Chapter 46: I Cannot Bear to Watch Him Suffer

When Li Banfeng hurled the Corrosion Pill into the old woman's throat, she happened to inhale as she convulsed from his kick to the stomach. That single breath pulled the pill straight down her gullet.

A searing pain shot through her chest. Realizing she had been poisoned, the old woman tried frantically to vomit it back out. However, Li Banfeng refused to give her the chance to vomit. He seized the moment, rushed behind Decai, and yanked the short saber out of his chest. Then he hacked at the old woman again and again

At first she dodged with ease. But as the poison spread, her throat burned like fire. A bitter, metallic fluid surged up, and the agony soon left her gasping for breath. It was not just an unbearable pain, but that it severely affected the old woman's breathing.

As they fought, steaming hot sweat streamed down her face in dark red streaks. Her skin grew blotched and mottled, as if her face itself were turning to rust.

Li Banfeng was very familiar with this process! This old woman was clearly expelling the poison. She couldn't vomit, but she had another way to force the toxin out, one much like Li Banfeng's.

It was then that Li Banfeng realized that this woman was a homebound cultivator!

Homebound cultivators could hide their presence so completely that others overlooked them. The rickshaw driver had once said that Wanderlust Cultivators could never sense the malice of Homebound Cultivators. That was why Li Banfeng had never been able to sense the old woman's malice.

However, her two sons weren't Homebound Cultivators. So why couldn't Li Banfeng sense their malice when they fed him poison?

Li Banfeng quickly grasped the crux of the matter. It all came down to the place where this had happened. The place was this very house and this house was the key to everything.

This was the old woman's house. This was the house of a Homebound Cultivator! Within their own homes, Homebound Cultivators were protected by dwelling spirits.

The old woman had instantly recognized that Li Banfeng was a Wanderlust Cultivator. Using the power of a Homebound Cultivator, she concealed not only her own malice but also the malice of her two sons.

Is her level really that high? Is she strong enough that she could even extend her power to her two sons?

Li Banfeng wondered.

The truth was that she was not at that high of a level. She was only at the first level of a Homebound Cultivation. If she had reached the second level, Li Banfeng would not have survived until now.

With her own strength, she could never have extended her powers to her sons once they stepped outside this house. As long as she remained in the house, the dwelling spirit would amplify her abilities. That was why she moved faster than a Wanderlust Cultivator, struck harder than a Martial Cultivator, and endured more than a Physique Cultivator.

How nice it is to have a dwelling spirit!

Li Banfeng remarked, feeling extremely envious.

If I kill this old woman, will the dwelling spirit become mine? The Peddler had said that an unclaimed dwelling spirit could be taken over by the next master.

The more Li Banfeng thought about it, the more excited he felt. He launched himself into the fight, striking at the old woman with everything he had.

With the dwelling spirit's help, the old woman tried to sweat out the toxins. However, the Corrosion Pill's poison was far too lethal, and sweating alone was much too slow a method of detoxification.

Li Banfeng had just thought of running such an experiment. He wanted to see whether a Homebound Cultivator could withstand the Corrosion Pill's corrosion inside their own home.

Of course, running such an experiment did not mean he would use himself as the subject. The most important thing was his attitude. He had to evaluate the result with the mindset that it was a scientific experiment.

Based on tonight's experiment, the result showed that if a level-one Homebound Cultivator were unable to vomit, they would not be able to withstand the corrosion of a Corrosion Pill.

By Li Banfeng's estimate, the old woman's combat strength would fall by more than half in less than two minutes.

Two minutes later, her movements grew increasingly sluggish, slower than those of an ordinary person, and strange grinding sounds came from her joints.

When Li Banfeng dodged her hairpin and kicked her in the stomach, the old woman wheezed and spat out a mouthful of reddish-brown powder.

She was rusting. Her whole body was turning to rust.

Li Banfeng quickly backed away from her. He wasn't sure if this rusting sickness was contagious.

The old woman staggered toward Li Banfeng, cursing with every step. "Little bastard, don't run. Come here. If you stay put, I'll give you a clean death. But if you dare move again, I'll slice you into a thousand pieces! You can't escape. This is my house, hehe... You've come here, and you'll never leave. You'll never leave for the rest of your life!

Her words were vicious and cruel, but deep down, the old woman was terrified.

It felt as if molten iron were being poured over her body, burning through her flesh layer by layer as it sank deeper inside.

Her son was a Poison Cultivator, and she had seen countless poisons before. Yet she had never encountered one this terrifying.

The pain was unbearable, but that was not the most terrifying part. What terrified her the most was the numbness that came after the pain. She felt her body rapidly losing sensation amidst the intense pain.

Apart from the bitter, metallic froth in her mouth, she could hardly sense the existence of her body. Vomiting was useless now.

She wanted to return to her room and listen to the sound of the old pendulum clock. However, if she went back to her room now, her son would surely die.

The old woman took a few steps forward, but each one was slower and more difficult than the last.

Rust flaked from her body, and rust-flecked foam spurted from her mouth and nose. Her graying hair turned yellow at the roots, snapping strand by strand into rusted debris that scattered on the wind.

Crack!

The old woman stumbled and collapsed heavily to the ground.

She turned her head and saw half a severed calf on the ground.

That bone had snapped in half from the rust. The flesh around it had already crumbled into powder. That was the bone she could see, but she could also feel countless others broken inside her, unseen yet undeniable.

Her body was on the verge of collapse.

She fixed her eyes on the largest room in her house. She longed for the clock to chime even once, but no sound came.

She saw Decai on the ground, convulsing and struggling, and she thought of Demao, whose fate remained uncertain.

How did it come to this? How is it possible that I am about to die at the hands of a prey? No, not just this damned prey, but also those two shameless sluts.

From the moment they stepped inside, I should have killed them. I should never have let those shameless sluts seduce my sons. My sons are mine, mine alone, and they will be mine for life...

The old woman grumbled inwardly.

"You... spare my son. I... I'll give you something good..." The old woman pleaded as she looked at Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng glanced over at Decai, who was struggling, and said with a sigh, "I don't want to kill either, but I can't bear it."

The old woman shook her head. "I don't understand what you're trying to say."

"How can you not understand?" Li Banfeng said as he walked over to Decai with the short saber in hand. "If the mother dies, what use is a child left behind? Leaving her alone in this world would only mean suffering. It's better if she follows you in death.

"Didn't you say these exact words just now?"

"Bastard, if you dare harm my family, there will be consequences. I'm from the Jiangxiang Gang, and the Jiangxiang Gang will never forgive you!" the old woman howled

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The Jiangxiang Gang again. Since it's the Jiangxiang Gang, I have to show some respect!

"Mother, save me—"

Decai's voice cut off mid-plea. Li Banfeng swung his saber and severed his head right before the old woman's eyes.

And just like that, he was forever silenced.

When the old woman saw her son's head roll across the ground, her whole body shook.

In that instant, she remembered the children she had once killed, and the way their parents had trembled just as she trembled now.

Red spots filled her vision, though she could not tell if they were rust or blood. Her consciousness faded, and her body crumbled into a heap of rust.

A cold wind swept through and scattered her remains across the courtyard.

The old woman is dead. Decai is dead as well.

With her hands covering Lu Chunying's eyes, Xiao Yeci looked at Li Banfeng in admiration even as her heart throbbed with fear.

Though Xiao Yeci had long wished for the death of this vile family, watching it happen filled her with dread. She did not know who Li Banfeng truly was, nor could she gauge his path or cultivation level.

He moves really fast so he must be a Wanderlust Cultivator, right? But how did he make that old woman rust like that?

He saved us. Surely he'll let us go! But if he doesn't... what will we do?

Li Banfeng looked a little dejected, as though he was feeling sorry for the old woman.

Xiao Yeci could see that hint of pity in him.

Xiao Yeci noticed the trace of pity in him and thought,

If he can feel pity for such a villain, then he must be a good person... right? Maybe he would even be willing to help us further...

Staring at the rust scattered across the ground, Li Banfeng's expression turned solemn. He never expected things to end this way. He let out a long sigh and lamented,

What a pity! Truly a pity! I could have taken the body back and refined it into a pill!