Just half an hour ago, they had barely managed to shake off the relentless pursuit of the three Flame Sun Sect cultivators. They had only escaped by burning their essence blood, the scorched scent of their own life force filling the air as they unleashed a forbidden technique that left their meridians screaming in protest.
But with Elder Lie Yang himself personally involved in the chase, plus Yu Xiaotang's helpful rumor spreading, that entire region had completely exploded into a frenzy of greed and violence.
Several powerful auras closed in from every direction, the sheer pressure of their divine sense making the stagnant air of the swamp feel heavy and suffocating. Among them was a late stage Nascent Soul cultivator, whose presence felt like an approaching mountain, along with multiple mid stage and early stage Nascent Soul cultivators drawn over by the irresistible allure of the Star Core Origin Essence Fragment.
They had instantly become the center of attention and were pushed into a dead end where the thick miasma met the wall of their pursuers. Facing that late stage Nascent Soul cultivator, they could only flee for their lives, their spiritual power flickering like candles in a gale.
At the critical moment when death was about to catch up to them, Xue Shouren deliberately slowed down by half a beat while dodging a fatal strike. He shoved Granny Hua beside him forward, forcing her to take a terrifying claw imprint that should have hit both of them head on. The impact sounded like grinding bone, a dull thud that echoed through the trees.
Using the instant when she was blasted away and sent flying like a broken doll, the Xue Shouren didn't even look back. He fled wildly toward the depths of the swamp, his boots splashing through the dark, murky water as he disappeared into the fog.
"Heh… cough cough…" He slowly turned around, his chest heaving with every ragged breath. His face was pale, and his body was covered in weeping wounds that seeped crimson onto his robes, but compared to Granny Hua, he was in far better shape.
Facing her venomous curses, a trace of guilt flashed through his eyes, so faint it was almost negligible. It was instantly swallowed by a deeper coldness and the burning heat of greed that flickered in his pupils.
"Don't blame me, old woman Hua," he said hoarsely, his voice carrying a sick calm. "In that situation… if I didn't sacrifice you, both of us would have died in that old demon's hands. At least now… I'm still alive. And…" He glanced at the Star Core Origin Essence Fragment clenched tightly in his hand, its surface pulsing with a faint, ethereal light. "The item is still here."
"You…" She trembled with rage, her fingers clawing weakly at the muddy earth. The movement pulled at her shredded wounds, triggering another violent coughing fit that sprayed dark blood across her chin. She couldn't even force out the rest of her words through the wet rattling in her chest.
She stared at him with eyes filled with such hatred that she wanted nothing more than to tear him apart and devour him alive, her pupils blown wide with primal fury. She had never seen things so clearly before. This companion she had fought alongside for years was selfish and cold to the bone, his loyalty nothing more than a thin mask that had finally slipped.
Xue Shouren avoided her gaze. The faint guilt in his heart had already vanished in the face of overwhelming benefit and the lingering threat of death that still chilled his marrow. He stepped closer, his boots sinking into the soft muck as he swept his eyes over her barely breathing body. Deep within his gaze, a thread of extremely hidden killing intent quietly surged like a serpent in the grass.
At this moment, a fierce struggle raged inside him, his thoughts spinning as he weighed the risks of his next move.
Using her as a shield had already turned their relationship into a life and death feud, with no room for reconciliation. If he brought her back to the Hehuan Sect, badly injured and carrying the fragment, then even as a Nascent Soul elder, he would never escape the sect's harsh punishment for betraying a fellow member.
What was more, with the hatred she felt toward him now, she would absolutely exaggerate every detail of his betrayal. When that happened, his end would be impossible to predict, likely involving torments that made death seem like a mercy.
"Instead of taking a ticking time bomb back to be punished… I might as well…" His gaze unconsciously dropped to her dantian, where her Yuányīng was housed. A bold and insane thought burrowed into his mind and quickly took root, feeding on his growing desperation.
A mid stage Nascent Soul cultivator's Yuányīng was a treasure in itself, one that had been cultivated for many years with a solid foundation and immense spiritual energy.
If he could… devour and refine it… not only would his injuries recover rapidly, his cultivation might even break through to the late stage Nascent Soul. Add the Star Core Origin Essence Fragment on top of that… the path toward Divine Transformation and the Primordial Force might actually be within reach, no longer just a distant dream.
Once the thought appeared, it spread like wildfire through his mind and could not be stopped.
His breathing grew heavier, the sound rasping in the damp air. Greed and killing intent intertwined in his eyes, almost spilling out as he looked down at the dying woman.
"This place… is deep within the poisonous miasma swamp… toxic fog everywhere, divine sense isolated… it's a natural… burial ground…" he muttered, as if convincing himself. "Even if she used some secret method to transmit an image before dying… as long as her Yuányīng is destroyed fast enough and her Primordial Soul is wiped out… who would know? Who would trace it? Everyone would just think she died here from the severe injuries dealt by the Flame Sun Sect…"
He turned the idea over again and again, his heart pounding against his ribs. The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. The last trace of hesitation in his heart vanished completely.
"Xue Shouren… what are you trying to do?" She was gravely injured, but a Nascent Soul cultivator's instincts remained sharp even in the face of death. She caught the undisguised greed and killing intent in his eyes. A fear deeper than death instantly seized her heart.
"You… you wouldn't…"
"I'm sorry, old woman Hua." He took a deep breath, the damp air filling his lungs. The final struggle on his face disappeared, replaced by a chilling calm and cruelty that hardened his features. "Since I have already done it, I will go all the way. We have known each other for years… let your cultivation help me step into a higher realm."
"You… the Young Sect Master… won't let you go…" she gritted out, her voice a wet rasp. "Have you forgotten… the Young Sect Master's methods…"
"Young Sect Master? Hah!" At the mention of Yu Xiaotang, a trace of wariness flashed through his eyes before being drowned by greed and madness. "No matter how capable she is, she is just a Foundation Establishment junior! She relies on nothing but strange tricks and her status as Young Sect Master! Once I break through to late stage Nascent Soul, what can the Hehuan Sect even do to me? The world is vast. There's nowhere I can't go."
He bared his teeth in a vicious grin, his expression ghastly in the dim light of the swamp. "As for you… rest easy and turn into dry bones here! This poisonous swamp is perfect for erasing all traces of what happened today!"
He slowly raised his hand, his fingers curling like claws. Thick blood baleful qi gathered in his palm, forming a slowly rotating vortex that radiated a terrifying aura of devouring everything in its path.
"Blood Demon Devours the Origin!" he growled. Without any more hesitation, the blood colored vortex slammed toward her dantian qi sea.
He was going to directly devour her Yuányīng and all her essence blood, leaving nothing behind but a withered husk.
"Ah!" She let out a muffled scream of agony that echoed through the trees. Her body shook violently, all color draining from her face until it was the color of ash. She desperately circulated the last of her spiritual power, trying to resist the all-consuming blood vortex that tore at her core.
But how could a heavily injured body withstand a fully prepared devouring by a mid stage Nascent Soul cultivator?
She could clearly feel her vitality, spiritual power, even the source of her Nascent Soul being forcibly pulled toward that blood vortex, a sensation like being hollowed out from the inside.
"Hahaha! It's useless! Old woman Hua! Accept your fate!" He felt the pure Yuányīng source and life essence pour into his body, warm and invigorating. His injuries visibly recovered as the stolen power knitted his flesh back together, and even his cultivation bottleneck loosened. He couldn't help but laugh wildly, his smile twisted and feral.
"Your cultivation is going to be my stepping stone to the Great Dao!"
In his eyes, she was already meat on the chopping block, completely at his mercy.
That despair-filled gaze and that weak resistance were nothing more than futile struggles before death, and they only served to fuel his excitement.
He even began to imagine it. After devouring her Yuányīng and refining the Star Core Origin Essence Fragment, he, the Xue Shouren, would soar straight to the heavens and look down upon all others. Yet just as he thought victory was guaranteed and immersed himself in the pleasure of rising power, he suddenly felt something was wrong.
The woman being devoured so frantically, the pain and despair on her face were slowly… disappearing, replaced by something much darker.
In their place appeared an extremely eerie smile, twisted and savage, mixed with resentment and a mocking light that chilled his blood.
"Cough… heh heh… hahahaha… cough cough…" She kept coughing up blood, the dark fluid staining her teeth. "Xue Shouren… you really… really did this in the end… cough cough…"
"What are you laughing at?" His heart jolted with a sudden, sharp instinct. A sense of impending doom surged up from the base of his spine.
"I'm laughing at how… stupid you're…" She stared at him with pure contempt in her eyes, her gaze fixed on him as if she were looking at a corpse. "As expected… elders like you, who joined the sect later and halfway through life… can never truly give everything to the sect… forever just… white-eyed wolves that can never be tamed… cough cough…"
Hearing this, he immediately tried to forcibly cut off the devouring, but it was already too late.
The hand she had kept clenched at her side had somehow loosened, her fingers trembling as they uncurled. Resting quietly in her palm was an exquisitely carved jade pendant, crystal clear from top to bottom and glowing with an ominous light.
Crack.
With the last of her strength, Granny Hua crushed the jade pendant in her hand.