Chapter 281: Chain

The next day, when Scarface went to perform the essence-absorption, he discovered that his "furnace vessel" was dead.

Scarface found it unbelievable.

Just moments ago she was fine—how could she suddenly have taken her own life?

Scarface was both furious and enraged.

He was at a critical stage in his cultivation, needing daily essence-absorption, or else his demonic art would inevitably recoil.

In the short term, it was manageable—worst case, demonic fire surged, making him irritable.

But if prolonged, the backlash intensified: lightly, his spiritual energy became chaotic; heavily, he would lose his sanity entirely.

He needed another woman as a furnace vessel!

But this Great Heishan was desolate—where could he find a woman to absorb essence from?

A few days ago, the Grand Chief had sent word down, ordering the Shanzhai brethren to keep a low profile, avoid venturing out to commit crimes, and not draw attention.

He was already short on furnace vessels—now it was impossible.

Scarface had no choice but to find a way to suppress the demonic fire and quell his desires, lest he lose his mind.

To the right inside Shanzhai, there was a waterfall.

Water cascaded down from the mountain like a white ribbon, striking the mountain fortress and then flowing into the abyss below.

The waterfall's water was icy to the bone.

Seeing no one around, Scarface stripped off his Dao robe and placed it along with his storage pouch aside, then sat alone beneath the waterfall, using its chill to suppress the demonic fire.

But this method only treated the symptoms, not the root cause.

The inner heat still burned uncontrollably, igniting his lust.

His temperament grew increasingly irritable and cruel, so he didn't notice that his clothes and storage pouch, left beside him, were being stealthily picked up by the hidden Mo Hua.

Mo Hua secured the storage pouch, then tossed Scarface's Dao robe onto the cliff's edge beside the waterfall.

Below the cliff lay the abyss—falling there meant certain death.

Then Mo Hua waited patiently nearby.

About half an hour later, Scarface opened his eyes beneath the waterfall, the demonic fire slightly abated, rose to leave—and froze when he saw his Dao robe and storage pouch were gone.

Scarface frowned, scanning around, and spotted his Dao robe on the waterfall's edge.

"Washed away by the water?"

Scarface thought, irritated and agitated.

He walked to the waterfall's edge and picked up the robe.

At that moment, Mo Hua's gaze sharpened; he pressed two fingers together, gathering qi, and launched three Fireball Spells in rapid succession.

The three Fireball Spells were swift and precise.

The first struck Scarface's face—to catch him off guard; the second hit his chest—to unbalance him; the third struck his knee—to send him sliding off the cliff to his death.

The three Fireball Spells exploded in sequence; Scarface was utterly unprepared.

As Mo Hua had planned, Scarface first turned pale with shock, then staggered backward, and finally slipped, tumbling toward the waterfall.

Just as Mo Hua believed he was surely dead—

Two hands suddenly appeared on the cliff.

At the last instant, Scarface grabbed the cliff's edge with both hands, his fingers digging into the rock; though he slid, he did not fall.

Scarface was a body cultivator, his flesh formidable—he pushed hard and leapt up from beneath the waterfall.

Then his eyes turned blood-red, and he erupted in fury.

"Who the hell is hiding out there, daring to ambush me?!"

"Come out, you coward!"

Scarface roared furiously, but Mo Hua naturally did not show himself.

He merely felt regret—he hadn't managed to trap Scarface to death.

But this was only the first step; if this plan failed, there was always the next.

Mo Hua took Scarface's storage pouch and slipped away quietly.

Scarface continued shouting in place.

He released his spiritual sense, sweeping over the waterfall, the rocks, the forest—but found not a single trace of anyone.

"What's going on? Where is he?"

Scarface looked puzzled, and the more he thought, the angrier he became.

"Who the hell is ambushing me?"

Suddenly, a thought struck him.

Fireball Spells?

Among the people he knew, only one was skilled in Fireball Spells.

The pale-faced man who kept watch with him.

"That bastard—he wants to kill me?!"

Why?

Enraged, Scarface's mind raced—and within moments, he had his answer:

The essence-absorption art!

The pale-faced man had repeatedly asked him for the essence-absorption art, and he had refused every time.

In this remote, desolate Great Heishan, finding a female cultivator to use as a furnace vessel was no easy task.

In Shanzhai, he wasn't the only one practicing essence-absorption—there were too many cultivators and too few furnace vessels; eliminating one rival meant one less competitor.

He would never hand the essence-absorption art over to the pale-faced man.

This time the pale-faced man had lost his 'spirit slave' and wanted to switch to dual cultivation by absorption, so he set his sights on him.

He used a fireball technique to ambush him, made him lose his footing and fall off the cliff, then seized the chance to take his storage bag.

And inside his storage bag was a dual-cultivation absorption technique!

Scarface suddenly understood — that explained everything.

"That bastard, trying to kill me!"

His evil fire was already surging, and now rage rushed to his head, so he didn't notice that the fireball technique that ambushed him was faster and more accurate than the pale-faced man's, but far weaker in power.

Furious, Scarface couldn't help but curse:

"Scheming against me? You're really tired of living, aren't you!"

Scarface pressed down his fury, his face dark, and walked into the stockade.

Mo Hua walked ahead of him, first tossed his storage bag at the pale-faced man's door, then knocked.

The pale-faced man was meditating inside.

Without his spirit slave, his cultivation was extremely slow; hearing the knock, he said displeasedly: "Who?"

Mo Hua knocked again, but said nothing.

The pale-faced man frowned, got up and opened the door, and found a storage bag at the doorstep.

"Whose storage bag? What's the meaning of leaving it here?"

A cultivator's storage bag is an important item, always kept on one's person — it could never be carelessly tossed aside.

Could it be a trap?

The pale-faced man's expression turned wary; he looked around, but saw no one.

He lowered his head to look at the storage bag again, and saw the bag's mouth already open, revealing spirit stones inside, as well as a book — on its cover were written the two characters "Absorption."

The pale-faced man froze for a moment, then went wild with joy.

He had been fretting that his spirit slave was dead and raising a new one was troublesome, longing for an absorption technique but unable to get one — and now, after searching everywhere in vain, it had come to him without the slightest effort.

When Heaven bestows, refuse and you suffer the blame.

The pale-faced man, with an easy conscience, picked up the storage bag, drew out the absorption technique inside, and was just about to take a look, when he looked up and saw Scarface walking over with a dark face, his gaze fixed dead on the storage bag in his hand.

The pale-faced man was stunned for a moment, thought briefly, and couldn't help but ask:

"This storage bag — is it yours?"

Scarface nodded, but in his heart cursed:

"Still playing dumb with me? A coward who dares to do but not to own up!"

Scarface forcibly pressed down his fury and asked: "How did it end up in your hands?"

The pale-faced man said truthfully: "It dropped at my door, I picked it up."

Scarface's eyelid twitched.

You couldn't even come up with a decent lie — you take me for a fool?

"Give it to me." Scarface reached out his hand.

The pale-faced man, however, smiled and said: "I can give it to you, but I want to take a look at this absorption technique."

Scarface nodded. "Fine."

Saying so, Scarface stepped forward to take the storage bag; the pale-faced man, suspecting nothing, tucked the absorption technique into his robe and handed the storage bag to him.

The instant Scarface took the storage bag, he suddenly exploded into action, his claw strike swift as wind, vicious and ruthless.

His fingertips, like refined iron, wrapped in dark-green spiritual power, pierced straight through the pale-faced man's heart meridian, then ripped savagely downward — tearing open flesh and blood, sending a spray of blood flying.

The pale-faced man's face showed an expression of disbelief.

He had just tried to fight back, but the moment he raised his hand, before his spell could form, Scarface had already seized him by the throat.

The pale-faced man rasped: "Why… kill me?"

Scarface, hearing this, grew even angrier. "At death's door and you still play dumb with me?"

Saying so, he gripped hard — his fingers punched straight through the pale-faced man's neck — and killed him on the spot.