Night of Despair

Chapter 291 - 291 289 Peace 1

?Chapter 291: 289 Peace 1 Chapter 291: 289 Peace 1 “The appearance of the Black Ship here relies on the seawater, unlike the camp over there where the appearance of the dock and wooden bridge only requires light. Could this be because there is the Black Disaster and Black River over there, creating this difference?”

Yu Hong stood up, feeling it necessary to inquire about the news at the Taoist Temple.

Thinking it over, he realized that he had few connections within the temple and had no idea whom to ask for information.

The only person he was somewhat familiar with, Guo Shangdong, was just as new as himself and surely had no clue about this matter.

Hesitating for a moment, he finally slapped his thigh decisively.

“Let’s go directly to Old Yu Mo!”

After changing his clothes, Yu Hong quickly left home and headed straight for Elder Yu Mo’s private villa.

Having become one of the special disciples under close scrutiny, both Yu Hong and Guo Shangdong deepened their connection with Yu Mo.

So, it was quite normal for them to know one of his residences.

Moonwatch Villa District is a well-known high-end residential area in Taizhou, where the lowest price for a property starts at three million.

In Taizhou, where housing prices are relatively low, this is already an astronomical figure.

Yu Hong hailed a taxi and headed straight for the entrance of the villa district.

Sitting in the taxi, he pondered how to ask his questions and phrase them.

Suddenly, he felt a chill as the car passed a street, and he hurriedly turned to look out the window.

Outside the car window, the neon sign of the Red Plum Inn was still flashing at the entrance of the alley.

The typically deserted entrance of the inn now had quite a few people standing around, with police cars and motorcycles parked by the roadside, and several officers talking softly into their radios.

“Master, please stop the car. I’ll get off here,” Yu Hong frowned, catching a glimpse of the scarred face of the girl who was standing at the inn’s entrance as he passed by the alley.

She stood at the doorway, holding her schoolbag, staring blankly inside, her eyes lifeless.

“Okay. The fare…” The driver immediately pulled over to stop the car.

“Keep the change,” Yu Hong handed him a ten yuan note without asking for the change, then got out of the car.

Walking down the alley, he approached the entrance of the inn.

It was only upon entering that he saw more than a dozen people already there, all crowding and looking towards the inside of the inn.

Yu Hong also joined to look inside.

The entrance of the Red Plum Inn was blocked by yellow police tape, and through the open door, one could see the dried, dark red bloodstains on the floor of the small hall on the first level.

He looked around and heard several people whispering about the incident, quickly approaching a young man with glasses and gently tapped him.

“Excuse me, could you tell me what happened here?”

“Someone’s dead,” the man sighed. “The owner of the inn, an old man in his seventies or eighties, was suddenly stabbed from the back with a sharp knife last night, his gut spilling out on the floor. They say he crawled for a while, trying to get out for help, but ended up dying at the doorway.”

The owner of the inn, the old man?

A chill went through Yu Hong’s heart; he remembered the always smiling old man who let him run a tab when he stayed there.

He had just moved out not long ago, and now something happened to the inn?

In fact, one night when he returned from the internet, he felt something was off, just didn’t know what. At that time, the old man’s face also seemed very pale, very strange. The old man said that Yu Hong’s face was just as pale.

So Yu Hong didn’t take it seriously, but now….

‘It seems my feeling at the time was correct; there was indeed a problem, just that I couldn’t detect it due to different power systems.’
After thanking the young man, Yu Hong approached the girl with the scar.

“Lingling?”

The girl stiffly turned her head, and upon seeing him, did not reply but continued to twist her head, looking towards the inn.

Seeing her like this, with no other family members around, standing alone to the side, Yu Hong guessed her situation might be difficult.

“If you need help, you can come find me here.” He still felt indebted to the old man who allowed him to run a tab.

Lingling did not respond, just stood there dazedly, as if she hadn’t heard him.

Yu Hong, looking at the busy police officers, watched for a while before he finally turned and left.

He was certain that there were no traces of the Black Mist or Black Disaster at the scene. This meant it might just be a homicide. Or perhaps, it was something native to this world.

As for Lingling, he was neither kin nor a close friend, but out of gratitude for the tab the old man gave him, he was willing to lend a hand, and that should be good enough.

With the police involved, the largest national organization in charge of maintaining order, he did not believe they were completely unaware of the mysterious aspects.

Thus, having the authorities handle it was the best course of action.

After leaving, as Yu Hong stepped out of the alley, he happened to encounter several strangers in black collared long sleeves, huddled together, chatting and laughing softly.

These men were pale, with distinct black tattoos visible on their necks.

Noticing Yu Hong coming out of the alley because of his conspicuous physique, they glanced over this way for a moment longer.

When they realized Yu Hong was looking at them as well, they quickly averted their gazes.

Yu Hong heard them speaking in an unfamiliar dialect that even the translator couldn’t help him understand, despite his ability to understand more than a dozen languages now.

But from their chatting demeanor, they seemed to be in a state of contentment and joy.

‘Happy at the site of a deathly incident?’
A hint of doubt flashed through Yu Hong’s mind.

But he was in a hurry and had no time for nosiness. It was not realistic to just go punching everyone into unconsciousness just because they seemed pleased.

Quickly hailing another taxi, he got in and continued towards Elder Yu Mo’s residence.

Over ten minutes later…

Outside the Moonview Villa.

Yu Hong walked out of the complex feeling somewhat disappointed.

The old Taoist was out again, traveling to who knows where. With nobody around and no way to gather information, Yu Hong simply decided to go back and continue his training.

He would wait until classes started to see if he could find an opportunity to inquire about the situation.

On his way back, he bought himself a mobile phone and collected his ID from the police station, officially becoming a citizen of Yasong Country.

After inserting the newly issued SIM card and powering on the phone, he entered the contact numbers of the few people he met on Huangsong Island and sent them a message notifying them of his new number.

Next were the folks from the Taoist Temple, as well as Guo Shangdong.

Having done all this,
Yu Hong continued his recitation in silent meditation on the Second Layer.

To condense the second Fear Illusion required much longer recitation time than before.

However, with the assistance of Tao Breath Circulation, it was as if Yu Hong was reciting and meditating non-stop, twenty-four hours a day.

Soon, on the morning of the fourth day, just after he had gone out to buy some meat buns for breakfast and returned home,
He saw a person standing in his yard as soon as he entered.

A transparent figure that looked as if it was made of liquid glue—a special humanoid.

“The second one… it’s you…” Yu Hong recognized it.

A fully-formed Language Being.

Back then, when it hadn’t fully emerged, he delivered a fatal blow. Now, it seemed that deep in his heart, he still held a profound wariness towards these Evil Shadows, which made it hard to distinguish between reality and illusion.

Such Evil Shadows were not something that could be immunized against with mere physical strength. It was an attack on cognitive perception, not something that could be resolved through physical force.

Setting down the groceries, Yu Hong looked up again only to see the figure had disappeared, no longer standing where it was.

At the same time, his ears began to pick up whispers of talking.

It was as if he were a person lying unconscious in a hospital bed, with the voice of a deeply familiar woman beside him, softly narrating some story.

In reality, the various noises from the outside world gradually became vague and distorted, while the woman’s storytelling became increasingly clear and real.

Yu Hong’s expression remained unchanged as he covered his body with Inner Qi, emitting a faint white glow.

Whoosh!

In an instant, an invisible burst of Qi exploded from his body, blowing away the debris around him—his Inner Qi was now intermixed with a significant amount of Cosmic Divine Light, which, upon release, transformed into wind.

Instantly, every corner of the yard was thoroughly swept by this invisible Qi.

At once, the Language Being that had just vanished was enveloped by this formless Inner Qi and revealed itself in a corner of the yard.

Its entire body was sprouting clusters of bright red human mouths, which were now incessantly talking and producing noise.

Upon being discovered, it suddenly had all the voices synchronize into an angry roar.

Ahh!!!

That was a shrill, soprano-like scream, turning into a cylindrical, transparent shockwave, which crossed the yard in the blink of an eye and hit Yu Hong.

Puff.

The shockwave hit the thin layer of Inner Qi around Yu Hong’s body. Despite its impressive force, it failed to break through the eggshell-thin protective layer of Inner Qi.

Yu Hong took a step forward and unleashed the Thunderbolt Leg. He instantly flashed in front of the Language Being, grabbed its head with one hand, and threw it upwards.

His immense strength instantly lifted the Language Being, which tumbled and soared into the air.

Following that, he leaped up and delivered a Battle Axe Style kick.

His leg heavily struck the midline of the Language Being’s body.

Boom!

The Language Being was kicked apart without any resistance—it exploded, turning into countless light points.

Likewise, Yu Hong swiftly shattered all the light points with kicks.

Instantly, a refreshing and comfortable feeling surged into his mind.

The silver particles inside the Heavenly River once again greatly multiplied. At the same time, the progress of the Taiyuan True Method also surged forward significantly.

The Taiyuan True Method was currently at the Second Layer state, still in the stage of refining and integrating the Cosmic Divine Light into the body.

It seemed that due to the substantial increase in spirit, the Second Layer’s dawn light, which was supposed to break through, suddenly leaped forward quite a bit.

Standing in place, Yu Hong slightly closed his eyes; when he opened them again, he realized he was still standing at the doorstep of the courtyard, unmoving, as if he had maintained the position from the moment he walked through the door.

‘The Second Layer of the Guanwu Skill is not difficult either, and it even aided my Taiyuan True Method. The meaning of the Second Layer’s dawn is to integrate enough Cosmic Divine Light, increase its concentration, and attain a dawn-like color when released. That would mark success.’
Yu Hong raised his hand, and a strand of faint Cosmic Divine Light seeped from his palm.

The deep-blue light, like a dancing flame, quietly floated above his hand.

In the very center of this deep blue, one could vaguely see a touch of brilliant red—like the dawn’s glow, beautiful and pure.

“Now that I’ve passed the Second Layer, it’s time for the Third Layer.”

After inspecting the progress of the Taiyuan True Method, and since this cultivation technique wasn’t appropriate to be displayed here for fear of being detected by a master, he quickly ended his practice.

He then practiced the Guanwu Skill of the Third Layer, and thus, the Tao Breath Circulation would automatically incorporate it into the cultivation, running it non-stop, twenty-four hours a day.