I Can Merge Techniques-Chapter 44 - 43: Lost in the Mantis-Oriole Scheme, the Phantom-Swift Running Technique of a Night Escape

Chapter 44: Chapter 43: Lost in the Mantis-Oriole Scheme, the Phantom-Swift Running Technique of a Night Escape

A Blood Moon hung in the sky.

Its crimson light spilled down, shrouding Cyan Yang Ancient City in a strange and unpredictable atmosphere.

The wind scraped against his face like a dull knife carving flesh, a piercing pain.

Chu Fan’s gaze shifted. Seeing the fat and skinny duo completely distracted by the members of the Moon Worship Sect, he silently slipped out of Zhao Hu’s old residence, not stopping until he had put even more distance between them.

The eerie ringing of a bell drew closer and closer.

The sound was crisp yet hauntingly cold, intermittent as if rising from the netherworld—not a sound of the mortal realm.

The two servants, who had long been hiding by the gate, were tensed like fully drawn bowstrings, their ears cocked as they listened intently.

When the white-robed man from the Moon Worship Sect led a group out of the alley ahead, the two servants followed on tiptoe without the slightest hesitation!

’They really are spying on the Moon Worship Sect!’

Hiding in the shadows, Chu Fan furrowed his brow, lost in thought.

The Moon Worship Sect was secretive and sinister in its ways. Common folk avoided them like the plague, and even people of the martial world were unwilling to provoke them lightly. For these two servants of the Huang Family to dare trail them, they had to be incredibly bold.

Chu Fan held his breath and tailed them from a great distance.

He saw the white-robed guide ahead moving strangely, stopping and starting. At each stop, he would take a disk-shaped object from his robes and fiddle with it, his head bowed.

The distance was too great. Even with the vision granted by his Great Success in Eagle Form, further enhanced by Blood Nourishing, Chu Fan could only make out the object’s silhouette in the Blood Moon’s crimson glow. He couldn’t see what it was.

’The Moon Worship Sect is looking for something too?’

Chu Fan’s heart skipped a beat as he suddenly thought of the Demon Suppression Stele in his home.

This was the first time he had ever truly paid attention to the Moon Worship Sect.

In the past, the moment he heard the ring of the Soul-Seizing Bell, he would have hidden himself far away, never giving them a second thought.

The Moon Worship Sect had arrived in Cyan Yang Ancient City two years ago.

Counting on his fingers, he realized that was right before his parents passed away.

Back then, the city’s residents didn’t know their true nature. Many people, either bewitched or tempted by the eggs and wheat cakes the sect handed out, went along to "Worship the Moon."

It was also during that time that his gravely ill parents had a moment of clarity. They grabbed his hand and repeatedly warned him to stay away from the Moon Worship Sect. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

At the time, Chu Fan had found it strange—

’My parents were bedridden for years, often delirious, and never left the house. How could they have known about the Moon Worship Sect’s existence?’

Now, these seemingly unrelated past events were being strung together by invisible threads, vaguely pointing toward a shocking truth.

Chu Fan had thought he was the oriole, waiting to snatch the cicada from the mantis.

But he never imagined that he might have been the mantis all along, caught in the game himself.

A chill abruptly rose from the depths of his heart and shot through his entire body.

Chu Fan, whose vigorous qi and blood had already made him impervious to the cold, couldn’t help but shiver.

...

The ringing stopped at the bank of the Cyan Yang River.

Dry reeds rustled in the wind. The snow reflected the faint light from the sky, outlining several dark figures in a blurry haze.

The white-robed guide in the front stopped abruptly.

The troop behind him, who had been moving like zombies, also froze in an instant, falling dead silent.

The two Huang Family servants trailing them hastily ducked behind the wall of a mud-brick house on the bank, their eyes wide as they observed the scene.

The man in white was seen strolling unhurriedly from the front of the line to the back.

Suddenly—

With a flick of his wrist, a silver arc shot from his hand!

It was unimaginably fast!

PFFT!

A strangely shaped curved blade had precisely pierced the throat of the slightly chubbier servant!

A line of blood spurted from his neck. The man didn’t even make a sound as he fell backward, stiff as a board.

No questions, no warnings.

He struck, and it was a single, fatal blow!

To kill a man so casually, as if reaping grass!

The skinny servant was scared out of his wits. He let out a strange cry, spun around, and jumped into the dark river beside them, sending up a huge splash!

The man in white strode swiftly to the riverbank and looked down. The water was dark and faintly rippling, but there was no sign of anyone.

He slowly turned, about to move on, but then he stopped again. His head swiveled toward the low wall where Chu Fan was hiding.

In that instant, Chu Fan felt a bone-chilling malice cling to him like a maggot on a corpse. The blood in his veins nearly froze!

’How is that possible!’

A storm raged in his heart. ’I was hiding so far away, yet he still sensed me!’

In this life-or-death moment, Chu Fan didn’t dare hesitate for even a second...

The qi and blood in his body surged, pushing his speed to the absolute limit. His figure shot like an arrow from a bow, fleeing for his life into the depths of the complex maze of alleyways.

Run!

Run for your life!

At that moment, this was the only thought in his mind.

The cold wind felt like needles, forcing its way into his lungs and bringing a tearing pain.

He heard no sound of pursuit from behind, but he didn’t dare slow down in the slightest.

Fortunately, he was extremely familiar with the local alleys. Combined with his newfound strength, after a few twists and turns, his own courtyard came into view in just a few moments.

With a leap, he vaulted into the courtyard and darted into the house.

Leaning his back against the cold wall, Chu Fan’s chest heaved violently as he tried to suppress his ragged breathing.

His eyes quickly scanned the room, landing on the location of the Array that flickered with eerie Runes—

’If that white-robed man really chases me here, I’ll have no choice but to use that Array to escape into the stone cavern where the Demon Suppression Stele is hidden.’

’This Moon Worship Sect...’

’They’re this terrifying!’

Just as his heart was pounding with fear, a line of tiny text abruptly appeared in his mind.

[Running Technique Experience Points +2]

[Skill: Running Technique (Entry-Level) Progress (2/100)]

Chu Fan was taken aback.

This had never happened when he was just walking around before.

Had that desperate, life-or-death sprint just now unexpectedly activated this running skill?

Thinking back, since coming to this world, he had jogged short distances, but he had never sprinted for his life like this.

’I never would have thought...’

Amidst his lingering fear, a thread of understanding and wild joy began to sprout in Chu Fan’s heart.

Before he could even catch his breath, an extremely faint rustling sound came from outside the courtyard wall, mixed with hushed conversation.

Chu Fan focused his senses and realized it wasn’t the terrifying man in white. He relaxed slightly.

He held his breath, placed his cloth-wrapped Long Saber on the head of his bed, then gently pushed open the window. He slipped outside like a falling leaf and pressed himself against the wall to listen.

"You idiot! Hold steady! You almost made me fall!"

"Pah! Just wait. I’m gonna smash this crappy window with a brick and see if that kid from the Chu Family still dares to act tough!"

’It’s the ruffians sent by Huang Shouliang!’

Chu Fan understood in an instant—

They were using the cover of night to smash his window and intimidate him into selling the house!

A cold, harsh glint flashed in Chu Fan’s eyes, and killing intent surged within him.

He pushed off forcefully with both feet, his body like a tiger bursting from its cage as he suddenly vaulted over the courtyard wall!

Outside the wall, one ruffian was standing on his accomplice’s shoulders, one hand gripping the wall and the other clutching a brick, poised to throw.

They were both stunned to see a figure leap out from behind the wall.

But Chu Fan didn’t say a word. He lunged forward, his Tiger Form’s Tiger Claw flashing out to seize the neck of the man on the bottom. With a sharp twist—

CRACK!

With a crisp snap, the ruffian’s eyes bulged. He couldn’t even get a word out before his neck was broken.

The ruffian standing on his shoulders instantly lost his support and came tumbling down.

Chu Fan’s left hand shot out, repeating the move with practiced ease. He precisely grabbed the other man’s neck and twisted again!

CRACK!

In the blink of an eye, both ruffians were dead on the spot.

’With a weapon in hand, the will to kill arises.’

Chu Fan looked down at the rapidly cooling bodies at his feet, wondering if he should dump them in a stinking ditch to erase the evidence.

But then he remembered the corpse of the servant by the river, killed by the Moon Worship Sect. A bolder idea flashed through his mind like lightning.

He bent down, grabbed the two corpses by their belts, and lifted them both at once. Taking a deep breath, he melted back into the night and sped toward the bank of the Cyan Yang River.

Since breaking through to the Blood Nourishing stage, his strength had increased dramatically. He could carry a full-grown man in each hand and still move as if he were flying.

The riverbank was utterly silent, save for the dry reeds shivering and rustling in the cold wind.

The body of the Huang Family servant still lay stiffly where it had fallen, its blood soaking the snow and congealing into a shocking patch of dark red.

The river’s surface was pitch-black, with no sign of the skinny servant.

Chu Fan tossed the two ruffians’ bodies next to the servant’s corpse.

’Let this blood debt be settled on the Moon Worship Sect’s account.’

Suddenly...

A short distance upstream, a SPLASH echoed through the air.