Crown of Fury

The night was deep. A veil of mist, like gauze and flowing water, shrouded the village. In the darkness, countless eyes seemed to be silently watching it.

There was no moonlight tonight.

Li Xiang was wrapped in a heavy quilt, snoring loudly as he slept soundly.

Suddenly, his back seemed to press against a block of ice, making him shudder.

Half-asleep, he muttered in displeasure, "Xiufen, you stole my quilt."

Silence. A deathly silence...

All at once, Li Xiang froze, waking slightly from his haze.

That wasn't right. Xiufen was sleeping behind me. How could she have stolen my quilt?

"Xiufen, are you feeling unwell? Why is your body so cold? Should we get a physician to take a look?"

Li Xiang was fully awake now. He turned his head and looked worriedly at his wife behind him.

Wu Xiufen had her back to Li Xiang, her head buried in the darkness.

"The child..."

A reply as faint as a mosquito's buzz sounded. If not for the utter silence around them, Li Xiang would almost have missed it.

At the word "child," Li Xiang's hand froze as he pulled back the quilt. Bitterness surfaced on his face. "Xiufen, so many years have passed, yet you still can't let it go. But Little Treasure is already gone. Face reality."

Back then, when the strange horror had attacked the village, Xiufen had miscarried. Since then, they had never been able to conceive again. Neither husband nor wife ever spoke of it. He had not expected Xiufen to bring it up once more.

"The child. We have a child."

Her voice was still nearly inaudible, but this time it carried a trace of excitement.

"What did you say?"

Li Xiang had not heard clearly, so he could not help leaning closer.

He reached his hand forward, only for his palm to touch something wet, slick, and soft.

"This is... blood!?"

He raised his hand and sniffed it. The faint stench of blood crashed into Li Xiang's mind.

"Xiufen, why are you bleeding so much?!" Li Xiang anxiously threw back Wu Xiufen's quilt, and in the next instant, he was too terrified to speak.

Bright red blood had dyed the bedding. A huge gash had been cut across Wu Xiufen's belly. Amid her writhing organs, a grotesque embryo crouched inside, devouring Wu Xiufen's flesh and organs bit by bit.

"Brother Xiang, the child, our child!"

Wu Xiufen reached in and pulled out the watermelon-sized embryo, holding it before Li Xiang. A blissful smile rose on her lips. "Brother Xiang, the child. This is our child. It's the child bestowed upon us by Lord Land God!"

Suffocation...

An indescribable suffocation, pain that tore at his heart and lungs.

Trembling, he took the lump of flesh his wife handed him. Looking at her smile, the terror in his heart vanished completely, replaced by the oppressive feeling of falling into an abyss and guilt toward his wife. "Xiufen, I thought you no longer cared. It's all my fault. I never asked you..."

"But... this isn't our child! This is a monster!" Li Xiang's tone abruptly changed. His face twisted as he stiffly raised both hands and squeezed the embryo with all his strength, intending to strangle the monster to death.

"No! Brother Xiang! You can't kill our child!" Wu Xiufen struggled to pull at Li Xiang, weeping bitterly and begging him desperately.

Li Xiang coldly flung Wu Xiufen aside and shouted:

"Take a good look! This is..."

His voice cut off abruptly. A rusty iron blade lay across his throat.

"Then tell me, what is this?"

At some point, the man in black had appeared at the bedside. A straight blade rested on Li Xiang's shoulder, and a dense scent of blood mixed with rust assaulted his nostrils.

"I... I... don't know!"

"No, you know... This is your final end!" Chu He twisted his wrist, turning the blade's tip into its flat, and smashed it heavily into the back of Li Xiang's head.

Li Xiang's eyes rolled back, and he fainted without the slightest resistance.

With a grave expression, Chu He picked up the embryo that had fallen to the floor and slowly placed it in Wu Xiufen's arms. Sympathy flashed through his eyes.

The embryo was real. Auntie Li really had been pregnant.

But she had been parasitized by strange hair.

"The child..."

At the end of her life, Auntie Li gently hugged the child.

"Huff... huff..."

Chu He rose, closed his eyes, and let out several long breaths.

When Chu He opened his eyes, he still felt stifled and furious, unable to calm himself.

He turned to look at the unconscious Li Xiang. His teeth ground with a creak, his face twisted in rage like a volcano that could erupt at any moment.

"Still playing dead! You really think I have no way to deal with you?!"

Chu He suddenly seized Li Xiang's hand. Brilliant golden light surged and roared like great rivers, engulfing Li Xiang's body in the blink of an eye.

The next second, a dense, masculine blood-energy as blazing as the vast sun burst from within his body, turning into golden waves that crashed over Li Xiang again and again.

"Urgh... Aaaahhh!!"

A dull cry of pain sounded, then turned into a shrill scream.

Li Xiang's body shook violently, his face contorted in agony. A phantom writhed and swam within him, occasionally surfacing as an unfamiliar face, half-real and half-illusory.

The secret manual stated that once a martial artist cultivated to the point where blood-energy could be projected outward, he could dispel all illnesses and suppress evil spirits. Petty sinister things could not approach his body; upon touching him, they would surely burn!

"First, the agony of having her belly cut open. Then, the suffering of having her flesh and blood devoured. Finally, snuffing out another's hope. You filthy bastard, you really know how to torture people, don't you?"

Golden light shone from Chu He's eyes. He turned toward that shrieking, hate-filled face. His huge hand blotted out the sky as it slammed onto Li Xiang's crown.

"Get the hell out here!!"

The joints of his fingers were tough as claws, and the muscles of his arm rose and fell like mountain ridges. As though gripping something solid, he dragged the phantom out through Li Xiang's crown bit by bit.

"Ah—"

The phantom opened its mouth wide and screamed. Invisible soundwaves swept through Chu He's mind as though a hammer had struck him hard, making his consciousness grow muddled.

Chu He's movements stalled. In that brief daze, the phantom seized its chance to break free from his grasp and desperately flee outside.

"Run? Where do you think you can run?!"

A scorching breath burst from Chu He's mouth. A golden bell condensed around him, and like a golden meteor smashing through wooden boards, he charged out of the house.

Clang!

The blade left its sheath, a cold gleam flashing!

Golden blood-energy wrapped around the blade. The blazing heat seemed ready to melt through the darkness as Chu He swung a heavy slash at the phantom just about to merge into it.

Pshk—

The blade's tip entered the shadow, and grayish-white mist rose in clouds.

Like water thrown into a hot pan, the mist dispersed. A savage blade wound appeared on the phantom's back, nearly splitting it in two, only to vanish in an instant.

The darkness was right before it. Just one step, and no one would be able to do anything to it.

The phantom turned back with a savage grin, its face full of venom.

As if it were mocking Chu He's helplessness...

"Fuck your mother... die!!"

A trace of scarlet appeared in Chu He's eyes. It seemed as though raging fury blazed above his head. Looking at the phantom about to vanish, his suppressed emotions erupted completely.

Boom!!

The golden bell roared in fury, its sound resounding through the entire village!

Invisible soundwaves swept outward. Within five meters of the nearest area, earth and stone shattered, trees and grass were obliterated, turning it into a field of crimson.

"Hiss—"

The phantom halted and let out a shrill wail. Its feet stood on the crimson earth as if it had entered a furnace of scarlet blood. The searing heat scorched it, making every step impossible.

Buzz!

A golden blade shadow flashed and vanished, its afterglow carving golden ripples through the air.

The phantom's body stiffened, and it clawed at its own throat.

The next second, a thin golden line appeared around its neck, then burst into flame. Countless golden flames instantly enveloped the phantom, burning it to nothing.

Chu He watched the burning soul with cold, gloomy eyes.

"I told you. This is your final end!"

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