Overdraw the future and become a peerless martial god

Chapter 102 Night Thunder Hunt
Chu Ning didn't sleep a wink all night.

At dawn, he stood atop the tall building of the Marquis of Wu's mansion, his black robe billowing in the wind, his white hair flying in the sunlight, and the lightning pattern between his brows flashing. He was like a divine weapon ready to be unleashed.

Behind her, Xie Mingli arrived quietly.

She watched his retreating figure, wanting to say something, but in the end, she only whispered:

"Chu Ning..."

The sound was gentle, but it was scattered by the wind into the stillness of the night turning to dawn.

Chu Ning didn't turn around, but spoke softly, his voice low and deep, each word like a nail driven into an iron plate:

"I've already thought about it."

He slowly turned around, lightning patterns flickering on his forehead, his gaze as cold as a blade, his voice chilling to the bone:
"The Blood Refining Hall is so well hidden because they are not afraid of the righteous path in the world; what they fear is..."

"It is exposed to the light."

Xie Mingli's expression changed drastically.

Chu Ning continued, speaking slowly but with a sharp edge:
"I'm going to force them to the table."

"Make them panic, make them anxious, make them... show their fangs."

He walked to the railing and looked down at Qingzhou City. The streets and alleys were crisscrossed and the people were silent, but he could already see an invisible giant net quietly unfolding in his hands.

"As long as they dare to make a move."

"I'll just chop it down with one stroke."

"Chu Ning...how can I help you?"

Chu Ning remained motionless, his back view as sharp as a blade.

His voice came on the wind, low and slow, as if asking, or perhaps probing:

"If I were to involve the Marquis of Wu's mansion in this situation, would you support me?"

Xie Mingli was taken aback.

The wind brushed against her hair. At that moment, as she looked at Chu Ning's back, she seemed to see the lonely figure on the Qingyun Arena, fighting against a hundred enemies alone, and she also saw his angry and tragic song as he slashed through the iron gate and shattered the dungeon with lightning in the Cold Mountain Blood Prison.

Xie Mingli gently stroked the Ice Soul Blade: "Father said that the swords of the Marquis of Wu's mansion can only be drawn for the sake of imperial power."

She abruptly cut off a strand of hair: "From this day forward, this sword of mine will only slay those who deserve to die."

She spoke softly, but her tone was incredibly firm:
"You, as the Marquis of Wu, slaughtered all the evil spirits of the sects, fought hundreds of battles, and established the prestige of Qingzhou for us."

"He risked his life to go to Prince Duan's mansion and rescue my brother."

"I, Xie Mingli, owe you two lives."

She paused, her voice softening, yet becoming even more earnest:

"I'll do anything you ask Xie Mingli to do."

"It's not because of the Marquis of Wu's mansion, it's because of you."

The phrase "It's because of you" is like water falling into the heart of a lake, rippling out a gentle yet profound ripple.

Chu Ning turned around, his white hair fluttering in the night wind, his eyes deep and unfathomable like a thunderous sea, yet in that instant, they softened a little under her gaze.

He exhaled softly and whispered:

"……Thanks."

He wasn't good at expressing his emotions, but that "thank you" carried immense weight.

The next moment, his eyes suddenly sharpened, and his words became as sharp as knives:
"Use the secret agents of the Marquis of Wu's mansion to spread a message."

His gaze lowered slightly, and a cold smile slowly curved his lips:

"They said that the Cold Mountain Sect's Blood Pool had been broken, and the remaining members were terrified and sought to hold them accountable. They secretly plotted to offer the 'Spiritual Blood Essence' as a gift to seek the protection of the Marquis of Wu's Mansion."

Xie Mingli was taken aback: "You want to..."

"To spread the scheme throughout the entire Jianghu of Qingzhou."

"The Spirit Blood Catalyst is the life-defying bone of the Blood Refining Hall, and the key to their twelve evil spirits' reshaping. As long as the news is exciting enough, no one can sit still."

“Those black-robed figures, blood curse practitioners, and blood-refining agents lurking in the city will all make their move.”

"The deeper they hide, the harder I'll stab them."

Chu Ning's gaze was like frost, her voice like a sword:
"I don't need to know who they are..."

"What I want is for them to reveal their identities."

Xie Mingli took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Then... the aristocratic families and sects will also make a move."

"very good."

Chu Ning said calmly:
“The Spirit Blood Primer is no ordinary thing; everyone wants it.”

"If you want to know, you will try to find out, spy on, and test."

"By then, it won't just be me stirring the water anymore."

"I will make sure that the entire Qingzhou, from top to bottom, is never at peace."

"The Blood Refining Hall isn't afraid of me killing people; what they're afraid of is me exposing them to the light of day."

Xie Mingli looked at Chu Ning with a complicated expression.

He remained calm and collected, yet every word he uttered struck at the heart of the matter.

This is the swordsman's killing intent, and even more so, the cunning of the strategist.

She suddenly understood why Lei Wanjun had asked him to represent the Benlei Martial Arts School in the "Qingyun Arena" and why Song Cang was willing to call him "the true lineage of the Lei Dao Sect".

Chu Ning ordered the Wuhou Mansion to set up a fake "altar" and pretend to secretly transfer the so-called "spiritual blood catalyst" to the tower of the Wuhou Mansion.

At that time, a grand array will be formed within the mansion to protect and seal it.

It is now difficult to capture the "spiritual blood catalyst" using ordinary methods.

Inside the game, it's hard to tell what's real and what's fake; outside, the atmosphere is tense and chaotic.

Chu Ning knew that once the Blood Refining Hall heard about this, they would react like sharks smelling blood, and they would not tolerate it.

They couldn't tolerate it.

Because the "spiritual blood catalyst" is not news or intelligence, but the opportunity for immortality that they most desire and cannot afford to let fall into the hands of others.

Their greed will drive them to reveal themselves.

Their desires are Chu Ning's sharpest weapon.

Meanwhile, Xie Mingli personally oversaw operations around the tower of the Marquis of Wu's mansion, mobilizing the mansion's elite secret guards.

The stone bricks beneath the tower had long been removed, and the earth's veins attracted lightning, with spiritual patterns intertwining.

Using thunder and arrows as bait, Chu Ning laid down nine "Thunder Prison Heavenly Locks" in the void.

Nine lightning streaks, hidden among the wind and thunder, seem ethereal, yet are connected to the laws of heaven and earth. Once triggered, they will unleash a ninefold heavenly tribulation of lightning. This is a hunting ground, a prison, and the chilling edge of a sword before it is drawn.

And that knife is waiting for some night-walking ghost to reach out and test its edge.

……

Night fell, and the winds of change quietly stirred.

The streets and alleys of the prefectural city have become deserted at some point, the market lights are off, and there are few people around.

The once bustling and lively street now seemed to be shrouded in an invisible, oppressive weight, the air itself seemed to freeze, making it hard to breathe.

At the top of the independent tower, Chu Ning, dressed in a black robe, with snow-white hair fluttering in the wind, stood tall.

The lightning pattern between his brows twitched slightly, and his gaze, cold and sharp as a frost blade, pierced through the night mist, overlooking the boundless lights.

Xie Mingli hurried up the tower, her shawl fluttering in the wind, her eyes filled with an unconcealable worry.

She stood behind him, her voice low and hoarse, almost swallowed by the night wind:

"You've taken too big a gamble."

"If they see through it... you'll lose the initiative."

Chu Ning did not turn around, but only slightly raised his eyes, where lightning quietly flickered in the depths of his gaze.

His voice was soft, yet it was like a hammer driven into frozen earth, each strike sending chills down one's spine:

"They won't."

"Their belief is that the strong live and the weak die."

"They are so greedy that they are willing to tear their own souls apart for the slightest possibility."

"And all I need to do is lay a brightly colored bait in front of me."

"They will pounce on us like mad dogs."

Xie Mingli gritted her teeth, her fists clenched tightly under her sleeves.

The wind howled in my ears, like the wailing of ghosts and the weeping of gods.

Just then, a dark slit suddenly appeared on the distant horizon.

Several dark figures streaked across the sky like streaks of fire, weaving through rooftops and alleyways like a flock of blood-red crows.

Suddenly, a nauseating, pungent smell of blood filled the air, so thick it was almost impossible to dissolve.

That wasn't ordinary blood; it was blood refined by evil spirits, the aura that crawled out from a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

Xie Mingli's expression changed drastically, and she exclaimed in a low voice:
"They're coming!"

Chu Ning slowly reached out, her fingertips touching the Broken Snow Blade.

In that instant, lightning silently flowed from the scabbard, like starlight at dawn.

He looked up at the night sky, at the dark figures that were closing in relentlessly.

The voice was calm, sharp, and penetrating.
"After tonight..."

"The night will no longer belong to them."

A gentle breeze stirred his white hair, his robes, and the rising lightning on the blade of the Broken Snow Blade.

Thunder roared above the tower.

The nine chains of lightning silently closed, sealing off the entire Marquis Wu's mansion.

"call out."

The bone flute pierced the air, and the first dark shadow tore through the night.

The bronze demon mask had menacing fangs, and thick, foul blood dripped from the groove of its curved blade, etching wisps of black smoke onto the blue bricks. The instant its toes touched the ground, the stone slabs of the entire long street seemed to surge and churn as if alive, and hundreds of rotting corpses wrapped in blood-stained clothes burst from the earth.

"A corpse puppet leading the way?" Xie Mingli drew her Ice Soul Blade three inches from its sheath beneath the tower.

Xie Mingli waved her sleeve and pointed: "Black Armor Guards, Ice Formation, Lightning Formation—Combined!"

The black-armored guards marched in unison, their steps etched with ice patterns, lightning flashing beneath their feet. The sky seemed to collapse as nine chains of lightning intertwined like a net, firmly locking the horde of corpse puppets outside the tower.

"boom."

Hundreds of corpse puppets exploded instantly. Amidst the raging lightning and frost, bones and limbs turned to dust, and blood vines struggled and twisted, igniting upon contact with lightning and turning into black ash.

"kill!"

Xie Mingli swung his blade, unleashing a torrent of lightning chains that cascaded down like a waterfall, continuous and unbroken.

Before the words were finished, a second and a third dark figure emerged from the shadows of the eaves.

They trod over corpses, their steps as unpredictable as centipedes, their peak ninth-rank aura causing the night mist to condense into bloody dew. Wherever they passed, scarlet vines sprouted from the cracks in the bricks, their petals curling like human tongues, emitting a sweet, cloying stench of decay.

A hoarse laugh came from the shadows: "What good and evil? It's nothing more than the victor drinking blood and the loser turning to ashes!"

The lightning patterns on the top of the tower flickered, reflecting half of Chu Ning's cold face.

"Then tonight we'll see who drinks the blood and who turns to ashes." He flicked the scabbard with his finger.

"Crack!"

The first lightning bolt lit up from the base of the tower, like a golden snake burrowing into the ground.

In an instant, nine lightning locks appeared from the void, with the Azure Cloud Tower transforming into the core of the thunderstorm.

The masked man who was the first to pounce suddenly narrowed his eyes. He saw his own reflection distorted in the lightning, and the ghosts in the blood groove of his scimitar screamed as they tried to escape.

The next instant, nine chains of lightning pierced through his body like spears of judgment.

“Ahhhhh——!”

The screams stopped abruptly.

Before the charred remains even hit the ground, they were crushed into dust by the lightning.

The horde of corpses behind them was in chaos. The blood vines convulsed wildly, trying to wrap around the lightning chains, but they burned to ashes the moment they touched them.

As one of the corpse puppets tried to retreat, tadpole-shaped lightning symbols suddenly lit up beneath its feet.

"boom."

The head exploded like a watermelon, and the headless corpse took three steps forward before being torn into a bloody mist by the subsequent lightning chains.

Xie Mingli looked up.

The entire tower had become a hell of lightning, with every brick and stone crackling with blinding arcs of electricity.

Those once-arrogant Blood Refining Hall assassins, like moths drawn to a flame, were reduced to scattered black ash in the lightning net.

“This isn’t a defensive formation,” she gripped the Ice Soul Blade tightly, “it’s a trap to lure you into a deadly trap.”

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(End of this chapter)