Heads Swarming

The dragon vanished, the wind stilled, and the entire forest fell so silent that the rustle of a falling leaf could be heard. Chu Xiaotian stood motionless, leaning on his long spear to keep from collapsing. Opposite him, Huang Xiang also stood still, his eyes flickering with a mix of resentment, fury, and agony, before he finally toppled backward toward the sky.

A hole the size of a bowl gaped in his chest, blood gushing out incessantly, draining away his final remnants of vitality.

Chu Xiaotian slumped onto the ground, baring his teeth as he sucked in sharp breaths of cold air. With a flash of light from his hand, a small porcelain bottle appeared. His hands trembled slightly as he pried off the lid; ignoring the quantity of pills inside, he tilted his head back and poured them all into his mouth. This single movement caused the front of his tunic to turn instantly crimson. Dozens of gashes, each a foot long, appeared across his clothing. Through the tatters, one could see his chest crisscrossed with dozens of wounds, each half an inch deep and a foot long, leaving not a single patch of intact skin.

This was the price he paid to kill Huang Xiang. Had his weapon not been long enough, had his body not been agile enough, had that layer of purple fur not provided such terrifying defense, and had the icy energy within him not staunched the flow of blood, the current Chu Xiaotian would likely be drawing his last breath. After swallowing the bottle of Recovery Pills Xia Xue had given him, Chu Xiaotian sat there, regulating his breathing and striving to mend his injuries.

About half an hour later, Chu Xiaotian slowly opened his eyes and, using his spear as a crutch, struggled to his feet. Half an hour was not enough to fully heal him, but with the Heavenly Corpse Art freezing his wounds, basic movement was no longer a problem. He had to return now so as not to worry Xia Xue. Of course, there were things to collect before leaving. He gathered the ten Qiankun Bags and the one Qiankun Bracelet, then, leaning on his spear, he walked toward the valley where they lived, gasping with every step.

As for giving these corpses a proper burial, Chu Xiaotian had no such intention. For one, he was severely wounded and lacked the strength to dig; for another, he felt no desire to grant a peaceful rest to those who had sought his life. If he were the one lying on the ground, they would likely have hacked him a few more times for good measure.

This time, he walked with extreme caution, fearing that more Huang Family experts might pop out. He walked for a full hour without encountering a single living soul, returning safely to the valley.

"Brother Xiaotian, what happened to you? Quick, come inside, let me apply some medicine." Xia Xue had finished refining pills and was waiting in the valley for his return. Seeing his wretched state, she hurried over, her face full of anxiety, and helped him toward her room.

"I'm fine, just ran into a few Huang Family scumbags and had a little scuffle," Chu Xiaotian managed a forced smile and waved a hand at her. The movement tugged at his chest wounds, forcing him to hiss in pain.

"Don't say another word. It's all my fault for getting you hurt." Watching Chu Xiaotian's pained expression, Xia Xue spoke with self-reproach. In her eyes, Chu Xiaotian's conflict with the Huang Family was entirely her doing. If she had left the Mad Blade Martial Hall with him back then, he would never have crossed paths with them.

"Silly girl, what are you saying? Who wouldn't want to clean up those scumbags if they ran into them? Besides, the Huang Family people are gone, and I'm still alive, aren't I? From now on, if anyone dares to harbor crooked thoughts about you, I'll make them regret it. You are my one and only treasure." Chu Xiaotian reached out to stroke Xia Xue's hair, gazing into her eyes as he spoke softly. As he spoke, a powerful aura erupted from his body. Having slain over a dozen Huang Family experts, Chu Xiaotian felt even more confident in his own strength.

Hearing his final sentence, Xia Xue's pretty face flushed a deep red. She did not refute him, but instead met his gaze and gave a soft, affirmative hum. Over their time together, Chu Xiaotian's presence had taken root in her heart; it was impossible to erase. Hearing this slightly overbearing declaration, she felt incredibly sweet inside despite her shyness.

"Brother Xiaotian, these are second-grade Yuqing Pills. They will help your wounds heal faster." Having helped Chu Xiaotian sit on her bed, Xia Xue produced a porcelain bottle, poured two red pills into her palm, and held them to his lips with a look of concern. These Yuqing Pills served the same purpose as the Recovery Pills but were far more potent. These were the pills Chu Xiaotian had looted from Huang Nian and the others, all of which he had handed over to Xia Xue for her to organize.

Chu Xiaotian opened his mouth to let her feed him the pills, and his tongue couldn't help but sneak a touch against her slender fingers. This made her face flush even deeper, and she couldn't help but cast a playful, reproachful glare at him. The sight of her charming, bashful expression made Chu Xiaotian chuckle wickedly.

"Hmph, I'm ignoring you now. I'm going to prepare some food." Xia Xue feigned anger and ran out of the room to prepare dinner. Chu Xiaotian chuckled, knowing she was just shy, and sat cross-legged to refine the Yuqing Pills. The effect of second-grade pills was indeed far superior to the first-grade ones. A warm current gathered in his chest as the medicine was refined, and he could clearly feel his wounds knitting together rapidly, even hearing the faint, sizzling sound of flesh regenerating.

He had originally expected it to take ten days or half a month to recover, but after experiencing the efficacy of the Yuqing Pills, he felt he would be fully healed in four or five days at most.

However, he had underestimated the resilience of his own body; in just three days, his injuries were completely healed. During these three days, he hadn't neglected his cultivation, and he had also finished sorting through the items he'd taken from Huang Xiang's group. From their belongings, he had obtained three thousand low-grade Spirit Stones, twenty medium-grade Spirit Stones, twenty-three bottles of second-grade pills, thirty-five spirit herbs capable of refining high-grade pills, two human-grade cultivation techniques he found mediocre, one human-grade battle art, as well as five stones of varying colors and five blank jade slips.

Chu Xiaotian felt he had no use for the Spirit Stones, so he gave them all to Xia Xue so she could buy spirit herbs for alchemy as she pleased. As for the pills and herbs, they naturally ended up in her hands as well. After she organized them, she gave him five bottles of Yuqing Pills for healing and five bottles of Wind Spirit Pills, which could restore the full spirit essence of a Pi-Hai Realm expert in one go. Chu Xiaotian showed her the techniques and battle arts, but since she deemed them useless, he tucked them away, intending to gift them to Ba Dao later. After all, Ba Dao had treated him quite well, and he shouldn't forget him when he had something to share. As for the multi-colored stones, they were ores for forging weapons, so he kept those for himself.

Of the dozen or so Qiankun Bags, he kept one for himself and one for Xia Xue, storing the rest inside the Qiankun Bracelet he had taken from Huang Nian. Spatial items had a quirk: they could not store other spatial items larger than themselves. Since these two bracelets were already "exposed" and could not be placed inside the bags, he simply fashioned a pocket inside his tunic to keep them close to his body.

Once his injuries were healed and he had spent half a day practicing the Electric Dragon Spear, Chu Xiaotian decided to make a trip to Greenwood Town with Xia Xue. Firstly, he wanted to scout the Huang Family's movements, and secondly, he wanted to see if the Hundred Herb Pavilion had the herbs he needed. He wanted to produce some talisman paper to further increase his strength, but not just any paper would do for drawing talismans. It required specific spirit herbs to refine—though whether such things existed in this world remained to be seen.

Xia Xue also needed to deliver the pills she had refined to the Mad Blade Martial Hall and the Hundred Herb Pavilion, so she naturally didn't object. Once they were ready, the two left the valley and headed straight for Greenwood Town.

If the road hadn't been so familiar and the scenery unchanged, the two would have suspected they had taken a wrong turn.

Previously, one could see across the entire street of Greenwood Town without spotting more than a few people. Now, however, every glance revealed practitioners dressed in tight-fitting gear and armed with weapons. These people were in a hurry, yet they appeared remarkably cheerful, discussing something in small groups. Moreover, everyone's cultivation was quite high—at the very least, they were in the late stage of the Tongmai Realm, and there were even a few who felt stronger than Huang Xiang, likely experts of the Huayuan Realm.

At first sight of this, Chu Xiaotian felt a bit guilty, fearing the Huang Family had sent a massive force to investigate the truth behind their clansmen's deaths. He nearly turned around and fled with Xia Xue. Fortunately, seeing the joyful expressions on their faces, he calmed down. If these people were here to investigate the deaths of their kin, they wouldn't be so happy—they would likely be handling it in secret. Thus, these people were definitely not from the Huang Family, though he had no idea who they were or why they were here.

Ignoring the looks of astonishment from the crowd as they saw Xia Xue, the two walked quickly toward the Mad Blade Martial Hall. If he wanted to know the reason for all this, asking Ba Dao would be the right move.

"Young Master Chu, Miss Xia, you've arrived! Please, come inside." The two guards at the Mad Blade Martial Hall saw them from afar and hurried over to welcome them in. The humiliation Huang Nian's group had brought upon them had been wiped away by this teenager, and they held Chu Xiaotian in high regard.

"Hall Master Ba Dao, what is going on outside? Has the Huang Family made any moves recently?" As soon as he entered Ba Dao's room, Chu Xiaotian didn't beat around the bush and asked his question directly.

Ba Dao did not answer immediately, instead asking in return, "Little brother, I heard that the people the Huang Family sent to investigate a few days ago also died. Was that your doing?"

Chu Xiaotian paused, then nodded with a wry smile. "Yes. I nearly lost my life to them this time; I was bedridden for three days before I could get up." He had no intention of hiding it from Ba Dao; they were all in this together, and if anyone leaked the secret, no one would have a good ending.