The Heavens: Man Covers the Heavens, Refines Treasures to Become an Emperor

The hunt begins!

……

The torrential rain continues, showing no signs of abating.

The entire city of Yanxia was shrouded in a somber and gloomy atmosphere.

On a relatively wide street, more than ten cultivators were advancing rapidly in a fan shape, their eyes scanning every possible hiding place on both sides of the street with vigilance.

They were one of the teams that had received the signal and converged from other areas to conduct a comprehensive search.

"Keep your guard up! That kid's slippery, don't let him slip up!"

The leader, a scarred man, whispered.

However, before he could finish speaking—

"laugh!"

A cold, sharp blade, like a venomous snake, suddenly emerged from the shadows of a dilapidated rooftop! The blade flashed like lightning, faster than most people could react!
"Pfft!"

A cultivator standing at the edge of the line felt a chill on his neck, and his vision spun around. The last thing he saw was a headless corpse gushing blood.

"Enemy attack!"

The scarred man roared in horror.

But it's too late!
The black figure moved through the rain like a ghost, each swing of the black battle blade in his hand inevitably drawing a spray of blood or reaping a life! His movements were concise, efficient, and deadly, without the slightest frill; they were techniques born solely for killing!
"Surround him!"

"kill!"

After a brief moment of panic, the remaining cultivators roared and charged forward, their various spiritual energies blazing as they brandished their swords and blades.

However, the black figure moved through the crowd like a fish, always managing to avoid fatal attacks with the slightest chance, while his blade always accurately found the weakness of every enemy!

"clang!"

"puff!"

"what--!"

The sounds of metal clashing, blades piercing flesh, and screams of the dying weave together a symphony of death on this street, where the rain is pouring down.

The battle lasted only a few dozen breaths.

When the last cultivator collapsed, clutching his half-severed neck, filled with endless fear and disbelief, the street was already littered with corpses. Rain washed away the rapidly spreading blood, staining the ground a shocking dark red.

On the face of each of the dead, there was a frozen look of astonishment and terror. It seemed that even at the moment of death, they could not believe that so many of them had been slaughtered by one person in such a short time!
The black figure, Jiang Xuan, stood in the center of the pile of corpses. Rain washed away the bloodstains on his sword and the cold rain on his face.

He didn't even glance at the corpse on the ground before moving again, disappearing like a ghost into the rainy night at the other end of the street.

……

Similar bloody scenes unfolded one after another over the next hour in different secluded alleys, abandoned courtyards, and even some half-collapsed houses in the southern district of Yanxia City.

Sometimes groups of three or five searchers are silently slit in the throat.

Sometimes, it is a slightly larger squad that is ambushed and wiped out in a very short time.

Sometimes you could even hear short, intense fighting sounds, but they would soon fall silent, leaving only a mess and corpses on the ground.

An hour later, at another scene.

Seven or eight corpses lay in pools of blood. Although the rain was torrential, it was difficult to completely wash away the thick crimson blood in a short time.

Several cultivators who had just arrived at the scene turned deathly pale upon seeing the horrific sight before them, and their bodies trembled uncontrollably.

"This... which batch is this?"

"This is the fourth similar place we've seen along the way since we received the signal and rushed here!"

"We can't track it at all! The rain washed away all traces! That guy is like a real ghost!"

"We didn't even see a shadow of him, yet so many of our own people died..."

An invisible fear spread like a plague among the remaining pursuers.

They finally realized that the severity of the problem far exceeded their expectations.

The poor boy they saw as prey wasn't just fleeing in a sorry state; he was... fighting back! And in a way they couldn't understand or resist—a highly efficient and ruthless counterattack!

The operation had lasted for nearly three hours, from late at night to the darkest hour before dawn. Not only had they failed to capture the target, but they had also suffered heavy losses and had barely caught a glimpse of it.

"His combat strength... is definitely more than just the Human Realm! The intelligence was wrong!"

"Could it be... that a master is helping him? Otherwise, how could he have achieved this level of skill?"

"This is terrifying... Should we... should we continue chasing them?"

Fear outweighed the lure of the bounty.

Some people started to back out.

"This can't go on like this!"

One of the men, who appeared to be the leader, gritted his teeth, his face filled with lingering fear.

"We must retreat immediately and report the situation here to Young Master Qi Tianxing! We must request that powerful families send their true top experts to provide support! This is no longer something that we, as mere retainers and vassals, can handle!"

The proposal was immediately met with unanimous approval from the others.

All they wanted to do at that moment was leave this ghostly southern area of ​​the city as quickly as possible, and get as far away from that elusive killing god as possible.

However, just as they turned around, preparing to leave—

"Yin——"

A clear, cold, and seemingly soul-piercing sword cry echoed from the night rain curtain behind them.

At that moment, everyone's expression changed drastically! It was as if they had heard the call of death!
……

Inside the Guanchao Pavilion, the lights were still on, but compared to a few hours earlier, the atmosphere had become incredibly oppressive and anxious.

On either side of the long table, the representatives of various factions, dressed in fine clothes, had long lost their initial composure and interest in arguing. Their faces were filled with anxiety and unease. They would occasionally glance at the still dark rainy night outside the pavilion, or turn their gaze to Qi Tianxing, the young master of the Biguang Pavilion, whose face was becoming increasingly gloomy.

The operation had been going on for almost three hours! Dawn was fast approaching, but no good news had come. At first, they were receiving sporadic reports of discovering traces and encirclement efforts, but later, the news became increasingly scarce, and even reports of small teams losing contact began to emerge.

This unusual silence made these worldly-wise representatives sense that something was wrong.

"What's going on? How long has it been? Are there really so many of us who can't even defeat a junior at the Gang Realm?"

One impatient representative finally couldn't hold back and started cursing.

"A bunch of useless trash! Good-for-nothings!" "Li family, who are you calling names? Are the people your Li family sent any useful?"

Immediately, someone retorted.

"Enough! Now is not the time to argue!"

Another person interrupted, turning to look at Qi Tianxing with a questioning tone.

"Young Master Qi, didn't your Azure Light Pavilion send Lu Zhong, a disciple at the Earthly Realm, to go? And what about that assassin, Can Feng? Where are they? Why haven't we heard a single word from them? Could it be that they've also..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was clear. Could it be that even the Earthly Realm expert and that strange assassin had fallen?
These words made everyone present feel uneasy.

If even the Earthly Rank Realm cultivators fail, what does that mean?
Qi Tianxing sat in the main seat, his face so gloomy it was almost dripping with water. His fingers unconsciously tapped the table hard, revealing his extreme impatience and irritability.

He also didn't get any definite news about Lu Zhong and Can Feng, and this feeling of losing control made him very unhappy.

Upon hearing the representative's question, he abruptly raised his head, his icy gaze sweeping over the man, his tone filled with suppressed anger.

"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? If you're so capable, send someone to find it yourself!"

The representative was taken aback, his face turning pale, but intimidated by the power of the Azure Light Pavilion, he dared not say another word.

A suffocating silence fell over the main hall, but the restless atmosphere was spreading and fermenting silently.

Just then, the attic door was pushed open, and Chang Henshui, covered in sweat, strode in with a solemn expression.

Instantly, everyone's eyes were focused on him.

Chang Henshui ignored everyone else and walked straight to Qi Tianxing. He spoke in a deep voice, which, though not loud, resounded throughout the hall like thunder.

“Young Master Qi, the operation... may be subject to change, and may even come to nothing.”

"what?!"

"Chang Henshui, what do you mean?!"

"Speak clearly!"

The hall erupted in an uproar as all the representatives stood up, their faces filled with shock and disbelief.

"Shut up, everyone!"

Qi Tianxing slammed his hand on the table, the loud noise drowning out all the other noise. He stared intently at Chang Henshui and asked, word by word.

"Mr. Chang, you...explain...it...clearly!"

Chang Henshui suppressed the slight anger that arose in his heart due to the other party's attitude, took a deep breath, and clearly reported the situation he had investigated and deduced, as well as the scattered intelligence he had just received regarding multiple search teams losing contact and the discovery of a large number of corpses.

"According to our investigation, Lu Zhong's retainer... has been confirmed dead in battle. The assassin Canfeng is also highly likely dead. Of the 173 cultivators who participated in this operation, more than half have been confirmed dead or are missing."

Moreover, the death toll continues to rise. Our people are being hunted in reverse!

"boom--!"

The entire Guanchao Pavilion was in an uproar, as if a bomb had been dropped on it!

"Lu Zhong is dead?! How is that possible?!"

"Canfeng is dead too?!"

"More than a hundred people... mostly lost?! Hunted down in reverse?!"

"My God... Jiang Xuan... is he a human or a ghost?!"

Exclamations, doubts, and gasps of shock rose and fell, and every representative's face was filled with horror and terror.

Qi Tianxing, sitting in the main seat, felt as if all his strength had been drained away in an instant after listening to Chang Henshui's report. It was as if he had suddenly fallen into an icy abyss, his whole body chilled to the bone. He stood stiffly in place, his face drained of color, leaving only boundless shock and... a trace of fear that even he himself did not realize.

After a brief period of deathly silence, the entire Guanchao Pavilion hall erupted into chaos, like an anthill in a pot that had been set on fire!
"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! Lu Zhong is at the Earthly Realm! And there's that freakish assassin, Can Feng! How could they both be dead?!"

"More than 170 people! More than half of them lost?! The people we sent out were all top-notch, not made of clay!"

"Being hunted from behind? Jiang Xuan alone? Could he be some old monster hiding in a humble family?!"

"It's over... This is a huge mess... How am I going to explain this to the family..."

Those usually aloof and pampered representatives of wealthy families could no longer maintain their composure. Their faces were filled with panic, disbelief, and shock, and some even trembled slightly from shock.

They couldn't accept that a mere youth from a poor family at the Human Realm could inflict such terrifying damage in an attack that nearly exhausted the power of the powerful families and their vassals in Yanxia City!

Chang Henshui stood in the center of the hall, looking at the panicked appearance of these usually arrogant representatives, and a hint of disdain rose in his heart.

But he quickly suppressed these emotions. He knew better than anyone that the reason why powerful families were powerful families was because their foundation was so deep that it could not be shaken by the death of a few retainers and vassals. The true top experts of the empire mostly came from powerful families, and those from poor families were at an absolute disadvantage from the start if they wanted to rise to the top.

Qi Tianxing took a few deep breaths, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in his heart and the shameful fear that filled him with.

He knew he absolutely could not afford to panic at this moment!

"Everyone be quiet!"

He slammed his hand on the table again, his voice hoarse yet ruthless, forcefully silencing the noise in the hall.

His gaze swept over the crowd, his face terribly grim.

"What's the point of saying all this now? The facts are clear! With the resources we have now, it's very difficult to salvage the situation!"

He gritted his teeth, almost forcing the words out.

"There is only one way out now—seek help!"

"Ask for help?"

Someone instinctively asked a question in return.

"That's right! Ask our respective backers for help! Request that they send true top-tier experts, at least mid-stage or even late-stage Earthly Realm masters!"

Qi Tianxing's tone was heavy.

"Although it's shameful to do this, and we'll inevitably be punished afterwards, but!"

He suddenly raised his voice, a fierce glint in his eyes.

"If we let Jiang Xuan leave alive tonight, then starting tomorrow, our dozen or so forces in Yanxia City will become a laughingstock throughout the entire province, and even the empire! To be slaughtered and decimated by a poor boy, suffering heavy losses, and then let him escape unscathed! Who among you can bear the consequences?!"

These words struck like a hammer blow to everyone's hearts. The representatives exchanged glances, their initial panic gradually replaced by a heavy sense of agreement. Yes, lost face could be regained, but if the target escaped, those of them in charge of the operation would face a far worse fate than if they were now calling for help!
"Young Master Qi is right! We must seek help!"

"I will contact the family immediately and request the dispatch of the 'Black Fiend Guards'!"

"Our chamber of commerce can persuade the revered elders to intervene!" (End of Chapter)