Chapter 31: Good Heavens, a Swordsman with a Fear of Heights?

Moonlight spilled through the gaps in the trees, stretching the girl’s shadow.

Her hair was slightly disheveled, and the eye visible in the light betrayed a flicker of panic. Her outer robe hung loosely off her shoulders, stained by several streaks of blood, and her pale cheeks were covered in wounds.

Once again, she gathered her skirt, her gaze sweeping the surroundings with an eerie, vacant look. Her delicate nose twitched violently, and the confusion in her eyes deepened.

The girl did not move, but the mass of shadow behind her twisted violently. Her slender, graceful figure flattened, and a green glint flashed through her moist right eye.

*Creak—*

Sui An pursed his lips and swallowed hard, his heels shifting slightly until he accidentally stepped on a small, dry twig.

The girl heard the faint noise. Her ears twitched, and she lunged forward, using both hands and feet to scramble across the ground like an arrow released from a bow. She tore through the bushes, lunging straight at Ling Xi and the others.

Ling Xi flashed between the two men, grabbing one with each hand. She channeled her "Clear Breeze, Treading Waves" technique, sparks flying from her "Netherworld Shore" footwork as plumes of black smoke erupted.

Behind them, the girl grinned, emitting a shrill, raspy cackle. Her fingernails elongated by five centimeters, and her beautiful face began to blur. As she looked at Ling Xi and the others, a crystal-clear bead of saliva dripped from her lips, splashing onto a stone and shattering against its jagged edges.

When she saw Sui An turn his head, her mouth split open to her earlobes, and greed flared in her eyes. It was a fine face—she hadn't seen such a high-quality face in a long time.

"Senior Brother! Stop looking! If you keep looking, we’re going to lose our lives right here!" Ling Xi’s voice wavered like a ripple in the wind.

Her vision was locked onto the creature; ever since Sui An had turned back, the strange girl’s speed had noticeably increased. She had no idea what the thing was, but it was certainly not any demon beast she had ever encountered.

Ling Xi’s breathing grew heavy; running two techniques simultaneously was exhausting her.

"Senior Brother Baili, you’ve reached the Foundation Establishment stage—can you fly us out of here?" A flash of inspiration struck Ling Xi.

Baili Ze’s expression turned odd, and he muttered, "I’m terribly sorry, I don't know how to fly."

Under Ling Xi’s bewildered gaze, Baili Ze turned his head away and added, "I’m afraid of heights."

Ling Xi: "..."

Ling Xi was a mess in the wind. Her pale cheeks flushed an unnatural, rosy red, and her lips turned a sickly, bruised white. Sui An didn’t know the extent of Ling Xi’s condition, but he knew things were dire. He tried to shake off her hand.

"Junior Sister, let me go! I’m tough and can take a beating—you go back and bring Master here!"

His voice was scattered by the wind, trembling and distorted.

Ling Xi glared at him. "Shut up, will you? And hurry up and contact Master! I still want to live to loot treasures!"

"…Well… I hate to say it, but is it possible that the connection to Master is one-way?"

Ling Xi: "…Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"You didn't ask!"

The monster girl tore through the jungle, the sound of her swallowing saliva mixing with the whistling wind. She was now only a few paces away.

A few birds shrieked and fell from the trees, their faces bloodied and mangled into a lump of raw flesh.

"A nice face, stay and be my snack!" the monster girl shrieked from behind, her crimson tongue licking her lips as she drank the blood, bird feathers hanging from the corners of her mouth.

"Master! Master! It’s bad—people are dying! If I die, your scripts won't have any material left!"

A bright red, thick line pulsed on Ling Xi’s right wrist, carrying her voice through the red thread, into the galaxy, and straight into Luo Chen’s divine sense.

"Xixi? You scared the life out of me in the middle of the night! It’s hard enough to find inspiration in my dreams, and now you’re ruining it," Luo Chen’s deep voice responded, accompanied by a yawn.

"I’m about to be finished, and you’re still thinking about inspiration!"

Ling Xi briefly explained the situation. Luo Chen was silent for a few seconds before offering guidance.

"When you arrived, didn't you pass a ruined temple? Go there and take shelter first. Given my current circumstances, I cannot tear through space, but I will get there as soon as possible. Remember: light incense the moment you enter, pray silently, and use every bit of incense you have."

Luo Chen’s playful tone vanished, replaced by a note of grave seriousness.

"Master, what exactly is that thing? It doesn't look like a demon beast to me."

"It is indeed not a demon beast. Demon beasts have good and evil, but that thing can only be evil to us. What you are facing is called a 'Face-Eraser,' a type of heretic. They are neither human, ghost, demon, devil, nor deity; they are existences that should not exist. In short, all heretics share one trait: they appear to use bloody methods, but what they feast upon is not flesh, but the negative emotions of living beings. And the way a Face-Eraser creates fear is by erasing faces."

Borrowing Luo Chen’s spiritual power, Ling Xi’s movement became as fast as lightning. She was fast, but the monster behind her was faster, following in close pursuit. Ling Xi carefully discerned her direction; with Luo Chen’s guidance, some of her fear inexplicably subsided.

Not far ahead, the dilapidated Earth God temple reflected the moonlight. Its old wooden doors creaked, casting long, mottled shadows, and the broken stone steps looked even more desolate. A night breeze swept through, swirling dead leaves in front of the temple like a spinning top.

The sound of ragged breathing shattered the silence of the temple. The youths rushed in, kicking up dead leaves from the ground.

Ling Xi scanned the temple, took a step, and reached the bottom of the stone steps. She leapt up, her toes pointed, and kicked the wooden door, sending it flying open with a *bang*.

*Swish, swish, swish—*

Air currents sliced through the atmosphere, shaking loose dead branches and leaves that suddenly veered, all rushing toward Ling Xi.

A graceful figure flipped through the air, her toes brushing a branch as she landed elegantly beside Ling Xi.

Ling Xi’s pupils constricted. She pushed the other two away, clapped her hands, and hooked a smile onto her lips, tilting her head toward the Face-Eraser.

"Peeling off two or three faces is so boring! No wonder you’ve only reached the early stage of Golden Core after hundreds of years of cultivation. You have no sense of sustainable development."

Ling Xi tilted her head, glancing askance at the Face-Eraser, and began wiping her fingers with a yellowish-white cloth she had pulled from nowhere. The moonlight reflected coldly off her fingernails, making her knuckles look deathly white.

The Face-Eraser’s brows twitched, her teeth gritted, and hesitation flashed in her eyes. Ling Xi caught every expression. Luo Chen was right—the thing was a bit dim.

Ling Xi’s suspended heart dropped slightly, her grip on the handkerchief loosened, and she breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Seeing the other party’s inscrutable demeanor, the Face-Eraser stopped her hand in mid-air, her fingertips only a centimeter away from Ling Xi’s right cheek. If this thing scratched a face, the wound would never heal.

Ling Xi acted like an expert on the outside while screaming internally about how close that was.

"Big sister, if you want your cultivation to grow quickly, you shouldn't stay at the level of doing all the manual labor yourself. Join me, follow the path of sustainable development, and I guarantee you'll reach Nascent Soul in three years and Spirit Transformation in six."

"What is… sustainable development?"

"Simply put, it’s the process of planting leeks and harvesting them in a cycle. As long as the roots remain, you’ll always have leeks to eat."

The Face-Eraser’s eyes lit up, and drool leaked from the corner of her mouth. Within seconds, sharp teeth sprouted, crystal-clear beads of fluid dripped from her lips, and she stared at Ling Xi with undisguised greed.

"That sounds good. However, you’re just trying to let them go. I’m hungry now, and compared to farming fat sheep, I prefer to hunt."

The Face-Eraser moved with lightning speed, her sharp claws flying out. A sinister dark red glow flickered at her fingertips, tracing a spiritual arc that aimed straight for Ling Xi’s jaw.