"These corpses have been dead for less than half an hour, yet their blood has already turned black."
"That's not normal. It seems there's something wrong."
Wen Taiquan, standing nearby, heard this and his brow twitched.
A trace of alarm appeared in his eyes. He seemed to have realized something.
With a grave expression, he said, "Don't make a fuss. I'll report this quietly."
"There's probably something seriously wrong here."
Li Qing nodded. "Will I get merit for this?"
Wen Taiquan shot him a look. "Don't worry. The Demon Extermination Hall has never shortchanged its contributors."
"If there really is something wrong, you'll definitely receive plenty of merit."
The three continued burying the corpses. Li Qing and Wen Taiquan kept passing by them, seemingly at random.
They were secretly observing the corpses, and the more they looked, the more alarmed they became.
The blood in every corpse had turned black. It had happened far too quickly—their vital essence had clearly been drained.
The more he observed them, the tighter Li Qing's brow furrowed. Could it be the Blood Demon Sect again?
The Blood Demon Sect's favorite method was to directly drain the vital essence from people's blood. Blackened blood was a sign that the essence had been depleted.
Normally, the process took a full day, but now it had been completed in less than an hour.
Ying Taihua hadn't noticed anything at all. Only Li Qing and Wen Taiquan had.
Dusk was drawing near, and they had almost finished burying the corpses.
As the last corpse was laid to rest, it seemed the work was finally over.
Suddenly, a gust of yin wind blew in from afar.
Everyone shivered as the sound of ghostly wailing slowly rose.
"Wuu... wuu..."
The sound seemed to be carried on the wind. The corpse buriers' faces turned deathly pale, and their bodies trembled.
Ying Taihua's expression darkened. He barked, "What are you standing around for? Move!"
At his shout, the corpse buriers finally came to their senses. They hurriedly pushed their carts and made for the main road.
They fled in a panic, not daring to stop for even a moment.
Ying Taihua, Li Qing, and Wen Taiquan followed behind them, vigilantly covering their retreat.
The three kept their eyes fixed on the rear. If any danger appeared, they would strike at once.
Perhaps because there were so many of them, the ghostly cries merely continued to echo in the wind. In the end, no Anomaly appeared.
At last, they safely withdrew to the main road and quickly headed for Jade City.
Before the sun had completely set, they made it into Jade City. Only then did everyone finally relax.
Wen Taiquan patted Li Qing on the shoulder. "I'll report this right away. Once the situation's been investigated, your merit should be awarded."
Li Qing nodded slightly. "All right."
He was badly in need of merit. According to the catalog, to complete the Humanity's Overview Technique, he still needed to exchange for at least four more methods for cultivating vital essence through the organs.
Only then could he cover every kind of organ in the body.
Of course, the most important thing was whether the Jade Tablet would show that the technique was perfect.
His golden finger was powerful, but it wasn't intelligent.
For instance, with this technique that combined countless methods, it hadn't told him which other techniques he still needed to fully complete it.
Alas, I can only perfect it bit by bit myself.
I hope it won't take too long.
Li Qing headed toward the Escort Agency.
He crossed the main street and entered an alley. Suddenly, a strange wailing sounded beside his ear.
"Wuuuuu."
His scalp prickled. Li Qing immediately cast the Shadow Art, and his entire body dissolved into shadow.
Cautiously, he looked around. At some point, a shadow had appeared three zhang behind him.
The shadow wore a black funeral shroud.
The strange wailing poured endlessly from its mouth.
The sound circled around his ears. Li Qing felt as if countless people were chanting sutras inside his head.
A dizzy, disoriented feeling swept over him.
Not good. This sound seems to disrupt the mind.
A fierce glint flashed in his eyes. He planted his foot on the ground and darted toward the figure.
The black-clad figure watched Li Qing charge toward it and slowly raised its head.
It had a deathly pale face without any features—not even a mouth—yet the eerie sound continued to pour forth without end.
The strange figure flashed toward Li Qing, moving as fast as a beam of light.
Acting on instinct, Li Qing raised his hand and sent a mass of bloodflame toward it.
The bloodflame engulfed the space ahead, but just as it was about to touch the shadow—
The other figure suddenly vanished, and a spine-chilling sensation rose behind him.
A pair of icy hands silently settled on Li Qing's shoulders.
An all-consuming chill shot straight to his head. At that moment, his entire body seemed to stiffen.
A wave of cold rushed toward the back of his head, and the breath of death descended.
Li Qing felt as if a mouth were about to bite into the back of his head and dig out his brain.
An unprecedented premonition of death froze his entire body. He couldn't move a muscle.
I was careless!
His vast reserves of vital essence surged at once, flooding into the Spirit Summoning Tablet clenched in his left hand.
A cry like a dragon's roar rang out.
The phantom image of a Flood Dragon burst from the Spirit Summoning Tablet and instantly sank its teeth into the figure clutching him from behind.
"Chichichi!"
The strange cries rang out. The icy hands pulled away from his shoulders, and Li Qing was free again.
He spun around and sent a sheet of Burning Blood Flame toward the figure behind him.
The Flood Dragon's phantom was biting down on a figure. It was the Faceless Ghost Shadow wearing a funeral shroud.
The ghost and the Flood Dragon tore at each other furiously. Its hands were shrouded in sharp claws, which raked bloody gashes across the Flood Dragon's phantom.
The Flood Dragon's sharp jaws had clamped onto its neck, tearing at it wildly and leaving countless wounds in turn.
With a single palm strike, Li Qing sent the blood-colored flames into the figure's body.
In an instant, it turned blood-red from the inside out.
The illusory Flood Dragon immediately released its opponent, flashed away, and returned to the Spirit Summoning Tablet.
Li Qing's gaze fell on the Flood Dragon's phantom on the tablet. It now bore quite a few wounds.
His brow furrowed. "Could the Flood Dragon's phantom actually be injured?"
"Chichichi..."
The eerie phantom let out a shrill scream before it was finally burned to nothing in the blood-colored flames.
An Essence Stone fell to the ground. Li Qing walked over and picked it up.
The Jade Tablet trembled slightly, and the vital essence inside the Essence Stone was instantly swept away.
Immediately afterward, a stream of pure vital essence flowed into his body.
The vital essence in his bloodline began circulating on its own. After a few breaths, his total vital essence had risen to four-fifths of the bloodline stage.
"With one more Essence Stone, my Spirit Blood Art will be complete."
"After that comes Body Strengthening. The vital essence will overflow from the bloodline and spread through every organ in my body."