Chapter 13: Murderous Worm

According to the calculations of the records in the ancient books, it would take three years to cultivate to Rank 2, nine years to Rank 3, and 30 years to become a Rank 4 Wizard. A person would probably drain all of his blood and flesh until all that was left of his body was a skeleton before he could cultivate to Rank 5.

At this point of thought, Zhang Lisheng would have lost hope if he had not obtained the cultivation methods from the Witchcraft’s Gate of Death for Rank 2 to Rank 4.

“The road ahead is long but I… sigh.” He dictated half of the classic, motivational proverb with a long face. Looking at the dim moonlight outside, he decided not to turn on the lights. He returned to his bedroom as he walked in the dark, depressed. He slowly fell asleep after rolling around in bed.

A night went by again. The weather remained hazy with pouring rain on the third day in Guawo Village. Zhang Lisheng could only stay at home and cultivate witchcraft the entire day again.

The moon shone brightly in the sky in the middle of the night, and the dark clouds that were lingering had finally faded away. The crisp chirps of birds and worms replaced the irritating roar of the falling rain. The chirping covered the entire mountain village once again.

Zhang Lisheng’s mood changed together with the weather from gloom to delight. He took out the stove and cooked a whole succulent hen to reward himself. It had been two days since he had used the stove and he cooked a full jar. He would head into the jungle to temper another wizard worm early in the morning tomorrow.

He put out the fire on the stove after cooking the chicken soup. He opened the porcelain jar and subconsciously decided to serve the hen into two different portions and bowls. Suddenly, he recalled that his father had passed away so what he wanted to do would be completely meaningless.

Zhang Lisheng took a deep breath and subconsciously refused to think about that again. Holding the porcelain jar, he drank the boiling chicken soup in tiny sips while blowing it as he walked into the central room of the old house.

Just after he took a few steps, with the help of the bright moonlight, he saw an agile black shadow cross the wall and leap into his courtyard out of nowhere.

After crossing the wall and entering the courtyard, the black shadow unexpectedly came face to face with the owner of the house. Both were equally stunned—it was evident from Zhang Lisheng’s look of surprise as he held the porcelain clay jar in his hands. After all, he was just drinking soup in the chilly courtyard in the middle of the night.

However, the intruder reacted immediately and dashed toward Zhang Lisheng at an alarming pace. Judging by the person’s agile skill, he had to have a deep kungfu foundation.

If Zhang Lisheng was just a normal young man, the shadow might have knocked him out in one hit, or even break his neck by taking advantage of the element of surprise that he had on Zhang Lisheng. However, since he had become a wizard, Zhang Lisheng was much calmer during such critical moments.

He did not feel fear at all as he tossed the porcelain jar that was filled with boiling chicken soup at the attacker. At the same time, he backpedaled quickly without even turning his head around.

The black shadow did not dodge at all and threw his fist directly at the porcelain jar that was flung at him. It seemed like he wanted to capture Zhang Lisheng first no matter what.

However, just before the porcelain jar broke, he felt the boiling heat in the jar. He dodged and avoided the boiling hot soup at the very last second. It was a close call.

Seizing the opportunity as the attacker dodged the porcelain jar, Zhang Lisheng immediately turned around, and in just two steps, he rushed into the kitchen, locked the wooden door tight, and agilely put on the latches.

In the kitchen, there was a small window that faced the courtyard, and through it, Zhang Lisheng could clearly see what was happening outside.

Zhang Lisheng allowed his emotions to sink in after escaping danger temporarily. He did not panic and cry for help, instead, he walked toward the window in big steps without any expression on his face. Through the glass, he looked at the black shadow that intruded into his property and attacked him unprovoked. He started chanting an incantation that went ‘pst shh…’ in his mouth while staring at the black shadow.

No matter the reason, since he dared to break into the Zhang family’s old house and displease the owner, he should be prepared to die.

Meanwhile, the black shadow in the courtyard did not sense any danger at all. He neither said anything as he saw Zhang Lisheng dash into the kitchen nor did he continue to chase after or attack him. Instead, he brisk walked toward the old house’s entrance and casually removed the latches.

When the door opened, a young man jumped into the courtyard. He giggled softly and said, “Tiesi’s actions are still so quick even when he’s on vacation, he must have missed doing this.”

As the black shadow opened the door, one could catch a glimpse of his face under the bright moonlight. Although there were a few stripes of black paint on his face, one could faintly see that his expression was very cool. “Dayan, start working. Stop messing around.”

“How is this considered ‘working’, we’re just here to pick up stuff.”

Following close behind the young man nicknamed Dayan was a middle-aged man with two stripes of black paint under his eyes. As he walked into the courtyard, he reprimanded his overactive partner with a deep voice, “Dayan, please be serious when you’re doing something important. Go.”

“Third Brother, I’ll go get the stuff now.” Dayan dared to mess around with Tiesi when he was doing something serious but he dared not talk back to Third Brother. He immediately put away his cheeky expression and swiftly walked into the central room in the old house that was wide open.

While Dayan walked toward the central room, another person broke into the Zhang family’s old house courtyard.

His face was filled with paint all over like he was afraid that people would recognize how he really looked like. Apart from that, his action was timid. He was very different from the three people before him who seemed calm.

“T-Third Brother, how is it going?” The fourth intruder locked the old house’s door with stiff movements and asked nervously and softly. He spoke with his tongue curled, and in an odd accent.

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“Don’t worry, everything is under my control.”

“Tiesi, tell our temporary partner. What’s the situation now?”

“I encountered an obstacle when I crossed the wall to get into the courtyard. The person ran into the kitchen and he hasn’t made a sound since then.” Tiesi put it simply.

“What a brilliant young man. Since all we want is mere fortune, let’s not hurt him…” Third Brother smiled in a way that indicated that he should be praised as what he said reflected his generosity.

Mid-way through his sentence, Third Brother was interrupted by a devastating scream that came from the old house’s central room. “Ahhhhhhh! F*ck! What is this? H-help…”

Outside, in the courtyard, Tiesi heard the cry and immediately pulled out a switchblade from his waist. The blade sounded ‘Schwing!’ as it extended to its full length of thirty centimeters.

He urged Third Brother, “It’s Dayan’s voice, Third Brother, please be careful.” He lowered his body and crawled toward the old house’s central room like a civet cat.

However, before Tiesi could make it into the room, Dayan stopped screaming and staggered out of the central room.

Under the moonlight, one could see that Dayan’s face was bruised. The stripes of black paint were smudged, and no one could tell if the color on his face was paint or flesh.

His mouth opened and closed continuously but there was no sound at all. However, by reading his lips, they could tell that he was saying “Help, Help…” continuously.

Looking at his terrified partner, fear flashed across Tiesi’s determined eyes. However, this did not stop him as he said in a hurry, “Dayan, if you’re still conscious, don’t panic and don’t move.” He then slashed the switchblade in his hand across Dayan’s swollen and quickly distorting face.

The blade sliced through the swell on Dayan’s face as if it were a piece of rotten log, and as the wound opened, a gush of foul-smelling blood spurted out.

Tiesi, who was experienced in the matter of life and death, immediately concluded that Dayan could no longer be saved.

However, as he looked at his partner stare back at him with a deeply desperate expression, knowing that he was still conscious and able to understand him, Tiesi could not bring himself to end Dayan’s life, although the latter was in fear and suffering. Tiesi, who was cold when he dealt with outsiders, could not do what he thought was best at the very moment.

The compromise of his feelings was rare. In the end, Tiesi decided to try his best to save him, even after knowing that the chance was slim.

He pulled out a silver metal cylinder from his waist and pushed the spring forward with his agile fingers. It then turned into a high-dosage syringe that he intended to poke into the bulging vein on Dayan’s neck.

“Dayan, you’ve been poisoned. I’m giving you a shot of antidote into your vein. You might feel a lot of pain later, hold onto it. Also, do not bite your tongue.” Just as Tiesi finished giving Dayan his advice and was about to inject a general antidote into his partner’s body, a huge centipede broke out of the flesh in Dayan’s neck. It took aim at the arm that was holding the syringe and dashed toward it.

Tiesi, who was only stunned for a less than a second, immediately let go of the syringe. At the same time, he retracted his arm and immediately stepped backward.

Unfortunately, the distance between his arm and the venomous worm was too short after all. Furthermore, the cruel attack had taken him by surprise. In the end, the centipede’s sharp, solid green fangs bit Tiesi’s wrist ruthlessly.

After reaching a stable point, the huge venomous worm moved its thousands of legs and burrowed its body all the way out of Dayan’s bloody neck and wound itself around Tiesi’s arm.

In that moment of life and death, Tiesi did not panic at all. Using a switchblade that was almost a foot long, he stabbed hard on his arm that was being bitten by the huge centipede and chopped off his vein.

He then shook the other arm softly, and a short, thin, metal thread that almost could not be seen with naked eyes came out of his sleeve. He shook his hand again, and the thin thread effortlessly tied itself tightly on the arm that was being attacked by the centipede.

He pulled hard with his hand, and the metal thread tied the top-half of the seventy to eighty-centimeter long centipede together with his arm tightly.

Immediately after that, he used the hand that he was left with to pull out a customized switchblade on his waist and slashed it toward the struggling centipede’s head hard.

The slash did not cut the big centipede in half. Instead, only a crack ripped opened on its thick outer shell.

As the crack appeared, a gush of black smoke exuded from the venomous worm’s body. From the fumes of the black smoke, rust spots started to form on the thin, silver metal thread that was made from special alloy. The metal thread tied to the centipede began to slowly reveal rust spots.

Watching the thin metal thread that was tied around the centipede become useless, Tiesi swung the blade hard and chopped off his arm together with the venomous worm without thinking twice.

Ordinary people would never think of inflicting such level of self-harm. Even if the person managed to do that by sheer willpower and force, he would die from losing too much blood. However, Tiesi had been hardworking in learning traditional Chinese martial arts since young and had gone through a few years of strict combat training. He knew the human body and its meridian system structure like the back of his hand. Losing an arm would not cost Tiesi his life.

After getting rid of the venomous worm, he pulled out a few silver needles from his waist and inserted them into the acupuncture points around his broken arm to stop it from bleeding. He then injected a shot of stimulant and a general antidote while he shouted loudly, “Third Brother! Let’s go!”