A sharp blade sliced into him from behind, its crimson edge dripping blood.
The Ma family patriarch froze, mechanically turning his head to witness the ferocious expression on his own brother's face.
"Brother, you mustn't speak!"
"I warned you long ago, speaking will get people killed."
Ma Qingyuan took a deep breath and with a sudden surge of strength, bit down and shattered his own poison fang. Seeing Mu Feng's gaze upon him, he bared a ferocious grin before slowly withdrawing the blade.
By then, the Ma family patriarch was already unable to speak, his mouth agape, blood choking his throat.
His pupils dilated uncontrollably, and the blood he coughed up increased.
He was beyond saving.
Everyone from the Ma family stared at Ma Qingyuan in disbelief.
They couldn't comprehend it.
"Qingyuan, why did you do this?"
"He is your own brother! Our Ma family is in dire straits, and yet you directly struck down our only hope for survival!"
Others wore expressions of immense anger.
Ma Qingyuan roared with laughter, "I did it to protect the roots of our Ma family! That's why I killed him. He was a brainless fool. When we participated in that matter back then, I warned him not to get involved in those treacherous currents."
"But he wouldn't listen to me."
"The bitter fruit you are tasting now is of your own making. If we all die, Mu Feng will not seek revenge on our descendants."
"Mu Feng wouldn't be so monstrously cruel, but those behind us certainly will be."
"I don't want our entire Ma family to be eradicated."
"Even if our descendants are destined to be lost in the masses, at least they will have a chance to live, to preserve a sliver of our bloodline."
As he spoke these words, black blood began to seep from his mouth.
The remaining individuals fell silent.
They did not know who their patron was. This matter was known only to the patriarch and Ma Qingyuan.
Mu Feng's eyes turned icy cold, and he walked forward step by step.
He was only half a meter away.
Ma Qingyuan leaned on his sword, managing to stay upright. There was no trace of arrogance in his eyes, only sorrow. "Spare us. All of us present can die, for we all participated in that affair and our hands are stained with the blood of your Mu family."
"Our descendants are innocent."
"I don't need you to act. I will end my own life!"
A chilling curve touched Mu Feng's lips. "From the moment I stepped foot here, your life belonged to me. You will not die until I permit it."
"It's useless. The poison I've taken is like a persistent maggot, it has already crippled my internal organs. I have at most five minutes before I die, my inner organs rotting, a painfully agonizing death."
Ma Qingyuan could no longer stand and slumped to the ground. His eyes held a final flicker of clarity.
Mu Feng said calmly, "Back then, someone from the Mu family must have pleaded with you, right?"
"Did you grant them a way to live?"
"Why should I spare you? I have no right to forgive you on behalf of the ancestors of the Mu family. All I can do is send you to meet them."
"Once you reach hell, you can ask my Mu family ancestors if they will ever forgive you."
These chilling words plunged Ma Qingyuan's heart into the deepest abyss of despair.
However, he would see nothing of the future. For now, he found a form of release.
He slowly closed his eyes.
The retribution he faced now was merely the karma he had sown. He held no resentment towards anyone.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Ma family had fallen to their knees in a panic, their faces etched with pleas.
"Please, spare us! We don't want to die. The matters of the past were all the patriarch's idea, his stubborn insistence. We tried to stop him, but we couldn't."
"And we are not stained with the blood of the Mu family! Please, grant us a way to live!"
Their cries and wails were incessant.
Mu Feng, however, paid them no heed. Several silver needles appeared in his hand.
With extreme speed, he plunged them into Ma Qingyuan's body.
In mere breaths, wisps of poison slowly emerged from Ma Qingyuan's mouth.
At this moment, Ma Qingyuan was on the brink of death.
The spread of the poison was completely halted. His injured internal organs were also being healed bit by bit. This was achieved by stimulating his own potential, using the hardy and vigorous life force of a martial artist as a price to accelerate the healing of his injuries.
In just a few minutes, Mu Feng casually tossed the silver needles aside.
The needles had turned black, completely ruined by the poison.
"I said you wouldn't die unless I allowed it."
Hearing this voice, Ma Qingyuan's eyes snapped open.
The bone-piercing pain he had felt was slowly receding. He thought he was about to die, his body having lost all control, but unexpectedly, he had come back to life.
His gaze was now filled with incredulous shock as he stared blankly at Mu Feng.
"You... you actually healed me?"
Mu Feng said calmly, "I don't wish to repeat myself. And the answer I wish to obtain from you is quite simple."
"I only needed to put you into a deep state of hypnosis."
"But I don't wish to do that. I want you to tell me yourself."
Ma Qingyuan's pupils contracted sharply, a hint of fear appearing on his face. "I knew you wouldn't let us die so easily, which is why I took the poison."
"I just didn't expect your medical skills to be so superb, to be able to cure even such a deadly poison."
"But what does it matter? I will absolutely not say another word. I will not reveal the identity of the person behind us."
A cold smile played on Mu Feng's lips. "You will."
As his voice fell, a large panel van drove up.
Several figures in black stepped out of the vehicle and immediately opened the side of the cargo compartment.
Cries of anguish immediately erupted from within.
Seeing this, Ma Qingyuan's eyes widened in fury.
"You are despicable!"
"You actually captured all the descendants of my Ma family! Do you intend to exterminate us completely?"
Mu Feng said calmly, "In the past, my Mu family was kind to everyone, we never did anything wicked, nor did we provoke any powerful enemies. Why did you seek to annihilate my Mu family?"
Ma Qingyuan could not answer, nor would he.
Mu Feng's expression suddenly turned cold. "Since you refuse to answer, I will speak for you."
"You merely sought to appease a certain faction, to obtain more cultivation resources from them, and for that, you turned your butcher's knives upon the Mu family."
"Hundreds of people in the Mu family, not even infants in swaddling clothes were spared."
"Now you feel what I'm doing is excessive?"
"And I have merely brought back those who brought shame upon the Ma family."