I Can Devour Spirits

Chapter 203: Bloodbath

Duan Rong decided not to stay in this cave any longer.

He should go back.

After all, he is an Escort Master at the Yuan Shun Escort Agency. If he doesn’t return for a long time, he could be penalized if a mission arises and he’s absent.

Of course, except for some rare emergencies, missions are generally announced two or three days in advance, giving Escort Masters and porters time to make arrangements at home, as a mission usually lasts over a month, which is quite a long time.

Duan Rong decided to return immediately, and there is an even more important reason: after devouring and digesting the Artifact Spirit within the cave, and going through the three notebooks Shen Ping left, he already has a plan. He can solve the issue that has been troubling him regarding the permeability of medicinal substances affecting the operation of his Inner Breath.

As long as this issue is resolved, his speed of Inner Breath cultivation can greatly increase.

If so, achieving the Fourth Level of Inner Breath Realm before March next year should not be a problem.

With the Fourth Level of Inner Breath, participating in the Taiyi Sect’s registered disciple selection exam would be almost a sure thing.

Indeed, even in this cave, Duan Rong can prepare a medicinal soup with strong permeability right on the spot.

The variety of herbs in the cave is quite complete. Even if something is missing, Duan Rong can find it in the mountains. With his current understanding of the properties and growing conditions of herbs, finding herbs is no longer a difficult task for him.

However, he does not have the time to linger in the mountains. He has not been released from duty and is not a free man; the contract is still within the Yuan Shun Escort Agency.

Duan Rong considered it and found that most things in the cave didn’t need to be taken. The notes and medical books have already been assimilated in his mind after devouring the Artifact Spirit.

As for various medicinal materials, they are all available in the herbal shop, although it costs some silver coins, but this amount is negligible for him now.

Duan Rong walked to the stone table in the middle of the cave and gazed slightly at the dozen or so porcelain bottles on the table.

He reached out and picked two from the bottles, slipping them into his sleeve.

Duan Rong turned around by the table, scanning the cave with his gaze.

He realized that although the cave was full of an array of items, Shen Ping’s most valuable asset in his life was his insight into the Medical Dao and Poison Dao. Although most of these insights were gained within this cave, if Duan Rong didn’t possess the ability to devour Artifact Spirits, he wouldn’t have easily obtained them.

Once he obtained what was most valuable, the other miscellaneous items were clearly dispensable. Even the poisons and concoctions on the stone table are something Duan Rong could formulate himself, albeit with some effort.

Duan Rong’s figure flickered, exiting the cave and standing atop a cliff.

He then displayed the Cloud Serpent Step, leaping and bounding through the old forest like a mountain demon, howling away...

The vast expanse of the wilderness was endless. Duan Rong fully executed the Cloud Serpent Step, even faintly hinting at a hint of breakthrough...

Duan Rong suddenly stopped, standing at the foot of a mountain in the Wild Boar Mountain Range. A moment of clarity arose in his mind; inadvertently, he integrated some Great Success Realm insights into his Cloud Serpent Step. With this execution, he unexpectedly broke through the step to the Minor Success Realm.

This was still his first time achieving a minor breakthrough in martial arts through his own cultivation insights, without devouring an Artifact Spirit, especially in such a difficult lightweight skill.

Duan Rong recollected the origin of this whole process, which actually stemmed from an uneasy feeling when executing the Cloud Serpent Step.

He had already achieved Great Success Realm in saber technique. After reaching the Great Success Realm, his perspective changed; he gradually found certain inadequacies in the execution of the Cloud Serpent Step.

Usually, it would just flash by and not be noticed, but while traversing the Wild Boar Mountain Range—the vast, endless wilderness—the deficiencies repeatedly flashed before him, prompting Duan Rong to instinctively attempt corrections. Unexpectedly, while adjusting, he suddenly broke through...

However, Duan Rong understood that his current Minor Success Realm Cloud Serpent Step could not compare to the original cultivation technique of the skill at its Minor Success Realm.

After all, he was a self-taught wild card, groping for a breakthrough by chance. Duan Rong even felt that this breakthrough seemed to contain an element of luck.

But in reality, this process was due to Duan Rong having devoured and seen much, accumulating to a certain extent, leading to qualitative changes in many of his understandings.

Even someone who cultivated a saber technique to the Great Success Realm could never have as profound an understanding as Duan Rong.

Because there’s simply no one who can master so many saber techniques alone.

This terrifying change was something Duan Rong had yet to truly understand.

However, this trip to the Wild Boar Mountain was undoubtedly fruitful, and Duan Rong was in high spirits, walking briskly towards the nearby village.

As Duan Rong walked, his expression suddenly turned as cold as ice.

Although he was still some distance from the village, from the blowing wind, Duan Rong caught the scent of blood—a long-lasting, intense scent of blood...

Duan Rong’s relaxed body suddenly tensed, his gaze shifting as his Divine Sense spread out, instantly covering a hundred-meter radius.

Duan Rong’s face was cold, and his figure flickered as he dashed towards the village.

Standing outside the courtyard of a farmhouse on the east side of the village, at his feet lay the severed head of an old woman. Her white hair was messy, her face covered in blood, and in her cloudy eyes remained a look of horror at the moment of death...

There were three more bodies in the yard, brutally murdered, their deaths tragically gruesome and stomach-churning.

Standing there, the intense scent of blood, like rust, surged into Duan Rong’s nose, making his whole body tremble!

He trembled, not from fear! Nor from the nausea that usually followed a killing!

He trembled with rage!

His Divine Sense spread out, encompassing a hundred-meter radius with him at the center.

Within the area covered by his Divine Sense were only corpses, with no survivors!

Naked women with necks bruised, children beheaded or bisected...

Asura Land, Human World Purgatory!

"Someone is massacring the village!"

Who was it... that bloodwashed this village...? Slaughtering the entire village like pigs and dogs!

Duan Rong’s fists clenched tightly, his knuckles faintly white.

Unless you witnessed those bodies firsthand, you could never comprehend the feelings welling up in Duan Rong’s heart.

The sorrow of seeing others perish, especially humans!

A whole village of defenseless, honest farmers! Butchered like pigs and dogs.

Anger and hatred combined into a surge of emotions, like a tidal wave crashing over Duan Rong’s heart...

At this moment, murderous intent boiled within him!

Duan Rong’s figure suddenly flickered, rushing towards the Qin family’s house.

He stood before the Qin family’s picket fence, where a sharp wooden stake impaled a small, skinny corpse.

It was the grandson of Old Qin—Black Baby.

He had been grabbed and thrown, like a ball, onto the sharpened stake.

The blood-soaked stake pierced through Black Baby’s chest, with some internal organs hanging from the tip. The front of Black Baby’s chest was covered in blood, blood flowing over his protruding ribs...

He dangled there, limbs hanging slack, head limply tilted back, his already dispersed pupils appeared to be staring at Duan Rong...