Bloody Emperor - Chapter 7 A Friendly Grip

The year 1523 of Golden Phoenix, day 6 of the fourth month. A very busy day for the small town of Abun.

Everyone was looking at the Endless Forest in the southern part of Abun. Mountains surrounded the Green Valley, but a small part of the south was forested. A forest that had an unknown end to everyone in Abun as it was the division of the world into north and south. The first controlled by humans and the last by Demi-Humans.

As the green valley was a resource-poor region, it was not the target of powerful beasts or demi-humans, but Abun’s people could not go so far in the south because they did not return, being eaten by beasts or killed by demi-humans.

But far from these thoughts, young people now enter the Endless Forest with hopeful smiles on their faces. Everyone wants to get out of the distant little town of Abun and now is the chance. Everyone was after the prize. Elder Xiong’s assistant was their target.
for visiting.

Many young Cultivators came together in small groups with acquaintances; others had it alone, hoping to be more noticed by Elder Xiong. But he had already chosen who to take as a disciple.

He wanted the two most notable Ladys in town. Miss Xun and Miss Dai, with their strong personalities and competitiveness, would be perfect apprentices. Elder Xiong already had many plans to use one to help the other grow.

But even though he has made up his mind, he has to keep up the idea that Black Sword Sect is always fair to give everyone a chance to prove themselves. And this is partly true, they are already by far the most talented young Cultivators in Abun, and he had his assistant keep an eye on anyone who shows exceptional talent if anyone proves worthy he can still choose, as no one knows about his decision.

But still, Elder Xiong planned to enter the forest but to take a nap.

Dai Zhi entered the forest with a group of seven cultivators, formed by his cousin, who was also in the Qi Refinement third layer, and six other cultivators who worked for her family, two Qi Refinement second layer and the others in the first.

Dai Zhi had a lot of confidence but knew that catch the Qi Refinement fourth layer assistant alone was almost impossible. She was not afraid to use help and be rejected by Elder Xiong because she was confident in her talent.

Planning to let the other youths chase after the assistant, Dai Zhi and her group walked quietly through the woods waiting for the opportunity to surround the target together when he is tired. She could not help but think about how her rival, Xun Lan, was going.

“Huh?” Dai Zhi, as she walked with many thoughts, stopped her steps when she heard distant footsteps.

“Did you hear something, My lady?” One of Dai Zhi’s trusted henchmen asked, confused.

“Is it the assistant? Cousin?” Dai Wen, Dai Zhi’s cousin, asked. He always kept a high image of her in his mind. Everyone knew Dai Wen’s respect and affection for her beautiful cousin, and they also knew that she only treated him like any henchmen.

“It is not human.” Dai Zhi spoke in her usual cool, and calm tone. But there was a different sparkle in her eyes. A sparkle that could be seen in every human eye when they think of non-humans.

“Shall we chase?” Another henchman asked without hiding his craving, which almost causes him running with a torch in his hand, shouting “dieeee monster.”

“Yes, but let’s observe before attacking.” Dai Zhi always values caution in her actions, especially if she already knows she’ll be hostile.

“Yes, My lady. Let’s go!” That eager henchman called his companions and went in the direction Dai Zhi had appointed.

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“Fuck!!! Shit!!! That damn bastard…” A severely injured woman limped through the woods as she cursed every curse she could think of.

Marie was very angry with her former teammate, but she still felt more upset with herself to be weaker.

“There’s no damn cave in this damn forest??? I need to hide until I regain my cultivation.”

Marie had a bloody battle with a Cultivator stronger than her, and even though he was very hurt, she couldn’t even use her Cultivation now and was no different from a normal non-human without Cultivation.

She was a beautiful young girl with big hairy fox ears, but that wasn’t all her differential. Marie had her upper face and various body parts covered with an auburn pelage. Her nails were bigger and stronger than humans. Strength and senses slightly better than humans. The Fox-people were awesome.

But at that moment you couldn’t see Marie’s beauty. She looked like a little fox wounded, all dirty and full of wounds. She didn’t regret starting the fight with a stronger Cultivator, and even a part of her was happy and proud to have come out alive and dealt a lot of damage to her opponent.

“Argh… shit!” Marie thought when it was too late, and she found herself surrounded by humans. At other times she would not be surprised by Cultivators in the Qi Refinement Realm and many even stronger. But she was now surrounded and too weak to fight even a cat.

Marie could speak the human language, but she was sure it would not be useful. Non-humans knew well about human hatred for them, senseless and irrational hate. If she tried to beg for mercy or run away, it would only give them entertainment.

Seeing the cruelty shining in the eyes of the men surrounding her, Marie fell silent and closed her eyes, expecting the worst.

“Aaaah!” Marie was knocked over and fell, hitting her shoulder on a rock, and she turned her face to the man who knocked her down. Marie felt a terrible fear when she saw that man’s sinister smile.

Marie was not afraid of death but feared to die helplessly as a toy for someone who would enjoy her suffering. She always thought she would die fighting for the glory and honor of her Fox Clan or her best friend.

“My bes-. No. My sister! I hope you are safe. I will not be able to help you” Marie tried to think of her sworn sister to try to distance herself from the pain she felt but ended up feeling worse.

When one of the men was going to kick her belly, everyone heard a voice. “Ahem.”

Dai Zhi walked slowly a few feet away from her henchmen, and Dai Wen followed behind like a dedicated butler.

“Why are you bullying her?” Dai Zhi asked with a serious tone, and all the henchmen got scared. “How she’s defending that non-human if she said we could do whatever we want.” Thought all of them except Dai Wen, who knew his lovely cousin loved a theatrical seine.

“I’m kidding you, idiots. Just don’t give this shitty beast an easy death.” Dai Zhi started laughing at her dumb henchmen but stopped when she turned and faced the serious face of her rival who appeared out of nowhere.

Xun Lan, who heard the laughter, went to investigate only to find Dai Zhi and her happy group beating a non-human.

Xun Lan felt no pity for the poor girl who was lying on the floor, but she was very curious why this non-human appeared here and now. It was not common for non-humans to appear near Abun, but it had happened other times, enough for stupid people to propagate ideas like ‘Non-humans want to kill us and steal our land.’

“Don’t look at me with that ugly face Dai Zhi. No one will defend her and take entertainment from your guys, but we need to get some information on where she came from and if there are other non-humans around.” Xun Lan calmly spoke while showing hostility to Dai Zhi.

“Fine, but don’t get into it, smelly Xun Lan.” Dai Zhi was already familiarized with Xun Lan’s treatment, unlike her henchmen who were already agitated to rush and hit Xun Lan’s face for talking to their Miss like that.

After making her point clear, Dai Zhi walked towards the fox-girl. “You just have to tell us your story, and the pain will end quic-.” Dai Zhi couldn’t finish her words when she and everyone looked at the trees in the distance.

Everyone heard a growl from the bushes. “Somebody go check if it’s a wolf.” Dai Zhi barely finished talking, and a Qi Refinement first layer Cultivator moved toward the noise direction.

While Dai Zhi and the others turned to fox-girl, the henchman headed toward the bushes that swayed in the wind. He wanted to check fast and get back to the fun with fox-girl, but still, he wanted to do a simple task very right to be useful to his Lady.

But that man after walking a little over a hundred meters and out of sight of the group in the trees, lost his life without knowing how.

“Shh…”

When that poor young man felt the cold grip of death on his neck, he knew it was the end. But the end didn’t come fast. He couldn’t make any sound, and his body was too weak to move. Then he felt two points dig into his neck.

He knew it was fangs, and he could feel the suction. Having his blood drained by an unknown creature, that man never imagined that he would die so strangely.

He wondered what would happen to his family without him. Even young, he already had wife and children, all servants of Dai Family, and he had no regrets working for them. Dai Family always treated him well and there among their servants. He found friends, support, and a good wife.

Thinking of his friends, he remembered his home and parents, how his father helped him enter the Cultivation World from childhood. His father helped him train, and his mother taught things like general knowledge.

One memory led to another. Soon he remembered things like when he was very young, and his mother taught him to speak his first words.

“My memory??? What???” He tried to stop remembering, but something forced the memories back. Sounded crazy, but he wondered if his aggressor was reading his memoirs with him. But how could something like this be possible?

But the worst was yet to come.

The poor man realized that the tightness in his neck was almost non-existent now. He didn’t feel cold anymore but a strange heat. When he looked down, he saw white hair, he never in his life saw or imagined that there was anyone with white hair in the world, but he felt a strange familiar sense with that man.

How did he know it was a man? Why he felt so safe with this man?? How could he feel that this is his best friend in his whole life, and he was sure that this ‘brother’ would never do him any harm???

That poor man had a thousand questions as Nero sucked his blood and learned about all his memories. All those strange sensations he felt were effects of Nero’s hypnotic powers. It would be better if the prey didn’t resist while he learned everything he needed from the young Cultivator’s memories.

“Fine, fine, it’s already over.” Already speaking the new language that he learned from the henchman’s blood, Nero spoke perfectly to the poor boy.

Pale as he was practically bloodless, the man gave his best smile to Nero, his best ‘brother’ just to see a look of scorn and an evil sparkle in Nero’s eyes. Before feeling terrible pain in his chest and for a second before his vision went dark, he could swear he saw his own heart in Nero’s hands.

“Die damn human, and it’s just to die that you serve me.”

Nero spoke as he tightened his grip on the man’s neck until it broke, and a mixture of flesh and bloodless veins fall to the ground.