As another bang rang out, Grey was flung again and landed near his knife. He quickly concealed it and stood up.
The cultivator rushed at Grey again but his speed was not as fast as before. Grey easily dodged it and brought his hands down on the cultivator. Another loud bang rang out and the cultivator could be seen staggering backwards, but Grey didn't wait and rushed yet again.
When the cultivator brought his hands up to block, Grey suddenly brought the knife and plunged the knife into the cultivator's stomach.
A pained groaned rang out as Grey kept stabbing the cultivator mercilessly. Blood had splashed on his face and clothes but he didn't care. His eyes were calm as he continued to stab the cultivator until he fell down dead.
'I just killed a human...' It was then that the implications sank into his brain.
'Ah, but he would've killed you instead.' His inner voice responded and Grey couldn't help but agree.
There was no way out. It was either he did what the cultivator wanted, or he died. There was nothing wrong with it. That was how this world was.
'But that still doesn't take care of the fact that I killed someone.' Strangely, his hands weren't trembling. His eyes were calm and cool.
'That's weird.'
He then stood up and took the pouch of the middle-aged cultivator. He had a lot of stuff inside which made Grey's eyes glitter.
Because he couldn't take out everything from the pouch now, he kept the pouch and left the area for the fear of blood dragging out dangerous beasts.
Grey decided to back track. So just as the sky was getting dark, Grey left the forest to his small deserted house. Barricading the door again with different items, he held his knife by his side with caution.
Then, the howls of bizarre existences reached his ears. 'They had come.' After staying in the corroded zone for close to a week, he began to notice their strange patterns.
Most bizarre existences only come out by night. Only truly terrifying creatures wandered around whenever they please.
And although he had yet to see a bizarre existence, the shouts of other creatures when they were prey to those bizarre existences were moments he could never forget.
He began to breathe in and cultivated silently. The decay point on his wrist was getting more painful. He could feel his skin melting as it is and even his eyes burned just from looking at it.
He was almost in the fourth realm of Qi condensation, but breaking through in the corroded zone would usher in more corrosive substance into his body than he would have liked.
Which would force him to either die of the corrosion, or turn into one of those Mutated beasts.
'As much as I would like to break through, I can't. Doing so would mean death.' He needed to find a medicine that could suppress the decay point from expanding even more.
Luckily, he had gotten medicinal pills from the storage pouch of the cultivator. But they were just two.
He held it in his hands and examined them. They were the same sizes as normal medicinal pills. But they had some black and brown spots on it. Indicating that it was not perfect, and had some impurities in them. When he opened the container, a faint medicinal smell wafted into his nostrils.
He put the two pills in his mouth and a few minutes later, the pain in his wrist had reduced. His gaze lingered on the empty container and sighed.
At the very least, he might as well just go out of the corrosive zone to break through. The purple crystal in his chest had helped him so far. With it constantly neutralizing small amounts of corrosive substance, he could live another day or so.
He was even tempted to leave now but...' No, that's how you get yourself killed.' His inner voice was right. Trying dangerous risks like that was sure to get him killed. He could hold it in for one more day at the least.
But now, dangerous beings roamed the streets, ready to devour anything they could lay eyes on.
He opened his eyes and the grip on the blunt knife tightened.
A shrill moan resounded outside. The moan sounded distorted in the wind. Like the crying of a baby.
The moan came and went, like the creature was coming from all directions. Grey closed his eyes and tight and shut his ears. Some lessons he had also learned was that certain creatures could hurt you even without looking at you.
The moan resounded once again and this time, Grey seemed to hear the moan come out from beside him. The creature moaned like a newborn baby and he was tempted to open his eyes but then it suddenly stopped...
'Don't look, don't look. Don't, don't...' He said inwardly.
"Don't look, don't... don't look..." He heard a dry and hoarse voice. The voice sounded eerily familiar.
Grey's breathing hastened.
It was his own voice speaking. "Don't look... don't look" The creature was speaking with his own voice then went quiet. After what seemed like eternity. The voice spoke again.
"Open your eyes..." Sometimes the voice spoke softly, sometimes it spoke with authority and sometimes it said begging. But Grey refused to open his eyes.
His fear further suppressing the urge for him to open his eyes. Then it stopped. The door to his hiding place was suddenly smashed and he heard the door fly off and hit the wall.
All the miscellaneous items he had placed to block the door was scattered all around. He felt a cold chill on his cheek. Then he heard the sounds of footsteps. Not one or two, but multiple that he couldn't count.
They all walked towards him, then they circled him. All through this time, Grey had not opened his eyes. He covered it tightly with his hands.
Desperately refusing to peep and see what form of existences were surrounding him. He was terrified. His hands were cold and trembling, shaking from both the fear and the cold.
The footsteps kept getting closer and closer until he was sure they were in front of him. But he still had his hand over his eyes.
"Open your eyes... Grey." The voice said again.
And Grey shivered.