Chapter 117 - 84 : Monster (1)

Chapter 117: Chapter 84 : Monster (1)

For several breaths, no one moved. The shriveled corpse lay motionless on the blood-soaked ground, and the dull thud of its fall seemed strangely loud in the sudden silence.

The wind passed through the valley walls, carrying that same mournful cry that had given Wailing Mountain its name. Moonlight spilled across the battlefield, touching broken weapons, scattered bodies, and the blood-soaked earth.

With a blood-covered mouth and his fangs still exposed beneath his lips, Ethan’s eyes had darkened to a deep red. The sight alone made the cultivators around the valley hesitate. They had heard the rumors on the roads, the stories of a demonic cultivator who used blood, and some had even heard that those who crossed him were sometimes found pale and shrunken afterward. But rumors were easy to dismiss, especially when they came from people who had not witnessed the events themselves. What stood before them now was something they could no longer explain away.

A living cultivator had been seized and lifted from the ground, his struggles growing weaker as those fangs sank into his neck. Whatever resistance he had offered had gradually disappeared, leaving his body hanging limp before it was released and allowed to fall among the others. There was no mistaking what had happened. The rumors had spoken of blood, of drained corpses and strange deaths, but this was no longer something heard from another person’s account. It had happened right in front of them.

For several breaths, no one moved. Weapons remained raised, but some grips had tightened while others had begun to tremble slightly around their hilts. A few pairs of eyes shifted toward the body on the ground before returning to the figure standing beneath the moonlight. No one seemed willing to be the first to step forward. The bounty had called him a demonic cultivator, but that phrase had always been something written on a notice or repeated in conversation. Standing there beneath the moonlight, the words had been given something far more real.

A chill seemed to pass through the valley.

Not because anyone had suddenly forgotten why they were there, but because the thing they had come to kill had just revealed something none of them had been prepared to see.

Someone took a step backward.

"Shit. I’m out of here."

The words came quietly, almost swallowed by the wind, but they were enough to make several heads turn. The cultivator’s weapon lowered slightly as he stared at the blood around Ethan’s mouth and the body lying at his feet. Whatever courage had brought him into the valley had clearly reached its limit. He had come for a bounty, not to throw his life away.

Another cultivator swallowed hard. "After coming this far... we just leave?"

It sounded less like an argument and more like a question he was asking himself, as though he were trying to find a reason to stay. His eyes drifted across the valley, taking in the bodies scattered among the rocks. They had already lost too many people. Spirit stones had been spent on tracking talismans, days had been lost following rumors and watching roads, and group after group had been drawn deeper into the search until they had finally helped close Ethan inside this valley. Some of the bodies on the ground had once traveled beside them, shared information with them, or at least been familiar faces in the same circles. Walking away now meant leaving all of that behind with nothing to show for it.

"It doesn’t make sense," someone muttered from farther back. "We’ve already paid too much for this."

The words settled over the group, and several cultivators exchanged looks. No one immediately answered. The thought of turning around was becoming harder to dismiss, but so was the thought of being the one who walked away while everyone else stayed. If they left now and someone else remained behind to land the final blow, the regret would follow them long after the blood had dried. They had come too far, lost too many people, and sacrificed too much to simply admit that it had all been for nothing.

Then someone spoke from within the group, his voice uncertain.

"Didn’t anyone else notice it?"

A few faces turned toward him.

"Before he drank that blood," he continued, watching Ethan carefully, "I thought I was imagining it, but his healing seemed slower. He wasn’t recovering like he was earlier."

Another cultivator frowned. "I noticed that too."

"I thought my mind was playing tricks on me," someone else said. "But you’re right. His movements weren’t as sharp either."

The observation passed through the group, and for a moment, hope flickered across several faces. It was a small thing, barely enough to stand on, but they seized it anyway.

"Maybe he’s desperate," one of them said.

"Maybe," another answered slowly. His eyes remained fixed on Ethan. "Or maybe all of this is just a bluff. He wants us frightened enough to back off."

Someone tightened his grip around his weapon.

"He just drank someone’s blood."

The bluntness of the words made several people glance at him.

The cultivator swallowed, but continued, almost as though saying it aloud might make the situation easier to understand. "He drained a living person right in front of us. If he’s still doing that, then maybe he’s running out of whatever was keeping him going."

"Maybe he’s reaching his limit," another said quickly.

There was no certainty in the words. It was a possibility, nothing more, but the cultivator spoke as though he desperately wanted it to be true. Others picked up the same thought almost immediately.

"Then we keep the pressure on."

"If we back off now, all of this was for nothing."

"We’ve already come this far."

The voices began overlapping, each one feeding the next. The fear was still there, but now it had something to push against. Greed, pride, the bodies scattered around them, and the weight of everything they had already sacrificed kept pulling them back toward the fight. Even those who had wanted to leave found themselves hesitating, watching the others instead of turning away.

No one wanted to be the one who ran.

And slowly, the thought that Ethan might actually be nearing his limit became less like a guess and more like something they needed to believe.

"We’ve come too far to turn back now!"

An Early Qi Refining cultivator suddenly shouted, his voice cutting through the uncertainty. He looked around at the others, as though giving them the push they needed to settle their hesitation.

"Let’s finish this!"

The words reignited the group. Weapons rose again, grips tightened, and the cultivators who had been standing uncertainly began moving forward with renewed determination. The brief hesitation disappeared beneath a surge of momentum, each man feeding off the resolve of those around him. Whatever doubts had taken hold moments earlier were pushed aside, replaced by the same thought that had brought them here in the first place. They had already paid too much to turn back now, and if Ethan was truly beginning to slow, then this might be the opening they had been waiting for.

With a renewed burst of confidence, they surged toward him.

The next attack came harder than before. Whatever hesitation had held them back was gone, and the cultivators surged forward together, Qi flaring around weapons as blades, spears, and techniques tore through the darkness. Ethan met the rush head-on, but he no longer had the luxury of avoiding every attack. There were too many bodies around him, too many angles to cover, and every moment spent retreating only gave the others more room to close in. A cultivator came at him from the side, his blade sweeping toward Ethan’s ribs. Ethan stepped inside the strike, caught the man’s throat with one hand, and pulled him close before the blade could be brought around again. The cultivator’s eyes widened as Ethan’s fangs sank into his neck. A weapon struck Ethan’s shoulder almost immediately, but he barely reacted. He tightened his grip until the man’s struggles weakened, then released him and turned just as another attack came from the front.

Ethan twisted aside, caught the attacker’s arm, and used the man’s momentum against him. He drove him hard into a nearby tree, the impact shaking loose leaves from the branches above. Before the cultivator could recover, Ethan seized him again and swung him around with a burst of strength, sending his body crashing into two Body Tempering cultivators rushing in behind him. The three collided and went down together, their formation breaking apart in an instant. Ethan was already moving. His dao flashed through the opening, forcing another cultivator to retreat before a spear thrust toward his back. He turned just enough for the spearhead to miss his spine, caught the shaft under his arm, and yanked the wielder forward. The cultivator stumbled, and Ethan drove his knee into the man’s stomach before sending him sprawling across the blood-soaked ground.

There was no pause.