal Death Curse just to kill him. Was the grudge truly this deep?

As the Death Curse entered Zong Wu's body, Luo Hou erupted into a maniacal laugh.

What did losing a First Elder matter compared to acquiring an Emperor-grade weapon?

The First Elder's corpse crashed heavily onto the ground, a mangled mess of flesh and blood.

Shocked cries echoed from the disciples watching below. "The First Elder is dead!"

Inside a room, Qian Wei and a man, currently in the middle of their tryst, started at the shout and hurriedly rushed outside.

Upon emerging to witness the corpse on the ground, disbelief washed over their faces. Her grandfather, an almighty Emperor Realm expert, had just been killed like this?

Qian Wei furrowed her brows deeply. She had finally traded her chastity to secure a powerful backing, only for that pillar of support to vanish in an instant?

She then cast her gaze toward the battle in the sky. When she spotted the old man holding the kitchen knife, she froze.

Wasn't that one of Qin Tian's subordinates?

How could he possibly be this formidable?

Could it be that he tracked her down and launched this massacre simply because she joined the Rakshasa Sect?

Was he trying to leave her with nowhere to turn? While Qian Wei was lost in her frantic imagination, the aerial battle intensified.

Luo Hou was being entirely suppressed by Zong Wu, who wielded the Emperor-grade weapon.

"You were struck by my Death Curse, why can you still unleash your full power?" he demanded in aggrieved disbelief.

A smug smirk played at the corners of Zong Wu's lips. "Because my young master bestowed upon me a cultivation technique that happens to be the exact nemesis of your Death Curse."

"So, go to hell!"

With those words, Zong Wu delivered another sweeping slash.

The blow cleaved the already nicked Luohou Sting cleanly in two.

Luo Hou's disadvantage grew more pronounced by the second.

Growing ever more valorous in battle, Zong Wu rained down blow after blow, giving Luo Hou no breathing room whatsoever.

Realizing the tide had turned completely, Luo Hou deactivated the sect-protecting grand array and prepared to flee, but Zong Wu afforded him no such opportunity.

Eighteen Illusory Slashes!

Zong Wu multiplied into numerous phantasmal clones, descending upon Luo Hou like a tempestuous storm of blades.

Luo Hou's physical body was instantly diced into pieces, yet in that fleeting instant, he decisively abandoned his flesh.

His Emperor Soul materialized and darted rapidly toward the perimeter of the sect.

No sooner had he cleared the boundaries of the sect than he reactivated the grand array from the outside, trapping Zong Wu within the barrier.

In the end, Zong Wu could only watch helplessly as Luo Hou's Emperor Soul escaped; shattering the array to pursue him now would take too much time.

Instead, while the barrier remained intact, he decided to vent his lingering fury.

These were the very people who had once rampaged through his family and slaughtered them all.

Wails of agony filled the air as Zong Wu dispatched them one by one.

However, he only targeted those at the Half-Saint realm and above; those below the Half-Saint realm had not participated in the slaughter of his clan, and thus he spared them.

After all, he was not a man who reveled in indiscriminate slaughter.

At last, every single member of the Rakshasa Sect at the Half-Saint realm and above had been executed. Zong Wu halted his slaughter, preparing to shatter the array and depart.

Just then, Qian Wei stepped forward and shrieked with bitter resentment, "Why? Why did you have to slaughter your way here the moment I pledged allegiance to the Rakshasa Sect?"

Zong Wu frowned as he recognized Qian Wei. He couldn't be bothered to engage with such a woman, and out of lingering regard for Qian Xue, he chose not to kill her.

With a casual flick of his palm, he sent Qian Wei flying, then shattered the array and vanished into the distance.

As Qian Wei spat a mouthful of blood, the man who had intended to take her as his bride approached her, his voice chillingly cold. "Did he come to slaughter my sect because of you?"

Terrified by the murderous look in the man's eyes, Qian Wei retreated step by step.

With a furious roar, the man lunged forward...

Zong Wu returned to the Artistic Conception Painting Studio and handed the kitchen knife back to Qin Tian.

Qin Tian accepted the blade and asked, "Is your vengeance fulfilled?"

Zong Wu nodded slightly. "More or less, though his Emperor Soul escaped."

Qin Tian gave a faint nod, then asked, "What weapon do you normally use?"

Without overthinking, Zong Wu replied instinctively, "I use a saber."

"Very well! As long as your loyalty remains absolute, I will gift you an Emperor-grade saber a year from now."

Hearing this, Zong Wu dropped to his knees in a rush, vowing, "This subordinate swears absolute allegiance to the Young Master, unto death."

A surge of tumultuous excitement coursed through him; many cultivators at the Third Layer of the Emperor Realm lacked an Emperor-grade artifact, yet he, standing at the Second Layer, was destined to possess one.

Meanwhile, after arriving at the Lin Clan's Chamber of Commerce, Zong Yan immediately immersed himself in alchemy.

The Lin Clan's Chamber of Commerce spared no effort in publicity, rolling out a series of promotional events.

The tide of battle instantly began to turn in their favor, though the Qingyu Chamber of Commerce still retained a shred of business.

This was because both third-grade and fourth-grade pills were issued in limited quantities.

Consequently, crushing the Qingyu Chamber of Commerce completely within a short span remained a difficult task.

Upon receiving the report, Qin Tian instructed them to focus on nurturing more alchemists.

Zong Yan was now fully qualified to take on apprentices, and once those apprentices matured, he would find himself with much lighter burdens.

For any faction striving to rise to prominence, relying solely on its top-tier leadership was never enough.