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Chapter 36: The Fruit of Life

“Haha! Sorry, but I don’t give up easily!” Ye Qing massaged his spinning head while channeling his vigor to heal his injuries. “And did I tell you that I’m something like a cockroach? Minor injuries are nothing to me!”

However, the second he channeled his vigor, a wave of weakness washed over his body, and his stomach hurt like someone was twisting a knife inside his intestines. When he looked down, he immediately noticed that his wounds weren’t healing. They were oozing greenish black blood and giving off a disgusting stench. This was definitely not supposed to happen.

“Poison? Your throwing knives are poisoned?” Ye Qing looked up at Prayer in astonishment.

“But of course! All’s fair in war, don’t you agree?” Prayer cackled with sadistic pleasure. “Here’s a lesson for you in your next life, lad: the end always justifies the means!”

“The poison you’re suffering from is called the Bowel Necrosis. It is a poison that flows into your intestines through your blood and rots them from the inside out. Most people die from the pain long before the loss of their bowels actually kills them!”

Prayer was smiling, but it was a sinister and cruel smile. “And don’t think you can kill me before it happens. The poison only takes a short time to reach its full effect. I eagerly await the moment I can feed your corpse to the Dead Man’s Tree!”

“Grr…” Anything Ye Qing did triggered a terrible burst of pain from his stomach. He could clearly feel his intestines rotting little by little. The only silver lining here was his vigor was repairing the damage non-stop, or he absolutely could’ve died from pain overload.

I need a plan B! Ye Qing thought. A tremendous amount of vigor and vitality might buy him a lot of time, but the poison was still going to kill him in the end if he could not remove it in time. The problem was that the Incense of Misfortune was keeping him from taking down Prayer in the shortest amount of time possible. There was also a huge gap in their mobility as well—Prayer had a movement art that he must have mastered for years, while he was relying purely on brute strength and speed to get around. It was extremely unlikely he would be able to kill Prayer before his time ran out.

If brute force won’t win me the day, then…

A light bulb suddenly appeared on Ye Qing’s head as an idea came to him. The next second, he turned around and ran toward the exit with all his might. He shouted, “You want the Fruit of Life, Prayer? Dream on! If I can’t win, then I would rather both of us lose!”

Prayer blanched and figured out Ye Qing’s plan immediately. Clearly, the young man was planning to die to the blood qi outside so he would not be able to feed the Dead Man’s Tree the last bit of vigor and vitality it needed to bear the Fruit of Life. All of his hopes and efforts would come to nothing if Ye Qing succeeded!

“Bastard!” Prayer screamed in rage. The young man was obviously determined to be annoying until the very end. The old man immediately broke into a run while launching three throwing knives aimed at Ye Qing’s neck and his legs. He was so fast he was running parallel to his throwing knives.

Ye Qing ignored it. Legs bending, he let out an earthshaking croak before kicking off the ground and launching himself into the air. It was very close—Prayer’s throwing knives and palm strike had just missed him by milimeters—but the young man was ultimately able to make it out of the valley.

“Fuck! Fuck!” Prayer skidded to a stop before the fake wall and hesitated for a moment, his mind racing with a million thoughts. In the end, he gritted his teeth, stomped his foot, and rushed out after Ye Qing.

He had invested far too much time and effort to obtain the Fruit of Life. He had even gone so far as to murder the Zheng Clan’s scion and his cohort. He was but one step away from obtaining his heart’s desire, so of course he wasn’t willing to give up and start all over again. He didn’t have the time to start over again even if he wanted to. He was already at the end of his lifespan. Without the Fruit of Life, he probably had less than a year to live at best. That was he couldn’t give up here no matter what!

It was true that the Jade Dragon Lake’s blood qi was a serious risk—it corrupted not just their vigor, but also their spirit—but the corruption wasn’t immediate. Since Ye Qing’s injuries were worse than his, he shouldn’t be able to withstand the blood qi’s effects for long. If he died close by, there should be enough time to drag his corpse back to the valley before it was too late.

He couldn’t afford to dilly dally though. If he took too long, Ye Qing would transform into a lifeless and soulless Red Walker. The young man would be completely useless in that state.

As soon as Prayer rushed out of the valley, he immediately felt the blood qi—one that was filled with indescribable filth and wickedness—drilling all the way into his marrows and corrupting both body and mind. His skin immediately started festering and oozing blood.

Prayer hurriedly channeled his true qi to ward off the unnatural blood qi. Then, he searched around for Ye Qing.

It would seem that luck was on his side today. He had just taken two steps forward when he found Ye Qing lying on top of a red, withered bush. He looked nothing like the dashing young man he was before, however. It couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds since he left the valley, but he was already rotting at a visible rate and oozing blood everywhere. His bloody appearance could only be described as horrifying.

“Thank goodness I didn’t hesitate for long! The body would be useless if I waited even a minute longer!” A wide grin spread across Prayer’s face after he inspected Ye Qing’s body. He then grabbed the young man’s leg and started dragging him back to the valley.

“Phew… I’m finally back. The Jade Dragon Lake’s blood qi is just ridiculous!” The journey was extremely short, but Prayer felt like he had endured the blood qi for a lifetime. Not only was he completely drenched in blood, large chunks of flesh actually slid off his face and revealed pale white cheek bones as he talked.

“It’s all this little bastard’s fault!” Prayer tried to wipe the blood on his face only to claw off even more flesh by accident. It hurt so much he couldn’t help but gasp in pain.

His plan had been perfect. He should’ve been able to obtain the Fruit of Life and enjoy an extended lifespan with nary a scratch. Instead, Ye Qing had destroyed his hand and made him work for it. Without the Incense of Misfortune, he certainly would’ve died already!

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the little shit decided to commit suicide by throwing himself into the blood qi. If his injuries were less severe, if he had died far enough from the valley entrance, he would’ve successfully contaminated his body and ruined Prayer’s years-long scheme or worse, take him to the grave with him!

Even now on the brink of success, Prayer scarcely felt like a victor. How could he, when he was bleeding like a pig, and his flesh was so weak that he could literally claw them off his bones?

The more he thought about it, the more frustrated and angrier he became. After cursing Ye Qing’s entire lineage and still feeling dissatisfied at the end of his rant, he decided to vent his feelings in a more physical fashion and kick Ye Qing’s body.

Crack!

However, Ye Qing did not sail across the air as expected. Instead, he had broken his own leg!

“Argh!” Prayer screamed in pain even as alarm bells rang in his head in full force. He tried to move away from the body, but Ye Qing abruptly opened his eyes, shot him a triumphant grin, and jumped to his feet. He then caved in Prayer’s chest with a double punch to the torso.

“No! How are you still—!” Prayer cried out in shock and terror even as blood sprayed between his lips.

Ye Qing did not wait for Prayer to finish. He took one step forward and plunged a dagger into his chest, piercing the heart.

“No… no… this can’t be happening… I…”

Prayer reached out as if trying to grab something, but in the end, his arms fell limply to the ground. His face was etched with confusion and disbelief.

“Hehe. Did I mention that my biggest trump card isn’t my cultivation level? No, it’s my immunity to the blood qi around Jade Dragon Lake!” Ye Qing said while smiling down on Prayer.

The blood and rot covering his body was fake, of course. Or rather, he purposely allowed the blood qi to damage him to create a convincing illusion. Prayer never realized that he wasn’t dead until he was too late.

As for why he didn’t ambush Prayer while they were still outside the valley, it was to deplete the old man’s stamina and to feed his body to the Dead Man’s Tree later.

He was still suffering from Prayer’s Bowel Necrosis. Although he could expel it from his body eventually, it was going to take him a long, long time to do so. He wasn’t sure if it would leave behind some sort of? long-term sequelae either. On the other hand, Prayer claimed that the Fruit of Life could extend one’s lifespan, pull one back from the brink of death, and more importantly, protect one from all kinds of poison. It was exactly what he needed to cure himself.

Shred!

Ye Qing was about to toss Prayer’s corpse over to the Dead Man’s Tree when suddenly, a tear appeared on the old man’s head. Then, his skin was stripped clean off his flesh like it was some sort of suit.

“Oh. I didn’t realize I was using the Skinner!” It was only now Ye Qing noticed that the dagger he used to kill Prayer was none other than the culprit behind the near annihilation of August Hill Village, the Skinner.

The Skinner wasn’t a name Ye Qing had come up himself. It was what the Annon Sutra had called it when he asked about its information.

According to the Annon Sutra, the Skinner was a Mundane-class Strange Artifact. It was rumored to be a torture instrument used to strip convicts of their skin and damage the bones. Over time, it accumulated so much resentment, hatred and misery from the convicts that it gained a minor power. When someone discovered this, they had it forged into a Mundane-class Strange Artifact and named it the Skinner.

The Skinner was, as its name would suggest, capable of stripping someone of their skin and controlling it like a puppet. The skin’s strength was directly proportional to the victim’s.

Of course, the Skinner was hardly omnipotent. The stronger the target, the less likely it would be able to strip them of their skin. For example, the Skinner would never have worked on Prayer while he was still alive.

In essence, a Strange Artifact was a Stranger that could be reliably wielded by its wielder. Naturally, every usage was accompanied by a negative side effect. In the Skinner’s case, it was very simple: every time its wielder stripped someone of their skin, they must remove a palm-sized patch of skin from their body as well. If not, the Stranger would attack the wielder or go out of control. The consequences were unimaginable to put it mildly.

But of course, if the wielder was far stronger than the Strange Artifact, then they could just ignore the side effects or wrestle the Strange Artifact back under control.

In conclusion, Strange Artifacts were as powerful as they were dangerous. This was true even for the Skinner, which the Annon Sutra had deemed as a lesser Strange Artifact!

After Prayer’s skin was stripped, the Skinner started struggling almost as if it had a life of its own. He could also see wisps of black smoke pouring out of the dagger and seeping into his arm. It was bizarre to say the least.

“This is probably the infamous side effect I heard about!” Ye Qing muttered as he channeled his blood. Like hungry beasts that had awoken from hibernation, they devoured the black smoke in just the blink of an eye.

“You are a million years too young to be facing me, you lump of metal!” Ye Qing sneered while grabbing the Annon Sutra and wrapping it around the dagger. Like a mouse facing down a cat, the Skinner immediately stopped struggling and withdrew its black smoke. It became as plain as a normal dagger in no time.

After tucking the Annon Sutra and the Skinner back under his shirt, Ye Qing stared at the human skin for a moment. I wonder if I can control this telepathically. Let’s see…

Prayer’s skin shuddered once before floating into an upright position. Then, it wrapped its arms around Prayer’s body like a pair of ropes and tossed it to the Dead Man’s Tree.

As the Skinner’s wielder, Ye Qing could control any human skin that was stripped by it. However, the human skin itself possessed no intelligence. He would have to control it like a puppet on strings.

As soon as Prayer’s body made contact with the Dead Man’s Tree, it immediately shriveled up and lost all the vigor in its body. A second later, the old man’s face appeared on one of the blank petals of the Dead Man’s Flower.

The petals spread a little wider, and the sweet scent became so strong that it permeated the entire valley. At the same time, a green, unripe fruit grew from the center of the flower.

“Is that the Fruit of Life? It needs one more body to fully ripen though!” exclaimed Ye Qing as he stared at the fruit unblinkingly. He immediately commanded the human skin to toss Zheng Tianyuan’s body over to the tree.

After Zheng Tianyuan’s body had been sucked dry, the Dead Man’s Flower immediately shone with penta-colored radiance. Red, black and white intermingled with one another to create a fantastic, rainbow-like glow.

The Fruit of Life at the center of the petals began growing and maturing. Every time it grew bigger, one of the petals would wither away. When all five petals had fully withered, the Fruit of Life had become as big as an infant’s fist and so red it looked like it might drip blood at any moment. Its wonderful scent had also reached a new crescendo.