Chapter 64 Another Enemy

“You… how could this be? We’ve been fighting this entire time. Your primeval essence couldn’t have recovered so quickly…”

Unfortunately, Tie Ju would never learn the answer. Cold light flashed, and his head flew through the air before crashing to the ground and rolling several times.

Yang Kang walked over and stomped down viciously, crushing the head beneath his foot. Red and white matter splattered across the blood-soaked ground as he looked down at the corpse and sneered.

“It’s true that my aperture has been modified by Blood Path methods, allowing my primeval essence to recover faster than normal. But if you hadn’t wasted so much time talking about the Tie Clan’s justice, ideals, and sacrifices, how could I have recovered enough primeval essence to kill you?”

In a battle of life and death, all those grand words were meaningless. Could words really defeat an enemy?

“So, Tie Ju, you died because you talked too much!”

Yang Kang reached into Tie Ju’s aperture, but unfortunately, just like the other Tie Clan Gu Masters, Tie Ju had already destroyed all of his Gu before dying.

“Damn it, they’re all destroyed. That old bastard really was ruthless.” Yang Kang was extremely dissatisfied that Tie Ju had not left him any spoils, so he angrily kicked the corpse twice.

Gu contained the will of their Gu Master and could be destroyed with a single thought, ensuring that they would never fall into enemy hands. Therefore, even if a Gu Master defeated and killed an opponent, obtaining the opponent’s Gu was usually extremely difficult.

However, this situation changed with the rise of Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable, the creator of an entirely new path—Theft Path.

Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable stole from Gu Immortals, from the black heaven and white heaven of the immemorial nine heavens to the Door of Life and Death, and even Heavenly Court itself. He was the wealthiest Venerable in history, and much of this wealth came from the path he personally created.

Theft Path possessed many strange Gu, most of which specialized in stealing. These included Plunder Gu, Robber Gu, Great Thief Gu, and Formless Hands Gu. There were also Gu with more specific abilities, such as Primeval Stone Stealing Gu, which could steal primeval stones, and Material Stealing Gu, which could steal Gu materials.

However, Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable was an otherworldly demon who had always sought a way to return to his original world. Although he founded Theft Path, he left behind very few true inheritances compared to the other Venerables. As a result, the Theft Path remained one of the rarest and most unusual paths in the Gu world.

Yang Kang naturally possessed no Theft Path methods capable of stealing another person’s Gu. Thus, even after killing these Tie Clan Gu Masters, he had gained almost nothing from their apertures.

“It’s a pity I don’t have any Soul Path Gu for restraining and searching souls. Otherwise, I could have obtained quite a lot of information from them.” Yang Kang could not help sighing regretfully.

Soul searching involved using Gu to directly search through the memories contained within a person’s soul and extract information from them.

Ever since Spectral Soul Demon Venerable founded Soul Path during the Late Antiquity Era, soul-searching methods had spread widely throughout the Gu world. They were simply too useful. Inheritances, Gu recipes, hidden secrets, and valuable information could all be extracted directly from the target’s memories.

Because of this, even Rank Four and Rank Five Gu Masters who did not cultivate Soul Path would often learn at least one soul-searching method for emergencies. Among demonic Gu Masters, such methods were even more common. A demonic Gu Master who did not know even the basics of soul searching would almost be embarrassed to call himself a veteran of the Demonic Path.

“I should leave quickly. If Chijia Village discovers me in my current condition, I won’t be able to fight them.” Despite wiping out the Tie Clan squad, Yang Kang did not become arrogant. He carefully burned the corpses of the Tie Clan Gu Masters and erased all traces of the battlefield. “Still, something is strange. I fought the Tie Clan for so long, yet no reinforcements from Chijia Village appeared.”

What Yang Kang did not know was that after killing the Tie Clan Gu Masters, an extremely faint fragrance had already attached itself to his soul. He had been marked by Rust Flower Gu.

After recovering enough strength to travel, Yang Kang hurried along a secluded mountain path. The old patriarch of Xu Village had arranged a hidden stronghold for him deep within Chiyang Mountain. Its location was extremely concealed, and even the Gu Masters of Chi Family Village would find it difficult to discover.

Suddenly, Yang Kang stopped. A figure stood atop a boulder ahead, arms crossed. His aura was powerful yet difficult to read, making Yang Kang unable to determine his cultivation at a glance. He appeared to be a middle-aged man with a weathered face and deep lines carved by the years. Dressed in a simple black robe, he stood there alone, yet Yang Kang felt an inexplicable pressure bearing down on him, as though a mountain were blocking his path. Most striking were the man’s cold and indifferent eyes, which looked at Yang Kang as though he were nothing more than an ant.