A Sword at the Throat, First Encounter with a Colossal Beast

Chu He stared at the prompt that had suddenly appeared and froze for a moment. He remembered that the Martial Arts Modifier had not seemed to have this function before?

His confusion lasted only an instant before Chu He cast it aside. Being able to continue improving was naturally a good thing. He had thought that if he wanted to break through to the Furnace Realm, he would need to find another high-level martial art to cultivate.

Now, one of his greatest problems had been solved.

With his consciousness, he tapped the icon.

The question marks that appeared made Chu He uneasy. He had no idea what they would fuse into, but after only a brief hesitation, he decisively tapped upgrade.

[Ding-dong! Insufficient energy. Fusion failed!]

"Damn it! What a waste of expressions!"

Chu He's mouth twitched. He could barely stop himself from swearing.

He had thought fusion was free!

Turns out it was still a damned money-grubber!

Suppressing his restless emotions, he shook his head and cast away the stray thoughts.

At some point, the fine drizzle had gradually grown heavier. Wandering rainwater streamed down the old roof tiles, dripping from the eaves like a curtain of pearls and splashing ripples across the puddles outside the door. Damp moisture rushed against his face.

Other than the tiled house illuminated by the bonfire, everything around them was bottomless darkness. This place seemed like the sole lighthouse in a sea of darkness.

The sound of feet trampling through puddles suddenly rang out.

Chu He frowned slightly and looked toward the door. Before long, a staggering figure crashed through the rain curtain and rushed, dripping wet, into the tiled house.

It was a woman in black. She wore a bamboo hat, her face veiled in black gauze. Her long, straight black hair, cascading like a waterfall, had been soaked by the rain and hung loosely down her back.

The flickering firelight illuminated her skin, white as snow. Her sodden black robe clearly outlined her magnificent figure, alluring beyond measure.

Chu He narrowed his eyes, coldness glinting within them, while a trace of ferocity surfaced at their corners.

"Still not giving up, huh? Knowing I don't like them flat, you deliberately changed into a bigger one. Do you really take me for one of those lecherous fools?"

With one stride, Chu He crossed the distance. His large hand shot out, tearing through the air with a shrill howl. Like an iron claw, it lunged straight for her heart.

Suddenly, the woman in black moved.

Bzzng—

A clear, ringing sword cry resounded within and beyond the tiled house.

An icy blue flash of sword light flickered through the firelight and vanished in an instant.

The surroundings fell silent at once.

Rumble—

At that moment, the sky flashed white, and thunder roared.

Chu He's clawed fist froze in midair. He lowered his eyes and saw the sharp tip of a slender, blue-glowing sword less than an inch from his throat.

Even the Golden Bell Shield's automatic defense had failed to react in time.

Gulp...

Chu He swallowed, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

Only now did he realize that the Blood Jade at his neck had never heated up. That meant the person before him was alive—at the very least, she was not an aberration.

But why would a living person appear in the Misty Forest in the middle of the night, then happen to enter here, drenched from head to toe, to shelter from the rain?

With previous examples in mind, anyone would have assumed she was a female aberration!

All that could be said was that Chu He's luck was a little too poor...

Just as Chu He was weighing whether to make a desperate gamble or speak up to resolve the misunderstanding, the woman in black suddenly withdrew her blue longsword.

He quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

With an existence of unknown strength like this, it was best not to provoke her if he could avoid it.

In the silence, the two stood at the doorway, staring at each other without a word.

"You... are blocking my way."

The woman's voice was cool as water, calm and indifferent.

"...Oh."

Chu He blanked for a moment at her words, then instinctively stepped aside.

The woman in black nodded and walked past Chu He.

Only from his higher vantage point did Chu He realize that her chest was truly magnificent. Even the air she left behind carried a faint begonia fragrance.

Wearing her bamboo hat, the woman in black slowly walked to the bonfire and sat down by it, warming herself without paying Chu He the slightest heed.

Thoughtful, Chu He turned around and returned to his original seat.

Outside, thunder continued to rumble through the pitch-black sky, while cold wind constantly seeped in through cracks in the broken walls. The ink-black woman and Chu He, dressed in coarse linen, sat facing one another around the fire. Neither spoke; both remained silent.

Chu He had been sleepy, but with a mysterious and unfamiliar expert appearing, how could he possibly sleep now? He could only take out the unfinished book again and, by firelight, study it page by page.

Staring at the dense, tadpole-like script, Chu He's gaze was focused.

This book had been found in the village chief's secret chamber. Judging from its contents, it recorded the methods Li Fang used to stitch together aberrations. Its contents were numerous and disorderly, and it seemed to be a special inheritance passed down through the Ghost-Stitching Artisan lineage.

The original text could no longer be found. This book recorded Li Fang's insights and methods after every stitching, and could be considered his study notes.

This trip to Black River Town was not only for his own safety. Chu He also needed to report the changes in Earth River Village to the town and urge the imperial court to send the appointed martial artist to Earthhead Village as soon as possible to guard the formation eye.

At the same time, he needed to hand this evil book over to the imperial court for disposal.

Naturally, Chu He would not give up the chance to investigate this unknown power. Whenever he had time, he carefully examined the book to understand the Ghost-Stitching Artisan's methods.

"Do you... know where this is?"

The cool voice sounded softly.

Chu He slowly raised his head and stared at the veil beneath her bamboo hat, as though trying to see her true face. "I can't say exactly where this is. I can only say that Black River Town is half a day away."

"Black River Town..."

The woman in black lowered her head, chewing over those three words.

"Where... is Black River Town?"

"It's on the northern edge of the Misty Forest. Just head north."

After saying that, suspicion rose in Chu He's heart, and he added, "You're not from around here?"

If she were local, she would not be unfamiliar with Black River Town.

The woman in black nodded frankly.

Seeing that she seemed easy enough to talk to, Chu He formed an idea.

"My name is Chu He. May I ask this young lady's name?"

Cupping his hands in salute, Chu He addressed the woman in black.

"...Yao Yuzhi."

After hesitating for a moment, the woman in black finally answered.

Chu He nodded, pondering how to draw some useful information from her. Then he saw mist rising in wisps from Yao Yuzhi's wet robe under the heat of the flames, as though she were a steamed bun in a bamboo basket.

"Miss Yao, I can see that you are also a martial cultivator. Why not use your vital energy and blood directly to dry your clothes? Roasting yourself by the fire like this—doesn't it feel uncomfortable?"

Yao Yuzhi slightly raised her bamboo hat. Her bright eyes glanced at Chu He through the thin veil, but she remained silent.

Just as Chu He thought he had made a fool of himself, she extended a slender jade finger. A cluster of blue vital-energy flame ignited atop her creamy white fingertip.

The next instant, Chu He's vision blurred. That tiny blue flame leaped onto the back of his hand in the blink of an eye, and an extreme chill pierced through him.

"Hiss..."

Chu He sucked in a cold breath and instinctively pulled back his hand.

Vital energy and blood could actually be icy!?

What shocked Chu He even more was that this was the second time. Twice now, she had effortlessly gotten close to him, and the Golden Bell Shield's defenses had not reacted at all.

This showed that their strengths were not even on the same level.

The Chu He who had possessed a little confidence was thoroughly cowed.

"Miss Yao, roasting yourself like this will still be uncomfortable in the end. How about I stand outside for a while? If you have a change of clothes, you can change."

Chu He smiled warmly and made to rise.

He also took his own bundle of belongings with him.

Yao Yuzhi had just been about to nod when she suddenly sprang to her feet.

Chu He's expression changed, and his muscles instantly tightened like steel cables. Yet he discovered that she had not looked at him at all. Instead, she was staring outside the door.

His face stiffening, Chu He shifted aside and looked in the direction she had turned toward. Through layer upon layer of darkness, he could not see anything clearly.

Rumble—

Amid the flashes of lightning and crashes of thunder, the thunderlight illuminated the heavy clouds. A colossal creature, its body jointed in frigid scales, lurked overhead and blotted out the sky.

Th-this was a dragon!!?

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