Chapter 81: Chapter 80: The Innate Enters the Urn

A swift and decisive battle was the best strategy.

"Master, I..." Gao Yuanfeng was unwilling to give up and wanted to plead his case further.

"Enough!"

Shanxin’s voice turned abruptly cold. An invisible chill instantly filled the room, and the temperature seemed to plummet.

"I do not like pointless talk, and I especially dislike it when others question my decisions."

Staring into Shanxin’s predatory eyes, Gao Yuanfeng felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. His back was instantly soaked with cold sweat, and the words on the tip of his tongue were choked back by fear.

It was only then that he was jolted into remembering. The man before him was no compassionate monk, but a Demon Monk who would kill at the slightest provocation.

He hastily bowed his head and gave a deep salute, not daring to voice any further objections. "Yes... Yes, I have misspoken. I... I will prepare a simple banquet to wish you a triumphant victory and immediate success, Master!"

Shanxin paid him no further heed. He turned his gaze back to the deep night sky outside the window and slowly closed his eyes, as if entering a meditative trance.

Seeing this, Gao Yuanfeng dared not linger. He bowed cautiously and backed out of the room, gently closing the door behind him.

Only when Gao Yuanfeng’s footsteps faded at the end of the corridor did Shanxin reopen his eyes. A sinister glint flashed within them. ’Once this is over and I have the Blood Spirit Jade Marrow, I’ll flee this troublesome place immediately.’

Although he believed the risk of exposure was low, the methods of Golden Spring Temple were not to be underestimated. He had to be on guard. If they discovered his whereabouts and sent pursuers, escape would become difficult.

He checked the condition of his body. His injuries were about eighty percent healed.

As soon as his injuries were fully healed, he would rush back to Ning’an Prefecture to retrieve the Profound Yin Blood Fiend. Combined with the Red Lotus Evil Qi he already possessed, he could refine the Nine Nether Yin Fiend, ranked twenty-sixth on the Earth Fiend list!

Once successful, not only would he break through to the Condensing Evil Realm, but he would also establish his foundation with a top-grade Evil Qi from the upper thirty-six ranks. His strength would take a qualitative leap, and his future cultivation path would be smoother and broader.

He would make those old fools at Golden Spring Temple, make his master and the abbot, understand clearly that he, Shanxin, was the most outstanding Martial Monk Golden Spring Temple had produced in nearly thirty years.

And not Shanming, the one they had placed all their hopes on, supporting him with Golden Spring Temple’s top resources at any cost!

The thought of the unfair treatment he had suffered in the temple, the thought of the choice he had made out of jealousy and hatred, caused a savage light to explode in Shanxin’s eyes. A vicious, hostile aura surfaced on his face.

It was that unwillingness and resentment that had driven him to ruthlessly murder his fellow disciples after they had accidentally discovered the Profound Yin Blood Fiend together, silencing all who knew. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Then, in for a penny, in for a pound, he had snuck into the temple’s forbidden grounds, stolen the high-grade Red Lotus Evil Qi, and completely defected from the Buddhist Sect.

As he recalled these past events, the ferocity in Shanxin’s eyes intensified.

...

「7:45 PM. The night had grown deep.」

There was no moon in the winter sky, only a few lonely, cold stars dotting the boundless, ink-black canopy, casting a faint, chilly glow. Within the Military Preparation Camp, all was quiet save for the fixed sentry posts and the neat, rhythmic footsteps of the occasional passing patrol.

A black shadow, like a phantom melting into the night, silently crossed the outer wooden fence of the encampment, landing without stirring a speck of dust.

With just a few leaps and bounds, he had already evaded all the visible and hidden sentries, rapidly approaching the large command tent in the center of the camp, where a light still burned.

Shanxin’s gaze was sinister and icy, like a viper locking onto its prey, fixed firmly on the target tent.

He used the keen Spiritual Sense of an Innate Expert to carefully scan his surroundings. After confirming there were no hidden soldiers and only a single, steady breath coming from within the tent, he hesitated no longer. His body flickered, like a plume of black smoke blown by a fierce wind, and he shot brazenly toward the tent entrance.

His speed was unimaginable. His feet never touched the ground, hovering more than three inches above it as if gliding, stirring up a barely perceptible cold draft.

The tent flap was silently swept aside by an invisible Qi Force, revealing the scene within—a figure sat with its back to the entrance, cross-legged on a prayer mat, seemingly immersed in deep cultivation.

Shanxin struck like lightning. The five fingers of his right hand flexed, and a pure, sharp stream of Innate True Qi erupted from his fingertips. It was so dense it was almost tangible, sharp enough to pierce metal, and aimed straight for the vital point on the figure’s back—the heart.

He intended to kill in one blow and then flee immediately, giving no one time to react.

SQUELCH—

The muffled sound of a blade sinking into flesh echoed.

Shanxin’s hand pierced through the location of the man’s heart without any resistance. He could even clearly feel the heart’s final, feeble beats in his palm.

Warm, viscous blood flowed down his arm.

’A Foundation Establishment Martial Master, just as I thought. Utterly weak.’

A cold sneer flashed through Shanxin’s mind. An Innate against a Foundation Establishment was a foregone conclusion. The target hadn’t even had time to react; an instant kill was no surprise. He prepared to take the man’s head as proof and retreat from the Military Preparation Camp.

But in that instant, something went terribly wrong.

Shanxin suddenly realized that the Innate True Qi that had been flowing smoothly and powerfully through his body was, without warning, beginning to churn violently. Then, as if corroded by some invisible force, it began to rapidly dissipate.

At the same time, the surging Blood Qi in his body seemed to have hit a cold snap, suddenly becoming sluggish and stagnant.

’What’s happening?!’

Shanxin’s heart pounded in shock. His gaze fell instinctively to the right arm that had pierced the man’s chest.

He saw the skin on his blood-soaked arm rapidly turning from its normal color to a sickly blue-black. It began to fester and blacken over a large area, sending waves of tingling, numbing pain!

’Damn it, it’s poison!’

A flash of shock and rage appeared in Shanxin’s eyes.

Without hesitation, he circulated his True Qi to seal all the critical acupoints in his body, trying to stop the poison from spreading further.

At the same time, his potent Blood Qi surged toward his right arm like a raging tide, attempting to forcibly expel the invading toxin.

’I’ve fallen into a trap!’

’This was a pre-arranged setup. The person in the tent... it was probably never Chen Sheng at all. It was bait!’

"Gao Yuanfeng!!!"

Endless fury and killing intent surged into his heart. His first thought was of Gao Yuanfeng’s betrayal. Although he couldn’t figure out why the man would do such a thing, he had no time to ponder it now.

Acting on pure instinct, Shanxin forced a surge of True Qi and frantically activated a Secret Technique, attempting to escape first. He would have plenty of time to settle the score later.

Shanxin made a snap decision. Ignoring the excruciating pain and numbness in his right arm, he shot backward.

However, in the exact instant his thoughts turned and his body moved—

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH—WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH—

The piercing sound of objects tearing through the air erupted from the darkness surrounding the tent.

Dozens of Wind-Breaking Crossbow Arrows, glinting with a cold blue light, rained down like a sudden squall, instantly blanketing the entire tent area and sealing off all his possible escape routes!

"Insolent fools!"

Though startled, Shanxin was not panicked. He snorted coldly, forcibly suppressing the chaos in his True Qi. With a sudden shake of his arms, a torrent of Innate True Qi burst from his body, rapidly coalescing around him to form a Protective Golden Bell.

CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG—!

The dense rain of Crossbow Arrows struck the Golden Bell’s energy shield, producing a continuous clang of metal on metal.

Although his True Qi was constantly dissipating under the poison’s corrosion, causing the Golden Bell’s image to flicker, these specially made Wind-Breaking Crossbow Arrows ultimately failed to immediately breach the Protective True Qi of an Innate Grandmaster.

BOOM—!

Seizing the opportunity, Shanxin detonated the remaining True Qi in his body. A violent wave of Qi Force erupted from him, sweeping outwards and instantly tearing the massive command tent to shreds. Scraps of cloth and splinters of wood fluttered like butterflies.

Riding the force of this explosion, Shanxin shot into the air, intending to use the brief Flying ability of an Innate to forcibly escape the dangerous area.

But just as he rose about ten feet off the ground—

Countless clay pots and leather sacks were suddenly hurled at him from all directions, raining down upon him.

The containers shattered against his Protective Golden Bell. They didn’t contain hidden weapons, but innumerable colorful and bizarrely shaped poisonous insects. The moment they came into contact with his Innate True Qi, they were blasted into clouds of stinking, bloody mist.

The blood mist formed by these mixed insect fluids seemed to be extremely corrosive to True Qi. Shanxin felt the rate at which his Protective True Qi was dissipating suddenly accelerate several times over.

The once-solid image of the Golden Bell rapidly thinned, becoming transparent and almost impossible to maintain.

"Not good!"

Shanxin’s expression changed drastically. He felt the True Qi inside him draining away like a river bursting its banks.

He could no longer maintain his Flying. The ability broke in an instant, and he plummeted straight down from his height of ten feet.

Suddenly, countless torches flared to life all around, illuminating the area as bright as day.

Over a hundred elite soldiers in full armor, holding sharp blades, had already formed a tight battle formation. They had him surrounded and, without a moment’s hesitation, they closed in for the kill.