63. Journey To the West – Prelude
On a broad day light, Clay is walking on a villa littered with corpses. There is no trace of struggle and many of the dead bodies have a hole in their heads as fresh blood is still oozing out.
He originally wanted to find a village and request gloves and a customize clothes to cover his hideous appearance, but who would have thought that the first place he saw with signs of habitation was a bandit's lair.
He had no intention of being a busybody but the timing of his appearance could not have been better as he witnessed a woman beheaded in front of other women in cages. When the head rolled to the ground, he had a relapse. The next thing he knew, Qi Projections automatically extended from his body and crushed the head of the executioner.
He came to his senses shortly after one of the bandits fired a signal alarming the brotherhood and he did want to leave but it was difficult to ignore the cries of misery of the women in cages.
Unaware of his actions, the whole place was inundated by his aura and aside from the eleven Foundation Establishment experts whose circulation circuits were extracted, at least hundred other men were all killed with a simple and deadly puncture in the head.
The women in the cages rejoiced upon the arrival of their savoir but when they saw the abominable image of their hero, they were frightened and their expressions looked like they would rather prefer being ravaged by a human rather than by a malevolent primate. He wanted to help these people in captivity, however he has his own problem to pursue.
Clay destroyed the cages and extended his Qi and collected blankets in every dwelling within the mountain. For now, he will improvise a burqa to avoid scaring anyone when the need to socialize arises.
Upon noticing that some of the woman are cultivators, he did not bother looting the rings of the dead and continued on his journey.
As Clay moved forward, he could not help but think of the people he just killed. Some of them were teenagers who probably have yet to stain their hands with blood.
Not long ago he complained how cruel and unfair this world is, but now he is finding himself to be on the same position as those cultivators he killed. Not long ago as well, he could barely find the courage to kill a rabbit, but now he slaughtered a hundred men like it was drinking water.
Sigh!
Things like order and moral obligation truly becomes an illusion in the face of power.
Clay contemplated. He may have transformed into a monster physically but that does not mean he should become a monster all throughout.
After flying for an entire day, Clay descended near a random river to recuperate.
He then dug a cave and a small canal allowing enough water to flow in for his Spiritual Vein Model to function. The improved version of the Vein Model required only a few meters of an Isolation and Defensive Formation and he did not have to worry about running out of crystal stones anymore.
After cleaning himself, Clay meditated.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the mountain, Clay is unaware that three figures are slowly approaching his cave.
If it were a normal day, they would avoid passing through the area but of the three, one of them is a Late Qi Condensation Half Elf and is being pursued by two Foundation Establishment humans.
There is a big gap between the two realms and to be hunted by two of them, clearly it should have already ended but the Half Elf has his own secrets that no matter what kind of attacks are being thrown at him, he is able to either to dodge or parry them with his sword avoiding any fatal damage.
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But no matter how good the Half Elf is with running, his Qi reservoir has limits.
As he escaped in desperation, he noticed that each time he avoid a poison needle thrown towards his back, time seemed to move slower. He does not know if this is the heaven hinting him of his death but as his Qi slowly ran out, he felt a mysterious energy forming inside him.
The Half Elf knew that the mysterious energy is Sword Dao which he had been trying to assimilate for the past fifteen years and since the timing could not have been better, he stopped his track and decided to confront his enemies with his remaining strength.
At the same time, the two pursuers stopped as well but they did not immediately attack as they are apprehensive with the aura their prey is emitting. As assassins, they knew that a target brings more danger when cornered so they decided to avoid direct melee combat however, that exact moment they were formulating a plan, the Half Elf had already lunged at towards one of them.
SWISH!!
“Brother!!!!”
In a blink of an eye, one of the assassins neck had been cleanly cut but before he died, his hand moved in reflex and still managed to pierce a dagger into the Half Elf’s legs.
Argggg!!!
The Half Elf stumbled backwards. He could ignore the pain but no matter his tolerance, he cannot stop the paralysis poison.
“I’ll kill you!!” The other assassin lost his composure upon the death of his brother and dashed towards the Half Elf. He could have had attacked using his projectile needles or bombard his target with range techniques but rage took his ability to reason and attacked like savage.
CLANG!
The Half Elf blocked the sword aimed to his left and right after weapons collided, he pulled out the dagger stuck on his leg and used it to stab his enemy’s head.
THUD!
The Half Elf tilted his head towards the sky. Only now that he noticed the rain.
As he felt the pitter patter of the rain, he knew he will not make it. He had just overexerted himself and he does not have a means to stop the paralysis poison. This type of poison will normally just immobilize someone but with his Qi is completely depleted, he does not have any means to stop it and will later cause his heart to stop beating.
As he took his final breath, he smiled then everything around him went dark.
Meanwhile, Clay had just witnessed everything. A minute ago, his mind was still occupied with his moral quandary but his thoughts were disrupted when he felt ripples of energy.
More importantly, those ripples resemble Sword Dao he immediately stepped out of his cave.
He thought someone was after him but when he was about to extend his Qi Projections, what greeted him are two Foundation Establishment experts ganging up on a Half Elf.
Clay was confused but looking at the greenish tabard worn by the two, he is positive they have no relation to the cultivators who would just show up in surprise to attack him.
Clay was confused what to do. He is still under moral dilemma and he might lose his mind again if he extends help so he decided to not to meddle in their affairs and watched.
A few seconds later, their fight had reach a critical point and due to the carelessness of the two Foundation experts, they died by the hand of the Half Elf.
The young Half Elf looked like a gallant warrior standing beside his fallen enemies but with his body dripping in blood, Clay could tell it was a pyrrhic victory.
Clay activated his divine sight to observe the young Elven. As expected there is a small bluish mist below the Half Elf’s soul.
Clay wanted to just leave the young man to die but he suddenly got curious so he extended his Qi Projection and brought the unconscious Half Elf into his cave.
He could see that the Half Elf is completely depleted of Qi but what he is worried about is the poison slowly spreading on the Half Elf’s body.
Back at Buaki Gang, simple poisons was part of his bandit 101 and if someone does not have even an ounce of Qi, their bodies become vulnerable to the point where they may die from simple poisons. Given such scenario, the solution is simple which is to help that person circulate Qi but when Clay activated his Godly Eyes again, he noticed that the Qi Nodes of the young Half Elf have already dimmed. It was probably related to the last technique the Half Elf displayed.
Clay was about to inject his Qi and force them to light up again but at this moment, he noticed the secondary dantian of Half Elf is still intact. He could tell it was never utilized but it is his only option.
“So be it.”
Clay discarded any hesitation then let a strand of his Qi into the Half Elf’s secondary dantian and connected the nearest Qi Nodes and started guiding the flow to form a circulation and right after once cycle has been completed, Clay saw something magical.
The primary dantian lit up again and this time, it is recovering Qi on its own.
Clay felt relieved. Unfortunately, he has little knowledge about mending would so he can only bandage the man and wait until this person wakes up and heal himself.
After a few minutes, Clay smiled upon noticing improvement on the Half Elf’s condition so he went to prepare a meal.