Kao Dao Ji walked through the field.
His expression was nervous as he darted across the field from left to right.
The selling of a pair of Rank 2 Gu was simply far too conspicuous, but it could not be helped; his progress was stalling, and for that, Primeval Stones were simply too crucial.
To sustain it, he needed to be more ambitious; moreover, his own Cultivation was not that bad. Perhaps enough to deter-
His pupils narrowed.
Though very hard to notice just a few dozen meters away from him, there was a man wearing camouflage, hiding amidst the grass, crouching down.
Perhaps that kind of trick may have worked in an inexperienced person, but Kao Dao Ji had long since gotten used to ambushes from animals.
From his perspective, that person was rather clumsy; he even chuckled.
But just as he discovered the person.
The person jumped towards him.
His speed and the heights their jump reached were rather absurd.
Clearly, a Rank 2 Gu had been activated; in response to this, Yin Qi surged through Kao Dao JI's body.
His body rapidly morphed, growing larger.
Yet.
His pupils narrowed; just when he thought his opponent was rushing towards him blindly, they opened their mouth.
From which powerful flames were released.
Kao Dao Ji retreated backwards.
But just as he did.
From two opposite sides, several arrows began to be shot.
Kao Dao Ji tilted his head, realizing that they were using mundane arrows.
But that did not make his situation any better.
They were deadly all the same, and to defend from them, one needed to consume Primeval Essence, whilst the user merely consumed stamina.
Which could easily be improved by employing the strength-enhancing Gu Worm.
In some aspects, they were even better than Gu.
Kao Dao Ji's expression grew colder.
The transformation reached its peak, and he charged towards one of the two.
He looked somewhat short and had a frail body.
The bandit merely ran away, whilst the other archer kept shooting.
The other Gu Master simply jumped towards Kao Dao Ji to intercept him.
Once more, he unleashed those long flames.
But Kao Dao Ji curled his lips into a wide smile.
The man who kept shooting those flames, whilst seemingly incredibly dangerous, was rather easy to deal with.
Every time he wanted to throw those flames, he needed to take a long breath before exhaling.
Whilst the flames propagated slowly, there was very little threat of actually being caught by them.
However, his main purpose was simply to jump around like a monkey, whilst using those flames to harass the target.
To give his buddies an opening to attack from the sides.
It was a very crude but useful strategy.
Yet.
Instead of playing his game, Kao Dao Ji charged!
His current state could not be maintained for long; whilst the greatest cost was the initial transformation, it still took an absurd amount of Primeval Essence every second.
The man widened his eyes as he saw Kao Dao Ji approaching.
Once more, he jumped backwards to retreat, but he snorted coldly.
He punched the air.
The black Qi propagated and reached its target.
Upon reaching him, his body seemed to be jolted awake; he convulsed, unable to control his body properly.
Unlike Kao Dao Ji, his physique was unsuitable to endure vast levels of Yin Qi.
But that did not mean this method was absolute.
The freezing effect would only last for a few seconds. And he was still able to use Gu.
But Kao Dao Ji had already calculated the situation.
The aperture itself was close to the belly button.
While interacting with the aperture of a person was pretty much impossible, as it was like trying to grab a piece of air.
There were other ways it could be indirectly affected.
With his claws, he 'rubbed' the belly, piercing through the soft layer of flesh.
Wounds that affected the area close to where the aperture was could indirectly damage the foundation of the aperture.
If treated in time, the aperture would recover; if not, the problem would aggravate, and they may lose a portion of their aptitude forever.
Regardless of whether they healed or not, targeting the aperture prevented the person from temporarily mobilizing their Primeval Essence.
It was like trying to move with both of your legs broken.
Speaking of which.
Kao Dao Ji used the opportunity when he lost control over his aperture to snap his arms and legs.
Breaking them both.
Once he was crippled enough, he grabbed him by the neck.
"Do not move an inch or I will rip your throat!" He shouted.
"And this goes for your buddies too." He turned his head towards the right, and he squinted his eyes.
"And for you too, bastard."
Suddenly.
From the ground itself, a figure excavated the dirt, ascending towards the surface in one leap.
"What gave me away?" The man asked curiously. The man had a round face and whiskers.
Whilst his hands were rather big, almost comically, and the fingers were glued together.
Kao Dao Ji snorted coldly.
"Make a guess." Initially, he had been unable to detect any of the four because he had been unprepared; however, he would not take any chances after taking the hostages, thus he investigated as much as he could.
Using the methods he had been taught as well as some which he had figured out on his own, he managed to uncover everything.
The cost?
His Primeval Essence was running dry, and whilst he still had quite a bit, it was not wise to sustain the transformation any longer.
He sighed briefly
He took his own hood and the transformation receded.
The man raised his eyebrows in surprise at seeing the face.
"Such a beauty…" His expression changed, but not by lust, but by greed.
Kao Dao Ji raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Just what in this guy's head?"
The man laughed.
"And I thought you were an ugly hag…Who would ever guess you were quite the looker?"
The eyelids of Kao Dao Ji trembled.
But the man's grin slowly vanished.
"By how youthful you look, and by your Cultivation and skills, I can tell you are such a little prodigy.
Let me guess. You were born with a B Aptitude and believed yourself to be born for greatness.
But your Clan prioritized your brothers over you, but you were not satisfied with this.
You ran away, but before doing so, you stole several Gu recipes and Gu's from them.
You tried to live and survive on your own, but you realized your own skills were lacking and that you'd starve if you kept up like this.
In the end, you began to make use of your Gu Refinement Skills to make a living…" The man began to narrate a long tale, based on his own deductions.
"Did I hit the nail?" The man replied with a tiny chuckle.
But Kao Dao Ji merely snickered.
"Eh. 4 out of 10 I'd say. Still, you are quite the storyteller; why didn't you make a living out of that instead of pissing me off? Also, do I have to remind you that your friend's throat is in my hands right now?
I can kill him whenever I want to.
And even if you do not care, what will your other buddies think about that?
That you will discard them like used condoms when you no longer need them." As Kao Dao Ji spoke those words, he retreated several steps.
The bandits were not aware of this, but they were actually not that far off from the inheritance cave.
If he reached the destination, unless the others held a special constitution like his, they'd probably die in the attempt.
The man laughed heartily.
He took a step forward.
"You have quite the tongue, missy. That is an awful habit. You know…
What I was trying to say is.
Before knowing how you really looked, I only wanted to capture you. To break your legs and to force you to refine Gu for us.
But now that I know who you truly are, I do wish to ask you…
Do you regret it?"
Kao Dao Ji tilted his head, mildly confused.
"Your life, however hopeless it may have seemed, must have been, I imagine, far better than this.
You are alone in the dark; you are without a home.
You look sideways, trying to catch a glimpse of any wannabe bandit or any wild beast that may devour you at any instant.
Fear warps your mentality and actions to the extent that you hide your face and cut down your own hair.
You are afraid of being seen and thus coveted by others.
Tell me. Is this life any better than whatever you may have had before?" The bandit raised his arms freely into the air.
Kao Dao Ji's eyelids trembled.
Was a petty bandit, a murderer trying to talk-no-jutsu him?
"Hah…What do you propose?" He asked, somewhat intrigued.
"Do you know about Hu Yong? He is a Rank 5 overlord. A lone Gu Master, who is now trying to establish his tribe, and for that he intends to bring many women…"
Kao Dao Ji laughed in anger.
"So that is your great proposal? Come with us and be sold as a prostitute!"
The bandit merely chuckled.
"What is so bad about that? Do you think being a prostitute is a difficult thing? Do you think my life is any easier? Hah…If I could simply get plowed to become a Rank 3, I'd have done it ages ago."
Then he squinted his eyes.
"If I bring you to him, with your aptitude and your knowledge, I would surely be rewarded. With those funds, as well as the ones I've accrued on my own.
I will be able to reach Rank 3 after so long.
Whilst you will escape from this mess, and will be able to live comfortably.
And on top of that, I am also willing to sign an Oath over the Red Altar to help and protect you in your Cultivation Road for seven years!" The man spoke slowly and deliberately.
While it sounded insane, the man was actually sincere in his words; if she only followed him, he truly would abide by all the terms.
Yet.
Even after he took a step towards him, Kao Dao Ji still retreated.
"Have you not listened to anything I said? Do you truly wish to force my hand?" As the man spoke, the rage in his heart increased; as long as he could persuade that stupid woman, everything would be settled.
He tried to persuade, but when that failed, he began to threaten.
"Listen, woman. I do not wish to hurt you, but once I do, your pretty face will be ruined. By then, my offer will be off, and you will become our slave! And if you dare to ruin such an opportunity for me, I will put you through hell."
His face turned redder and redder, whilst the other two men kept circling around Kao Dao Ji.
The minutes went by as Kao Dao Ji steadily kept retreating.
"Hahah…You must think you are very clever. Do you truly think I don't know what you are doing?" The man tilted his head.
"You keep wasting our time while walking towards your den, which is filled with traps, aren't you?"
He smiled darkly.
"But you think you are the only one who can stall for time?"
At that moment, Kao Dao Ji had an ominous feeling in his heart.
At the next moment, earth spikes appeared rising from the ground, stabbing his two feet, and planting them deeply in the ground.
Even if he ignored the pain it would be impossible to escape.
Yet.
Despite the pain, Kao Dao Ji retained his mental stability.
From his aperture, he summoned a Rank 2 Gu he had yet to use.
A tiny cherry was shot from his hands.
Yet despite seeing such a frail thing, the man actually panicked.
[Cherry bomb]
The bomb exploded.
At the next moment, Kao Dao Ji's body shone with a black light once more.
After stalling for several minutes, as well as absorbing the energy of several Primeval Essence Stones, he was able to regain enough energy to transform again.
Using his enhanced physique, he managed to get his feet out of the spikes and began to run.
Ignoring the pain.
He ran at full speed, moving at more than eighty kilometers per hour.
As the dust settled and he regained his vision, the man stared at the running Kao Dao Ji, his expression turned hideous as he shouted.
"GET BACK HERE!" He began to chase him.
Ignoring his 'brother', who was in a critical state.
His speed was simply incredible.
Far beyond what an ordinary Rank 2 Gu Master could accomplish.
Over the decades, he had accumulated several Gu to improve his physique.
Pushing it beyond an ordinary realm, even without using Gu, he was already more powerful than several beasts.
Kao Dao Ji's lips trembled as he felt the footsteps approaching, as well as the angry voice of that man.
Yet.
The light of the cave was finally reaching him.
He finally reached it, entering into the cave.
But to his absolute bewilderment.
The man whose gaze seemed completely fixated on his ignored the barrier and jumped towards him.
But as he passed through the barrier.
His body was sliced into several parts; in the end, he became nothing but minced meat.
He was unable to even let out a scream as his torn-apart corpse directly hit Kao Dao Ji.
Bathing him in blood.
Kao Dao Ji stared at the scene in shock.
Or perhaps Hui Gui Yu's emotionality began to affect him, but his body began to tremble and quiver.
His mind and body would not settle.
The worst part.
Due to his wounds on his feet, he was unable to leave the cave freely.
Moving in an ordinary state was simply too risky; only in that transformed state did he have any probability of surviving, but that state could only be sustained for small bursts.
Nowhere near enough to hunt.
Furthermore, he was not sure if the other bandits had left.
In his current state, leaving was suicide.
…
…
…
…
…
As the days passed by.
Hunger invaded his mind.
Hunger was so intense that his eyes turned red.
Until he lost all sense of rationality, until he lost every sense of humanity.
By the time he came back to his senses, he discovered he had devoured a human's corpse.
"Hahahahah…." He touched his forehead as he laughed until tears came out of his face.
But even as his eyes turned red from crying, he could not stop laughing.
"Hahahahah….."
He stared at the starry moon in the sky.
For a brief instant, he saw once more that red star.
Was that red star representing his accursed fate? Or was his mind playing tricks on him, and he had grown insane?
For a moment, he peered further into the red star.
He perceived a strange being.
A being who looked like a skinned human, but emanated an intense crimson aura.
Was the red star actually a ghost?
But then.
As if it were a figment of his imagination.
The star disappeared.