Uninvited Guests

Ling Li was just about to swallow a medicinal herb when his body suddenly stiffened. He looked toward the cave entrance, his expression turning grim.

"So someone really did follow me here? Heh. Since you've come, you'd better be prepared to leave your life behind!" Ling Li muttered darkly.

Before long, a young man wearing the uniform of the Wolf Head Mercenary Group entered with more than a dozen mercenaries. Not long after they entered, a middle-aged steward dressed in Myriad Medicine Pavilion attire came in as well, accompanied by several physicians.

"Oh my, how terrifying. The Wolf Head Mercenary Group and Myriad Medicine Pavilion actually came knocking at the same time?" Ling Li said casually as he looked at the twenty-odd people suddenly crowding into the cave.

Mu Li ignored Ling Li. Instead, he fixed his gaze on the three treasure chests that had already been opened in the center of the stone chamber, then glanced at the Myriad Medicine Pavilion steward beside him, whose eyes had gone wide as he stared at the medicinal garden. Greed and fervor slowly rose in his heart.

Back when Ling Li had signed up to join Myriad Medicine Pavilion's herb-gathering team, Mu Li and the pavilion steward had noticed this youth, who stood out like a black speck on white paper.

At sixteen or seventeen, he already possessed the cultivation of a Fighter Two Stars! In Qingshan Town, anyone who broke through to Fighter before the age of twenty could be considered a genius. Those who broke through after twenty-five were merely average. Even Jia Nan Academy's admission standard was only Dou Qi Level Eight before the age of eighteen!

A sixteen- or seventeen-year-old Fighter Two Stars—such monstrous talent could no longer be summed up with the word "gifted," at least not in Qingshan Town. This person definitely carried a huge secret!

And what Mu Li saw was indeed true. It seemed he had caught a big fish—a big fish that had discovered a great opportunity!

Before Mu Li could speak, the Myriad Medicine Pavilion steward at his side hurriedly said, "Mu Li, Myriad Medicine Pavilion will not interfere in this boy's affairs, but we want every medicinal herb in this garden!"

Mu Li frowned slightly. Though he knew nothing of medicinal properties, most of the herbs in the garden were brilliantly colored. Even a fool would know they were valuable. However, the most precious treasures should have been inside those three chests, and their contents had likely already been taken by that boy in black.

After thinking for a moment, Mu Li nodded. "No problem, but I hope Steward will keep his word."

Myriad Medicine Pavilion was the foremost power in Qingshan Town, an existence no mercenary dared offend. As long as mercenaries still depended on the Monster Beast Mountain Range for a living, this would not change. Healing medicine was indispensable to mercenaries who lived amid bloodshed. If they offended Myriad Medicine Pavilion, forget buying healing medicine—even untreated medicinal herbs would be impossible to obtain.

"Of course!" the Myriad Medicine Pavilion steward said. He had not expected to find so many precious medicinal herbs here.

Purple Blue Leaf, White Spirit Ginseng Fruit, Snow Lotus Seed... Every single medicinal herb here would sell for tens of thousands outside. Among them, the most precious, the Ice Spirit Flame Grass, was worth several hundred thousand!

"Tsk, tsk. You've already started dividing the spoils?" Ling Li clicked his tongue.

"Heh, boy, treasures of heaven and earth belong to those with fate. It was your luck to discover this place, but running into us is also your fate! Hand over what was in those chests, and I'll leave you an intact corpse. Don't force me to act, or what comes next won't be very pleasant," Mu Li said with a cold laugh, folding his arms and licking his lips.

"Oh my, how terrifying. I also think what comes next probably won't be very pleasant." Ling Li flipped his hand and took Dark Night from the System Space. With a turn of his wrist, he aimed the blade at Mu Li.

"Looks like you don't intend to cooperate. Boys, get him!" Mu Li gave the order, and the mercenaries behind him drew the weapons at their waists, surrounding Ling Li from all sides.

"I wonder whether Dark Night likes your blood!" Ling Li's pupils contracted, and a deranged smile tugged at his lips. His Aura abruptly changed, and dense killing intent seemed almost solid enough to take form.

Sensing the sudden change in Ling Li's Aura, Mu Li felt his scalp go numb for no apparent reason. This was the terror one felt only when facing the threat of death. But mercenaries were people who lived in bloodshed—how many people would someone have to kill to possess killing intent that could frighten him like this?

In truth, Ling Li had never killed a person. But there were quite a few souls beneath his blade—not human souls, but Monster Beasts!

"Fire arrows! Fire them now!" Mu Li roared hurriedly. In such a cramped space, the power of bows could be brought out to the fullest.

At the command, the six mercenaries who had already drawn their bowstrings released their fingers. Six arrows flashed with cold light as they shot toward Ling Li.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The arrows did not turn Ling Li into a pincushion as Mu Li had imagined. Instead, Ling Li easily dodged them, and the arrows naturally struck the stone walls with dull thuds.

Swish!

Before Mu Li could issue another command, a black figure rushed in front of him. A dim black flash swept past, and a head was already rolling across the ground.

Killing a man was no more than lowering one's head. That saying was right. Killing men was like slaughtering dogs. That saying was right too—at least, that was Ling Li's direct impression. Killing people seemed no different from killing Monster Beasts. A Monster Beast died when its head was severed, and so did a person. The only difference was perhaps that a Monster Beast's neck was tougher.

"Looks like you're ready to dance!" Ling Li flicked his arm, flinging away the blood clinging to Dark Night and drawing a red line across the ground.

"Gulp."

Quite a few mercenaries secretly swallowed, their legs trembling uncontrollably as they backed away. They had not even seen how Ling Li had attacked. Could a human truly possess such an aura of blood and carnage? What kind of existence had they provoked?!

Ling Li had no interest in savoring the complicated feeling of killing for the first time. His figure moved again, constantly weaving through the crowd. Every swing of Dark Night sent one or even several heads falling to the ground.

"Bastard! I'll fight you to the death!" Watching his companions continuously fall, one mercenary finally could no longer endure the stimulation and charged forward with his weapon raised.

But before the mercenary could reach Ling Li, he discovered that the figure before him had vanished. Then his field of vision began to fall. The last thing he saw was his own headless body.

"Remove the moonlight stones! Without light, we'll have a chance to escape!"

"Damn it, what kind of monster is this?!"

After prying out the moonlight stones, the mercenaries scrambled toward the cave entrance based on memory. But darkness had no effect whatsoever on Ling Li.

Dark Night slowly bared its fangs. The sounds of spraying blood and falling heads were like Death's scythe, like the countdown to life's end, endlessly magnifying the terror in the mercenaries' hearts.

The strongest among those who had come looking for trouble was Mu Li, a Fighter Six Stars. Most of the other mercenaries were only Fighter Two Stars or Fighter Three Stars. To Ling Li, who was a Fighting Master Two Stars, these people posed no threat at all. Many mercenaries did not even get the chance to make a move before their heads were severed.

The most ridiculous one was the Myriad Medicine Pavilion steward. Though he was scared half to death inside, he still watched Ling Li slaughter the Wolf Head Mercenary Group's mercenaries with complete confidence, thinking Ling Li would not dare kill him. Even when Ling Li cut off his head, his face still bore that lofty expression of someone uninvolved.

This battle could not be called a battle at all. It was completely one-sided slaughter. The entire process took less than half a minute, and the result was the same: all twenty-six people had their heads severed with a single slash.

"Looks like Dark Night doesn't like your blood." Only after the last scream faded did Ling Li look at the blood slowly gathering on Dark Night's blade, sliding down to its tip, and finally dripping to the ground.

Dark Night was somewhat like a demonic blade. It could indeed absorb blood and grow stronger by absorbing it. However, up to now, Dark Night had only absorbed the blood of Monster Beasts that possessed magic cores. The blood of one such Monster Beast provided one point of weapon experience.

Is it an accidental condition, or does Dark Night simply not absorb human blood? Should I find some more people to test it on? A thought suddenly surfaced in Ling Li's mind.

If Dark Night could absorb the blood of certain people to grow stronger, Ling Li would definitely not be merciful. However, he was still too weak to act however he pleased, and his guess likely did not require any special experimentation.

Shaking his head, Ling Li dragged all the corpses outside the cave and threw them off the cliff. Although the bloody scene no longer made him uncomfortable, he still felt slightly unsettled inside.

The speed at which he Devoured the medicinal herbs in the cliff cave was much faster than Ling Li had expected. In just half a day, every herb in the medicinal garden had been consumed. This was the result of his bloodline skill—Devour—reaching LV.6. This bloodline skill improved as Ling Li Devoured energy sources. For every 10 energy Ling Li Devoured, the skill gained 1 experience point. The skill's level represented the amount of energy Ling Li could absorb per second while Devouring. Before consuming the herbs, it had been Level 6, allowing him to gain 6 energy per second.

As usual, Ling Li used all the energy to increase his cultivation, leaving only three hundred points to deal with his hunger value.

A burst of white light flashed, and the surrounding energy of heaven and earth poured madly into Ling Li's body. Ling Li's personal information became:

Host: Ling Li

Cultivation: Fighting Master Seven Stars (20000/70000)

Attribute: Dark

Bloodline: Devouring Spirit Clan (First Grade: 30/1000)

Skill: Blade Arts (Mastery: 54/100)

Weapon: Dark Night (Yellow Grade High Rank: 796/1000)

Ability: Devouring Spirit Demonic Core (Development: 1/3)

Ability Skills (1/3):

Devour LV.8 (8400/25600) (Can evolve at LV.10)

Shadow Transformation (Locked)

Dark Realm (Locked)

Other: System Space (Activated)

Energy: 300

"I've already stayed in Qingshan Town for a year. It's time to go out and take a look..." Ling Li sighed as he looked at his personal panel, which had improved countless times over from when he had first arrived in this world.