The sudden knock at the door made Li Qing's heart sink as he struggled through the pain.
A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to his head.
Cold sweat poured down his face. He stared nervously toward the door, his eyes webbed with blood vessels.
The pain in his body seemed to have become unimportant.
A sense of impending death seemed to be closing in.
Mr. Huayue's indifferent voice sounded from outside.
"Li Qing, are you asleep?"
The voice was calm, but to Li Qing, it sent a shiver down his spine.
It sounded as if he were suppressing something.
Li Qing's body was undergoing violent changes, but he didn't dare say a word. He only clamped a hand over his mouth.
Knock, knock, knock.
The knocking sounded again. Li Qing slowly rose to his feet, enduring the excruciating pain in his body.
I can't just sit here and wait to die.
He moved with difficulty, reaching the table after a few steps. He snatched up the kitchen cleaver.
At that moment, his body was covered in blood-red characters. They had faded to faint traces, as if they had sunk completely beneath his skin.
He stood behind the door, clutching the cleaver tightly. The pain nearly clouded his mind.
But his will to live kept him going. There was a bloodthirsty hunter outside, and it might burst in at any moment.
Li Qing gripped the cleaver with both hands. His whole body trembled uncontrollably with pain, and a savage fury rose in his heart, as if he wanted to destroy everything.
"Fuck it, come on! I'll chop you to death. What the hell am I afraid of?"
Li Qing's eyes were wild, his whole face seemingly twisted out of shape.
The voice outside grew even more subdued. "Open up!"
"Open the door!"
Rumble.
"Open the door for me... ah!" The voice grew hoarser, turning into something completely different.
A tremendous force smashed the door bolt loose.
A figure lunged inside. Driven by danger and pain, a streak of blood-red light flashed through Li Qing's eyes, and he brought the cleaver down in a crazed slash.
At some point, a blood-red radiance had covered the cleaver in his hand.
The blow sank deep into the other man's back.
"Argh!..."
A wretched scream rang out, and bright-red blood gushed from the wound.
The Essence Blood Art's innate minor technique—Bloodletting.
Blood sprayed everywhere, splashing Li Qing right in the face.
The agony throughout his body suddenly vanished, as if all the pain had poured out with that single slash.
Power welled up inside him, clearing his head. The figure spurting blood abruptly turned around.
A horribly vicious face stared back at him. It was no longer a human face.
Its features were grotesque, its skin stretched almost to bursting and covered in veins. A mouthful of fangs jutted from its gaping jaws.
Mr. Huayue had grown to nearly nine feet tall. His exposed skin was covered with countless bulging veins.
Li Qing shuddered all over, then turned and ran, charging out of the study.
He shouted at the top of his lungs, "There's a monster!"
"Murder!"
His deafening cries shattered the night.
Everyone within dozens of yards heard the shrill screams.
"Argh! I'll kill you! Li Qing, argh..."
Mr. Huayue roared as he gave chase. Blood poured wildly from his back, and his strength was rapidly fading.
His swollen body shrank at a visible speed.
Li Qing moved like a hare, throwing every ounce of strength he had into a mad sprint straight toward the back courtyard.
That was where they stored the firewood. He leaped onto the pile, then sprang up and vaulted over the wall.
A huge figure reached out for him from behind.
Rip.
His clothes tore, and a searing pain flared across his back.
I got hit!
Li Qing dropped from the air and hit the ground on both feet. He twisted to one side and rolled forward, absorbing the impact.
He scrambled up and sprinted into the distance. This was the narrow street behind the study.
His soul nearly left his body as he ran. He couldn't afford to think about anything else.
Getting slashed in the back by that monster and surviving was already pure luck.
Fight it head-on? Was that a joke?
Footsteps sounded all around them. Behind him came the thud of something heavy hitting the ground, followed by a terrifying roar.
"I'll kill you... I'm going to kill you!"
The roar and the heavy thuds behind him made Li Qing's scalp crawl.
By now, he had reached the end of the alley. The main street lay just ahead.
He roared in a frenzy.
"There's a monster! There's a monster! Help!"
Running and shouting at the top of his lungs, he charged onto the main street.
By now the sky had long since gone dark. The curfew hour had arrived.
There was hardly anyone on the street.
Only patrol officers and night watchmen were out.
His back burning with pain, Li Qing rushed onto the main street and was surprised to find that Mr. Huayue didn't seem to be following him anymore.
Rumble.
A massive explosion suddenly erupted behind him.
Li Qing couldn't help looking back. A figure wrapped in silver radiance slammed into a hulking monstrosity.
The creature crashed straight onto the street under the immense force.
Within the silver radiance stood a man in armor.
His entire body was shrouded in silver, like an iron man forged from the metal.
Li Qing didn't know what it was, but he knew this was the best chance he'd get to escape.
Without hesitation, he darted into another alley nearby and ran toward a place he remembered.
"Argh..."
A desperate roar, like that of a dying beast, sounded behind him.
Li Qing kept running, a chill rising in his heart.
This is a supernatural world. It's fucking bizarre.
The county town was under curfew, and patrol officers could be lurking around at any moment. Li Qing had to find somewhere safe as quickly as possible.
The stinging pain in his back made his breathing ragged. After a while, he finally reached the back of an old, dilapidated house.
The house was covered in scorch marks. It had caught fire last year.
Fortunately, no one lived there. After the fire was put out, no one had looked after it either.
Staggering, Li Qing entered the ruins and collapsed into a corner.
He let out two long breaths, sat cross-legged with his palms facing upward, and silently examined his body.
Silently reciting the Essence Blood Art, he could clearly feel a thread of vital essence flowing through his blood vessels.
The vital essence was extremely faint, but it was real.
It followed the blood vessels in his body and swiftly flowed through him.
He could feel the stinging pain in his back fading into a faint itch as the vital essence circulated.
After undergoing Blood Curse Body Refining, his awareness of his body had far surpassed what it had been before.
When he closed his eyes, he could clearly sense his body's condition.
There were five claw marks on his back, each at least ten centimeters long. Fortunately, the wounds weren't deep.
The wounds were healing rapidly, with a faint red vital essence gathered over them.
This vital essence is incredible. How can wounds like these heal so quickly?
"Crack."