Yi Yang lay motionless in the heap of dead leaves.
A mouthful of bloody froth clung to his beard, its metallic taste pressing against the root of his tongue, miserably unpleasant.
His back burned. A large patch of his jacket had torn open, and roots and broken branches had gouged several bloody cuts into his flesh. With his old bones of before, that fall would have left him bedridden for half a month, perhaps even killed him with a fever.
But after skin refining, things were different.
It hurt, certainly.
But no bones were broken, no tendons damaged. Only his flesh had been cut.
Yi Yang kept his breathing extremely shallow, his chest rising and falling so faintly that even the grass barely stirred.
Farther into the forest, Wang Yue and Li Shun had followed the snake's blood trail into the depths.
Wang Yue's voice carried from afar.
"Quick! That beast can't get far!"
Li Shun replied, "Don't think only about the treasure. Watch out for its dying bite."
Their footsteps gradually faded.
Yi Yang remained where he lay.
Only after waiting a good while longer, when the mountain wind slipped through the grass and carried away the last trace of human presence, did he open his eyes.
"Wang Yue."
Yi Yang pressed his tongue against his bloodied gums.
"That was a slick little stroke of yours."
The great snake charging at him earlier had been no coincidence.
Wang Yue's slash had deliberately veered off its tail. Both its force and angle had been meant to drive the snake toward him.
Yi Yang slowly rolled over, feeling his back first, then beneath his ribs.
The wounds hurt until they tingled, but he could endure it.
He retrieved his woodcutting blade from the dead leaves, then scooped up some wet mud and smeared it around the wounds to mask the smell of blood.
The old woodcutter had spent decades in the mountains. He would not boast of other talents, but concealing his trail, finding his way, and reading footprints were the skills that put food on his table.
The rotten leaves Wang Yue and Li Shun had trodden on had yet to spring back.
The snake's bloody drag marks were clearer still.
A dark red streak wound deeper along the slope, its sickly sweet stench so thick it churned his stomach like raging rivers and seas.
Yi Yang followed in a crouch.
He moved neither quickly nor slowly.
Too close, and he would be noticed. Too far, and he could lose the trail.
Keeping the right distance took finesse.
For an old man, steadiness came first.
The mountain path grew ever more remote. Hanging vines and slick leaves brushed his cheeks from time to time.
Ahead, the trail of snake blood stretched to the foot of a shaded cliff.
There was a natural cave there, its entrance mostly concealed by dead vines. Had the snake's blood not pooled dark red at its mouth, a passerby might not have given it a second glance.
Wang Yue and Li Shun had already reached the entrance.
They stood close together, yet kept half a step between them.
That half step was artfully chosen.
Close enough to face an enemy together, far enough to slash at each other without trouble.
Yi Yang hid behind a clump of vines, lowering his body.
Wang Yue raised his saber and sniffed, then cursed with a frown. "Damn it, even swill left overnight doesn't stink this badly."
Li Shun said quietly, "There's a medicinal fragrance inside."
Wang Yue's eyelid twitched.
They exchanged a glance and wasted no more words, entering the cave one after the other.
Yi Yang waited several dozen breaths after they went in before edging along the rock wall to the entrance.
The cave was damp and gloomy, its floor littered with scraps of shed snakeskin and broken bones.
There were rabbit bones, dog bones, and even several human finger bones.
They lay ghastly white in the mud, enough to make anyone's neck tighten.
In the deepest corner, the great snake lay coiled, its flesh torn open. Half an iron fork still protruded from its belly, its left eye was a bloody hole, and its breathing was terribly faint.
But it was not dead yet.
Its tongue still flicked in and out with savage menace.
Beside its coils stood a raised stone platform.
A crimson spiritual herb grew from a crack in the stone.
It was the size of a fist.
Its roots burrowed into the crevice, fine patterns winding across its surface. Its red hue seared the eyes, and its medicinal fragrance mingled with the snake's stench, actually suppressing much of the cave's bloody odor.
Wang Yue's breathing grew heavy.
Li Shun tightened his grip on his saber as well.
Wang Yue's throat felt a little dry.
"Crimson Origin Fruit."
Li Shun had clearly recognized the treasure too, a hint of greed showing in his eyes.
Wang Yue bared his teeth, his eyes brimming with avarice. "For someone at the blood qi first stage, eating it is enough to break through to Flesh-Training. Even several hundred taels of silver couldn't buy it in the county town. Brother Li, we've stumbled into one hell of a windfall."
Outside the entrance, Yi Yang's heart warmed too.
Crimson Origin Fruit.
Flesh-Training.
Qi-blood second level.
Those words truly stirred his heart, but he quickly suppressed that heat.
However fine the treasure, he had to stay alive to claim it.
Wang Yue lowered his saber tip and said quietly, "Kill the snake first. It's still breathing. Whoever touches the herb dies first."
Li Shun nodded in agreement. "Fine."
As the words fell, both men moved.
Wang Yue attacked head-on, his saber chopping toward the old wound on the snake's neck.
The blade fell, scales flew, and blood sprayed onto his cuff.
The great snake reared its head in pain and opened its jaws to bite.
Wang Yue dodged sideways, but its scales still scraped his left arm, tearing his sleeve and opening a bloody line through his flesh.
"Are you just watching the show?"
Wang Yue cursed furiously, his eyes full of hostility.
Li Shun had already circled to the side, his blade cutting into the wound left by the iron fork in its belly.
It was a vicious slash, lengthening the wound as foul blood streamed down the snake's belly.
The great snake swept its tail against the cave wall, sending shattered stones flying. Several grazed Wang Yue's cheek, leaving bloody scratches.
Wang Yue's curses grew filthier. "This beast's almost dead, and it's still this tough!"
Li Shun shifted his footing, evaded the tail, and thrust his saber tip into the split in the exposed white bone of its neck.
"Hold its head down!"
Wang Yue gritted his teeth and lunged in with another slash.
His saber fell with all his strength, severing most of the snake's neck.
The great snake convulsed violently, scattering broken bones throughout the cave.
Several breaths later.
Its thick body finally stopped moving.
Only dripping blood and the two men's broken-bellows panting remained audible in the cave.
Wang Yue wiped snake blood from his face and looked toward the stone platform.
Li Shun looked over too.
The Crimson Origin Fruit grew there quietly, enticingly red.
Neither man moved first.
Wang Yue smiled, his voice hoarse. "Brother Li, there's only one of these. How do we divide it?"
Li Shun wiped his saber without looking up.
"What do you think?"
"What I think is..."
Before Wang Yue finished speaking, his saber had already slashed out.
The gleam of its blade swept past Li Shun's throat.
Li Shun leaned backward, but a bloody cut still opened across his neck.
"Wang Yue!"
Li Shun roared and raised his saber to block.
Clang!
The two sabers collided, sparks scattering wildly.
Wang Yue followed with a second strike at astonishing speed, aiming straight for the heart.
"Don't blame me, Brother Li."
His face smeared with blood, he grinned like a dog that had just bitten someone.
"A treasure like this can't have two people knowing about it. If you're alive, I won't even sleep easy."
Li Shun was enraged. Clearly, he had not expected the other man to be even more shameless than himself. He shouted furiously, "You dogs from the county office really are filthy, every last one of you!"
"Clean?"
Wang Yue pressed forward with slash after slash, his eyes vicious. "Can being clean get you promoted? Can it put meat on your plate? Can it make people fear you? Spare me that useless crap. Among those scraping a living in the martial world, who's any whiter than anyone else?"
Forced against the cave wall, Li Shun suddenly changed his blade work.
His broad, sweeping martial-world saber style vanished.
His blade began tracing arcs, his wrist turning at treacherous angles as the edge slipped toward vicious targets beneath Wang Yue's ribs, beside his wrist, and behind his knee.
Wang Yue nearly failed to block the first strike.
The second drove him back half a step.
By the third, some of the color had drained from his face.
"The Nine Evil Sect?"
Wang Yue blurted it out, clearly recognizing the saber technique.
Li Shun's pupils tightened. With his disguise torn away, he no longer bothered pretending.
His attacks became more sinister, more venomous.
"Now that you recognize it, you have all the more reason to die."
Wang Yue retreated, cursing. "Well, well! The martial artist Blackwater Village hired turns out to be a cult rat. You people have some fat guts, daring to sneak into Yunlin County."
Li Shun said coldly, "Once you're dead, who'll care where I came from?"
Saber light crisscrossed the cave.
Wang Yue's constabulary saber art was straightforward, its strength lying in steadiness.
Li Shun's Nine Evil Saber Technique was treacherous, targeting places people could not guard.
After more than twenty exchanges, Wang Yue had two additional cuts on his shoulder, and his waist had been slashed open too.
Li Shun fought with increasing ferocity, unable to restrain the killing intent in his eyes.
"Constable Wang, you're not up to much."
"Is that all the bite a county office dog has?"
Wang Yue panted, his footwork faltering for half a beat.
Li Shun seized the opening and swept his saber across Wang Yue's waist and belly.
At that very instant.
Wang Yue suddenly ducked.
His formerly straightforward blade work vanished.
His saber swept upward from below at an outrageously vicious angle.
The blade entered Li Shun's right flank, passed through the soft flesh between his ribs, and emerged beneath his left shoulder.
The saber in Li Shun's hand fell to the ground.
He lowered his head to look at the blade tip protruding from his chest, bloody froth rising in his throat.
"You... hid your saber technique..."
Wang Yue pulled his saber free, and blood sprayed from Li Shun's body with it.
"You think a county constable only knows those few flashy tricks?"
Wang Yue wiped his saber on Li Shun's robe, panting heavily.
"My Nine Peaks Saber is made to deal with fools like you who think victory's already certain."
Li Shun sank to his knees, clutching his wound.
Blood spilled between his fingers. Nothing he did could stop it.
He glared at Wang Yue, wanting to curse, but only coughed up several mouthfuls of blood before collapsing beside the snake's corpse and lying still.
Wang Yue stood where he was, gulping air.
Snake blood, human blood, and his own blood smeared half his body.
The wound on his left arm was still bleeding, and his legs felt a little weak.
But the Crimson Origin Fruit was right before his eyes.
His grin was so wide that even the gaps between his teeth were red.
"It's all mine."
Wang Yue reached out to pick the medicinal fruit.
Just then, the faintest footsteps sounded behind him.
Wang Yue's shoulders tensed, his warrior's instincts about to kick in.
Too late.
The chopping blade cleaved into the back of his neck.
Yi Yang had put his full strength into it.
Sixty years of woodcutting experience, six days of cultivated vital energy, and the strength in his arms after Skin Refining-all of it went into that single strike.
The crude blade severed his neck bones.
Wang Yue's body went rigid.
His mouth hung open as he tried to shout, but only a broken wheeze escaped his throat.
With great effort, he turned his face halfway and saw that dry, wrinkled old face in the shadows by the cave entrance.
There wasn't the slightest trace of panic left on it.
Only a cold hardness like the roots of an ancient tree.
"You... aren't..."
Yi Yang let go, and Wang Yue fell straight down, his fingers barely half a foot from the Crimson Origin Fruit.
Yi Yang stood there for a moment, his chest heaving a few times.
"Remember in your next life: don't fight an old man for his things."
He crouched to search the body. Wang Yue had a dozen or so taels of loose silver at his waist, and Yi Yang took them.
His county office badge was there too.
Yi Yang glanced at it but left it untouched.
Taking that home wouldn't make it a trophy. It would make it a summons to death.
Inside an inner pocket was a thin, yellowed booklet.
Three characters were written on its cover.
"Nine Peaks Saber."
Yi Yang leafed through a couple of pages. The illustrations were clear; this was precisely the saber technique Wang Yue had used to turn the tables and kill Li Shun.
"Good stuff."
He tucked it into his robe.
Next, he searched Li Shun. He had seven or eight taels of loose silver and a few copper coins on him, but a black iron token lay in a concealed pocket of his undershirt.
A crooked character meaning "evil" was engraved on the front.
On the back were nine hideous ghost faces.
The Nine Evil Sect.
Yi Yang turned the Command Token over in his hands, then put it away.
This thing was dangerous, but dangerous things could serve as weapons if used well.
He looked around the cave. The snake's carcass was too large to carry away.
He left Wang Yue's and Li Shun's bodies untouched, afraid that anyone who came to investigate later would notice something amiss.
Yi Yang cut out the snake's gallbladder and took its intact shed skin, not even passing up a few scales.
Finally, he stood before the stone platform.
The Crimson Origin Fruit felt warm in his hand, its roots carrying a faint medicinal fragrance.
Yi Yang took it out roots and all, wrapped it in an old cloth, and concealed it close to his body.
He did not return to the village.
Carrying a bulging pack, he took another narrow path around to a remote cliff on Greenwood Mountain.
There was a shallow cave there, its entrance thoroughly concealed by dead vines and scattered rocks.
Half a year earlier, he had hidden the main piece of Purplewood here.
Inside the cave, the Purplewood still lay quietly, its deep purple grain looking somber in the gloom.
Yi Yang set the Nine Peaks Saber manual, the Nine Evil Sect Command Token, the silver, the snake's gallbladder, and its shed skin down separately.
Once that was done, he sat cross-legged and cradled the Crimson Origin Fruit in his palm.
"Every day sooner I grow strong is one less day spent with someone forcing my head down."
Yi Yang waited no longer. He swallowed the precious medicinal fruit, turning it into fuel for his cultivation.
The Crimson Origin Fruit melted the instant it entered his mouth. Its scorching medicinal power poured down his throat into his belly, then surged through his limbs and every bone in his body.
Yi Yang's skin and flesh began to burn.
A fine, prickling itch rose from the gaps between his bones.
He closed his eyes and assumed the posture of the Wood-Nurturing Longevity Art.
Small text appeared before his eyes.
[Wood-Nurturing Longevity Art, level two: (1200/3000)]
The next instant.
The progress began to jump.
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