The cultivation world was fraught with danger, and Chu Ran was an exceptionally cautious man.
He had remained safe in the Heavenly Demon Sect for more than twenty years with Liu Mei—not because he was particularly powerful, but because he was careful enough.
In this man-eating sect, those who were careless had long since become fertilizer for the grass growing three feet high over their graves.
Every time he left his cave dwelling, he would pull out a single strand of hair and wedge it into the crack of the door.
If anyone opened the door, the strand was bound to fall to the ground.
At that moment, he crouched before the entrance, his eyes fixed on the crack. The strand of hair had vanished.
Chu Ran did not panic or make a sound. Instead, he slowly pressed his ear against the cold stone door, held his breath, and listened intently.
Rustling sounds came from inside the cave, as though someone were rummaging through his worthless belongings.
He moved lightly and began backing away, intending to leave first and return after midnight.
Cultivators generally carried their valuables with them. The things left inside their cave dwellings were merely everyday sundries. Chu Ran had no idea why this person had come to his cave.
He had only taken two steps back when the cave door suddenly creaked open from within.
A graceful figure appeared in the doorway, the moonlight outlining her exquisite curves.
Clearly, she had not expected Chu Ran to be standing outside. Her entire body stiffened for a moment.
When Chu Ran recognized her, his expression darkened. “Junior Sister Guo Ling, what are you doing in my cave?”
Gu Ling froze, but quickly recovered. The panic on her face vanished in a flash.
She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and spoke in a soft, delicate voice. “I haven’t seen Senior Brother Chu for five days, and I was worried about you, so I came to take a look.”
“To see whether I was dead?” Chu Ran understood immediately. He had been gone for five days, and Guo Ling had assumed he was dead. She had come to search for anything valuable.
Guo Ling studied Chu Ran’s pale face and unsteady breathing. A vicious glint flashed through her eyes.
Then she broke into a smile, her voice carrying a hint of reproach. “Senior Brother, you jest. We did share a night together, after all. How could I wish for you to die? I truly came here out of concern.”
“Now that you’ve seen me, Junior Sister, you can leave.” Chu Ran stepped aside, making way for her and issuing a clear dismissal.
Guo Ling, however, remained where she was. Her alluring eyes swept over Chu Ran’s face several times. “Senior Brother Chu, why is your complexion so poor? Could your snake venom have flared up?”
Chu Ran frowned.
Guo Ling was at the third stage of Qi Condensation. Although he was at the fourth stage, his body was currently weak and his vital energy depleted. If they truly fought, he might not be her match.
Without revealing anything, he casually invented an explanation. “I heard of a method that involves bleeding oneself to force out the poison and prolong one’s life. I just tried it, which is why I look a little pale.”
Guo Ling nodded. “What exactly was that ‘golden finger’ you mentioned that night, Senior Brother Chu?”
Chu Ran’s heart jolted.
None of these cultivators was kindhearted.
That night, when he had awakened his golden finger, he had mentioned it offhand. He had never expected her to remember it until now.
Although the concept of a “golden finger” did not exist in this world, Chu Ran did not dare take any chances.
If she guessed the truth and spread the news, the consequences would be disastrous.
His expression remained unchanged as he said calmly, “It was nothing. I merely had an epiphany and cultivated the Cleaving Metal Finger to minor mastery.”
He changed the subject. “Since Junior Sister Guo Ling has come, stay with me for the night. I’ll still pay you one spirit stone.”
Guo Ling looked him up and down, taking in his swaying, weakened body. She gave him a mocking smile. “Are you sure you can manage, Senior Brother?”
Chu Ran stepped into the cave and casually closed the door behind him. “Whether I can or not, I’ll still pay you one spirit stone.”
Guo Ling smiled sweetly. Raising her delicate hands, she began to undo her clothes.
One garment after another slipped away, revealing her fair shoulders and exquisite collarbones.
The fabric slid lightly over her fingertips before drifting to the ground.
Suddenly, a flash of cold light appeared!
As her clothes fell, they revealed a short sword.
Guo Ling moved as swiftly as lightning, thrusting it straight toward Chu Ran’s chest.
The short sword easily pierced through his robe and sank into his flesh.
But after entering less than half an inch, it could move no farther.
An old hand was clamped tightly around the blade, holding it immobile.
The young and handsome Chu Ran who had stood before her had become an old man with snow-white hair and a face covered in deep wrinkles.
Chu Ran raised two fingers as though they were a sword. Golden light radiated from them.
“Cleaving Metal Finger!”
He abruptly thrust his hand upward. His two fingers transformed into a streak of golden light, shooting toward the center of Guo Ling’s brow as swiftly as lightning.
Guo Ling’s expression changed drastically. Without time to wonder why Chu Ran had suddenly become so old, she forcibly withdrew her short sword and raised it horizontally before her brows, attempting to block his attack.
“Clang!”
“Pfft!”
The two sounds rang out almost simultaneously.
The light in Guo Ling’s eyes instantly faded. She held half of the broken sword in her hand as her body toppled stiffly backward.
Chu Ran pulled his fingers free and shook off the red-and-white substance clinging to them. The golden light between his fingers slowly faded.
Then he collapsed onto the floor, gasping heavily for breath.
Even with his depleted vital energy, once he used the Burning Essence Art to raise his cultivation to the sixth level of Qi Condensation, it was impossible for someone at the third level to withstand him.
His head spun dizzily, and in the end, he could hold on no longer. He passed out.
Once midnight had passed, Chu Ran’s white hair returned to its original black color, while all his injuries and lost blood essence were completely restored.
He suddenly awoke and looked around. Guo Ling’s corpse still lay where it had fallen, and no one else had come. Only then did he let out a relieved breath.
The battle had been extremely brief, and the noise it caused had been minimal. It had not attracted anyone’s attention.
Chu Ran searched Guo Ling’s body and found two spirit stones, along with several useless odds and ends.
The only item worth anything, the short sword, had been snapped in half by his Cleaving Metal Finger.
“What a pauper,” Chu Ran cursed.
An ordinary laborer disciple was generally worth about as much as this. The spirit stones they earned each month were barely enough to cover their own expenses. One of these stones was probably even the one Chu Ran had given her a few days ago.
Chu Ran stared at the corpse, troubled by how to dispose of it.
It was not that he had never killed anyone before. But those killings had taken place outside the sect, where he could simply leave the bodies exposed in the wilderness.
This was the Heavenly Demon Sect, however.
No matter where he hid the corpse, it would eventually begin to smell.
Cultivators had senses far sharper than ordinary people, and their sense of smell was even better than a dog’s. Anyone passing by would certainly discover it.
Burning the body was even less feasible. The charred stench would carry for miles, making it an obvious confession of guilt.
The Heavenly Demon Sect expressly forbade its disciples from murdering one another.
If discovered, one would suffer the lighter punishment of having one’s cultivation crippled and being expelled from the sect, or the harsher punishment of execution on the spot—one life for another.
Of course, these rules only applied to low-level cultivators like Chu Ran.
Those core disciples and personal disciples of the elders could kill an outer sect disciple or two without even blinking. No one would pursue the matter.
Chu Ran thought it over carefully.
“Tomorrow at noon, I’ll go with Xue Zhi. If we can obtain a Red Profound Fruit, I can buy a storage pouch first.”
A storage pouch was the most commonly used storage artifact in the cultivation world, containing a space of its own.
A storage pouch capable of holding a space the size of a small room cost twenty spirit stones. It was far beyond what ordinary cultivators could afford.
Having made up his mind, Chu Ran picked up Guo Ling’s broken short sword and began digging a pit in the corner of the cave.
It was not until the first light of dawn appeared on the horizon that Chu Ran finally dug a pit nearly three zhang deep in the hard ground.
“This should be deep enough.”
He was afraid someone might pass by or come calling, so he didn’t dare delay any longer. Reaching the corpse, he kicked Guo Ling’s body into the deep pit and then filled it in.
He covered the traces of the excavation with various odds and ends.
After backing away several steps, he narrowed his eyes and examined the area. Only after confirming that nothing seemed out of place did he let out a slight sigh of relief.
“I wonder if anyone else knew Guo Ling was coming to see me before she left.”
But there was no time to worry about that now.
He left his cave dwelling and placed numerous markers at the entrance.
If he came back and found that any of the markers had been disturbed, it would mean someone had entered his cave dwelling. When that happened, he would have no choice but to flee.
The cultivation world was vast. Even if he left the Heavenly Demon Sect, it wasn’t as though he couldn’t survive elsewhere.
After checking once more to make sure he hadn’t overlooked anything, he turned and hurried toward the outer sect market.