Chapter 120 - 85 : Late Qi-Refining (2)

Chapter 120: Chapter 85 : Late Qi-Refining (2)

Ethan withdrew the short dao as the cultivator’s body lost its remaining strength and fell heavily to the ground.

Silence returned for half a breath.

Then the battlefield broke.

The two Mid Qi Refining cultivators had fallen so quickly that many of the people around them were still staring at their bodies, struggling to understand what they had just witnessed. One had stepped forward with the confidence of someone who believed his hidden strength would finally turn the fight around. The other had joined him, and for a brief moment, the entire crowd had believed the balance had shifted. Then Ethan had broken through into Late Qi Refining, killed one of them almost instantly, and chased down the other before he could escape. The whole exchange had happened so quickly that the fear had barely had time to settle before the second body struck the ground.

Now the cultivators looked toward Ethan.

He stood beneath the moonlight with his short dao in hand, blood dripping from the blade and staining his fingers. The blood around his mouth had not been wiped away, and his fangs remained exposed beneath his lips. His eyes carried that deep red glow, sharp and predatory in the darkness, while the pressure of his newly advanced cultivation spread through the valley. Against the pale moonlight and the dark slopes of Wailing Mountain, the figure standing among the bodies no longer looked like someone they could surround and wear down through numbers.

He looked like the thing they had been feeding themselves to.

For a moment, the cultivators simply stared.

Then someone dropped his weapon.

Another took a step backward.

The fear that had been building throughout the night finally broke through whatever restraint remained.

"Run!"

The shout tore across the valley.

"I’ve had enough!"

"Get out of here!"

"He’s now a Late Qi Refining demonic cultivator!"

The words triggered the others. Cultivators who had spent the night forcing themselves forward suddenly turned and fled, their earlier formation collapsing in an instant. The confidence they had borrowed from the two hidden Mid Qi Refining cultivators was gone, and there was nothing left to replace it. Those two men had been their last reason to believe they could still win, and Ethan had killed both of them before the crowd could even recover from his breakthrough.

Some sprinted toward the valley entrance, stumbling over rocks as they pushed their Qi into their legs. Others scrambled up the rocky slopes, grabbing at uneven stone and roots as they tried to climb away from the battlefield. A few simply ran into the darkness without caring where they were going, driven by nothing more than the desperate need to put distance between themselves and the figure standing behind them.

The battlefield that had once surrounded Ethan from every direction was breaking apart.

The same people who had come here believing their numbers would eventually bring him down were now fighting only to escape with their lives. Fear moved through them faster than any order could have stopped it, carrying with it the memory of everything that had happened that night, every body that had fallen, every time they had convinced themselves Ethan was finally weakening, only to watch him recover and become more dangerous.

And now there was nothing left to convince themselves of.

They ran.

Ethan did not chase them.

He simply stood there and watched them disappear into the darkness, the sound of their hurried footsteps fading between the rocks. The weight of the battle seemed to settle over him now that there was nothing left to react to, leaving only the bodies, the blood-soaked ground, and the quiet valley around him.

There was no need.

The battle had already been decided.

Only after the valley began to empty did Ethan allow himself to look back on how the battle had unfolded.

He had noticed the two hidden Mid Qi Refining cultivators almost from the beginning. Among the surrounding Body Tempering and Early Qi Refining cultivators, their vitality stood out too clearly to miss. They were like two campfires burning among scattered candles, their presence carrying a depth and density that separated them from everyone else. What Ethan could not tell was when they intended to reveal themselves.

At first, he had expected them to step forward once the weaker cultivators had done enough to wear him down. But as the battle continued, neither moved. Instead, the Early Qi Refining cultivators around him began taking more control of the assault, coordinating the others and constantly adjusting their positions. It gradually became clear that the two stronger cultivators were content to remain hidden while the people around them did the dangerous work.

They were waiting for an opportunity.

Perhaps they intended to let the others drive him into a corner before appearing for the final strike. Perhaps they were waiting for him to expose an opening. Ethan could not know exactly which plan they had in mind, and there was another detail that made the situation even more interesting. Through Blood Perception, he could tell that the two men were not aware of each other either.

It reminded him of the old tale of two people hiding behind the same tree, each waiting for the other to expose himself without realizing there was someone else watching from the opposite side. Neither wanted to make the first move, because whoever revealed himself too early would also reveal his hand.

Ethan understood the advantage that gave him.

So he played along.

He could have used more of his speed to force his way through the surrounding cultivators, but doing so while surrounded by so many people would have exposed more of his strength than he wanted to show. If he turned his back and committed himself to an escape, the two hidden cultivators would have their opening. If he openly acknowledged their presence, they might simply withdraw and wait for another opportunity.

Instead, Ethan allowed them to believe what they wanted to believe.

He fought as though the growing pressure was forcing him toward his limit. He held back the full extent of his speed, used only what he needed to survive each exchange, and let the surrounding cultivators convince themselves that their numbers were slowly accomplishing what they had intended. As long as the two stronger cultivators remained hidden, there was no reason for him to reveal everything he had either.

For a while, the plan worked.

Then his reserves began to fall too quickly.

The injuries were healing more slowly, his Living Blood was being consumed faster than he could replenish it, and the pressure from the surrounding cultivators was beginning to force him into a position where patience alone would no longer be enough. The battle was becoming more dangerous than he had expected, and the thought of simply continuing to wait was becoming harder to justify.

That was when he took blood from a living cultivator.

It had never been part of his plan.

Ethan had always found another way to obtain blood, and even when he had been surrounded by enemies, he had not intended to feed directly from someone who was still alive. But his reserves were running dangerously low, and another serious injury could have pushed the battle beyond what he could safely endure. Survival left him with a choice he had been unwilling to make.

Once he tasted that blood, however, the situation changed.

The Living Blood entering his body gave him back some of what he had been spending, while the blood already covering the battlefield offered something even more valuable. Ethan realized that he did not need to rely entirely on drinking from each cultivator individually. The Blood Seed could draw on the blood scattered across the ground and refine what it could use.

The battlefield itself had become a source.

Every wound created more blood. Every fallen cultivator left more behind. The longer the battle continued, the more there was for the Blood Seed to draw from. The reserve building within Ethan began to rise again, and with it came the accumulation he had been missing.

The breakthrough that had been so close before was finally within reach.

Yet Ethan still waited.

By then, he understood that he had another option. If he broke through while the two hidden cultivators remained concealed, they might realize the situation had changed and retreat before exposing themselves. He had no reason to give them that chance. His breakthrough did not require him to sit down, withdraw from the battlefield, or enter the kind of dangerous stillness an ordinary cultivator might need. The Blood Seed was part of his body. As long as he could maintain control of the circulation and give it enough energy to grow, the change could happen while he fought.

So he waited for them.

He allowed the battle to continue until the pressure finally forced their hands.

The older man stepped out first, confident that Ethan had already been worn down enough to finish him. The second followed, believing the same thing. Only then did Ethan stop holding back.

The accumulation was already there.

The Blood Seed had reached the edge of its next stage.

And when Ethan finally pushed it forward, the breakthrough came in the middle of the battlefield.

Everything that followed happened faster than the others could understand. Ethan crossed the distance between himself and the older man before the man’s body could properly react, killed him, then turned his attention to the second Mid Qi Refining cultivator when he fled. The man barely made it beyond the battlefield before Ethan caught him and ended the fight as well.

Now the valley was quiet.

The moon had climbed high above Wailing Mountain, its pale light falling across the blood-soaked ground and the bodies scattered between the rocks. Abandoned weapons lay where their owners had fallen, while the mournful wind moved through the cliffs again, carrying that same distant cry that had followed Ethan since he entered the mountain.

Ethan stood alone among the dead.

His dark-gray robe was torn and drenched in blood, though almost none of it was his. The wounds that had covered his body were gone, leaving his pale skin smooth beneath the moonlight. His fangs were still exposed, and the deep red in his eyes had not completely faded.

For a long moment, he simply stood there.

The battle was over.

The people who had come to surround him had fled, leaving behind only the bodies of those who had not been fast enough. Ethan looked across the valley, taking in the destruction without saying anything.

Then his gaze dropped to the short dao in his hand.

A thin crack ran along the blade.

He turned it slightly, watching the moonlight catch along its damaged edge. The weapon had endured everything he had put it through, but it had finally reached its limit.

A faint snap sounded.

The dao broke.

The damaged blade fell from Ethan’s hand and landed among the bodies.

The wind passed through the valley again, carrying that long, mournful cry between the cliffs, while Ethan remained beneath the pale moonlight, surrounded by blood-soaked earth, fallen bodies, and the broken weapon at his feet. There was no one left to fight, only the quiet valley, the scattered remains of the battle, and the distant wail fading between the mountains.