Chapter 120: The Third Night, Blood Grin Strikes
Three days passed in a flash. Apart from cultivating, Su Tianhao had spent every waking moment searching for clues about Blood Grin's whereabouts—but all efforts proved fruitless. Yet on this third night, everything was about to change.
The crescent moon hung high in an empty sky, casting pale silver light across the earth. Beneath the massive oak tree in Fei Wu Quarter, Su Tianhao sat cross-legged in meditative silence, Shadowfang resting beside him. His eyes were closed—but his expression lacked its usual serenity. His brows were tightly furrowed, a deep frown etched across his face.
The Heart Demon gnawed at him from within. When the heart is restless, the mind grows clouded—and in such a state, cultivation becomes not only difficult but dangerous.
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After several long minutes, his eyes snapped open, golden depths flickering with frustration.
"What am I doing wrong?" he muttered, fist clenching. "I've taken every step correctly... Why is my cultivation showing no progress? Why is my comprehension so muddled?"
His knuckles whitened. "I need to do something about this quickly."
Then—
A chilling wind swept past, rustling the leaves across the stone floor and shaking the treetops.
Su Tianhao's hand moved immediately to Shadowfang's hilt. "Who's there?"
"You're quite perceptive..." A voice drifted through the night, dripping with sarcasm beneath a thin veneer of concern. "Having trouble cultivating, I see."
"Show yourself," Su Tianhao said coldly, golden eyes scanning the shadows.
"Jejeje..."
"How can you forget about me so soon?"
Su Tianhao's grip tightened around the sword hilt. "Blood Grin."
"Hahahahaha!!!"
Hysterical laughter erupted through the courtyard, echoing from every direction at once.
From the shadows, a tall figure stepped slowly into the moonlight—dark robes that seemed to drink in the darkness around him. As the light reached his face, the details emerged one by one. Bald head with patchy tufts of hair. A hideous scar carving across his features. One eye gleaming with sinister hunger, the other pale, empty, and completely lifeless. And that smile—permanent, twisted, like something that had been carved there rather than grown.
Blood Grin.
"It really is you," Su Tianhao said, his voice dropping to something cold and flat. "Good. You've saved me the trouble of looking for you."
"Hehehe—did you miss me?" Blood Grin's tongue flicked out, wetting his cracked lips like a serpent tasting the air.
Su Tianhao's eyes narrowed. "Speak your purpose."
"If you promise to kindly hand over your treasures and tell me your secrets," Blood Grin said, his eye glinting with greed, "I'll give you a quick and painless death. Generous, no?"
Su Tianhao's expression darkened. The memory of Blood Grin witnessing his devouring ability surfaced instantly.
"Who did you tell about my abilities?" he asked, stance firm and guard unbroken.
Blood Grin licked his lips again. "Why would I tell anyone about a treasure I found? That would only invite competition."
He measured Su Tianhao up with the deliberate patience of an appraiser, which only sharpened Su Tianhao's fury.
"I never thought you'd be living in the desolate quarters of this estate," Blood Grin continued, that eerie smile unwavering. "The heavens really do favor me. It wasn't easy reaching this place—but now that I'm here, no one will come for you even if we fight for hours." He tilted his head. "So choose wisely. A quick death—or I make a night of it."
"Fool." Su Tianhao's voice was quiet, certain. "It's good that you came here. This place is well hidden. It's going to be your burial ground."
Blood Grin threw his head back laughing—a sound like thunder rolling across distant hills.
"Do I need to remind you how you fled through Dragonspire Forest like a frightened rabbit? Completely defenseless?" His eye gleamed with madness. "And now you threaten me?"
Su Tianhao said nothing. His eyes sharpened, hand moving from the hilt to a full grip on Shadowfang.
"Shadow-Splitting Flash—"
Shing!
Shadowfang left its scabbard. The sound cut through the quiet like the first crack of a breaking storm.
"Flicker Edge!"
He moved—his figure erupting forward with the explosive speed of a lightning bolt, Shadowfang flickering through the moonlight like a shadow given edge. Man and sword in perfect sync.
One slash. Phantom trails hanging in the air. Beautiful—and exceedingly lethal.
The blade arrived at Blood Grin's throat in an instant. His eye widened—instinct screaming.
BOOM!
He propelled himself backward with a burst of spiritual energy, barely clearing the strike.
Swoosh!
Shadowfang vanished back to Su Tianhao's side.
Blood Grin's hand flew to his neck. His fingers came away wet.
His own blood.
A shallow cut—nothing more. But the fact that it existed at all sent a flash of dread through his eye.
Su Tianhao stood still, Shadowfang resting in his grip, expression unreadable.
In truth, he hadn't expected a finishing blow from that exchange. Flicker Edge could kill opponents two minor realms above—three with the perfect ambush. Su Tianhao had used the perfect ambush, and with his base strength now equivalent to a 1st level Martial Adept, a 4th level Martial Adept would have died there. But Blood Grin was at the 5th level. His reaction speed was simply faster—enough to escape with his life, though only barely.
"You're a lot stronger than before," Blood Grin said, his voice cooler now, more measured. Wariness had entered his eye where none had existed before. "Looks like your secrets really are worth the effort."
Su Tianhao didn't respond. A precise breath. Then he burst forward again, leaving dust and debris spinning in his wake.
"Don't get cocky!" Blood Grin barked, anger and embarrassment bleeding into his voice.
"Die!"
His hand slashed outward—
Whssht! Whssht!
A volley of razor-thin darts sliced through the air, blending seamlessly with the darkness, each tip carrying poison.
Su Tianhao's eyes contracted to sharp points. With a precise twist of his wrist, he reversed his grip on Shadowfang.
Reverse Grip Slash!
Shring—!
The black blade carved a wide, arcing crescent through the air, Su Tianhao spinning on his heel, robes whipping around him. The sword moved like an extension of his arm—slicing through the incoming volley with graceful precision.
Clang! Clink! Snap!
Metal struck metal. Sparks danced in the dark like scattered fireflies as deflected darts ricocheted off Shadowfang's edge and clattered across the stone floor. The air thickened with iron and the acrid bite of poison.
But there were too many.
Tssk!
A sharp sting bloomed across his ribs as two darts grazed his side, burning hot trails into his skin. A third embedded itself into the flesh of his left shoulder with a muted thunk.
Su Tianhao grunted through clenched teeth. Pain pulsed down his arm, warm blood seeping beneath his sleeve.
His boots skidded across the stone floor as he caught himself—leaving a thin red smear behind.
Across from him, Blood Grin cackled.
"What now, little swordsman?" His lifeless eye gleamed like bone in the moonlight. "Still feeling brave?"
Su Tianhao's gaze stayed cold, golden eyes burning like embers in the dark. He straightened. The muscles in his injured shoulder twitched as he adjusted his grip on Shadowfang. His breathing slowed—steady, controlled.
"This isn't enough to stop me."
He reached up and pulled the dart from his shoulder without ceremony, blood running down his arm.
"It's useless—you're already poisoned!" Blood Grin jeered, that twisted grin widening.
"You never learn," Su Tianhao replied quietly.
"Huh?"
"Devour."
The word fell like a stone dropped into still water—deep, commanding, carrying weight beneath its simplicity.
The dormant vortex within his dantian roared to life. A powerful suction force enveloped his body, drawing the poison directly from his wound and into the swirling furnace inside him. The refining began immediately—within seconds the toxin unraveled into revitalizing energy, coursing through his meridians like heat through iron. The wound on his shoulder sealed shut as if it had never been.
"Monster..." Blood Grin whispered, his eye wide.
Su Tianhao flexed his arm, feeling the surge of strength settle through him.
"Healing—that's new," he murmured. "I haven't made any real progress in days. But fighting you... it's already being triggered."
His golden eyes glinted beneath the moonlight.
"Looks like killing you really is the only way to get rid of my Heart Demon."