C7 There Was No Need to Hide Anymore

"Where's Blood Asura?" Upon arriving at Central Mansion, Su Nanyan and his group immediately summoned the clan members assigned to keep watch over Blood Asura.

"Patriarch, we've lost him..."

The Su family member's face was grim. They had been tailing Blood Asura since he entered the city, but in less than half an hour, he had vanished without a trace.

"Useless!" Su Nanyan's face twisted in anger as he spat out the insult. He then turned, with a sense of resignation, to Lin Muer and Wang Xiaotian, both looking somewhat travel-worn, and asked with a wry smile, "Brother Lin, Brother Wang, what's our next move?"

Lin Muer's brow furrowed slightly, his expression one of reluctant acceptance. "Let's hope Elder Mo gets our message and arrives in time to help. For now, we have no choice but to head to my niece, Su Xuerou's place. Regardless, we must prevent Blood Asura from harming them."

Wang Xiaotian nodded in agreement, offering no objections.

Resolved, the three Patriarchs, along with their warriors, hastened towards Su Mansion.

Half an hour later, as Su Mansion loomed ahead, Su Nanyan, Lin Muer, and Wang Xiaotian abruptly halted.

"Brother Lin, Brother Su, what's this...?" Wang Xiaotian's face paled, his keen senses as a martial arts master picking up on the anomaly. His eyes darted to a nearby dwelling from where a thick scent of blood was billowing into the sky.

Lin Muer and Su Nanyan also sensed the disturbance. Exchanging glances, they followed the pungent trail.

Yet, upon witnessing the scene before them, even their seasoned hearts were jolted with shock and fear.

The walls and houses had completely collapsed, clearly the result of a forceful blast. As for the culprit...

All eyes were drawn to Blood Asura, standing unmistakably before them.

"Blood Asura! It's actually him!"

Su Nanyan's tone was laced with incredulity.

The martial artists accompanying them shuddered at the sight of the infamous Blood Asura from the Red Rebel.

Lin Muer examined Blood Asura's body briefly and inhaled sharply, "Hiss! His chest ribs are completely crushed, his organs displaced, his heart directly shattered—a fatal blow in one strike..."

A martial arts grandmaster, struck down with a single blow right here in the Central Prefecture? To think there was such a formidable force lurking among us!

"Could it be Elder Mo?" Wang Xiaotian's expression was tinged with complexity, yet he found his own suggestion hard to swallow. Elder Mo, while indeed a grandmaster, would never resort to such domineering tactics.

"Then who could it be?" Lin Muran, Su Nanyan, and Wang Xiaotian exchanged bewildered glances, but no one present could offer an explanation.

"We should go find Su Nephew first," Lin Muran broke the silence, taking the lead.

...

Su Xiaomei remained oblivious to Jee Yun's departure. But when the heads of the three families simultaneously showed up at the Su Mansion, even Su Xuerou couldn't hide her surprise.

"Patriarch Lin, Patriarch Wang, Uncle, what brings you all to the Central Prefecture at once?" she asked. They were usually swamped with their duties, more so with the decade of turmoil fast approaching.

Hearing Su Xuerou's query, Su Nanyan couldn't help but show a wry smile. "There's been a major development. Blood Asura has arrived, and it's very likely you're his target."

Su Xuerou's brow furrowed in confusion. "Blood Asura? The newly risen Martial Grandmaster of the Red Rebel? Why would he come after me?"

Crossing a Martial Grandmaster was a risk of untold magnitude, particularly for someone at her current level—only the fifth tier of Martial Tao.

She was hailed as a once-in-a-century prodigy in Dirtcliff, yet she was acutely aware that with her present Astral Qi cultivation, she wouldn't last a single round against Blood Asura.

With her face clouding over, Su Xuerou voiced her concern, "Uncle, I think I need to go into hiding for a while."

It seemed the only viable option. Should the three families get involved, the fallout would be catastrophic. Blood Asura was a grandmaster-level adversary; even a united front from the three families would stand no chance against him.

"No need to hide. Blood Asura is no longer our concern. What we need to address is a different issue altogether," Lin Muran said with a bitter chuckle, shaking his head.

This only deepened Su Xuerou's puzzlement. She frowned, asking, "What issue?"

Lin Muran was just about to speak when a member of one of the three clans burst in, interrupting him, "Patriarch, a representative from Spincog Academy has arrived with news about the Blood Asura!"

Initially, Lin Muran felt a flare of anger at being interrupted, but upon hearing that the visitor was from Spincog Academy, he quickly calmed himself and invited, "Please, bring them in!"

Meanwhile, Lau Mengyao and Xu Yuanyuan had been dispatched by the academy's principal to seek out the heads of the three families. They were taken aback upon arriving at the Su Mansion, finding it besieged by a formidable gathering.

To resist the Blood Asura, the three families had spared no expense, assembling hundreds of martial experts at the Fourth Empyrean of Martial Tao. Such a force could easily contend with some of the lesser Martial Grandmasters.

Once inside, Lau Mengyao greeted the three family heads with due respect, "Patriarch Su, Patriarch Wang, Patriarch Lin, has the Blood Asura arrived?"

Su Nanyan responded with a wry smile and a nod, then hesitated and shook his head, "Yes, the Blood Asura came, but he's been killed! We were about to inquire if Elder Mo had intervened."

"What? The Blood Asura is dead? A Martial Grandmaster has been slain just like that?"

The news shocked not only Lau Mengyao but also Su Xuerou, whose face turned pale.

It was common knowledge that among millions of martial practitioners across the four prefectures, only a few thousand reached the esteemed level of Martial Grandmaster. The decennial chaos had claimed the lives of many such masters, leaving only six within Dirtcliff.

Yet, each of these Grandmasters was a titan in their own right. To hear of one being killed so abruptly was staggering.

"Patriarch Su, do you have any idea who the killer is?" Lau Mengyao asked, her face etched with astonishment. It had been a decade since the last fall of a Martial Grandmaster in the martial arts community.

The current battle of the stars seemed destined to unleash a tempest of blood and fury.

"I'm not sure," Su Nanyan admitted, shaking his head, though he harbored some suspicions. Given that Elder Mo had not shown up personally, sending two disciples in his stead, he likely anticipated this turn of events.