Chapter 13: Vile Shadow
“Let’s go!” Crucifix said, glancing at Sergeant Thunder then backing up. Graceful Raptor and Savage Ghost did the same.
Xu Qing looked at the sergeant heading toward the wolf pack. The wolves seemed cowed by the explosive spirit power rolling off of him. But Xu Qing didn’t move. Instead, he stood in place and lifted his iron skewer, which glittered even in the dim light.
“Kid, do you know why Sergeant Thunder is in charge?” Crucifix said, even as he flew backward. “It’s not just because his cultivation base is in the sixth level of Qi Condensation. It’s because of his sense of judgment, and how he takes responsibility in times of crisis.”
At the same time that Crucifix’s words reached Xu Qing, a loud rumbling sound echoed out. An arrow from Crucifix’s bow had struck a huge tree about six hundred meters away, and it toppled to the ground.
Savage Ghost and Graceful Raptor also took action to fell one tree after another, creating a wall with only a small opening in it like a gateway. After it was done, Crucifix and Graceful Raptor continued to retreat.
Meanwhile, Savage Ghost stood in place in front of the opening, looking like a mountain, his shield in one hand and his wolf tooth club in the other.
Up ahead, Sergeant Thunder suddenly exploded into motion, his hands shining radiantly as he lunged toward the wolves. As he moved, he struck out, and each wolf he hit exploded into a cloud of gore.
However, there were so many wolves in the pack that Sergeant Thunder soon disappeared within them. The rest of Squad Thunderbolt could only hear the sound of explosions and the cry of the wolves.
“Kid!” shouted Crucifix. “Get back here with us. You’ll have your chance to fight soon.”
Squad Thunderbolt obviously had a battle plan in place, so Xu Qing backed up toward Savage Ghost.
Savage Ghost grinned at him and hiked his thumb toward the opening in the makeshift wall of trees. Xu Qing slipped through, then followed Crucifix and Graceful Raptor.
Six hundred meters past Savage Ghost, he caught up with Graceful Raptor, who had also piled up trees to create a barrier. Right in front of the opening, she’d taken out some more powder, scattered it around, and had just bitten her thumb to draw blood. With the blood, she traced a complex symbol on the ground.
Upon sensing Xu Qing approaching, she looked at him and gave him a look that said ‘keep going.’
Xu Qing passed her and continued toward Crucifix, who was crouched in a tree another six hundred meters away. The tree was huge, giving a great view of the entire area. Looking down as Xu Qing approached, Crucifix said, “You’re in charge of the area behind me. Fall back six hundred meters.”
Xu Qing nodded. By now, he realized what Squad Thunderbolt had in mind.
After racing past the tree, he ran six hundred meters and then looked around. Confirming the area was clear, he found a patch of mud by some bushes, where he went into hiding.
This was just like when he would hunt for food in the city ruins.
After getting into place, he remained completely motionless. Shortly thereafter, the booming explosions off in the distance grew more intense.
Because of all the trees blocking his line of sight, he couldn’t see what was happening twenty-four hundred meters away. However, he could sense that there was fierce fighting going on.
Just beyond the range of Xu Qing’s sight, Sergeant Thunder was indeed battling the wolves. Though he was in the sixth level of Qi Condensation, given that he couldn’t waste energy, he wasn’t able to do anything extraordinary. Thankfully, he had incredible control over his spirit power. Taking advantage of that, he was now leading the black-scaled wolves toward Savage Ghost.
With a nasty grin, Savage Ghost lifted his wolf tooth club overhead. Then Sergeant Thunder zipped past him, and he smashed it down toward the incoming wolves.
High in the tree, Crucifix had his bow at the ready. Streams of spirit power in the form of arrows screamed forth, leaving behind streaks in the air as they shot toward the wolves.
Howling filled the air again as Sergeant Thunder left Savage Ghost behind and raced toward Graceful Raptor’s position. Now, Savage Ghost stood there alone, a living mountain blocking all enemies.
It was around this point that Xu Qing, from his position hidden in the mud, spotted Sergeant Thunder racing toward him and away from the fighting.
Sergeant Thunder passed him at high speed. The old sergeant made eye contact, but had no time even to nod. Moments later, he was six hundred meters past, where he dropped down cross-legged, pulled out a white bolus, and began meditating. There he would remain until it was his turn to fight again.
This was Squad Thunderbolt’s basic battle strategy.
Sergeant Thunder was the strongest among them. He held the enemy off while the others fell back and took up positions. Savage Ghost was the next line of defense. When he grew tired, Graceful Raptor would step up. And behind her was Crucifix.
By taking turns holding off the enemy, they could have time to rest and recuperate. That was the ideal way for a small squad to fight in the forbidden region, where the mutagen was strong.
Of the group, it was Sergeant Thunder and Crucifix who worked the hardest. The former had to fight for the longest, kill the most wolves, and buy the most time for his companions. As for the latter, he not only had to do his best to keep the wolves at bay, but also, he had to take advantage of his spot up above to keep the other squad members safe.
That said, everyone had an important role to play, and they all had to trust each other and cooperate.
So this is what a scavenger squad is like… Xu Qing thought, a look of determination growing in his eyes. He remained in place, unmoving, for quite a while. Then he saw Savage Ghost retreating from the fight, his chest heaving as he breathed.
Not long after that came Graceful Raptor, who looked very pale, and had her hands clasped at her chest.
Finally, Crucifix passed Xu Qing.
The man had a grave expression on his face, like usual. However, Xu Qing could sense that his spirit power fluctuations were very weak. Behind him was an endless horde of wolves. Crucifix seemed hesitant to leave Xu Qing there to fight.
“I can handle it,” Xu Qing said grimly.
Crucifix didn’t respond. He kept moving, and the wolves closed in.
An acrid breeze hit Xu Qing. Looking out, he saw about a dozen wolves leading the charge, their bodies covered in black scales, their eyes crimson. As they charged toward him, they radiated brutality and madness.
Obviously, the initial clash with Squad Thunderbolt had left many of them dead and injured. But the smell of blood had driven the rest of the black-scaled wolves into further levels of ferocity. Apparently, the wolves didn’t notice Xu Qing at all, and were intently focused on Crucifix.
However, as they passed, Xu Qing’s dagger flew out and stabbed into the head of the nearest wolf.
The wolf let loose a brief howl of agony before dying. Even as its body fell, Xu Qing blurred into motion.
His black iron skewer glittered as he stabbed it into the eye of another wolf. Then he clenched his left hand into a fist and launched a blow into a third wolf. That wolf exploded, showering Xu Qing with blood.
In the briefest of moments, he had killed three wolves.
He was as nimble and deadly as a rakshasa as he dashed through the wolf pack, his eyes cold and his attacks decisive. One black-scaled wolf after another fell to his iron skewer, filling the area with agonized shrieks. Soon, he was soaked in sticky blood, but he kept his grip on his skewer, which was now red instead of black.
And yet, the wolves were so numerous that, before long, some of their attacks made it past his defenses. One by one, fang and claw wounds built up on him.
Thankfully, he managed to avoid most of the attacks. What was more… the regenerative powers provided by the violet crystal also worked wonders.
Flesh wounds would heal up in a matter of a few breaths of time, and even the more serious wounds would at least stop bleeding rather quickly. That said, he was so splattered with wolf blood that it wasn’t possible for the other squad members to see what was happening.
Because of his terrifying ability to heal himself, he was able to keep fighting far longer than anyone thought possible. Wolf corpses piled up, and Xu Qing’s eyes grew colder. Eventually, he had held his ground longer than any of the other squad members, to the point that the wolf pack now seemed wary of him.
From a distance, the faint bits of light that pierced through the canopy fell on his blood-splattered form, making him look even more terrifying.
Six hundred meters behind him was Sergeant Thunder, and high in the trees above, Crucifix.
Both men were completely shocked at Xu Qing’s level of ferocity, and his ability to stand and fight.
“Kid, get back!” Sergeant Thunder finally yelled.
Xu Qing still wasn’t tired, but he could sense that he was getting dangerously low on spirit power.
The violet crystal could restore his body and heal his wounds, but it couldn’t make up for lost spirit power.
Thankfully, he practiced body refinement, so unlike Graceful Raptor, being low on spirit power didn’t mean he couldn’t fight.
But it still affected him. He had to breathe, and that meant commingling mutagen with his spirit power. And the mutation blotches on his arm throbbed more than ever.
Therefore, when he heard Sergeant Thunder’s command, he unhesitatingly fell back. Just as he started moving, a wolf lunged toward him that, unlike the others, had black eyes instead of red.
Xu Qing’s iron skewer became a streak of red as he thrust it into the wolf’s head, then prepared to keep falling back. However, that was when….
The wolf corpse’s shadow suddenly twisted and distorted. Xu Qing wasn’t sure if he was seeing things. Given the dappled sunlight in the area, it was possible. But it seemed like the shadow was moving toward him.
The sunlight was dim and scattered, making it impossible to see exactly what was happening. And before he could determine for sure, the shadow touched him. A tremor passed through him, and he felt an unspeakable evil suddenly fill him from head to toe.
Before anything else could happen, though, the evil reached his chest, and the violet crystal there that, up to this point, had done nothing else other than heal Xu Qing.
In that instant, he trembled again as an icy flow erupted within him.
A moment later, that sense of encroaching evil vanished.
The icy flow quickly ceased. In the blink of an eye, it was like it had never existed, and the violet crystal went back to normal.
Xu Qing stared down at himself in shock. However, now was not the time to ponder the situation. Body healing, he flew backward, wondering if Sergeant Thunder or Crucifix were aware of what had just happened.
As Xu Qing fell back, Sergeant Thunder strode forward, a surprised expression on his face.
“Good job. Now get back there and rest up. Black-scaled wolves live in the depths of the forbidden region where the mutagen is strong. They hate places such as this, where the mutagen is weaker. All we have to do is hold out for long enough, and they’ll eventually just back down.”
With that, Sergeant Thunder continued forward, surging with spirit power as he attacked the wolves Xu Qing had just disengaged from.
Savage Ghost appeared. He had been waiting further back for a while now, and seeing Xu Qing covered in blood as he left behind the piles of wolf corpses, reached out with an arm of support.
“I’m fine,” Xu Qing said, brushing his arm away and continuing away from the front line. Savage Ghost watched him go, a look of respect in his eyes.
When Xu Qing reached Graceful Raptor, it was obvious she’d been told about his fighting, but she still seemed shocked by his appearance. A moment later, she produced a leather pouch which she handed to him.
He accepted it, and could feel from the shape that it contained medicinal pills. Thanking Graceful Raptor, he continued past her until he spotted Crucifix high up in a tree.
Crucifix didn’t say anything, but he gave Xu Qing a nod of approval.
Xu Qing returned the nod silently. Finally, he found a spot in the very back where he expelled a breath full of impure vital energy, then took out three white boluses. As the pills did their work, he started absorbing spirit power to replenish himself.
About an hour later, he opened his eyes. He was no longer exhausted. Furthermore, he was surprised to find that the mutagen within him… seemed negligible.
Then he pulled up his sleeve and looked at his left arm, and to his shock, he found that one of the mutation blotches was gone! However, he was still clearly in the second level of body refinement. He hadn’t weakened at all from the fierce fighting, and after recovering, he even found that he had made some progress.
He clearly remembered that, while fighting, he had been forced to absorb some surrounding spirit power, and had felt the two mutation blotches on his arm throbbing. He had consumed white boluses before, but they had never been this effective. Yet there was no other explanation for what had just happened to him.
Other than… that coldness which had flowed through him thanks to the violet crystal.
That shadow felt vile. Then the crystal sent that coldness out….
His eyes narrowed as he thought back to the gruish scene from earlier.
He was absolutely certain that he had seen that shadow moving, and that it hadn’t been a trick of the light. And the stream of coldness from the violet crystal had also been real. It was like it had fought back against the encroachment of evil, and had sucked it inside.
Did it… consume it?
All he had now were suspicions and speculations.
Deathblade's Thoughts
Many thanks to vqid, JustNa, Apujanata, and Ryu980 for the reviews. Reviews help a lot, so if you're enjoying the story and inclined to do so, please leave a review! I won't bug y'all about them all the time. Just every once in a while! 😃