Chapter 38: Primal Darkness

Feng Biao couldn't even bother to try and mourn over Hu Shunzhi's sacrifice. Every second he wasted not running cost him. Internally he cursed himself for even stopping outside the cave for a second.

Quickly glancing behind he saw the Black Oni was doing something with Hu Shunzhi's mutilated corpse.

The thought of the same happening to him encouraged Feng Biao to maximize the Divinity in his legs and push himself to run faster than he ever had. Feng Biao had chosen to run up the mountain and Cui Meizhu down.

They hadn't discussed the maneuver. It had just made sense for them to want to run as far away from each other as possible. Feng Biao's route brought a challenge, it was slower to run up the mountain.

So to combat this Feng Biao was running with more vigor than Cui Meizhu who was combating the difficulty of running down the mountain and trying not to trip.

The Black Oni watched the two Marked run in opposite directions. The one who had used light was slower than the one running up the mountain. It was inclined to run after the faster Marked, but the Marked who created light was a concern.

"It revealed me."

Yes, that light had ruined its sneak attack. It didn't seem to take any damage from it, but the reason these Marked were even alive was the light.

While considering who to gather from first the Black Oni had begun briskly jogging in between the two. The Black Oni was unaware of the world outside the Marble, but it remembered seeing powerful Divine Abilities descend from the sky when it was a Green Oni.

Since it wasn't the target the event seemed unimportant. All that had happened afterward were no Black Oni came to harass it, and that was a good thing. Now it understood, greater Marked had come and wiped all the Black Oni out.

Were they doing this to curtail his ruler's growth? He didn't know, but he accurately deduced allowing either of these weaker Marked to escape would be the key for the same Marked who wiped out the Black Oni to return.

In this case, the faster one was the biggest threat. His Divine Abilities were unknown and the potential for escape based on speed alone was greater than the one running down the mountain.

Feng Biao could hear it, without turning around he could hear it. Something moving at high speed knocked down trees as it chased after him. It was still a ways away. But in a short few minutes, it would surely catch up.

Unwilling to confirm if Cui Meizhu was already slain Feng Biao gritted his teeth and focused on running forward. He was absolutely terrified, and he had no plan.

If it was a Green Oni perhaps with luck on his side and the three Marked working in unison survival would be possible. Even if killing it wasn't an option perhaps wounding it enough it couldn't give chase would have been.

But a Black Oni was a different story altogether. Fighting it at his current level was absolutely impossible. Even Hunter would surely have chosen to flee into the skies than attempt to match the immense strength it possessed.

While Black Oni weighed against every Monster in existence did not rank very highly they did represent a qualitative difference from most. They possessed a Monstrous Ability, which meant their bodies possessed Impure Divinity.

What this meant was that while they shared the Oni trait of a body with a consistency of clay they could shield their fragile bodies with Impure Divinity. To be ranked against a Divine Mortal they would fall just below a Primordial Divine Mortal in the amount of Divinity they possessed.

Monsters also had physical bodies that carried special attributes human bodies didn't. The physical strength the Black Oni possessed was something that it inherently had, Impure Divinity or not. Which is what allowed it to brush aside the trees as it pursued Feng Biao.

Feng Biao felt dread overtake him, his thoughts became clouded, no plan was forming. No great escape was presenting itself.

Soon he would die, and he would die running. Did he truly want that? Even if defeating the Black Oni was impossible did he want to die fighting or die running.

The choice was ultimately being forced upon him, but also his own. What manner he chose to die in would not be remembered-

"But maybe if I do that then I can live."

His Mark. Black Oni were documented to mostly ignore normal humans. Without a Mark Feng Biao would just be a normal human. If he presented his Mark to the creature then perhaps his life would be spared.

That was all it wanted after all. Killing him would only be a result of it attempting to harvest his Mark. If he just lowered himself to it then maybe he could live. Maybe he could see Wang Hao, and Hunter, and...

"No"

Feng Biao shook off the thought. Survival was not his primary reason for living. He did not want to live and die like a dog at the beck and whim of a master's kindness.

"I want to bet on my luck, on my future, on myself. I don't want to throw it all away I can't let it end here, not now!"

What Feng Biao desired was dignity. Not in death, but in life. So he continued to run feverishly not taking note of the lack of any Oni other than the one chasing him.

Something that if he had thought about would have been odd. The mountains were quite populated with them. They had made a lot of noise, but they hadn't drawn the attention of anything?

It was because Feng Biao didn't notice this he ran into the presence. A presence unlike any, he had ever felt before in his entire life. And that was because he could simply feel the thing up ahead without seeing it.

It oozed a dark force into his mind warning him whatever it was could not be handled by him or anybody he had ever met. There was something oddly familiar about it, only slightly, something ever so primal in that darkness. It scared him.

That darkness was it even Divinity?

"What even?"

Feng Biao took notice, the Black Oni that was right on his tail had paused. It had slowed what had been a furious chase to a standstill.

"It's only acting this way because that thing is behind me. Could it be?"

Feng Biao had an inkling what the thing was. He just didn't want to confirm it.

"Hey you two get up here already!" shouted a voice from beyond the trees.