Chapter 43: Honor

His voice echoed continuously within the tunnel, lingering in Bai Ling's mind.

Bai Ling's expression was indifferent. He glanced back, continued forward, and thought to himself: Trying to blow me up, are you...

He ignored the voice behind him, carefully bypassed the male corpse, and pressed on, walking for about another hundred meters.

Suddenly, his feet encountered a viscous liquid, making every step feel as though he were wading through thick mire.

He slowly lowered his head and looked down—a sea of crimson red!

Following the source from beneath his feet, Bai Ling slowly raised his head to gaze into the distance. His eyes were reflected in a bloody hue!

At that moment, his brain felt as though it had been struck by lightning, and he froze instantly in place.

This was an upward-sloping tunnel.

Before his line of sight, a torrent of converging blood was continuously flowing down toward him. The heavy stench of blood and foulness in the air suffocated him, as if the next moment, he would choke and die.

And what filled Bai Ling with even greater terror was:

Ten meters away, severed limbs were gradually coming into view.

Dense and countless, there were easily several hundred corpses. Without exception, all of them had their internal organs violently gouged out.

"Still want to run?"

At that moment, the voice of the scarred man rang out by Bai Ling's ear. He did not respond, nor did he take another step forward.

Had he failed to escape after all?

And he was all alone!

At this moment, Bai Ling felt profound regret—regret for stepping into this cavern and witnessing this utterly shocking and terrifying scene!

In all his eighteen years, he had occasionally seen the dead, but he had never witnessed anything like this... Moreover, right now, the countless corpses within his field of vision were piled up like a small mountain, completely blocking the entire tunnel.

Perhaps, near the top of the tunnel, there remained a space just wide enough for one person to pass through.

The scene before him continuously battered Bai Ling's inner defenses. At this moment, he fully understood the objective of those fifteen scarred men: it was to harvest the organs of everyone who had entered the Prime Vein!

No wonder they had gone on a merciless killing spree the moment they encountered the Xiao family!

Could it be that they had no fear of incurring Ji Kun's vengeance after leaving this place?

As for the corpses before him, judging by their attire, they belonged entirely to the Ye family of Flowing Moon City.

Of those who entered the inner depths of the Prime Vein this time, the three major families accounted for the vast majority, and virtually all the Initial Origin realm cultivators of Flowing Moon City had entered this place...

And only half the allotted time had passed. In other words?

Everyone inside this lower-grade Prime Vein this time, including himself, was about to undergo an unprecedented, indiscriminate massacre!

Cold sweat poured from Bai Ling's entire body. He slowly turned around, fixed his gaze on the scarred man, and demanded, "Who on earth are you people?!"

A flash of starlight suddenly crossed the scarred man's forehead. Mockery surfaced in his eyes as he sneered, "Come with me, and you will understand everything!"

"Is that so? Am I destined to end up just like them, then?" Bai Ling asked coldly.

The scarred man looked at Bai Ling as if gazing at an idiot, and said, "Don't you think it's an honor to have them accompany you in death?"

"An honor my foot! Do I have a grudge against you?" Bai Ling said coldly.

"No grudge."

"Then why have you been hunting me down?"

"Because of your blood! It was noticed by those above. We are merely here to extract your blood and your organs. And you—you were truly foolish. Possessing a powerful innate bloodline, yet making no effort to conceal it, displaying your uniqueness in broad daylight and under the gaze of everyone.

Heh... As expected, geniuses never know when to restrain themselves! Little do they realize that this exposes them to an endless abyss, causing them to perish before they even mature. What a pity... what a pity..." The scarred man spoke at great length. By the end, a look of pity appeared on his face, though it vanished a few seconds later, replaced once more by an icy expression.

Bai Ling's expression was grim. As the scarred man spoke, the fog in his mind gradually dissipated. Perhaps, from the moment he fought a fierce battle with Ji Jiuyue more than ten days ago...

"I'm afraid I was targeted by you people right from that moment, weren't I?" Bai Ling said coldly.

The scarred man did not answer, a mocking glint in his eyes.

"Then I understand even less. If you were searching for me, what did they have to do with it? Why are their vital organs missing as well? I suppose that was your doing too!" Bai Ling pointed at the mountain of corpses behind him, asking with puzzlement.

"You ask too many questions!" the scarred man said coldly.

With that, the starlight on his forehead flashed, and an aura belonging to the Spirit Origin realm violently erupted.

Bai Ling's gaze sharpened as he closely watched the instant transformation taking place in the scarred man. Clearly, the man was only at the tenth level of the Initial Origin realm, yet right now, the scarred man before him was exuding the vital energy of the Spirit Origin realm.

Observing the starlight on the man's forehead, Bai Ling understood in an instant. It seemed the key lay in that flickering starlight!

Could it be... that they belonged to that faction from this continent?

Starlight... starlight...

Bai Ling's thoughts were in turmoil. Although his bloodline had remained unawakened for eighteen years, he had heard Bai Zhentian speak of quite a few top-tier factions in this world!

Yet he had never heard of any sect or faction whose cultivators displayed flickering stars on their foreheads after cultivation.

There was only one possibility: they were hidden with terrifying depth within this continent. But what on earth did they need so many organs for...?

Swish! Swish!

A strand of sword Qi hurtled through the air toward him, cutting short Bai Ling's train of thought.

Wind Shadow Technique!

Boom!

The sword Qi collided heavily against the tunnel walls, kicking up clouds of dust, but Bai Ling had already vanished from his spot!

"Hmph, trying to run?" The scarred man watched Bai Ling sprint along the tunnel wall and sneered, immediately unleashing another sword strike.

"Void-Slicing Slash!"

With an indifferent expression, Bai Ling watched the incoming sword Qi and tilted his body slightly.

Whoosh!

Dozens of strands of long hair fluttered into the air and slowly drifted down.

The sword Qi crashed against the wall, producing a piercing roar.

With a fierce stamp, Bai Ling kicked hard against the tunnel wall.

Boom!

His body sprang instantly into the air, his right fist clenched tight. With a chilling gaze, Bai Ling roared internally: Bloodline Power!

A trace of surprise flashed in the scarred man's eyes as he gripped his sword with both hands and thrust directly at Bai Ling's chest.

Boom!

The tip of the sword grew larger in his vision. Naturally, Bai Ling would not attempt to block it with mere flesh and blood; he lashed out with his left palm, causing the long sword to pause slightly in its descent.

In the blink of an eye, Bai Ling appeared within a meter of the scarred man.

A mocking sneer crossed the scarred man's face. The starlight on his forehead grew even brighter as he rapidly retreated, converting his thrust into a slash.

"Now is the time!"

Bai Ling let out a low roar and thrust a finger through the void straight toward the scarred man's forehead!

Crack!

A bolt of white lightning erupted from Bai Ling's finger, instantly plunging into the center of the scarred man's brows.

"Ugh, ahhhhh..."

The numbness radiating from his forehead caused his entire body to convulse, and the vital energy clinging to his sword vanished in an instant.

Taking advantage of the split second he was stunned, a heavy punch slammed violently into his forehead!

Boom!

The scarred man's body was sent flying backward to crash against the wall. With a look of agony, he rolled down, his face pressing directly against the flowing river of blood.

"Go to hell!!" Bai Ling roared deeply.

He slowly picked up the long sword from the ground and walked step by step toward the scarred man. Seeing him lying on the ground, trembling violently, terror and utter disbelief filling his eyes, the scarred man stammered, "No, impossible... You are merely at the Initial Origin realm, how can you execute an Origin technique?!"

"You are not worthy to know!" Bai Ling's gaze turned dark.

He raised the long sword, lifted his hand, and brought the blade down!

Without looking back, Bai Ling stumbled away in the direction he had come. After walking about ten meters, he turned slightly to gaze at the scarred man's cold corpse.

Behind the scarred man, the front of the tunnel remained blocked by hundreds of corpses.

A few seconds later, Bai Ling turned and left, thinking to himself: In that hundred-meter space just now, there were close to forty other tunnel openings with blood flowing out of them.

Could it be... that over these past dozen days, truly everyone who entered this lower-grade Prime Vein... was destined to be slaughtered by them?!