Chapter 28: Old-Year Grain

Xu Yuan also collected the two Wu Xiu’s weapons and tied them behind his back with cloth strips.

The rest were scattered silver coins, which Xu Yuan gathered up as well.

Finally, there remained one other item—taken from the Wu Xiu who wielded the short spear; that Wu Xiu had been the one who carried the banner earlier.

A wooden bowl with a lid, filled with some aged rice!

The quantity was roughly three times what his stepmother had given him.

As soon as he lifted the lid, Xu Yuan felt the suppressed instinct within his body surge violently, completely beyond his control!

Xu Yuan swallowed all of this “old-year grain” in one gulp.

These aged rice grains must be extremely precious; Xu Yuan had intended to savor them, but his body now refused to obey him, and the rice was digested instantly upon entering his stomach.

A peculiar force then dispersed throughout his limbs and bones.

His Ming Xiu power was greatly strengthened!

At the same time, Xu Yuan gained a sudden insight—the “June Bug” he had eaten long ago had only now been fully digested.

The Ming Xiu qualities contained within the June Bug had fully merged with his own being.

Unconsciously, Xu Yuan had formed his second “Destiny Mark,” advancing to the Eighth Tier within the Ming Xiu realm.

This surprised Xu Yuan greatly; his father and stepmother had repeatedly emphasized how difficult it was to advance in the early stages of Ming Xiu cultivation.

But he had eaten the June Bug only a few days ago—how could he have already formed his second Destiny Mark and advanced to Eighth Tier?

These aged rice grains… were they really this precious?!

Xu Yuan, of course, had no idea how great a price the Pingtian Society had paid to obtain even this small amount of old-year grain.

For the June Bug, the old-year grain was bait; for Ming Xiu cultivators, it was one of the very few spiritual foods capable of being consumed.

His second Destiny Mark was named “Eight Directions’ Wounding Calamity.”

Xu Yuan pondered briefly on this second Destiny Mark and gained some understanding of its function, but felt a pang of regret: “Too bad—I still can’t condense its power into a Destiny Art. Otherwise…”

Shaking his head, Xu Yuan saw the sky was growing late and no longer delayed.

In the end, Xu Yuan still didn’t ask the twin sisters where in the mountains one could spend the night.

Even if they had told him, he wouldn’t have dared to stay.

Better to rely on the speed of the character slips and race back to town before nightfall.

Xu Yuan abandoned any thought of chasing after the Holy Nun and her maid, sprinting swiftly toward the mountains’ edge.

The effects of the “Cloud Soaring” and “Wind Riding” character slips on his legs were still active, granting him tremendous speed.

Midway, one character slip’s power exhausted, so he replaced it with another.

Xu Yuan ran for an hour, drenched in sweat, yet when he was still seven or eight li from town, night had fallen!

The pale yellow earth suddenly plunged into an instant of deathly silence.

As if the Benevolent Deity and the Malevolent Deity had exchanged dominion over the world, jointly declaring that the time of living beings had ended, and the reign of demons and horrors had begun.

Xu Yuan heard rustling sounds rising from all directions—near and far, high and low—swiftly and precisely locking onto him!

Clearly, night travel was forbidden today.

This wasn’t surprising; more than half the days of each month carried a “night travel ban.”

Suddenly, a sound of a raptor tearing through the air came from above Xu Yuan—he looked up, and everything fell silent again.

Above him, only thick, black-cloth-like darkness remained!

Xu Yuan, puzzled, dared not lower his guard, fixing his gaze on the night sky—when suddenly, the darkness was violently torn open, and a bone-faced eagle with a human visage appeared overhead, its massive bony talons lunging straight for Xu Yuan’s face, aiming to rip off his skin whole and wear it as its own mask!

Xu Yuan remained calm, spitting a stream of belly fire outward.

The bone-faced eagle retreated into the darkness even faster, as if it had never appeared at all—no one knew whether the belly fire had struck it.

Xu Yuan continued running, feet stirring the wind, yet remained hyper-alert to his surroundings.

He couldn’t see his hand before his face, but he knew the bone-faced eagle was hiding somewhere in the darkness.

Guided by his senses, Xu Yuan sprinted toward the direction of the town.

After running several li, the bone-faced eagle never reappeared; Xu Yuan wondered inwardly: Has it given up, seeing I’m not an easy target?

Or… is it hiding some other scheme?

Xu Yuan chose to believe the latter.

After running a while longer, Xu Yuan suddenly stopped, listening intently.

The wind from his own movement had likely masked some unusual sound.

Upon listening, he confirmed it—there were now wing-flapping sounds approaching rapidly from all directions.

“Hurry!” Xu Yuan thought, preparing to move—then realized the sounds were wrong; they came from every direction!

“Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—”

The darkness tore open again, and dozens of bone-faced eagles surged toward him simultaneously from all sides!

Xu Yuan cried out, crouched low, and skidded along the ground.

At the same time, he spat twice into his palms, igniting belly fire upon his hands; as he sprinted, he wildly flailed his arms.

Bone-faced eagles dove at him from all directions, their talons carving deep gashes into his arms—but they couldn’t grip, driven off by the flames.

After sprinting several li, Xu Yuan saw a few scattered lights ahead.

The town was near!

Xu Yuan’s spirits lifted.

The bone-faced eagles suddenly ceased their attack, let out a few eerie squawks, then rose together and vanished into the thick, fog-like darkness.

A terrible sense of doom surged in Xu Yuan’s chest!

In the night, only a stronger demon could drive away lesser evils.

Xu Yuan dared not pause; he sprinted toward the town at top speed.

A splashing sound arose—on his left, dozens of zhang away, a small river had appeared out of nowhere!

No matter how fast he ran or how he changed direction, the river remained at the same position, the same distance.

Moreover, Xu Yuan realized—he had sprinted several li, yet the distance to those few lights had not lessened at all!

Cold sweat immediately beaded on his forehead.

“What is this?” Xu Yuan shouted, gripping his short spear in one hand and his single-edged blade in the other, flames flaring more fiercely on both hands as he advanced step by step toward the river.

“Gagaga!”

A child’s pure laugh rang out—a bloated, corpse-white infant crawled out of the river.

The corpse-infant lifted its head, staring at Xu Yuan.

Its eyeballs were a horrifying, milky white!

Xu Yuan’s body stiffened, collapsed to the ground, his hand flames extinguished, his limbs convulsing uncontrollably.

The ghostly energy within his back wound had been triggered!

This corpse-infant possessed a unique ability: it could forcibly control all ghostly and corpse-risen forces within a certain range.

“Gagaga!” The corpse-infant’s laughter grew louder, as if it had just played a delightful game.

Ghostly energy rose from Xu Yuan’s back wound, writhing like viscous slime, rapidly invading the healthy tissue surrounding the wound.

Xu Yuan felt a chilling force steadily advancing toward his heart!

Night still to come.

Please vote for monthly tickets.

[empty]

[empty]

(End of Chapter)