Chapter 294 - 285: Black Fire

Chapter 294: Chapter 285: Black Fire

The inn, named Anshun, was not large.

Fu Juemin’s party had now entered Yingchuan County. It bordered Longqiu County, but Yingchuan was far more desolate.

There were few pedestrians on the road, and the inn was just as empty. A group of refugees, however, had gathered at the entrance. They couldn’t be shooed away, seemingly surviving solely on the daily buckets of slop from the inn.

With their fine clothes and distinguished bearing, Fu Juemin’s party was immediately surrounded by the refugees at the entrance.

The soft-hearted Xu Xinyi wanted to toss them some money, but Fu Juemin stopped her. Instead, he had someone buy two large steamers of buns from the end of the street to hand out, which finally allowed them to pass.

The inn only had one superior room available. After a simple dinner in the main hall, those standing guard took their posts while the others retired to the room.

「That night, in the room.」

The inn had no electric lights, only gas lamps. Fu Juemin had someone ask the Shopkeeper for a few extra candles.

Now, by the light of the candles and the gas lamp, he sat on the edge of the bed, quietly gazing at two enormous, curved fangs nestled within layers of wrapping inside a leather suitcase.

The sound of splashing water came from one side of the room, where Xu Xinyi was bathing behind a landscape-painted screen.

These were the fangs of the Flood Dragon Level Centipede Spirit, whose body had been a hundred meters long. Even after Fu Juemin had broken them off post-mortem, and despite having "shrunk" a bit, they still looked like a pair of massive, oddly shaped scimitars.

The "blades" were covered in flowing, flame-like patterns, mostly orange-red, but with a faint purplish hue near the base.

Fu Juemin recalled the might of the Friend Mountain Centipede Spirit. It felt as though almost all its abilities were related to fire; its venom, in contrast, hadn’t seemed particularly potent.

’Fire-poison is still poison...’

Fu Juemin reached out and picked up one of the fangs. It had been detached from the body for many days, yet it was still hot to the touch.

He tapped his knuckle lightly on the fang’s surface, hearing a hollow sound from within.

’They seem a bit too brittle to be made into weapons,’ he thought. ’But if not for weapons, what else could they be used for?’

’Shen Yijun would definitely have some ideas. If he were here and saw these two fangs, he’d undoubtedly start calling me "Brother Lingjun" all affectionately again.’

’I’ll just hang onto them for now,’ Fu Juemin thought, setting the fang down.

Before leaving Shenghai, Fu Juemin had hidden many of his belongings in a secret location.

These included some valuables Aunt Ding had left at the Ink Garden, Gu Shouyu’s pile of books from Jigu Garden, and even specimen jars containing the water monkey’s severed limbs preserved in formalin.

His trip to Yingjing was for the purpose of collecting the two remaining techniques of the Celestial Blessing Four Great Iron Body Skills: the Bright King Shackles Skill and the Bodhi Vajra Formula.

He had also heard that "all the Demon Fiends under heaven gather in Yingjing," and he planned to find a way to assemble the Ten-Phase Demon Soul of the Five Beasts and Five Poisonous Creatures there.

He had also learned from Shen Yijun that in the Demon Capital Ghostly Land, the remnants of the previous dynasty, in their futile dream of restoration, were raising fiends, worshiping demons, and treating human lives as less than nothing...

If the opportunity arose, he would cause some trouble for them, just as he had done in Shenghai.

He would return to Shenghai sooner or later. After all, there was still a water monkey waiting for him there...

As he mulled this over, the splashing from the other side of the room stopped. With a casual flick of his foot, Fu Juemin hooked the suitcase. The lid snapped shut, and he deftly kicked it into a corner.

A moment later, Xu Xinyi, fresh from her bath, emerged from behind the screen.

Xu Xinyi wore only a lace-trimmed silk nightgown. Her damp hair cascaded over her chest, and in the dimly lit room, she possessed a captivating charm.

She wore a necklace around her smooth, pale neck, with a red gemstone pendant resting against her skin.

"Is it beautiful?" Seeing Fu Juemin’s gaze land on the necklace, Xu Xinyi smiled. "You wear jade, so I thought I’d wear a ruby to match you.

Unfortunately, I don’t remember when I bought this gem. Its quality is a little lacking..."

"It’s beautiful."

Fu Juemin nodded, then walked up and lightly tapped the gemstone.

*POP—*

The dull gemstone trembled slightly, and a faint popping sound emanated from underneath it.

"What’s wrong?"

Xu Xinyi looked at him with wide eyes.

"It’s nothing."

Fu Juemin didn’t explain. With his Inner Sensing Realm Perception, he had detected a minuscule insect on the back of the gemstone. Afraid of startling Xu Xinyi, he had casually obliterated it with a vibration, then smoothly swept her into his arms and strode toward the bed.

Xu Xinyi wrapped her arms around his neck, blushing as she buried her face in his chest. "The lights," she whispered.

"It’s fine."

...

Deep in the night, Fu Juemin got out of bed, sat on the edge, and slowly put on his clothes.

After several hours, Xu Xinyi was completely exhausted and fast asleep, snoring softly.

Fu Juemin blew out the candles and the gas lamp, activated [Shadow Control], and silently slipped out of the room and away from the inn.

The night was moonless.

Strolling through the dim darkness, Fu Juemin activated [Yao Ling], looking for a secluded, deserted spot nearby to test his current strength.

’That spot about a mile away seems pretty good...’

Soon, a glint shone in Fu Juemin’s eyes. He had found his spot and quickened his pace.

Along the way, he heard the barking of stray dogs, but no night watchman. As he passed a haystack, he heard a rustling, noisy commotion from inside.

He paused briefly. After a moment’s thought, with a slight twitch of his foot, he kicked two small pebbles, sending them shooting out like bullets.

*THWIP!* *THWIP!* The pebbles pierced the haystack and then the heads of two refugees who were pinning down an unconscious peasant woman—whether for her money, her body, or both, he didn’t know.

Brain matter splattered across the ground as the two refugees fell dead without a sound.

Fu Juemin couldn’t be bothered to wake the unconscious woman and simply walked away.

’If I happen upon something, I’ll handle it. I’ll help if I can, but I won’t go out of my way.’

’After all, in these chaotic times, people’s hearts are treacherous. The person you help might not be a good person either.’

’If you look closely at most people, they’re all half-human and half-ghost, making it impossible to distinguish good from evil.’

’That includes me.’

Before long, Fu Juemin arrived at the place.

It was an extremely old and dilapidated building, surrounded by overgrown weeds. Its two broken, half-open doors were draped in cobwebs. The inside was pitch-black, exuding a thick, gloomy chill.

Logically, a building that offered shelter from the elements should have long since become a den for beggars or refugees.

The reason it remained unoccupied... was likely the two words written on the plaque by the door, its ink almost entirely faded: "Coffin Home."

*CREAK—*

Fu Juemin pushed the door open and went inside.

After entering, he pushed the wooden doors shut behind him.

Inside the small Coffin Home were four coffins. Three had rotted and collapsed, leaving only one relatively intact, its lid blanketed in a thick layer of dust.

The moment Fu Juemin entered, a sinister wind inexplicably swept through the hall.

*WHOOSH—*

In a corner of the Coffin Home, a translucent, blood-red figure slowly materialized.

The intact coffin in the center also began to vibrate. *CLACK... CLACK... CLACK...* The lid slowly rose by itself, as if something were about to crawl out from within.

Fu Juemin ignored these eerie phenomena. Instead, he scanned his surroundings, a satisfied look appearing on his face.

He slowly walked forward.

With a single step, he released an invisible aura. The dust on the ground was instantly blown aside, revealing a spotlessly clean, grey stone floor beneath his feet.

In that instant, the sinister wind in the hall died completely.

The blood-red, translucent specter in the corner froze, and the creaking coffin lid in the center of the hall halted at a thirty-degree angle.

The next second.

*SWOOSH—*

Like a startled cat, the scarlet phantom in the corner darted into a shadow and vanished. The coffin lid, which had just been lifting, slammed shut with a loud BANG.

Fu Juemin walked to the center of the hall, casually raised a hand, and released a terrifying wave of Vitality—

The coffins were struck by an immense, invisible force and sent CRASHING to the side.

*Whimper...*

A few aggrieved whimpers came from one of the coffins, which was now pinned beneath another, but when Fu Juemin’s indifferent gaze swept over, it immediately fell silent.

In chaotic times, monsters were a common sight.

It wasn’t surprising to find a couple of spectral beings or members of the Ghost Race in a rural backwater like this.

Whether it was the yin spirit in the corner or the corpse-fiend in the coffin, both were pathetically weak in Fu Juemin’s eyes.

He was mainly out tonight to test a few Demon Soul combinations, so he couldn’t be bothered with them for the moment.

Having cleared a relatively clean and spacious area, Fu Juemin stood firm in the middle of the hall. After a moment’s thought, he decided to start by testing the enhancement the centipede’s soul provided to his Five Aggregates Profound Slaughter Technique.

With a shift of his will, the five great Poison Acupoints within his body instantly activated, beginning to spin...

As the Five Aggregates Poison Acupoints spun, the brilliant sheen of his Glazed True Gang rapidly faded, replaced by wisps of dark, foul energy steaming from his body.

Then, he drew the Demon Soul into his body!

Behind Fu Juemin, the phantom of a colossal Black-Scaled Demon Python materialized. The dark, foul energy instantly intensified and thickened.

Almost simultaneously, *BANG!*

A wooden plank standing upright in the deepest corner of the hall suddenly fell over with a sharp crack, as if something had been so terrified it had knocked it over in a blind panic.

Then, the Moyu Guardian Demon Soul...

The Toad Demon Soul...

And when the final phantom—the hundred-meter Fire Centipede—slowly materialized, radiating an absolutely oppressive aura—

From outside, one could see the dilapidated Coffin Home, standing isolated in the wilderness. From the holes in its walls, from its windows, from its roof...

...billowing clouds of black and grey smoke erupted. A living, foul miasma shot meters into the air. The Demon Qi was so thick it seemed to pierce the heavens!

Inside the Coffin Home, the foul miasma was so thick it was pitch-black, so dark one couldn’t see their hand in front of their face.

In a corner of the hall, a translucent woman in red, her face deathly pale, was desperately trying to squeeze herself into a crack in the wall. She clutched her head, her entire body trembling violently with fear.

Elsewhere, from within a coffin whose lid was now askew, came a constant, rapid clattering, like the sound of chattering teeth.

In the center of the hall.

Surrounded by four enormous, ferocious, and terrifying Demon Soul phantoms, stood a silent figure. It was wreathed in smoke and engulfed in black flames that leaped several feet high.

The figure’s features were obscured, but deep within the dense, blazing black flames, a pair of bewitching, piercingly bright eyes shone.

’With this one palm strike...’

Pushing his Vitality to its absolute limit, Fu Juemin looked down at his fair right hand, now entwined with black fire, and muttered to himself in a hoarse voice.

’...killing a Heart Intent Realm Martial Artist like Fan Wuyan should be more than easy enough...’

The empowerment from the hundred-meter Fire Centipede’s Demon Soul was immense. It had pushed his Five Aggregates Profound Slaughter Technique, already at the Great Success stage, to an entirely new level—

His True Strength had actually condensed into tangible black Gang Fire!