Chapter 177 – Eternal Lament (III)

Chapter 177

Eternal Lament (III)

Long Tao stepped out and blended into the castle’s drab gray colors, vanishing as though he were never there.

The sky above couldn’t even really be seen, as there was still about two thousand feet or so of the mountain, and they were directly in the haze of the clouds. As such, though the air was clearer, it was also slightly harder to breathe–not by much; perhaps to the kids not even a noticeable amount, but to him, every change was… visible.

As soon as he entered the tiny little castle, he felt it–the energy of blood. Somebody within the walls was using Life Qi to fuel themselves.

No, that was the wrong way of putting it–they weren’t using Life Qi, as this wasn’t a cultivator. They were using blood itself as a fuel. The difference, really, was merely in semantics–both sought the same thing, just in slightly different ways.

None of the people they met so far, unfortunately, fit the bill; the closest was the man called ‘Captain’, but he was merely a ghoulish husk under someone else’s commands. Though perhaps a rather odd and rare thing to see here, in the higher heavens, it was extremely commonplace.

One of the reasons why the practice of soul-suicides was practically beaten into every child from the cradle was that, if they don’t, their husks would be captured and they’d be enslaved for all eternity.

The slightly frustrating part was that the scent of blood was scattered–whether it was done deliberately or not, he couldn’t tell, but it was making it far harder to locate its source than it otherwise would have been.

While Shamans being here wouldn’t have caused any undue worry, that was only if they were ‘ordinary’ Shamans. As cultivators had special bloodlines and physiques, Shamans themselves had unique inclinations–and one of the rarest, undoubtedly, was that of blood.

He headed to the barracks, as he wanted to take a closer look at the newcomer–he sensed something when she entered the castle, as he’d set up alarms through tiny motes of Qi practically everywhere–but he couldn’t discern anything from that far away.

They were all happily chattering at the main table, gathered around a slender and rather beautiful woman.

… but it wasn’t her.

Well, she wasn’t an ordinary woman, by any means–she looked to be a Shaman herself, and a rather experienced one at that, but she wasn’t the one oozing the scent of blood. In a way, though, she may be even more dangerous as her gaze drifted from those at the table and found him. She smiled invisibly, and he merely nodded sideways to the small alley behind the building, walking over casually.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Even if he wasn’t utilizing cloaking art itself and just its principles through basic use of Qi, it was the first time it had failed to conceal him from someone.

He only had to wait a few moments before she emerged from the shadows, her voice still audibly heard coming from the barracks.

“Fancy trick,” Long Tao said as she smiled.

“You’re one of the kids lads mentioned came with Lu.”

“And observant.”

“Calling you a kid, though, might be pushing it,” she chuckled, leaning into the side of the wall. “So, why are you here? Really? You’re a cultivator, and I never knew your sort to fancy desolate places like this.”

“We really are just passing through,” Long Tao shrugged. “A better question is, why are you here?”

“A girl’s gotta keep some mystery about herself, don’t you think?”

“… if you don’t stop,” Long Tao smiled gently. “I will rip out your spine and use it to skin you alive.”