...The ti had co. The situation was dire.
He lingered no longer. With a quiet call to Xile, he quickly resud his rush toward the county town along the mountain path.
Six hours later, Qin Fang arrived at the county town.
But when he looked down from the mountain path, his expression turned to shock!
The city gates were sealed shut, and a large number of Soldiers patrolled the Haiman.
This clearly ant... the city was under martial law.
But that wasn’t the main reason for Qin Fang’s shock...
The key was...
Outside the city walls stood a massive number of people!
These people were emaciated and listless...
...It was just like the scene a year ago when the refugees had entered the city!
Only last ti, the city gates were open, and the Soldiers were receiving the refugees.
But now, the gates were sealed tight, and the Soldiers above stared down at the populace with cold, wary eyes.
The gates remained closed.
Though most of them were dispirited, they weren’t fools. Soone was crying out, "Why?! Why won’t you let us in?! My ho is in the city!!"
"Open the gates! Open the gates!!!"
They roared.
But no one dared approach the city walls...
Because just outside the gates lay a field of corpses, each riddled with arrows... Their faces were all twisted in agony, their hair was gray and white, as if they had died of old age.
...But Qin Fang believed they must have been young when they died.
Qin Fang sucked in a cold breath as he took in the scene...
...No wonder. No wonder his Senior Brother hadn’t sent him any ssages since he’d last reported that the Governnt Office was going to move against Ganlu Hall.
So this was what happened. The county town had fallen into such chaos!
In this situation... even his Senior Brother couldn’t possibly have gotten a ssage to him.
But in Wanshui, he hadn’t heard even a whisper of this?
...Right. The entirety of True Martial felt deathly still now, with almost no one traveling about.
Under such circumstances, how could any news have spread?
Qin Fang watched the roaring crowd below. The city gates remained shut, and the Soldiers above showed no intention of explaining anything. They rely stared out at the people with a mix of tension and vigilance, creating a standoff.
Qin Fang did a rough count. There were probably more than ten thousand people outside the city.
The entire True Martial County Town had an estimated permanent population of only fifty to sixty thousand.
Did that an the Governnt Office had driven out nearly one-sixth to one-fifth of the city’s inhabitants?
More importantly, the vast majority of them were n—young n with strong Qi Blood, in the pri of their Martial Cultivation!
...Only people like that would take Qi Blood Pills.
’If that’s the case... although the problem looks severe right now, it actually ans that True Martial County Town is temporarily stable inside...’
The County Magistrate had clearly identified the unstable elents and driven them out in advance. It was an obvious move to ensure the county town didn’t fall into chaos first.
The county town had vast resources, and it also had the True Martial Guard. As long as the town remained stable and the situation was under control, there might still be a chance to fight back.
The thought brought Qin Fang a small sense of relief...
...At least this ant his Senior Brother, Master, and Master’s wife were probably safe for now.
He pondered for a mont, then turned to check the other city gates.
But just as he took a step, he froze.
His brow furrowed.
’No, that’s not right...’
’If the Qi Blood Pills are, as I suspected, for cultivating "blood food"... and they sold so well because they’re a cheap substitute and affordable enough that most Martial Cultivators would buy them...’
’But who’s to say Ganlu Hall’s Elixirs... are limited to just the problematic Qi Blood Pills?’
’If I were one of the Ganlu Hall people and I wanted to cause trouble, would I make all the problematic dicine so uniform?’
’Even if "blood food" works best with Martial Cultivators... if I were the one causing trouble... there’s no doubt that the more chaotic the situation, the better!’
As this thought struck him, he suddenly turned and ran up to a higher point on the mountain path. Soon, he reached a high point from which he could see over the city walls and glimpse a part of the city inside.
A single glance was all it took for Qin Fang to suck in a cold breath...
...He had guessed right.
The city was not stable. On the contrary...
It was utter chaos!
He saw vast amounts of blood and countless corpses piled up on the county town’s streets.
Besides the officials in Black Clothes and Soldiers, there were almost no living people on the streets!
These n moved with haste, knocking on every door, confirming sothing.
And in that instant, from his vantage point, Qin Fang understood what they were confirming...
Because at that very mont, he saw so Soldiers killing people!
And their victims were won!
...Even from a great distance, Qin Fang’s enhanced Eye Power allowed him to make out the woman’s general silhouette and hair color...
...She was withered and gaunt, with disheveled white hair, looking like a ghoul.
The constables had dragged her out of her house and killed her on the spot!
Beside her, people who were likely her family trembled like leaves, watching in a daze, too terrified to move.
In other places, more fights were breaking out. He saw crazed won brandishing knives, charging at the Soldiers and constables.
They, too, were rcilessly cut down...
Qin Fang stared blankly.
Chaos!
The entire True Martial County Town had descended into chaos!
He remained stunned for a mont, then desperately and anxiously tried to get his bearings, trying to locate his Master’s and Senior Brother’s hos...
But he was ultimately too far away. From this vantage point, he could only see less than half the county town, not the entire city.
And as it happened, neither his Senior Brother’s nor his Master’s ho was within his field of view.
Qin Fang pressed his lips together, forcing himself to calm down.
’Senior Brother is an Anjin expert, and Master is likely approaching Huajin... From the looks of it, there are no signs of the monster in the city yet... Things haven’t reached the worst-case scenario. Master, his wife, and Senior Brother... they should still be safe...’
Thanks to his warning, his Senior Brother certainly wouldn’t have taken any Qi Blood Pills.
And his Master... he was the resident expert at Huichun Hall. With Ganlu Hall having been Huichun Hall’s biggest rival recently, his Master would never use any of Ganlu Hall’s Elixirs.
Therefore, the three of them definitely wouldn’t beco blood food.
Having established that, and considering his Senior Brother’s and Master’s martial prowess... plus, his Senior Brother now held the position of City Gate Guard, so the probability of sothing happening to them was low.
So far, the only place Qin Fang had seen the monster was that small mountain village... but he suspected it wasn’t just limited to that one village.
He didn’t know if the destruction of Ganlu Hall had forced the Mysterious Power to act ahead of schedule, or if this was their planned ti to strike all along...
But at the very least, the Mysterious Power’s actions were clearly planned.
Most likely, they would start with the villages, then the market towns, and finally, True Martial County Town... all to ensure the monster could be fed to its heart’s content!
If that was the case, they still had ti!
A frantic light flickered in Qin Fang’s eyes. He looked at the massive city walls, his gaze ultimately traveling over a dozen kiloters to the faintly visible great river in the distance...
The city had a pier too!
He hesitated no longer. Calling out to Xile, he descended the mountain path and sprinted toward the riverbank!
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