Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Chapter 538 - Distraction

As Ma Rong asked questions, Black Venom told them everything. She told them everything without hiding anything. 

Alex and Wen Cheng who heard just parts of her story couldn't help but feel bad for her. However, that poor, tragic girl was no more. She was already changed, twisted to what she had become now. 

"Why did the bandits attack the city? What do they want?" Ma Rong asked.

"Survival," Black Venom answered, as she gritted her teeth. The coldness she felt had gone away considerably, and she could finally emote again.

He could no longer feel her father's amulet on her chest. The pain she felt inside was enormous, coupled with the fact that she couldn't herself from speaking the truth, which only served to make her feel worse.

Once again people were forcing her to do something she did not want to. 

"Survival?" All 3 of them looked at her in surprise. Someone came from a little away at the same time. When they looked at the person, they saw the City lord approaching.

The City lord came to the group with a weird look on his face. "What are you guys doing here?" he asked. Behind her was his wife, Mo An, who was also curious to see them.

"Kill the bandit already, you guys need to go help the others," the City lord said.

"Not yet, city lord," Ma Rong said, her eyes not leaving Black Venom. "She is a captain and we are questioning her reasons to come here."

"Oh?" the City lord was finally attentive. "Let's hear it then."

"Explain. What did you mean by you came here for survival?" Ma Rong asked.

"We were threatened to do it. If we didn't do what he said, we would've been killed," Black Venom explained while she kept grinding her teeth.

"Threatened? By who?" the City Lord asked.

"He's known as the Bandit killer. He's been killing bandits for the past couple of months. They were all the bandits who refused to do what he wanted," Black Venom said.

"Bandit Killer? I've never heard of someone like that. What's his name?" the city lord asked.

"He never gave us his name, nor does he use anything to call himself," Black Venom tried to keep as much information to herself as she could, but her body spoke on its own and she had no control over it.

  "This bandit killer, why did he tell you to attack the city?" the city lord asked.

"For distraction," Black Venom said. 

Immediately, all of them frowned. "For distraction? What is he distracting us from?" Wen Cheng asked.

Everyone's heart started beating faster. If such a massive attack on the city was just a distraction, then what was that person's actual purpose. 

Did he want to steal someone important or something important? Did he want to kill someone? Destroy someone? They had no way of knowing.

"Wait, was your attack on the Tiger sect a distraction too?" Alex asked. Wen Cheng's eyes widened when he heard that.

"She attacked the Tiger Sect?" he asked.

Alex's face grew serious as he answered, "Yes master. And she killed a few disciples as well."

"You bitch!" Wen Cheng brought out his sword to attack, but just then, he felt all the energy in his body disappear as he started feeling cold.

"Control yourself, Wen Cheng, we are still questioning her," Ma Rong said.

Wen Cheng looked at Ma Rong with a face of awe and fear. He had never known this was how strong she was and couldn't help but keep away his sword after that. 

"Our attack on the Tiger sect was a direct order from the Bandit killer. Only us leaders got the order, and we were told to destroy the sect as much as we could," she said.

Wen Cheng was angry, so was Alex. But the others didn't care about the Tiger sect enough to let their confusion be clouded by their anger.

"Was it a distraction or the actual purpose?" the City lord asked, not to Black Venom but rather to everyone around him.

"This Bandit Killer," Mo An spoke. "He should also be doing something on his own right?"

"What could he be doing though? We have no idea," the City lord said. 

"I understand that. What I mean is, if he were to be doing something and it was in the Tiger sect, I don't believe why he would send the bandits to destroy it since it would cause people to go there."

"The last thing he would want is to distract us with the bandits outside the sect and then bring attention back to the sect, right?" she asked.

"Hmm, Lady Mo isn't wrong about this," Ma Rong said. She then turned to look at Black Venom and asked, "Do you know anything else about all of this?" 

"No," Black Venom said.

"Very well. You have no more use then," Ma Rong brought out her sword again to attack.

"Wait, master," Alex said. 

"What is it now?" Ma Rong asked. 

"She's the one who killed Wan Li's parents. I believe he would want to learn more about it," Alex said.

"We don't have time for that anymore," Ma Rong said, and tried to kill her again, but she found herself unable to swing the blade.

She understood that Wan Li would never go back to his old self without learning about his parent's death. 

"Dammit! Alright, let's bring her to him. He should still be in his home under house arrest," Ma Rong said.

Alex nodded. He looked around the city and found that the city no longer had many fights. The bandits had brought on a lot of destruction to the city, but even after that, they didn't win. They never had a chance.

"You should go manage the city, city lord. Us 3 will take care of this bandit later," Ma Rong said.

"Okay," Fu Wen said. "I will talk to you guys later." 

He and his wife left the area and went towards where their soldiers were heavily concentrated. 

Ma Rong, Alex, and Wen Cheng went together towards the center of the city where the elders of both the sect should have been gathered for now. 

Black Venom saw the bodies on the ground, all scattered throughout the city, reminding her of the day when she killed all those people in her town.

She hadn't regretted it then, but now, there were her men, her people that had given her food, clothes, and shelter. To see them all die, she couldn't help but cry once again.

As they got closer to the city center, Alex got a weird feeling like someone was watching him. He turned around to see if anyone was there but saw no one. 

Not only that, but he also got a feeling that something was off with the city. "What is it?" he asked himself, but he just couldn't find an answer.

The closer they got to the elders, the greater the feeling got. However, he quickly ignored the feeling when he saw the elders in front of him.

All of them were wounded, bloody from all the cuts they had received. Some of them even had multiple lost limbs, making Alex look fine in that regard. 

"Are there elders in the sect?" Wen Cheng asked his men.

"Yes, sect leader. We have already sent half of the elders to protect the sect in case we got attacked again," someone answered. 

"Is there no bandit left now?" Ma Rong asked.

"Yes, sect leader. We have already gone through the whole city. After you defeated them, there weren't many left. Those who were, we already got rid of them," the elders from the Hong Wu Sect said.

"Go back to the sect," Wen Cheng ordered his people. 

"Yes, Sect leader," the elders replied and left. 

"Sigh," Wen Cheng finally took a sigh of relief. "So much tragedy, but at least, it's over, finally."

"No it's not," Alex said from beside them. 

Ma Rong and Wen Cheng turned around to look at him. Alex was frantically looking around him.

"What's wrong, Yu Ming?" Wen Cheng asked with a serious face.

"Look around us, master," he said. Wen Cheng looked around, but he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be looking at.

"What are we supposed to be looking at?" Ma Rong asked.

"The city. Look how much damage the southern half of the city suffered, yet the northern half barely seems to have suffered any damage," Alex said. 

"That's obvious. The bandits started from the southern half, and probably couldn't get very far," Wen Cheng said.

"Exactly, master. They started from the southern half, which we now know, thanks to her, was a distraction."

"What if that bandit killer's target was north, so he sent the bandits to the south?" Alex asked.

Ma Rong's heart skipped a bit as a deep chill went down her spine. "The sect must be in danger," she said.

"Lang Shun!" she cried. 

"Yes, sister?" Ma Rong's junior brother appeared from the group, his leg missing. Alex felt a tinge of sadness looking at his Martial Uncle look like that. 

Lang Shun felt the same way seeing his Martial Nephew like that.

Ma Rong took Black Venom's storage bag and took out 2 masks from it. She also took out a pill and fed it to her. Black Venom slowly fell into a lull and fell unconscious. 

"Wear this. Her voice is a mental attack and only this mask will protect you. Don't interact with her without the mask."

"Keep her with you for now. I will ask her questions later," Ma Rong said. After that, Ma Rong flew off to go look at the sect and see what sort of danger it was in.

The elders followed, along with Wen Cheng and Alex as well. 

When they reached the sect, they found nothing abnormal happening there at all.  Alex looked around and was equally surprised and glad to see nothing happening there. 

The second elder and third elder flew up to them and asked, "is it over?" 

"Yes," Ma Rong said seeing that nothing was wrong with the sect. "It's over."

The elders flew off towards their place to take care of themselves, while Ma Rong flew towards her own as well. Alex and Wen Cheng followed her, and so did the second elder and the third elder.

"Did you learn anything, sect leader?" the second elder asked as they flew towards the sect leader's mountain.

"Not really, only that this was meant to be a distraction," Ma Rong said.

"Distraction from what?" the third elder asked.

"We… we don't know," Ma Rong said.

They landed on the mountain in front of Ma Rong's house. They were about to walk in when Alex got the feeling that someone was watching him again. 

Without wasting any time, Alex spread out his Spiritual sense as far as he could, and suddenly, he noticed someone flying high in the sky. 

"Who's there?"