Chapter 272: Chapter 272
Late at night over the sea, a streak of red tore across the sky, like a comet circling the horizon. Its long, ominous tail skimmed the water, then vanished in an instant, leaving no trace behind.
Li Xun wasn’t exactly… human right now.
A more accurate way to put it would be this: his body had turned insubstantial. His flesh and bones had become a visible but unreal shadow, shifting and changing shape with the wind.
The blood-red glow seethed like layers of flame. Streams of blood surging and flowing endlessly through it.
Through that shadowy form, a strange, eerie light flickered, glowing a dark, crimson red.
Li Xun had never felt anything like this. His body seemed to have become a gust of wind, drifting freely through the vast sky with nothing to hold him back. It felt as if he could pass through anything, connecting and moving effortlessly with the world around him.
It was like his mind grew huge, and somehow he could feel the little pulse and rhythm of everything around him.
And the clearest of all were those vibrant living beings.
Through this peculiar channel, Li Xun could even pick up the faint, hidden flicker of life from a fish deep in the sea, a hundred li away.
Just a flicker of intent was all it took. The fish’s life was snuffed out, as easy as tearing a sheet of paper.
How incredible…
This was Li Xun’s first time using the Blood Shadow Demon Form. And he felt like a child who had just discovered his favorite new toy, completely absorbed in the thrill of it.
Right now, he carried no worries at all. This wild, unrestrained freedom was something he had never experienced before. And once you got a taste of it, it was hard to ever let go.
He laughed out loud for no reason at all, and in that laughter, he spotted his next target.
The reflexes are insane… wait, what the fuck? How is he THIS fast?!
If Li Xun’s speed was already shocking, then this “new target” was moving at a pace that was downright unbelievable… like it broke all the rules of nature.
The way Li Xun felt it, this thing was moving even faster than a flying messenger sword. If his reflexes hadn’t gone absolutely apeshit the instant it showed up, he’d never have believed that blur was a living creature.
With a shift of thought, his way of sensing changed too. The life pulse of the “new target” quickly turned into clear, tangible information, eventually forming a fully recognizable human body.
When he “saw” what the person looked like, Li Xun raised an eyebrow.
Well now, talk about running into the last person you want to see…
In the blink of an eye, a silver streak flashed across the horizon where sea met sky. It was coming in fast. So fast that Li Xun had no time to think again before the silver light was right in front of him.
Li Xun let out a big laugh, his uncanny body twisting through the air like a storm. In an instant, blood-red mist exploded outward, painting half the sky crimson. That silver streak was unbelievably fast, but in this blindsiding ambush… it didn’t have a split-second to dodge.
With no suspense whatsoever, the silver light slammed into the heart of the blood mist. Its glow instantly dimmed, hissing and sputtering like acid eating through metal.
A voice Li Xun knew all too well rang out. “Good grief, a Blood Shadow Demon Form!”
A moment later, a fat man burst out of the blood mist and immediately plunged headfirst into the ocean. The impact threw up a thick blanket of spray that would have blocked almost anyone’s view.
Too bad for him that Li Xun wasn’t using his “eyes” to see.
A piercing scream rang out, and from beneath the sea came a miserable groan. Not long after, the fat man surfaced about thirty feet away. His face pale, but his eyes were surprisingly calm as they fixed on Li Xun.
Li Xun snorted and shot forward like a streak of blood. The fat man was quick too; his hands flicked out, pulling the Spirit-Stirring Bell back out to block Li Xun head-on.
But to his surprise, the blood-red light didn’t crash into him. It twisted in midair instead, curling around him like a spirit snake and streaking toward his back.
The fat man swung his arm to block with the bronze bell again, but halfway through, his body went rigid. A surge of true breath shot through him, splitting into countless threads that locked onto several of his key meridians.
The same cunning man who had just managed to escape unscathed from Old Kunpeng now found himself captured by someone else, completely unable to lift a finger in resistance.
Once Li Xun had the fat man under control, he returned to his normal human form. After a moment to adjust, he grinned. “Maybe this is karma catching up, huh, Senior Brother?”
Earlier, the fat man had tried to mess with him by calling him “Third Junior Brother.” So now Li Xun was returning the favor by calling him “Senior Brother.” Loaded with pure sarcasm, it was basically him announcing, loud and clear: Yeah, it’s me…
But to Li Xun’s surprise, even though the fat man couldn’t turn his neck, he still let out a smug chuckle. “Wrong, wrong. I’m second in the line. If you’re going to call me anything, it should be Second Senior Brother!”
Li Xun was practically immune to that slippery tone of his. Especially after watching the man hand his own junior brother over as bait without even blinking, just to buy himself a chance to escape. And on top of that, he dragged an innocent bystander into the mess without a shred of hesitation. Treating a man like this as an ordinary character would be a straight path to an early grave.
So Li Xun ignored him. And yanked off the two already-damaged silver wings from his back. He weighed them in his hand for a moment.
He remembered this little treasure. Back then, that girl Lin Wuyou had used a matching pair of these same wings to escape an ambush laid by two Wanderers.
“So it was the Nightshade Wings after all. No wonder you managed to slip away from Kunpeng with just a few scratches. Well, since this thing is pretty much ruined anyway, letting me take it for research shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
The fat man bobbed his head as hard as he could. The movement was stiff, but he meant every word. “Of course, of course. Junior Brother, it’s only right that you take it. Not just this thing; anything valuable I’ve got on me, if you want it, it’s yours. Just calm down and spare your senior brother this once…”
Li Xun was genuinely impressed. He’d seen shameless people before, but never someone quite like this. The guy was begging for his life while still trying to trick the guy who had him by the throat.
Was it that he was terrified of dying, or was he just too used to getting away with anything?
Li Xun took a quick look at the Nightshade Wings and located the control mechanism. He sent his true breath into it, and after a series of sharp clicking sounds, the huge wings seemed to shake off their damage. They gave a soft buzz and then, amazingly, folded in on themselves until they were no bigger than a thin metal sheet that could fit in his palm. It was a masterpiece of craftsmanship.
Li Xun slipped the item into his robe, already starting to form a few guesses. “All that glitter on you and such a fat stash of treasures… you’ve got to be connected,” he said casually, testing the waters. “We’re not far from the Celestial Sea. Are you from Qianfan City?”
Before the fat man could answer, Li Xun shook his head. “No, that can’t be right. Folks in Qianfan City are honest craftsmen. They’d never produce someone like you. I get it now. You’re from the Thousand Treasures Pavilion, aren’t you?”
The fat man let out a dry laugh and nodded.
So it really was the Thousand Treasures Pavilion!
This strange sect had built its entire identity on collecting the rarest magical artifacts in the world, and it was famous for its “Four Emptiness Teachings”: empty of gold, empty of silver, empty of ego, and empty of desire. Because of that, people also called it the Four-Empty Thousand Treasures Pavilion.
As for what “empty of ego” and “empty of desire” really meant… well, anyone watching how this fat man behaved would understand most of it without needing an explanation.
“What’s your family name?”
“Oh, please, no need for formalities. It’s Ji; same ‘Ji’ as in ‘carrying on the Ji family legacy.’ Ji, you got that right!”
It was rare to hear this fat guy try to sound cultured, which only made it funnier. But Li Xun would never forget how this fellow had, without batting an eye, sacrificed his junior brother.
It wasn’t a matter of morals. It was the simple, visceral fear for his own safety.
That thought tightened his grip. The fat man let out a squeal like a stuck pig. “Take the treasure! Just don’t kill me!”
Li Xun smiled behind him. “The treasures from Thousand-Treasure Pavilion are nice, but killing you and taking them is still cheaper than trading the treasure for your life. And I really am a petty guy… don’t you think so, Second Senior Brother Ji?”
That extra line was all it took. The fat man heard the warning loud and clear and started babbling in a panic. “No, no, you’ve got it all wrong. This is me paying up, paying big! The moment you opened your mouth, I knew we were the same kind of people. Every deal in this world gets worked out by talking, right? Junior Brother, don’t kill me. If you do, you’ll be walking away from the business deal of a lifetime!”
“Oh? Is that so?”
“Of course, of course! I know you’re pissed I wasn’t exactly loyal just now… but hey, we’re both still breathing, right? No blood feud or anything. Here, these magical tools I’ve collected over the past few years, I’ll give them to you to calm your nerves. Think of it as my apology.”
The fat man put on the air of a magnanimous gentleman. It was impressive how sincerely he could speak while staring out at nothing but open sea.
And he wasn’t done. When he noticed Li Xun wasn’t getting impatient, he pushed even harder, talking a mile a minute. “And as for us, we’re brothers at first sight, right? Plenty of time ahead. If we can settle this today, then from now on you’ve got me, your very own money-bags senior brother. Makes it a lot easier to get by in this world, doesn’t it?”
The fatter he talked, the bigger his mouth got.
Li Xun started getting curious about this guy’s position in the Thousand-Treasure Pavilion. So he smirked and tossed out: “So, Senior Brother, what exactly do you do at the Pavilion?”
“Heh, don’t laugh at me, Junior Brother. I’ve had ridiculous luck these past few years and just kept getting promoted. I’m now the head of the Thousand-Treasure Pavilion.”