Chapter 545: Black Runes

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

In an instant, Chen Fei’s vision plunged into darkness, unable to see anything, while various cacophonous sounds began echoing in his ears.

Whispers akin to murmurs, along with children’s laughter, though the laughter swiftly morphed into the roars and shouts of adults.

There was no semblance of order among the languages, yet the tone of the voices grew increasingly urgent, as if something were relentlessly chasing behind them.

Afraid to pause, it seemed that any momentary stoppage would herald something dreadful.

The darkness before Chen Fei seemed to be tugged at, and his eyes, already unable to see, suddenly regained their sight.

Instinctively, Chen Fei squinted, shielding his eyes from the sunlight in the sky. After a moment, with a somewhat bewildered expression, he lowered his hand and surveyed his surroundings.

This was a mountain village, yet at this moment, it was eerily quiet, devoid of any sound.

Silent, as if one could hear the beating of their own heart.

The usual chirping of insects and the singing of birds, entirely absent; even the wind seemed to have come to a halt.

What should have been a time of warmth in the afternoon now left Chen Fei with a chilling sensation of dread. More importantly, at this moment, Chen Fei had forgotten all of his identities.

With even the slightest movement of his head, a piercing pain shot through, spreading relentlessly. Only by completely diverting his thoughts could he alleviate this pain somewhat.

A call from deep within the village reverberated, as if the true answers could only be found by entering its confines.

“Roar!”

Before Chen Fei could take a step, a roar akin to that of a dragon and an elephant echoed in his mind, causing the scene before him to tremble violently.

Instinctively, Chen Fei closed his eyes, reopening them to find the village still present, yet now adorned with an additional eye hovering above.

Chen Fei’s consciousness had now cleared, thanks to the intervention of the Spirit Suppression of the Suppressing Dragon Elephant technique, which had pulled his mind back at a critical moment.

Gazing up at the eye above the village, Chen Fei narrowed his eyes.

He hadn’t anticipated that within Kou Yuanheng’s consciousness lay such a thing.

A bizarre entity, this eye represented something eerie, and exceptionally potent at that. Planted within Kou Yuanheng’s psyche during his early cultivation days, this eye was a seed of profound strangeness.

Initially, when this eye first appeared, Chen Fei had mistaken it for a safeguard left by the Death Shadow Sect within Kou Yuanheng’s consciousness, a barrier to prevent outsiders from uncovering the secrets of the sect’s disciples.

However, it wasn’t until just now that Chen Fei almost entered this village before he realized that this wasn’t the work of the Death Shadow Sect.

The Death Shadow Sect was an assassin organization, ruthless towards others, perhaps even towards its own members. But such ruthlessness should at least benefit the entire Death Shadow Sect.

However, implanting strangeness deep within a warrior’s consciousness showed no discernible benefits whatsoever.

It wasn’t about planting something eerie within the mind to transform into a human oddity or the like; this wasn’t an alternative cultivation method but rather a contamination of Kou Yuanheng.

For so many years, Kou Yuanheng hadn’t noticed anything unusual about himself, and even in the coming years, or even a decade or more, he wouldn’t feel any different.

But once the time was ripe, when the strangeness behind this eye felt it necessary, Kou Yuanheng would be controlled in an instant.

Life and death would no longer be within his control, or perhaps at that moment, Kou Yuanheng would no longer have a concept of self; all that would remain is someone usurped by strangeness.

To be in the mid-stage of the Combined Aperture Tempering realm and remain completely unaware of one’s contamination was a terrifying prospect.

As Kou Yuanheng had previously mentioned, the self-defense of a warrior in the mid-stage of the Combined Aperture Tempering realm was so formidable that ordinary intrusions were simply impossible.

It was only through Chen Fei’s relentless assault, pushing Kou Yuanheng to the brink of death, and relying on the mystical powers of the Dream Entering Technique, that he could intrude into Kou Yuanheng’s consciousness.

But it was precisely this intrusion that fully awakened the strangeness within Kou Yuanheng’s mind, seeking to ensnare Chen Fei in its corruption.

However, Chen Fei was not Kou Yuanheng, and he had not encountered this strangeness during his early cultivation days. Moreover, within Chen Fei’s sea of consciousness resided the Spirit Suppression of the Suppressing Dragon Elephant technique, a defense much stronger than that of an ordinary mid-stage Combined Aperture Tempering realm practitioner.

Most crucially, this eye above the village was not the true form of this strangeness; its true form likely lay within that sea trench, where Kou Yuanheng had discovered the location of the Mountain Binding Technique.

The eye above the village stared directly at Chen Fei, countless murmurs echoing in his ears, resembling laughter and curses, yet Chen Fei remained unfazed.

After the initial confusion was dispelled, the threat of the strange eye to Chen Fei was almost negligible.

Threads of blood vessels within the eye multiplied, writhing like living creatures within the white of the eye. In a matter of moments, the eye had turned a fiery red.

The eye trembled violently as wisps of black mist began to spread. With the appearance of these black mists, the eye started to shrink. Suddenly, Chen Fei took a step forward, causing the eye in mid-air to pause momentarily.

Chen Fei proceeded with deliberate slowness, taking three hesitant steps towards the village entrance. Though his pace was sluggish, it was progress nonetheless.

The black mist surrounding the strange eye receded, and the eye regained its fullness, indicating that these black mists were the eye’s true exertion of effort.

If Chen Fei remained completely still, the eye would have to expend all of its energy.

As Chen Fei hesitated in his movements, unbeknownst to the eye, he had already used the Thousand Threads Technique to separate a strand of thought, swiftly browsing through Kou Yuanheng’s memories.

Whether the strangeness was truly strange was not of great importance to Chen Fei; rather, Kou Yuanheng’s memories held greater value in his eyes.

At the very least, Chen Fei needed to know what tasks the Death Shadow Sect had assigned to Kou Yuanheng and where he had exposed vulnerabilities that made the Death Shadow Sect suspect that something had happened to Duan Muxiao.

If this matter remained unclear, the longer Chen Fei continued to impersonate Duan Muxiao, the more problems could arise.

Furthermore, without Kou Yuanheng’s memories, Chen Fei would be unable to impersonate him. Once the Death Shadow Sect discovered that Kou Yuanheng was dead, even greater problems would arise.

Facing an ordinary mid-stage Combined Aperture Tempering realm practitioner, Chen Fei no longer harbored much fear. However, the Death Shadow Sect was not limited to just one mid-stage practitioner; it had other formidable practitioners at that level.

With Chen Fei’s current strength, forcibly confronting such an assassin organization would be beyond his capabilities.

Within the illusion, Chen Fei painstakingly moved forward, appearing to cover only about ten meters, yet in reality, he traversed several miles.

With each step forward, the murmurs in Chen Fei’s ears grew louder, and the sensation of being dragged into the abyss became increasingly pronounced.

Fortunately, the Spirit Suppression of the Suppressing Dragon Elephant technique guarded his consciousness closely, repelling all contamination, allowing Chen Fei to maintain his clarity.

However, to the strange eye, it seemed that the human below was about to be dragged into the contamination. Not only would the undercover agent Kou Yuanheng be spared from death, but the eye could also plant its seed in another Combined Aperture Tempering realm practitioner’s consciousness.

As Chen Fei hesitated at the village entrance, his right foot paused, just one step away from entering the village. But it was this one step that Chen Fei consistently delayed taking.

The voices in Chen Fei’s ears had now turned into roars, various voices of different ages and genders incessantly intertwining. Fragmented black runes drifted out from the village entrance, clinging to Chen Fei’s body.

This body was a manifestation of Chen Fei’s consciousness. Once these fragmented black runes covered his entire body, even if he didn’t enter the village, the outcome would be the same.

Observing the human below, the strange eye saw him hesitating, and wisps of black mist drifted out from its pupil, entangling towards Chen Fei.

Chen Fei lifted his head, a hint of a smile appearing on his face as he gazed at the strange eye. Then, he disappeared directly into the illusion.

Having already reviewed all of Kou Yuanheng’s crucial memories, Chen Fei had no need to continue acting in this illusion with the strange eye.

Upon seeing Chen Fei disappear, the strange eye paused momentarily before suddenly trembling violently. The murmurs in the air transformed into deafening roars.

In the mountain cave, Chen Fei’s eyes snapped open, while Kou Yuanheng, who had been lying on the ground critically injured, also opened his eyes.

However, these eyes were no longer the same as Kou Yuanheng’s before. They had transformed into eerie eyes, devoid of pupils, with only countless blood vessels running across the whites.

Kou Yuanheng’s body swayed, disappearing from where he was standing and reappearing in front of Chen Fei in the blink of an eye.

In the mere moment of blinking, Kou Yuanheng’s entire body had been completely shrouded in black mist. His skin had dried up, devoid of any flesh, tightly wrapped around his bones.

Only the eyes on his cheeks were particularly large, bulging out of their sockets, glaring at Chen Fei with madness.

Chen Fei remained expressionless as the Qianyuan Sword materialized in his hand. In the next instant, the sword struck Kou Yuanheng’s body.

“Boom!”

The entire mountain cave was lifted by the tremendous force, the ground shaking violently, and countless cracks spreading out from under Chen Fei’s feet.

Kou Yuanheng’s approach was swift, but the speed at which he was sent flying back was even faster. His entire body crashed into the ground, creating a massive crater in an instant, with Kou Yuanheng embedded at the bottom.

Even at his peak, Chen Fei had no fear of Kou Yuanheng. After being pushed to the brink of death by Chen Fei’s two strikes, even if forcibly awakened by the strangeness, how much strength could Kou Yuanheng retain?

The true form of this strangeness was indeed formidable, but in Kou Yuanheng’s consciousness at present, it was at most just a seed.

This seed could manipulate Kou Yuanheng at will, causing him to burn all his power, unleashing every bit of his strength. However, facing Chen Fei, no matter how much power Kou Yuanheng unleashed, the ultimate outcome would remain unchanged.

The most terrifying aspect of this strange eye only emerged the moment it peeked out from the depths of his consciousness.

Because suddenly, even someone like Chen Fei had not been prepared for it, let alone others at the Combined Aperture Tempering realm. If their consciousness were to be touched at such close proximity, their minds would likely have already been contaminated.

As for the extent of contamination, it entirely depended on their proficiency in mental cultivation.

Chen Fei’s figure flickered, appearing at the bottom of the pit where Kou Yuanheng struggled to get up. Chen Fei’s sword sliced through his neck as he attempted to rise..