Revenge

"Hiss..."

Warm, crimson blood instantly stained Li Qingyue's chest.

Quite a bit splashed onto her fair, delicate face as well.

Yet her expression remained indifferent and icy.

It was as though the arm whose bones had shattered was not hers, nor was the neck awash in blood.

"Hum!"

The divine chain quivered, then instantly vanished.

The light in the scarred man's eyes dimmed at once.

With his heart pierced, he felt all his strength pouring out through his chest.

The force in his right hand gradually slackened as well.

"Shluk!"

The dagger sank in to the hilt.

Crimson blood streamed out.

The scarred man's mouth opened and closed, but no sound emerged. Only terror and unwillingness remained in his eyes.

He had never imagined he would truly fall at this woman's hands.

Her acting had been far too convincing.

Naturally, he did not know that Li Qingyue had not been acting. She had truly been terrified.

Only genuine terror could drive someone into such hysteria.

But even if he had known, there was nothing he could do now.

His heart had been pierced. Having only recently opened his Bitter Sea, how could he have any divine power to spare for repairing it?

Only if he had opened a Life Spring, stepped into the next realm, and connected with his Wheel of Life would there have been a sliver of hope.

"Hiss!"

The dagger slid out.

Then Li Qingyue drove it back in without a change of expression.

"Shluk!"

She stabbed thirteen times in succession, until the scarred man's chest was a honeycomb of holes and not a trace of life remained.

Only then did Li Qingyue kick his corpse away and sit trembling in the chair, panting softly.

Terror and relief alternated in her eyes, and both her arms shook without cease.

Yet a moment later, she forcibly suppressed the turmoil in her heart, reached out with her uninjured right hand, grabbed the fierce beast meat, and began devouring it.

Her eyes brimmed with ferocity and ruthlessness.

If she wanted to stay alive and escape being bullied, she could only become more ruthless.

At that moment, food alone seemed capable of suppressing the thread of fear in her heart.

Of giving her a little sense of safety.

Only food let her feel herself growing stronger.

As she ate ravenously, her expression gradually calmed, grew indifferent, and became increasingly cold.

Even when swallowing the fierce beast meat tugged at the wound on her neck, she merely frowned slightly, then disregarded it and circulated the Kunpeng Swallowing Technique.

Large amounts of fierce beast meat entered her stomach, only to be broken down into energy and absorbed into her blood in the blink of an eye.

It then transformed into True Qi, circulating throughout her body and flowing through her wounds.

A tingling sensation gradually arose.

Her True Qi was energy absorbed from food—the Life Essence. Though inferior to divine power, it had remarkable effects on injuries.

Only after she had swept every last morsel of food from the round table did Li Qingyue stop.

She wiped the blood from her face, then viciously kicked the scarred man between the legs several times. Only once her anger had eased did she begin searching the room.

When she opened a cupboard and then an iron box, Li Qingyue's eyes finally lit up.

Inside lay an extremely thin book and a milky-white stone the size of a thumbnail.

"A cultivation book! Source stone!"

Delight crossed Li Qingyue's face. She picked up the book and opened it.

The book had no title, only a passage of scripture and densely packed annotations.

"The Dao Scripture Opening Chapter!"

Reading the scripture and annotations, Li Qingyue began to understand.

According to her memories, the Dao Scripture had been created by the Dao Venerable during the Mythological Era. It was universally acknowledged as the strongest cultivation method for the Sea of Bitterness realm.

Only its opening chapter circulated outside, however. Various sacred lands and clans, and even some minor factions, almost all had transcribed copies.

Otherwise, it would never have been something a mounted bandit could possess.

The method here for sensing and guiding vital essence to strike at the Sea of Bitterness is quite unusual.

Perhaps I can draw on it to circulate the True Qi of my Kunpeng Swallowing Technique.

But the Dao Scripture Opening Chapter targets the Bitter Sea, while the Kunpeng Swallowing Technique absorbs vital essence and converts it into True Qi to temper the body.

Still, its sensing and guiding methods are perfectly suited to sensing and guiding Heaven and Earth Essence.

The insight into Kunpeng Devouring that Li Qingyue had just gained resurfaced in her mind.

Small vortices guided and strengthened one another.

It seemed she could use the Dao Scripture's guiding method to gather True Qi in her dantian.

By forming a vortex and using its sensing and guiding methods, she could strengthen the devouring force and establish an internal and external cycle.

That would allow her to devour Heaven and Earth Essence and send her True Qi outside her body.

At that thought, Li Qingyue checked the sky through a gap in the window.

It was still early.

The commotion earlier had not been loud either. As a cultivator, the scarred man clearly commanded considerable authority, and no one dared disturb him.

Li Qingyue sat cross-legged on the armchair and began circulating the Mystic Arts from the Dao Scripture in conjunction with Kunpeng Devouring.

At first, the two profound arts kept clashing, and she could not divide her attention between them.

But through repeated attempts, she gradually gained some insight.

As she kept refining the process, the vortex within her dantian slowly took shape.

The Kunpeng Devouring technique instantly became smoother and more powerful.

"Hum!"

As she employed the sensing and guiding methods, air surged around Li Qingyue.

The acupoints throughout her body seemed to open, continually devouring the surrounding Heaven and Earth Essence as though breathing.

Faint vortices emerged around Li Qingyue, multiplying steadily.

Eventually, they formed a vortex the size of a person.

The assorted objects in the room were swept up and hurled into the air as though caught in a tornado.

Li Qingyue could feel threads of Heaven and Earth Essence entering her body, some of them transforming into True Qi.

Another portion actually flowed straight into her dantian and disappeared within it.

She knew that was where her Bitter Sea and Fate Wheel lay.

Yet even so, she still could not sense them.

Instead, the wounds on her body closed and healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

So this is what it means to have a Waste Body?

Li Qingyue opened her eyes slightly with a touch of ruefulness. She knew perfectly well where her Bitter Sea and Fate Wheel were, yet she could not sense them at all.

It was as though they had been completely sealed off.

After a moment's thought, Li Qingyue took out the thumb-sized piece of source stone.

Perhaps it could not be called source stone, but rather a source stone fragment.

Its edges had already turned grayish-white, clearly having been drained before.

But its center was still like amber, with misty energy flowing inside like water-the extremely pure quintessence of heaven and earth.

Though only the size of a thumb, it was still worth a considerable sum.

She could not quite understand why a bandit like him would possess such a treasure.

Still, she gave it no further thought. Holding the divine source in her palm, she circulated Kunpeng Devouring.

At once, a vast surge of pure Heaven and Earth Essence flooded into her body.

Most of it circulated throughout her body with her True Qi, nourishing her flesh before pouring into her dantian and disappearing.

It seemed to be absorbed by the unseen Fate Wheel.

A smaller portion was converted directly into True Qi, nourishing her flesh and bones.

In just a brief moment, she actually felt her physical strength increase severalfold.

Even the vortices formed from True Qi within her dantian grew to twice their size, connecting with all the acupoints in her body.

This made Kunpeng Devouring even more powerful.

With a shift of her thoughts, her True Qi could leave her body.

But disappointment immediately rose in her heart.

True Qi was not divine power. Without the Mystic Arts to sustain it, it began dissipating once it left her body.

It was of little use.

Being able to absorb the vital essence of heaven and earth directly was far more useful.

She could continually convert it into True Qi, sustaining an endless cycle that tempered her body at every moment and strengthened the Kunpeng Devouring technique.

This gain gave her some consolation.

Now I've finally crossed the threshold of this cultivation method.

The first step is to rely on eating, absorbing the essence of flesh and blood.

The second step is to devour Heaven and Earth Essence. The next will be to devour cultivators' divine power!

Then I'll devour cultivators' Fate Wheels, and finally their origins. Only then will the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art begin to take shape.

At that moment, as she cultivated, Li Qingyue understood the path ahead.

But it would not be an easy path to walk.

The gap between True Qi and divine power was far too great. Without opening her Bitter Sea and Fate Wheel, increasing her strength would be extremely difficult.

There was no way she could absorb divine power and break it down for her own use.

Advancing her cultivation method would be even harder.

Time continued to pass.

As dawn approached, the thumb-sized piece of source stone crumbled into powder.

Li Qingyue rose. Every wound on her body had healed, and she felt brimming with inexhaustible strength.

A casual sweep of one hand produced a sharp sound as it tore through the air-a sign of ten thousand jin of force.

If she were to kill the scarred man now, a single blow would likely suffice.

In close combat, the stronger fighter generally held the advantage.

Time to deal with those bandits!

Her expression icy, Li Qingyue slowly took the Ghost Face Mask from inside her clothes. She stroked it for a moment before putting it on and pushing open the door.

With the dagger in her hand, her bloodstained figure left faint afterimages throughout the stronghold in the dim light of dawn.

By the time she appeared again, not a single living person remained in the entire stronghold.

Her coarse clothes had been dyed crimson and dripped blood without cease.

"Grandpa, I've avenged Stone Village!"

Li Qingyue's eyes reddened slightly. Tightening her grip on the dagger, she murmured softly.

Yet a bitter smile appeared at the corners of her mouth.

If she could, she never wanted to avenge anyone else again. This feeling truly hurt.

She walked through the morning mist toward the gates of the stronghold, leaving bloody footprints behind her.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, a soft exclamation sounded from the sky.

A moment later, a young man in white robes descended from the air, trailing a streak of light.

"They're all dead!"

"She killed them?"

Sensing the deathly silence within the stronghold, the newcomer turned his gaze toward Li Qingyue.

She was a young girl, drenched in blood, her expression cold, with blood still crusted on her face.

At first glance, she looked like a demon bathed in blood.

Yet her clear eyes seemed to be holding back tears.

And at the corners of her mouth lingered a bitter smile beyond description.

It seemed to mingle the joy and emptiness of finally avenging a terrible wrong.

She looked as though she might cry but was not crying, might smile but was not smiling-a profoundly contradictory sight.

Just one glance made the newcomer stop short.

For a moment, he did not know what to say.

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