Harming Oneself by Eight Hundred to Kill the Enemy by a Thousand

To Lu Ping's delight, the human puppet before him possessed blood vitality far beyond that of an ordinary person—perhaps enough to break his curse in one go.

Li San and Hu Jiu, seeing his satisfied expression, spoke up: "Deduct three hundred contribution points, and this human puppet is yours to handle."

Lu Ping was straightforward as well; he paid the contribution points on the spot, then dismissed Li San and Hu Jiu, preparing to use Fang Huai to lift the curse.

Just then, Fang Huai's voice reached his ears:

"Senior Brother, I am a disciple of this sect, mistakenly captured here. If you help me escape this place, I have a way to completely undo your Blood Loss Curse."

Lu Ping's heart jolted. He spoke: "How do you know I'm under that curse?"

Fang Huai put on a mysterious air, wearing an expression that said trust me, I'm right.

Seeing Fang Huai so confident, Lu Ping subconsciously believed his words.

He thought to call Li San and Hu Jiu to explain the situation, but greed made him abandon that idea.

A disciple of this sect?

He'd drain a disciple of this sect!

All sect disciples cultivated the Body Forging Technique, their blood vitality abundant. After using it to break the curse, there might even be leftover vitality to seize.

"Trying to trick me?" Lu Ping said with a sinister grin. He had to act fast—drain Fang Huai dry.

His five fingers pierced into Fang Huai's skull, mouthing a spell formula. Pure blood vitality surged into Lu Ping's body, washing over the cursed area.

Fang Huai stared straight into Lu Ping's eyes, his lips gradually turning pale.

Watching the [Blood Loss Curse] tag on Lu Ping shift from white to gray, Fang Huai swapped that tag onto himself.

"Is that enough?" Fang Huai sneered coldly.

"Not enough!" Lu Ping was unnerved by Fang Huai's smile. He found the curse had vanished, but he didn't stop.

Since he'd already made an enemy of this human puppet, he might as well root out the trouble. Even if the sect investigated, he'd just be an unknowing buyer.

Fang Huai said nothing more, only staring at Lu Ping like he was looking at a dead man.

Finally, Fang Huai glanced at the [Blood Loss Curse] and [Blood Vitality Depleted] tags on himself and said:

"Lu Ping, I gave you a chance. You chose the dead end yourself."

Lu Ping's unease deepened. How did this human puppet know his name?

Suddenly, the world spun. His body couldn't hold up, and he collapsed to the ground.

What chilled him more was that the curse at his wound had returned.

"Help... help..."

Lu Ping's eyes were filled with despair. His blood vitality drained away, slowly sinking into darkness.

Though he struggled to call for help, the wailing cries of the other human puppets drowned out his voice.

To his dying breath, he never understood why the Blood Loss Curse had flared up again.

After Lu Ping died, Fang Huai let out a bitter laugh and fell into unconsciousness.

An hour later, Li San and Hu Jiu, seeing that Lu Ping hadn't come out, entered the hall to look for him.

Spotting Lu Ping lying on the ground, Li San gave him a kick: "Junior Brother, if you need to rest, go back to your own quarters."

When Lu Ping didn't respond, he stepped forward to check his breath—only to find he was stone dead.

Hu Jiu said regretfully, "What a shame. He was so close to breaking the curse. His luck was terrible."

"Indeed, terrible luck."

Li San searched Lu Ping's storage pouch, split the valuables in two, and tossed a share to Hu Jiu: "Report this to the sect."

A few days later, Li San and Hu Jiu led another outer sect disciple before Fang Huai.

The two pointed at him and introduced: "Senior Brother Ma, you've come at just the right time. This is the fine goods we've saved for you."

The man looked anxious: "Spare the nonsense. I'm in a hurry now—just deduct the contribution points!"

Fang Huai swept a glance at the man—

Ma Qiquan, Qi Refining Layer 3, [Vengeful Soul Devouring Body (Red)].

[Vengeful Soul Devouring Body: Qi deviation; a large amount of vengeful resentment absorbed into the body.]

His eyes were bloodshot, sockets sunken, skin deathly pale, and veins twitching uncontrollably at random.

After the contribution points were deducted and the two attendant disciples were driven away, Ma Qiquan lunged at Fang Huai without a moment's delay, his five fingers hooking like an eagle's talons into Fang Huai's skull.

At the same time, a torrent of vengeful resentment poured into Fang Huai's body.

Lu Ping had been a physical drain—Fang Huai could still counter by trading injury for death to kill him. But now Ma Qiquan was attacking his divine sense, a method that couldn't be replicated with the same trick used against Lu Ping.

What was he to do now?

Fang Huai clenched his jaw, racking his mind for a way out of the deadlock, only to find there was simply no countermeasure for his current predicament.

Just as despair set in, the Little Corpse Meteor Insect sensed the threat and burrowed along his meridians toward the top of his head.

Ma Qiquan was enjoying the moment with his eyes closed, but a sudden stinging pain shot through his palm.

He yanked his hand back at once, staring at the bloody hole with growing unease:

Could it be some kind of venomous insect?

The Corpse Sha Sect was crawling with poisonous bugs; one careless move and you'd be hit—light cases meant poisoning, severe ones meant death.

Even disciples at the mid-to-late Qi Refining stage had fallen to these insects, let alone a Qi Refining beginner like him.

Focusing inward, he saw a black beetle racing along his meridians, heading straight for what seemed to be his heart.

Not good!

Ma Qiquan was a ruthless sort himself. Without hesitation, he drew a dagger and severed his own arm.

But he was too slow—the Corpse Meteor Insect had already left his arm, passed through his shoulder, and burrowed into his chest.

He stabbed the dagger between his ribs to block it, but the Little Corpse Meteor Insect was unnaturally agile. Seeing the blade in its path, it twisted around, circled, and drilled straight into his heart.

"H-Help!"

His heart seized with agonizing pain. Ma Qiquan screamed in torment, and within moments, he collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

After killing Ma Qiquan, the Little Corpse Meteor Insect crawled out from his chest, scurried quickly back to Fang Huai, bored a hole into the sole of his foot, and re-entered his body.

This time, Li San and Hu Jiu heard Ma Qiquan's cries for help and rushed over in a panic.

But by the time they arrived, all they saw was Ma Qiquan's corpse, its warmth already fading.

"Damn it, we're going to be punished for this!"

After disposing of Ma Qiquan's body, their legs gave out beneath them. Leaning on each other, they stumbled back to their quarters.

Their repeated negligence forced them to make a trip to the Law Enforcement Hall.

The Law Enforcement Hall, suspecting them of killing fellow sect disciples, accused them of splitting Lu Ping's storage pouch among themselves.

After enduring various tortures and handing over most of their savings, the Law Enforcement Hall grudgingly let them go.

The two sat in their room, changing out of their bloodstained robes, silent.

Li San broke the quiet first: "Brother Hu, that human puppet is a bit cursed. It's already killed two fellow disciples—Lu Ping and Ma Qiquan!"

Hu Jiu spat: "Just a coincidence. We'll sell it to another brother in a couple of days."

"I'm scared..."

"Scared of what? If it's still that unlucky, we'll send it to Alchemy Peak to be refined!

Those bastards in the Law Enforcement Hall bully us like this, and in the end, it's because our cultivation is too low!"

With that, Hu Jiu pulled out a black box from a hidden spot. Inside lay several crimson leaves.

Li San asked, puzzled: "What's this?"

Hu Jiu said nothing, just placed the leaves into an incense burner and lit them. Then he said: "This is a treasure that can skyrocket our cultivation."

Red mist swirled around them. They sat cross-legged, their eyes growing dazed.

If anyone had passed by their room, they would have seen their expressions shift—sometimes ecstatic, sometimes raging, sometimes brimming with pride.

In a haze of illusion, the two had already achieved Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment and formed a first-grade Golden Core.

They became sect patriarchs, riding pitch-black soul clouds, worshipped by thousands of cultivators.

A quarter-hour later, the smoke cleared. They were reluctant to let go, but the day's unpleasantness had already been forgotten.

"Brother Hu, let's get some more Blood Jade Leaves."

"Brother Li, after today, we're in the same boat. So I'll be straight with you—I've joined the Ascension Society."