Death Pass (Please Bookmark)

The next day.

"Lord Huang, Lord Xue, how did you rest last night? Did you hear anything?"

The moment Zhong Shenxiu saw Huang Xie and the others, he hurriedly asked.

"Terribly..."

Xue San's severed arm had been bandaged, but it could never be reattached. "I suffered through the night, yet I didn't hear anything unusual."

"Woof, Er Ha stood watch last night, and nothing happened."

Er Ha quickly added.

"Never mind. We'll return early today... Strange, I clearly sent out a dispatch yesterday. Why has there been no reply?"

Huang Xie muttered to himself in puzzlement.

What he did not know was that the dispatch for aid had vanished together with Tian Bufeng...

"Then we'll set out after breakfast."

Zhong Shenxiu nodded.

Without anyone noticing, this small group had already come to regard him as its leader.

Xue San stared at his bandaged wound and said miserably, "With this injury, I'll probably have to return inland to recuperate. I intend to recommend Lord Su as Squad Leader..."

Su Daozhi's martial skill was plain for all to see.

Besides, if the position of Squad Leader was not given to him, was it supposed to go to those two dogs?

Xue San had no other choice. He knew how difficult it was for the Fufeng Protectorate to replenish its recruits. If he made the recommendation, the higher-ups would surely approve it—so long as they got past Tian Bufeng.

Zhong Shenxiu remained silent. As a convict, he could not be pardoned without a tremendous merit.

And that tremendous merit had to be something that shook the entire Fufeng Protectorate. Killing a few Monsters did not count for anything at all.

As long as he could not clear his name, he would remain restricted. He could not leave the territory of the Fufeng Protectorate for the inland, much less rise to become a ranked official.

"Throughout the Fufeng Protectorate, the Grand Commander stands supreme. Beneath him are civil and military officials. Setting aside the civil officials, military officers descend from generals, Colonels, Guard Commanders, Battalion Commanders, and so on..."

Under the Yan Han Military System, five men formed a squad, ten squads formed a company, and five companies formed a battalion. Its commanding officer was the Battalion Commander, a Principal Ninth Rank.

As a criminal, a military officer can rise no higher than Company Commander, while a civil official can rise no higher than a minor clerk. Beyond that, there is no further advancement... A mere Squad Leader is truly meaningless, not to mention that Company Commander Tian Bufeng may not agree...

Wait, did I forget something last night... Was it that while cultivating the Profound Yin Soul Control Fragment, I accidentally released that Vengeful Spirit?

This Daoist art was originally meant to control yin souls and use them for oneself.

But if the soul was too powerful, it could lose control.

Zhong Shenxiu had feared that he might make some mistake while cultivating and accidentally kill someone. That would be troublesome.

Fortunately.

From the reports received that morning, nothing unusual had happened in the village last night.

Though Zhong Shenxiu did not think much of the position of Squad Leader, he did not refuse it either.

He secretly considered, I have always been cautious, and I have even less desire to show off... If Su Daozhi's identity does not need to defect, then it is better not to defect. Hiding beneath the protection of the Fufeng Protectorate is not bad either. After all, this world still holds far too many dangers I do not understand... As for Heavenly Show Points, I can simply use another identity to act flashy.

Xue San had only lost a hand and could still walk. The four of them carried the corpse of the nameless unlucky man killed by the strange dog and set out in the morning, only returning to the military camp near noon.

The region patrolled by Black Mountain Fortress was dangerous to begin with, and casualties among patrol squads were not uncommon.

One wounded and one dead was nothing more than a report to the Company Commander, who would then report it to Xu Wenling, the Battalion Commander stationed at Black Mountain Fortress, and have him sign a document.

Yet they became stuck at precisely this step.

After Xue San and the others waited several days without seeing Company Commander Tian Bufeng, they finally realized the severity of the matter. It even alerted Battalion Commander Xu Wenling.

A military camp was unlike other places. Failing to return at night was a grave offense, and Tian Bufeng was an old soldier. He would never behave so recklessly. He had most likely met with disaster.

Unfortunately, even after Xu Wenling sent everyone out to search, they could not find the slightest trace of Tian Bufeng.

He had left earlier to seek revenge, so naturally he had concealed his tracks. That only made the search harder.

While everything outside was in chaos, Zhong Shenxiu remained quite leisurely.

Their squad had suffered severe casualties and needed time to recover, so they were not put through any trouble.

And with Tian Bufeng, who bore hostility toward Su Daozhi, now missing, Zhong Shenxiu's days became even more pleasant.

Taking advantage of this time, Zhong Shenxiu continuously meditated and refined qi in his room, gradually glimpsing the threshold of Xiantian Qi Gong.

Several more days passed.

For everyone in Black Mountain Fortress, it was a very peaceful day.

But for Zhong Shenxiu, it was a matter of life and death.

The half-month deadline had arrived—the Double Full Moon was here!

Inside the wooden hut.

Zhong Shenxiu sat cross-legged, his expression solemn.

The Double Full Moon was one of his trials. The previous Su Daozhi had been unable to withstand the backlash and pain of the Vengeful Spirit, and had been tortured to death alive.

His heart held neither grief nor joy, utterly calm as he slowly waited for that Malignant Ghost to flare up.

In the sky, the two moons gradually became full, their radiance flourishing.

In an instant, Zhong Shenxiu gave a muffled groan as violent pain swept through his body.

It was as though... a Malignant Ghost was gnawing at his bones, as well as his five viscera and six bowels.

"Urgh!"

The muscles on Zhong Shenxiu's face twisted as he let out a low cry of pain. "No wonder Su Daozhi was hurt to death. Though my mind is tougher than his, this body can barely endure it..."

By the moonlight, he looked at his arm and saw that his skin had become even paler, as though it had lost all warmth.

Not only that, his body was gradually growing thinner, his cheeks hollowing out until he resembled a skeleton.

It was as though the Headless Count within his body was devouring every scrap of flesh and vital energy to its heart's content.

A Vengeful Spirit was, after all, a Vengeful Spirit. It craved flesh and blood. It needed... feeding!

And Su Daozhi's body might not even have endured several Full Moons, much less the rampage on Blood Moon Night.

Yet amid this bizarre moment, Zhong Shenxiu's expression shifted slightly.

His consciousness spread outward. One part of it seemed to become that legendary Count, fighting bloodily upon a battlefield.

Another part seemed to become some strange, idealistic existence, wandering through a small village. It saw a man's terrified face—that was... Tian Bufeng!

So Tian Bufeng entered the village at night with ill intent, only to be killed by the Headless Count's Vengeful Spirit that I accidentally controlled?

Zhong Shenxiu's eyes turned icy. In the flash of lightning and spark of flint, he seized upon that thread of thought. "If this continues, this body will be ruined! The only chance of survival lies in Xiantian Qi Gong!"

He forcibly sat in meditation and began refining qi.

He had created this technique in his previous world by gathering the strengths of countless martial arts schools, but because of that world's limitations on vital energy, he had been unable to make a breakthrough.

After arriving in this world, he had studied it every moment of every day.

And after several days of quiet cultivation, he had finally reached a certain peak, only one step away from entry.

Now, at the razor's edge between life and death, that shackle was finally smashed apart with brute force!