Killing Intent in the Dark Night

Chapter 40: Murderous Intent in the Dark Night

The Godly Speed Talisman and Invisibility Talisman were far more difficult to craft than the Explosive Flame Talisman. It took Chu Xiaotian a full four hours to finish inscribing the sixteen sheets of talisman paper. In the process, he failed the Invisibility Talisman three times, wasting three sheets, and failed the Godly Form Talisman once, wasting another. In the end, he had successfully produced three Explosive Flame Talismans, four Godly Form Talismans, and eight Invisibility Talismans.

These paper talismans were the first ones Chu Xiaotian had ever truly crafted, and having succeeded with so many, his excitement was beyond measure. After carefully putting them away, Chu Xiaotian finished dinner with Xia Xue and sent her back to refine pills. As for himself, he intended to use the cover of night to sneak near the spirit beast that was about to give birth, hoping to make tomorrow's plan to snatch the cub easier to execute.

"Brother Xiaotian, you must be careful. I will wait here for your return; if you don't come back in a day, I won't leave this valley for a day," Xia Xue said softly, clutching Chu Xiaotian's hand and gazing into his eyes.

Chu Xiaotian's heart trembled. To hear such words from a young girl—how could his heart not be stirred by such deep affection? He pulled Xia Xue tightly into his arms, slowly lowered his head, and pressed his lips against hers.

Xia Xue's body shuddered, and she struggled slightly, but she soon calmed down. With her starry eyes half-closed and her face flushed with shyness, she let Chu Xiaotian kiss her. As their lips met, both of their bodies trembled uncontrollably. A strange sensation washed over them, making them feel as if they were in another world—a world where only they existed, with nothing else around. Chu Xiaotian clumsily yet aggressively invaded Xia Xue's defenses, prying open her pearly teeth to find her sweet, delicate tongue, teasing and lingering with her. Xia Xue's breathing grew ragged, her body went limp, and she hung her arms around Chu Xiaotian's neck, surrendering to his lead.

This long, lingering kiss lasted for a full two or three minutes before ending with Chu Xiaotian's deep reluctance. He had to stop; if he continued any longer, he feared he would lose the resolve to leave the valley.

"Be good, Little Xue, don't worry about me. I'll be back soon." He gently patted Xia Xue's face and kissed her once more before turning and walking away quickly. He was afraid that if he didn't leave soon, he wouldn't be able to suppress the desire within him and would end up taking the little girl right there on the spot.

After leaving the valley, he took a few deep breaths and cupped some river water to wash his face, finally calming the carnal desires within him. Setting his direction, Chu Xiaotian stealthily crept toward the place where Huang Nian and the others had died. The valley where Xia Xue stayed was located on the edge of the Endless Forest, and few people ever came there. However, once he entered the Endless Forest, the situation changed. Tomorrow was the day the spirit beast would give birth, and those hoping to try their luck had already begun entering the forest tonight to prepare for the scramble.

For every dozen steps Chu Xiaotian took, he could sense one or two people lurking in the surrounding trees. Others were lying in wait in the bushes beneath the trees. These people, just like Chu Xiaotian, were all eyeing the spirit beast's cub. They made little effort to hide their presence, merely wanting to occupy a spot as close to the birthing site as possible. Moreover, since the time for the struggle had not yet arrived, their greatest enemies were the members of the Huang Family who were blocking their path. Therefore, as long as one didn't get too close, these people wouldn't attack, assuming you posed no threat, though they would watch you with wary eyes.

Chu Xiaotian understood this, so he deliberately steered his path away from these people, weaving through the forest as he moved forward. The Huang Family had used a large number of experts to seal off the area within a one-mile radius of the birthing site; any non-Huang Family member who entered this zone would be met with a collective attack from the Huang experts. Beyond that mile was where others could linger. The Huang family didn't actually want anyone staying there either, but there was nothing they could do—too many people had come. If they provoked public outrage, they might be attacked by the masses, and the consequences would be dire.

The closer one was to this one-mile radius, the better the chance of obtaining the spirit beast cub during tomorrow's scramble. Thus, an unspoken rule had silently formed among these lone arrivals: only those with greater strength could get closer to that one-mile boundary. If one lacked the strength but still tried to push forward, there was only one outcome: being killed by the experts occupying the front. No one wanted an extra person competing for the cub, especially if that person was weaker than themselves.

So far, apart from the Huang Family, no lone arrival possessed the cultivation of the Poxue Realm; the highest was merely at the Huayuan Realm. The circle closest to the Huang Family's one-mile zone was the territory of Huayuan Realm experts. Fifty meters behind them was where practitioners of the Sea-Opening Realm and below could stay. Naturally, this stratification existed everywhere.

Chu Xiaotian was unaware of these nuances; he only knew that the one-mile zone occupied by the Huang Family was off-limits, and he hadn't given much thought to the rest. He didn't stop, pushing forward in hopes of reaching the spot closest to where the spirit beast would give birth.

"Kid, one more step forward and you die." Just as Chu Xiaotian was continuously approaching the birthing site, a cold voice rang out from ahead.

Chu Xiaotian frowned slightly, glanced at the burly man in black with late-stage Sea-Opening Realm cultivation, and turned his body to walk toward the front-left. He hadn't even reached the man's safety perimeter yet, but he had been barked at; in his view, this was just someone with a strange temperament. He didn't want to cause trouble, so he let it go.

However, after changing his path and walking only two steps, he was met with the same reprimand. Seeing a pattern now, he frowned and changed direction again. This time, no one shouted; a sword beam simply slashed down toward him.

Chu Xiaotian sighed inwardly. It seemed that walking to the front peacefully was impossible. His cultivation appeared to be at the early Sea-Opening Realm, but the people before him were all at the late stage. If he didn't show these people his strength, he would face endless trouble. Chu Xiaotian thought to himself, his eyes narrowing slightly at the incoming sword beam, and his figure instantly vanished from where he stood.

Then, the sound of bones breaking, a short scream, and the clatter of a weapon hitting the ground followed by a body collapsing echoed in quick succession. Chu Xiaotian's figure reappeared. He fished a Qiankun Bag from the fallen man, flashed away, and sat cross-legged under a large tree not far ahead.

At night, the world was filled with dense, cold, yin energy, and the Heavenly Corpse Art he practiced was primarily based on cold corpse poison. Therefore, his strength was much greater at night than during the day. He didn't need to expend much effort to kill a late-stage Sea-Opening Realm expert. As for the front, he no longer wanted to go there; that was surely the territory of Huayuan Realm experts, and he would definitely not fare well if he went there now. It was better to stay here and cultivate hard for the night. Given the concentration of cold yin energy in this world at night, one night of cultivation was worth at least three days for others, and even more for those with inferior techniques.

Streams of cold yin energy were drawn into his body, merging into the mass of purple corpse qi within his dantian, before dispersing from the dantian to circulate through every inch of his flesh and blood, causing it to constantly transform. At the beginning of his cultivation, this mass of purple qi was less than the size of a fist, but after so many days of practice, it had grown to the size of a human head. This was even while he had to divert more than half of it during cultivation to strengthen his body; otherwise, this mass of corpse qi would have been at least twice as large. In the practice of the Heavenly Corpse Art, the corpse qi within the body was important, but the sturdiness of the body was even more critical. A Heavenly Corpse relied on the strength of its physical body to dominate. It was rumored that an Undying Heavenly Corpse, having reached the highest realm, possessed an invincible physique that was immune to all laws; even if blasted into slag, as long as a drop of blood remained, it could recover. The title of "Undying Heavenly Corpse" was derived from this. This was also one of the reasons why Chu Xiaotian had been able to withstand Huang Xiang's Gale Slash earlier without dying.

"What is this guy's background? To actually possess such a terrifying technique—the speed at which he absorbs the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is something even Heaven-grade techniques likely couldn't achieve. Could it be that he possesses a legendary God-grade technique? Interesting. I didn't expect to run into someone like this here. It seems my luck is good." Chu Xiaotian sat cross-legged under the tree, cultivating. Although the speed at which he devoured spiritual energy was terrifying, outsiders couldn't detect it at all. Firstly, the people here had low cultivation, and secondly, the cold yin energy at night was simply too dense, making his absorption difficult to notice. But there were always exceptions. At this moment, from a large tree ten zhang away, a voice spoke to itself slowly from within the dark canopy. Through the swaying branches, one could see the figure of a young girl on the tree, her gaze fixed on Chu Xiaotian not far away. In the darkness, her water-like eyes were exceptionally bright. After a long while, her figure vanished.

Chu Xiaotian ignored everything else, focusing entirely on his cultivation. At the same time, he expanded his spiritual sense to shroud the area within a one-zhang radius; as soon as anyone entered this range, he would detect them.

After about ten minutes, Chu Xiaotian, who was in the middle of cultivating, suddenly opened his eyes, two cold glints flashing through them. He sensed someone approaching him.

"Who goes there? One more step and you die," he said in a low, sharp voice, his gaze shifting toward the jungle on his left. The person he had sensed was coming from that direction.

"Oh my, big brother, don't be so fierce. This little girl doesn't pose any threat to you," a delicate, coquettish voice drifted from the direction he was watching, the sweet, cloying tone making Chu Xiaotian's heart tremble uncontrollably.