11: Beast Tide
Hoo, hoo
After surviving a life-or-death situation, the fatigue from the receding adrenaline caused Han Yi to gasp for breath.
This was the first time Han Yi had personally killed someone!
Although when he was a refugee, Han Yi had witnessed many partings of life and death and seen many people pass away, he thought he had already adapted to this cruel world.
But...
In this world, big fish eat small fish, and small fish eat shrimp.
If a person isn't ruthless, they won't survive.
If others don't die, he will die. He doesn't want to die, so he can only make others die.
After a while, he recovered.
After the bandit fell, Han Yi tested him repeatedly, confirming he was dead before going to check. He prepared to loot the body.
Han Yi was quite skilled at looting bodies, without the slightest discomfort.
After all, to survive among refugees, it was necessary to use things from the dead. Furthermore, for the deceased, these things were useless. Wouldn't it be a waste not to use them?
Let's see what's here. Han Yi used his knife to turn the bandit's body over.
Rip
After cutting open the outer layer of clothing.
Several small pouches rolled out.
Several concealed darts, some quicklime powder, and four or five taels of fragmented silver.
Han Yi's eyes lit up. With quicklime in his left hand and darts in his right, the future of becoming a Quicklime Martial Saint is promising!
After pulling open the inner layer of clothing,
A bamboo tube and a small booklet were revealed.
'Flying Swallow Kick'
Han Yi's expression changed. He had been thinking about practicing a leg technique while being chased, but he was troubled by not having any martial arts to train. It truly came effortlessly.
As the saying goes, traveling the martial world requires three treasures: quicklime, hidden weapons, and good legwork.
This bandit has provided me with all of them at once. He truly is my treasure-delivering boy...
And this bamboo tube, Han Yi's thoughts turned. It looked like a bamboo product, but it felt like jade.
This material, which is neither bamboo nor jade, coupled with the strange patterns engraved on it, seems not to be a product of Xuanchao...
At this moment, a faint rustling sound came.
A slender, bloody worm was seen crawling out of the bandit's earhole, seemingly having drunk enough blood and lazily coming out to bask in the sun.
A value of '5~1' floated above this worm.
"Is this the 'Manpower Gu' the bandit mentioned?" Han Yi frowned and thought, "The lower limit is 5, and the upper limit is 1, yet it can greatly increase the bandit's strength!"
"Evil stuff!"
Han Yi used his knife to pick up the 'Manpower Gu'.
Swish, swish, swish
After a few slashes, he cut the 'Manpower Gu' into several segments.
"Such strong vitality!"
Even so, the 'Manpower Gu' continued to squirm, as if trying to rejoin its severed limbs!
Han Yi took out quicklime, carefully scattering it on the worm. This wasn't enough; he also picked up some dry branches and leaves, spread them over the worm, and took out a flint.
Sparks ignited the tinder, which then lit the pile of dry branches.
"Surely it can't still be alive like this!"
Right, I seemed to feel my Blade Technique had a Breakthrough just now...
【Realm】: Late Skin Refining (93/100)
【Martial Arts】: Mountain Shattering Fist (Mortal Rank, Minor Accomplishment 4/20, Trait: Crushing Stone, can be upgraded); Basic Knife Technique (Mortal Rank, Trait: Knife Dance, Minor Accomplishment 0/20)
Basic Knife Technique reached Minor Accomplishment?
It seems I have quite a bit of talent in Blade Technique, but what is this Knife Dance?
Could it have a bonus for doing flower hands? Han Yi's expression was a little ugly.
Swish, swish, swish
Han Yi performed a few knife flourishes.
Not bad, the knife flourishes seem to look better...
Of course, this 'Knife Dance' also seems to make the transitions between Moves in Basic Knife Technique smoother, and its power also seems to be a bit greater than before!
After waiting for a while and seeing that the Gu worm was no longer moving, Han Yi carried the bandit's body and prepared to meet up with Li Feng and the others.
"Han Yi, over here!" Pan Sheng waved to him from a slope.
After Han Yi climbed up in a few steps, the scene before him greatly surprised him.
Three bandit corpses lay scattered around, twisted like pretzels as if they had been trampled by a giant hand!
"We had tied these three bandits up properly, but who knew they suddenly went mad and became incredibly strong, breaking free from the ropes. Even I was accidentally cut!" Wang Meng said with a bitter smile, "But it's strange, before we could deal with them, these three people died on their own."
Died by self-destruction? A thought surfaced in Han Yi's mind. Was this related to the 'Manpower Gu'...
Rumble...
At this moment, a low rumbling sound came from a distance.
"What's that sound?"
Pan Sheng looked into the distance. A large cloud of dust rose, accompanied by a slight tremor from the ground beneath their feet.
His face turned pale: "This sound? Could it be a beast tide?!"
Black-backed wild boars, Gray Stripe Wolf packs, two-headed pythons...
A black 'tide' was fiercely approaching this slope!
As Pan Sheng described it, everyone's faces turned even paler.
"How could such a large-scale beast tide erupt in the outer areas of the mountain range..." Li Feng murmured.
"Go, hurry, get within the range of the beast repellent powder!"
Ignoring everything else, everyone fled frantically!
The beasts in this tide might not be high level, but if swept up in it, perhaps only Connecting Veins Realm experts could escape!
"Why does this beast tide feel like it's coming for me..." Han Yi's cultivation was the lowest, and he was at the back of the group. He always felt like he was being targeted, a sensation like thorns in his back!
Moreover, he could feel that when he changed direction, the main group of the beast tide also changed direction!
"Is it an illusion? But why would a beast tide come towards me for no reason? Could it be..." A thought flashed through Han Yi's mind.
He swung his hand and threw out the strange bamboo tube!
Perhaps Han Yi's action had an effect, or perhaps everyone had reached the range where the beast repellent powder was effective.
The beast tide gradually scattered outwards, with only a few small groups of beasts lingering near the beast repellent powder.
"We... we're saved!"
Wang Meng gasped for breath. His bandaged wound burst open again, bleeding.
"Rest for a while. This beast tide is strange. Let's quickly return to the camp and report this!" Li Feng said with a solemn expression.
"Hmm, not enough Yin energy. It seems the Beast Controlling Gu can't maintain the beast tide. I'll spare your lives for now!" On the slope, a black-robed figure revealed a fierce look in his eyes.
"The flesh and blood of Martial Artists are great tonics..." His eyes showed a hint of covetousness, "Hmph, a few brats who haven't reached the Connecting Veins Realm. If it weren't for my injuries..."
The Black-Clothed Man had a bowl-sized wound on his back, and wisps of black qi spread around it, seemingly trying to fill the void.
Cough, cough, cough
"An Yan County, Mystic Armored Guard, Yang Flame Arrow. After I devour the Crimson Flame Sect, I'll devour An Yan County!" It seemed he had pulled his wound, and he coughed up several mouthfuls of black blood.
Subsequently, the black-robed man appeared beside the several bandit corpses.
"Trash! You took my martial arts but couldn't even manage the small task of spreading the Gu worms," He lifted his black robe, revealing sharp claws unlike a human's, "and you almost lost my Spirit Gu Jade Tube. However, luckily your flesh and blood still have some value!"
Rip
The corpses instantly tore into pieces and fell onto the slope below.
On the slope, countless slender worms, like hair, were densely tangled together, emitting a nauseatingFishy smell.
"Black Wind Stronghold, if you weren't still a little useful to me right now, I would have devoured you first!"
His narrow eyes emitted intense malice!