Night draped itself heavily over the Black-Corner Region.
The small, nameless village lay half-collapsed beneath the stars, the air thick with an iron-heavy stench of blood that refused to dissipate. Broken doors hung crookedly from their hinges, scorch marks stained the mud walls, and several villagers huddled together in a corner of the square, trembling so hard their teeth audibly chattered.
Lin Xiuya stepped over a shattered threshold, his boots crunching against fragments of pottery and bone. His gaze swept upward.
Three corpses were nailed to the roof beams with iron spikes, their blood still dripping down in sluggish rivulets.
"This is the third group," Lin Xiuya said coldly.
He lifted his foot and kicked aside a skull-engraved badge near the entrance. It spun twice before clattering to a stop.
"Villages without Dou Masters. Women and children taken alive." His eyes narrowed. "The Black Skull knows exactly who to prey on."
Behind him, five Canaan Academy disciples slipped into the village in single file. Their expressions tightened at the sight before them. None spoke. They split up instinctively—two went to comfort the villagers, one began examining the corpses, and the remaining two searched the outskirts for traces of Dou Qi fluctuations.
"Senior Lin…" one inner-court disciple finally spoke, his voice tight as he swallowed back nausea. "The Academy has always tried to stay neutral. Chasing Black Skull members this deep into the Black-Corner Region—won't this cause trouble?"
Lin Xiuya didn't turn.
"In the last six months," he said flatly, "Black Skull trafficked over two hundred women and children into the Outcloud Empire."
Silence fell.
"They deserve to die."
The disciple stiffened.
Seeing the hesitation linger, Lin Xiuya continued, his tone calmer but no less resolute. "Besides, they're already on the Sacrificial Shop's bounty list. Even if we don't move, they won't live more than three days."
The words bounty list landed like a stone.
Relief flashed across several faces.
Everyone here had heard what happened to the Blazing Flame Valley. A force with multiple Dou Zong experts—completely erased in a single day. It was said even the soil three meters underground had been turned over, not a single living creature spared.
"Total bounty," Lin Xiuya said suddenly. "One hundred and twenty thousand sacrificial coins."
The village seemed to inhale as one.
That amount was enough for a Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill.
Enough to skip years of bitter cultivation.
"I'll take fifty percent," Lin Xiuya continued evenly. "The rest is split evenly among you."
Not a single person objected.
They all understood. If they encountered a Dou Spirit from Black Skull, these Great Dou Masters would be dead weight. Lin Xiuya carrying the fight was the only reason this mission was viable at all.
If not for manpower shortages and fierce competition for bounties, he wouldn't have brought anyone.
Eyes that had moments ago been heavy with sorrow now burned with urgency.
Questions flew faster. Footsteps quickened. Even the villagers noticed the sudden surge of efficiency.
As they worked, Lin Xiuya clenched his fist.
One Dou Yuan Pill… nine-star Dou Spirit… half a year to stabilize… then a Three-Turn Induction Pill.
His breathing steadied.
Within one year, I'll be a Dou King.
An unnamed valley, deep within the Black-Corner Region.
Boom!
A black-robed figure was blasted backward, smashing into a cliff wall. Before he could even cry out, seven icy streaks tore through the air.
Crack—crack—crack!
Seven ice cones pierced cleanly through his joints, pinning him helplessly to the stone.
"East side cleared!" Bai Xuan called out, retracting her hand seal. Frost-blue Dou Qi faded from her fingertips as she turned toward Lin Xiuya.
He wasn't looking at her.
Three gray-robed figures stood at the valley entrance, silent and unmoving. At their feet lay a freshly killed Black Skull member, skull tattoo still wet with blood.
Lin Xiuya's thumb pressed lightly against his sword hilt.
"Who are you?"
The man in front lifted his hood, revealing a grin sharp with malice. "Same as you. We're here for the bounty."
The air tightened.
"First come, first served," Lin Xiuya replied coolly.
The man chuckled, fingers brushing the curved blade at his waist. "There's another rule in the Black-Corner Region."
His aura surged.
"Finders keepers."
Clang!
Seven-star Dou Spirit pressure exploded outward as Lin Xiuya's longsword slid free of its sheath, silver light cutting through the night.
"Then let the rules of the Black-Corner Region decide."
Three days later.
Sacrifice City's Mission Hall buzzed with noise, but it fell abruptly quiet when Lin Xiuya stepped up to the counter.
He overturned a cloth sack.
Fifteen heads rolled out, thudding dully against the stone floor. Skull tattoos stared lifelessly upward. One head still clenched a broken Black Skull badge between its teeth.
"Verify."
The clerk worked with mechanical precision, checking markings and residual aura traces.
"Two Dou Spirits. Thirteen Great Dou Masters." He nodded. "Targets fully eliminated. Total bounty: one hundred and twenty thousand sacrificial coins."
A crystal card flashed.
Lin Xiuya exhaled slowly.
He distributed the shares without ceremony, then walked straight to the pill counter.
When 280,000 sacrificial coins transferred away, the clerk produced a jade box and slid it forward.
Inside lay a longan-sized pill, faintly glowing.
Lin Xiuya's shoulders loosened.
"Finally."
But his gaze drifted—toward the Spirit Tool area.
A better sword…
He turned away sharply and headed back to the Mission Hall instead.
New bounties scrolled endlessly across the crystal screen.
After rapid assessment, he pointed decisively.
"Bloodfang Bandit Gang. Same rules."
"Senior Lin!" the others answered in unison.
Elsewhere in the Black-Corner Region, Yuan Yi and Su Mei stood locked in argument.
"This isn't the time to haggle!" Yuan Yi snapped. "Every moment we hesitate, another mineral vein is gone!"
"And dragging Sunagakure in won't make things better!" Su Mei shot back.
"It will keep us alive."
Silence followed.
At last, Su Mei exhaled sharply. "Fine."
Later, as they walked side by side, her voice was tired. "Ever since the Sacrificial Shop appeared… have we had a single peaceful day?"
Yuan Yi laughed bitterly. "Peace? That was an illusion. Now we're just the ones struggling instead of watching from above."
Far away, Han Feng knelt inside the Sacrificial Shop.
Betrayal. Pills. Flames. Failure.
Everything had led him here.
"I'll take all three," he rasped.
Even if it cost everything.
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