The night wind blew softly over the hilltop that had now turned into a sea of blood. Even the sound of crickets seemed to disappear, as if nature was reluctant to make a sound in witnessing what had just happened.
The sword in his hand dripped slowly, making a small sound that strangely sounded so clear in the silence.
Behind him, the only bandit still alive crawls on the ground.
He is the one who previously brought Raven to that base. Now his face is pale, his body trembles, and his voice is hoarse as he holds back sobs.
"N-no... no... this can't be..." he murmurs softly while looking around.
All his comrades, all the friends he knew, now lay in a state that was difficult to even recognize as human due to the scattered body parts everywhere.
Raven's footsteps sounded softly as he approached.
SRAK...
SRAK...
the sound of boots stepping on pools of blood and body parts.
The bandit immediately begged, his voice trembling, "Please... please don't kill me... I... I can help you! I can tell you everything! About the union, about our leader, about—"
Raven did not respond. He crouched down slowly.
In one smooth motion, his two fingers pressed the Jianjing Point on the shoulder where the neck and shoulder meet, the junction where qi flows toward the arm. The pressure instantly numbed both of the bandit's hands.
Before he could react, Raven's fingers slid down, striking the Qihai Point below the navel the center of energy storage in the dantian. The sharp pressure accompanied by the flow of qi cut off his internal energy circulation, causing his breathing to falter.
It wasn't over yet.
Raven shifted half a step and thrust his thumb under the left rib cage, the Zhangmen Point, cutting off the flow of qi to the upper limbs. Both of the bandit's arms immediately went numb, falling limply.
Finally, two quick taps hit the lower back along the spine at the Mingmen and Yaoyangguan points.
The flow of energy along the Du meridian stopped.
The bandit's body instantly stiffened.
His muscles turned to stone. His legs lost control. He collapsed into a half-kneeling position, his eyes wide open. He was fully conscious, feeling every second, yet unable to move a single part of his body.
"Y-you... didn't you promise?!" His voice trembled, barely audible.
Raven stepped slowly forward until they were only inches apart, his gaze piercing straight into the bandit's eyes without the slightest emotion. As he spoke, each word felt like a heavy weight pressing down on his opponent's chest.
"And haven't I let you live until this moment?" he replied calmly.
He paused for a moment, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"So be quiet... and die now."
The tips of his fingers glowed with a faint dark light, not light, but a thick shadow that pulsed as if it were alive.
Thick black Death Qi flowed into the bandit's body.
"AAAAAARRGHHHHHHH!!!"
The scream echoed loudly across the hilly plain, shaking the night air. The night birds hiding in the trees flew away in panic, leaving the place as if avoiding a curse.
The bandit's body shook violently. The veins in his neck bulged, his skin began to blacken in places, and blood dripped from his nose and the corners of his mouth.
The Death Qi seeped into his internal organs, rotting the tissue from the inside out. The stench of fish mixed with the stench of rot filled the air, stinging the nose.
Raven stood tall in front of him, his gaze as sharp as a knife, emotionless.
He stared at the scene as if someone enjoying his own work of art.
The large body slumped to the ground. Blood dripped from his lips, his eyes remained open, staring blankly at the dim night sky.
Raven stared at the body for a few seconds without expression.
"It should be this way," he thought calmly.
"A life for a life. It's that simple..."
The air around him was silent, filled only with the sound of leaves rustling in the night wind.
Then he turned slowly.
His gaze swept around the area. The entire bandit headquarters was now submerged in a sea of blood and corpses. There was no guilt, no regret on his face, only
a strange calmness.
"Alright..." he said flatly.
"With a harvest this big... it seems enough to form my dantian."
A thin smile was etched on his lips coldly, almost imperceptibly.
"Heh... this is a jackpot."
He stepped slowly into the pile of corpses, each step making a
squelching sound as he stepped on pools of blood. Raven stood tall in the middle of it all, slowly closing his eyes.
The night wind blew harder.
From the scattered corpses, Death Qi began to emerge, thin black threads like thick smoke, dancing in the air before slowly flowing toward Raven.
One by one, the currents were absorbed into his body. The ground beneath his feet pulsed
gently. The moonlight in the sky seemed to be swallowed by the darkness that appeared around him.
And in the midst of that vortex of death energy, Raven stood motionless, his body
enveloped in a black aura that danced wildly, cold, terrifying, yet also beautiful
in a horrific way.
The air around him began to vibrate softly.
The Death Qi flowing from the pile of corpses grew thicker, encircling Raven's body
like a living black mist.
Shadows on the ground seemed to move on their own, as if dancing to the rhythm of the energy surrounding his body.
From the outside, the scene looked like a forbidden ritual with a man standing in the middle of a sea of death, enveloped in a vortex of darkness that pulsed with his own breath.
But inside Raven's body, it felt very different.
The Death Qi pierced through his pores, its coldness penetrating his bones, like thousands of
fine needles flowing through his blood.
It was painful, burning from within, but Raven only gritted his teeth and remained standing tall.
The veins in his neck and hands stood out.
His eyes trembled slightly, his pupils dilated as if something was trying to take
his consciousness.
In his head, faint voices began to sound, whispers from spirits who had
just died, screaming, crying, begging.
"I... am still alive..."
"Please... don't let me die like this..."
"Why... why does my body feel cold..."
The whispers pierced his mind, echoing like an echo from the deepest valley.
But Raven did not waver.
He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, suppressing all those voices with his own will.
"Noisy," he muttered softly.
The Death Qi swirling around him grew faster, forming a vortex like a small hurricane.
The ends of his clothes fluttered wildly, his hair tousled by the storm of energy. From the ground, fine cracks appeared and formed a circular pattern, as if nature itself was moving away from him.
Until finally...
A heavy sound came from within Raven's body, like something breaking and opening.
Instantly, the vortex of Death Qi was completely absorbed into him.
Silence.
Raven slowly opened his eyes.
His pupils glowed darkly for a few seconds before returning to normal. His breathing was steady, but the cold air around him did not disappear; instead, it felt even more intense. His body felt light, but behind that, there was something else, a familiar power that flowed with his blood.
He knew that his dantian had been completely formed.
And now, Death Qi was a part of him.
But along with that power, something else clung to his consciousness flashes of the faces of the bandits he had killed, their screams, their fear…
The images appeared for a moment then disappeared, but left a faint bitterness in his chest.
Raven stared at the gloomy night sky.
The dim moonlight illuminated his calm face, but in his eyes remained a dark trace, like someone who had just looked too deeply into the abyss of death, and the abyss had looked back.
"Not bad," he said softly.
"It's only the formation of the dantian... but it's enough to use some techniques. Although it's not perfect, it's more than enough for now."
His gaze fell on the pile of corpses around him.
The night wind blew again, carrying the thick smell of blood. He just
sighed lightly.
"Looks like... that's it for tonight."
The night went on as usual. The sky remained dark, the wind remained cold, as if nothing had changed.
Yet beneath that calm, something had shifted.
Not the world.
But himself.
An ancient power that had once slept now began to open its eyes slowly, silently, marking the beginning of the return of something once feared.