CHAPTER 57: CHAPTER 46 I CAN’T BEAR TO SEE HIM SUFFER

Li Banfeng threw the Rust Pill into the old lady’s throat.

Just as Li Banfeng kicked her in the stomach, she gasped for air, and in that same breath, swallowed the Rust Pill.

A searing pain struck. The old lady knew she’d been poisoned and immediately tried to vomit.

Li Banfeng gave her no chance. Seizing the opportunity, he pulled the Short Knife from behind Decai and hacked at the old lady’s head repeatedly.

Initially, the old lady dodged smoothly. But as the poison rapidly took effect, her throat burned as if on fire. A sour, iron-tasting fluid constantly surged up, not only causing unbearable pain but also severely affecting her breathing.

In the midst of the life-and-death struggle, the old lady was drenched in reddish-brown sweat, her face becoming spotted as if it had rusted.

Li Banfeng was all too familiar with this process! The old lady was detoxifying! Although she couldn’t vomit, she had other ways of expelling the poison, methods very similar to his own. She was a Home Cultivator!

Home Cultivators could hide their aura, making opponents overlook their presence. The Coachman had once said that Traveling Cultivators couldn’t sense the danger posed by Home Cultivators. That was why Li Banfeng had been unable to sense the old lady’s malice. But the old lady’s two sons weren’t Home Cultivators. So why couldn’t Li Banfeng sense their malice when they attempted to poison him?

Li Banfeng quickly grasped the crux of the issue. It all came down to the location—this very house. The house was the key to all the problems! This was the old lady’s house, a Home Cultivator’s house. Within their own homes, Home Cultivators were protected by House Spirits. The old lady had realized at a glance that Li Banfeng was a Traveling Cultivator. She used the power of her Home Cultivation to shield not only her own malice but also that of her two sons.

Was her cultivation level that high? Could her strength affect her two sons? Her cultivation level wasn’t that high; she was merely a First Layer Home Cultivator. If she had reached the Second Layer, Li Banfeng wouldn’t have survived this long. With her strength, she definitely couldn’t have influenced her two sons outside the house. But inside the house, empowered by the House Spirit, the old lady’s techniques were enhanced. This made her faster than Traveling Cultivators, more ruthless than Martial Cultivators, and more resilient than Body Cultivators.

Having a House Spirit is truly wonderful! Li Banfeng was green with envy. If I kill this old lady, will the House Spirit become mine? The Peddler had said an ownerless House Spirit could be claimed by the next master.

The more Li Banfeng thought about it, the more excited he became, and he fought the old lady with all his might.

With the help of the House Spirit, the old lady kept sweating to expel the poison, but the Rust Pill’s lethality was too great, and detoxification through sweating was too inefficient.

Li Banfeng considered conducting an experiment: could a Home Cultivator, within their own house, resist the corrosion of the Rust Pill? Of course, personal experimentation didn’t mean using himself as the subject. The most important thing was the attitude—to observe the experiment’s results with a scientific mindset. Judging by tonight’s results, if unable to vomit freely, a First Layer Home Cultivator couldn’t withstand the Rust Pill. According to Li Banfeng’s estimate, the old lady’s combat power had declined by more than half in under two minutes.

Another two minutes passed. The old lady’s movements became increasingly sluggish, her speed even slower than an ordinary person’s, and eerie grating sounds came from her joints.

Li Banfeng dodged the old lady’s Hairpin and kicked her in the stomach.

The old lady gave a wheezing cough and actually spat out a mouthful of reddish-brown fragments.

She had rusted. Her entire body had rusted through.

Li Banfeng quickly moved away from the old lady.

He wasn’t sure if this rust disease was contagious.

Step by step, the old lady walked toward Li Banfeng, cursing viciously as she moved, "You little bastard, don’t you run! Come here! As long as you don’t run, I’ll grant you a quick death. If you dare take one more step, I’ll make sure to cut you into a thousand pieces! You can’t escape! This is my house, heh heh heh... Once you’re here, don’t even think about leaving. You’ll never leave for the rest of your life!"

The words were venomous, but deep down, the old lady was terrified. Every part of her body felt as though molten iron had been poured over it, melting her flesh layer by layer, continuously seeping into her body. Her son was a Poison Cultivator; she had seen many poisons, but never one as terrifying as this. Though the pain was unbearable, that wasn’t the worst part. The worst was the numbness that followed the pain. She felt her body rapidly losing sensation amidst the agony. Apart from the acrid, rusty taste in her mouth, she could barely feel her own body. Vomiting was now futile. She wanted to return to her room; she longed to hear the sound of the old grandfather clock. But if she returned to her room now, her son would undoubtedly die.

The old lady took a few steps forward, each slower and more arduous than the last.

Rust powder flaked from her body, and her breath spewed rusty foam. Her grizzled hair turned yellow, strand by strand, cracking inch by inch, gradually disintegrating into dross that scattered in the wind.

CRACK!

The old lady stumbled and fell to the ground.

Turning her head, she saw the stump of her lower leg on the ground—the bone severed by rust, the flesh decayed into rusty crumbles.

She saw that bone. Many other bones had also broken. She couldn’t see them, but she could feel it. Her body was about to disintegrate.

Her eyes were fixed on her own room, the largest in the courtyard.

She prayed the clock would chime, even just once. But the chimes never came.

She saw Decai lying on the ground, convulsing and struggling. She thought of Demao, whose whereabouts were unknown.

How could this happen? How could she die at the hands of such a weakling? No, not just that damnable weakling, but also that pair of shameless harlots. I should have killed them the moment they walked in! I never should have let those two harlots seduce my son! My son is mine! Mine alone! For his entire life...

"You... spare my son... and I... I’ll give you something precious..." the old lady pleaded with Li Banfeng, her voice tinged with desperation.

Li Banfeng glanced at the struggling Decai and sighed. "I don’t like killing people either. But I just can’t bear it, you see."

The old lady shook her head, "I don’t understand what you’re trying to say."

"How can you not understand?" Li Banfeng said, Short Knife in hand, as he moved to Decai’s side. "The mother is dead, so what’s the point of letting the child live? Leaving him alone in this world would only mean suffering. Better for him to join you on your journey. Weren’t those your exact words just now?"

"Bastard! You dare touch my family? I’m from the Jiang Xiang Gang! The Jiang Xiang Gang will never spare you!" the old lady hissed, her voice cracking.

The Jiang Xiang Gang again. One must give them face, of course!

Right in front of her, Li Banfeng beheaded Decai.

"Mother, save me..."

Decai’s voice stopped abruptly.

As Decai’s head hit the ground, the old lady’s body convulsed violently.

She recalled the children of other families she had murdered; their parents’ bodies had also convulsed like this.

Red specks swam before her eyes—whether rust or blood, she couldn’t tell.

Her consciousness faded. Her body, too, crumbled into a pile of rusty dross.

A cold wind blew, scattering the old lady’s crumbled remains everywhere.

Xiao Yeci looked at Li Banfeng, admiration on her face but terror in her heart, her hands firmly covering her daughter Lu Chunying’s eyes.

The old lady was dead. Decai was dead too.

Although Xiao Yeci had long wished for this wicked family’s death, seeing them truly dead now filled her with a profound fear.

She didn’t know where this Li Banfeng came from, nor could she discern his Taoist Sect or cultivation level. His movements were so swift—was he a Traveling Cultivator? But how did the old lady rust away like that? He saved us. Surely, he’ll let us go? But if he doesn’t... what then?

Li Banfeng looked somewhat dejected, as if lamenting the old lady’s fate.

Xiao Yeci noticed Li Banfeng’s apparent regret.

To feel regret for such an evildoer... he must be a good person, right? Perhaps he’ll help us again...

Gazing at the rust dross scattered across the ground, Li Banfeng’s expression was grave. He let out a long sigh.

This wasn’t the outcome he’d expected. What a pity! Such a pity! What a waste. She could have been taken back for Alchemy.