Chapter 649: The Threat of the Twilight Society

Red Heart Nine, a lit blasting cap dangling from his mouth, exhaled a puff of smoke as if it were a cigarette. He grinned, his mouth full of iron teeth glinting menacingly in the air, like a demon emerging from a steel forest.

He was currently sitting atop a bruised and battered Floating Life Painting member. Behind him, a group of blue-robed apprentices, equally injured and cowering on the ground with their hands over their heads, stared at Red Heart Nine with unadulterated terror.

“You’re all insane... You Twilight Society members are truly a bunch of lunatics!” spat the Floating Life Painting member, pinned beneath Red Heart Nine, his face ashen with fury. “Do you even know where you are?! How dare you break into the Red Dust Base and assault Floating Life Painting members?! Is there any law left in this world?!”

“Law and order?” Red Heart Nine guffawed. He casually removed the blasting cap from his mouth and, with a flick of his wrist, shoved it into the mouth of the bruised and swollen Floating Life Painting member beneath him, effectively gagging him.

As the fuse steadily burned, the Floating Life Painting member’s eyes widened in terror, seeing the blasting cap about to explode in his mouth. He let out muffled sounds of agony.

“Law and order,” Red Heart Nine smirked, “it’s right there in your mouth. Ask it if it will answer you.” He paused. “Oh, right, it *will* answer... in the most passionate way possible.”

Red Heart Nine extended his hands, making an explosion gesture at the Floating Life Painting member, even providing the sound effect himself: “Boom!”

The Floating Life Painting member grew increasingly terrified. He struggled frantically, trying to pull the blasting cap out with his hands, but beneath Red Heart Nine’s immense, mountain-like weight, he couldn’t move an inch. Witnessing this scene, the blue-robed apprentices huddled in the corner grew even paler. They had been brought into the Red Dust Base since childhood, spending their days studying painting and practicing the Azure Spirit Path, never having contact with outsiders, let alone witnessing such a sight. Facing such a maniacal bandit like Red Heart Nine, they were genuinely terrified. The few who had dared to resist had all been knocked unconscious by Red Heart Nine, one punch at a time.

“Red Heart Nine, don’t go too far,” Diamond Ten said calmly, standing at the end of another long corridor. “We’re kidnappers, not psychotic murderers.”

The corridor behind Diamond Ten was currently filled with a massive tangle of tree branches. Over a dozen Floating Life Painting members were entangled within them, hanging like macabre fruit from the semi-openwork ceiling. Their entire bodies were almost completely encased in wood, resembling live coffins suspended from a tree. Most of these Floating Life Painting members were at ranks three to four, with several even at rank five. However, trapped within these living coffins personally crafted by Diamond Ten, they were like birds in a cage, unable to break free. Even their spiritual energy was being devoured by the entwining branches!

“Me? So friendly, and a psychotic murderer??” Red Heart Nine’s eyes widened as he pointed a finger at an open space not far away. “Then what is *he*?!”

In the open space, a figure dressed in a woolen coat and refined silver-rimmed glasses slowly walked among numerous Floating Life Painting members and blue-robed apprentices, dragging a massive, blood-stained spiked hammer. The spiked hammer, caked with blood and bone fragments, gouged grotesque cracks into the base’s smooth marble floor. Its sharp scraping sound, like fingernails on a blackboard, made one’s scalp crawl. At this moment, the Floating Life Painting members and apprentices lay stiffly on the open ground as if poisoned, their faces bruised and purplish. Their consciousness, however, seemed intact, their terror-stricken eyes following the figure in the woolen coat.

Moments later, Chu Muyun stopped in front of one of the Floating Life Painting members. His blood-stained hand gently pushed the frame of his silver-rimmed glasses, leaving a smear of crimson. The lenses reflected the pale lamplight, appearing like a “lantern of the underworld” signaling death, suspended before the trembling Floating Life Painting member’s eyes.

“Do your knees usually give you trouble?” Chu Muyun asked blandly.

The trembling Floating Life Painting member paused, confused.

“Relax... pain and spasms are normal. Soon, you won’t feel anything.”

The figure in the woolen coat tightened his grip on the massive spiked hammer’s handle, then violently swung it, slicing through the air. The sharp spikes, carrying terrifying force, smashed down onto the Floating Life Painting member’s leg!

BOOM—!!

Flesh and blood splattered, and bones, along with the marble floor beneath, shattered explosively! Under the horrified gaze of all the apprentices, the refined figure maniacally swung the spiked hammer, pounding on the leg again and again. At first, the Floating Life Painting member let out two pained wails, but by the third swing, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted...

Thud thud thud thud thud!!

Only when the leg was brutally pounded into bloody pulp did Chu Muyun slowly stop. He casually wiped the warm blood from his cheek, glanced at the unconscious Floating Life Painting member on the ground, and continued dragging the spiked hammer slowly forward...

The entire corridor fell into a deathly silence.

In another corner, Jian Changsheng blinked. He turned to look at the group of blue-robed apprentices huddled in terror behind him and snarled: “You all behave yourselves now!! Otherwise! I’ll smash you all into pulp too!!!”

The apprentices, having personally witnessed the Twilight Society’s “inhumane” and “appalling” actions, were completely terrified. They cowered obediently in the corner like quails, not daring to offer the slightest resistance. Seeing this, Jian Changsheng felt immensely pleased. He stroked the wolf tail behind him, and his back unconsciously straightened.

Several figures quickly moved through the corridor, arriving at the area where the four Twilight Society members were. Yang Muquan, from the Eighth Hall, saw the scene before him, and his face instantly turned incredibly grim!

“Twilight Society...!!!”

Yang Muquan had sensed the moment the Twilight Society members made their move, but their actions were simply too fast. From initiating their attack to subduing this group of Floating Life Painting members, the entire process took no more than fifteen seconds! Yang Muquan would never have imagined that these Twilight Society members, who should have been “purged” by them, had not only survived but had also brazenly stormed the Red Dust Base, running rampant and audaciously kidnapping a large group of Floating Life Painting members! Seeing this scene, Yang Muquan felt like his lungs would burst from rage. His rank seven suppressive aura erupted from him, wishing he could tear these few individuals to shreds on the spot!

“You... are looking for death?!!!”

As Yang Muquan spoke, a grotesque and exaggerated bubble floated out of thin air. The oppressive force, woven from black lines, almost solidified, suppressing Red Heart Nine and his three companions within it! Facing the Hall-level oppressive aura directly, Red Heart Nine and the others seemed unfazed. He lounged nonchalantly on the Floating Life Painting member, casually twirling a few blasting caps in his hand, and spoke unhurriedly:

“Whether we die or not is irrelevant. However, we can guarantee that before we die... they will die too.”