Chaos In Anyang

Mo Dao waited for night to arrive and silently moved towards Jun Xiao's manor.

"How dare you defy me?"

SLAP

As Mo Dao reached for window he heard Jun Xiao quarrelling with his maids.

"The fuck you're glaring at, if someone suspected me cause of your behaviours it'll be game over for all of us."

"How dare you slap us, when lord Zan arrives we'll sue you." The maid with swollen cheek spoke with spite

"You're looking for death." Jun Xiao gritted his teeth. After he met his father and asked these two to follow him in manor their attitude was completely different than before. They actually looked down on him, not only that they didi it right before other servants. Now Jun Xiao truly regretted taking them in. A foolish subordinate is worse than a wise enemy.

"Go ahead, we also want to see how you kill us." other maid spoke with a sneer. They were already annoyed by his shenanigans and now that a bigger thigh is supporting them, why should they keep flattering this fool.

"What's going on?"

A question broke the stalemate.

Jun Xiao's eyes widened and cold sweat ran down his back

"Leader that's, I-"

"Kneel"

PLOP

Jun Xiao kneeled and the maids trembled in excitement

"Senior Zan he was forcing us to serve him, pleas-"

"Scram"

BAM BAM

Two silent explosions took place and both maids exploded into blood fog.

HUFF

Jun Xiao took a sigh of relief

"So did your father suspected anything."

"I wasn't able to meet him, a servant accepted the feedback and said he'll search for Lin Que." Jun Xiao spoke with a bitter smile

"Don't bother, Lin Que is dead."

"What she's dead, I-I see senior I'll keep that in mind." Mo Dao nodded in satisfaction, it'd be annoying if he harboured resentment for her death.

"What about Gu Zhan?"

"Father will meet him once free."

"What do you think, will Gu Zhan try to expose me?"

"I don't think so, but father will definitely meet us after news about Minghe reaches capital."

"Okey, I'll be on leave for a few days so don't get caught."

"I Understand senior."

SWISS

Mo Dao disappeared from the room and Jun Xiao looked at the mess of blood and gore all around and sighed in exhaustion, he called a few servants and had them cleaned.

Mo Dao changed into Zan Bejo and booked a room for himself. It wasn't lavish but satisfactory.

At the same time in Minghe

A man rode a horse towards Minghe at full speed. This man was Sun Jue, village chief of Maple village. Mo Dao had called him to Minghe but he wasn't able to arrive, Sun Jue was busy with rituals of funeral for his son and lover. After he was done, he left for Minghe at full speed. One can even call him lucky cause if he arrived a day before than chances of him surviving the aftermath was very low. He would've died in the tussle since none of Mo Dao's subordinates were aware of Sun Jue.

Sun Jue was confused, unlike other times there was no lightening and rush of carriages at Minghe but it was even more silent than village nights. As he walked ahead his eyes widened in fear, his legs trembled and fell on his butt

PLOP

AAARRRRGGGGGGHH

AARRGH

Sun Jue ran with full speed towards his horse, he wanted to run far away from this hell. Wherever his eyes went only dried up bodies twisted in different angle could be seen. Old, young, sick, disabled none were spared. He had heard about those cursed demons but when he truly saw it, he felt terror coursing through his veins.

"Shut up"

"eek.."

A hand covered his mouth tightly. The grip was so strong Sun Jue felt despair welling uo in his eyes.

"You're Sun Jue, right?" Slowly the hand was released but the entity was still behind him

"Yes, who are you?"

"Lord Zan Bejo told me to wait for you. You're quite late." Mo Dao left a peak Master to pick up Sun Jue since he was quite late.

"I was done with the funerals and rushed here, where's lord Zan Bejo?"

"We're leaving."

Sun Jun nodded and followed the master on his horse. He didn't asked anything unnecessary.

**********

Province Anyang

A beautiful Province in Long Empire that serves Imperial family. It is atleast 20-25 times larger in area compared to Minghe. People with all kinds of profession coexist here but mostly Merchants reside in Anyang. Compared to Minghe you can easily fing Masters and Grandmasters, there're a few peak Grandmasters as well but the true power resides in the hands of Procincial head who atleast need to be a saint to hold that much power.

The present provincial head is Xie Xuan. He is 2nd saint of Xie family and has undergone 1st Nirvana. Unlike other days the atmosphere at Governor study was depressing and gloomy.

News about horrific destruction of Minghe spread throughout Anyang. Citizens were running all around shops closed, those who had relatives in Minghe wailed endlessly in despair.

In the study of Xie Xuan

BUZZ BUZZ

The floor was shaking and walls creaked furnitures fell down and all people present lowered their heads. Whenever something like this happened they kept their lips shut and head down. Previously many had raised their heads when Xie Xuan was in bad mood and they all died without a grave.

"Can anyone tell me when did it happened and why the report took so long to arrive?"

SILENCE, no one spoke

"Okey, who's responsible for managing that part."

"It is me lord. Many patrols reached Minghe but they all died there no one was left alive to inform. Among them were some high ranking masters as well."

"Who did it?"

"We're spreading our forces and soon we'll have some clues."

"Well most likely they'll be moving for Youzo or Xushan Province. Search if anyone escaped from Minghe."

The man nodded and left. All of them relaxed, the moment of death passed, now time to put their views on table.

"Lord by the horrific state of corpses its work of Blood Demon sect. A deacon of that cursed sect was imprisoned there."

"But he was a stage-7 grandmaster how can he wipe out Minghe when Gu Zhang is a stage-7 grandmaster."

"Most likely a remnant saint of Blood Demon is responsible for it."

"That's the only explanation for the tragedy."

"..."

Listening to the conversation Xie Xuan nodded. Minghe was a special case, while its geography and importance was only mediocre among the counties but presence of a peak Grandmaster changed the game. Gu Zhang purposely took that post and from what Xie Xuan knows it was to train his son. All counties don't have peak Grandmasters to overlook them rather official and local powers cooperate to maintain the order and maximise benefits.

Anyang overlooks 27 counties but now its 26. Destruction of Minghe does not affects him much since it was inevitable, he can't be present everywhere but it won't look good if perpetrator left unpunished. These demons take advantage of loose ends or only target places with less resistance.

The remnants of Blood Demon sect were in hiding and it was too hard to find them, even if they captured few they all died without providing any useful information.

But what excited Xie Xuan more was the presence of a saint from Blood Demon sect. A saint atleast holds the position of an elder and Martial soul sect rewards anyone who kills an elder level figure in Blood Demon sect. Those rewards could atleast help him pass a Calamity or Nirvana. He's a stage-2 Nirvana but hasn't faced any calamity yet. Xie Xuan doesn't knows the horror of a calamity but from the experiences of seniors of Martial Soul Sect casualties during sainthood cause of five Calamities is all time high.

Xie Xuan is an inner disciple of Martial soul sect and unlike his brother who defected from sect and serves Imperial family he still has ties with sect. Martial soul sect sends a few inner disciples to help Imperial family every five years after selection. Xie Xuan still has to wait two years for his replacement but if he could kill a remnant elder of Blood Demon sect then this duration will be shortened and he can return early for rewards and cultivation.

"We aren't completely sure that it was a remnant saint of Blood Demon sect so send a casual report at capital and don't mention anything about a Saint. Keep a lookout on entry gates of Anyang as well." Xie Xuan casted a stern glance at everyone in the study. If he wanted to monopolise his hunt then secrecy needs to be maintained otherwise saints from capital will start flocking in this region and Xie Xuan is no match against saints who've achieved stage-3 or 4th Nirvana.

"Rest assured my lord, we won't create public unrest by disclosing this piece of information."

"Since we still aren't sure there's no need to send a false report."

"We'll do as senior says."

....

Xie Xuan nodded in affirmation and stood up. He'll have to prepare thoroughly to kill that Demon, once he manages to escape It'll be a headache to chase down.

While Xie Xuan was instructing upper management, the demons who were actually responsible for massacre of Minghe sat in an inn at Anyang and enjoyed a sumptuous meal. Mo Dao had given them a quarter of wealth he looted from whole of Minghe.

Wu yun, Luo Hen and Ciany kept their faces covered but other three peak masters had revealed themselves since they weren't from Anyang.

"Old man tell us about your tragic past?" Wu Yun spoke jokingly but Ciany remained silent and stared at Wu Yun with frigid eyes.

"Hehe What are you staring at old man, come-on tell us. We've to wait for leader so entertain us."

"My family surname was Wei and our ancestral home was in Youzo. Youzo county was shared between our Wei family and Bai family but three decades ago Bai family colluded with Chen family from Anyang and attacked Wei. My whole family was slaughtered and I managed to escape for Minghe with serious injuries. I got emotionally and mentally unstable thus Gu Qingzi imprisoned me. Bai family asked for my custody but Gu Zhang refused and chen family didn't wanted to offend a peak Grandmaster to kill a dying old man like me, so they left me to rot there."

"Hoho then does that mean we'll have to eradicate both Bai and Chen." Wu Yun laughed

"Eh, senior I don't think that's a good idea." A Master spoke meekly

"Why's that." Wu Yun asked

"Eight years ago Chen family produced a Martial genius who was directly accepted as a core disciple of Martial Soul Sect. He was very talented and there were rumours that a high ranking elder from Martial Soul sect took him in as his desciple."

Silence, the whole table went silent.

"I'll talk with leader, we definitely can't alert Martial soul sect at this crucial juncture." Wu Yun spoke slowly while his eyes were fixated on Ciany. He definitely can't allow Zan Bejo to attack Chen family. Offending a core disciple will cause immediate involvement of a saint and that would be very undesirable. Zan Bejo needs to recieve the legacy and break through Sainthood first that would confirm his enrollment in Blood Demon sect. They already have blood bead condensed from more than 10000lives.

Ciany clenched his hands and bit his lips in frusturation. His whole family from young to old was slaughtered not even servants were excused. Now that there's hope for revenge so he's very unwilling to give up but he also knows Zan Bejo well, chances are low that he'll offend a core disciple for him.

"I understand." He slowly spoke and Wu Yun nodded in affirmation.

They all ate silently and left for their destination.

*******

Mo Dao was inside a carriage touring the whole capital. He only needed to pay a certain amount and the carriage will give him a complete tour of capital, it'll take some days and his accommodation will also be adjusted accordingly by them as well. Mo Dao didn't lacked money for now thus he opted for this service.

Mo Dao stared out from the window enjoying the scenery and noting down every fine details that might be helpful.

At the same time General Jun met Gu Zhan and Jun Xiao in his study.