Chen Lin's heart trembled violently as he looked at his second brother's face, filled with ruthlessness.
Then he looked at the dying Immortal on the kang, his throat tightening: "Second Brother… this… isn't this too risky! What if…"
What if the Immortal had a life-saving trick? What if It had a tracking Spell? What if…
And Chen Dashan, who had been silent all this time, finally turned around slowly.
His face, etched with the ravages of the border and the years in the mountains, showed no expression, but his gaze lingered deeply on his second son's face.
In his eyes, there was complexity, scrutiny, determination, and even a hint of… barely perceptible approval.
He usually disliked his second son's flippant and unstable nature, but at this moment, the ruthlessness in this rascal's bones unexpectedly struck the deepest chord in his old soldier's heart.
"Yun Niang," Chen Dashan spoke, his voice not loud, but carrying an unquestionable authority, "Go help your elder sister-in-law watch the stove fire and coax Hu Wa.
Unless I call, you two, mother and daughter, and Hu Wa, are not allowed to come a single step near this room."
Chen Yunniang timidly responded, "I understand, Father," like a startled little rabbit, quickly slipping out and gently closing the creaking wooden door.
The dry rasp of the door hinge sounded like the lingering echo of a death knell.
At this moment, only the four Chen family father and sons remained in the room, along with the faint flame of life on the kang that could extinguish at any moment.
The air seemed to freeze, every breath carrying a chill and the scent of blood.
Chen Dashan didn't look at anyone else; he hunched his tall frame.
He lifted the hem of his old, shiny, worn leather jacket and reached for his waist.
When he raised his hand again, a dagger was unmistakably in his grip.
The dagger was old, its ebony handle polished smooth from use, its blade not long but exceptionally heavy, with a dull luster that only countless killings could impart.
Chen Lin recognized It; this was his father's treasure, his old companion brought back from the battlefield, used to skin wolves, drain bear blood, and slit the throats of enemies.
The dagger flashed a cold arc in the dim light.
Chen Dashan didn't utter a single superfluous word, nor did he show the slightest hesitation.
He stepped forward, so fast that Chen Lin couldn't even clearly see his movements!
The dagger, which had drunk the blood of beasts and enemies, with a decisive, pure killing intent, precisely pierced the throat of the 'Immortal' on the kang!
Pfft!
A dull, teeth-grinding sound.
The broken body on the kang twitched violently, like a fish out of water.
From its throat, dark red blood foam mixed with shattered bubbles gushed out.
The eyes, which had been tightly closed, suddenly opened a slit, revealing no anger, no resentment, only an empty, dead stillness, as if this outcome had long been anticipated.
That faint rise and fall of its chest completely disappeared.
It's dead!!
An 'Immortal' who was possibly high above, was thus cleanly and decisively killed by an old hunter from a remote mountain village, like slaughtering a pheasant or a wild rabbit.
Chen Lin felt a 'buzz' in his head, a complete blank.
His stomach churned, and a strong urge to vomit rushed to his throat.
He bit down hard, preventing himself from throwing up on the spot.
After fifteen years of Transmigration, he had witnessed the law of the jungle in the mountains and heard his father recount the brutality of the border, but this was the first time he had so closely and directly witnessed a 'person's' life being so easily taken.
Especially since the other party might have been a legendary existence!
The dual impact, visual and psychological, left his hands and feet cold, frozen in place.
Chen Shisheng's face was also pale, his throat bobbing, trying to suppress his discomfort.
Only Chen Qingfeng's eyes were fixed on the motionless corpse, a nearly pathological glint of excitement flickering deep within his pupils.
Chen Dashan pulled out the dagger and casually wiped the blood on the person's torn clothes.
His movements were chillingly calm.
He looked up, his gaze like cold iron awls, sweeping over the faces of his three sons one by one.
Every word was like an ice-tempered iron nail, hammered fiercely into their bones:
"What happened today, Heaven knows, Earth knows, only us four know!
Whoever dares to leak a single word, our entire family, from top to bottom, will end up with not even chickens or dogs left alive!
Carve it into your bones!"
Chen Shisheng suddenly shivered, snapping out of his horror, his face growing even paler:
"Father… when we carried him back, Dogzi from the west end of the village… that scoundrel Dogzi happened to be chopping wood by the forest edge and saw us!
Only him; at that time, all the able-bodied men in the village were clearing land on the eastern slope…"
"Dogzi…" Chen Dashan repeated the name softly, his eyes showing no ripples, only a cold killing intent.
His tense jawline relaxed slightly, as if he wasn't surprised by this answer.
He said nothing more, only crouched down, deftly crawling on the ground, reaching under the earthen kang to grope around.
After a rustling sound of falling dust, he dragged out a long package wrapped in thick oilcloth.
Untying the oilcloth revealed a sheathed straight-bladed long saber.
The scabbard was made of hard wood, so worn that its original color was indistinguishable, and the handle was wrapped in shiny leather cord.
Even before the blade was drawn, a fierce aura, unique to the battlefield, mixed with rust and a faint scent of blood, already permeated the air.
This was Chen Dashan's saber from his time in the border army's scout camp, a true Sharp Weapon.
"I'll deal with the body when I return."
Chen Dashan hung the long saber at his waist and reinserted the dagger into his boot, his movements seamless.
He no longer looked at the dead man on the kang or his still-shaken sons, walking to the only dilapidated small wooden window on the back wall of the house.
He pushed it open a crack, and like an experienced wildcat, silently slipped out, his figure quickly disappearing into the hazy twilight of the evening.
Silence fell upon the room.
The heavy scent of blood mixed with the smell of earth, along with the cold wind blowing in from the window, was suffocating.
Chen Shisheng and Chen Qingfeng stood silently by the edge of the kang, like two clay statues.
Chen Lin leaned against the cold earthen wall, slowly sliding to the ground, his mind a chaotic mess.
Slaying an Immortal… seizing treasure… killing Dogzi to silence him… in just half a day, his world had turned upside down.
He clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms, trying to regain a sense of reality through the pain.
Fragments of his past life's memories violently clashed with the bloody reality before him, making him dizzy in waves.
Is this the truth of the cultivation world?
So naked, so cruel?
From the kitchen, he faintly heard his elder sister-in-law Lin Xiu's voice coaxing Hu Wa to eat, and Yun Niang's soft replies.
That faint trace of human warmth now sounded as distant as if from another lifetime.
Time had never felt so long.
His elder sister-in-law Lin Xiu called twice for them to eat, her voice laced with worry.
Chen Shisheng refused with a hoarse voice.
The three brothers didn't move, nor did they speak.
Fear, lingering terror, and a hint of indescribable excitement left them with no appetite whatsoever.