Chapter 28 The Hunt

Chapter 28 The Hunt
​A scarred rogue cultivator lunged out of the canyon shadows. He thrust a rusted iron spear at Ye Chen's throat.
​Ye Chen did not draw a weapon. He raised his bare left hand. He caught the iron spearhead in his palm.
​Black smoke erupted from his knuckles. The uninitiated Nine Hells Devouring Art channeled raw Yin energy into the metal. The iron spearhead rusted into brittle brown flakes and crumbled away.
​The rogue stared at his ruined weapon in horror.
​Ye Chen stepped inside the man's guard. He drove his right fist into the rogue's leather chest armor. The freezing Demonic Qi bypassed the leather and froze the man's heart.
​The rogue dropped to the crimson rocks.
​"System," Ye Chen commanded. "Extract."
​A stream of corrupted energy flowed from the dead man into Ye Chen's Dantian.
​\[Qi Extracted. Reward: 30 System Points.\]
\[Current Balance: 610 System Points.\]
​Ye Chen wiped a smear of dark blood from his cheek. He had hunted in Blood Crag Valley for seven days.
​The valley was a massive graveyard. He hunted murderous sect exiles hiding in the shallow caves. He slaughtered the infected rogues who roamed the dirt roads with rigid smiles.
​He also hunted the Resentful Spirits. The floating white skeletons spawned constantly from the suffocating Yin energy pooling in the canyon.
​He was a tireless predator. Every kill netted him a small handful of points. He pushed his total steadily toward the massive thousand point threshold.
​A sharp pain lanced through his chest.
​Ye Chen stumbled backward. He grabbed his own ribs. He coughed a thick wad of freezing black phlegm onto the red rocks.
​He retreated to his elevated cave halfway up the cliff face. He sat cross legged on the stone floor to examine his internal meridians.
​He looked inward. He saw a terrifying war tearing his foundation apart.
​The dark pool of Demonic Qi in his Dantian was highly volatile. He had initiated the Nine Hells Devouring Art manually. He had not used the System to stabilize the lethal qi.
​The demonic core acted like a starving parasite. It actively devoured his golden Chaos Qi to sustain its own violent growth.
​Ye Chen drew his hunting knife. He dragged the sharp steel blade across his own forearm.
​He watched the shallow cut bleed. He waited for his Level One Iron Bone Vajra Skill to seal the wound.
​The flesh took five full minutes to knit together. The healing was failing.
​The parasitic core drained his golden Yang energy too fast. His superhuman defenses were dropping by the hour. The demonic magic was feeding on the very foundation keeping him alive.
​"I cannot grind these points slowly," Ye Chen deduced in the dark cave.
​If he did not hit one thousand points and force the System upgrade soon he would die. The Demonic Qi would permanently cripple his Chaos core and freeze his organs solid.
​He needed to hunt faster. He grabbed his broken sword hilt and returned to the bloodlands.

​The stench of open sewage filled the narrow alleyway.
​Bai Yun pressed his back against the damp brick wall. He held Zhang Ling tightly by her frail hand. The young girl breathed in quiet ragged gasps.
​"Keep your head down Zhang Ling," Bai Yun whispered. "We are almost to the new safehouse."
​They navigated the darkest slums of the Capital.
​The city was a warzone. Azure Cloud Enforcers marched through the main streets with torches and drawn swords. They kicked down doors and dragged screaming families into iron carriages.
​Elder Wang was desperate. He needed massive amounts of mortal resentment to fuel Su Rou's upcoming Ascension Tournament.
​Bai Yun heard a wet tearing sound echoing from the street ahead.
​He pulled Zhang Ling behind a rotting wooden rain barrel. He drew his short sword and peered around the splintered wood.
​A heavy fog rolled across the cobblestones. The mist felt like freezing grave dirt.
​A figure crouched over a struggling slum dweller in the center of the street.
​Bai Yun recognized the crouched figure. It wore the torn leather armor of a Blood Crag rogue. It was one of the terrified men who fled the valley days ago to seek refuge in the Capital.
There's something wrong about this rogue, only its face had skin on it. It had that eerie smile and the rest of its body is bare skeleton
It's a freezing ghoul.
​The ghoul pinned a starving slum dweller to the cobblestones.
​The monster turned its head toward the alleyway. Its jaw was locked into a rigid wide smile. Black frost dripped steadily from its blue lips.
​"Who do you hate?," the ghoul rasped. The voice sounded like grinding stones.
​The slum dweller screamed and thrashed wildly.
​"Tell me who you hate?" the ghoul demanded again.
​The monster plunged its bare hands directly into the man's chest. It tore the slum dweller's throat out in a spray of dark blood.
​Bai Yun covered Zhang Ling's eyes. His heart hammered against his ribs. The demonic corruption had broken containment. The valley plague was actively hunting in the streets.
​Bai Yun pulled a cheap paper stealth talisman from his belt. He crushed the fragile paper in his fist. A faint illusionary shadow washed over him and the girl.
​He dragged Zhang Ling away from the street. They retreated deep into the labyrinth of the lower slums.

​The red dust burned Ye Chen's lungs.
​He drove his knee into the stomach of a towering rogue cultivator. The man doubled over in pain.
​Ye Chen brought his elbow down on the back of the rogue's neck. The bone snapped with a loud dry crack. The killer collapsed face first into the canyon dirt.
​Ye Chen placed his boot on the dead man's back.
​"System," Ye Chen gasped. "Extract."
​The dark energy flowed into his Dantian. The parasitic core devoured a massive chunk of the fresh Qi immediately. Ye Chen felt his blood temperature drop another degree.
​\[Qi Extracted. Reward: 40 System Points.\]
\[Current Balance: 980 System Points.\]
​Ye Chen stared at the glowing blue text. He needed twenty points. One more kill stood between him and the ultimate demonic upgrade.
​A smooth piece of jade burned hot inside his pocket.
​Ye Chen pulled the green stone out. It was a communication talisman looted from the dead elite Inner Sect disciple. He had tuned the artifact to Bai Yun before leaving the mountain.
​He pressed his thumb against the glowing rune.
​Bai Yun's frantic voice burst from the jade stone.
​"Elder Wang locked the Capital gates." Bai Yun shouted over the sound of breaking wood. "Enforcers are sweeping the slums with fire. They are executing anyone who saw the ghouls or spirits."
​Ye Chen heard a child crying in the background.
​"They found our street Ye Chen," Bai Yun yelled. "They are breaking down the safehouse door."
​The audio cut out in a sharp burst of static. The jade stone went cold.
​Ye Chen stood in the canyon dust. He looked deeper into the valley. He saw the glowing white eyes of a floating Resentful Spirit fifty yards away.
​One single kill. One minute of combat would grant him the power to crush Su Rou.
​He looked north toward the towering mountain peaks marking the Capital.
​If he hunted the spirit Bai Yun and Zhang Ling would die. The Enforcers would slaughter the dropout and drag the sick girl back to the extraction pits.
​Ye Chen cursed the righteous path. He cursed his own lingering humanity.
​He dropped the dead rogue into the dust. He turned his back on the floating spirit.
​"I am coming," Ye Chen promised the empty air.
​He activated Phantom Shadow Step. He burned his dwindling reserves of golden Chaos Qi. He blurred into a silent shadow and sprinted north toward the burning Capital.