Chapter 14: A Curse? Or a Blessing?

The sun sets behind the western mountains; it is the hour of dusk.

As the eldest girl excitedly recounted her encounter with the Deceit Rabbit, news of the "spirit beast migration" spread throughout the entire village.

At first, the adults did not believe the words of a child.

However, some of the village elders were somewhat skeptical when they heard the name "Deceit Beast."

It was not until evening that Li Yu returned from his hunting cabin in the mountains.

After he confirmed that the mountains had indeed been restless of late, a silent panic began to spread through the village.

If it had only been the eldest girl’s one-sided account, the village could have chosen to believe it or not.

But after receiving corroboration from Li Yu.

Even a one-in-ten-thousand chance was enough to cause worry.

After all, few people in the village had savings, let alone the means to go out and make a living elsewhere.

Once this year's spring plowing was disrupted, even if everyone did not end up dying at the hands of those migrating wild beasts and spirits, they were destined not to survive the winter.

"I have to go into the mountains again tomorrow, and this time I need to go a bit deeper."

Li Yu said softly to Chen Yun while eating at the dinner table.

"Don't go!"

"Didn't you hear what the eldest girl said?"

"That Deceit Rabbit specifically warned you not to enter the mountains again."

Looking at her husband opposite her with a face full of worry, Chen Yun showed a rare attitude of opposition.

"You are the head of the household; if anything happens to you, it will be very hard for the two of us to survive."

This logic was not only known to Chen Yun, but Li Yu understood it even better.

Yet it was precisely because he understood this that Li Yu became even more determined to enter the mountains tomorrow.

"I know, but our savings are already spent, aren't they?"

"If this year's harvest is poor again, we won't be able to survive this winter at all."

In order to safely give birth to Li Boyang, the couple, Li Yu and Chen Yun, had spent almost all of their savings.

Even without this matter of the spirit beast migration, Li Yu would have had to find a way to save more money, let alone now that this had happened.

"But..."

Opening her mouth to speak but stopping, Chen Yun ultimately could not bring herself to persuade Li Yu again.

"Yun'er, don't worry, I will be careful."

"Don't forget, I am the most outstanding hunter within a hundred miles!"

"They are just some vengeful spirits!"

"If they really dare to cause me trouble, the bow and arrows in my hands are not just for show!"

Watching Chen Yun silently place food in his bowl, Li Yu grinned foolishly as always, seemingly wanting to comfort his wife in this way.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"..."

In the room, Li Boyang listened quietly to the conversation coming from outside, but a trace of guilt could not help but well up in his heart.

If it weren't for the fact that so much money was spent on his birth.

With the savings of Li Yu and Chen Yun, a poor harvest for a year or two would not have affected their normal lives at all.

Furthermore, the reason Li Yu was being targeted by those spirits in the mountains was also because of him.

Li Boyang did not know how much longer Xi Luo’s deterrent power would last against those spirits.

But given Li Boyang's personality, just sitting by and watching things happen was clearly not his style.

[That mountain cat... it seems it hasn't come for a while.]

Thinking this, Li Boyang’s Heavenly Eye between his brows quietly opened, looking toward the Mountain God Temple on Flying Peak.

However, just like every previous scan, Li Boyang did not see the shadow of Xi Luo in that Mountain God Temple.

Only this time, Li Boyang did not stop there.

Instead, he continued to use the ability of his Heavenly Eye to begin a detailed and earnest search of the surrounding hundred miles.

All the places where spirits frequently appeared were heavily marked by Li Boyang.

Relying on this carpet-style search method.

Li Boyang soon captured the fiery footprints left behind by Xi Luo in a place filled with black mist.

After Xi Luo transformed into the form of a Red Leopard, fire clouds would emerge beneath her feet.

Those fire clouds not only granted Xi Luo the ability to fly.

When she walked on the ground, she would also leave behind unique footprints where the fire scorched the earth.

Of course, whenever Xi Luo transformed into her Red Leopard form, it meant she had entered combat mode.

One could tell from those messy fiery footprints.

Xi Luo had clearly fought in this place, and it had been a fierce battle at that.

[An opponent capable of making that mountain cat feel troubled?]

Recalling the image of the Red Leopard confronting the Gnat in his mind, a sense of crisis faintly arose in Li Boyang's heart.

Following the traces of those fiery footprints, Li Boyang discovered that Xi Luo seemed to have entered a patch of black mist in the end.

Unfortunately, Li Boyang could only track it to this point.

When Li Boyang tried to see through that patch of black mist, he was astonished to find that his Heavenly Eye could not penetrate it.

That black mist shrouded everything; there was only darkness within it.

[Interesting, do these black mists come from Black Cloud Marsh?]

Thinking this, Li Boyang did not notice that his body seemed to be quietly undergoing some kind of change.

Zzz...

Ever since Li Boyang killed the Gnat, the baleful energy from the depths of the earth had been pouring into his body continuously, twenty-four hours a day without pause.

In order not to let that baleful energy destroy his young body.

Li Boyang chose to let that baleful energy circulate through his body once before channeling it into his dantian, the space between his brows, and his crown.

Theoretically, vital energy is the most suitable for living beings.

The ominous baleful energy from outside the body would naturally and inevitably bring various mutations and influences to Li Boyang.

The Sword Pellet in his lower dantian was not a biological organ, so it was the least affected.

Not only that, Li Boyang even faintly felt that the compatibility between the Sword Pellet and the baleful energy was very high.

The Sword Pellet’s preference for baleful energy was even greater than for his own vital energy.

The Heavenly Eye between his brows was the next most affected.

It just had a faint tendency toward secondary development, and no clues could be seen for the time being.

As for the remaining baleful energy that he truly could not digest, Li Boyang would eventually expel it from his body through his crown.

However, this did not mean that Li Boyang had completely eliminated the influence of the baleful energy on himself.

On the contrary, the meridians and body that carried and circulated the baleful energy were the ones most changed by it.

The most obvious point was that Li Boyang’s physical body was constantly being destroyed and regenerated under the influence of the baleful energy, gradually moving beyond the category of a mortal body.

His bones were becoming harder, his meridians were becoming more resilient, and even his flesh and tissue possessed super-strong regenerative abilities...

By comparison, the fact that his outer skin was just a bit redder than an average infant was already the most insignificant part of these changes.

Especially when Li Boyang tried hard to peer through that patch of black mist.

The vital energy and the earth’s baleful energy within his body inevitably accelerated their circulation.

Thus, a brand-new transformation, one that had never appeared in this world before, was quietly taking place in Li Boyang.

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(End of this chapter)