A Life-Saving Favor

Not long after Ling Li left, the sound of hoofbeats reached the spot where he had just stood.

"Second Boss, it looks like the Chief has already been taken out. Should we search the area?" A burly man carrying a long spear dismounted and gathered the scattered limbs and remains as he spoke.

Though the blood had been drained from those severed limbs, Ding Meng recognized the blood-red robe on the shriveled corpse, as well as the heavy sword that had fallen nearby.

"Mm." Zhou Kuang nodded, but there was little joy on his face.

Black Bandits had their own rules, and the rules were simple: no matter when it was, whoever killed the leader became the next leader.

The Black Bandits of Twilight City had amassed immeasurable wealth because Wu Ye was "simple-minded" and cared only for slaughter. Thus, quite a few people had set their sights on Wu Ye. That was also why Wu Ye had not been the least bit suspicious when Ling Li attacked him.

Zhou Kuang, the second-in-command of the Black Bandit camp, was one of them. His original purpose in posting the bounty in Black Seal City had merely been to find an assassin to wear Wu Ye down so he could reap the benefits afterward.

But those assassins were no fools. Anyone could tell whether a bounty of one hundred and twenty thousand Gold Coins matched Wu Ye's strength. The notice had been posted for over a month, yet not a single assassin had claimed it.

Zhou Kuang had nearly given up. Today, he had planned to tear all pretenses apart with Wu Ye. Under the full moon, Wu Ye's strength would increase greatly, but he would also become irritable, bloodthirsty, murderous, and lose his reason. It had been an opportunity.

Now, it seemed that an assassin had claimed the bounty, yet Zhou Kuang could not bring himself to be happy. Wu Ye's death was too distinctive—every drop of blood in his body had been drained. That was the usual style of the Blood Sect. To make draining blood easier, the Blood Sect's leader, Fan Lao, had even created a Dou Skill called Palm Absorption.

Could the Blood Sect also have set its sights on Wu Ye's wealth? Other than those old monsters, no one could have completely drained Wu Ye's blood...

"Return. Tomorrow, you'll accompany me to visit Elder Zhao of the Blood Sect!" Zhou Kuang gritted his teeth and spoke unwillingly.

Ding Meng nodded and shouted loudly. The Black Bandits mounted their horses and rode away.

Within the mountain range,

Ling Li forced himself to sprint at top speed. Only after the hoofbeats and clamor had completely faded did exhaustion suddenly overwhelm him. His vision went black, and he collapsed.

Ling Li knew what collapsing in a place like this meant, but his severe injuries, combined with having forced himself to run so far, had made his body shut down completely.

At the moment Ling Li fell, he felt as though he had touched cold scales.

A magical beast?

Heh. In his current condition, he had no ability to resist. After killing a Dou Spirit, only to be eaten by a magical beast—it was truly infuriating...

Three days later,

"Drip..."

When Ling Li opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on a cold rock. Chilled droplets falling from the stalactites above struck his face, instantly clearing his mind.

"It hurts..." Ling Li had barely tried to move when intense pain surged through every part of his body. With a thought, several second-grade medicinal pills entered his stomach, and their cool medicinal power eased the pain throughout his body.

Though the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture was not a pill formula, it was in some ways even more valuable than one. Not only had it been exchanged for a fourth-grade Qi Gathering Powder, but it had also come with quite a few healing medicines. Otherwise, Ling Li truly was not sure whether he would have woken up.

After resting for a while, Ling Li lay there and carefully felt over his body. Whenever he found an indentation caused by a displaced bone, he gritted his teeth and forcibly set it back into place.

The effects of low-grade healing medicine were not that miraculous; they merely had basic restorative properties. If those bones were not set properly, not only would recovery be slow, but any lingering complications would be something Ling Li absolutely did not want to see.

"Crack... crack..."

A series of teeth-grinding sounds echoed through the cave. Ling Li was highly practiced at this. During his time in the Monster Beast Mountain Range, broken bones had been unavoidable. He had developed these skills over that year by practicing on his own body.

After setting all the displaced bones, Ling Li finally sat up, his face drenched in sweat. "That really hurt..."

After looking around, Ling Li discovered a small purple beast lying beside him. It was the very one that had stolen his roasted meat in the mountains before.

"Was it you who saved me..." Ling Li revealed a complicated smile.

If this Purple Beast had not taken him away, then in his condition at the time, even a first-tier magical beast could have killed him. Come to think of it, if this little beast had not raised his blade technique to the Master level, he probably would not even have gotten past Wu Ye.

Ling Li's feelings were complicated. This Purple Beast, with whom he had only had two unpleasant encounters, had actually saved his life.

"Roar?" Seemingly sensing Ling Li's movement, the Purple Beast opened its eyes. When it saw that Ling Li had awakened, its eyes filled with delight.

Clearly, it was very happy that Ling Li had not died.

It nudged its head forward, and a red-black fruit rolled before Ling Li. After a series of comical gestures, Ling Li understood that it wanted him to eat the fruit.

Ling Li did not hesitate. He picked up the fruit and took a huge bite. There was no need to wonder whether it was poisonous. This Purple Beast clearly possessed intelligence. If it had wanted to kill Ling Li, it could have done so when they first met. Why go through so much trouble?

Of course, if this Purple Beast was the scheming sort and wanted to personally save Ling Li before killing him, then pretend he had said nothing.

As the flesh of the fruit entered his stomach, a surge of pure energy instantly exploded within Ling Li's abdomen. It coursed through his extraordinary meridians and eight vessels, flowing into his limbs and bones as the injuries throughout his body began to heal rapidly.

Feeling the fruit's effects, Ling Li's eyes widened. In a few bites, he swallowed the entire fruit, then sat cross-legged and began refining the vast, pure medicinal power.

Ling Li had no idea what the Purple Beast had fed him. His Devour Skill, which had evolved into Devour Spirit, could devour ten points of energy per second, yet the energy within this fruit took Ling Li a full day and night to devour. Throughout the entire process, the Purple Beast remained by his side.

"Phew..." Ling Li opened his eyes and expelled a breath of stale air.

With that deep exhale, the soreness and pain throughout his body vanished completely. The potentially fatal injuries had recovered by fifty or sixty percent in just one day and night. He even faintly showed signs of breaking through to two-star Dou Spirit. Aside from the contribution of Ling Li's bloodline, the red-black fruit deserved the greatest credit.

"Thank you. I'm truly sorry about cutting you before..." Ling Li sincerely said to the Purple Beast beside him.

Upon hearing this, the Purple Beast rolled its eyes in a remarkably humanlike manner. Ling Li did not know whether it was an illusion, but its scales seemed to have reddened slightly. It was probably angry.

After confirming that Ling Li could move around somewhat, the Purple Beast excitedly gestured and cried out at him for a long time. Yet Ling Li could not understand what it meant at all. Then, after glaring at Ling Li as though he were an idiot, the Purple Beast grew a pair of Dou Qi Wings from its back and flew out of the cave.

"Was I... just looked down on by an underage magical beast?" Ling Li said after staring blankly for a long while.