Chapter 13 – A Hunter in the Dark (Patreon)

Time flew by, and soon it was New Year’s Eve.

Even though people were struggling, the mortal zone was filled with a festive atmosphere. This was for two reasons: first, it was the New Year. Second, it was the annual Spiritual Root Detection Day.

In this world, a person’s spiritual root was a gift from heaven. Everyone, from birth until they turned fifteen, had a chance of developing one. If a person didn’t develop a spiritual root by the time they turned fifteen, they never would, ending any hope of treading the path of cultivation.

Spiritual roots that appeared earlier also meant higher potential, and those that appeared later meant lower potential. This was why the old cultivation sects only accepted disciples under ten years old, and those over ten were accepted based on their talent.

But times were different now. With the human population drastically reduced, every mortal with a spiritual root was a treasure. So every New Year’s Eve, the Dao Palace sent people down the mountain to test all the people who had come of age.

Lynn Naya was too old to be tested. But Xue Yong was full of hope for his two children. Before the time came, he and his wife took their children to the testing grounds at the foot of the mountain.

Afraid of drawing too much attention, Lynn Naya didn’t join the crowd. But she had already checked Xue Yong’s children, and they didn’t have a chance.

Sure enough, when Xue Yong and his wife returned in the evening, they didn’t have a look of surprise on their faces. But they weren’t too disappointed either.

Everyone knew that a spiritual root was a rare find. In the past, it was one in ten thousand. Just because the human population had shrunk didn’t mean everyone would suddenly develop one. They had already prepared themselves for this.

But it didn’t hurt to dream. What if?

Even though their family didn’t win the lottery, they did bring back an unexpected piece of news for Lynn Naya. A lucky person in their street had a spiritual root. Lynn Naya knew this person; it was the brother of the pair who had sold her straw mattress.

“…That kid is so lucky. He was always so quiet and his sister always protected him. I never thought he would have such great potential.” People were like that. It didn’t matter if people they didn’t know got lucky. But when someone they did know made it big, their hearts filled with envy. Even the usually calm Xue Yong sounded a little jealous.

Lynn Naya understood her neighbors’ feelings. If she didn’t have a cheat, she would have joined the bitter crowd as well.

“If they found out he has a spiritual root, they should have a much easier life now.” she said.

“They should. When we left, Scarface Qing had already arranged for the siblings to live in the hut next to his. The leaders from the other districts also brought gifts to congratulate them. The house is surrounded by a crowd of people.” ZhaoLaoer said sourly. “When the siblings were struggling, no one came to help them. But now that they’re about to be rich, everyone is trying to get close to them. They have no shame.”

When Lynn Naya heard the name Scarface Qing, she raised an eyebrow. The man knew how to handle people.

Fan Shi then said, “You can’t envy this. I just hope Dailang and Little Lingmin can grow a spiritual root too, so our courtyard can have some glory.”

For once, Fan Shi didn’t have that sharp tone. She looked at Xue Yong’s two children with a gentle and envious gaze.

Everyone knew why she was envious.

In these difficult times, children were like hope. Everyone wanted to have hope.

The spiritual root detection on New Year’s Eve was only a topic of conversation for a few days. After all, the excitement was temporary, and daily meals were a reality. Soon, everyone’s attention was drawn to the coming of spring.

The hardest time of the year wasn’t winter but spring. In winter, they had some stored food from autumn, so they wouldn’t starve if they ate sparingly.

But in spring, their stored food would be running low, and the new harvest hadn’t arrived yet. The wild vegetables that had just begun to sprout became a lifeline for many.

After New Year’s Eve, the weather started to warm up. When the grass began to turn green, the fields became a battlefield on every sunny day.

While everyone was busy digging for wild vegetables, Lynn Naya, on her way back from the medicinal fields, suddenly noticed she was being followed.

The person thought they were well-hidden, trailing her at a distance. But Lynn Naya had her spiritual sense, and she could feel the moment someone paid her too much attention. The person was looking at her with a hint of malice.

Keeping an eye on the man behind her who was pretending to be on his way home, Lynn Naya thought about what she had done recently to attract a stalker.

She hadn’t done much. In the past two months, only two things came to mind: her appearance and the murder on the snowy night. Her healthy complexion stood out among all the pale and skinny people. Although she tried not to go out too often, a sharp eye could still notice the difference. The other thing was the murder on the snowy night…

Thinking about that night, Lynn Naya’s eyes turned sharp.

She wasn’t sure if the man was following her because of the murder, but the malice she felt from him made it clear that this was not a good thing. She decided to make a move before he did.

She went home using her usual route. When Xue Yong and the others came back in the evening, Lynn Naya asked him for a favor: to borrow something from Zhao Laoer. Xue Yong was a cautious person. The only reason Zhao Laoer could keep up with him was because of his family’s secret tracking insect technique.

Lynn Naya was new to cultivation and hadn’t learned how to use her spiritual sense to mark people yet, so she had to rely on a temporary solution.

Xue Yong was surprised that Lynn Naya knew about this, but he couldn’t guarantee anything. He only said he would try his best to borrow it.

Lynn Naya, however, didn’t want him to just try. She insisted. “I can offer him a satisfying reward.”

No amount of resources was more important than her safety.

Lynn Naya’s determined and sincere attitude paid off. Late that night, Xue Yong delivered the scent-tracking insect from Zhao Laoer.

For this, she paid him 11 pounds of coarse rice, 10 for Zhao Laoer and one for Xue Yong. If anything happened to the insect, she would have to pay more.

With her new tool, the next day, when Lynn Naya sensed the man following her again, she waited until he was distracted and flicked some special powder onto him. Then, she went on her way to the medicinal fields.

The path to the medicinal fields was wide open, so the man didn’t dare to follow her. At noon, Lynn Naya deliberately invited Qian Baolin to walk back with her. With someone else there, the man didn’t have a chance to do anything. After she got home, Lynn Naya didn’t leave.

It wasn’t until late at night, when everything was quiet, that Lynn Naya put on her darkest clothes and quietly left her house.

The scent-tracking insect was a dedicated partner. A half hour later, she found the man’s hut.

Unlike ordinary people who went to bed early, the man was gambling with a group of people. There were seven or eight people gathered inside. The sounds of drinking and shouting came from the hut, and the flickering candlelight that escaped from the cracks in the walls made the atmosphere feel a little restless.

Lynn Naya stood in the shadows outside and listened for a moment. She quickly learned that the people inside were all members of the Wild Fox Gang, just like the man who had broken into her courtyard on the night of the first snow.

She had killed a member of the Wild Fox Gang, and now a member was following her… Whether it was a coincidence or not, she didn’t want this person to live.

Since there were several experienced martial artists in the hut, she could definitely kill the man with a single blow. But if she did it in front of them, it would cause a lot of unnecessary trouble, and the Wild Fox Gang would see it as a provocation. Even if they couldn’t catch her, they would be on high alert.

It was never a good thing to be on someone’s hit list.

Weighing the pros and cons, Lynn Naya stood in the shadows, enduring the cold of early spring as she patiently waited for her chance.

Lynn Naya waited for most of the night.

The gamblers were all red-eyed. The winners wanted to win more, and the losers wanted to win back what they lost. No one wanted to leave until the early morning light. The man following Lynn Naya probably remembered his task and decided to leave, ignoring the pleas of the others.

“I’m out of money! I’ll come back tonight.”

“Tonight? Where are you going to get the money from?” a man next to him laughed.

“None of your business! As long as I have money to gamble, that’s all that matters! Don’t you dare not show up tonight, all of you! I’m going to win back everything I lost tonight.” The man said as he walked out. Another gambler who had lost all his money followed him.

Lynn Naya, who was still in the shadows, just smirked.

Where are you going to get the money from tonight? Are you going to take it from me? So you’re following me for money? How do you know I have money? Do you know that I killed your comrade and took his inheritance, or did you know that your comrade was trying to kill me for money?

No matter the answer, this was a lingering problem from the murder on the snowy night. She had been careless before and hadn’t come back to check on the situation, but thankfully, it seemed there was still time to fix it.

Lynn Naya had a plan as she watched the two men walk out of the hut.

Just as the man was about to walk past a protruding stone on the side of the road, she shot a stone at him, hitting his temple with a muffled thump. The man didn’t even have time to scream before his body went stiff.

As he was about to fall, Lynn Naya sent out another wave of spiritual energy, making him ‘conveniently’ hit his head on the protruding stone. His temple landed ‘perfectly’ on the sharp part.

The gambler walking next to him was startled by his companion’s fall. “Watch where you’re going, you idiot! Damn this weather! The ice hasn’t melted, and the ground is still slippery.”

The gambler cursed and continued walking. After a few steps, he noticed that his companion wasn’t following him. He turned around and saw him lying motionless on the ground.

“Get up, you idiot! What are you doing pretending to be dead?” The gambler walked back and kicked the man a few times. “If you want to sleep, go home. You’ll freeze to death here.”

But the person on the ground still didn’t move.

The gambler finally realized something was wrong. “Did he pass out?” he mumbled. He bent down to check, and the next moment, Lynn Naya, who was still hidden in the shadows, saw him fall to the ground, screaming the same way the dead man hadn’t. “Ah!!!”

The scream shattered the silence of the early morning in the East district. People who heard the commotion came out of their houses to see what was happening.

The gamblers who were closest also opened their doors and came over. The gambler who had found the body hysterically explained to everyone how the man had slipped, hit his head on the stone, and died.

He tried his best to make the death sound like a natural one to clear himself of any suspicion. When a murder happens, everyone wants to stay out of it.

The other gamblers checked the body and the scene and seemed to agree with his story. They didn’t show much sadness as they kicked the dead man, cursing him for dying outside and causing so much trouble.

Seeing more and more people looking out of their houses, Lynn Naya knew that as a person from the West district, she was an unfamiliar face and would be easily noticed. So, she quietly left the scene while everyone was still distracted by the body on the ground.