Killing and Arson

Taking advantage of Lin Shaokun's coughing fit, Gao Fei charged over in an instant, ignoring his second uncle's warnings behind him, and punched him squarely in the chest.

It was the same spot wounded during the day—injury piled upon injury—followed by a blow to the head.

Merit Points +31

His sin value was even higher than those Minor Monsters that ate people.

"Why are you staring at me? Dig out the Fox Demon's Demon Core. Once we get back, we can go into seclusion."

Gao Linyue shook his head and began hacking, slicing, and sawing at the Fox Demon with one cut after another.

"You brat, can't you listen to advice? The Lin Family has several Spirit-Absorption Realm experts. Once the war ends, they'll return. It'll be trouble if we're found out."

"Then clean things up properly and don't let them find out. We'll leave the Fox Demon's corpse here. Even if they do find out, they won't dare make it public."

Gao Fei quickly began gathering the spoils from Lin Shaokun's corpse.

All he found was a thumb-sized Demon Core that was nearly petrified. There was not even a scrap of silver.

After seeing Gao Linyue extract the Fox Demon's Demon Core, he hurriedly called out.

"Second Uncle, come look. Where do you think this brat hid his banknotes?"

As he spoke, he searched several places, but still found nothing.

Gao Linyue walked to the bed, lifted the quilt, then pried up the bedboard.

There was a small wooden box on the bed frame.

Opening it, they found more than ten banknotes.

There were notes for dozens of taels, a hundred taels, and a thousand taels.

Gao Linyue gathered the banknotes, then carried the Fox Demon's corpse inside and placed it beside the other body.

He spilled the lamp oil and set it alight in one smooth motion.

"Go!"

After leaving the estate, the two changed out of their night clothes, found a pond, tied stones around the clothes, sank them beneath the water, and started back.

There were few people out at night to begin with. They easily avoided passersby and returned home.

Afterward, they began dividing the spoils in Gao Fei's room.

They exchanged the pills and Beast Cores, then split the two thousand three hundred and fifty taels in banknotes equally.

"Second Uncle, starting from the Organ Tempering Realm, how many of these pills would you need to reach the Spirit-Absorption Realm?"

"It depends on one's foundation and aptitude. I would need ten. Yue Qinghe, the martial hall master's daughter, might only need seven."

Gao Linyue was delighted as he accepted the pills. "I'm going into seclusion for a month. It'll take half a year in total to digest the medicinal power. Be careful out there."

"You can't come out during that time?"

"I can. I'm practicing martial arts, not becoming an immortal. I still need to eat. It's just that while my internal organs are being tempered, I can't engage in fierce battles."

Gao Fei understood. So long as the county town did not fall, there should be no problem.

"Try one. I want to see the effect."

Hearing that, Gao Linyue did not stand on ceremony. He poured out a pill and swallowed it.

His lower abdomen began to quiver slightly. Spiritual energy slowly seeped out from his body.

Only then did Gao Fei understand that none of the spiritual energy he had absorbed over eighteen years had gone to waste.

His second uncle was like a funnel; how much remained depended entirely on how much his body could absorb.

He took out the Beast Core he had found on Lin Shaokun.

"Keep this. It'll help with your cultivation."

This Beast Core was nearly white. For his own cultivation, it was not even enough to temper the heart properly, so it was of little use.

After Gao Linyue left, Gao Fei held the Fox Demon's Beast Core in his hand.

"System, put one hundred Merit Points into the Purple-Organ Tempering Art first."

First year: You continued using the bone-tempering method to temper your heart. Nourished by the spiritual energy within the Beast Core, your progress was swift.

Eighth year: You completed the tempering of your heart. Both its elasticity and defensive strength improved greatly. It was hard as iron, yet elastic as rubber.

Physique improved.

At this level, even Dark Force would find it difficult to injure your heart.

Ninth year: You began tempering your liver. The liver governed qi and blood.

Fiftieth year: You completed the tempering of your liver.

Fifty-first year: You began tempering your spleen. The spleen governed the transformation of qi and blood, converting food into qi and blood.

Ninety-eighth year: You completed the tempering of your spleen.

Ninety-ninth year: You began tempering your lungs. The lungs governed breathing. Those with strong lungs had long-lasting breath, and breathing in and out spiritual energy relied entirely on the lungs.

...

He looked at his remaining 329 Merit Points.

Of the five viscera and six bowels, eleven in total, he had now completed three.

It seemed his Merit Points were not enough to reach the Spirit-Absorption Realm.

Looking at the faded color of the Beast Core in his hand, it seemed that was not enough either.

"After spending so much effort, I hope this cultivation art doesn't disappoint me."

"System, finish it in one go."

Fiftieth year: You completed the tempering of your lungs.

Fifty-first year: You began tempering your kidneys. The kidneys governed essence and qi, the foundation of one's origin.

You discovered that your kidneys were extremely weak and began reducing the intensity of the tempering.

One hundred and thirtieth year: You completed the tempering of your kidneys. Physique improved.

Two hundred and fifth year: You completed the tempering of your stomach.

Two hundred and fiftieth year: You completed the tempering of your small intestine.

Three hundredth year: You completed the tempering of your large intestine. You reached the Late Organ Tempering Realm.

...

The process stopped at the bladder. He had run out of Merit Points.

The Beast Core held only the faintest trace of color now, barely any better than the one taken from Lin Shaokun.

Only the gallbladder and triple burner remained.

He was back to zero Merit Points again. Tomorrow, he needed to leave the city and investigate the movements of the monsters.

That night, a great fire in the Lin Family estate alarmed the entire small county town.

But the Lin Family refused to let anyone else help put out the fire.

Fortunately, the Lin Family estate was large, with a street separating each side from its neighbors, so no one else was affected.

The clamor continued until the rooster crowed before it finally subsided.

Once the fire was extinguished,

two charred corpses were placed before the ruins.

An energetic old man in his sixties, dressed in brocade, walked over to the corpses with a middle-aged man following behind him.

He looked at Lin Shaokun, whose facial shape was still barely recognizable, and the Fox Demon's corpse beside him.

"Bury the bodies in the back courtyard. Instruct the servants well and keep their mouths shut. At present, there are basically no people in the city capable of killing Spirit-Absorption Realm monsters."

After thinking for a while, he murmured as if speaking to himself, "Was it you, my county magistrate?"

"Father, should we continue our plan to throw the county town into chaos? If it really was the county magistrate, I fear this was only a warning. Eldest Brother, Second Brother, and Xiaofeng are all away. We simply cannot guard against his assassination attempts."

The old man stood in place, staring at the ruins in silence for a long time. When he spoke again, his voice was somewhat hoarse.

"Pack up the household's money and valuables. Take the direct family line to Qing Province. I am old. If I do not avenge this hatred, I will not rest in peace even in death."

Early the next morning,

Gao Fei rose very early. Without even eating breakfast, he went out.

He had no choice but to hurry. Spirit-Absorption Realm monsters could enter the county town.

If several more came, how many Organ Tempering Realm martial artists would have to be thrown in to fill the gap?

The number of Rat Demons that had surrounded him offered a glimpse of the whole picture. There were definitely quite a few Organ Tempering Realm monsters.

If the city fell then, even protecting himself would be difficult.

This time, Gao Fei still made a trip to the county yamen to replenish his white-shafted spears.

The blade in his hand was no good either. It could barely break armor. At some point, he needed to find a better treasured saber.

Otherwise, he might as well use a sledgehammer.

Other than the hundred yamen runners guarding the gate, there was not a single person inside the county yamen.

He walked to the mission board.

After scanning it once, he saw Tao Hua Village again. The note said that large groups of Dog Demons had appeared nearby.

Gao Fei tore it down.

He found a handy Armor-Piercing Spear and left.

There were not many useful ones left now, which gave him a headache.

He needed a spear made entirely of metal. Wooden spear shafts simply were not durable.

He also needed a horse—a horse that had become a monster—to use for travel.

Unfortunately, the Martial Suppression Guard had ridden them all away.

This time, Gao Fei finally paid off his debt at the breakfast stall, but the owner still watched him like a thief, as though he might simply rob the place outright.

When Gao Fei reached Tao Hua Village, he could see from afar that several large holes had been punched through the outer wooden fence.

Several Dog Demons with Unawakened Intelligence frolicked around the holes, going in and out.