Lu Zhiyuan searched both bodies and found only some copper coins. A fine rain began to fall. After checking his bearings, he ran southeast.
Night fell. The scent of roasting meat filled a ruined temple, mingling with occasional conversation.
Rumor had it that an immortal had once emerged from Mount Stillshade, someone who could overturn rivers and seas and accomplish anything. A temple had later been built on the mountain to honor that immortal. But prayers there had proved rather ineffective.
Within a few years, it had been abandoned entirely. It now served as temporary shelter for people spending the night on Mount Stillshade.
Lu Zhiyuan carefully turned the rabbit skewered on a branch. He had been lucky enough to catch one. A few of the clinic's menials chatted nearby, stealing hungry, longing glances at the meat.
The clinic's meals included neither fish nor meat. Anyone who wanted meat had to buy it elsewhere. On the menials' wages, they could not even afford a taste once a month.
Knock, knock, knock!
Someone was knocking at the door. A menial went to open it. Cold wind swept inside. Lu Zhiyuan instinctively glanced out, narrowed his eyes slightly, then looked away.
"Wonderful, rabbit! I'm starving." Wei Ning brightened at the sight of the roast.
"Just you? I thought the others were with you." The menial at the door peered outside in puzzlement.
"I don't know where they are." Wei Ning shook his head and sat on the ground, watching the nearly cooked rabbit.
The fire crackled.
Moisture still clung to the wood, making it spit and pop.
Perhaps finding the silence uncomfortable, Wei Ning spoke. "Guess what happened to me today. Once you hear it, I guarantee you'll be cheering!"
"What happened? Let's hear it." The other menials were intrigued.
"Hold on. I have something to tell you, too," Lu Zhiyuan suddenly said. "Do you know how I caught this rabbit today?"
Everyone turned toward him. The tantalizing scent of meat drifted past their noses, making them increasingly restless.
Lu Zhiyuan stood and looked at them. "Rabbits are alert. The slightest disturbance, and they're off. So when you see one, don't make a sound. Approach slowly, then do this..."
Slice!
A flash of light crossed the ruined temple. Wei Ning stared blankly at Lu Zhiyuan. The next instant, his head rolled to the ground.
"Ah!"
The other menials screamed, staring at Lu Zhiyuan in disbelief. He had killed someone. Right before their eyes, he had killed someone.
Worse, they had no idea why he had killed Wei Ning. That was what terrified them most.
Lu Zhiyuan said nothing. He watched Wei Ning's neck. Nothing there looked remotely like normal flesh and blood.
"Everyone, run!"
Before leaving, he hooked the purse from Wei Ning's waist with his woodcutting knife, then rushed out of the ruined temple without looking back.
A sinister cackle echoed inside.
The other menials snapped out of their stupor. Seeing the headless body rise on its own, they understood at once. Faces stricken with terror, they all fled the temple.
Lu Zhiyuan's expression was grim. He had not expected to actually encounter an uncanny entity on Mount Stillshade. Fortunately, breaking through to the Skin Tempering stage earlier that day had allowed him to sense something of its presence.
Otherwise, there was no telling what might have happened had he remained in the temple.
The most urgent thing now was to get back to Stillshade that very night. It was the county seat of Stillshade County, where incidents involving uncanny entities were rare. Rumor had it that a treasure in the county office kept them at bay.
Lu Zhiyuan did not know whether that was true. He only wanted to get back as quickly as possible, somewhere a little safer.
"Lu Zhiyuan, my neck hurts. That cut of yours hurt so much!"
A ghostly voice drifted from behind him. His expression changed. Wasn't martial training supposed to strengthen blood vitality, making uncanny entities chase those with weaker blood vitality first?
How had it caught up so quickly? Unless all the other menials were already dead?
He ran with all his strength. Since reaching the Skin Tempering stage, his stamina and speed had improved enormously. He would have left any ordinary pursuer far behind. But however hard he ran, a cold, sinister presence kept following him.
"Highpeak Martial School taught us that a martial artist's blood vitality can fight uncanny entities. I may have reached this cultivation stage, but I barely know how to use my blood vitality."
Highpeak Fist was still marked Uninitiated on his panel. He had yet to gain a basic command of it. He took out the purse he had snatched from Wei Ning. To his surprise, it held more than two silver taels.
"Panel, simplify Highpeak Fist!"
"Simplifying Highpeak Fist... Simplification successful... Highpeak Fist → Arm Swinging!"
Arm Swinging?
Before he could make sense of that, insights into Highpeak Fist began surfacing in his mind at astonishing speed.
He instinctively checked the panel.
[Techniques: Highpeak Fist (Basic 23/100)]
The 23 became 24 in the blink of an eye, then continued climbing. He looked at his arms. Of course they were swinging. He was running hard.
He marveled at it. This simplification was every bit as impressive as the one for the breathing method.
"Lu Zhiyuan, do you know where my head went?"
Wei Ning's voice sounded directly behind his ear, as though the entity were pressed against his back. He could even feel the breath from its words.
Lu Zhiyuan's expression changed, and he punched backward. As the finer points of Highpeak Fist ran through his mind, his fist rapidly grew hotter.
Thump!
Wei Ning screamed. The spot on its chest where the punch had landed was charred black.
"It works!"
Lu Zhiyuan's eyes brightened. Instead of fleeing, he gripped his woodcutting knife and charged at Wei Ning.
Now that he had reached Basic proficiency in Highpeak Fist, he had a rough grasp of how to use blood vitality. He channeled it into his woodcutting knife, and a few slashes severed all four of Wei Ning's limbs.
"How can you be this strong?"
Wei Ning shrieked, but Lu Zhiyuan's expression did not change. He kept swinging his knife.
"Don't kill me! If you kill me, you won't survive either!"
Lu Zhiyuan paused for a fraction of a moment. Wei Ning was surely only a minor underling. There might really be a powerful uncanny entity behind it. But if he did not kill Wei Ning now, would it spare him?
"Stop! I'll tell you how to stay alive!"
Wei Ning cried out, but Lu Zhiyuan's blade was the answer.
At first, Wei Ning could still scream. As its flesh dissolved, even that became impossible. Eventually, as Lu Zhiyuan continued to slash mechanically, he realized that Wei Ning had turned into a cloud of ash.
"So that's how you kill uncanny entities!"
He murmured to himself and was about to turn away when a sudden sting struck his wrist. He raised it. A thin black line had appeared there.
There was no time to think about it. He ran toward Stillshade.
An hour later, he finally saw the city walls.