Chapter 83: Chapter 82: Unarmored, Demon Elephant
The Hu Mansion’s half-open, vermilion and purple gate blocked Fu Juemin’s line of sight, but with [Yao Ling], it was utterly useless.
Countless Ink Lines radiated from a myriad of sound sources, sketching the scene and figures beyond the gate with growing clarity inside Fu Juemin’s mind.
Ever since his [Life] Attribute broke past ten, the effects of his two major Talents had grown in tandem, and Fu Juemin’s ability to "paint scenes with sound" using [Yao Ling] had become increasingly masterful.
—
This was likely the first time Fu Juemin had truly "seen" Li Tong in action.
Li Tong swept gracefully through the gate, just as Song Lin and his party—who had likely heard news of the rebel army entering the city—were rushing out of the mansion, carrying chests and boxes of all sizes.
Without a single word, Li Tong pried a chunk from the nearby gate wall and flung it.
Propelled by his Force, the stone fragments flew toward the group like a torrential downpour, raining down on their heads.
In an instant, five or six Hu Family servants tasked with moving the goods, as well as three of Song Lin’s armed personal guards, collapsed to the ground—stone fragments embedded in their necks, foreheads, or hearts.
The scar-faced brute standing before Song Lin like a black wall lowered his hands, a savage look on his face as he shook off the stone debris. A gray-haired old man in a green robe immediately moved to intercept, but Li Tong didn’t meet him head-on, instead turning into a black shadow and darting into a covered walkway.
Gunfire erupted.
But the shots only rang out for a moment before sputtering to a chaotic halt.
Li Tong moved like a phantom. Wherever he passed, an armed guard collapsed limply to the ground.
In the blink of an eye, he had killed the vast majority of Song Lin’s guards.
Just then, the gray-haired old man finally intercepted Li Tong, forcing him into a dead end and thrusting a palm straight at his face.
BANG!
Li Tong met his palm strike, the impact sending him flying back to snap a door pillar. Borrowing Momentum from the blow, he shot over the courtyard wall with a WHOOSH.
"You think you can just kill people and leave?!"
The gray-haired old man’s eyes filled with killing intent. With a cold sneer, he leaped into the air, becoming a gray shadow that pursued Li Tong like a hawk.
As one pursued and the other fled, the two vanished into the distance, leaving the Hu Mansion strewn with corpses.
Song Lin, completely unscathed, was clearly shaken. His face was pale, but he quickly composed himself and barked in a low, grim tone, "Grab the important things! Move!"
And with that.
Li Tong had... "accomplished his mission and withdrawn"!
’Uncle Tong really does a beautiful job...’
Fu Juemin, listening intently from outside the gate, couldn’t help but marvel.
’He promised he’d leave some people for me to test my skills on, and he really did it, even clearing away all the annoying small fry as a bonus.’
After Li Tong’s work, only three of the dozen or so battle-hardened personal guards Song Lin originally had were left.
’If I just tidy up a bit, this will be the ideal battle scenario I was hoping for.’
CLACK—
The crisp sound of military boots on bluestone slabs.
Fu Juemin’s eyes were placid. He raised his rifle, aiming the muzzle at the Hu Mansion’s main gate, as still as a statue.
The instant the edge of a military cap appeared from behind the gate, he pulled the trigger.
BANG—
Black smoke billowed from the muzzle of the Han-made Rifle. A uniformed personal guard stared wide-eyed as he fell backward, blood blooming between his brows. The chest he had been lifting crashed to the ground, spilling shimmering silver coins everywhere.
CLICK-CLACK—
Fu Juemin worked the bolt with swift, practiced movements, chambering another round and firing twice more at the gate.
BANG! BANG!
With [Yao Ling], he was like a sniper in an FPS game using a map-wide wallhack. Within his field of "vision," any opponent who peeked was instantly eliminated.
In the blink of an eye, three corpses lay sprawled by the gate.
HUFF—PANT—HUFF—PANT—
Fu Juemin heard Song Lin’s ragged breathing and his frantic, irregular heartbeat.
Cursing, drawing a gun, whispering... nothing behind the gate was a secret to him.
Fu Juemin waited patiently.
The long, empty street was deathly silent, with only the distant sounds of commotion drifting faintly on the wind.
After a few breaths, two figures suddenly emerged from behind the gate...
"Don’t kill me! Please, I’m begging you, don’t kill me!.."
It was two Hu Family servants, their faces masks of terror. They held their hands high as Song Lin prodded them forward from behind with a gun. Though their legs trembled with fear, they had no choice but to steel themselves and step out from the gate.
Just as the two servants, acting as human shields, had taken a few steps, a large wooden panel—looking as if it had been violently torn from a wall—came whistling out from the gate with a BOOM.
Song Lin’s gun fired at the same time, startling the two Hu Mansion servants, who immediately turned and ran for their lives.
An ordinary person, caught off guard by such a situation, might have hesitated.
But Fu Juemin, who knew everything happening behind the gate like the back of his hand, didn’t even bat an eye.
He watched the enormous panel charge straight toward him, his gaze calm as he lowered the muzzle of his rifle three inches...
BANG!
The shot rang out, and the panel’s forward momentum instantly ceased. The person holding it clearly staggered.
CLICK-CLACK—
He worked the bolt, chambered another round, and fired again.
This time, he aimed for the half-exposed hand visible at the side of the panel.
BANG!
The gunshot echoed, and the targeted hand jerked back as if seared by a branding iron. Simultaneously, the once-steady panel sagged to one side.
The very instant the scar-faced brute behind the panel was revealed, Fu Juemin pulled the trigger for the third time.
BANG!
This shot, however, seemed to go wild. It struck the Soft Armor on the scar-faced brute’s shoulder, sending sparks flying. The brute’s shoulder dipped, and with a sudden exertion of force, he used the momentum to hurl the panel forward.
CRASH!
The heavy panel smashed into the black car, lodging diagonally in its hood and shattering all the windows.
Amid the tinkle of shattering glass, Fu Juemin had already jumped down from the car’s roof. He continued to fire with a steady gaze as he retreated.
The scar-faced brute shielded his face with Profound Iron Bracelets and charged straight at Fu Juemin, not even trying to dodge, his killing intent surging.
BANG! BANG! BANG—
Fu Juemin fired relentlessly, but every shot seemed to aim for the joints in the brute’s shoulders and torso, striking his Soft Armor each time and creating a shower of sparks.
In the blink of an eye, the scar-faced brute closed the distance, a massive hand like a cattail fan lashing out toward Fu Juemin.
Fu Juemin tossed his rifle aside, then kicked off the gray wall of a nearby shop to launch himself high into the air like a great bird, sailing right over the brute’s head.
CRUNCH!
In less than a second, the empty Han-made Rifle was torn to smithereens in the scar-faced brute’s grasp. As a rain of shattered parts fell, Fu Juemin landed steadily on his feet.
He shrugged off his suit jacket, tossing it casually to the ground. When he turned back, a pair of sinister, blue-black gloves had somehow appeared on his hands.
"So it’s you..."
The scar-faced brute finally got a clear look at Fu Juemin’s face. Wiping a hand across his own, he broke into a vicious sneer. "You really do have a death wish."
Before he could finish speaking, the clasps on his Soft Armor suddenly snapped all at once. With a RATTLE, the armor came loose and fell to the ground.
The scar-faced brute was stunned for a moment, but he quickly composed himself and kicked the Soft Armor at his feet nonchalantly to the side.
Fu Juemin, however, watched this with a slight gleam in his eyes.
’Perfectly good Soft Armor wouldn’t just fall apart on its own. The clasps had broken because every single shot he had just fired was deliberately aimed at them.’
Ever since he had successfully cultivated the *Five Aggregates Profound Slaughter Technique*, Fu Juemin had changed his plan.
Defeating a Tongxuan master while only at the Blood Refining Realm was, without a doubt, a highly technical feat.
Every single step had to be calculated in advance.
First, use the rifle to strip his armor.
And then...
Take his life with bare hands!
Fu Juemin let his hands hang naturally at his sides. With a slight exertion of Force, sharp edges popped out from the sides of his palms, unfolding with a soft RUSTLE like the scaly membranes on a viper’s jaws.
Dressed in his shirt and vest, his eyes bright and clear, Fu Juemin looked at the scar-faced brute, slowly crooked a single finger, and said with a smile, "Come."
In that instant, the brute’s face contorted with rage. He moved, rushing forward like a dense, dark cloud threatening to envelop Fu Juemin.
.......
WHOOSH—
Li Tong ducked into a small alley and ran for a short distance before coming to an abrupt stop. Before him was a dead end.
The sound of fluttering robes echoed behind him. Li Tong turned impassively to face the green-robed, gray-haired old man, whose expression was glacial.
"Let’s see where you can run to now."
The gray-haired old man sneered, approaching step by step.
"I never intended to run in the first place."
Li Tong shook his head. The gray-haired old man’s brow furrowed, and he subconsciously glanced around before quickly scoffing, "Bluffing."
Li Tong ignored him, merely taking a light breath and exhaling slowly. "It’s been a very, very long time... No one has seen me in this state...
"Even I have almost forgotten what it’s like..."
As he spoke, a crisp CRACK echoed from within Li Tong’s body, followed by a dense, tidal wave of groaning bones...
Before the gray-haired old man’s increasingly disbelieving eyes, Li Tong’s figure grew taller, inch by inch, as if by magic. His full head of white hair turned raven black, and the wrinkles and age spots on his face and body rapidly smoothed out and vanished...
In the cramped alley, it was as if a terrifying black tide was rapidly surging upward, blotting out what little light remained in the sky.
A terrifying aura flooded the narrow alley, and the air grew as cold and solid as iron.
The gray-haired old man stood there, dumbfounded, his eyes wide.
After a moment, he seemed to remember something, and his voice trembled as he blurted out, "Dragon Elephant Wisdom... You... you’re... Demon Elephant Ji Shaotong!"
He shrieked the name, then turned to flee, his eyes wild with terror.
But just as he was about to dart out of the alley, a massive hand with grotesquely bulging knuckles clamped down on him and viciously dragged him back.
From within the dense shadows that now filled the entire alley, a flat, hoarse voice rumbled.
"Did I say...
you could leave?"
The next second, a bloodcurdling scream tore through the air.
