Chapter 46: I Couldn

Li Banfeng shoved the rust pill into the old woman’s throat.

Just then, Li Banfeng kicked her abdomen, causing her to spasm and inhale sharply—she swallowed the pill with that breath.

A searing pain struck her; she knew she’d been poisoned and immediately tried to vomit.

Li Banfeng gave her no chance to vomit—he slipped behind De Cai, drew his short knife, and brought it down again and again onto the old woman’s head.

At first, she dodged smoothly, but as the poison rapidly took effect, her throat burned as if on fire, with acidic, iron-tanged fluid surging upward relentlessly—not only unbearable in pain, but severely impairing her breathing.

In the midst of the fight, sweat poured from the old woman, turning reddish-brown; her face was speckled with spots, as if rusted over.

Li Banfeng knew this process well!

The old woman was detoxifying.

Though she couldn’t vomit, she had other ways to detoxify—and those ways were very similar to Li Banfeng’s.

She was a Zhai Xiu!

Zhai Xiu could conceal their own aura, making opponents overlook their presence; the driver had once said that Lu Xiu couldn’t sense the danger of a Zhai Xiu, which was why Li Banfeng had never sensed the old woman’s malice.

But her two sons weren’t Zhai Xiu—why hadn’t Li Banfeng sensed their malice either when they poisoned him?

Li Banfeng quickly grasped the key issue.

It started with the location of the incident.

The incident occurred right in this house.

This house was the crux of everything!

This was the old woman’s house—the house of a Zhai Xiu.

A Zhai Xiu, within their own house, is protected by the House Spirit.

The old woman immediately recognized Li Banfeng as a Lu Xiu and used her Zhai Xiu power to shield both her own malice and that of her two sons.

Was her level that high?

Could her power affect her two sons?

Her level wasn’t that high—just a first-layer Zhai Xiu; if she’d reached the second layer, Li Banfeng wouldn’t be alive now.

With her strength, she couldn’t possibly affect her two sons outside the house.

But inside the house, with the House Spirit’s aid, her techniques were amplified, making her faster than a Lu Xiu, harsher than a Wu Xiu, and more resilient than a Ti Xiu.

Having a House Spirit is truly wonderful!

It made Li Banfeng incredibly envious.

If I kill this old woman, will the House Spirit become mine?

The peddler had said that an unowned House Spirit could be claimed by the next owner.

The more Li Banfeng thought about it, the more excited he became—he fought the old woman with all his strength.

With the House Spirit’s aid, the old woman kept sweating to detoxify, but the rust pill’s lethality was too great, and sweating was far too inefficient.

Li Banfeng was just about to conduct an experiment himself: could a Zhai Xiu inside their own house withstand the rust pill’s corrosion?

Of course, conducting an experiment didn’t mean using himself as the subject—the most important thing was attitude: approach the results with scientific rigor.

From tonight’s experiment, it was clear: a first-layer Zhai Xiu, unable to vomit freely, could not resist the rust pill.

According to Li Banfeng’s estimate, within two minutes, the old woman’s combat ability dropped by more than half.

Two more minutes passed; her movements grew slower and slower, slower even than an ordinary person’s, with strange grinding sounds emerging from her joints.

Li Banfeng dodged the old woman’s hairpin and kicked her abdomen hard.

The old woman coughed violently—and spat out a large mouthful of reddish-brown powder.

She had rusted—her entire body had rusted.

Li Banfeng quickly moved away from the old woman.

He wasn’t sure if this rust sickness was contagious.

The old woman stepped toward Li Banfeng, one slow step at a time, cursing fiercely: “Brat, don’t run, come here—”

“If you don’t run, I’ll let you die quick. If you take one more step, I’ll carve you into a thousand pieces!”

“You can’t escape—this is my house. Hehehe, once you’re here, you’ll never leave—not in this lifetime!”

Her words were vicious, but inside, she was terrified.

Every part of her body felt like it had been poured over with molten iron, melting layer after layer of skin and flesh, seeping deeper into her body.

Her son was a Du Xiu; she’d seen many poisons—but never one this horrifying.

The agonizing pain was unbearable, but that wasn’t the worst part.

The worst was the numbness that followed the pain.

She felt her body rapidly losing sensation amid the agony.

Aside from the rust-tainted, bitter foam in her mouth, she could barely sense her own body—even vomiting was useless.

She wanted to return to her room. She wanted to hear the sound of the grandfather clock.

But if she went back now, her son would surely die.

The old woman took a few steps forward, each one slower, each one harder.

Rust powder fell from her body; rust foam spewed from her nose and mouth; her gray-white hair turned yellow, cracked, and crumbled into rust-dust, scattering in the wind.

Crack!

The old woman stumbled and fell to the ground.

She turned her head—and saw half her lower leg severed on the floor, the bone rusted through, the flesh turned to rust-powder.

She saw this bone.

Many other bones had broken too—she couldn’t see them, but she could feel them.

Her body was crumbling apart.

Her eyes fixed tightly on her room—the largest room in the courtyard.

She hoped the clock would chime—even just once.

But the chime never came.

She saw De Cai twitching on the ground, and thought of De Mao, who was nowhere to be found.

How could this have happened?

How could she die at the hands of a mere ruffian?

No—not just this damned ruffian, but those two shameless harlots too.

Ever since they walked through the door, they should’ve been killed—she shouldn’t have let those two harlots seduce her sons.

My sons are mine—mine alone—for life, always mine…

“You… spare my son… I’ll give you something valuable…” The old woman looked at Li Banfeng, her voice tinged with pleading.

Li Banfeng glanced at the writhing De Cai and sighed: “I don’t want to kill anyone—but I can’t bear to let him suffer.”

The old woman shook her head: “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“How can you not understand?” Li Banfeng walked over to De Cai with his short knife. “When the mother’s dead, why let the child live? Leaving her alone in this world is just more suffering—better to go with you.”

“Didn’t you say that yourself just now?”

“Monster! If you touch my family, I’m from the Jiangxiang Bang—Jiangxiang Bang will never forgive you!” The old woman screamed.

Again, Jiangxiang Bang.

Jiangxiang Bang’s face must be respected!

Right before her eyes, Li Banfeng severed De Cai’s head.

“Mother… save me…”

De Cai’s voice cut off abruptly.

Seeing De Cai’s head fall, the old woman’s body convulsed.

She remembered how she’d killed other people’s children—and how their parents’ bodies had convulsed too.

Red specks danced before her eyes—rust stains? Or blood?

Her consciousness vanished—along with her body, turning into a pile of rust-dust.

A cold wind blew, scattering the old woman’s pile of rust-fragments everywhere.

Xiao Yeci watched Li Banfeng, her face filled with admiration, her heart brimming with fear—her hands never left her daughter Lu Chunying’s eyes.

The old woman was dead. De Cai was dead.

Though Xiao Yeci had long wished to kill this evil family, seeing them truly dead filled her with deep dread.

She didn’t know Li Banfeng’s origins, nor could she discern his sect or cultivation level.

His speed was incredible—he must be a Lu Xiu, right?

But how did the old woman rust like that?

He saved us—he’ll let us go, won’t he?

But what if he doesn’t let us go?

Li Banfeng’s expression was gloomy, as if mourning the old woman.

Xiao Yeci noticed Li Banfeng’s sorrow.

Feeling sorrow for an evil person—he must be a good man.

Perhaps he’ll help us one more time…

Looking at the rust-dust scattered across the ground, Li Banfeng’s face grew grave, and he sighed deeply.

He hadn’t expected this outcome.

What a pity.

What a waste!

It could have been taken back to brew an elixir.

(End of chapter)