Chapter 24 Remember it completely

As Yan Kong's empty gaze gradually focused and he regained his senses, the scene before his eyes left his mind blank, and he stood there dumbfounded.

He stared blankly at the clan chief's wife in front of him, clutching her lower abdomen in pain, slumped to the ground, her face as pale as paper, bright red blood seeping from between her fingers, staining her elegant kimono.

What horrified him even more was that his hands seemed to retain some kind of eerie sensation—like the resistance and recoil of gripping a short knife and stabbing it into a human body.

The feeling was so real, yet so absurd, that he couldn't immediately tell whether it was reality or a terrifying hallucination.

Just as he was stunned and frozen in place, he caught a glimpse of a very fast black shadow flashing by out of the corner of his eye.

Wow, so fast!

That was his first reaction.

The second reaction was: Who?

Jiang Yan reflexively looked up and saw a boy. If she wasn't mistaken, it should be the sickly youngest son of the clan chief.

The boy knelt on one knee beside the chieftain's wife, his movements swift and calm as he examined the wound without hesitation. His fingers gently traced the edge of the wound, his sharp gaze scanning the bleeding and the location of the dagger.

The next moment, the boy suddenly turned his head and looked at Jiang Yan.

Those dark eyes were unfathomable, devoid of any childlike panic, instead radiating a cold, soul-piercing scrutiny. Locked onto by that gaze, Jiang Yan felt a tightness in his throat, an indescribable, instinctive fear rising from the depths of his heart, almost suffocating him.

He instinctively began to defend himself: "I...it wasn't me...I don't know..." His voice was dry and trembling.

However, the boy's gaze lingered on him for only a moment, his eyes as cold as if looking at an inanimate object, devoid of any emotion. The next second, he quickly looked away, as if sensing something, and raised his eyes, his gaze sharp as a knife, shooting straight at a certain spot behind Jiang Yan—

But that spot was clearly empty, with only swaying tree shadows and flowing air.

......

Yan Sheng's senses accurately captured that fleeting, incomparably familiar, chilling aura. Time was of the essence, so he made a decisive move and sternly ordered Jiang Yan, who was still in a daze, "Take Mother to see a doctor!" His voice carried an unquestionable tone of command, completely unlike that of a five-year-old child.

Jiang Yan was taken aback by the sudden command and subconsciously replied, "Yes!"

He didn't even have time to think about why he would obey a child's orders. He only felt that the aura that suddenly burst out from the other person carried a sense of majesty and oppression comparable to that of the clan leader Uchiha Tajima, which made him instinctively choose to obey.

A wise child is better than his mother.

Although Kaori was seriously injured and the excruciating pain almost overwhelmed her consciousness, based on a mother's understanding of her child, she instantly sensed that her young son seemed to be planning to do something dangerous.

Besides, it was Jiang Yan who injured her, and Jiang Yan might be a traitor! She couldn't let Yan Sheng out of her sight. She took a deep breath, reached out, and tightly grasped her young son's wrist with her blood-stained hand.

"Yan Sheng...you..." Her voice was extremely weak, and the blood gushing from her abdomen made her words broken and intermittent.

Yan Sheng glanced down at his mother's pale face and the hand that was tightly gripping him. A barely perceptible flicker of emotion flashed in his eyes, but he quickly regained his indifference.

There is no time to explain, nor is it possible to explain.

He used a forceful yet subtle gentleness to firmly pry his mother's hands open.

Then, like an arrow released from a bow, it sped off in the direction he had been gazing, disappearing from their sight in the blink of an eye.

Jiang Yan stood there dumbfounded, his mind almost blank. Everything that was happening now—the lady's serious injury, the sudden burst of power from the clan leader's frail youngest son, that ghostly speed and agility... all completely overturned his understanding.

Shaking his head, he knew he had no time to think about such things. The most urgent task was to get the clan leader's wife, who was on the verge of death, to the medical ninja for treatment.

Suppressing the turmoil in his heart, Jiang Yan hurriedly bent down, preparing to pick up Jia Zhi.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he reached out his hand, Kaori used all her remaining strength to push him away.

"You... traitor!" Kaori, enduring the excruciating pain, exclaimed, her eyes filled with vigilance, "What do you want to do?!"

She had witnessed Jiang Yan stab her with her own eyes; how could she possibly trust him now? As Yan Sheng left, a flicker of relief even welled up within her. Thankfully, the child was gone, not left behind. In her current state, she was utterly incapable of protecting him.

Jiang Yan was startled by the push and cried out in distress, "Madam! I'm not a traitor!"

He's really not! You can't just casually call someone a traitor; it's a death sentence! He's still holding a dubious title with the young clan leader, and if this happens again, he's finished!

Jiang Yan, who was possessed by Black Zetsu twice and made a scapegoat, was extremely unlucky. He had no memory of the process of "committing the crime". He didn't know what happened. He only remembered that one second he was in the room and he didn't run around because he listened to the young clan leader. The next second he appeared outside and saw the injured clan leader's wife in front of him. He was also called a traitor by the clan leader's wife.

***

Yan Sheng's anger was like polar ice, lacking the fiery heat of flames, possessing only absolute zero capable of freezing the soul. His emotions, like the man himself, were restrained and cold, yet contained a terrifying destructive power.

Although he could sense the unique, chilling aura of the darkness, this perception had significant limitations—it could only be clearly detected when the other person entered within ten meters of him. Once beyond that distance, the perception would rapidly diminish, becoming increasingly blurred with distance.

Although the Uchiha clan's territory is limited in area, with only about a hundred people, it is still far too vast in terms of the range of perception.

The location where Kaori was attacked was about 60 or 70 meters away from Yan Sheng's room. It was this distance that allowed Yan Sheng to fail to notice when Black Zetsu quietly approached and manipulated Masahiko to commit the crime.

What finally woke him was the faint yet incredibly familiar smell of blood carried on the wind.

Whether it's because he was born with extraordinary senses in this life, or because his instinctive craving for human blood in his previous life as a demon left behind some of his innate talent, Yan Sheng is extremely sensitive to the smell of blood, especially human blood.

He could even discern subtle differences—different people's blood has drastically different "tastes." And Kaori's blood shared some similarities in taste with his own. After all, they were mother and son.

The moment that familiar smell of blood entered his nostrils, Yan Sheng rushed over.

But no matter how quickly he reacts, how can he stop what has already happened?

As for catching up with the opponent, its stealthy and elusive abilities were too astonishing; he simply had no way to deal with it.

A month ago, he couldn't even stop his opponent when they faced each other head-on. Now, his strength hasn't made a qualitative leap, so the result is naturally the same.

Yan Sheng stopped, his face as cold as ice. His youthful face was expressionless, except for a pair of unfathomable black eyes that seemed to hold the deepest darkness and violence. The aura around him became chilling and sinister. The icy killing intent that seemed to solidify carried the stench of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, as well as the venomous whispers of evil spirits. Even the light shining on him seemed to be swallowed up.

After a long while, the terrifying aura emanating from Yan Sheng slowly subsided, receding like the tide into the unfathomable depths of his being. The frost on his face remained, but his eyes gradually softened from extreme violence into a deeper, colder resolve.

He slowly raised his hand, his fingertips gently brushing against the tip of his nose, as if he could still catch a trace of that unique, dark, and chilling aura in the air that was about to completely dissipate.

“You can’t escape,” he muttered to himself, his voice so soft it was almost inaudible. “No matter how well you hide… I’ve memorized this nauseating smell.”

A fleeting crimson glint appeared in his dark eyes.

A note from the author:

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