Chapter 296: Do You Dare to Gamble?
* * *
A rumbling sound accompanied the slow opening of the cave mansion’s stone door, letting in a patch of light.
The young man stood in the light for a moment before finally turning around.
His expression was serious as he said, “I don’t think so.”
“Never.”
This was his reply.
The girl in the red dress, hidden in the shadows, suddenly looked up upon hearing this.
But the doorway was already clean, with no trace of the young man.
* * *
Mu Sanniang’s house.
The girl sat by the bed, and the plain-looking black saber began to spin rapidly, emitting a constant buzzing sound.
The process of soul devouring was extremely painful.
The experiences of each soul from their past lives were forcibly crammed into the mind in a very short time, including the intense pain felt at the moment of death. In other words, each time a soul was devoured, it was like personally experiencing death. Although the process was brief, the pain that nearly tore her body apart was undeniable.
Yet, the girl simply gritted her teeth, letting sweat bead on her forehead, without making a sound. Her slender shoulders trembled violently.
The old woman’s spiritual sense swept across the room, secretly surprised by the girl’s willpower. She had gone through this step herself, yet knowing how intense the pain was only made her more astonished. It felt like being sliced by a thousand blades every moment. She was reliving her own past deeds, experiencing how she had killed demonic beasts as if she were being killed by herself back then. A sword through the throat, a decapitation, a pierced heart, limbs severed first, the throat pierced, and Mu Sanniang’s most common method of using her physical advantage to move flexibly and wear down the demonic beasts one by one with her saber. The sensation was comparable to slow slicing. Now, she herself was the one being slow-sliced.
A few muffled groans of pain finally echoed in the quiet room. The girl’s body swayed precariously for a moment, her spirit beginning to grow hazy. Mu Sanniang’s consciousness also became sluggish and blurry.
In a daze, she thought of many things: the boy she had called an idiot, how they had walked hand-in-hand through the snowfall. She thought of that afternoon in the alchemy hall, seeing the young man’s nonchalant demeanor as he exchanged for Qi Gathering Pills. And the suffocating feeling of powerlessness that surged from the depths of her heart. She also thought of the empty bottles neatly arranged in the cupboard.
Thus, the girl, who had nearly collapsed several times, forcefully straightened herself. In reality, like her younger brother, she had no choice in certain matters. Either she would live a mediocre life, becoming a burden to her brother her entire life, or she would have to find another path, embarking on a difficult and arduous journey. No matter how many dangers or hardships lay on this path, Mu Sanniang would not flinch.
Time ticked by, little by little. The sunlight outside the window gradually slanted westward, turning a fiery orange. The girl’s first soul devouring was nearing its end. Sweat poured down her face, soaking the entire bedsheet and her green attire. Her complexion was terrible, and she gasped for air. She suddenly opened her eyes, and her usually pale blue irises flashed with a barely perceptible trace of crimson, filled with frenzy and violence. It was only a fleeting glimpse, and even the girl herself didn’t notice it.
She merely felt the spiritual energy flowing through her body and was momentarily startled, feeling somewhat dazed.
She had broken through. The bottleneck that had held her back for almost four years had been overcome just like that. Although the process was far from easy, it had finally worked, unlike before, when countless pills given by her brother had vanished without a trace, yielding no results. And she hadn’t broken through from Level 2 to Level 3; she had directly reached Qi Cultivation Level 4. All twenty-seven demonic beast souls had been converted into pure spiritual energy, which she now wielded.
The Soul Devouring cultivation technique, combined with this black saber, was the advancement path specially designed for the girl by the old woman. It was also a path the old woman herself had once walked, but at that time, she could only grope her way forward alone and lacked the girl’s immense willpower. She remembered that the first time she devoured a single soul, she had been tormented to the point of writhing on the ground. Let alone the girl devouring twenty-seven souls at once! If the old woman hadn’t lost her physical body, she would have been utterly stunned.
What kind of monster had she found?! She couldn’t help but exclaim in her heart.
In the next second, she heard the girl’s inquiry. Seeing that her “Master” was slow to speak, Mu Sanniang asked, “What’s wrong?”
The old woman coughed lightly. “Nothing, the soul devouring was completed very successfully. Don’t worry about it.” There was one sentence she didn’t finish. It seemed she had underestimated the girl. At the same time, she felt an irrepressible excitement. Yes, absolutely yes. It wasn’t just successful; it was perfect. The old woman looked at the girl with an intensely greedy gaze.
Mu Sanniang seemed oblivious, silently experiencing the changes happening within her body after devouring the souls.
The aged voice continued, “Your aptitude is too poor; the ordinary proper path would only lead you to waste your years. But the Soul Devouring cultivation technique I taught you is different. It can absorb souls and convert them into spiritual energy. Although the process is a bit painful, it allows those with dull talent to gain the ability to break through their limits. Moreover, the stronger the souls you can capture, the more spiritual energy you will convert. If you could absorb the souls of those with astonishing talent, your gains would be unimaginable.”
The girl naturally understood the old woman’s implications. She said coldly, “We agreed back then that we would only cultivate by devouring the souls of rampaging demonic beasts.”
The old woman was not annoyed by Mu Sanniang’s cold refusal. She merely smiled indifferently and changed the subject. “But all the demonic beasts near South Mountain have already been slaughtered by you. What will you do next?”
Hearing the words from the aged voice, Mu Sanniang fell silent. This was indeed a difficult problem before her. She couldn’t attack her fellow disciples just to cultivate the Soul Devouring technique; wouldn’t that be no different from the heretical path?
The old woman saw her difficulty, but her smile did not diminish. She suggested, “Don’t panic. Great sects like yours should have a place specifically for imprisoning those who practice the heretical path. However, such a prison is certainly not something an outer disciple like you can access.”
Her meaning was evident. Mu Sanniang was stunned, her expression showing conflict. She didn’t want to involve her younger brother in these matters. She even chose to conceal it, which was unprecedented for her. She was afraid. She was afraid if her brother knew she had gone down such a crooked path, would he dislike her? The answer, of course, was no. Mu Sanniang knew this answer better than anyone. But often, even if you have absolute certainty, do you dare to gamble? Or rather, can you bear the consequences if you lose the gamble?
