Chapter 209: Without a Trace
The Gruegloom cultivator’s eyes went wide as he slipped away into death.
Moments later, in the Bai Clan’s district of the city, seven or eight vagrants huddled in a narrow alley. One of them, a gaunt young man with scars crisscrossing his body, suddenly opened his eyes. Out of instinct, his hands shot to his neck. Eyes shining with terror, he looked around, then relaxed and forced himself to steady his breathing. That said, the alarm within his heart was not something he could dispel easily.
What’s going on? That man just now....
This young man was none other than the Gruegloom cultivator. The fact that Xu Qing figured out his first identity wasn’t very surprising. But he had felt very confident about his second identity in the Zhou Clan. Only someone deeply connected with that clan should have been able to reach him, or even identify him.
He had already come up with a new escape plan that would let him turn the tables on the person hunting him, and show them the true terrifying nature of Grueglooms. He had a teleportation portal hidden outside of the city, but at the moment, he wasn’t desperate enough to use it. The current state of affairs... couldn’t last for long. Based on his analysis, the city would be opened up within about three days, or five at the most. Once that happened, no one would ever be able to find him. Whether it was a Gold Core cultivator or Nascent Soul expert, they could kill him once, but then he would be gone.
He had been in situations like this before. However, there was something about the current set of circumstances that felt off. The person hunting him was able to track him down very quickly. Furthermore, the person who had confronted his second identity had also seemed gruish.
What was more, the way the man had wrapped his intestines around the Gruegloom’s throat, and then spoke those final words... was completely terrifying.
“My lord and master wanted me to say hi, and tell you... the game has just begun.”
“The game has just begun...?” the Gruegloom murmured. Then he shivered. He got the sense things were going to get difficult. This new opponent was strong, and obviously had some very unique abilities.
I wonder if I should activate that body....
The Gruegloom cultivator thought about it for a while, then decided against it. The body he was referring to was located outside the city, and he could activate it at any time. But he only planned to do that when he was ready to leave the Violet Lands capital city and never come back. He was hesitant to do that, and still wanted to wait in hiding until the lockdown ended.
Maybe that second time was just a coincidence!
Looking up, he saw that the sky was turning bright. Around him, the other vagrants were starting to awaken. The Gruegloom stood and left the alley.
With each step he took, he felt sluggish. Although his innate ability was impressive, whenever he possessed a new body, it was as if he consumed the host. In some respects, the host was actually a corpse. He was like the turtledove occupying the magpie’s nest. And at first, he was always weak. Only after warming up the host body was he able to restore some battle prowess.
He had the ability to infuse a host with his innate ability beforehand, but that was very draining, and thus, he saved all of the energy for the body outside the city.
As he started to pick up speed walking, a thousand thoughts ran through his mind.
Dammit, I’m usually the one lurking in the shadows, preying on those in the light. But this time the roles are reversed. Who is this guy? I’ve never heard of any grue that can do something like this. He can control other people? That can’t be it. Controlling someone else would involve a release of energy. The only exception would be a divine will possession, but only Nascent Soul cultivators can do something like that. This guy definitely isn’t a Nascent Soul expert. I really get the sense that I’m dealing with a grue.
As he analyzed the situation, the Gruegloom walked out of the alley, keeping his guard up and heading in the direction of the city’s teleportation portal complex. His current plan was to stay in that area and wait until the lockdown lifted. In the meantime, he would see if this annoyingly mysterious person was able to track him down again.
After he had been walking along for only about an hour, a hand suddenly stretched out from an alley he was walking past. The hand clamped down on his mouth, and then fingers worked their way through his lips, parting his teeth and making it impossible for him to bite his own tongue off to commit suicide. It happened quickly, and though the Gruegloom was able to react, this new body was just too slow. Then, he felt himself being dragged forcefully into the alley.
Whimpering sounds escaped his mouth as he opened his eyes wide in the hopes of catching a glimpse of his pursuer. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see anything. Then, a moment later, he was dragged into a room and thrown onto the floor.
At long last he was able to see who he was dealing with. It was the very same middle-aged cultivator who had killed his first body the previous day.
The man’s eyes were as cold as ice, and looking into them caused the Gruegloom cultivator’s heart to pound in his chest. Suddenly, he felt his jaw being broken, and the pain caused veins to bulge out on his face.
Thanks to the broken jaw, he couldn’t bite his tongue to commit suicide. And because he had no cultivation base or battle prowess in this new body yet, there was no other way to kill himself.
As the Gruegloom whimpered, Xu Qing extended his hand and scattered some poison powder onto the Gruegloom cultivator.
It wasn’t a very deadly poison. Instead, it was a concoction Xu Qing had devised that made the body more sensitive to pain. After watching the powder fall onto the Gruegloom and seep into his body, Xu Qing expressionlessly reached out and started breaking his fingers.
Pop. Pop.
One after another.
The pain caused the Gruegloom to tremble. And the poison made it all worse. It became a tempest in his mind that erupted in the form of a bloodcurdling scream. And because of his broken jaw, his scream caused even more pain. But he couldn’t hold back.
Xu Qing heard the sound, but didn’t react. He just kept working until the Gruegloom cultivator’s hand was a mangled mess. Then he fed him a medicinal pill to keep him conscious.
The process continued, for though the Gruegloom cultivator screamed, his eyes did not contain one particular emotion that Xu Qing was familiar with: terror.
From beginning to end, he screamed and screamed. But despite the pain, he wasn’t afraid!
As a result, Xu Qing’s eyes grew colder. Eventually, the Gruegloom’s entire arm was mangled, so Xu Qing moved on to the other arm, starting with the fingers.
After that, he took out a dagger. The Gruegloom’s screams had begun to weaken at that point, but he started on the legs nonetheless, not letting a square inch of flesh go untouched.
There was blood everywhere, but the Gruegloom wasn’t dead, thanks to the medicinal pills Xu Qing kept giving him. The entire time, despite all the screaming, the Gruegloom cultivator’s eyes shone with defiance and provocation.
Suddenly, the Gruegloom spoke by means of divine will. “Want to know why I’m screaming? Because you’re not the first person to do this to me, nor will you be the last. And I’ve long since mastered an ability to vent pain by means of sound.”
The voice spoke to Xu Qing even while he was screaming, almost as if he were two different people.
“I know that you don’t dare to truly kill me. Are you here to avenge Grandmaster Bai? When the old fogey died, he was writing a letter. Who knows, maybe it was a letter to you. I don’t know how you keep finding me, but I bet you want to know who hired me. You want to figure out who the mastermind is. Well, I know who it is. And if you want to know... too bad. I’m not going to tell you.”
Eyes bloodshot, the Gruegloom continued to scream. That is, until Xu Qing punched him so hard his jaw completely shattered, making it impossible for the screams to leave his body.
But then, the Gruegloom started laughing maniacally, deep in his chest.
“Wanna know how I killed the old man? Hahaha! I originally planned to possess that girl Tingyu. But that didn’t seem very fun. So guess who I went with in the end?”
Xu Qing suddenly stopped moving and looked at the Gruegloom, his eyes narrowed as he pulsed with terrifying fluctuations.
The Gruegloom cultivator was shocked by this. The reality was that he hadn’t been completely truthful. Although he wasn’t afraid of dying, and had become used to torture, it was Xu Qing’s ruthlessness that left him feeling astonished. That was especially true considering that, during this entire time, Xu Qing hadn’t said a single thing.
It was like he didn’t care about anything other than the torment. He seemed to have done this before, and what was more, he wasn’t showing any signs of letting up. For example, he hadn’t cut any major blood vessels. In fact, it all led the Gruegloom to the conclusion that this person... had done this kind of thing countless times in the past.
He’s a psycho! A degenerate!!
He had been hoping to rile this person up and provoke his own death. Though each body he possessed had a built-in death time, on this occasion, he wanted to die early.
The totem tattoo on Xu Qing’s back flared to life, and black flames erupted into the shape of a golden crow. It converged on Xu Qing’s right hand, which he then pressed onto the Gruegloom’s forehead.
Massive force erupted out, causing the Gruegloom cultivator’s eyes to go wide as his body withered. Massive amounts of energy and blood flowed into Xu Qing’s palm, and thanks to the unsteady emotions, more of the essence mist appeared than before.
That mist contained the Gruegloom’s essence power.
On their initial encounter, Xu Qing hadn’t been able to absorb much essence. But this time, thanks to the emotions riled up by the torment, the golden crow was able to take a lot.
In the last moment before the Gruegloom died, Xu Qing quietly spoke for the first time.
“This isn’t over. See you soon.”