Chapter 88: Once Devoured by the Cang Tribe

Xiao Fan's bedroom, a bright light appeared.

"Ah——!!!"

Amid the scream, Xiao Fan clutched his neck and staggered backward, finally collapsing straight onto the bed.

In his mind, that terrifying scene kept replaying on loop — that savage, horrifying figure, like a vengeful ghost, and the sword in her hand as it came sweeping down!

"Xiao Fan! Xiao Fan!"

"Are you alright, Xiao Fan!"

His parents' anxious calls reached his ears, and then Xiao Fan felt strands of gentle Foundation Establishment true essence being channeled into his body.

Gradually, he began to calm down, and took a brief look at his own body.

emm……

Seems like it doesn't hurt at all.

Could it be that he didn't die?

Releasing the hand covering his neck, and confirming that there really was nothing wrong with his body, Xiao Fan couldn't help feeling a little awkward inside.

To ease the awkwardness, and also to keep his earlier movements from seeming so abrupt.

He first pretended to struggle for quite a while, only slowly calming down afterward.

Then he slowly opened his eyes, and what came into view was his parents' worried expressions.

Xiao Fan couldn't help feeling a pang of self-reproach.

"Sorry, Dad, Mom, for worrying you just now."

"It's fine! As long as you're alright."

Xiao Mu hugged Xiao Fan at once; though still shaken, she still spoke up to comfort him.

Xiao Fu beside her, though he didn't comfort them out loud the way Xiao Mu did, judging from how his tightly clenched fists gradually loosened, he had clearly also let out a sigh of relief inside.

Xiao Ming, meanwhile, stood at the bedroom doorway, quietly observing.

As a body cultivator at the peak of Jin Dan, when facing cultivators of lower realms, he could judge whether a person was lying from every possible angle — the changes in their expression while speaking, the speed of blood flow in their body, whether their heartbeat sped up, and so on.

'Xiao Fan's apology just now really does seem to be sincere.'

However, given Xiao Fan's bizarre behavior inside the Secret Realm, Xiao Ming did not jump to a conclusion.

After soothing the two elders, Xiao Fan also looked toward Xiao Ming standing at the doorway.

The brothers' gazes met.

Xiao Fan scratched his head a little awkwardly: "Bro, you got eliminated too?"

Hm? Xiao Ming's brow furrowed.

Does he really not know, or is he deliberately pretending?

Looking at his younger brother's expression, which didn't seem to be feigned, Xiao Ming was also somewhat at a loss for the moment.

"Mm, I got eliminated too." After a pause, he said very seriously, "Wasn't I eliminated by you?"

"Huh?"

Xiao Fan was instantly dumbfounded.

He had eliminated his big brother? How could that be possible!

Xiao Fu and Xiao Mu were also startled to hear this news, but they didn't want to watch the two brothers quarrel over it, and were about to say something.

"How about I explain." A gentle voice reached the brothers' ears.

In an instant, the two brothers felt everything around them receding, just like when they had been pulled into the combat space inside the Secret Realm.

Only, compared to that grayish combat space, what lay before them now was a vast expanse of white, and a figure of ordinary appearance and gentle bearing stood at the very center, smiling as he looked at the two of them.

"Senior Huo!" Xiao Fan blurted out.

Hm? Xiao Fan actually knows this great cultivator who suddenly appeared? Then were his earlier changes also related to this mysterious great cultivator? "That's right, his changes are indeed related to me." Huo seemed to have seen through Xiao Ming's thoughts.

It really was true! Xiao Ming's heart jolted, and he hurriedly offered a respectful bow.

"May I dare ask, Senior, why did you do this?"

Since it concerned his younger brother, he could no longer be bothered with whether asking like that would be impolite.

"I saw that his heart was pure and good, that he was actually willing to cut off his own Dao path for his elder brother. I couldn't bear it, so I bestowed upon him a stroke of fortune."

Huh?!! No, you call this 'fortune'? Is there something wrong with my understanding of this word?

"Renewing the Dao path, with continuous opportunities — is that not fortune?"

"But…"

"Exactly, bro, the * tribe's arts are amazing, and the 'Mu Ling Yang Wu Jing' can even let me build a Heaven-Formed Dao Foundation without relying on heaven-and-earth treasures." Xiao Fan hurriedly said.

The influence of Gu having faded, and with Xu Xing's sword strike having severed the vast majority of the connection, he had now returned to being that pure-hearted youth who worshipped his big brother to no end.

However, he still believed that the Cang Tribe was a branch of the human race — a minority ethnic group that had been rather formidable in ancient times but had since fallen into decline.

Huo: "……"

Although the method was a bit unorthodox, this could still be considered maintaining his original heart, I suppose.

But compared to that junior supported by Dao Brother, the gap was still far, far too great.

Xiao Ming, meanwhile, hadn't heard a single word of what Xiao Fan had said, and could only see his mouth opening and closing.

"The Cang Tribe is not, as you imagine, a branch of the human race. On the contrary, the Cang Tribe is a mortal enemy of our human race." Huo finally began to explain.

Xiao Fan was completely stunned; these words clashed violently with his understanding.

"Inside the Secret Realm, you used the 'Mu Ling Yang Wu Jing' to harvest spiritual nature, and in the end the Ancestor of the Cang Tribe took advantage of the opening and seized your body."

His body had been seized?

"Afterward, that Ancestor of the Cang Tribe directed the Tongxuan Grass Monsters he had enslaved to surround and kill your elder brother."

He… had killed his big brother?! No! How could this be possible!

But as Huo's words entered his ears, certain memories revived in his mind.

He stood before his elder brother, mortally wounded and dying, then drove a finger through his brow without mercy.

After that, he went to hunt down Classmate Zhang…

Of course!

That was why he ultimately died in her hands—her wounds were all caused by him.

"The Cang Clan…"

He still clung to a faint, idealized fantasy of the Cang Clan.

Figures herding stars, ruling over all living things flashed through his mind… how could they not be human?

Only the human race could possess such grandeur!

The Cang Clan must be a branch of the human race! Emm…

After his cognition twisted, it became this extreme belief.

How to put it? It was strange, admittedly.

But he seemed to understand why Gu had chosen to take over this boy's body.

"Whether you believe it or not, the Cang Clan is our great enemy. There are things that must be clarified: you now carry Cang Clan blood—I will name one thing, and you should sense it."

"What do you think of Qianling Ganlu?"

Qianling Ganlu?

As Huo's voice reached his ears, his Cang Clan blood seemed to transmit a piece of information.

Qianling Ganlu requires three thousand human infants under one year old—each heart cut open, blood extracted, mixed with Su Po True Essence, refined with Yang Jing Dan Xi as fire, using their pure soul essence as fuel, boiled for nine years to produce but one cup.

Its flavor is indescribably exquisite, enhancing spiritual nature.

Vivid, crystal-clear images unfolded before his eyes, detailing the entire process of making Qianling Ganlu.

Watching each child being ripped open while screaming, Xiao Fan's face turned pale.

But the next moment, something even more devastating happened.

An exquisite sweet, incomparably wonderful taste suddenly filled his mouth; his soul felt as if it were floating, intoxicated by the sensation.

This flavor—was precisely that of Qianling Ganlu.

Gag—! Xiao Fan could no longer hold back; he collapsed to his knees and vomited.

He vomited while weeping! The taste was delicious, but knowing it was brewed from the blood of three thousand infants filled him with revulsion! The vomit did not pile up—it vanished instantly.

"Xiao Fan!"

Xiao Ming could not hear what they said, but seeing him like this, he grew frantic, wanting to rush over—yet found himself unable to move.

"Because one of my Dao brothers, you've temporarily escaped the influence of the Cang Clan blood—but that doesn't mean it will cease." Huo continued, "Soon you will adapt, even grow to like this taste—then what will you do?"

"Perhaps you'll choose to eat your parents and your elder brother?"

Gag—! As if vomiting out his five viscera and six bowels.

After a long while, the taste in his mouth gradually faded; Xiao Fan was nearly collapsed, yet forced himself to stand.

He bowed deeply and respectfully.

"What should I do, Elder?"

He did not want to—did not want to become that kind of monster.

"I will teach you how to suppress the Cang Clan blood, but you must forever remember: you are always human."

Xiao Fan did not hesitate—he dropped to his knees and slammed his forehead to the ground.

"Disciple Xiao Fan, pays homage to his Master!"

Perhaps because of that peculiar disciple of the Sword Sovereign, or perhaps because of his Dao brother's sword strike.

In any case, Huo wanted to take a disciple.

…………

Within the Secret Realm.

Beneath the central sword peak, Lin Qiu Xian sat in meditation, the only one present beneath the peak.

Outside the sword peak, several hundred meters away.

A figure crept cautiously along narrow fissures between rocks, his aura suppressed to the extreme, nearly imperceptible.

Every few steps, he paused to observe carefully, confirming no danger before proceeding.

He inched forward nearly a hundred meters until the view opened up—he could now see Lin Qiu Xian seated beneath the sword peak.

Puff~ A faint, almost inaudible sound—the figure turned into a dull gray bean, which shattered upon landing and blended into the rough ground.

Several miles away, a cluster of unremarkable, ordinary rocks

Yet within them lay a hidden space, large enough to hold several people—Han Yun sat in a corner, slowly opening his eyes.

"Indeed, the first to arrive were the Sword Sect's brutes."

Those mindless, charging brutes were utterly reckless.

"Unfortunately, my Bean-to-Soldier technique is far inferior to my younger brother's."

Thus, even now, he had only discovered seventeen obscure yet safe paths leading beneath the sword peak.

And Yang's younger brother…

With his Bean-to-Soldier technique, he must have already mapped over thirty safe paths.

No choice—this place forbids Paper-Cut Life technique; the burning flames are far too conspicuous.

I'll need to practice more transformation arts when I return.

The sect has many such spells, and some uncles and aunts have even refined them so even low-rank cultivators can use them.

Then Han Yun began meditating to restore his spiritual energy.

He would only proceed after identifying at least fifty safe paths.

Grow stealthily, don't show off.

This was his life creed.

At this moment, a slender figure was fleeing at high speed, and unluckily, she drew near Han Yun's position.

This woman was Jiang Yujiu, her eyes filled with terror.

Just now, she had been resting in hiding and happened to see a female cultivator from Ling Yin Fang and a cold, icy female sword cultivator enter the combat space.

But only a few seconds later, the female sword cultivator emerged! Fuck!

In a few seconds? You think you're crushing a bug?

Even more astonishingly, over a dozen Tongxuan Grass Monsters drawn to the scene were wiped out in an instant.

It was just like mowing grass.

Sure, the thing was basically grass—but it was a Qi Condensation Layer Nine grass!

Second update, another three thousand characters! Six thousand total; another chapter will be posted at dusk, also three or four thousand characters.

Future updates will stick to this schedule, since this was the timing before the official launch, and everyone's already used to it.

I'll try to post more—please, dear readers, support me!! (End of chapter)