At the Main Gate of the Gu Clan.
Right now the air was heavy and suffocating under a blanket of dark clouds that obscured the moon.
The only light came from the flickering torches mounted on the massive stone walls of the Gu Clan estate, casting long, dancing shadows that looked like grasping claws against the cold earth.
The main gate of Gu Clan was imposing, and arrogant.
It was more than twenty feet tall, reinforced with black iron and spirit wood, it was designed to withstand a siege.
Above the archway, a massive lacquered plaque proudly displayed the calligraphy:
"Gu Clan: The Clan of Ten Thousand Poisons."
It was a symbol of fear and respect in the Poison Valley Town.
Tonight, however, it was about to become a billboard for humiliation.
Gu Fan crouched on the tiled roof of the gatehouse, blending perfectly into the darkness thanks to his Phantom Veil Cloak.
His breathing was silent, his heartbeat slow and steady. He felt like a spider waiting in its web, only his prey was already caught.
Next to him lay the unconscious, and naked body of Chen Long.
Gu Fan looked down. Twenty feet below, the usually heavily guarded main gate was completely abandoned.
The panicked shouts of the Gu Clan's search parties and the glow of frantic torchlight echoed faintly from the inner courtyards, and even from the town.
Every able-bodied guard had been mobilized by Gu Chen to scour the estate for the missing VIP, leaving the perimeter completely exposed.
"Perfect," Gu Fan sneered internally, his lip curling beneath his black mask. "When the protagonist panics, he leaves his back door wide open."
He quickly turned his attention back to his canvas.
Chen Long lay on his back on the cold roof tiles, shivering slightly in the night air. Stripped of his silk robes, his gold ornaments, and his dignity, he looked pathetic. Pale, doughy skin rippled with every shallow breath. The fat around his neck jiggled slightly.
Before he began his work, Gu Fan pulled a filthy, foul-smelling rag he had picked up from the garbage dump and forcefully shoved it deep into Chen Long's caved-in mouth.
The fat man's shattered teeth crunched sickeningly, and his jaw locked around the dirty cloth. There would be no loud screaming to interrupt this masterpiece.
With a thought, a faint shimmer appeared around his hand as he accessed his inventory and the King-Tier 'Blood-Drinker' Spirit Sword materialized in his grip.
The crimson blood drinking blade thrummed with a sinister, thirsty energy, practically vibrating in anticipation of tasting fresh blood.
"Now what should I carve out?" Gu Fan thought to himself.
"Hypocrite?" Gu Fan muttered, tapping the flat of the crimson blade against his chin, staring at the expanse of Chen Long's hairless chest. But then he shook his head.
"No. Too soft, sounds kind of intellectual. If I carve 'Hypocrite,' Gu Chen might turn it into a philosophical debate about the Dao or what not."
"I want something that is crude. Something that will hit harder. Something that sizzles their butts, and more importantly... something that points the finger at someone else."
He looked at Chen Long's heavily bruised, completely crushed groin, shrinking in the cold wind.
A cruel, twisted idea formed in his mind. He needed a phrase that would destroy Chen Long's reputation, infuriate the Chen Clan envoys, and drag the powerhouse threatening Gu Clan directly into the crossfire.
Gu Fan raised the King-Tier sword, and with a swift, merciless flick of his wrist, the razor-sharp crimson blade sliced through the air, cleanly severing that little limp manhood of Chen Long.
"MMPH—!" Chen Long's eyes snapped open in absolute, ungodly agony.
His body convulsed violently, but the jelly-like state of his bones and the crushing weight of Gu Fan's boot on his chest kept him pinned to the tiles.
Blood instantly pooled around his thighs, but Gu Fan ignored the muffled, pathetic shrieks vibrating through the gag.
He leaned over the thrashing body, pressing the tip of the Blood-Drinker into the flesh of Chen Long's chest, right between the pectorals.
He didn't carve deep enough to reach the organs. Just deep enough to scar. Just deep enough to bleed.
Slice.
The King-Tier blade parted the cultivator's tough skin effortlessly, drinking a fraction of the blood as it moved, but the sheer agony finally shattered Chen Long's poisoned stupor.
"MMMMMPH!" Chen Long thrashed wildly, his bloodshot eyes bulging out of their sockets in absolute terror.
Despite his jelly-like bones, the primal survival instinct of a 9th Stage Body Tempering cultivator kicked in.
His massive, doughy legs kicked and pedalled violently against the roof tiles, desperately trying to find something to push himself away.
His heavy torso bucked and rolled, throwing his weight from side to side to dislodge his tormentor.
"Hold still, you fat pig," Gu Fan grunted, forced to drop his full body weight onto Chen Long.
He drove his knees ruthlessly into the cultivator's ruined groin and soft stomach, pinning him down with the brute strength of his newly acquired 4th Stage Body Tempering physique.
Chen Long let out a series of muffled, guttural shrieks into the filthy rag, thick tears of agony streaming down his caved-in face.
His jelly hands flailed uselessly, slapping against the tiles as Gu Fan worked with the cold precision of a surgeon and the malice of a demon.
He carved the characters large, jagged, and dripping with gore, fighting against every desperate jerk of Chen Long's body to ensure the message would be perfectly visible from the ground.
"GIFT FROM BAI CLAN FOR GU CLAN, THE IMPOTENT PIG"
He stepped back, breathing slightly heavier from the exertion, to admire his handiwork. The blood seeped from the carved body from his collarbone to navel, still rising and falling with Chen Long's frantic, terrified breaths.
"Beautiful," Gu Fan whispered, wiping the blade on Chen Long's trembling thigh.
"Vile. Lecherous. Insulting."
"It captures your essence perfectly, cousin, while giving the Bai Clan all the credit."
But he wasn't done yet.
Gu Fan pulled out a couple of empty, cracked glass potion vials he had salvaged from the garbage dump.
Tapping into his inventory once more, he retrieved the large gourd of 'Heavenly Bliss' Aphrodisiac.
He carefully uncorked it and let a few potent, glowing drops fall into the empty vials. He then tied them securely around Chen Long's thick neck with a piece of rough twine.
They dangled right above the bloody message, a shining piece of fabricated evidence glinting in the starlight.
"Now for the art installation."
Gu Fan grabbed a rope he had brought up with him from the garbage dump which was surprisingly very resourceful.
He tied a complex, inescapable knot around Chen Long's ankles, securing them tightly together. He tossed the other end over the central jutting beam of the archway, directly below the clan plaque, and secured the hitch.
He squatted down next to Chen Long's head and grabbed him by the throat.
Chen Long groaned, his bloodshot eyes fluttering wildly. The horrific pain in his chest, his severed groin, and his caved-in face was pushing him rapidly toward the brink of death.
"W... wa... ter..." Chen Long gurgled wetly, choking on the filthy rag, his own blood, and his shattered teeth.
"You will have plenty of time for that," Gu Fan whispered, his voice very sweet and a very friendly smile plastered on his face, "It's time for you to checkout, please."
Without an ounce of hesitation, Gu Fan drove the Blood-Drinker Spirit Sword straight down, piercing cleanly through Chen Long's heart.
"Eehhh!" Chen Long's eyes bulged one last time. A final, muffled wet rattle escaped the filthy rag in his mouth, and then his massive, jelly-boned body went entirely slack.
The King-Tier sword pulsed a bright, satisfied red as it drank the last of the fat man's life force.
Gu Fan remained still for a while before pulling the blade out and putting it back in his inventory.
Then he grabbed the dead weight of his cousin by the shoulders and callously shoved him off the roof.
Whoosh!
The massive corpse plummeted. The rope snapped taut with a violent vibration that hummed through the thick spirit wood.
Chen Long jerked to a halt in mid-air, dangling upside down, swaying morbidly beneath the "Clan of Ten Thousand Poisons" plaque.
A steady, rhythmic drip of blood began to fall from the dead man's chest onto the pristine white jade pavement below.
Gu Fan stood at the edge of the roof, the night wind catching his Phantom Veil Cloak. He looked down at his gruesome masterpiece, a cold smile hidden beneath his mask.
"Now all hell will break loose!" Gu Fan grinned, "I am going to enjoy it."
"Damn! Why am I so evil?"