Heaven’s Shadow

In the darkness, the shape of the creature was unclear, with only those three eerie green eyes staring intently at Lu Chen. At that moment, Lu Chen instinctively thought of Ah Tu; on some deep nights in the past, Ah Tu’s eyes had also emitted a similar ghostly glow.

But they were different!

Lu Chen quickly made this judgment. Although Ah Tu’s eyes had a greenish glow, the light was clean and bright. Seeing them in the dark might give a sense of eeriness, but one could still perceive emotional changes, a sense of life. In contrast, the three green eyes before him burned with a fierce green flame, filled with a brutal and murderous aura, as if solely intent on killing.

For some reason, Lu Chen felt a sense of relief upon realizing this, then quickly grew serious, frowning as he looked at the strange creature that had suddenly appeared from the night.

This thing was clearly not benevolent. Just the violent aura it exuded from the darkness was enough for him to categorize it among the most vicious creatures he had ever encountered. Most of the similar things he had seen were in the most dangerous regions of this vast land, specifically deep within the Chaos Lands.

But this place was clearly Kunlun Mountain, Western Lands’ Spiritual Mountain, the foundation of the Kunlun Sect. How could such a fierce monster exist here?

These questions flashed through Lu Chen’s mind, but he didn’t dwell on them. After a brief standoff, the strange creature seemed unable to restrain its hunger for flesh, letting out a piercing shriek before charging at him.

The sharp sound of it breaking through the air was akin to an arrow leaving a bow, instantly closing the distance. As the creature moved, Lu Chen glimpsed its form: a small, snake-like bug, about the length of half an arm and as thick as a thumb, with a grotesque head the size of a fist. The most noticeable and terrifying feature was the three green eyes on top of its head.

The creature charged forward with the sound of wind and darkness. Lu Chen’s expression darkened as he stepped back, drawing his black short sword with his right hand and slashing down.

However, the creature’s speed was terrifyingly fast; it twisted in mid-air, dodging the sharp blade and then twisting around the blade, directly wrapping around Lu Chen’s wrist. The monster lowered its head and bit into Lu Chen’s wrist.

The creature’s movements were so rapid that Lu Chen had no time to react, feeling a sudden, sharp pain in his wrist. At that moment, he seemed to hear another horrifying sound.

It was the sound of flesh tearing, bones being gnawed, the terrifying monster frantically devouring flesh. In an instant, the creature wriggled frantically and burrowed into the wound it had made, directly entering Lu Chen’s arm.

The terrifying pain surged like a tide from his arm. Lu Chen’s hand trembled violently; in that moment, he lost control of his right hand, his fingers loosening, and the black short sword dropped to the ground.

In the dim light of the darkness, he saw his skin bulging with a twisted, writhing shape, desperately moving up his arm. It wouldn’t be long before the creature would reach his chest and attack his vital organs.

In this dark night, the atmosphere was suddenly filled with infinite murderous intent, as if the entire world had turned into a chilling frost.

Lu Chen suddenly snorted coldly, and a dark flame flickered deep in his eyes. Simultaneously, in the deepest part of his body, the silent and lonely Five Elements Divine Disc suddenly trembled violently, then flipped over.

The black disc reappeared, and a dark flame burned in his qi sea, suddenly erupting into a great blaze!

The strange creature in his arm suddenly paused, seemingly sensing something. Even with flesh and blood before it, the creature showed a trace of inexplicable fear, as if wanting to retreat.

However, darkness had already descended!

Like the roar of an endless dark sea, infinite darkness suddenly boiled, surging madly toward Lu Chen’s body from all directions. The cold wind howled, darkness whirled, like a wild dance around the deepest shadow, where a dark flame flickered.

The cold aura spread, devoid of any mercy or vitality. A terrifying and murderous aura rose from Lu Chen’s body, surging back and directly toward the creature in his right arm.

The dark flame, amidst this tidal wave-like force, flickered, like a sinister smile opening the mouth of a demon, ready to devour all living things.

This murderous aura was even more brutal, terrifying, and merciless than the one the strange creature had emitted earlier.

The violent creature seemed intent on devouring flesh and life, while the killing intent within Lu Chen felt purely for destruction, aiming to annihilate all life.

In the darkness, Lu Chen stood tall, suddenly shuddering as countless black flames erupted from his body, burning wildly. Strangely, his clothes remained untouched. It looked as though he had turned into a burning black figure.

The creature began to tremble violently, attempting to retreat, but it was too late. The tide of darkness surged forward like a massive wave, rushing into Lu Chen’s right arm and engulfing the creature hidden within his flesh.

Everything fell silent in an instant.

After the frenzy, the world returned to its quiet state, with only Lu Chen standing in the darkness, breathing softly.

After a moment, he slowly raised his right hand and gently shook it.

With a soft “plop,” a small, charred, and shrunken object, as hard as a stone and about the size of a little finger, fell from his wound, hitting the ground and rolling twice.

A cold night wind blew past him.

Lu Chen felt a chill from his forehead, neck, and down his back, realizing that in the brief instant of the encounter, he had broken out in a cold sweat.

The black flames were still burning in his eyes, the dark tide still swirling within him. He breathed lightly, a faint tremor in his breath.

The surging black fire gradually subsided, slowly retreating into his body. The night returned to its calm state, even the darkness becoming gentle, softly embracing him.

But then, amid the retreating dark tide in his qi sea, Lu Chen suddenly sensed a new, distinct aura, a violent, murderous intent. This aura was different from the usual energy absorbed by the black flames in the dark disc whenever he killed. It was far stronger and more abundant than any previous time, almost ten times more than usual.

Absorbing this potent new energy, the black fire on the dark disc in his qi sea seemed to grow larger, burning quietly in that dim world, seemingly mocking its host with a faint smile.

Lu Chen stood in silence for a long time before closing his eyes.

When he reopened them, the black flames had vanished. The night wind, though cold, was no longer filled with murderous intent, gently blowing through the mountain forest as if nothing had happened.

Lu Chen took a step forward and squatted down.

There was a black object on the ground.

He picked up the black short sword that had fallen nearby and gently prodded the object, confirming it was harmless, before picking it up.

It was the remains of the strange creature.

Under the intense, violent black fire frenzy within him, the creature had been instantly killed, its body incinerated, leaving only some of the hardest residues, now fused into this black, stone-like object.

The eerie green eyes were gone, but as Lu Chen’s fingers brushed over the black stone, he could still faintly feel some disturbing textures and remnants—traces of bone and teeth merged together. It was hard to imagine that not long ago, this thing had been burrowing through his flesh like a bloodthirsty demon.

Why would such a terrifying and vicious creature appear in Kunlun Mountain?

It was unimaginable that such a thing could exist here, where two Nascent Soul stage elders, dozens of Golden Core stage cultivators, and countless other powerful practitioners resided in this renowned sect of tens of thousands. Even the slightest aggressive beast would have long been driven away.

Moreover, Lu Chen was certain he had never heard of such a creature; no one in the Kunlun Sect had ever mentioned it.

It was as if this monster had appeared out of nowhere, in the middle of the night.

Where did it come from?

Lu Chen furrowed his brows, clutching the charred stone remnant tightly in his hand. He gazed into the distance, where the shadowy mountains loomed, the darkness seemingly omnipresent.