Chapter 39
After he reached there, he began to mobilize Dark Shadow's inner body Qi.
The current of Dark Shadow Qi that circled around his waist was akin to a belt.
At merely the 'Novice' level, its Qi already was as thick as a finger.
Le Xaan focused his mind on harnessing Dark Shadow's Qi. Sure enough, its Qi was mobilizable, in stark contrast to that of Jade Crane Skill.
He channeled the stream of Qi all the way from his abdomen to his right shoulder, his right arm, then his palm, and finally into the blade.
Just as the flow of Qi found its way into the blade, Le Xaan heard a sizzling sound akin to that of burning dry wood.
His right hand felt like being scorched. An impulse that he could not suppress made him wield his blade down.
Swish!
The blade streaked through the air and landed on the trunk of a tree before him.
Rustle!
The tree that an adult was scarcely able to wrap his arms around was quaking violently, sending a rain of leaves down.
Le Xaan's blade was buried deep into its trunk.
Along the periphery of the cut was tainted with a noticeable faint dark color.
"A dark color?"
Le Xaan withdrew his blade with great force and then scrutinized the dark-tinged cut.
"It looked like it was scorched by a fire... Is it from a heat? Or something else?"As he pondered, he surveyed the surrounding area. In the next second, he broke into a sprint for a distance before reaching down and grabbing something.
"Coo, coo, coo...."
A multiple-colored pheasant was lifted into the air by Le Xaan, with his hand holding its neck. It hid in the midst of clumps of weed just now.
"I will test my guess on it."
Le Xaan went back to the tree and scraped some powder off the cut's darkened periphery with his fingernails.
He took the black particles in his palm and fed some of it to the pheasant.
After doing just that, Le Xaan waited for a while. The pheasant kept making noises before becoming a little dispirited.
He scraped more powder off and fed them to it.
A while later, Le Xaan let go of the pheasant. It staggered and tottered a few steps before collapsing onto the ground.
Le Xaan walked up and laid his hand on its body, feeling an unusual warmth. It was still alive but feeble and lacking in vitality, as though it were suffering from a high fever.
"As expected, it has a poisoning effect! Dark Shadow is a Qi cultivation method that merges fire and poisoning attributes."
Le Xaan now could roughly make out Dark Shadow's effects. He then took the manual out that he had brought along with him and browsed it.
A segment in the booklet read:
"... Dark Shadow's inner body Qi bears a heating energy along with a lethal poison. The people who withstand the attacks imbued with the inner body Qi will succumb within three days but for water-attribute inner body Qi's neutralization."
That's how Dark Shadow's power was described curtly.
His assumption agreed with the brochure's description.
Le Xaan was now sure that he possessed an inner body Qi cultivation method with a terrifying poisoning effect.
"It's terrific."
Le Xaan sighed inwardly.
Dark Shadow was indeed a Qi cultivation method for combat purposes, in stark contrast to Jade Crane Skill.
Its power was too amazing!
He then carefully felt the Qi of Dark Shadow within his body.
With that slash earlier on, a portion of the Qi was consumed. He then carefully inspected the leftover volume.
"With my mastery at the 'Novice' level, the Qi's reserve allows for ten strikes imbued with it. And its could also enhance my muscles' explosive strength. It's indeed useful in combat."
After experiencing its power, Le Xaan could not help but wonder how formidable it would become after its level was elevated to its ultimate pinnacle. As he dwelt on these thoughts, he started back for the hut.
He now had a high expectation of it.
As he drew near the wooden residence, he came across two guards here to deliver the food by coincidence.
The two guards immediately rushed over to greet him the moment they spotted him.
"Young Master Xaan, the news for today in the city, as you required, has been placed in the food boxes."
After giving the food boxes to Le Xaan, they bid their farewell and left hastily.
Le Xaan took over the food boxes. He opened the one on the top and, sure enough, found a letter sealed by wax.
He went into the yard and gave the food boxes to Qiki. Then, he tore open the envelope and read the letter.
"Brother Xaan, the Xavir family's case has been solved.
An expert hired by the City Government cracks the case wide open. The sheriff's forces arrested a great number of people and executed a dozen or so of them. "
The first sentence stunned Le Xaan.
And he went on reading.
The recent series of major cases unnerved the people in the city. Several days ago, a riot even took place. Many of the city's citizens had fled to Zewa City.
The Government stopped their outward migrations and kept them in the city by force.
To reassure the public, the Government made dozens of arrests in one fell swoop and claimed them as the perpetrators of the previous cases.
Till this point, the people's fear was more or less calmed.
"It seems the Government was truly in a fluster. Perpetrators? If the perpetrators could be dug out with such ease, the case would have been solved a long time ago.
They are just using these people as scapegoats."
Fortunately, in the letter, Zein Sanki mentioned that the Le Mansion was unscathed by now.
Le Cinsi and the family's other young masters were fooling around as usual.
The city's entertainment facilities, such as brothels and theaters, were now experiencing peak season.
Perhaps, under their overwhelming terror, they chose to vent their pressure at such places.