Chapter 262: Deer Cutting Saber

"Abin, go see what's going on."

The man sitting in the middle of the sofa spoke. His voice sounded weathered, putting his age somewhere past forty.

"Sure thing, Brother Long," the young man standing near the bar replied. He pulled a machete from behind the counter and walked toward the corner of the stairs.

"Nobody move. Stay where you are." The middle-aged man called Brother Long held immense prestige among the group, and his word was law. The moment he spoke, everyone obediently sat back down.

"Brother Long, aren't you making a big deal out of this? The heavy rain probably just shorted the fuse box," a thug with an earring complained from the other end of the sofa.

"Use your brain before you speak. I, Jiang Long, have survived to this day because I'm cautious. I never trip up." The middle-aged man pushed the woman beside him away and flipped open the sofa cushion, revealing a sharpened broadsword hidden underneath.

"The noise from Xiaohu's room earlier didn't sound right, which is why I sent Scar up to check on him. Too much time has passed. Neither Xiaohu nor Scar has come back down, so something must have happened."

The thug with the earring still didn't buy it. "Brother Long, who in all of Jiangcheng would have the guts to cause trouble here? You're overthinking it. I say we go back to having fun."

"You don't know shit. You think with your lower half all day; if you keep ignoring your brain, it'll rot," Jiang Long snapped mercilessly. "Do you know why I called all of you over today?"

"To get the brothers together since it's been a few months?"

"The gathering is only part of it. My main goal was to bring some life into this villa. In a house this big, the Yin energy is too heavy. Something unclean might move in."

"Brother Long, isn't that a bit ridiculous? We haven't seen you in a few months, and now you believe in this stuff?"

"You haven't seen it, so of course you aren't afraid." The men invited today were all Jiang Long's sworn brothers who had bled with him, so he spoke freely, unintentionally revealing quite a bit. "Last night, I helped my godfather retrieve an item. What was on it was completely bizarre. If you'd seen the records inside, the worldview you've held for half your lives would probably shatter."

"What did it record? All this cryptic talk actually has me curious."

"It's classified. For now, I'm the only one who's seen the contents. Tomorrow, the Old Master will send someone specifically to collect it."

Jiang Long and the thug chatted casually for another two or three minutes before they finally realized something was wrong.

"Abin?"

"Abin?!"

The two of them shouted through the hall, but no one answered. A living, breathing person who had just walked right past them had vanished from the villa in the blink of an eye.

Their unease slowly morphed into panic. The women in the room grew frantic as well, huddling together in fear.

"What the hell is going on?" The thug with the earring pulled out his phone for light and gathered his courage, walking toward the corner of the stairs.

A dark silhouette stood right next to the fuse box. Judging by the outline, it was Abin.

"You little bastard, you dare ignore the boss when he calls you? Are you asking for a beating?" He marched up the stairs, only noticing the anomaly once he got close.

"Abin, you son of a bitch, don't scare me." The thug circled around to Abin's front and shined his phone light on him. Only then did he see that Abin's face was pale as paper and entirely drained of blood. His pupils had shrunk to pinpricks, as if he had witnessed something utterly horrifying.

"Brother, what did you see?" He reached out and patted Abin's cheek. The very first sensation upon contact was how cold he felt. He completely lacked the warmth of a living person.

Then, following the force of the slap, Abin toppled straight over like a statue with an unstable base.

"Abin!"

Abin's stiff body tumbled down the stairs. The thug reached out to grab him, only to suddenly realize his own feet couldn't move.

"What's going on?"

Downstairs, Jiang Long approached with his blade drawn. He arrived just in time to see more and more fine, thread-like strands wrapping around the thug's legs, dragging the man up to the second floor right in front of him.

"What... what is that? A woman's hair?" Jiang Long stood rooted to the spot, the hand gripping his knife turning cold. He had shed blood fighting in Jiangcheng for years, but he had never seen anything like this. "Is my house really unclean?"

Jiang Long swiftly backed away, completely abandoning the dragged thug. "Everyone stay in the living room and don't move! Get your phones out for light and watch your surroundings!"

He shouted the order, then hurriedly ran back to the living room and opened the safe hidden beneath the closet.

"Brother Long, where's Abin? What did you see?"

"Cut the fucking bullshit and bring a light over here!" Jiang Long, sweating profusely, began rummaging through the safe.

The clinking of Gold Bricks and jewels made his subordinates stare wide-eyed.

A few seconds passed. Jiang Long still hadn't found what he was looking for when a woman's scream suddenly tore through the hall.

"Fuck! Who was that?"

Jiang Long raised his blade and looked toward the source of the noise. A scantily clad young model was huddled on the sofa, pointing at the window. "There's someone outside!"

Following her pointing finger, he saw the curtains fluttering. The previously tightly shut window had been opened at some point, and rainwater was soaking the carpet.

"Making a fuss over nothing." Jiang Long wiped the sweat from his forehead and swept his gaze across the room. After a moment, he froze. "Are we missing someone else?!"

Initially, he had been sitting in the middle of the sofa with a woman in each arm, but now there was only one woman sitting there. Where was the other one?

It felt as if a starving beast was prowling in the darkness; the slightest carelessness would result in being dragged away and chewed to pieces.

An invisible terror shrouded everyone in the villa. The silence alone was enough to drive a person mad.

"It looks like your house really is haunted." A lackey who hadn't spoken until now felt his hair stand on end. He kept shining his phone light around, as if ugly monsters were hiding in every corner the beam couldn't reach.

"Brother Long, I won't intrude any longer tonight. I'm leaving."

He grabbed his female companion and prepared to leave, but before he had even moved half a meter, Jiang Long slammed his broadsword onto the table. "No one leaves tonight! It's even more dangerous outside!"

Jiang Long continued to rummage through the safe. The others didn't dare speak. Tension festered, and the air filled with dread.

The room flickered between light and shadow. Occasional flashes of lightning illuminated the pitch-black villa, revealing rows of ghastly pale faces.

"Boom!"

Thunder cracked. One woman was the first to break under the pressure. In a moment of life and death, she stopped caring about Jiang Long's pride; she kicked off her high heels, threw open the door, and ran out of the villa.

"Smack! Smack!" The sound of footsteps echoed a few times before abruptly stopping. Looking out through the window, there was no sign of anyone at the villa's entrance.

"She's gone?!"

The woman hadn't even had time to close the door when she left. Battered by the heavy rain, the high-end security door creaked and swayed back and forth, much like the mood of everyone inside—wavering, suspended in midair.

"See that? Don't run around blindly. It's more dangerous out there. There's something right here with us."

Jiang Long didn't care whether that woman lived or died. He fished out a key from the deepest part of the safe.

"Get out of the way!" He ran to the other side of the closet and tore away the wallpaper, revealing a larger safe hidden behind it.

He used the key to unlock it and then punched in the passcode. The moment the door opened, cold air seeped out. The few people gathered around looked inside. Resting within the safe was a grand, antique treasure blade.

Narrow-bodied and straight-edged, the long blade gleamed like autumn frost. It was simple and clean, slender and straight, sturdy and razor-sharp.

Carved into the hilt in ancient seal script were three characters—Deer Cutting Saber!

"When the Qin lost its deer, the world chased it, and only the victor claimed the deer to carve it up. This blade is a treasure the Old Master brought back from an overseas auction. Supposedly, tomb raiders dug it out of an ancient Han dynasty grave. Don't be fooled by the thousands of years it's seen; it still slices through iron like mud and cuts through gold and jade." Jiang Long reached out to grab the hilt. "And this blade has another effect. According to the Old Master, it once belonged to a border general in the Han dynasty. Bathed in the light of the General Star day and night, it is impervious to all evil and can slay demons and foul spirits!"

Only upon seeing this blade did he finally feel relieved. However, before he could finish speaking, someone else had already grasped the saber's ringed tiger-head hilt.

...

The blade was heavy; I could barely lift it with one hand.

The frost-like edge reflected my face, a bone-piercing glint wandering along its unyielding lines.

"What a fine blade!"

Taking a step back, I smiled and looked at the dumbfounded Jiang Long. "Surprised? If I hadn't wanted to see what your trump card was, you would've died a moment ago."