# Chapter 38: A Debt of Blood
Inside a cave on a nameless hill hundreds of li away from the Qingxin Forest, Jian Wushuang, who had been unconscious for more than half a day, slowly regained consciousness.
"Kid, you're awake."
A burly man with disheveled hair named Abu sat by a charcoal fire roasting meat. Seeing that Jian Wushuang had woken up, he casually tossed over a large piece of roasted meat. "You've been unconscious for so long, you must be hungry. Have something to eat."
"My name is Sima Bu, but everyone calls me Abu. You can call me Big Brother Abu too," Sima Bu said.
"Big Brother Abu," Jian Wushuang called out, then immediately remembered something and asked urgently, "Where's my aunt?"
"Ji Wuyue?" Sima Bu shook his head and sighed. "She must have been captured by the Blood Feather Tower. The Blood Feather Tower is ruthless and vicious. Once someone falls into their hands, their fate is rarely a good one."
"Bastards!" Jian Wushuang cursed silently.
"Kid, your name is Jian Wushuang, right? You're quite young, but you sure have quite the reputation, to have made the Blood Feather Tower send out such a massive force to hunt you down." Sima Bu mused, "But judging from your expression, you seem rather confused about it all?"
"That's right, I am confused. Even now, all I know is that the Blood Feather Tower is hunting me because I awakened a Sword Soul, and that my father went through the same ordeal back in the day, which is why he chose to leave the Sword Marquis Manor. But what exactly is this so-called Sword Soul?" Jian Wushuang frowned.
"Sword Soul? Never heard of it. But since the Blood Feather Tower would hunt you and your father relentlessly over it, even going so far as to wipe out the entire Ji Clan, this Sword Soul must be no small matter," Sima Bu said.
"Big Brother Abu, your relationship with my aunt must be quite deep. You should know some things about her, as well as the Ji Clan and the Blood Feather Tower. Tell me about them," Jian Wushuang said earnestly.
"Ji Wuyue and I have ventured and adventured together many times. Though we count as close friends willing to die for each other, I don't actually know much about her affairs. However, I do know about the Ji Clan and the Blood Feather Tower." Sima Bu began his account at once.
"To talk about the Blood Feather Tower and the Ji Clan, we have to start with the overall structure of the Tianzong Dynasty."
"The Tianzong Dynasty has a vast territory, containing sixteen provinces in total, and each province has numerous commanderies. The Tianyan Province, for example, has a full one hundred and eight commanderies, and the Ba River Commandery is merely one of them. So you can imagine just how large the Tianzong Dynasty really is. Your Sword Marquis Manor, while the top power in the Ba River Commandery, doesn't even count as a third-rate force in the eyes of the entire Tianzong Dynasty—it's merely unranked."
A trace of surprise flashed through Jian Wushuang's eyes, but he quickly recovered.
Indeed, the Sword Marquis Manor could only be considered a top power within the Ba River Commandery. But as for the entire Tianzong Dynasty—forget the whole dynasty, even within the Tianyan Province alone, there were countless powers stronger than the Sword Marquis Manor. The Heavenly Origin Sword Sect, one of the five great sects of the Tianyan Province, was far beyond what the Sword Marquis Manor could compare to.
"In the Tianzong Dynasty, the very top is occupied by three great overlords: the Golden Dragon Hall, the Life-and-Death Arena, and the Blood Feather Tower!" Sima Bu continued his account.
"The Golden Dragon Hall stands behind none other than the sovereign of the Tianzong Dynasty. It spreads across every corner of the dynasty. Though its power is immense, it is actually a very loose organization with little control over its Golden Dragon Guards. People like me, and your aunt Ji Wuyue, are both Golden Dragon Guards."
"The Life-and-Death Arena is the number one merchant guild of the Tianzong Dynasty, with power likewise spread across every corner of the dynasty. It's said that the Life-and-Death Arena also has the support of the imperial family behind it—probably one of the princes of the Tianzong Dynasty."
"And finally, there's the Blood Feather Tower!"
"As for the Blood Feather Tower, there isn't a single martial artist who has roamed the Tianzong Dynasty that doesn't know of it and fear it. It is the universally acknowledged number one assassin organization of the Tianzong Dynasty, possessing a large number of assassins who hide without a trace. Their assassins are divided into four tiers: 'Bronze Mask,' 'Silver Mask,' 'Gold Mask,' and 'Purple Mask.' The 'Silver Mask' generally possesses cultivation at the Golden Core level, while the 'Gold Mask' is at the very peak of the Golden Core. As for the 'Purple Mask,' they are super experts at the legendary Yin-Yang Void Realm level."
"The ones hunting us this time included dozens of Silver Mask assassins, as well as three Gold Mask assassins."
"These are the three great overlords of the Tianzong Dynasty's first tier, all terrifyingly powerful. Below these three great overlords are the ancient Eight Great Clans."
"These Eight Great Clans are said to have been passed down since the founding of the Tianzong Dynasty. They are incredibly ancient with profound foundations, and the Ji Clan is one of them. But just three years ago, the Ji Clan was annihilated, root and branch. At the time, it shook the entire Tianzong Dynasty, and all the various powers speculated about the source of the Ji Clan's destruction. No one imagined that the Ji Clan had been slaughtered by the Blood Feather Tower for sheltering your father." Sima Bu sighed with emotion.
"What about my aunt? And what's the story behind the poison in her body?" Jian Wushuang's face darkened.
"The poison your aunt was struck with is called the Ten Thousand Bones Heart-Devourer. It's an extremely vicious poison that can slowly and completely destroy a person. When I met your aunt three years ago, she already carried this deadly poison, and it would flare up from time to time. When it did, she would suffer unprecedented agony—agony that would directly destroy her sanity, making her unable to recognize even her closest kin, knowing only to vent her madness in slaughter. I've witnessed your aunt's poison flaring up several times. It was horrifying!"
"And the poison flares up without any pattern at all. This time, she set out to save you, but she happened to be struck by a flare-up precisely then. Ah!" Sima Bu sighed softly and continued slowly. "Once the poison flares up, she quickly falls into madness. At such a moment, if we had taken her with us, none of the three of us would have escaped. So..."
At this point, Sima Bu's face also grew extremely grim.
Ji Wuyue had adventured with him many times, and their bond was very deep. If there had been any other way, he would never have abandoned Ji Wuyue alone.
"Who? Who poisoned my aunt?" Jian Wushuang asked coldly.
"I know who poisoned her. His name is Shadow. He's a hall master of the Blood Feather Tower in the Tianyan Province, and he was among those who came to hunt you down this time," Sima Bu said.
"Shadow, is it? Fine. I'll remember him."
"Not just him—the entire Blood Feather Tower!"
Jian Wushuang raised his head, his eyes surging with a murderous intent unlike anything before. Before, he hadn't known his own origins, but now he did.
His mother was the eldest daughter of the Ji Clan. The blood of the Ji Clan flowed through his veins. In other words, he carried the blood feud of the entire Ji Clan upon his shoulders.
The Ji Clan had been annihilated to the last member for sheltering his father!
His father had fallen into the hands of the Blood Feather Tower, his fate unknown.
His aunt had been persecuted by the Blood Feather Tower, suffering the bone-gnawing agony of a deadly poison, and now, in order to save him, she had likewise fallen into the Blood Feather Tower's hands.
And this time, the moment his Sword Soul awakened, the experts of the Blood Feather Tower had come to kill him without delay... The culprit behind it all was the Blood Feather Tower!