Chapter 257

  Darkness (VIII)

  Long Tao shot through the shadows, passing by the unsuspecting dozens as though he were a ghost. Paying them no mind, he focused on the distant flicker of energy, one that was desperately trying to remain as hidden as possible but was also the only one tickling his senses.

  Everyone else here were merely children, none of whom were older than thirty per his estimates; that signature, however, seemed old. Not strong, no, but simply... old.

  He weaved between the trees, making practically no sound, though as soon as he got within two hundred feet of the source, he felt it move--and move away from him.

  Oh?

  He exclaimed inwardly with a bit of surprise, as he didn't expect to find somebody capable of seeing through him in this backwater, but alas--given the size of the world, there were bound to be a few anomalies here and there.

  Long Tao sped up, tripling his pace, and crossing the distance between the two within just a few breaths; he'd already donned his fox mask as he came out from the membrane of shadows, appearing in front of the retreating figure, who came to a screeching halt.

  Like the others, he'd donned the hood and the cloak, all his features hidden. They were still ordinary clothes with no enchantments, however, which did little to hide him from Long Tao's eyes.

  Underneath the caked-on layers of white powder resided an aged, weathered face, wrinkles folding like canyons. The eyes were yellowed out around their edges, and the lips were thin and pruning.

  This was a man living with the last breath, reflected in the fact that his cultivation was extremely unstable--dancing between peak of Spirit Manifestation and Demigodhood, all in the span of the few breaths.

  They stood still and silent, staring at each other for a few moments, before the man broke it.

  "You're the vermin who caused us trouble in that village," he said.

  "One and only," Long Tao said, smiling faintly. "I'm here yet again, causing trouble. So, old little shit, why are you running away? Are you that desperate to live out what few years of your life you've got left that you're willing to abandon all those kids?"

  "Humph. They knew well enough our cause--"

  "--right. I've noticed," Long Tao said. "The kids die, while rotting old bones like you... somehow don't. Funny, really, how it often works out that way."

  "You've got a rather loose tongue for a child that is about to die."

  "Die?" Long Tao tilted his head and cracked a laugh. "No, that's the funny thing. I'm sorry to say, but I'm fairly confident that even if there were a hundred of you, all of you would still end up licking the soles of my boots."

  "He he, what a little cutie," the man cackled rather strangely. "Do you think you are invincible just because you survived the assault of some children? I wanted to avoid fighting, but... heh, perhaps dying earlier might be alright if I get to drag you down and do the entire world a massive favor."

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Before you do," Long Tao said. "Care to explain what you are doing here? You want Life Qi, and you want a lot of it, but there's no way the brilliant minds of your leaders haven't figured out that they won't get any here."

  "You not only know nothing, you know less than that. Besides, what worth is knowing? You are a pathetic worm bound for an early grave--simply die knowing you served a greater cause!"

  "Cute."

  Long Tao rolled his eyes and unsheathed his sword from the seeming nowhere--the weapon moved on its own, as though sentient, slicing in a full circle behind him as red liquid sprayed out toward him. Yet, it never made it, bouncing back against the invisible sheen and splattering on the ground where a whole arm was twitching.

  His eyes never left the man, however, who abruptly writhed and yelped in pain as an entire arm disappeared from his shoulder, blood pouring out. He immediately used the other to seal the acupoints on his shoulder, stopping the bleeding.

  "H-how did you know?!!" the old man hissed, his face paling as though a sheet of paper.

  "... because I'm not six years old?" Long Tao sighed in exasperation. Though he understood why they all underestimated him--as he did indeed look like a child--it was no less frustrating having to face such... basic nonsense.

  Distracting someone with speech while preparing an attack from the rear?

  The last time he fell for that, he was likely eight years old. Maybe even seven? He couldn't recall.

  "AAAGGHHH! DAMN YOU! I WILL KILL YOU!"

  The man seemed to lose it and rushed directly at him, as though possessed.

  Long Tao sighed yet again and grabbed the sword that was still simply levitating by his side. However, instead of stabbing forward, he gently stabbed to his left; he immediately felt the blade cut into the flesh, and as he was a bit annoyed, he twisted it for some extra pain.

  The man screamed out and stopped his rushing, backing away quickly, almost like a cat.

  "Y-you..." there was a massive hole in the right side of his abdomen, bleeding profusely, and try as he might to seal all the acupoints to stop the bleeding, it was impossible.

  Long Tao tore through the flesh and organs, and twisted his sword to rupture all the nearby blood vessels and veins. Short of a miracle pill, that man would bleed out within ten, maybe fifteen, minutes.

  "You have about ten minutes left to live," Long Tao said. "Even if you somehow manage to run away, nothing about that will change. Right now, it doesn't hurt that much, but with each passing minute, the pain will grow. Soon enough, you will be screaming from the top of your lungs, trying to distract your mind. But it won't work. The excess actions will simply make things worse. I'm offering you a choice.

  "Tell me what you were doing here," he added. "And I will cut your head off such that you won't even realize you have died. Keep playing games, and I will let you experience every second of the agony that is dying. Men worse than me would not give you a choice, so I'm quite benevolent. Haah. Must be the influence of Master that I'm softening up."

  Though Long Tao was beyond serious, the man took it as a sign of mockery, gnashing his teeth in searing rage.

  But the truth was, Long Tao mused, he had softened up. Even though he wasn't necessarily a homicidal maniac in his past life until the last few decades, his pride was etched into his bones. Any minor slight was met with the edge of his sword, and mercy was not a word he was particularly familiar with.

  Even after swearing he'd uphold his complete detachment to everything in pursuit of vengeance, he had failed. And was now giving some random worm that he'd forget in sixteen minutes a choice. Something that men and women vastly more important and grand than him never got.

  "F-fine, I'll tell!" the man exclaimed as he fell to his knees. "But you must swear an Oath to never tell anyone it was me! If it is ever found out, my entire family will be killed!"

  "..." Long Tao stared silently into the man's eyes for a moment, wondering just how someone so stupid got to live for so long. "I swear upon the Heavens that, whatever you tell me here, will be as though the wind itself told me. At no point for the rest of my days shall I divulge that the knowledge came from you."

  Long Tao had no qualms about swearing an oath as it was irrelevant--the man wasn't asking to not share the knowledge, just the source of knowledge. He never would have, anyway, but what the man failed to realize...

  ... they would know.

  Immediately.