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With every step, Chen Qing covered a distance of thirty feet. His body, under the influence of the Wind Butterfly, felt incredibly light, like a hawk swiftly gliding over the snowy ground.
After three moves, Chen Qing finished off this Cultivator, gouged out his heart, and sprinted towards another one who was still within his sight.
Easily dispatching this Taiping Sect follower, Chen Qing glanced at the tracks on the ground, which were gradually being covered by the snow.
No more enemies.
The slowest two runners were, as expected, astonishingly weak. One was at the fifth level of Qi Refinent, and the other at the sixth—completely defenseless against him.
Unfortunately, his own cultivation level was too low to sustain a long fight.
If he were at the seventh level of Qi Refinent at this mont, he could charge into the midst of these Taiping Sect mbers and slaughter them recklessly.
However, the fortunate thing was that now he possessed the Snake Gu; his cultivation level would undoubtedly rise quickly.
Chasing a defeated foe was not necessary; he was not a bloodthirsty demon.
The martial world is long; fate might bring encounters again.
The gain was substantial. It was ti to head ho.
As for the remaining three pieces of Greed, there was never a shortage of greedy Cultivators in this world.
He gathered the last belongings of this Taiping Sect follower, which amounted to just over thirty low-grade Spirit Stones, leaving Chen Qing a bit disappointed.
What disappointed him more was the poor Quality of the Gu he had. When he died, the Gu expired due to the contract.
Finding a small stream, Chen Qing scooped up so snow water to wash his face and hands, clearing the stench of blood, and donned the bronze ghost mask once more.
He straightened his body and plunged into the vast snow, running under the hazy moonlight.
The snowfall was vast; the journey was solitary for thousands of miles.
After three days of relentless travel covering two hundred miles, Chen Qing arrived at a small mountain village. He slipped into the woods, and the next mont, he erged on the main road wearing the robe of the Hall Master from Wuyou Mountain.
"Now, I am Chen Qing, the Hall Master of the Spirit Plant Hall of Wuyou Mountain!"
At the village entrance, there was a large willow tree that required an embrace to encircle; the village took its na from this tree and was called Yangliu Village.
From his mory, his predecessor was orphaned at a young age—not a victim of vendetta, just starved to death.
Without parents, Chen Qing was raised in this village eating from the neighbors’ pots, growing to the age of twelve.
Then he was fortuitously discovered by Elder Chen, who took him back to Wuyou Mountain.
Chen Qing did not enter the village directly but instead concealed his presence to listen to the news throughout the village.
Since he aid to sever past ties, he didn’t want to create any more entanglents.
First, contract with the Snake Gu, then co to investigate!
Just carrying it was ultimately precarious.
Finding a bear cave, Chen Qing began using his blood to draw the contract rune on a jade jar.
After carefully completing the rune, Chen Qing imdiately felt a massive surge of Spiritual Energy leaving his body.
He hurriedly grabbed a dium-grade Spirit Stone to begin restoring his Spiritual Energy.
But how could the rate of restoration possibly keep up with the consumption of Spiritual Energy?
The Spiritual Energy within him continued to deplete rapidly, and Chen Qing continuously absorbed the Spiritual Energy from within the dium-grade Spirit Stone.
Only after two full days had passed and Chen Qing had drained the Spiritual Energy of four dium-grade Spirit Stones did the jade jar finally beco still.
He felt a new consciousness arising within himself, more lively than a Mortal Gu’s consciousness, but that was all—without thought or the ability to ponder.
Delving into this newfound consciousness, he suddenly saw a massive white python open its mouth and inhale, absorbing all the surrounding Spiritual Energy completely.
Its next breath drew in a bolt of lightning and a ball of intense fire, swallowing the wind and drinking from vast rivers, like a bottomless pit.
Shaking off the shock, Chen Qing spoke softly, "Could it be the power manifested after Butterfly Transformation or Harmonization?"
It could absorb a great amount of Spiritual Energy and devour Five Elents Skills?
He wondered whether this capability would be unlocked specifically through Butterfly Transformation or Harmonization.
To test the Snake Gu’s abilities, he picked up a low-grade Spirit Stone, wiped it clean, and placed it in his mouth, chewing it a few tis.
Such a hard object as a Spirit Stone was effortlessly chewed into pieces!
Within three breaths of swallowing, he felt a whole low-grade Spirit Stone’s worth of Spiritual Energy fill his body.
Guiding it easily, it made its way to his Dantian for storage.
He could indeed consu Spirit Stones!
If only he had possessed the Snake Gu earlier, he would have wiped out that group from the Taiping Sect long ago!
It truly was an invaluable treasure!
Now to test Winter Storage!
Looking at the Spirit Stones before him, with a wave of his hand and a ntal command of Winter Storage, he swept them aside, and the Spirit Stones moved into so peculiar place.
It was an odd feeling; he could sense that he controlled a space that seed within his own body, though where exactly, he couldn’t tell.
On careful examination, it seed due to his frequent use of his left hand to store items, that space appeared to reside sowhere in his left palm.
After collecting and placing the pile of Spirit Stones repeatedly, Chen Qing stopped.
He extracted four hearts next and had the Snake Gu consu them.
The Snake Gu flew out, opened its maw wide, and, unbelievably for a small snake the size of a seed, swallowed one whole at once, repeated four tis!
Yet the Snake Gu’s body remained small, an astonishing phenonon.
The Snake Gu had the ability to devour, differentiating it from ordinary Gu by its capacity to quickly ingest necessary resources for growth and enhancent.
After consuming three more low-grade Spirit Stones to restore his Spiritual Energy, Chen Qing rose.
It was ti to sever those past ties.
Listening for two days in the village, he heard no one ntion him.
Though he felt a pinch of solitude in his heart, it nonetheless represented an alternative ans of severing past bonds.
After eavesdropping in the village for three more days, Chen Qing finally discovered an opportunity for action.
The villagers frequently spoke of the bandits from Black Tiger Mountain, claiming these bandits were exceptionally strong and often ca down the mountain to steal food and won.
So, he would eliminate these bandits as a gesture of gratitude for nourishing his body.
In doing so, he could truly sever past ties!
It was perfect, as he was still short of three pieces of Greed!
That night, Chen Qing crouched atop a roof in Black Tiger Village, silently observing the bandits.
He wanted to watch them for a while before taking action, to ensure he didn’t kill the wrong person.
However, upon closer inspection, he noticed sothing peculiar. Why did every one of them have bodies like tigers and bears?
Typically, bandits were not so robust. If people had enough to eat, who would choose to be a bandit?
Possessing such strong physiques, why not pursue other paths?
Could there be sothing strange going on?
Thus, Chen Qing decided to watch a bit longer.
In the dead of night, a drunkard arrived with a blood-soaked head as his pledge to enter the village.
As the feast ended, the drunkard knelt before the village chief, quietly waiting.
The enormous, broad-waisted village chief returned to the village, leading out a little boy, looking rely eight or nine years old.
The boy’s face was pale, with dicinal residues at his lips, and his body appeared frail.
The village chief rudely pulled up the boy’s sleeve, revealing arms covered in knife scars, each and every mark alarming.
Then, with a swift cut of a knife over an unhealed wound, the chief filled a wine bowl with blood.
The thick scent of blood mingled with fragrant aromas wafted through the air. Even Chen Qing, on the rooftop, was compelled by the strange aroma, almost salivating!
He quickly grabbed so snow to rub on his face, suppressing the horrifying urge that had arisen.
A mont ago, he had actually wanted to eat a person!
It wasn’t due to the Snake Gu, but purely because the scent of the boy’s blood had incited a powerful hunger.
What on earth?
His gaze focused intently on that little boy. Abnormal people?
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