21 Tension Among Powers
The four of them suddenly raised a brow before taking a look from the window by their seat. As they looked on, Bai Hua ran out into the open with fearful eyes. Her body was covered in blood as her screams grew rough.
"There's been a murder! Someone, please! Call the guards!"
Her appearance was enough to grab people's attention as they stopped to look gasping in shock. But these four young nobles only looked bored when they saw her.
"Hah, just a murder, the City Lord and his men can deal with that."
The one who spoke, Wei Wu, was the first to look away, already bored by the scene. He casually grabbed his chopsticks, picked up a shrimp, and popped it into his mouth.
"Come on, come on, let's get back to our meal before it gets cold."
He spoke while chewing, seeing the other three turn around. Just as they did, Bai Hua said something that caught their attention.
"It's the Chen clan's people! They've been murdered! Someone, please!"
All four of them froze as their eyes widened, turning to look at the bloodied girl. It was as if lightning had struck them.
"Did she just say what I think she said?" Xu Jiu asked.
Another one of the four, a young man dressed in red robes nodded his head and answered.
"She did."
He had a rather fierce look on his face as he stood up but the young master of the Chen Clan was quicker. Jumping out of his seat and leaping out of the window, Chen Bao floated down before landing in front of Bai Hua, squaring her with his sudden entrance.
He was fast, grabbing her by the shoulders and looking at her with a very grave expression.
"Where are the bodies?! Show them to me!" he shouted angrily.
His sudden display of rage shocked the girl, who froze up on the spot. His grip tightened as he moved closer, staring intensely at her.
"Show me where this happened!"
As he began to shake her, Chen Bao felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to look and suddenly stopped shaking her.
"Brother Jin", he said.
The one who stopped him was Jin Shan, the son of the noble Jin Clan. Of the four, he was the only one at the Spirit Realm. Wearing white and silver robes, there was a calming look on his face. He was quite handsome, with dagger-like eyes that made him resemble a wolf.
Carrying a sword in his other hand, he shook his head before pulling Chen Bao back.
"Stop it, you're scaring her even more. Let's just go and investigate this."
Jin Shen then stepped forward standing between the two before gently speaking to Bai Hua.
"I'm sorry for this. Please, can you show us where the murders happened?' he asked her.
She was still shocked and teary-eyed but she nodded quickly.
"It's not far from here. Please, come quickly!"
Bringing them into the side streets, Bai Hua led the group towards the bloodied scene whilst the four nobles questioned her.
"What happened exactly?" Xu Jiu asked.
The young girl glanced behind her towards the daughter of the Xu Clan, stumbling through her words.
"I... I don't know. One second they were there and the next, they just died. It just... happened so fast."
Jin Shan narrowed his eyes at this answer.
"Were you able to see the person who did this?" he questioned.
Bai Hua shook her head.
"No, it was nothing but a blur before blood just splattered everywhere."
The four nobles shared a look with each other before looking ahead. Soon enough, they reached the horrible scene and saw it for themselves. The sight of it was not for the weak-willed, their eyes widened as Xu Jiu even covered her mouth in shock.
Even Bai Hua wasn't expecting this.
There was even more blood now as the bodies had been torn to pieces. And the walls were covered in bloodied writing. It was just one word repeated over and over again.
Chen Bao walked ahead of everyone else, taking a look at it all. He stared at the torn limbs before reading the blood-red words on the wall.
"WEAK, WEAK, WEAK, WEAK, WEAK, WEAK..."
It was written all over the walls as if someone was overcome with insanity. It was messy and a frightening sight. The others couldn't help but feel chills when seeing this. The bodies were shriveled, drained of their blood for the wall.
"What... what even is this?" Xu Jiu asked.
"I don't think that this is something we could handle. This may be another demonic cultivator, you know!"
And the fourth, Wei Wu was the only one to take a step back, fearful for his life. He had a sheepish look on his face as his gaze wandered from one bloody mess to the next. Compared to everyone, he had the smallest stature but that was compensated by the lavish clothes he wore. In some ways, he seemed more like a coward.
But the only one who didn't seem to react like them was Chen Bao. He stood there in silence, staring at the walls, that one word repeated all over the walls.
"Chen Bao? Are you okay?"
Jin Shan walked up to his side, peering over to see the expression on his face. It was restrained, just barely holding back the anger.
"Don't worry, we'll find out who did this."
He placed a hand on the shoulder of the Chen Clan's young master, trying to soothe his friend. Chen Bao looked at him before glancing over at the other nobles. All of them had concerned faces as they looked back at him.
He nodded before facing Jin Shan.
"I must take my leave, my father will need to hear of this."
He cupped his fists and bowed before going. As they watched him leave, Jin Shan looked at Bai Hua, seeing the quivering girl.
"You can leave now, take this time to rest, and be with your family."
He handed her a silver tael to which she looked at him before quickly bowing and leaving.
"Thank you! Thank you!"
Xu Jiu watched the girl leave before walking up to him.
"Are you sure that we're going to just leave her like that? I could've extracted all of the information she had from her mind. It could've been easier since her thoughts are still scattered", she told him.
Despite that, he just shook his head.
"What information could she have given us? A mortal like her has no more use for us."
He then walked around, inspecting the area closely.
"For something like this to be so gruesome and noticeable, it seems like whoever did this wanted to be seen", Jin Shan muttered.
Wei Wu then spoke up.
"What about Chen Bao? Will he be alright?"
Jin Shan made a complicated face, unsure of what to really say.
"We should leave him alone, among the pressure he's facing, something like this will not bode well for him."
He then turned around, looking at the other two
"This is serious, we need to inform the clans about this. Something is stirring in the city and it seems ominous", he told them.
They nodded to each other before splitting off, and going back to their respective homes.
But, Chen Bao was still out in the streets. Far from the scene, he suddenly stopped before smashing his fist into the wall next to him. His expression was a scary one. Twisted in both anger and humiliation.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it! Who would dare do this?!"
He shouted angrily to one before looking over his shoulder in the direction of the other nobles.
"Damn them all. They're just ridiculing me! Ridiculing my clan! Looking at me with those pitiful faces. I know it, they just want to get rid of us, get rid of me. They all think the Chen Clan is the weakest. I'll show them. I'll show them all!."
Leaving in a fit of rage, he went back to his clan, informing them of everything.
In just a day, news of this incident spread like wildfire, every citizen was talking about it. The Chen Clan's men had been murdered by someone, a sight that would cause anyone to turn white with fear.
But there was much that had yet to be uncovered.
Who was the one responsible for these murders?
Why would they do such a thing?
What were they planning to do next?
As for Bai Hua, there was not a single person who knew of her name. Having caused such a scene at night, no one dared to come close to her lest they feared becoming a victim.
Then things began to change drastically as the City Lord's forces as well as the personal forces of the Noble Clans had been mobilized. Everyone was afraid and tensions were high, no one knew what would come but they understood that something big would certainly follow.
