He paused for a moment before he went on. “I made an error in calculation this time, but if I could do it again… I would still do the same thing!”

“There’s a saying which goes ‘Those who wish to accomplish great things should not be constrained by trivial details’, as well as…’The merciful are ill-suited to be in charge of military troops’.” Mo Tianji went on in a detached manner. “The success of a general needs to be built upon ten thousand bleached white bones, what more when putting into order the whole of the vast Nine Heavens?”

“There must be compassion in one’s heart but not to the point of overflowing!” Pushing himself up from the ground, Mo Tianji got to his feet. “And now, we’ve already held up some time by saying so much. There’s no point in preaching, and I cannot be bothered to say any more to you. If you can move, then carry me somewhere safe at once and finish up what else needs to be done in this operation.”

Gu Duxing snorted and tossed the shield away casually. With his sharp eyes and nimble movement, Mo Tianji actually caught hold of it again and stored it inside his ring. “You wastrel! This is the true essence which only comes after burning it. It can be of great use to Boss… And you discarded it just like that?”

Gu Duxing rolled his eyes. With a cold expression, he hoisted Mo Tianji onto his back and jostled him left and right hard. Mo Tianji was already hurting all over. This jostling straight-up caused tears to form in his eyes. With a contorted expression, he groaned. “Just you wait.”

Letting out another snort, Gu Duxing disappeared in a whoosh with Mo Tianji on his back.

After employing every method he could to conceal his presence, he circled a couple of rounds before he reached a little hut in the mountains. Probably constructed by a hunter at some point, it had long since been abandoned. And now, it had been tidied and cleaned up by Mo Tianji the day before.

This place was a camouflage that Mo Tianji had prepared in case of unexpected events. Although he had been certain before the commencement of the operation that there wouldn’t be any accidents, out of habit, he had prepared a place where they could adjust to unexpected changes nonetheless.

In case an ‘in case’ outside of their expectations happened, this place could provide them with a temporary resting place and a ready-made identity for them to avoid the enemy’s tracking.

One must admit that Mo Tianji’s preparation for a rainy day had come into great use at this point…

The two of them entered the hut. By the time Gu Duxing came out again, he was already dressed as a hunter. The bright look in his eyes was completely restrained. He looked just like an ordinary hunter in the mountains.

Originally, there should have been two of them, but at the moment, Mo Tianji was obviously out of commission. Thus, he could only stay in bed and pretend to be sick. His face had also been smeared black by Gu Duxing…

He was rather wistful for a moment there. These roles, including pretending to be a corpse and lying in the coffin, were usually prepared for Ji Mo and Luo Kedi. Who would have thought that after going to the trouble of making so much preparation, they were all being used on himself now instead…

A short while after Gu Duxing and Mo Tianji left the area, there was a disturbance in the air in the dark of the night. A blue-robed figure shot through the air, and he landed right at the spot where Gu Duxing and Mo Tianji had been.

“This should be the place.” The countenance of the person who had come was stupefied and bleak — It was Lan Buhui.

The Elder Master of one of the Nine Super Clans was indeed by no means unexceptional. He had actually found his way here based on the way the bodies were thrown out.

What the most tragic aspect in this incident involving the Lan Clan was — Nobody knew what had happened, while all those who did know had all died over the course of a single day, with not a single person surviving!

And this ‘being in the know’ was merely referring to those who ‘knew that Mo Tianji and Gu Duxing had come to ask for shelter’. As for the cause and consequences of the explosion, there was not a single person who knew.

The only thing that the survivors had a vague impression of was that two teenagers had escaped quickly from their home, but these two were extremely unfamiliar faces…

Yes, they had only this little bit of information.

In his hurry, when Lan Buhui rose into the air, he had only been in time to witness several people being thrown out during the explosion. After calming himself slightly, he began to search for them one by one. However, even after locating quite a few of them, they were all dead.

By the time he got to this direction where Mo Tianji and Gu Duxing had been, he was already at the 34th person.

“They landed here… After they broke the tree branches, they stayed here for a while. There are traces of blood here… but they left without staying here…” Observing the traces lying around, Lan Buhui muttered to himself, “If they were people from the clan who were barely alive, they would have stayed here longer no matter what… But this person left in a hurry… So he shouldn’t be.”

“And if he isn’t… then he must be the one who had caused all these.”

Murderous intent flared in Lan Buhui’s eyes!

This was the first time killing intent had surfaced in Lan Buhui in the last few thousand years! He had undergone so much hardship to establish the clan. Ten thousand years later, he actually watched helplessly as his clan, in the height of its prosperity, was destroyed right before his very eyes!

Reduced to charred ashes!

There was no way to describe how Lan Buhui was feeling in this instant.

Or perhaps…’hysterics’ would be the right word.

There was a lightning-like brightness in his eyes as he took a close look at all the traces in the surroundings, including the way leaves broke, the direction, the sap that seeped out after the leaves were broken, etc…

Then, he got to his feet and strode out.

The direction in which he strode out was precisely the very first step that Gu Duxing had taken with Mo Tianji on his back!

There was not one bit of discrepancy in the direction and distance. In fact, even the weight was the same. Although Lan Buhui didn’t know why there was a peculiar ‘weight’ to the other party’s footsteps, he simulated it perfectly…

Then, he took the second step.

By the time he took the third step, Lan Buhui had already fully ascertained that these two people must be the ones who caused the terrible explosion! This was because in a mere three steps, they had already changed two different directions.

“That’s not all. Some kind of special rhythm was used when taking these three steps. It made use of the moment where they brushed past the vegetation yet not damaging them, to allow these plants to take away the smell on themselves!”

Lan Buhui’s eyes flickered. “Such cunning crooks!”

He became even more careful in every subsequent step he took. Although his actions were several times slower than Gu Duxing, it guaranteed very strictly that every step was accurate.

Gu Duxing had not left behind footprints or any other traces at all.

However, just by relying on a mysterious feeling, Lan Buhui was close on his trail. He did not take even a single wrong step, as though Gu Duxing had left behind deep footprints to guide him along…

By the time he took the fifth step, Lan Buhui had restrained all the murderous intent around him. By the seventh step, he had concealed all signs of life on himself. By the ninth step… Lan Buhui’s entire self had fused into the dimension between heaven and earth.

During the great explosion of the Lan Clan, Chu Yang was in a very secluded inn in the city east, seated right opposite Tan Tan.

Since he had run into Tan Tan, good things naturally should be shared — meaning, all of Chu Yang’s resources, including Xue Leihan’s wine. All of these were things that martial artists dreamed of and yearned for.

Although the techniques which Tan Tan practiced were totally different, in the aspect of spiritual energy of the universe, he was no exception.

The moment he laid eyes on it, his eyes gleamed blue.

Before Chu Yang could even explain much to him, that fellow was already holding Chu Yang down against the bed like a robber. “Give me more!”

Unable to resist, Chu Yang could only ask, “How much do you want?”

With overwhelming murderous intent, Tan Tan asked, “How does this thing work?”

Chu Yang answered, “An undiluted cup of wine… is equivalent to roughly three hundred years of cultivation.”

Tan Tan’s eyes swiveled as he calculated. “One cup equates three hundred years, and one cup is about 150 milliliters… I… I want at least… I want… I want one and a half liters!”

After deliberating, he presumed that Chu Yang definitely wouldn’t have a lot when it came to good stuff like this. Besides, there were other brothers waiting for their own share. Asking for one and a half liters was already very impressive of him.

He thought to himself, “If Chu Yang bargains with me, I’ll pretend to be unwilling before reducing it bit by bit. If I can even get half a liter at the end, that would be considered a great victory.”

To his surprise, Chu Yang actually replied without any hesitation, “One and a half liters? No problem! Let me up first.”

Tan Tan rubbed his hands in excitement as he released Chu Yang. Chu Yang was indeed a man of his word. After measuring one and a half liters, he gave it to Tan Tan. Tan Tan was so delighted that he was grinning from ear to ear, holding it as though it was a treasure. Even his eyebrows were slanted downwards and bouncing up and down. “I just know Senior Brother Disciple is the best, hehehe… I’ve just discovered that you’re actually pretty handsome too, just a tad less than me, hehehe…”

Chu Yang rubbed his shoulders and pursed his lips as he said, “If you hadn’t demanded for it, I would have given you five liters. But since you were so impolite and had only wanted one and a half liters, then I’m more than happy to keep the rest for myself.”

“Huh?” Tan Tan’s jaw dropped at once, his neck stretching out a great distance as his eyes bulged out of their sockets. “My great lord, surely you didn’t?”

Chu Yang was unfazed. “Why not? In any case, that’s settled.”

Tan Tan’s expression fell at once. “Senior Brother Disciple~~~~ Yang Yaaaanggg~~~~”

He actually started to whine like a spoiled child.

Chu Yang shuddered at once. “Get lost quickly!”

At the side, Xie Danfeng started giggling.

Tan Tan’s eyes swiveled and he immediately said shamelessly, “Wife, your turn!”

Chu Yang was taken aback. By then, Xie Danfeng had already stepped up to him. “Big Brother Chu… Won’t five liters do? Please…” And she actually started to swing Chu Yang’s arm left and right.

Tan Tan swung his arm on the left while Xie Danfeng swung his other arm on the right. Both husband and wife began whining and acting like spoiled children.

Chu Yang fainted completely. He hurriedly raised both arms in surrender. “Alright, alright… I surrender… My goodness, I’ve really seen something new today… There’s actually such a couple in this world… And they are actually my junior brother disciple and his wife… Oh heavens.”

Only then was Tan Tan and his wife satisfied. Reaching out together, their palms stopped right underneath Chu Yang’s nose. “Hand it over…”

Chu Yang was completely defeated…

After getting good stuff, they naturally needed to consume it immediately and raise their cultivation. That was why Chu Yang and Tan Tan had deliberately come to an extremely secluded location like this.

Needless to say, they had absolutely no idea that Tianlan City had already been thrown into total chaos in the day.

In the evening, Chu Yang turned his full attention to guarding them.

Tan Tan and Xie Danfeng were beside him. Tan Tan was already done with his cultivation improvement and was in the midst of circulating his energy to assist Xie Danfeng in digesting the medicinal effects. Speaking of which, Chu Yang was also immensely speechless.

Others would hurriedly boost their cultivation after consuming the wine. But when Xie Danfeng drank the wine, her first reaction was actually… to become drunk…

Chu Yang was rendered totally speechless right away.

At the back, he could hear Tan Tan releasing a long breath of air as he remarked, “This would do at last. This little girl’s foundation is weak, so she has to drink more… to solidify her foundation and strengthen her core.”

Tan Tan had only consumed two cups. On the other hand, he made Xie Danfeng consume one and a half liters. This fellow doted on his wife but made Xie Danfeng intoxicated instead, and the last cup of wine ended up spraying out of her mouth…

If others were to see so much of this amazing and rare treasure that martial artists cherished like their very lives and might not be able to catch even a whiff of in a million years going to waste, they would probably weep on the spot.

But the great Master Tan’s expression did not change at all. The great Master Chu was similarly unfazed.

This was the brothers’ willpower. It could truly be said to surpass the ancients and amaze the contemporaries…