Chapter 36: Danger in the Dark

Cui Meizhu was right the plan had gone perfectly, but Feng Biao was still not calm. So many things could have gone wrong, in the end, he has risked his life on a gamble. A gamble that paid off with no true benefits.

"Thank you," Hu Shunzhi said now looking better. He had Overdrawn his Divinity, among the three he had paid the heaviest price. Even if Yi Lingshi and Wang Haisheng somehow forgave them and chose to make no move afterward Hu Shunzhi had permanently affected his future growth.

Out of all Marked Partial-Marked were affected the greatest by Overdrawing. A permanent loss of their Max Divinity meant their Divine Core would be even smaller than normal when it finally formed.

"It's no problem, but are you going to be exiting the exam?" Feng Biao said to Hu Shunzhi and Yi Lingshi.

"No," Hu Shunzhi replied, "I can recover my Divinity with rest."

"Then we'll set up camp further into the cave, but I'd like to know if there is an exit further up ahead. I don't want to exit the same way those two are," Feng Biao replied.

"Wait, here, have this," Cui Meizhu said handing Feng Biao an Oni-no-Ochoko, "and seriously thank you for not being like those two."

"Thanks," Feng Biao said pocketing the Divine Tool.

"Who would have thought the greatest danger in the Marble would have been other Marked," Cui Meizhu commented.

"Well, that's because all the Black Oni on the mountain were killed before the exam started," Hu Shunzhi chimed in.

"Some people just live learning to prey on the weak," Feng Biao said thinking about the thugs who roamed the slums.

"I wish I could," Cui Meizhu said sighing "being weak sucks."

"There is nothing strong about those that hurt the weak," Hu Shunzhi chided Cui Meizhu.

"I disagree," Feng Biao said to those walking behind him.

"It takes infinitely more will to be an honest person and do good things even when being bad would be beneficial," Hu Shunzhi argued, "that kind of willpower is true strength. Evildoers lack the strength to wake up every day and do honest hard work."

"I'm not arguing a drug addict who murders and robs is a person of strong character, but I think you're underselling those who do true evil," Feng Biao said back to Hu Shunzhi.

"True evil?" Cui Meizhu asked.

"True evil is not just robbing and murdering someone. It's perpetuating a system where others hurt each other for your own benefit," Feng Biao said thinking of those powerful shadowy so-called rulers of the slums.

"And you think that's strength?" Hu Shunzhi scoffed.

"A type of strength, denying the power someone like that can attain is denying reality."

"Man animals have it so good, they don't have to live in such a complicated world. They just eat or starve," Cui Meizhu said slightly depressed by Feng Biao's pessimistic rambling.

In its sleep, the Green Oni could feel multiple ideas form. It could still feel hunger, but that was no longer all-consuming. It began to think of its ruler. It had known from the moment it was born of a greater being above it.

It had never personally seen Shuten-Douji, but it had known if it had that listening to its orders would be natural. But now it began to think of how it could do more for its ruler. It had a reason for existing beyond mere survival, it was made to help Shuten-Douji grow.

Were these orders from Shuten-Douji? Somehow it felt the answer was simultaneously yes and no.

Waking from its sleep it looked at its body. It was now the same as those Black Oni it had seen who constantly moved with a purpose beyond eating. Standing up it spread its presence through the surrounding area.

It could hear heavy breathing coming from a source it quickly found to be a cave. Out of it came two Marked. It knew instinctively what it needed to do. It observed them moving and could tell they were both injured.

Using its Monstrous Ability [Night Hunter] it was completely invisible in the darkness. Under the trees, it watched the two Marked limp past it. The moment it was behind them it raised its arms, and quickly stabbed into the back of their heads.

Yi Lingshi and Wang Haisheng did not even have time to register their deaths. Their brains were completely destroyed before the thought of danger could form inside them.

Confirming the deaths of the two Marked the Black Oni grabbed their right hands and swiftly chopped them off. The pure Divinity contained within these hands was the only sustenance that Shuten-Douji could use to grow. Otherwise, it would have taken to offering other Oni and itself to help its growth.

Now a new problem presented itself to the Black Oni. A question of how to store the hands. As a Green Oni the only possession it carried was a wooden club, it never had a need to carry anything else. It sat for a moment thinking about how to solve this problem.

It then looked at the two corpses and stripped them of the cloth they wore and created a makeshift sack. This would do, for now.

It now looked at the cave they had come from. Considering these two were injured Marked there was a possibility what injured them were other Marked. In that case, investigating the cave would take higher priority over delivering the Marks it had to Shuten-Douji.

So the Black Oni exited the shadows of the tree and quickly darted into the cave. Running without a sound as it did.