Li Qing jumped at the sound and immediately looked down.
Through the blur, he seemed to make out a figure, but he couldn't tell what it was.
He didn't even intend to answer.
"In a Lovecraftian world, be careful, be careful, and be careful again."
Li Qing strained to see, but said nothing.
The man below furrowed his brow despite himself. "Why aren't you saying anything?"
In the darkness, his vision was clear for ten meters all around. He could see Li Qing plainly.
Seeing that the other person only stared at him with a dazed look, he suddenly had an idea.
"Could he not see me? Looks like someone who's only just started cultivating the Blood Refining Art."
At that thought, he relaxed.
"That'll make this even easier."
He fumbled inside his robe and pulled out a round pearl.
He took it from a black pouch, and it immediately gave off a hazy white Radiance, lighting up the area for several meters around.
"Fellow cultivator, I'm gravely wounded and need help."
"If you'll lend me a hand, this Night-Bright Pearl is yours as thanks."
With the Night-Bright Pearl's appearance, Li Qing saw a figure in the lit patch of ground, leaning against the tree he was in.
The man looked utterly wretched in the light. A gaping hole in his chest exposed white bone.
Li Qing's heart jolted. "He's that badly wounded and still alive? This guy must be formidable."
His wariness rose again. He watched the man cautiously and said nothing.
In the Radiance, the man had a face full of bushy beard. He looked no older than thirty, with pale skin and an ashen face. His sunken eye sockets made him look like a consumptive.
His lips in particular looked bright red, though his thick beard partly concealed them.
The bearded man looked even more suspicious to Li Qing now that the Night-Bright Pearl had revealed his form.
Li Qing suddenly spoke. "Y-you want me to save you how?"
His face was full of hesitation and a trace of fear.
The bearded man below kept his face composed, but inside he was laughing with delight.
"Come down. I have medicine on me. Help me apply it to my wounds."
"There's another wound on my back, one that could kill me."
"I can't reach it myself."
"You cultivate the Blood Refining Art, and so do I. That makes us natural allies."
"I know where to find the next part of the Blood Refining Art."
"Once my wounds are under control, we can travel together and watch each other's backs."
"Looks like you haven't eaten yet. I've got some dried food in my pack."
Struggling, the bearded man untied a bundle from his body.
He opened it with effort, revealing several flatbreads and a piece of beef.
"Fellow cultivator, please. Give your brother a hand."
The bearded man looked at Li Qing with utter sincerity, a hint of entreaty in his eyes.
But he had no idea that the moment he mentioned the Blood Refining Art, Li Qing had already placed him firmly among his enemies. Li Qing would never forget what had happened to Mr. Huayue.
And when he saw the beef in the man's pack, his blood ran cold.
He couldn't forget how Mr. Huayue had mutated. Li Qing had nearly become his prey.
"He's so badly wounded, he could mutate at any moment."
"Strike while he's down. Better to attack first, before he mutates."
Li Qing gazed at the bundle. The beef and flatbreads made him swallow involuntarily; he looked ravenous.
The bearded man below saw a flicker of inexplicable delight in Li Qing's eyes.
"This guy must have stumbled into cultivating the art by chance. He probably knows nothing about cultivation."
"He doesn't look like he's undergone Aberration yet, so he can't have been cultivating for long. And he's never eaten meat."
"He's probably from a poor family. Heh."
"But as long as you've practiced the Blood Refining Art, you're the perfect nourishment for me."
At the thought, he swallowed involuntarily, and hunger stirred in his belly.
Li Qing hesitated for a moment, indecision flickering across his face.
The bearded man below felt he needed to turn up the heat, and hurriedly called out,
"Brother, you'd better hurry. Someone attacked me, and he's still chasing me."
"He might catch up any moment."
"You cultivate the Blood Refining Art too. He'll come after you as well."
"I need to recover as soon as possible so I can get you out of here."
At this, Li Qing's face filled with alarm.
"What? Someone's chasing you? The one who wounded you?"
"Then what do we do?"
"Come down and help treat me. Then I can get you out of here."
The bearded man coaxed him. He seemed to grow a little agitated, and his voice turned hoarse and strange.
His back was slightly humped, as if something were writhing beneath it.
He himself didn't notice at all, but Li Qing's pupils contracted as he spotted the change.
The alarm on Li Qing's face deepened. It was hard to tell whether he was acting or truly afraid.
He hurriedly said, "I-I'm coming down."
Li Qing looked only fifteen or sixteen. Watching him climb down from the tree, the bearded man's mouth involuntarily split into a grin.
"Just as I thought—he's inexperienced. A little coaxing and scaring, and he loses his head."
"Heh."
Li Qing was climbing down the other side of the tree, and the bearded man kept his eyes fixed on that spot.
His body trembled faintly as he gathered strength. The moment Li Qing touched the ground, he would pounce.
He would devour him whole and heal his wounds.
When Li Qing had climbed halfway down, he suddenly cried out,
"Oh no, I'm stuck. I can't get down!"
The bearded man froze for a moment, then broke into a grin.
"Hahahaha..."
"I'll help you. Don't move!"
The bearded man hurriedly struggled to his feet. His cracked lips parted, and his scarlet tongue licked at them. His eyes blazed with bloodlust.
He went around the left side of the tree toward the back.
When he reached the other side, the white light fell upon a figure.
The other person was crouched against the trunk, a token in his right hand, staring at him.
Azure light swirled within the token. In the next instant, a phantom Azure Flood Dragon burst out of it.
With a flash, it lunged at the bearded man.
The bearded man's face went white with terror. He immediately realized he had been tricked.
The supposed little lamb was no lamb at all. He was a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Blood-red light blazed around his whole body. A wave of red light burst from his fists as he swung them at the phantom Azure Flood Dragon.
"Moo!"
The Azure Flood Dragon let out a roar that sounded half ox, half dragon. The bearded man had been about to throw a punch, but his expression turned dazed, and his whole body froze.
The Azure Flood Dragon flashed forward and pounced on him. It dragged a phantom figure out of his body.
"Ah! What's happening?"
"It hurts... It hurts so much..."