Chapter Thirty-Three: The Azure Infant Arrives

The night deepened. It was already the hour of the second watch.

In a patch of woods several miles away from the manor, a lump of earth rose, moving like a giant earthworm burrowing underground toward the front. Suddenly, the "earthworm" emerged from the ground, revealing itself to be a short, stout old man dressed in gray.

Qian Dacai!

After landing, he scanned his surroundings and suddenly gave a low whistle. Figures flickered from all directions, and soon seven or eight elders leaped down, among them He Yun, Tao Haigong, Fang Wuhui, and Xue Wuhai.

"Brother Qian’s methods of poisoning are truly unpredictable and god-like. I am filled with admiration!" Tao Haigong said with a smile, cupping his hands in flattery. The others followed suit, laughing and bowing.

"Cut the nonsense. Where is my apprentice? Have you found him?" Qian Dacai asked, his face full of shock and anger as he looked at He Yun.

He Yun’s expression shifted, and he said, "Rest assured, he is not dead yet!"

"Then where is he? Bring him out to see me now!" Qian Dacai urged, anxious. He was terrified that He Yun might have used his apprentice as cannon fodder. He had arrived earlier that day, but he hadn't seen his student. He Yun had claimed the boy went with others to plant poison, but after searching, Qian had found nothing except traces of Five-Poison Water erosion. These traces were clear evidence that Chen Xuan and the others had encountered danger; otherwise, they would not have used the poison in such a desperate manner.

"I just received a report from a spy that the boy, Chen Xuan, has infiltrated the Righteous Alliance," He Yun whispered.

"What?" Qian Dacai’s face paled. "What nonsense are you spouting?"

"It is no nonsense. My informant saw it with his own eyes," He Yun muttered. "My only concern now is whether he has defected, or if he is merely trying to infiltrate them to ease the pressure on us."

Qian Dacai looked at He Yun with suspicion, still unable to believe it. He Yun frowned, feeling uncomfortable under the other’s gaze. "Elder Qian, you can rest assured. I guarantee he is still alive, though I cannot say if he has betrayed the sect."

"Betrayed the sect? If he dares to betray the sect, I will poison him to death with my own hands," Qian Dacai said, his expression darkening.

"There is no need to be so worked up. The suspicion of betrayal is likely minimal, given that he used an alias to enter. I will get to the bottom of this as soon as possible," He Yun said.

...

The Righteous Alliance. The night grew darker. The chaos outside the manor had completely subsided; tents stood row upon row, and many martial artists had begun to rest. A group was left on the outer perimeter, responsible for patrols to prevent any surprise attacks from the heretical sects.

The mountain wind whistled, harsh and piercing. Ge Yun, Wang Li, and Zhang Hai had finished a thorough patrol of the eastern perimeter and were returning the way they came. As the night wind blew, Wang Li suddenly felt the urge to relieve himself and couldn't help but laugh. "Brothers, shall we go together?"

Ge Yun chuckled, "Is it a big one or a small one?"

"A small one, just a small one," Wang Li laughed.

"If it’s a small one, just do it here; no one is watching," Ge Yun smiled and began to walk away. "But I need to do a big one. If you want to join, come along."

Wang Li hesitated for a moment and looked at Zhang Hai. Zhang Hai laughed heartily and said, "We’ve got nothing better to do anyway, let’s go together."

The three walked toward the distant bushes, looking for a spot to crouch.

"Junior brothers, did you bring any toilet paper?" Ge Yun asked with a laugh.

"No, we’ll just use a branch to scrape it off," Zhang Hai replied, chuckling.

"Do you think the branches might have been poisoned? I’ve heard that the 'Poison Wuchang' (Deathless Poison) is silent and deadly. If he poisoned the branches, wouldn't we be doomed?" Wang Li suddenly remarked.

"You’re overthinking it. Poison Wuchang wouldn't waste his poison on small fry like us. If he’s going to poison anyone, it’ll be the people inside the manor. Our lives combined aren't worth the cost of his poison," Ge Yun said.

Just as the three prepared to loosen their trousers, they frowned, noticing a dark, small figure in the woods ahead. The figure had been outside the trees, but in the blink of an eye, it appeared twenty meters in front of them.

The three rubbed their eyes, almost doubting their own vision. Soon, their faces turned pale with horror. The figure had been twenty meters away, and in a flash, it was only four or five meters from them.

It was a cyan-colored infant, about two feet tall, completely naked, with skin as white as a corpse and a sinister, twisted smile. It stared at them with pitch-black pupils that seemed to possess the power to seize souls.

What was that? All three felt an instinctive, paralyzing terror.

"Co—" Wang Li began to shout, but the cyan infant flickered and vanished.

The next moment, the bodies of the three men shriveled up instantly. They collapsed to the ground, dead.

"Hehehe..." A strange, eerie giggle escaped the infant’s mouth. It looked toward the rows of tents, flickered, and vanished once more.

...

Inside the manor, in a quiet room, Chen Xuan had been deep in thought about his mission when a wave of icy coldness surged through his right arm, as if it had been plunged into an ice cellar. His expression shifted as he looked at his arm.

"It’s back. That baby has appeared again." He hurriedly rose and ran toward the door. The room was no longer safe; if the infant crawled in through the window or dropped from the ceiling, he would be finished. But just as he started to run, he paused, his face full of doubt. The outside might not be safe either—what if he opened the door only to run straight into that cyan creature?

"Damn it!" Chen Xuan’s face flickered; he dared not act rashly. Why hadn't the great masters outside noticed anything? His arm was reacting, which meant the infant was definitely nearby! It might have already entered the manor grounds. Where was the "Supreme Induction Divine Skill" they talked about? Why hadn't the old Taoist from Wudang discovered it yet?

He paced the room in anxiety, then spotted a long blade hanging on the wall. He drew it, standing in a defensive stance, his entire body on high alert.

...

Outside the manor, the cyan infant moved swiftly like a phantom in the night. It flitted through tent after tent, leaving a trail of corpses—all shriveled, bloodless, and dead without a sound.

Most of the people in the tents were not true experts; they were either newcomers to the martial world or disciples of minor sects, possessing no resistance against the infant. As each victim withered, the infant’s body underwent a change. Originally sixty centimeters, it had grown another seven or eight centimeters; it now looked like a one- or two-year-old child.

The martial artists outside the manor were quickly slaughtered. With a gust of ghostly wind, the infant appeared before the main gate of the manor. Its skin grew an even deeper indigo, shimmering faintly under the moonlight. Its eyes were dark and bottomless, like deep abysses.

"Hehehe..." It giggled, its face looking impossibly demonic.

Just then, in the depths of the courtyard, the Taoist Qingxu, who had been sitting cross-legged in his room, suddenly opened his eyes. A dim cyan light flashed in his pupils, and he looked startled.

What is this! Such filthy energy! Sinister and vengeful, unlike anything he had ever encountered. He snatched up his long sword, his body flickering, and he vanished from the room.

In another courtyard, Chen Xuan’s expression changed. He felt his right arm growing increasingly cold. Was the infant approaching rapidly?

At that moment, a thunderous shout erupted, shaking the entire manor and causing the ground to tremble.

"Impudent!"

Boom!

Chen Xuan’s ears rang, and he nearly collapsed. He steadied himself and rushed to the window to look outside. On a nearby wall, the Taoist Qingxu struck downward with his palm, cyan light surging from his hand with terrifying power, aiming directly at the indigo infant below.

Bang!

The wall shattered. The cyan infant was slammed into the ground, sending dust and debris flying. The earth rippled, and the stone slabs were torn up and shattered in mid-air.

Chen Xuan’s pupils constricted. The creature had arrived, but thankfully, the Taoist Qingxu had discovered it. Other heroes in the manor, who had just fallen asleep, were startled awake. Thinking a heretical sect was attacking, they grabbed their weapons and charged out of their rooms. Fearing suspicion, Chen Xuan followed them out.

"Hehehe..." The eerie, piercing laughter sounded again. Despite being struck into the ground by the Taoist, the infant appeared completely unharmed. It crawled up, flickered, and shot toward Chen Xuan in the crowd like a shadow.

Chen Xuan had mingled with the crowd precisely to avoid being targeted, but seeing the infant coming for him, he panicked and shouted, "There’s an assassin! Catch it!"

The other martial artists, unaware of what was happening, saw a cyan blur rushing toward them and lashed out. But their attacks only provoked the infant. It flickered repeatedly, moving faster than a shadow, passing through one person after another. Screams followed, and in an instant, several men were reduced to dried-up corpses.

"Get out of the way!" the Taoist Qingxu bellowed. His body was shrouded in cyan light, moving like a phantom, as fast as lightning, in pursuit of the infant.

By now, the masters and elders of other sects had also rushed over, their faces filled with shock.

"It’s that baby!"

"Take it down!"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

In an instant, more than a dozen masters leaped into the air.