Chapter 9: Counter-Strike

Inexplicably, Yin Jue suddenly felt his whole body was itching!

The itch wasn’t just on his skin, instead, it was from underneath.

He subconsciously scratched his skin. Just like what he thought, it didn’t do anything.

“This is so weird…”

He murmured while trying to bring up energy from his Middle Core to fix the itching.

Cultivators in the Dark Burst Realm who were able to open up the “Dark Door” of the Middle Core can accumulate the Power of Blood and Qi.

Middle Core was connected to the eight additional meridians located in the chest cavity, which were able to refine the Energy of Blood and Qi. The meridians will then be responsible for transmitting the energy to the body’s organs.

Cultivators that reached the Dark Burst Realm would feel the vitality of energy and extend their lifespan.

Anyone under the Dark Burst Realm, no matter if they were cultivators or mortals, could at most live a little past a hundred years.

As soon as one stepped into the Dark Burst Realm, the cultivator’s life span will be greatly increased by another few decades or even a century.

With the advancement of realms, the lifespan would continuously be extended. The cultivator could live for a thousand or even ten thousand years.

“Ahh!”

When Yin Jue attempted to activate the energy from his Middle Core, he screamed in a deep voice.

The howling was soon stopped.

As he was covered his mouth, Yin Jue found in fear that there were tiny creatures crawling along his eight special meridians and disappearing into his Middle Core!

The energy in his Middle Core churned like the surface of a stormy sea!

He lost total control of his Blood and Qi.

The indescribable pain from his Middle Core quickly spread through his entire body!

The flow of blood sped up suddenly; his energy also bounced around his body like horses on the loose.

Yin Jue could no longer sustain the Green Ghost Fire spell.

His body was sweating in cold, and he curled up on the ground in pain.

“Augh!”

The painful sound leaked from the hand covering his mouth. He was like a beast dieing in fear.

While he was going through the pain, he saw the door of the pavilion quietly opening.

Under the moonlight, a figure both familiar and unfamiliar walked towards him with ease.

The man’s mouth shone indifferently and his eyes as bright as the cold moon in the night sky!

“Yu Yuan!”

Looking at the figure, Yin Jue, still in pain, felt unbelievable.

That person was the one that he wanted and thought would kill as soon as he stepped in here!

That fool, however, was not only alive but also staring at him with a scary look.

“Why should I be afraid of this idiot?!”

Yin Jue panted. He forced his face into a fierce look, “Just a little controllable energy in my body. It is not a big deal.” He tried to comfort himself.

“The poison from the Red Shelled Pill seems to be especially effective for cultivators of the Dark Burst Realm.”

Yu Yuan then looked toward An Ziqing who was frozen inside a thick layer of ice. The cold had not yet entered her body, which meant that Yin Jue wasn’t planning to kill her yet, but was here for something else.

He thought about it for a moment and made a decision in his mind.

“Red Shelled Pill’s poison eats up the Energy of Blood and Qi. If you still try to activate the energy from your Middle Core, the Red Shelled Pill will speed up the process of leading into your meridians which then will be lead to all your organs. Gee, that must be some pain!”

After he heard that, Yin Jue’s eyes widened, staring at Yu Yuan like he just saw a ghost.

He once again activated his spiritual power, making the last attempt to kill Yu Yuan on the spot.

Suddenly, a more intense tearing pain broke out from inside his organs!

Yin Jue collapsed on to the ground, trembling. He found that the energy in his Middle Core and Lower Core were both acting violently against his intentions.

He was frightened. He hurriedly tried to scream to wake up others in the Yu Clan.

That was already too late. He felt Yu Yuan appeared behind him and crouched down.

Yu Yuan’s pair of long white lands covered his mouth just in time before he was able to make a sound.

“Errr! Errr!”

The hand that covered his mouth muted his desperate cry for help.

Even though his mouth was sealed tight, his nose could still breathe.

“Stop making noises! Can’t you tell it’s late at night?”

Facing away from him, Yu Yuan covered his mouth even tighter and said in a mocking tone, “I’m guessing that the poison from the Red Shell Pill is heading toward your vital organs. It must be so painful to be slowly eaten away by tiny bugs, right? Uh, uh. I know. You want to die now.”

“Don’t be in such a hurry. I’ll let you enjoy this for a little longer.”

“Look, I didn’t even cover up your nose just so that you can have some more time to enjoy. How does it feel?”

Yu Yuan whispered slowly and quietly beside his ear.

In Yin Jue’s ears, however, the words were like the devil’s sharp knife stabbing repeatedly through his heart and soul.

He felt that the pain in his body was intensified by Yu Yuan’s words.

His organs were tearing, and his meridians were twisting. The feeling was only getting worse.

Blood oozed out of Yin Jue’s eyes, nostrils, ears, and mouth. The horrible scene made him look like a monster at the moment.

Then, the blood veins on his neck suddenly burst.

Red blood flooded his face and neck. His swollen chest gradually shriveled, as his organs were being taken away.

Yin Jue couldn’t just wait for his death, and still subconsciously gasped air through his nose. The pain was unbearable.

After a very long time…

Yu Yuan removed his bloody hands from the mouth. He then quickly found some firewood and started a fire with his fire crystals, burning Yin Jue’s toxified body.

Not far away, the frozen An Ziqing didn’t know anything of what just happened.

…

“Yin Jue is dead!”

“Yes, just last night, outside of Yu Yuan’s room. He was poisoned to death.”

“According to Yu Yuan and the rest of the Yu Clan, Yin Jue had some conflict with a poison master and got killed by the opponent’s poison.”

“They said that after Yin Jie was poisoned, his body was also burned to ashes by the poison in his body.”

“The young master of the Yu Clan and the little maid both witnessed it last night. They also said that the poison master spotted Yu Yuan’s talents and came here yesterday night to prepare him to be accepted as a student.”

Lin Zhuyun’s maid Han You finally calmed down after she repeatedly ordered for her to stop. She told her everything that she heard from the Yu Clan this morning.

After she finished, she felt a little uncomfortable and carefully glanced up toward her master.

Lin Zhuyun was calm, at least she seemed to be. She only frowned but didn’t speak.

No matter what happened to Yin Jue, others would think that she must have ordered him to go there.

She knew that Yin Jue just had gone because Cold Shadows Sect told him to do so, and of course it wasn’t for anything good.

As Yin Ju’s master, she couldn’t be assumed innocent from what he did.

But now, Yin Jue was dead.

Died of poison by a poison master?

And even if the position master spotted Yu Yuan to be one of the students, why did they had to so late at night?

Was it a coincidence?

Or was there something else?

Lin Zhuyun was tangled in her thoughts, but she knew that the answer was not a simple one. It was Yin Jue’s fault in the first place that he went to Yu Yuan’s place, so she couldn’t just go up to the Yu Clan and ask for an explanation.

“Suddenly woke up and now spot by a poison master. This is strange. Very strange.” Suddenly, another possibility came to her, “Can’t it be you who killed him? Oh, no! No way that you have the ability to kill Yin Jue!

…

It was another long period of concentration and quietness.

Yu Yuan exhaled a turbid breath, and his ninth meridian was suddenly filled with the natural spirit.

“Success! Meridian Establishment Realm, Ninth Stage!” Feeling the surge of spiritual energy entering his body, he smiled, “Meridian Extension Pill works so well!”

Since what happened that night, he became eager to develop his realm faster.

Three days have passed. Just as he had expected, after the news was sent to his fiancée, nothing much happened.

But he was clear that this was just a brief calm before the storm.

“Hey!”

Suddenly, a bright red lotus floated toward him like a ball of fire.

There was not even a sign of it until it came close.

Until he realized it, it was already in front of his face. He felt dizzy and confused, “This is bad…”

The red lotus quickly grew large and swallowed him as a whole into the petals.

A few seconds later, the lotus shrank into its original size and mysteriously disappeared in a trail of light.

…