Chapter 14: Using Fear As A Wish
On a covered boat at Banye Ferry Crossing.
“Click, click…”
The boat rocked, and the water waves swayed too.
Qing Pi Ma’s fiery temperament was very strong right now.
There’s a saying, “A girl’s tongue is like meat in thick sauce.” If it were any other day, he would surely treasure this flavor greatly.
But for some reason today, his movements didn’t stop, and what surfaced in his mind was the scene from a couple days ago on Silver Ingot Street, where Ah Hua beat him with a stick and Chen Shun’an looked down condescendingly.
A sense of humiliation surged into his heart.
“Just you wait! I’m only nineteen!”
Qing Pi Ma’s face showed a fierce expression.
“Yin Qian Cui from the Ghost Market said that this damn ‘Hibiscus Paste Fire’ he sells is a rare item just shipped in from Nanhai Prefecture.
Better than White Snake stealing immortal grass, surpassing the pills in Old Lord’s furnace. Just light it and smell the fragrance, and it’s like having divine aid. In only half a year, I can cultivate to third-rate perfection. In no more than half a year, I can reach second-rate, without any sequelae!”
Qing Pi Ma seemed to think of something and subconsciously touched the saddlebag at his lower back, his heart burning hot.
Their Four Great Huo had a habit of periodically swapping territories.
That is, exchanging territories with each other. First, to avoid favoring one over others, monopolizing profitable livelihoods and causing envy or fights from other Huo.
Second, it was like a person leaving settles the debt—run far away to avoid old enemies and creditors coming to the door.
So Qing Pi Ma was determined: after this territory swap, he would stay far away from Weihang Street!
Find any hut and hole up inside!
In a year and a half, he wouldn’t be Qing Pi Ma anymore.
He would be Master Ma!
It was just this moment of distraction…
“His grandpa’s!”
Qing Pi Ma cursed under his breath as he tied his belt and bent down to crawl out of the boat cover.
A lean, dark-skinned fisherman stood guard outside the cover.
Seeing this, he immediately came forward with a face full of fawning smiles.
“Dear brother, how did my wife serve you?”
“Your wife is very juicy, good for breeding. I’ll come back in a few days.”
Qing Pi Ma patted the fisherman’s shoulder and strode away without looking back.
“Hey? Brother, money, you forgot to give…”
With a crisp clink, a copper coin rolled onto the deck.
“Here, I gave it! Don’t say I don’t follow the rules!”
The fisherman’s face flushed red then pale, finally turning wooden. He silently bent down to pick up the copper coin.
Seeing this, Qing Pi Ma smugly went ashore, a reed stalk in his mouth, passing through this shantytown area.
He turned the corner.
Whoosh!!
A strong wind blew, kicking up sand that blinded Qing Pi Ma’s eyes.
“His second grandpa’s!” Qing Pi Ma cursed while rubbing his eyes.
Suddenly, a black shadow shot down from above like a snake flicking its tongue.
The hanging knot sliced through the air silently, but tightened abruptly the instant it touched Qing Pi Ma’s neck.
The rough, suffocating sensation surged like a tide. Qing Pi Ma’s eyes bulged wide, his hands clawing desperately at the rope, nails ripping off raw!
But the next moment, Qing Pi Ma was lifted into the air as a palm shadow struck the back of his head.
Qing Pi Ma made no sound and immediately passed out cold.
…
Cold.
Weak.
Damp.
Qing Pi Ma’s eyelids felt as heavy as a thousand catties.
He struggled to open his eyes and saw a cramped, dim view—he seemed to be inside a…
Sack?
“Woo woo woo!!!”
Qing Pi Ma’s face was full of terror, but opening his mouth only produced muffled grunts.
Then, a wrinkled, fiftyish old face squeezed into view from the edge of Qing Pi Ma’s vision, bit by bit.
Then it dominated his entire field of view.
Chen Shun’an?!
Qing Pi Ma’s pupils shrank, eyes filled with horror. He subconsciously reached behind himself.
Stinging pain and weakness assaulted him again.
Qing Pi Ma then realized that at some point he had been stripped bare—clothes, items, saddlebag all taken clean.
Both hands and legs had their tendons severed, cuts deep to the bone.
Yet acupoints like Hidden White, Supreme Hole, and Joining Valley had been sealed to stop the bleeding.
Keeping him from bleeding out too quickly.
“Master Ma, do you want to take revenge on me, Chen Mou?”
Chen Shun’an bent down to peer in, gazing at Qing Pi Ma in the sack, and said gently.
In just these few days apart, Qing Pi Ma’s qi and blood intensity had surged dramatically!
Only wisps of strange, eerie fragrance emanated from Qing Pi Ma’s flesh and bones.
Was it that thing from earlier?
Chen Shun’an thought of the black sticky paste in a tin box he had found in Qing Pi Ma’s saddlebag.
“Woo woo woo…”
Qing Pi Ma shook his head frantically. He didn’t know where the strength came from, but he struggled.
“No can do.”
Chen Shun’an shook his head, took out a tin box, and said,
“What is this? Where did it come from?”
Qing Pi Ma hurriedly mumbled back indistinctly,
“Ghost Market… hard… all Cui… huff huff…”
Ghost Market Yin Qian Cui.
Hibiscus Paste Fire?
Chen Shun’an understood. He knew this person.
Just a seller of abortion pills and various pills of unknown origin and effects.
Decent skills, second-rate realm.
The old Chen Shun’an, seeing him, would have to politely call him Master Cui.
And the name Hibiscus Paste Fire inexplicably reminded Chen Shun’an of something from his previous life that he despised most.
Chen Shun’an nodded, said no more, flicked his wrist. A pale flying knife pierced the night, lightly tapping Qing Pi Ma’s chest.
Like ink splashed on paper, gradually staining half his chest crimson.
“Woo woo woo!!!”
Heart-piercing agony surged like a tide, drowning his reason.
Big teardrops slid from Qing Pi Ma’s eyes. Looking at Chen Shun’an’s calm, still eyes, immense fear welled up in his heart.
Just for a verbal spat, he’s really going to kill me?!
What kind of murderous maniac is this?!
And why doesn’t he ask where my family assets and gold and silver are hidden?
I could still have treasure maps, sharp weapons, incomplete divine techniques!
As long as Master Chen opens his mouth, everything can be negotiated!
【Wish+1】
Chen Shun’an’s eyes lit up, and he struck again.
【Wish+1】
Stop the bleeding, switch to fresh flesh and continue.
【Wish+1】
Qing Pi Ma fainted.
Splash cold water to wake him.
Cut more flesh.
【Wish+1】
Stop the bleeding again.
【Wish+1】
…
In the end, Qing Pi Ma’s eyes were scattered, blood flowed from his mouth and nose. He was hanging on by a breath, like a broken toy.
“No more wishes…”
Chen Shun’an stood up with some regret.
【Wish: 40—>51】
As Chen Shun’an had guessed, fear was also faith.
It just required completely breaking the opponent’s psychological defenses, imprinting an image of oneself as a god-demon in their mind.
Though it was draining the pond to catch fish, not sustainable.
But the wishes from a mere Qing Pi Ma before death exceeded what Chen Shun’an got from a full day of water delivery…
No wonder evil cultivation methods tempted so many to risk it all.
Moreover, by rights, this forcibly extracted fear-wish should be extremely impure.
Even causing toxic incense that affects the sacrificed deity’s divine power and sanity.
But Chen Shun’an detected no abnormality.
All the poison and interference were mercilessly crushed by his Water Origin Great Emperor divine status.
“Raising enemies, imprisoning in dungeons, tormenting daily, spreading fear—seems like a shortcut to harvesting incense too…”
This thought bubbled up unbidden in Chen Shun’an’s mind, then he quickly suppressed it.
His eyes calm as water, he raised his knife and dropped it, precisely piercing Qing Pi Ma’s heart.
Multiple finishing blows to confirm Qing Pi Ma was dead beyond dead.
Only then did Chen Shun’an tie the sack tight, erase all traces left on site, and lightly step toward the uninhabited water’s edge at Jindu.
Plop!
The sack, tied to a big stone, was ruthlessly dragged into the river.
Damp River Wind blew on Chen Shun’an’s face, cool and chilly.
This was Sancha River, where three tributaries converged—countless undercurrents and whirlpools.
From ancient times to now, who knows how many corpses had sunk here.
He stared deeply at the rippling water surface as it stilled, then without hesitation, his body swift as a flying duck. A few leaps, and he vanished into the night.
No trace of cowardice or panic after killing.
After all, just killing someone—why worry too much.
Not the first time.
…
Flip over the wall, strip and clean up, rehide the hanging knot and flying knife in the secret compartment.
Chen Shun’an placed the obtained saddlebag and sundries on the table. His heart still raced with excitement, the man visibly thrilled.
Naturally not because of the killing.
But because Chen Shun’an fully felt he was different from before.
Chaodou Hutong was forty li from Banye Ferry Crossing, complex terrain: busy streets, kiln factory sheds, outskirts country roads.
Round trip was at least eighty li.
Plus tracking Qing Pi Ma’s whereabouts, staking out, capturing alive…
And he had done it all in half a shichen.
The old Chen Shun’an could never have managed this!
Not just the surging qi and blood.
But also 【Divine Aspect·Qing Ji】, with Human Movement Armor Horse ability, granting Chen Shun’an mobility far beyond same-realm warriors!
《Ròufēi Xiān》 combined with Qing Ji, erupting in movement technique beyond Chen Shun’an’s imagination!
Chen Shun’an took deep breaths to calm his mind, retracted his qi and blood, then looked at the spoils on the table.
1 tael broken silver and a few copper coins, a key to open some money box, and unremarkable sundries.
Besides that, the tin box containing Hibiscus Paste Fire.
The tin box was finely made, tied with red paper note, stamped with—
Nanhai Twelve Guilds Paste Fire Temple made
Clearly, this stuff originated from Nanhai Prefecture, even mass-produced.
Open the tin box.
Eight slots inside, but only seven pills.
Qing Pi Ma must have consumed one already.
“Hm?!”
Strange fragrance wafted out. Even though Chen Shun’an was on guard and holding his breath.
The fragrance drilled in through Chen Shun’an’s pores and acupoints.
Chen Shun’an’s consciousness blurred.
Chen Shun’an seemed to see his five wives, each with different postures and expressions, posing seductively, ready for him to pluck.
“Mm… comfortable… no, not right!!”
Chen Shun’an snapped awake.
With a snap, the tin box slammed shut.
Chen Shun’an jumped back, away from the tin box.
He gasped heavily, circulated his qi and blood. Dantian qi surged like a whale spouting, expelling all residual paste fire fragrance from his body.
