19. Death-hand
Gu Lanxi brought Su Mo to an abandoned house. No one was visible around.
Su Mo asked Gu Lanxi to hide in the nearby bushes, whereas he went forward to scout around.
After checking twice, Su Mo found no one guarding the house. He moved towards the gate in small steps while avoiding the open windows on the upper floor. The door was locked from the inside, confirming that it was occupied.
He silently stepped towards the nearest window and pushed it ajar to peep. A dark and gloomy room was visible with no people.
Su Mo did not rush inside but retreated. He observed an unnatural silence around the house. Years of life experiences as a mercenary tingled his danger sense.
He found Gu Lanxi hidden among the bushes.
"You should go back. I didn't see anyone in the house, but there are definitely people present inside," said Su Mo as he looked around for something.
"Can you save my uncles?" asked Gu Lanxi worriedly.
"I don't know anyone inside but will try to save as many as I can." Su Mo did not promise anything as inferring from the conditions; he may not find anyone alive.
Gu Lanxi's eyes moistened after hearing it.
"Sir, my uncles are very good people. They never hurt anyone. When the robbers attacked, many of them died protecting us. Sob!Sob!"
Gu Lanxi sobbed and pleaded with Su Mo to save her uncles though she did not harbour any hope after seeing no expression on Su Mo's face.
"Go back first." Su Mo spoke bluntly.
After Gu Lanxi left, Su Mo found a thick tree branch. He shaved off the leaves, shaping it like a spear.
After moving a comfortable distance away from the house, he threw it, targeting an open window on the upper floor.
Crash!
The loud sound alerted the people inside. Soon, three black-robed men rushed out of the house and began to search for the culprit.
Su Mo observed them from a distance. All three of them were at Lv 5 of Qi Cultivation Realm. He concluded that there must be more people inside, presumably with a higher level of cultivation.
Su Mo acted rationally as he, too, was an Lv-5 Qi cultivator. He was not confident of killing them silently without alerting others inside. He was also not able to finish them off one by one as they were very alert.
Their movements were very coordinated and well practised. They gave an impression of a well-trained team rather than a bunch ordered to check out the surroundings.
Su Mo relaxed a little after seeing them search around as a team. A team coming out of a hideout to look for attackers signalled that the place was under an organisation.
This small party of three may have a task to complete, and it involved using the men of the village. There may not be more than one or two people inside. However, their cultivation would surely be higher than these three.
A team of black-robed people, secret hideout, capturing people and slaughtering innocent people. All these acts pointed out to {Evil Blood Sacrifice trope}, followed by the plotline of {Evil Organisation taking over the world}.
Thinking about the possible future events, Su Mo smiled wryly. Whatever may be the reason, he had to stop them. He was now an inhabitant of this world, and only a world without the evil organisation could ensure his safety.
Su Mo stealthily circled them and entered the house silently. Inside was a single large hall with a staircase leading to the basement. The house was just a gimmick to hide the task from the 'organisation'.
Su Mo climbed down the stairs lightly with his Low Lv-2 sword gripped in his hand. The basement was enormous and had many vats filled with some dark liquid. At a distance, he saw an old man standing before an altar.
Few apple-like fruits were placed over the altar. The old man put his hand inside a nearby vat. To Su Mo's horror, he brought a young man out of the liquid from the vat. The young man seemed to be unconscious. The old man looked frail, but with the ease that he picked the young man, Su Mo speculated that the man was an Lv-7 or Lv-8 Qi Cultivator.
The old man picked a fruit from the altar and placed it on the young man's head. Su Mo was not a Samaritan, nor was he obliged to save anybody. This organisation had just nicked him on the wrong side, that's all.
The old man unsheathed a dagger placed by his side. Much to Su Mo's surprise, it was an Lv-3 weapon. Such a high levelled weapon was nearly impossible to see in the hands of Qi Cultivators. They were rare even among the Spiritual Martial Artists as they were forged to withstand the True Force of True Spirit Masters.
The cultivation progressed as Qi Cultivation, Spiritual Martial Artists and True Spirit Masters. Enlightened Masters were ranked above them, but Su Mo had only heard about them from bards and through local folklores.
The old man made a minimal cut on the fruit skin and retreated hurriedly. A red juice gushed out of the fruit and covered the young man. In a second, the juice backtracked into the fruit, leaving a dried-up corpse with no blood. The fruit itself advanced to a Medium Lv-1 Spirit Herb.
Su Mo stood stunned. His Martial Soul had left hundreds of beasts in such condition to advance in rank but viewing such a process from a third-person perspective was really scary.
He vowed to never let anyone view the blood-qi-absorbing ability of his Martial Soul.
Su Mo gripped his Lv-2 sword tightly. He was not sure that he could save anyone here. He might have to run for his life if the situation turned for worse.
Su Mo took every step very carefully, but a creak sounded from the wooden floor. The old man grew alert and swiftly picked up a fruit from the altar.
Su Mo and the old man were quite a distance apart. Before Su Mo could step towards the old man, the old man threw the fruit towards him.
Only one thought occupied Su Mo's brain as he saw the fruit coming in his direction. The fruit must not be cut.
At that moment, Su Mo's experiences from his three lives culminated.
He realised the danger of death in this life.
He faced death as calmly as in his mercenary life.
He was still the cheeky, stubborn and ridiculous adrenaline junky from Earth.
Su Mo calmly performed a split step. He hit the fruit, the same as a ball with his tennis-racket gripped sword. A dual-handed back-hand stroke was performed with the sword's flat, sending the fruit accurately towards the old man's open mouth.
A tennis stroke played with such finesse was in itself a thing of beauty. Such an uncommon use of a sword in such a stunning way left the old man open-mouthed, making a perfect spot for the fruit to land.
But the old man had a higher level of cultivation; hence his reflexes were many times faster than Su Mo. He calmly parried the fruit with his Lv-3 dagger.
Slice! Flush! Slurp!
That turned out to be a fatal mistake. The fruit was neatly sliced into two, flushing out its juices over the old man. In a blink of an eye, the juices were sucked back into the fruit like a Pokeball.
A blood-drained corpse of the old man slumped down beside the fruit.
Su Mo sighed in relief. He stared at the sword in his hand and spoke, "Your name would resound in this world as long as my glory, Death-hand."