After dealing with Chiao, Sevrin tapped the ground lightly and, with a WHOOSH, vaulted onto the roof of a building. Then, accompanied by the roaring sound of tearing wind, he launched himself toward the Xin Family mansion miles away in a flash.
With his current realm and strength, a single heavy stomp allowed him to glide through the air for dozens or even a hundred meters, riding the wind. Leaping across roofs and vaulting over walls was as effortless as breathing.
However, precisely because Sevrin's speed was so incredibly fierce, the biting gale whipped up by his sprint was violent enough to suck debris and dust from the streets below high into the sky, causing pedestrians to shout and complain.
But by the time they looked up at the sky, everything was calm and still again, as if the commotion they had just experienced was merely an illusion.
In that brief moment, Sevrin had already crossed several miles and arrived at the location of the Xin Family mansion.
BANG!
With a heavy thud, under the terrified gazes of the Xin Family gate guards, Sevrin descended from the sky. He landed heavily on the stone pavement directly in front of the Xin Family's main gate, forcibly cracking the large stone slabs and creating a dozen fissures.
These Xin Family guards were no fools. Having witnessed Sevrin's explosive entrance, they immediately bent over, offering ingratiating smiles and cupping their hands in salute.
"Great Hero, what... what business do you have here?"
Seeing how cooperative they were, Sevrin also smiled and replied.
"That's exactly right. You're just working a job; there's no need to throw your lives away. As for me, I'm here looking for a man named Xin Gein. You must know him, right?"
The guards looked at each other, and one spoke up. "Great Hero, Master Xin Gein is our Third Master. His Lordship travels for business all year round and is not currently here."
"Oh, so I came up empty-handed."
Sevrin said, annoyed. "Then, is Geo Xocy here?"
The Geo Xocy he mentioned was Coeu's son, Huin's grandson.
"Uh..."
The guards looked at each other in dismay, then hesitated before answering. "Young Master Xocy... yesterday, the daughter of the town blacksmith was married. According to the rules, the Young Master went to officiate the wedding and, well, stayed the night at the blacksmith's house. At this hour, he hasn't returned home yet."
"Officiated the wedding?"
Sevrin suddenly recalled what Peon had said. He narrowed his eyes and asked coolly. "Is this blacksmith's daughter very beautiful?"
To this, the guards shook their heads, all indicating they didn't know.
"Beautiful! His daughter is so fucking beautiful, it was amazing! I'm going back there again tonight, hahahaha!"
Suddenly, an incredibly arrogant voice drifted over from a distance.
Sevrin raised his brow and immediately looked toward the sound.
Thirty-some meters away, at the intersection opposite the street, he saw a fatty wearing a bright red silk jacket. He looked remarkably like a pig demon that had achieved human form. He was sitting in an open palanquin, fanning himself with a paper fan, surrounded by seven or eight guards shouting and clearing the way, swaying unsteadily toward the Xin Family mansion.
"Great Hero," one of the guards said. "That is Young Master Xocy."
"I can tell." Sevrin laughed heartily, then took a massive stride and walked head-on toward the fatty.
Although Xocy was so fat his eyes were mere slits, he still saw Sevrin walking straight toward him, about to collide. He immediately craned his neck and yelled.
"Hey, you big oaf! Are you blind? Turn around quickly, don't bump into my palanquin!"
Hearing this, Sevrin cracked a grin and said. "Hehe, what a foul mouth. Watch me tear it apart."
The moment the words left his mouth, his figure blurred. He crossed the twenty-odd meters in a flash, appearing right in front of Xocy. He grabbed that wide, fat face, forcibly yanked him out of the palanquin, and slammed him viciously onto the ground.
"Ouch! My face, my face! It hurts!"
Xocy slumped on the ground, clutching his bloody face, which Sevrin had torn open to resemble a toad's mouth, and howled like a ghost and wailed like a wolf. "What the fuck are you all standing there for? Beat him!"
The stunned guards surrounding them, hearing this, immediately drew their blades and raised their clubs, shouting as they lunged at Sevrin, who stood beside Xocy.
But Sevrin merely extended a single finger, and in the blink of an eye, swept it rapidly in a circle.
SWISH!
CLANG! CLANG! CRACK! CRACK! SNAP! SNAP!
Following a series of crisp sounds and dazzling sparks, the blades and clubs in the guards' hands were all severed. The cuts were smooth, as if sliced by a divine weapon.
This was the power of Sevrin's [Level 2 Sharp Nails]. To him, ordinary pig iron and wrought steel were no sturdier than waste paper.
The guards, having personally witnessed this shocking scene, wisely staggered back several paces, no longer daring to make a move against Sevrin.
"You, you, you..."
Xocy, who had also witnessed this scene, lay on the ground with a face full of blood, terrified out of his wits. "What kind of monster are you? You, you... my father is a peerless master! You can't kill me! He'll beat you to death! He'll beat you to death!"
"Good."
Sevrin smiled upon hearing this. "Then let him come and beat me to death."
He immediately asked. "There's one more thing I want to know... exactly how many virgin brides-to-be have you ruined?"
"Uh?!" Xocy was stunned, not knowing how to respond for a moment.
A second later, Sevrin's smile vanished, and he stomped a foot down hard toward Xocy's crotch.
BANG!
"AAAAAAAHH!"
Accompanied by a muffled thud and a scream like a slaughtered pig, Xocy was instantly turned into a eunuch by Sevrin on the spot.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! Father, save me!"
The fat pig rolled on the ground in agony, shouting incessantly about beating and killing, causing the surrounding pedestrians to immediately gather around.
As for those guards, taking advantage of the crowd, they all slipped away quietly. It was likely they would never return to the Xin Family mansion to be servants again.
As for Sevrin, he walked over to a nearby pork butcher's stall, borrowed a butcher knife, and returned carrying a hemp rope and an iron basin.
"Come on, come on. Look all you want, but don't block the road."
Sevrin shouted loudly as he pushed through the crowd of onlookers. He strolled up to Xocy, who was still screaming and rolling on the ground, grabbed him, and dragged him all the way into a noodle shop.
"Here."
Tossing two pieces of gold to the shop owner, Sevrin said. "I'm buying this shop. Stay if you want to watch; leave if you don't."
"T-t-this..." The noodle shop owner looked at the gold in his hands, his face a mix of joy, shock, and suspicion. "What... what are you planning to do?"
Sevrin replied coldly with two words. "Butchering a pig."
With that, under the watchful eyes of the shop owner and the pedestrians outside, he tossed the hemp rope over a ceiling beam, tied up the screaming, cursing Xocy, and hoisted him upside down like a tied-up pig.
"Release me! Release me at once!"
Xocy struggled and roared furiously, swaying back and forth upside down. "You motherfucker! I'll have my father skin you alive!"
CLANG-LANG-LANG!
With a light kick, Sevrin slid the iron basin he had taken from the butcher shop directly under Xocy's fat head. He then walked into the noodle shop's kitchen, fetched an apron, casually tied it around his waist, and picked up the butcher knife, beginning to examine Xocy from head to toe.
Xocy clearly sensed something was wrong, and he demanded in a panic.
"What are you trying to do? I'm warning you, don't mess around!"
Sevrin, however, didn't answer him, muttering to himself instead.
"Did you know? I've been butchering pigs since I was twelve. Tying them up, slitting their throats, scorching their hair, skinning them, bleeding them, taking out their innards... I'm proficient in everything.
I originally thought that in the future, my craft would be of no use. But ever since I met you, and many others like you..."
Sevrin walked up to Xocy, squatted down slowly, and patted his fat face with the flat of the blade. He bared his teeth in a savage grin and said.
"I suddenly feel that my craft is going to shine brightly once again."
With that, he slashed Xocy's throat with a single stroke.
SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH.
The blood instantly poured out, falling into the iron basin below.
At that moment, Sevrin also pulled the Naeaie medallion from his robe and tossed it into the iron basin.
As the blood rapidly gushed out, Xocy's struggles grew weaker, and the despair and agony in his eyes deepened.
Finally, under the astonished, curious, fearful, and gratified gazes of the crowd outside the shop, his eyes bulged, his face twisted in a rictus of pain, and he breathed his last.
As for the Naeaie medallion Sevrin had taken out, the moment it fell into the iron basin and touched Xocy's blood, it acted like a joyous fish, greedily gulping down the entire basin of blood with a GLUG-GLUG sound. Then, it began to flash with a faint crimson light.
Sevrin was quick with his eyes and hands. Extending his left hand, he snatched the Naeaie medallion out of the basin in a flash, simultaneously channeling his True Force into it.
BUZZ!
Instantly, the familiar, cold, and clear voice echoed in his mind.
"Kiyou Grotto has been successfully activated. Do you wish to enter?"
Sevrin immediately replied in his consciousness. "No."
The cold, clear voice responded at once. "Command received."
Merely a second later, the voice sounded again. "Upon successful activation of the Kiyou Grotto, the storage and etherealization functions have been unlocked. Do you wish to utilize them?"
"Etherealization?"
Sevrin was slightly puzzled. "I can roughly understand the storage function, it's taking in external objects to store inside the grotto. But what does etherealization mean?"
Following his confusion, he immediately chose to utilize the Kiyou Grotto's etherealization function.
SWISH!
In an instant, the Naeaie medallion in Sevrin's hand cracked and shattered, turning into fine powder that drifted to the floor, leaving only a streak of dark red light that sank into his palm.
"Ah?!"
Sevrin lifted his hand to look, discovering that two small, ancient seal characters, shimmering with blood-red light, had appeared out of thin air on the skin of his left palm. Naeaie.
Simultaneously, lines of text-based information flashed across his mind.
After absorbing all this information in a single thought, Sevrin immediately understood the true meaning of the so-called etherealization function.
According to its explanation, the essence of the Kiyou Grotto was not actually within the Naeaie medallion, but existed outside the mortal realm, the medallion was merely a small doorway.
When Sevrin activated the grotto and became its master, this doorway detached from the Naeaie medallion and transferred onto his body.
As for the word Naeaie on his left palm, it was merely an external manifestation of the grotto's doorway.
If Sevrin wanted to change its location, whether to his glabella, his mind, the soles of his feet, or even his buttocks, it was a trivial matter that could be altered at will with a single thought.
Aside from this, Sevrin's physical body could no longer enter the grotto, it could only exist outside of it.
However, this didn't mean he couldn't manipulate the objects inside.
Sevrin could borrow the power of the grotto's doorway to manifest an invisible perspective and invisible limbs within the grotto, allowing him to freely observe and touch everything inside.
"Hahaha."
In an excellent mood, he laughed heartily. "To put it plainly, isn't this just a Pocket Dimension? It's just that the internal space is quite a bit larger, and it has extremely high growth potential."
Sevrin made a rough estimate.
The Kiyou Grotto Side Hall, which was rectangular overall, was about 300 meters long, over 200 meters wide, and slightly over 3 to nearly 6 meters high.
This area and volume were quite substantial, enough to store a massive amount of items.
Immediately, Sevrin aimed his left palm at the powder left behind by the shattered Naeaie medallion on the floor and activated the storage function.
BUZZ!
In an instant, the pile of powder vanished without a trace, reappearing on the floor of the Side Hall inside the Kiyou Grotto.
Sevrin figured that since it was the material left behind by the Naeaie medallion, it must be extraordinary. It might even be useful for forging weapons later, so it was better to keep it.
"Benefactor!"
Suddenly, an apprehensive voice reached Sevrin's ears.
He followed the sound and saw an old woman with a weather-beaten face and worn clothes stepping out from the crowd of onlookers outside the shop.
As soon as she walked up to Sevrin, she dropped to her knees with a THUD and pleaded:
"Benefactor, could you grant this old woman Xocy's head?"
"Oh?" Sevrin reached out to help the old woman up. "You have a grudge against him?"
After standing up, the old woman merely kept nodding, reluctant to say much, only muttering, "I... I want to use Xocy's head... to pay respects to my daughter, my little grandson, and my husband."
"I understand," Sevrin nodded. He turned around, used the butcher knife to hack off Xocy's head, and handed it to the old woman by the hair.
The old woman completely ignored the blood soaking her hands. Gritting her teeth, she cradled the head, clawing and scratching at it, looking as though she wished she could crush it in her embrace.
"Thank you, thank you, Benefactor!" After venting her hatred, the old woman knelt again, gave Sevrin a kowtow, and hurried away clutching Xocy's head.
And after the old woman set the precedent, several more people unexpectedly stepped out from the crowd of onlookers, kneeling together before Sevrin:
"Benefactor, I want Xocy's left arm."
"Benefactor, I want Xocy's hands."
"Benefactor, I want Xocy's heart."
"..."
These people, men and women of all ages, were all different. The only similarity was that their faces were all filled with hatred, grief, and indignation.
Sevrin understood in his heart and didn't ask questions. He nodded, turned around, took up the knife, and got to work.
While busying himself, he couldn't help but recall scenes from his previous life, back when he butchered pigs and divided the meat in the countryside.
Just like now, it was a crowd of people gathered around, watching eagerly.
The only difference was that back then, after dividing the meat, the villagers gave money.
This time, after dividing the meat, the commoners offered their gratitude.
The two seemed different, but were actually quite similar.
The similarity lay in the fact that Sevrin felt incredibly satisfied.
And in this life, satisfaction was exactly what he sought.
"My Lord, could you spare me a little clean blood? The stuff on the ground is too dirty. I want to take it back and dip some steamed buns in it for my grandson to eat. The doctor said the blood of such wicked men is very effective for curing illnesses!"
"It's all divided up, there's nothing left."
Facing the ignorant request of the old lady and the eager eyes of the surrounding commoners, Sevrin felt quite helpless.
No matter how fat Xocy was, even if he were as fat as a ball, he couldn't satisfy so many people.
One could only say that his 300-pound body truly couldn't bear the weight of his own wicked deeds.
After dealing with this group of people, Sevrin headed toward the Xin Family mansion once again.
"I gave you so much time to prepare..."
He looked at the three inner and three outer rows of riflemen numbering up to a hundred stationed at the entrance of the Xin Family, and couldn't help but sneer coldly, "And in the end, this little formation is all you could muster? Not a single expert. It's truly a disgrace."
Suddenly, an elderly man appeared from the innermost ranks of the riflemen. Looking at Sevrin from over thirty meters away, he called out:
"This old man is Cushu, the Patriarch of the Xin Family and the Lord of the Xin Family Fortress. May I ask, young hero, what grudge do you hold against my Xin family?"
Sevrin replied, "No grudges, no enmity."
As he spoke, he glanced at Cushu's personal interface from afar.
Unexpectedly, this old man didn't know the slightest bit of martial arts; he was a pure, ordinary person.
"Hahahaha~"
Cushu laughed coldly, "Since you have no grudges or enmity with my Xin family, why did you brutally murder my beloved grandson?!"
Sevrin chuckled softly, "He was your grandson?"
"No," Cushu said. "He is the grandson of my third brother, Xin Gein, but I treated him as my own son, my own grandson."
"Good, very good."
Sevrin smiled with gratification. "So Gein, Coeu, and Xocy are a family grandfather, father, and son. That's perfect."
With that, Sevrin's smile vanished, and he took wide strides toward the Xin Family mansion.
Seeing this, Cushu immediately shouted in a panic, "Fire! Fire quickly!"
At his command, the entire rifle squad immediately opened fire.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Accompanied by bursts of gunpowder smoke, a hail of bullets instantly rained down on the slowly approaching Sevrin.
The volley of bullets shot forth, rapidly sweeping toward Sevrin's entire body.
But he neither dodged nor evaded, letting the hail of bullets reach him.
No, Sevrin raised his left hand, the word Naeaie glowing on his palm.
BUZZ——
In the next instant, an invisible vortex abruptly manifested at his palm, instantly sucking in and absorbing every single incoming bullet, leaving not a single one behind.
The hundred-plus riflemen and Cushu, witnessing this scene with their own eyes, were all dumbfounded in shock.
"How is this possible? Impossible! What kind of sorcery is this?!" Cushu trembled all over and turned to flee into the mansion.
But at that moment, Sevrin stomped violently on the ground beneath his feet, shattering it and kicking up hundreds of pieces of gravel and crushed stone. Then, channeling his True Force throughout his entire body, layering his strength, and unifying his intent and power into his palms, he thrust them forward explosively.
BOOM——
Centered on him, the air within several meter instantly boiled and erupted, howling and roaring as it swept up those hundreds of gravel pieces, bombarding the Xin Family mansion like a torrential storm.
Their speed was absolutely no less than that of bullets being fired, perhaps even faster.
BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG~
The hundred-plus riflemen lined up at the entrance bore the brunt of this ferocious, driving hail of stone bullets. Their bodies and skulls were pierced through. Without even having the time to let out a scream, they were reduced to a field of mangled corpses.
Cushu, standing in the back and shielded by walls of human bodies, narrowly escaped and didn't die on the spot.
However, both of his legs were gruesomely severed, and a large hole was torn in his abdomen, causing his intestines and stomach to spill out. He could only lie by the door, howling in excruciating pain.
Annoyed by his shrill screaming, Sevrin walked over and crushed his head with a single stomp.
Trash who could only commit evil and enjoy the spoils, yet didn't know the slightest bit of martial arts what use was there in keeping him alive?
Immediately after, Sevrin strode into the Xin Family mansion.
Following the recent bombardment, the vast mansion was now in complete chaos. There were bloody, mutilated corpses; the wounded groaning and wailing with twisted limbs; and Xin family servants taking advantage of the confusion to grab valuables and flee.
Seeing this scene, Sevrin suddenly lost all interest.
Boring, truly boring.
To put it bluntly, they were just a bunch of ordinary people who couldn't even withstand a volley of firearms.
Sevrin didn't like killing ordinary people; he only wanted to kill ghostly entities and experts.
"Where are the experts?"
Following the vague guidance of his Wild Nature intuition, Sevrin unhesitatingly bulldozed his way in a specific direction.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
With a series of thunderous booms and clouds of dust and rubble, the pavilions, courtyard walls, and rockeries that stood in his path were all bulldozed through, no matter how thick or solid.
During this time, any unfortunate Xin family members who happened to be in Sevrin's path men, women, old, or young were smashed to pieces, reduced to a bloody mist and minced flesh, leaving no intact remains.
Sevrin felt no psychological burden whatsoever for these gruesome deaths.
Since they enjoyed the wealth and status of the Xin family, they naturally had to bear the Xin family's karma.
This was simply the way of the world.
"Villain!"
As he advanced, a furious roar suddenly came from Sevrin's right.
Immediately after, a pair of large, bruised-black hands, wrapped in thick, foul black Qi, clawed viciously toward Sevrin's broad back.
Facing this clearly poisonous attack, Sevrin neither dodged nor evaded. Instead, the characters for Naeaie lit up on his back with a crimson, scale-like glow.
BUZZ——
Instantly, the pair of blackened hands were clamped down tight and firm by the grotto's doorway, which had opened on Sevrin's back.
Store item. Close doorway.
As the word Naeaie vanished without a trace, the pair of blackened hands, along with the two blackened arms, also disappeared into nothingness.
AAAAAHHH!
Fresh blood splattered and a scream suddenly erupted. The ambusher instantly became a two-armed amputee.
With such horrific injuries, how could there be any will to fight?
Without a second thought, the man immediately decided to flee.
But before he could escape in agony, Sevrin, who had been charging ahead, came to a sudden halt. He spun around, and from the palms of both his hands, two bloody, blackened arms suddenly erupted, smashing viciously into the man's head.
BANG!
After a muffled thud, the ambusher's face caved in from both sides. He spat out a mouthful of red and white matter, then swayed and collapsed to the ground.
Dead.
"Toxic Sand Palm. Same level, same mastery. In a real fight, not even as good as Huin. Enough to terrorize a town, but ultimately... trash."
Leaving behind this single comment, Sevrin once again transformed into a battering ram, smashing through walls as he charged toward his next destination.
A long while later.
"Villain! I swear that you and I cannot exist under the same sky!"
"Thief! Surrender your life!"
Amidst a stretch of rubble and ruined gardens, two elderly men one wielding a blade, the other a spear let out furious roars as they charged from both sides toward Sevrin, who looked calm and even a little bored.
"Such a massive Xin family, yet not a single one at Huin's level."
As Sevrin simultaneously reached out to his left and right to catch both elders' weapons, he muttered with boredom, "Only four small fry at the Force Circulation rank. It's truly as dull as can be."
As he mumbled, the word Naeaie suddenly flashed on both his palms, severing the arms of both elders one holding a spear, the other a blade and pulling them into the grotto.
AAAAAHHH!
My hand, my hand!
"You used sorcery! You're a monster, you're a monster!"
The two elders shrieked and wailed, which was truly annoying. So, Sevrin furrowed his brows and once again reached out, returning their "items" to them.
Following a pleasant sound of flesh being pierced, both elders were impaled by their own weapons. They knelt powerlessly, their heads hung low, and died.
With that, the "elite" of the entire Xin Family mansion had been wiped out by Sevrin in one fell swoop.
He had also harvested "Toxic Sand Palm", "Concealed Poison Blade", "Poison-Embedded Finger", "Vicious Poison Staff", and "Key Points of the Soutang Pou Clan's Poison Arts (Damaged)" a total of four martial arts techniques and one poison manual for prevention and instruction.
"The entire family practices poison-based techniques. Truly remarkable," Sevrin said, shaking his head speechlessly.
Although these poison arts were largely useless to him, they provided him with a considerable foundation in the field of toxicology, making it easier to deal with various poisons and toxins used by his enemies. Therefore, this trip had been quite fruitful.
At the same time, Sevrin also looted some money from this grand mansion enough to last him for a long time.
Immediately after, with a single powerful step, Sevrin leaped onto a three-story pavilion, looking down upon his surroundings from above.
The entire Xin Family mansion was suddenly laid out before his eyes.
The mansion covered an area of about ten million square meters, its pavilions, gardens, courtyards, and corridors arranged according to some Feng Shui pattern. At a glance, it looked magnificent, surrounded by pearls and jade.
"Quite grand," Sevrin sneered. "Built with the plundered blood and sweat of the common people, no doubt."
Based on what he knew, the Xin family had only risen to prominence in the last sixty years or so; its foundation was not deep.
But judging by the scale of this estate and the reputation of the Xin family among the people of Nina Town, they must have committed countless evil deeds to accumulate such immense wealth in just sixty short years.
"It must be burned clean."
With this thought, Sevrin pulled all the yellow talismans from his pouch.