Chapter 75, Xu Hei’s Stoneman Formation

Translator: Tamon

 

Divine Rousing Pill affected the spirit, helping one’s mind clear up.

 

While this variant ‘roused’ one’s spirit and mind in spades, it did so in a ‘fresh’ and ‘novel,’ albeit skewed, way.

 

Hua Yuntian was still puking, unable to bear the rot. He backed away along with his partner.

 

Oh, they tried using True Qi to seal their noses, but nothing worked. It was like the stench stuck to one’s soul.

 

Xu Hei made his appearance and struck the Divine Rousing Pill with a talisman.

 

“Seal!”

 

The sealing talisman contained the Divine Rousing Pill, and the putrid smell finally abated.

 

Xu Hei eased a breath.

 

He’d never smelled something more foul in his life. One tended to adapt to anything given enough time, but not with this thing, no, for it was so potent it had fifty shades of rot, each worse than the last.

 

It affected not only the body but the mind as well.

 

“The damn pill is immoral. I’m never trying it again.” Xu Hei’s heart shuddered.

 

The derp eye look and the pale face all pointed that Xiao Qiu’s soul left the station.

 

He was awake, so awake he was close to passing to the hereafter.

 

“Kill me…” He muttered.

 

Xu Hei sighed, going over to slap him unconscious while drawing blood from his nose.

 

Xu Hei sprinkled human bones alongside some demon fur to fake his death at the belly of the beasts.

 

As it happened, this cave belonged to a demon tiger that Xu Hei cleared earlier.

 

Xiao Qiu hoisted the blank Xiao Qiu and I left.

 

…

 

Hua Yuntian and the middle-aged cultivator took a whole two hours to reach the cave following the blood trail.

 

The place was covered in dried blood, along with demon fur and broken bones. Oh, and not to forget the lingering stench.

 

The middle-aged cultivator said, “The punk got eaten.”

 

“He got off easily.” Hua Yuntian huffed.

 

They were too disturbed by the cave’s state to linger, leaving soon after.

 

A little snake watched them atop a large tree nearby.

 

“Hua Yuntian and a Foundation Establishment friend. With people here, I’ll have to move house.” Xu Hei mused.

 

He knew they came for Xiao Qiu, but Xu Hei didn’t drop his guard. Their presence proved humans could come over at any time.

 

Xu Hei had to look for another residence for the coming winter.

 

The untamed and deep wilderness in these parts of the mountains hid strong creatures, like the wild mammoth, an existence no cultivator would encroach upon.

 

…

 

Xiao Qiu finally woke up from the stench-induced coma three days later.

 

He took a big gulp of water from the bottle nearby, his first action since arriving two days ago.

 

He followed by sitting cross-legged and recovering his Spiritual Energy.

 

Experiencing life and death gave one a profound outlook on life. Why should he live for a woman when he could’ve built his foundation ages ago?

 

He even felt grateful, just a little, for Yin Ling’s killer. It cured him of his vice and freed him of the bondage of obsession.

 

“Senior.”

 

Turning to the stoneman standing guard at the cave entrance, he cupped his hands. “Is there any way I could be of assistance?”

 

The stoneman was still as a… rock.

 

Xu Hei was outside, in a clearing, going through a hundred-man drill.

 

Putting it another way, he was controlling a hundred granite puppets to use Stone Throw at the same time.

 

“Fire!” Xu Hei ordered in his mind.

 

A hundred stones shot like rain into a hillside, broken down from the onslaught in a spectacular fashion.

 

The humans’ canon came to Xu Hei’s mind. Throwing rocks could wreck a city, given there were large and many enough to do the job.

 

“A focused attack might even smash a cultivator to a pulp.” Xu Hei pondered.

 

Besides, he could stick a Fireball Talisman on the rocks for extra oomph to turn that possibility into reality.

 

He was one weird demon to come up with something like this. A shame Xu Hei had yet to do conclusive tests.

 

“Don’t I have a live target in the cave? Should I try it on him?” The snake thought of Xiao Qiu.

 

The stoneman in the cave turned towards Xiao Qiu. “Can you repeat that?”

 

Xiao Qiu stared and cupped his hands again. “Is there any way I could be of assistance?”

 

“There is.” The stoneman nodded with an ugly smile.

 

Xiao Qiu’s skin tingled. He should’ve kept his mouth shut.

 

Minutes later, Xiao Qiu stood hogtied in a clearing.

 

Facing him were ten stonemen with rocks in their hands and hard stares.

 

“Xiao Qiu, this is a test. Withstand the ten stonemen with all your might and survive!” Xu Hei spoke.

 

Xiao Qiu’s mouth twitched. [You fricking tied me up!]

 

He bottled up the curse and spoke in a shaky tone. “And if I do?”

 

“I’ll add another ten,” Xu Hei replied.

 

Xiao Qiu’s face fell.

 

…

 

A battered Xiao Qiu was carried back to the cave.

 

He’d suffered 33 Stone Throws.

 

Xu Hei still believed this guy was holding back. He matched Hua Yuntian but balked from a few pebbles. He could take a little beating.

 

Xu Hei stashed his stonemen and left to do his rounds.

 

A patrol later, Xu Hei returned with a heavy look. Five warning talismans were missing today. One might be a coincidence, two or three meant men were wandering about, and five was trouble. Someone focused on this area.

 

“I can’t linger.” Xu Hei thought.

 

He spotted many faint footprints as well, a human’s.

 

Upon a closer look, Xu Hei discovered they all belonged to one man.

 

The odds they were planted were also there. It might’ve been one man, but plenty of others in the shadows. The single trail might be just to dupe him.

 

“Who came?” Xu Hei shook his head. “Who cares? I’m leaving anyway.”

 

Xu Hei rushed back to his cave, giving Xu Bai an urgent warning. “Pack everything. We’re moving out.”

 

“Mm!” Xu Bai nodded and stuffed her storage bag with all the growing herbs and pills.

 

Xu Hei made sure to practice packing with her for this particular occasion.

 

He always had a fallback.

 

Xu Hei had a lot more than two caves, all in perfect locations to hide and cultivate.

 

The only problem was the spiritual herbs. Moving every so often didn’t help them grow. Not to mention that intruding in a foreign area triggered a fight with the demon owning the turf. Lastly, Xu Hei didn’t like to move.

 

He only did it due to human encroachment.

 

One thing was certain: someone was after him, but who?