Give me the real questions

Chi Yu was so petty, yet he had the nerve to act wronged and say I slandered him, Ling Hezhou grumbled inwardly. Changing the subject, he asked, "You really don't want your things? Didn't you say those lousy herbs you spent so long digging up could sell for money?" In truth, they wouldn't fetch much. Probably only mortals would pay for them with a little gold or silver, which was utterly useless to cultivators.

Chi Yu had looted quite a few corpses and had plenty of Sumeru Rings and storage pouches-courtesy, naturally, of Ling Hezhou and his fellow disciples. Whoever had killed them hadn't looted their belongings, presumably because they weren't short of money either. Before them, the most Chi Yu had ever stripped from a corpse was a bloodstained outer robe and a few overlooked spirit stones hidden inside the clothes.

That single round of looting had made Chi Yu a wealthy young man, but their storage pouches and Sumeru Rings had restrictions: ordinary herbs couldn't go inside, so he had to carry them on his person.

Chi Yu felt no regret now. He could let things go as readily as he picked them up. "I don't want them. That guy's definitely lying in wait for me."

Ling Hezhou understood. "Surely not? You already scared them off, and they still dare come after you?"

Chi Yu laughed, his starry eyes sparkling brightly. "Nobody understands cannon fodder better than me.jpg."

Ling Hezhou really didn't understand. What did "dot jay peg" mean?

What Ling Hezhou didn't know was that, on the very night they left the city, the men in black sent by that young master slipped into Chi Yu's room at the inn under cover of darkness.

One of the men in black asked through voice transmission, "Are you sure this is the room?"

"This is the room."

Even in the darkness, the man's eyes were vicious. "A mere ant dared offend the Ding Family. Come on, let's hack him to pieces."

They entered the room soundlessly. Blades clanged, and soon bright lamplight filled the room. A startled voice rang out among the men in black. "He never came back?"

Under the lamplight, they exchanged looks.

That night, the clouds parted to reveal the moon. Silver light spilled through the woods, a gentle breeze stirred, and the shadows of the trees swayed. A faint crow's call only made the surroundings feel quieter and more chilling to the bone.

Chi Yu kept traveling. With Ling Hezhou talking in his ear, it wasn't quite so boring.

Ling Hezhou said, "Are you really not joining my Tianyan Sect? With me around, I can guarantee you'll reach the Golden Core Stage within ten years."

That wasn't idle boasting. Ling Hezhou was a textbook Immortal Second Generation, the young sect master of the Tianyan Sect, one of the eight great immortal sects of the Wangxian Continent. If he dared make that promise, he could genuinely provide all the resources Chi Yu needed to reach the Golden Core Stage.

Methods, wealth, companions, and a place to cultivate-having a sect to cultivate in and cultivation resources was a rare opportunity for anyone. Ling Hezhou's offer was very sincere, and it also served to repay Chi Yu for agreeing to take his Nascent Soul Spirit back to the Tianyan Sect.

But to Ling Hezhou's surprise, Chi Yu actually refused! He refused!

Ling Hezhou couldn't understand it at all, but Chi Yu had no intention of explaining. He only said that looting his belongings was payment enough.

Now that Ling Hezhou brought it up again, Chi Yu still refused, then deftly changed the subject once more. "Was it a demonic cultivator who killed you?"

He remembered Ling Hezhou mentioning that he and his fellow disciples had been pursuing a demonic cultivator.

Ling Hezhou's voice immediately tightened. "No. That demonic cultivator wasn't very capable. My senior brother soon beheaded him with a single stroke. Someone else killed us. He gave off an incredibly terrifying pressure, but his cultivation wasn't high. He should only have been one or two realms above me. There was no demonic energy about him, and the fluctuations of his spiritual energy were very strange. The instant we met, in the space of a breath, we were all wiped out."

Chi Yu said, "...So you didn't even have time to fight back before he killed you all in one move?"

"Yes." A trace of fear and unease entered Ling Hezhou's voice. "He was strange. Just looking at him made my soul tremble, as though countless needles were stabbing it and all my internal organs were melting. I've never seen anyone like him."

Chi Yu asked, "What did he look like?"

Ling Hezhou said, "He wore black and a mask, and he was very tall and broad. Black mist seemed to shroud him, so I couldn't make out any more details. We had plenty of spirit stones and treasures on us, but after we died, I never saw him take a single thing. Clearly, he wasn't killing us for our belongings. That leaves only one possibility."

Chi Yu supplied the answer. "He's an antisocial serial killer."

Ling Hezhou more or less understood what he meant. "Yes. In that case, even if he isn't a demonic cultivator, he should still be put to death. Besides, he killed my senior and junior brothers. Once I return to the Tianyan Sect and report to the sect master, we'll deal with him."

Then he asked, "What about you? Since you don't intend to join my Tianyan Sect, what are your plans?"

Chi Yu smiled and said lightly, "I'm going to kill someone. Once I've killed him, I can go home."

Ling Hezhou said, "You? Kill someone? You can't even bear to kill a wild rabbit, and you'd dare kill a person?"

Ling Hezhou couldn't figure Chi Yu out. He seemed to have an even softer heart than a mortal. Camping in the wilderness, he couldn't even bring himself to kill a wild rabbit. Like a little girl, he caught it, petted it, fed it some grass, then released it, finally eating some wild fruit to fill his stomach. When he saw ants moving their nest across the road, he even walked around them. He had the heart of a bodhisattva.

Chi Yu said, "I don't dare right now, but killing someone is a matter for later. I'll deal with later when it comes."

Ling Hezhou said, "?"

Again, Ling Hezhou couldn't figure Chi Yu out.

They hadn't walked much farther when Chi Yu suddenly stopped. Ling Hezhou asked, "Why did you stop?"

Chi Yu let out an "Ah." For the first time, his clear, pleasant voice sounded a little hoarse. "...Someone's coming."

Ling Hezhou asked, "Who?"

Chi Yu didn't answer, but Ling Hezhou didn't need to hear his reply. From inside the Soul-Guarding Pearl, he had already seen the newcomer.

The man wore black and a hideous Ghost King Mask, drifting gracefully down through the moonlight.

Chi Yu's entire body tensed. The man was extremely tall and broad; Chi Yu estimated his height at around 195 centimeters. Faint black mist rose from his body, blurring its outlines. His power and cold, fierce killing intent made Chi Yu's throat tighten, his limbs go weak, and his head spin until he could barely stand.

The man landed five meters away from Chi Yu, holding a strangely shaped sword. A faint bloody glow shone on its blade, and the smell of blood was so strong that even the air seemed to thicken.

"Excuse me," the man said in a pleasant, resonant voice filled with an indescribable, soaring delight. "Could you give me your earring?"

The face behind the mask seemed to be smiling. Warm laughter entered his voice, like a spring breeze brushing against the face. "That's my prey."

Ling Hezhou was dumbfounded, then incredulous. "He's here for me?"

Chi Yu said, "..."

Chapter 2: Give me the real questions

He's pretty polite, Chi Yu thought instinctively.

But he quickly realized something-he had only been with Ling Hezhou for five or six days. His cultivation was very low, and he had only successfully reached the first level of Qi Refining because Ling Hezhou had broken down the cultivation method and guided him step by step in finding his qi apertures and drawing qi into his body.

Naturally, he couldn't travel during that time. And even when he did travel, the same problem remained: his cultivation was very low. He couldn't use the vast majority of flying artifacts on the market, so he could only rely on his own two legs.

He traveled fairly quickly on foot, but compared with the cultivator before him, who could fly through the air, he was probably like an ant crawling along the ground.

An ant might labor away for nearly half its life and only make it from one side of a room to the other.

Then why had this man only caught up with them now?

In a flash, Chi Yu understood. He had deliberately let Ling Hezhou go.

Cats often caught mice not to satisfy their hunger, but to satisfy their urge to kill. So when they caught a mouse, they wouldn't eat it. They would toy with it and chase it with relish, forcing it to scramble about until it was utterly exhausted, then kill it with a final swat.

All these thoughts twisted through his mind in a single instant.

A damp, bloody smell filled Chi Yu's nose, so concentrated that it had a sickly, rotten sweetness. He couldn't help holding his breath.

After his initial disbelief, Ling Hezhou spoke with a measure of fear and urgency. "...Give me to him. Don't provoke him."

Although Ling Hezhou didn't understand Chi Yu, he actually liked him quite a bit. He didn't want Chi Yu to die.

Of course, he was very afraid of dying too, but he was even more afraid of someone else dying because of him.

Chi Yu said, "No."

Ling Hezhou grew frantic. "No again? Do you want to die?"

The man actually made no attempt to interrupt their exchange. He raised his sword and, with his other hand, gently wiped it with a soft piece of leather. With that gentle wipe, the scarlet glow clinging to its surface vanished, revealing its true appearance: a sword shaped like a human spine.

Ignoring Ling Hezhou, Chi Yu addressed the man with natural composure. "I can't give him to you. I promised to take him home."

"Chi Yu!" Ling Hezhou would have been lying if he said he wasn't moved. Even as a Nascent Soul Spirit, he couldn't help his eyes growing wet. It would have been one thing if they were fellow disciples, but they had only known each other for a few days.

If they escaped alive this time, he would definitely treat Chi Yu like his own brother!

Chi Yu had no idea how complicated Ling Hezhou's feelings were. He only knew that if the person before him really was as he suspected, handing Ling Hezhou over would mean certain death for him too.

He had never met anyone like this, but he could still make a guess or two at how they thought.

Sure enough, at his words, the man paused briefly, then a soft laugh spilled from his throat. He had an exceptionally fine voice, as captivating as High Mountains and Flowing Water. "I can let you have him. In exchange, leave one hand behind."

His light, smiling voice delivered an exceedingly cruel statement.

Without another word, Chi Yu turned and ran.

"It's over, it's over! You're going to die!" Ling Hezhou shouted in his ear.

Most of the time, Ling Hezhou was fairly emotionally stable. After all, he cultivated toward immortality, so his mental fortitude was certainly stronger than an ordinary person's. But faced with the man who had killed him and his fellow disciples, he reverted to his most basic self, as though he had once again become a weak, helpless mortal facing a wild beast.

"Stop shouting!" Chi Yu said loudly. Then, taking another hurried breath, he lowered his voice and told Ling Hezhou, "We won't die today. Don't worry."

Ling Hezhou barely managed to calm down. "Why?"

Chi Yu said nothing. Why else? It's perfectly normal for a beast that's eaten its fill to play a little game of chase!