Sadness of separation

The village was surrounded by hundreds of armored elite soldiers, their sharp arrows aimed fixedly at the hundred-plus villagers. Xiao Hua was among them, all of them pale-faced, looking at the group of people in terror.

Three people were already lying on the ground, arrows having pierced their bodies, blood staining the ground beneath their feet red.

"Speak, have you seen this person?"

A middle-aged man wearing golden armor held a portrait in his hand and barked coldly.

On that piece of white paper was drawn a handsome youth with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes; who else could it be but Long Chen?

"We have already said, there is no one named Long Chen here, and we don't know what you are talking about. You people are so barbaric, why are you killing people indiscriminately?" Xiao Hua's face was pale, her expression one of shock and anger.

A group of people had suddenly appeared from nowhere, instantly surrounding the village, and the three hunters who had just run out were shot dead on the spot.

This left them both shocked and furious, but facing hundreds of longbows, they dared not move recklessly. Some gritted their teeth, wishing they could charge up and fight them to the death.

"Hmph, it seems you won't shed tears until you see the coffin. Slaughter those children first; I want to see if they will tell the truth then." The middle-aged man let out a cold snort and signaled to the people beside him. Immediately, the bows and arrows in their hands were aimed at the dozen or so children.

"Beasts, do you dare?"

The village chief let out an angry roar, using his body to shield the children as he yelled at the middle-aged man.

"Kill."

The middle-aged man's expression was cold and stern; he didn't even glance at the old man, as if in his eyes, these villagers were nothing more than blades of grass.

"Kill us then, we are not afraid! Big Brother Long Chen will definitely kill all of you to avenge us!"

A child suddenly broke through the adults' protection, pointed at the middle-aged man, and shouted with an angry face.

"Little Tiger, what nonsense are you spouting?"

The old village chief was shocked and hurriedly tried to stop him, but it was already too late.

The middle-aged man's eyes lit up, and a cold, sinister smile appeared on his face: "As expected, Long Chen has been here. Kill them all, we will continue the search; he cannot have gone far."

Receiving the order, those soldiers aimed their bows and arrows at the terrified villagers and ruthlessly released the bowstrings. The arrows flew toward the villagers like a rainstorm.

"You are courting death!"

Suddenly, a sharp shout came, causing everyone's eardrums to ring. A figure, like a gale, rushed in front of Xiao Hua and the others. With a shake of his long sword, a terrifying Sword Qi slashed down fiercely.

"Bang!"

Most of the arrows were deflected by Long Chen's sword, but there were still a dozen that slipped through, shooting into the crowd. For a time, cries of pain were incessant, mixed with the sobbing of children.

Watching Long Chen descend from the sky, the group of soldiers was stunned, and even the leading middle-aged man was shocked.

"Zhou Weiqing, you bastard, all of you can go to hell!"

Long Chen's killing intent boiled over. He recognized the person in front of him; it was none other than the Wild Marquis Zhou Weiqing.

This scoundrel actually dared to take action against defenseless women and children; he was worse than a beast, especially since they were his own saviors.

"Wind Severing Cut!"

Long Chen let out an angry roar, and the broadsword in his hand swept horizontally across his front. A Sword Qi, invisible to the naked eye, like a transparent crescent moon, instantly slashed toward the stunned soldiers.

"Puff, puff, puff, puff…"

The violent Sword Qi swept past. Before those soldiers could even react, they were slashed into shreds of meat by the terrifying Sword Qi, blood filling the sky.

Hundreds of soldiers were killed by Long Chen's single sword strike. At this moment, Long Chen was like a grim reaper descending, his killing intent undiminished.

Only the Wild Marquis Zhou Weiqing escaped the disaster. When he saw the unscathed Long Chen appear, he knew things were bad.

Originally, the intelligence report said that Long Chen was on the verge of death; even if he had escaped, he would be heavily injured and dying, ready to collapse at any moment.

However, the Fourth Prince had given orders: see the person alive, or see the corpse, otherwise he could not rest easy. He had dispatched experts skilled in tracking, brought hunting dogs, and after over half a month of pursuit, they had found the village.

They knew that Long Chen had either been to the village or was hiding inside the village to recover from his injuries, so the Wild Marquis wanted to kill these villagers directly to force Long Chen to reveal himself.

It turned out he had guessed correctly; Long Chen really did appear. Unfortunately, he guessed the beginning but not the end. When an unscathed Long Chen appeared, it scared the soul right out of him.

Back when Long Chen fought Huang Shang, he became famous throughout Fengming. The Wild Marquis was only in the Early Stage of Blood Condensation; how could he possibly be Long Chen's opponent?

He had intended to catch a dying tiger, but everything had gone wrong. Seeing Long Chen unleash a strike, he didn't even think; his figure retreated rapidly, and at the same time, he took out a shield to protect himself.

When Long Chen's Sword Qi arrived, he had already escaped to the edge of the attack, but even so, the shield in his hand shattered, and he still sprayed blood wildly.

However, the Wild Marquis was indeed an expert; he was a character who had truly seen blood. Enduring the severe pain in his chest, he used the recoil force to drift toward the dense forest, fleeing into the distance.

"Want to leave?"

A sinister look appeared on Long Chen's face. He hooked his foot, flipping an arrow up into the air, caught it, and casually threw it.

"Whoosh."

The arrow tore through the air, flying like lightning toward the fleeing Wild Marquis. The Wild Marquis, running for his life, did not know that behind him was such a life-taking arrow.

"Puff!"

The arrow pierced the Wild Marquis's shoulder armor; the terrifying power left his golden armor with no ability to resist at all.

The Wild Marquis's whole body suddenly shook. Carried away by the terrifying force, he flew over a dozen zhang and was pinned to a large tree.

Blood sprayed out wildly. The power attached to Long Chen's arrow shattered his internal organs.

"Little Xue, don't kill him!"

Long Chen suddenly saw a white light rushing toward the Wild Marquis and hurriedly shouted. He still had use for the Wild Marquis; he couldn't let Little Xue finish him off.

Hearing Long Chen's shout, Little Xue stopped, came to the large tree, and looked at the Wild Marquis pinned to the tree, motionless.

Seeing that the Wild Marquis was subdued, Long Chen hurried to the side of the others and bent down to examine their arrow wounds. Three people had been shot in vital spots and were already dead, including a seven or eight-year-old child.

This made Long Chen's heart feel as if it were being cut by knives. This was all brought about by him. For a moment, he hated so much, only he did not know whether to hate the Marquis of Ying, the Fourth Prince, the Wild Marquis, or himself.

He immediately gave Medicinal Pills to those with serious injuries. As long as they hadn't died on the spot, with Long Chen's Medicinal Pills, there was basically no major problem.

The others also hurried over to help, while simultaneously gathering up the bodies of the dead. For a time, the entire village was plunged into sorrow.

"Village Chief, I'm sorry."

Looking at the old man with tears streaming down his face, Long Chen couldn't help but feel filled with apology; this was all his fault.

"Child, this is not your fault, don't feel guilty," the old man shook his head and said.

The more this was the case, the sadder Long Chen felt. If it weren't for him, there definitely wouldn't have been such a huge upheaval in the village.

"Long Chen, we can understand your feelings. We are all one family, don't be like this," Xiao Hua also softly comforted him.

Long Chen took a deep breath and said to Xiao Hua: "Xiao Hua, I am going to leave."

Xiao Hua's delicate body shook, her eyes filled with shock: "You… are you going to leave us?"

Watching the expression of disappointment on Xiao Hua's face and the tears she couldn't control, Long Chen said in a low voice: "I'm sorry, I must leave. You have also seen it; I carry hatred with me. If I don't leave, I will bring even greater misfortune to the village."

He gently tidied the hair scattered at Xiao Hua's temples and said softly: "The village has sacrificed too much for me. I cannot implicate you anymore. I hope… you can forgive me."

"Slap."

Xiao Hua swatted away Long Chen's hand, and with a miserable expression, cursed: "You bastard, you liar, I hate you!"

After saying this, Xiao Hua covered her mouth and ran into her room, and with a bang, shut the door tightly.

Long Chen sighed, looking at the tightly closed door, unable to say a word. He recalled when he had just woken up, Xiao Hua saying that he was her man, and the satisfied, sweet smile that had hung on her face.

"Child, you don't need to be troubled. If you want to leave, then go. Remember, if you feel that the outside world is not good, you can still come back; this is also your home," the old man patted Long Chen's shoulder and said earnestly.

"Thank you, Village Chief." The village chief nodded, which made Long Chen feel a bit more at ease.

"As for Xiao Hua, I will persuade her. Don't worry; Xiao Hua is a sensible child, she will eventually understand."

Long Chen nodded and took out some Medicinal Pills from his spatial ring. These Medicinal Pills varied in quality, but even the worst of them were miraculous medicine to these hunters.

Now that the Forest God was gone, the village had no support and would have to rely on itself in the future. Long Chen left behind a large quantity of healing medicine and some formulas for healing liquid, so they could prepare them themselves in the future.

Although the village had some formulas, they couldn't compare to Long Chen's at all. Besides the Medicinal Pills, Long Chen also wrote down some insights regarding cultivation in the Qi Gathering Realm, as well as the Wind-Breaking Fist, Wind-Chasing Step, and others he had learned, all of which were left behind.

This was to enable the village to cultivate some experts in the future. If the village had a few experts in the Blood Condensation Realm, the level of the village's safety would be greatly improved.

He also left behind dozens of Blood-Breaking Pills. As long as someone reached the ninth level of the Qi Gathering Realm, taking the Blood-Breaking Pill would allow them to immediately advance to the Blood Condensation Realm.

However, using Medicinal Pills to achieve a Breakthrough would cause the Realm to have certain flaws, but for everyone, this did not need to be a concern. Without Long Chen's assistance, they would basically have no hope of stepping into Blood Condensation in this lifetime.

It took a few hours to arrange everything. Long Chen believed that starting from today, the village would become stronger and stronger.

With Medicinal Pills, battle skills, and weapons, even without the Forest God in the future, they would still be able to survive very well.

Arriving at the village entrance, the whole village had come out, looking at Long Chen with reluctance. There were even a few children holding onto Long Chen's thighs tightly, not letting him leave.

This scene made Long Chen feel a bit heartbroken, but Long Chen had to leave. The only regret was that Xiao Hua's door remained tightly shut; it looked like she hated him to the core.

After saying goodbye to everyone, Long Chen was just about to leave.

"Wait a moment."

Long Chen's figure paused, and he slowly turned his head. He saw Xiao Hua's door open; Xiao Hua ran out and came in front of Long Chen.

Her originally clear and bright eyes were already red from crying, which was heart-wrenching to see.

"Long Chen, I know I can't keep you. This is something I just made; I hope you can keep it with you often."

After saying this, a necklace appeared in Xiao Hua's hand; the necklace was strung together from some colorful stones.

"Hehe, such a shabby gift, I don't know if you'll be laughed at," Xiao Hua laughed, but while she was laughing, tears couldn't stop flowing down.

"I will keep it well. Why don't you come with me?" Long Chen looked at Xiao Hua, his heart aching.

Xiao Hua's beautiful eyes brightened slightly, but soon dimmed again, and she shook her head: "Actually, we are people from two different worlds. I cannot leave my family. I only hope that in the future, when you see this necklace, you will be able to remember that there was once a girl who wholeheartedly… wanted… to hunt… and have children with you."

By the end, Xiao Hua's voice began to choke up, and finally, she threw herself into Long Chen's arms and wailed.

Long Chen didn't know how he left. He felt his heart was broken. For the first time, he realized what helplessness was; it was a helplessness that no amount of cultivation could solve.

Carrying the half-dead Wild Marquis, Long Chen disappeared into the depths of the dense forest.

Xiao Hua watched that figure disappear from her sight, her tears blurring her eyes once again. A breeze blew past, carrying up falling leaves everywhere. Autumn was very cold.