5: Shadow Fang, showing its edge for the first time!

The night was as dark as ink, swallowing the last of Wutan City's daytime clamor. On the western edge of the city, deep within a deserted slum, crumbling walls cast grotesque shadows under the moonlight. The air was thick with the damp smell of mold, the sour stench of rotting garbage, and a faint, almost imperceptible scent of blood.

Lin Chen sat cross-legged in the corner of a dilapidated house, half its roof caved in, with only two broken walls remaining. This was his temporary dwelling, dirty and ruined, but sufficiently hidden. The moonlight sparingly cast a few rays, barely outlining his form hidden in the shadow of his hood. He spread his palm, and above it, three energy light clusters of different colors, struggling and twisting, floated.

The leftmost cluster was dark red, emanating the extreme malevolence and unwillingness of an Ironhide Boar on the verge of death, with a pungent, bloody smell.

The middle cluster was dark green, the pure, sinister medicinal power extracted from Snake Saliva Grass, carrying a bone-chilling coldness amidst the grassy scent.

The rightmost cluster was a small wisp of pure shadow, viscous like liquid, exuding a chilling coldness and deathly stillness that made one's heart palpitate. It was the “Shadow Source Material” stripped from the altar space crystal at the bottom of Soul Severing Cliff.

Deep within his Dantian, the rice-grain-sized black Qi vortex let out a silent roar of hunger and desire, like a famished Vicious Beast! These three energies, though differing in attributes, all leaned towards the Yin and cold (yin-cold) and negative, making them excellent nourishment for Shadow Erosion Dou Qi!

“Come…” Lin Chen whispered, a dark red blood-light flashing in his eyes. His hands slowly closed, his powerful will driving the Shadow Erosion Dou Qi, transforming into an invisible furnace, violently squeezing and blending the three energy clusters!

Chichichichi—!

The energies collided, emitting sounds of intense repulsion and dissolution! The dark red resentment was like raging flames, the dark green sinister toxicity like a venom clinging to bones, and that small wisp of Shadow Source Material was like a cold abyss, greedily devouring the energies of the former two! Lin Chen’s body trembled violently, his Meridians felt as if they were being pierced by countless ice needles and branding irons simultaneously, the pain excruciating! The conflict of the three energies far exceeded his imagination; a slight misstep would mean an explosion of his body and death!

“Melt… for me!” Lin Chen gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, a trace of dark blood oozing from the corner of his mouth. He plunged his entire mind into his Dantian, frantically urging the Shadow Erosion Qi vortex, using himself as a bridge to forcefully guide, balance, and devour! The domineering devouring and assimilation characteristic of Shadow Erosion Dou Qi was pushed to its limit, grinding the conflicting energies like a millstone.

Time passed bit by bit. Sweat mixed with blood stained his ragged clothes. In his palm, the three energy clusters, amidst intense conflict and devouring, gradually became chaotic and deep in color, finally transforming into a pure, profound dark hue that seemed capable of absorbing all light! A new, even colder, more condensed, yin-cold aura, carrying the instinct to tear and devour, slowly took shape!

Buzz!

When the last trace of energy conflict was forcibly smoothed out and completely fused! The black Qi vortex in Lin Chen’s Dantian suddenly vibrated, its volume instantly expanding several times! The Qi vortex, originally the size of a grain of rice, was now as large as a soybean! As it rotated, it emitted a low roar like that of a Vicious Beast! A sense of power far exceeding the Dou Zhi Qi stage, like a bursting flood, instantly filled his limbs and bones!

Dou Zhi Qi, Seventh Stage!

Not only that! With the complete absorption of the newly fused energy, a profound and obscure information fragment, like an unsealed brand, surged into Lin Chen’s mind! It was the embryonic form of a Battle Skill, originating from the deep instinct of the Shadow Source Material, refined by the Shadow Erosion Dou Qi and tempered by resentment and sinister toxicity, finally taking shape!

Shadow Erosion: Fang Thrust!

Lin Chen suddenly opened his eyes! Two points of dark red blood-light in his eyes flared, like a Vicious Beast in the night choosing its prey! He remained seated cross-legged, his right hand pointing like a sword, and at a discarded stone mill three zhang away, he pointed through the air!

There was no magnificent glow of Dou Zhi Qi, no earth-shattering momentum. Only a faint, hair-thin, dim stream of light, almost blending with the night, shot out silently from his fingertip! The speed of that stream of light surpassed the limits of visual capture!

Puff!

A soft sound, like a hot knife cutting through butter.

In the center of that hard bluestone millstone, a thumb-thick, front-to-back transparent round hole appeared! The edge of the hole was smooth as a mirror, without a single crack! It was as if that part of the stone had been completely devoured and annihilated by some invisible force!

“So fast! So sharp! Such powerful devouring force!” Lin Chen looked at his fingertip, feeling the terrifying penetrative power and annihilation characteristic that instantly erupted and then instantly retracted, his heart filled with shock. This “Shadow Erosion: Fang Thrust” was fast, highly concealed, terrifyingly penetrative, and came with a powerful energy devouring and annihilation effect! It was simply a Sharp Weapon for a decisive kill in the shadows!

The cost was that nearly thirty percent of his newly Breakthrough and abundant power was instantly drained! The Qi vortex in his Dantian even dimmed slightly. This move was a true trump card!

“Mute? Mute, are you there?” A deliberately lowered voice, tinged with worldliness and a hint of worry, came from outside the broken house.

The fierce light in Lin Chen’s eyes instantly receded, his aura once again becoming dim and obscure, like the most inconspicuous shadow in the corner of a wall. He pulled down his hood, responding with a hoarse “ho-ho” sound from his throat.

A short, stout figure, like a rolling ball of flesh, carefully squeezed through the broken wall. It was Old Zhang, the supervisor from the slaughterhouse. He held a greaseproof paper package, emanating the aroma of cooked meat.

“Hey, I knew you were hiding in this nook and cranny.” Old Zhang stuffed the paper package into Lin Chen’s hand, rubbing his hands, his small eyes cautiously scanning the surroundings, lowering his voice, “Here, freshly braised beef tendons, very filling! You lucky kid, you almost got whipped today! But… it’s good you ran fast!”

He leaned closer, saying mysteriously, “I’m telling you, things aren’t peaceful lately! The City Guard has even increased patrols! I heard… something happened on the outskirts of the Demonic Beast Forest, near the Black Rock Mine!”

Lin Chen’s action of tearing the beef tendon paused slightly, his cloudy eyes looking at Old Zhang through the slit of his hood.

“Several small teams that went into the forest to collect herbs and mine have gone missing! No one seen alive, no bodies found dead!” Old Zhang’s fleshy face trembled with fear, “Just the day before yesterday, Old Li’s team went and never came back! Someone… someone found this on the edge of the forest!” He pulled something from his Pregnant (bosom) and quickly shoved it into Lin Chen’s hand.

It was a small piece of torn coarse burlap, stained with dried, eerily dark brown blood. And on the edge of the bloodstain, half of a… distorted, blurred, seemingly eroded black handprint was clearly imprinted! The outline of that handprint carried an inhuman coldness and malevolence!

Lin Chen squeezed the cloth, a faint, extremely uncomfortable cold and greasy sensation coming from his fingertips! This feeling… subtly echoed the aura of the altar at the bottom of Soul Severing Cliff and the throbbing of the black crystal core in his embrace! What startled him even more was that the residual aura of this handprint was somewhat similar to the oppressive force brought by that terrifying horn sound during the day!

“Creepy, right?” Old Zhang swallowed, watching Lin Chen’s reaction, “Everyone’s saying some powerful evil entity has appeared in the forest! It specializes in sucking people’s vital blood and souls! Even the Xiao Family has been alarmed! That’s why Young Master Xiao Yan personally went to the City Guard office this afternoon and talked with that new Dou Master adult behind closed doors for a long time! When he came out, his face was terrifyingly grim!”

“The Xiao Family… has already sent people to investigate?” Lin Chen squeezed out a muffled sound from his throat.

“Exactly!” Old Zhang nodded like garlic, “I heard Young Master Xiao Yan will personally lead a team of elite guards into the forest tomorrow morning! Tsk tsk, ever since this young master recovered his talent, his actions are becoming more and more like a patriarch… But that place is very sinister now, Mute, you absolutely must not go near there! Understand?”

Lin Chen nodded silently, put away the cloth, and tucked the remaining beef tendons into his embrace. Old Zhang babbled a few more words, then hurried away, as if there were ghosts around the broken house.

The broken house returned to dead silence.

Lin Chen spread his palm, looking at the half of the eerie black handprint, his gaze under the hood as cold as a knife.

Evil entity? Sucking vital blood and souls? Xiao Yan personally leading a team?

The secret of Soul Severing Cliff, the shadow of the Hall of Souls, Xiao Yan’s investigation, and this suddenly appearing “evil entity” with an aura similar to the horn… All the clues were like tangled threads, yet subtly pointing in the same direction—Demonic Beast Forest, Black Rock Mine!

“Black Rock Mine…” Lin Chen quietly chewed on the name. He remembered that it was there that Xiao Yan obtained the first crucial “black iron piece” (Incomplete Manual of Fen Jue)! That place should have been Xiao Yan’s place of Opportunity! Now, it was occupied by some unknown “evil entity,” and it even attracted Xiao Yan’s personal extermination?

Chaos… crisis… But within Chaos and crisis, often lay greater Opportunities! Shadow Erosion Dou Qi was craving, craving those pure negative energies and Death Qi that were devoured by the “evil entity”!

He slowly stood up, walked to the only broken window of the house, and looked towards the Demonic Beast Forest. Under the moonlight, the continuous mountain range was like a crouching giant beast, exuding a fierce malevolence that seemed to choose people to devour.

“Xiao Yan… do you want to exterminate the evil entity? Do you want to find the missing people? Or… do you want to find that ‘black iron piece’ destined for you?” Lin Chen’s voice in the dead silence was like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.

He extended his right hand, a wisp of newly born, deep and dark Shadow Erosion Dou Qi silently swirling around his fingertip, subtly condensing into an almost imperceptible “fang”-shaped phantom, carrying a terrifying Concept of penetration and devouring.

“Unfortunately, no matter what you’re looking for…” A dark red blood-light flickered in Lin Chen’s eyes, and the shadow fang on his fingertip quietly dissipated. His figure swayed, like a true ghost, merging into the deep night shadows outside the window, silently sneaking towards the Demonic Beast Forest.

“This time, the hunter hidden in the shadows… is still me.”

The moonlight stretched his shadow, which twisted and changed among the ruins, like a dark Vicious Beast that had just sharpened its claws and was ready to choose its prey. The night wind blew through the broken walls, making a wailing sound, as if playing a prelude to the coming bloody hunt.

Several li away, in the brightly lit deliberation hall of the Xiao Family.

Xiao Yan stood before a huge topographic map of the Demonic Beast Forest, his finger heavily pointing at the location of the Black Rock Mine, his face as solemn as still water. Behind him stood several fierce-looking, sharp-eyed elite guards of the Xiao Family.

“The disappearance points are all concentrated in this area three to five li outside the mine, in a circular shape.” Xiao Yan’s voice carried suppressed anger and a hint of imperceptible fatigue, “There are no traces of intense fighting at the scene, only… this strange energy residue.” He spread his palm, on which lay a small piece of cloth also stained with dark brown blood, with half of a distorted black handprint remaining on the edge, identical to the one in Lin Chen’s hand!

Yao Lao’s grave voice sounded in his mind: “No mistake! This residual aura, from the handyman at the slaughterhouse during the day, and from the bottom of Soul Severing Cliff, comes from the same source! Yin-cold, strange, with strong devouring characteristics! The person behind that handyman, or the handyman himself… is absolutely inseparable from this matter! They are very likely hiding near the mine!”

Xiao Yan suddenly clenched his fist, crushing the cloth out of shape, his knuckles turning white from the effort. The humiliation of being tricked and escaping at the slaughterhouse during the day, the anger of having his Opportunity at the bottom of Soul Severing Cliff stolen, coupled with the heavy pressure of his clansmen’s disappearance, were like three volcanoes churning in his chest!

“No matter what that rat hiding in the shadows is, and no matter who is behind him…” Xiao Yan raised his head, his gaze like a drawn Sharp Weapon, sweeping over the standing guards, his voice resolute and unyielding, “Tomorrow, we will level the Black Rock Mine! If they are alive, we will bring them back; if dead… we will bring their bodies back! If anyone obstructs us, kill them without mercy!”

“Yes! Young Master!” The guards roared in unison, their Killing Intent chilling!

In the shadows on the edge of the Demonic Beast Forest, Lin Chen clung to the gnarled trunk of an ancient tree like a gecko, his Shadow Erosion Dou Qi perfectly concealing his aura and body temperature. His cold gaze penetrated layers of branches and leaves, distantly locking onto the entrance of the Black Rock Mine, where a few temporary bonfires flickered like ghost fires in the darkness, emitting an ominous dark red glow.

Beside the bonfires, several blurry black figures stood like stone statues, silent and still. Only the aura of that half black handprint, like a cold viper, coiled at the mine’s entrance, awaiting prey, or… the arrival of a hunter.

He slowly parted his lips, revealing his stark white teeth, and smiled silently.

“The feast… has begun.”