The rogue cultivator kept retreating back whenever Grey drew near but he kept trying to close the distance.
His dirty long coat was brushing against the forest floor as he ran but he didn't care. His eyes held a detached coldness and no light of emotion could be seen in them.
But those lifeless eyes only made the rogue cultivator more afraid. 'What has this kid been through, to have such dead eyes.' He kept trying to dodge but struck his leg against the root of a tree and fell down.
He hurriedly looked up and saw Grey's green figure loom over him. His long overcoat hiding the small body within and the green fire from his sword illuminated his face. A dangerous glint could be seen his eyes right then. He looked no better than a wild animal.
"Please... spa..." He did not have time to finish his sentence, because Grey had already moved. And the body of the cultivator convulsed and trembled before going stiff. Blood dyed the immediate surroundings red and the corroded zone drank the blood.
Grey cleaned the blood that had splashed on the side of his face and dismissed the sword and stopped running Kai-kai kitan.
He immediately felt a wave of pain well up within him but bit his lips and held if in. When he had taken everything useful from the body of the rogue cultivator, did he leave immediately.
Condensing the green aura into a sword quickly drank through his energy reserves. In fact, he could barely last a few minutes just by doing that. But with the time he had spent in the corroded zone had taught him a lesson.
A lesson he had learned almost at the cost of his life. Once you begin a fight, make sure to end it as fast as possible. Do not be reluctant to use your full power.
Which was what he had just displayed now.
Survive long
Learn a lot
Live long
The corroded zone had taught him that.
***
Just as the sun was setting, Grey left the forest to his small deserted house. Barricading the door again with different items, he held the blunt knife by his side with caution.
Then, the howls of bizarre existences reached his ears. 'They had come.' After staying in the corroded zone for close to a week, he began to notice their strange patterns.
Most bizarre existences only come out by night. Only the truly terrifying wander around whenever they please.
And although he had yet to see one of those such creatures, the shouts of other creatures when they were prey to those bizarre existences were moments he could never forget.
He began to breathe in and cultivate silently. He discovered that the outside world had almost fallen apart.
Great sects were reduced to rubble and the few that remained tried to escape the gods hand and built a flying city in the sky. But who would have known that the fragmented gods hand could also corrode the very sky.
There was almost no where to run. The decay point on his wrist was getting more painful. He could feel his skin melting as it is and even his eyes burned just from looking at it.
He was almost in the fourth realm of Qi condensation, but breaking through in the corroded zone would usher in more corrosive substance into his body.
Which would force him to either die of the corrosion, or turn into one of those Mutated beasts.
'As much as I would like to break through, I can't. Doing so would mean I death.' He needed to find a medicine that could suppress the decay point from expanding even more.
At the very least, he might as well just go out of the corrosive zone to break through. The crystal shard in his chest had helped him so far. With it constantly neutralizing small amounts of corrosive substance, he could live another day.
He was even tempted to leave now but...' No, that's how you get yourself killed.'
His inner voice was right. Trying dangerous risks like that was sure to get him killed. He could hold it in for one more day at the least.
But now, dangerous beings roamed the streets, ready to devour anything they could lay eyes on.
He opened his eyes and the grip on the blunt knife tightened. A shrill moan could be heard resounding outside. The moan sounded distorted in the wind. Like the crying of a baby.
The moan came and went, like the creature was coming from all directions. Grey closed his eyes and tight and shut his ears. Some lessons he had also learned was that certain creatures could hurt you even without looking at you.
The moan resounded once again and this time, Grey seemed to hear the moan come out from beside him. The creature moaned like a newborn baby and he was tempted to open his eyes but then it suddenly stopped...
'Don't look, don't look. Don't, don't...'
"Don't look, don't... don't look..." He heard a dry and hoarse voice. The voice sounded eerily familiar.
It was his own voice he was hearing. "OPEN YOUR EYES." The creature was speaking with his own voice.
"Open your eyes Grey." Sometimes the voice spoke softly, sometimes it spoke with authority and sometimes it spoke begging. But Grey refused to open his eyes.
His fear further suppressing the urge for him to open his eyes. Then it stopped. The door to his hiding place was suddenly smashed and he heard the door fly off and hit the wall.
All the miscellaneous items he had placed to block the door was scattered all around. He felt a cold chill on his cheek. Then he heard the sounds of footsteps. Not one or two, but multiple that he couldn't count.
They all walked towards him, then they circled him. All through this time, Grey had not opened his eyes. He covered it tightly with his hands.
Desperately refusing to peep and see what form of existences were surrounding him. He was terrified. His hands were cold and trembling, shaking from both the fear and the cold.
The footsteps kept getting closer and closer until he was sure they were in front of him. But he still had his hand over his eyes.
"Open your eyes... Grey." The voice said again.