Chapter 210: A Bird in a Cage
The room was quiet now. No screams echoed within it.
Xu Qing closed his eyes as he sensed the unique essence the golden crow had absorbed. There wasn’t enough of it to use the ability, but it could at least be used to get a fix on the next location even faster.
I bet... he’ll be terrified when he resurrects again. But not terrified enough. I’ll probably need to kill him a few dozen times before it gets strong enough.
Xu Qing opened his eyes and looked at his shadow.
The shadow was currently stretched out through the blood to the corpse. After a few breaths of time passed, the shadow returned, then sent pulses of emotions to indicate a new direction to follow. It also included a request.
“Pursuit... I’m skilled... bring prisoner....”
There were three reasons why the most recent kill lasted so long. One was that Xu Qing couldn’t dispel the ruthless fury in his heart. The second was that the golden crow needed time to absorb the essence. And the third was that the shadow needed time to consume the other party’s shadow, and thus get a solid fix on where to go next.
This time around, given the amount of essence Xu Qing had absorbed, the shadow could now identify where the Gruegloom was with precise accuracy.
In response to the shadow’s request, Xu Qing nodded.
The shadow immediately released fluctuations of happiness and excitement.
Face expressionless, Xu Qing left the room.
In the two days that had passed, he had come to realize that someone was watching him. As time passed, the feeling grew stronger. Given that he didn’t want any attention in the Violet Lands, he was now trying even harder to be stealthy.
About an hour later, outside the city’s east gate, people were lined up to leave the city. Most people were in caravans, and there were plenty of cultivators present.
Among them was a young man in nice clothing. He clearly didn’t come from an average family, but wasn’t important enough to skip the line. That indicated he wasn’t from a very impressive bloodline. As he stood there in line, his face suddenly turned pale, and he started panting and looking around surreptitiously. This young man was now... the Gruegloom.
He still wasn’t ready to activate his body outside the city. Once he did, he wouldn’t be able to get back into the city, and if he was being chased, that could be a problem. His innate ability only worked in a limited range. To him, places with high populations were the most ideal, so he didn’t want to leave the city unless absolutely necessary. After all, if that body were to be killed, it would be far more harmful to him than when he possessed someone.
He was hoping to use this most recent body to lure his pursuer out into the open, then leapfrog back into the city. After all, if this body died, it wouldn’t be a very big deal to him.
Given that he had been tracked down three times in a row, he knew his pursuer had a way to find him. What that method was, he didn’t know, and thus couldn’t guard against it. He was feeling more and more uneasy, especially because of the final words his pursuer had spoken. Those words had chilled him to the core.
Of even greater significance was the fact that, after this latest resurrection, he got the feeling he had lost something very, very important. In turn, that caused a sensation of deadly crisis to build within him.
This guy is depraved! That said, I refuse to believe that, given what I’m capable of, he can truly get the best of me!
Given how distracted he was, he didn’t notice that, within the cast shadow of one of the city guards at the gate, was an eye.
As the Gruegloom got closer to the gate, a mosquito flew over and silently landed on his neck. The Gruegloom didn’t even notice when the mosquito plunged its proboscis into his skin. A moment later, a voice reached his ears via divine will.
“My lord and master wanted me to say hi.”
The mosquito then exploded, a host of tiny black beetles erupting from inside. They instantly burrowed into the Gruegloom cultivator.
The Gruegloom cultivator’s new body trembled, and he released a miserable shriek. The alarmed people in the crowd moved away from him as he toppled onto the ground with a thud, then melted into a pool of blood.
A moment later, one of the city guards shivered, closed his eyes, then opened them as a different person.
Taking advantage of the chaos, he immediately turned to walk out of the city. But then, he suddenly felt unable to move. Eyes shining with disbelief, he tried to look down at himself but was unable. In fact, he even started talking in a bizarre voice.
“Aha! I did it! I got you.”
The guard slowly turned, smiled and called a greeting to one of the other guards, then quickly walked off. As he hurried away, eyes emerged from the shadows of all the nearby guards, flew over, and disappeared into the shadow of the walking guard.
Astonishingly, all of the guards had shadow eyes, and had been simply waiting for the Gruegloom to show his face.
The Gruegloom had miscalculated, and fell prey to Xu Qing’s shadow.
The Gruegloom’s eyes were now full of terror. Never in his life had he ever encountered anything like this, and his emotions were so unstable he felt like he might collapse. As of this moment, he was well and truly afraid. He had finally run into another grue that was actually more terrifying than himself!
And thus, the delighted shadow sent the city guard skipping down the street, before eventually turning into an alley and entering an abandoned house. There were a lot of abandoned houses in the Violet Lands’ capital city, and it wasn’t unusual for bodies to be found in them.
Upon entering the house, the Gruegloom saw Xu Qing sitting there, calmly waiting.
After looking at Xu Qing, the Gruegloom fell to the ground into a kneeling position, then started slapping himself over and over again on the face.
Ignoring him, Xu Qing looked toward the door. “Since you’re here, come on in.”
The shadow stopped the Gruegloom from slapping himself for a moment, then resumed.
Meanwhile, the air outside the door rippled as a young man appeared. He wore a beautiful garment, as well as a jade pendant that glowed with soft light. He was handsome, but had mixed emotions in his eyes. He was none other than... Chen Feiyuan.
Xu Qing looked at him and sensed a strange aura. His cultivation base fluctuations weren’t very strong, but Xu Qing still got a sense of danger from him. At the same time, his aura seemed incredibly weak. That was one reason why not even Xu Qing’s shadow had noticed him.
Chen Feiyuan entered the house, sat down, and looked at the Gruegloom cultivator slapping himself.
Then Xu Qing realized what was happening. Chen Feiyuan was only in the Qi Condensation level, yet his blood emanated a sensation of ancient time. It was as if there were some object contained within him.
“Did you become a living treasure?” Xu Qing asked.
“No, not a living treasure,” Chen Feiyuan replied. “In the Violet Lands, members of the direct bloodline of each of the eight clans can form a symbiotic relationship with their clan’s sole magical treasure. When I returned home last time, I started the process. It isn’t complete yet. This is one of the reasons the clan chiefs in the Violet Lands have such amazing battle prowess. Although our cultivation is important, as well as our cultivation base, our blood is even more important.”
“It’s a very gruish cultivation method,” Xu Qing said softly.
“The royal clan of the Sovereign Kingdom of Violet and Cyan were very gruish. This was their innate ability. They were able to form symbiotic relationships with any magical treasure. Later, the eight clans stole that ability from them. Then, thanks to our isolationism and inbreeding, that innate ability finally reappeared in our blood.” Chen Feiyuan shrugged. Looking at Xu Qing, he continued, “Congratulations on your rise to prominence in Seven Blood Eyes.”
“You’ve changed a lot,” Xu Qing replied, sounding very serious. The Chen Feiyuan he remembered wasn’t like this. Truth be told, he had known for days that someone was watching him. Following him. But until today, he hadn’t been sure who it was.
“Some of it is growing up. Some of it is because of Teacher’s influence. And some of it is because of the magical treasure.” Chen Feiyuan shook his head. “Besides, you’ve changed a lot too. I never thought that wimpy brat from the scavenger basecamp would end up in the Seven Blood Eyes echelon.” Chen Feiyuan looked back at the Gruegloom slapping himself, and his eyes filled with killing intent. “Is this him?”
Xu Qing nodded. “Yes. At least, one of his bodies.”
“I visited the last place you went. There was a lot of blood. This time... let me have a go.” His eyes filled with ruthless madness, as well as deep hatred.
Xu Qing nodded, stood, and walked out. His shadow came with him. And as the shadow released the Gruegloom, bloodcurdling screams and agonized shrieks rang out in the house. They only lasted for the time it takes an incense stick to burn. The level of torment didn’t come close to what Xu Qing had unleashed.
Eventually, Chen Feiyuan walked out, still trembling, and still filled with madness. His eyes were bloodshot as he stopped next to Xu Qing and took a deep breath.
“Tingyu was sure you would come. I told her you wouldn’t. Xu Qing, the great clans in the Violet Lands have no idea you’re here. I made sure they didn’t find out. For now. There are limits to what I can do. I can’t keep the city locked down for very long. Avenge Teacher’s death, and then get out of here. As fast as you can. Otherwise you’ll be in danger. There are some old codgers in the great clans who’ll do anything to avoid death. Anything. To them, that Seazombie bounty is very attractive. You’re on your own now, Xu Qing. Take care.” With that, Chen Feiyuan walked away.
Xu Qing could sense a bit of Grandmaster Bai on Chen Feiyuan, and could tell how much he hated the Violet Lands, but at the same time, wanted to change them.
“Take care, Elder Brother,” he said.
Chen Feiyuan stopped walking, but didn’t look back. A moment passed and he started walking again, looking more determined with each step. Finally, he disappeared.