Chapter 46: I Don’t Want Your Heart, I Want Your Body...
Chapter 46: Chapter 46: I Don’t Want Your Heart, I Want Your Body...
The Profound Snake Gang estate.
Wu Chen sat by the warm fire, quietly leafing through the Flesh Refining Realm martial arts manuals he had just obtained.
From time to time, he picked up a piece of sweet dried fruit from a nearby plate—leftovers from the Profound Snake Gang members.
After all, no one was around to object.
He ate quickly, savoring the sweetness. For days, he had only eaten dry flatbreads to sate his hunger, and he was getting sick of them.
Even the bodies scattered around him didn’t affect his appetite.
Soon after, he finished reading through the manuals. Wu Chen felt a surge of power within him.
He called up his status panel, and sure enough, it had changed:
[Deep Red Host] Wu Chen
[Martial Arts Realm] Ninth Layer Flesh Refining Realm (Breath Concealment Skill: Sixth Layer Body Tempering Realm)
(Qi Power: Hegemon’s Cauldron Lift)
[Martial Arts & Cultivation Techniques] Bone-Eroding Wind Blade: Intent...
After allocating the points from the Flesh Refining Realm martial arts, his realm had advanced to the final layer of Flesh Refining.
’Is it because the flesh and blood hidden beneath the surface are harder to refine, or...’
Wu Chen looked at the Martial Arts Realm entry, lost in thought. ’Or is it that this body’s innate talent is just too poor to break through in one go?’
Seeing that he hadn’t broken through multiple layers consecutively as he did in the Body Tempering Realm, Wu Chen was curious, but not at all panicked or impatient.
His trip tonight wasn’t just for the Profound Snake Gang; he planned to take care of the Black Scorpion Gang as well.
Reaching the Meridian Passage Realm was just a matter of an hour sooner or an hour later.
’Fortunes change in an hour. Don’t underestimate someone in the Flesh Refining Realm!’
With that thought, Wu Chen casually tossed the eight martial arts manuals into the fire. The flames leaped up, brightly illuminating the courtyard.
He then stood up, drew his blade, and walked over to the scattered bodies of the gang members.
It was time to have a little heart-to-heart with the corpses.
Setting aside his swordsmanship, just going by experience, he felt his skill at carving out hearts was even more professional than that of a Blood Slaughter Sect disciple.
He bent down, hooked a grunt’s shirt with the tip of his blade, and pressed down.
He was about to frame the Blood Slaughter Sect for tonight’s events, just like he did last night.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
But just then, a cool breeze swept past.
Wu Chen’s heart skipped a beat. He turned his head to look.
A slender figure with a high ponytail was standing on the wall, her presence unknown until now. She watched him quietly, bathed in the light of the full moon.
Even in the dark, he could see the frosty expression on her pretty face and the undisguised killing intent in her eyes.
It was the same girl who was staying at the same inn as Wu Chen.
"So," her voice was cold, "you’re with the Blood Slaughter Sect?"
"You have a nice voice, too," Wu Chen said, nodding and stroking his chin as he looked at the girl under the cold moonlight, completely ignoring her question.
"What?" She tilted her head, her fine brows knitting together. She didn’t seem to understand what he had said.
"I said, your voice is very nice."
This time, Wu Chen spoke much louder, stating his opinion without any coyness.
He also straightened up, sheathed his blade, and put his "heart-to-heart" business on hold for the moment.
After all, it was impolite to brandish a deadly weapon in front of a lady.
"I’m asking if you’re with the Blood Slaughter Sect!"
The compliment didn’t seem to please the girl at all. Instead, her tone became more aggressive, and her hand rested on the hilt of her blade.
It seemed that if the young man before her admitted his identity, she would draw her blade and cut him down without a second thought.
"Of course not," Wu Chen said, telling the simple truth. He really wasn’t.
"Lies!"
The girl snorted coldly. How could she possibly believe him?
If he wasn’t one of them, why was he killing people in the middle of the night? And why was he carving out their hearts?
Besides, would a member of the Blood Slaughter Sect ever admit to being one?!
SWISH!
Her figure shot down from the wall like an arrow. A crimson flash of her blade streaked toward Wu Chen.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Several dark red slashes hacked mercilessly at Wu Chen, aiming to dice the ’Blood Evil demon’ into a thousand pieces.
"Hey, I already said I’m not!"
Wu Chen had no choice but to receive her attacks. He didn’t draw his blade, however, merely using his scabbard to parry the incoming strikes in a purely defensive manner.
"Lies." It seemed to be the only word the girl knew. Her attacks grew fiercer, each strike aimed at a vital point.
"And what if I admit I’m from the Blood Slaughter Sect?" Wu Chen asked with an easy smile, still parrying her blows effortlessly.
He was getting a little exasperated. He couldn’t understand why every time he tried to do a good deed and be a good person, someone would come at him with a blade.
It happened with Liu Wei when he saved that father and daughter, and now it was happening with this girl as he was killing these wicked gangsters.
"Then you deserve to die even more!"
At Wu Chen’s ’admission,’ a rare emotion flickered across the girl’s icy face: fury. She seemed to hate the Blood Slaughter Sect down to her very bones.
"My lady!"
Wu Chen spread one hand in a helpless gesture. "So what you’re saying is, whether I admit to being from the Demon Sect or not, I’m supposed to die either way."
The girl fell silent, not out of quietude, but because his question had stumped her.
Then, she recovered and snapped angrily:
"You’re just twisting words! You were clearly in the middle of carving out someone’s heart. How could you not be from the Blood Slaughter Sect?!"
"Demon, die!"
The light from the girl’s blade grew even more vicious, but she still couldn’t land a fatal blow on Wu Chen.
Feeling the aching numbness spreading through her arm, she realized this ’demon’ was tougher to deal with than she’d expected.
His movements were clearly slow as death; he couldn’t even draw his blade under her initial assault.
And yet, by a hair’s breadth, he had managed to evade a dozen of her swift attacks.
Moreover, a strange force traveled up her blade with each clash, jolting her and making her muscles ache.
If she weren’t at the Meridian Passage Realm, able to use her meridians to dissipate that strange force, the rebound would have already given her internal injuries.
’No, I can’t get bogged down fighting him!’
The girl leaped back, instantly creating distance, and raised her blood-red blade high.
WOOOOO!
As her arm swung down, a piercing wind gathered around the blade, sounding like the shriek of a ghost.
Hearing that familiar sound and seeing the blade technique the girl was using, Wu Chen raised an eyebrow.
’Isn’t that the Ghostly Howl Blade Technique?’
He was all too familiar with it.
"My lady, you hate people from the Blood Slaughter Sect, but you’re one of them yourself."
Wu Chen rolled his eyes. "Why don’t you just kill yourself?"
The girl didn’t answer. She just brought her blade down fiercely, unleashing the attack on Wu Chen.
A torrential blade intent, thick with Blood Qi, pressed down on Wu Chen.
SHING!
This time, Wu Chen had no choice but to draw his blade. The oppressive, airtight web of blade light seemed impossible to dodge.
But that wasn’t the case against his Bone-Eroding Wind Blade: Intent, a technique that integrated the strengths of many others.
Especially since the Bone-Eroding Wind Blade: Intent already incorporated the Ghostly Howl Blade Technique.
A wisp of transparent energy suffused the tip of his blade, barely visible in the night.
Compared to the grand and imposing Ghostly Howl Blade Technique, his own move looked pathetically weak.
But with just this simple, unadorned strike, he flicked his blade sideways against the gale.
CLANG!
With a crisp metallic ring, the red weapon spun wildly through the air before stabbing into the ground nearby.
The half-blade left embedded in the ground still hummed and trembled, trying to absorb the colossal force of the impact.
The girl didn’t fare any better.
The immense force sent her stumbling backward until she lost her footing and fell, landing hard on her bottom.
But the force, like a runaway stallion, wasn’t done with her yet.
The colossal power rampaged through her body. She felt as if she’d been electrocuted, a numbing tingle spreading from the soles of her feet to the tips of her hair!
After three to five breaths, when she finally opened her eyes again, it was just as she had expected: his blade was already pressed against her throat.
"You win, demon."
Facing life and death, her face showed no fear. She accepted the situation with a frankness that suggested she had long prepared for this day.
Her tone was flat. "My heart is yours for the taking."
Wu Chen was once again speechless.
’Who wants your heart?!’
’If I wanted anything, it would be your body...’
’s martial arts!’