Skinning Alive

But there were simply too many villagers, swarming like ants.

Afraid that Bata would be surrounded and come to harm, Xia Qi'an charged into the crowd as well.

The Dragon Claw Hand technique was devastatingly powerful, like a raging storm. It was perfectly suited to a chaotic battlefield like this.

With a single claw, the young villagers around Xia Qi'an were severed into several pieces, tools and all.

Blood and flesh flew everywhere, and screams rose one after another.

Yet bewitched by the fox spirit, these villagers feared neither death nor injury. They paid no heed to their companions' gruesome deaths, throwing themselves at the two of them in a mad, surging wave.

For a time, they actually managed to hold back the two men from pursuing the fox spirit.

Fortunately, Xia Qi'an possessed the Crimson Pupils. The fox spirit would inevitably leave traces along its path as it fled, and it ultimately could not escape Xia Qi'an's pursuit.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Bata was drenched in blood, as if he had just been hauled out of a blood pool.

Broken limbs and bones lay scattered all around. Flesh seemed to have been stuck to the outer walls and doorposts of the houses, while intestines and other internal organs were strewn everywhere. The scene resembled an infernal hell of slaughter.

A warm, fetid stench spread through the village like a wave of heat.

Situations where mortals were bewitched by demons and gathered around to watch Wei Dao Si martial artists—

were nothing new to Wei Dao Si.

Wei Dao Si even had specific regulations for such cases. If the demon's enchantment could not be broken and the mortals could not be restored to normal, then they could be slaughtered to the last, at the discretion of the martial artist.

That was simply how Wei Dao Si operated.

"Abah..."

Bata let out a great roar. Not a single living villager remained around him.

"All right... everyone's dead... calm down..."

"Abah..."

At those words, Bata immediately turned his head and looked at Xia Qi'an with an utterly harmless expression.

By contrast, thanks to the blood-flame formed from his qi and blood protecting him, Xia Qi'an did not have a drop of blood on him.

Seeing that blood had smeared Bata's eyes shut, Xia Qi'an brought him to the well in the village, drew several buckets of water, and helped him wash himself clean.

Bata obediently sat on a large stone beside the well, resting his hands on his knees. He looked extremely happy.

"Abah... abah... abah..."

Xia Qi'an could more or less understand what he meant.

Bata said he liked taking cold-water baths...!

After rinsing Bata clean,

Xia Qi'an followed the traces left by the fox spirit and pursued it onward.

It seemed that the fox spirit was somewhat reluctant to leave this place.

There was food and drink here, people to wait on it, and even blood food was cut up, placed on plates, and fed directly into its mouth. To the fox spirit, this was practically a life of heavenly bliss.

Having tasted such pleasures, how could it bear to return to the bitter mountains and continue its hard cultivation?

The traces it had left behind showed that the fox spirit had not fled Li Family Village immediately.

Instead, it had hidden nearby, secretly observing the battle.

If Xia Qi'an and Bata were defeated, it would naturally reveal itself again.

But after seeing Xia Qi'an slaughter all its enthralled servants, it fled toward the rear mountains, trying to hide itself.

Unfortunately for it, it had run into Xia Qi'an. Even if it fled to the ends of the earth, it would be useless.

Xia Qi'an followed it into the woods in the rear mountains that they had come through earlier.

Dried corpses hung everywhere from the trees here. Since the fox spirit could possess human bodies, it had intended to use these corpses to conceal itself.

Once Xia Qi'an failed to find its traces, he would naturally leave.

Little did it know that the Turbid Qi radiating from its body was like a flame shining in the darkness.

It was difficult for Xia Qi'an not to see it.

And this time, Xia Qi'an would not let it escape again.

Xia Qi'an first remained calm, pretending to search around.

After searching for a while without result, he led Bata toward the village outskirts.

Just as the fox spirit relaxed its vigilance and secretly rejoiced,

a pair of scarlet, blood-red pupils suddenly appeared behind it.

In an instant, the fox spirit felt as if an iron gate had clamped shut around its neck.

The next moment, the fox revealed its true form.

Xia Qi'an was seen gripping a sharp-snouted, gray-white-furred fox tightly in one hand.

The fox demon held its forepaws before its chest and usually walked on two feet, imitating humans. It had devoured quite a few people. Although it had not yet completely transformed into human form, it could make all kinds of human expressions—sorrowful, joyful, alluring, or resentful.

The white-furred fox was strangled by Xia Qi'an at the throat and could not breathe. Its four furry paws thrashed wildly against Xia Qi'an's arm.

Yet Xia Qi'an's arm was as firm as rock. No matter how it struggled, it did not move an inch.

"A mongrel-furred fox actually dares to act this arrogantly..."

When Xia Qi'an finished speaking, he viciously drove two fingers of his left hand into its eye socket.

Then, just below the fox's brow, he tore open a slit in its fur and hide.

Next, both his hands moved together. Like tearing apart rotten cloth, he swiftly flayed the fox alive.

Throughout the process, Xia Qi'an deliberately tortured it. Only after making it suffer enough would he feel satisfied.

However, the fox demon stopped moving after only a few struggles. It had been tortured to death.

It had died quickly enough, but Xia Qi'an still felt no relief.

So he tied a rope around the skinned carcass of the white-furred fox and hung it outside the carriage.

He intended to take it back to Jinling City like that.

He would let it have a taste of what it was like to be wind-dried into cured meat.

Although this mission had encountered a few twists and turns, it had gone fairly smoothly overall.

On the return journey, Xia Qi'an kept wondering whether he should obtain a spirit beast to serve as his mount.

Otherwise, making trips back and forth like this was not only exhausting, but terribly inefficient.

The black steed at his home was not bad,

but it was ultimately an ordinary horse. Making it travel continuously for two or three days at a time was asking rather a lot of it.

Still, transportation in this world was simply this inefficient, and he had no better solution.

But obtaining a spirit beast as a mount would be different. It would be like upgrading from a bicycle to a car.

And if he obtained a flying spirit beast, it would be like having a private plane.

Spirit beasts were, in plain terms, no different from the demons of the mountains.

Yet there were also some demons in this world that were gentle by nature. Most of them were timid, feeding on the spiritual fruits and herbs of the mountains and drinking mountain spring water and sweet dew as they cultivated.

Such demons were exceedingly rare in human lands.

These kinds of demons did not radiate filthy Turbid Qi, but fresh, pure-white Pure Qi.

If mortals were fortunate enough to come into contact with such demons and inhale the Pure Qi they emitted,

they would remain free of illness and enjoy longevity.

In the age when spiritual energy was abundant, spirit beasts were as numerous as carp crossing a river, and could be seen everywhere in the mountains.

But nowadays, most of these spirit beasts cultivated by devouring Turbid Qi and became vicious beasts, while those that cultivated properly grew increasingly rare.

Thus, to distinguish them from demons that ate humans and caused havoc, martial artists called these harmless demons spirit beasts.

During the return journey, the carriage reached a stretch of wasteland.

At that moment, Xia Qi'an lifted the carriage curtain, poked his head out, and looked toward the distance.

Beside the official road ahead of the carriage, a black-clad man wearing a bamboo hat sat by a campfire, roasting a golden-brown wild chicken.

Waves of meaty fragrance drifted like a spring breeze brushing one's face, spreading for ten miles.

When the man saw Xia Qi'an lean out, he looked back at him as well.

Xia Qi'an cupped his fists slightly toward him from across the carriage. On the jianghu, staring at someone was, after all, a form of offense.

Seeing this, the man did not return the salute. Instead, he spoke in a voice like a great bell: "This official... why not come down and join me?"

Hearing this, Xia Qi'an had Bata stop the carriage, then rose and walked toward the man.

"Brother... what kind of business do you do?" Seeing that the man's aura was deep and his bearing composed, Xia Qi'an knew at a glance that he was no ordinary person but a martial arts expert. He therefore stepped forward and asked directly.

The man gave a hearty laugh, his voice booming like thunder. "I won't hide it from you, official... I'm actually an assassin..."

For some reason, Xia Qi'an was infected by the man's laughter and could not help laughing along. "An assassin? Hahahaha..."

"...The person you're supposed to kill wouldn't happen to be called Xia Qi'an, would he?" Xia Qi'an said with a laugh.

"Oh my... what a coincidence... it is indeed that very man!" The man slapped his thigh and laughed so hard he rocked back and forth.

The man laughed heartily, then asked, "You wouldn't happen to be Xia Qi'an yourself...?"

"Well now! What a coincidence... that would be me!" Xia Qi'an imitated the man's tone and slapped his palm as he spoke.

"Hahahaha..."

"Haha... haha..."

Then, all at once, the laughter abruptly ceased.