Chapter 102: Killing Intent

Although the ten-plus days without bathing or sunlight were unbearable for Qingyue Qiu, she hesitated as the moment finally arrived. “Are you certain?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” Zuo Zhicheng replied as he smoothed his clothes and checked his gear. “Once I step out, I’ll draw those monsters’ attention and flee into the opposite tunnel. Wait ten minutes, then leave this hiding place. Go back exactly the way we came.” While speaking, he noticed the faint yellow glow on the bodies of Qingyue Qiu, Tang Xianghui, and Tang Yuan—particularly behind their heads—begin to shift from yellow to green.

Seeing this stirred a suspicion in Zuo Zhicheng’s mind, though he wasn’t yet sure.

“I understand,” Qingyue Qiu nodded. “We’ll escape. And you must come back too.” She looked directly into Zuo Zhicheng’s eyes, her expression serious.

“Don’t worry,” Zuo Zhicheng said calmly. “I don’t do things I’m not sure about.” He then helped them light several torches for illumination, using the method he’d shown them earlier.

With that done, he stepped out. Like a swift fish, he slipped through the tree hollow and reentered the cavern below. In his Night Vision Mode, over a dozen pale red glows appeared before him.

Zuo Zhicheng moved, his form melting into the shadows like a devil in the pitch blackness. He slunk noiselessly beneath the sources of the red glows. Through Night Vision Mode, he saw the creatures whose heads emitted the scarlet light were Corpse Humans.

“Red… stands for hostility?” A satisfied smile touched his lips. “Simple and clear.”

The next instant, he pounced like a fierce tiger. Violent fist wind stirred the air, punctuated by the sharp sound of snapping tendons and breaking bones. Over a dozen monsters fell, either dead or crippled.

Leaving a few to flee on purpose, Zuo Zhicheng charged toward another cluster of red glows. Though these cold-blooded creatures remained invisible to infrared sight, the new function in his left eye clearly perceived their animosity.

This sensing of hostility operated through intercepted electromagnetic waves emitted by living beings. Its mechanism was unique—incomprehensible to Zuo Zhicheng at this stage—but that didn’t hinder his use of it.

His Innate Primordial Breath having completed its third evolution, his combat power had ascended another level. Dozens of Corpse Humans now posed little threat. Wherever he moved, none could withstand a single strike. It felt like smashing toys.

He tore off heads, kicked through necks, punched fist-sized holes through chests, or simply cleaved torsos in half with an overhead slash.

His original, modified Dagger had long since dulled. But within the Launch Silo, he’d found a super-alloy Dagger forged by modern techniques. Now in his hand, it was a divine blade. The Corpse Humans parted before it like soft tofu.

Yet the Corpse Humans reacted swiftly, communicating somehow. After he’d wasted over twenty of them, eerie hisses and screeches began echoing through the surrounding tunnels and chambers of the underground cavern.

Reinforcements were arriving.

Zuo Zhicheng slew another ten-plus Corpse Humans. Soon, they poured from the cavern openings, converging steadily. He didn’t hide now. Standing openly in a wide, clear space, he made himself easy to spot.

Then he bolted for the pre-planned passageway. Within the cavern, still more Corpse Humans emerged.

Like a fallen sugar cube trailed by a dense line of ants, an endless tide of Corpse Humans crawled from hollows and fissures, surging after Zuo Zhicheng.

Back within the tree hollow leading into the Underground Palace, Qingyue Qiu and the others listened to the unceasing screeches rising from below. Their faces paled from the sheer volume. The sound alone made one’s scalp prickle. To think Ghost Fist (Zuo Zhicheng) faced all those monsters alone… terror mixed with awe tightened their chests.

“So many…” Sweat trailed down Tang Yuan’s temple. “We’d be devoured in one meeting!”

“Can Ghost Fist really hold out?” Tang Xianghui voiced her doubt.

“We must trust him,” Qingyue Qiu stated firmly. “Otherwise, we remain trapped. When that great serpent finishes hibernating… we might never escape.” As she spoke, Ghost Fist’s parting words murmured beside her ear resurfaced.

Don’t kill Old Man Song. She felt little surprise that he’d deduced her intent. Old Man Song, merely a civilian, had stumbled upon a critical secret. Such people were usually silenced. Yet if Ghost Fist wanted him spared, she would comply. What piqued her curiosity was their connection. What was Ghost Fist’s identity? Why shield that old man?

Once back, I can investigate this thread. Roughly ten minutes passed. The screeching outside had faded entirely. Tang Yuan cautiously poked his head out, scanning the empty subterranean space.

“They… they seem to have all chased after him.”

“Let’s go!”

Elsewhere, Zuo Zhicheng had halted within a Corridor. Hundreds of Corpse Humans pressed in from both ends before and behind. His left eye registered clustered patches of hostile red light, the density warping his vision.

Strangely, despite surrounding him, the Corpse Humans didn’t rush forward. An aura radiated from the shadowed figure—a killing intent so palpable, so oppressive; it should have frozen the limbs of lesser beings.

Slowly, deliberately, Zuo Zhicheng removed items hindering his true power: the mask, the fabric liners within his coat, the shoe inserts. With each discarded layer, the killing energy coiled tighter, thicker, more suffocating.

The third evolution of his Innate Primordial Breath had amplified his body’s strength and dramatically enhanced his brain. With a stronger “power source” and richer nourishment, the electromagnetic waves emanating from it grew complex and powerful. His Spirit Refining practice also intensified.

Though his cultivation of “Nourishing Qi with Vast Righteousness” showed little external progress, Zuo Zhicheng had discovered accelerated Spirit Refining gains once he attempted fusing killer intent to breach the next stage: the Human Aspect. Killing intent flowed as naturally, as intrinsically, as his heartbeat, becoming a fundamental extension of himself—forged over decades of relentless combat. It demanded no conscious effort.

Slaughtering the Corpse Humans had unveiled an insight:

The more I kill… the stronger my killing intent becomes.

It feels… closer to the threshold of the Human Aspect realm.

This path of Spirit Refining was uniquely his to tread.

Joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure—all stemmed from the Power of Mind and Spirit. Yet deeper emotions—hatred, the desire to kill, grievance, regret, guilt—were potent sublimations built upon those foundations. Killing intent belonged to that class. Zuo Zhicheng began applying the methods of “Nourishing Qi with Vast Righteousness” to control and cultivate this murderous ferocity. Shockingly, the blend—a ruthless, icy calm enveloping a violent core—proved incredibly harmonious. He wielded this savage power purposefully now, commanding it as readily as he once mastered basic emotions.

Legends spoke of battle-frenzied warriors whose glare alone could fell a man; of swordsmen steeped in carnage whose killing intent could extinguish life before their blade even struck. This was intention, will, the essence of Heart Mind power. Pairing the pure, profound calm of his Daoist foundation with his own killing intent proved unexpectedly… resonant. Both possessed an icy stillness. Here lay his path to breakthrough.

Hundreds? Thousands? Mere appetizers.

In this world, technology lagged far behind his previous life. Lives on the battlefield weren’t so easily discarded. None had harvested as much death as he.

When slaughter became instinct, when death lingered at his heels, when silence composed the final hymn… an unprecedented surge of Heart Mind power blossomed before Zuo Zhicheng.

The air thickened for a final breath, then the killing intent seemed to implode back into him. The Corpse Humans around the edges shuffled nervously, taking small, hesitant steps closer. Zuo Zhichenko lowered himself into a crouch, a fierce grin splitting his face.

“…Hehehehehe…” Low, chilling laughter hissed through his teeth.

The next moment, the horde surged forward from every direction.