Chapter 84: Chapter 83: Snake Form: Demon Light
The scar-faced man lunged, letting out a sharp whistle as he tore through the air, rushing straight for Fu Juemin.
Fu Juemin’s eye twitched. In his vision, the scar-faced man’s figure blurred into an afterimage, like a fast-forwarded scene in a movie.
He took half a step back but didn’t dodge. Instead, he put his palms forward and turned his body slightly to the side.
This was a defensive stance from the Mixed Element Living Stance and the Five Elements Tongbei.
Just as he assumed the stance, the scar-faced man arrived, striking out with a palm as large as a cattail fan.
"BOOM!"
The bluestone slab under Fu Juemin’s feet shattered on impact. The next second, his entire body shot backward uncontrollably like a cannonball.
He flew five or six meters before crashing through the closed main door of a shop along the street and tumbling inside.
The scar-faced man retracted his palm, the corner of his mouth curling into a disdainful sneer.
His real name was Qin Xiao. He was originally a Martial Artist from the Feng Mountain area and had practiced the Copper Ball Skill since childhood.
Although the Cultivation Technique had a crude name, its power was nothing to scoff at.
Practitioners first had to use their arms and palms to grind down blocks of ironwood, a specialty of Feng Mountain. Only when they could polish a square block into a perfect sphere with their bare hands were they considered to have reached the Entry Level.
After the Entry Level, the wood blocks were replaced with stone blocks, then copper and iron blocks...
Upon reaching Great Success, one’s arms and hands would become harder than iron and possess immense strength, capable of shattering stone, splitting monuments, and tearing tigers and leopards apart with their bare hands.
Although the scar-faced man had not reached Great Success in this Cultivation Technique, he had reached the stage of polishing copper balls. Back in the Feng Mountain area, he had been quite a famous figure.
But he was later put on the Provincial Government’s wanted list for the brutal rape and murder of more than twenty women. He fled all the way to Yangping and became one of Governor Song Zhenyuan’s dogs.
After so many years of living a pampered life in the Song Family, his power hadn’t increased much. Even so, that palm strike could have torn an ordinary Blood Gate Martial Artist to pieces on the spot, let alone a mere Blood Refining practitioner.
The scar-faced man gave a cursory glance at where Fu Juemin had landed, then turned to leave.
However, just as he took a step, he suddenly heard a rustling sound from behind him.
He turned back with a strange expression. In the shop with the gaping hole in its front, broken bricks and wood scattered across the floor. Amidst the dust, a figure emerged, slowly steadying himself against the broken doorframe.
"COUGH, COUGH—"
Fu Juemin coughed twice and waved away the swirling sawdust and brick dust. He looked a little disheveled, but his eyes were clearer than ever.
"So this is Tongxuan... it’s not all that impressive."
Fu Juemin walked back onto the street. He seemed to be talking to the scar-faced man, but it was more like he was muttering to himself.
"Or maybe I just underestimated myself..."
Fu Juemin had wanted to test the striking Force of a Tongxuan Realm Martial Artist, so he had deliberately not dodged. Holding a mouthful of Innate Primordial Qi, he had been prepared to take the hit and suffer the injury.
But perhaps he had greatly underestimated the 16 points of Defense provided by his Small Success Pharmacist Skill, Entry Level Iron Armor Technique, and Great Success Eight Extremes Bone Forging. Or perhaps it was the instantaneous activation of his Soft Bone Talent and the significant force absorption from the Snake Demon Skin Vest he wore...
He had taken the scar-faced man’s palm strike head-on. He had been sent flying in a sorry state, but other than a slight jarring pain in his blocking arms and chest, he was essentially unharmed.
"A little interesting..."
The scar-faced man narrowed his eyes, sizing Fu Juemin up and down, as if trying to see past his appearance and determine if he was truly unharmed or just putting on a brave face.
Soon, a savage look appeared on his face. The scar that ran across the bridge of his nose twitched like a living centipede.
’Either way... it’ll just take a few more hits.’
The scar-faced man sneered, a vicious glint flaring in his eyes. He twisted his tower-like body and pressed forward again.
The scar-faced man’s figure was reflected in Fu Juemin’s dark, lotus-like eyes. As light shifted within them, his body moved slightly.
He slid half a step to the left ahead of time.
It was this half-step that allowed the scar-faced man’s seemingly certain palm strike to miss by a hair’s breadth, grazing the corner of Fu Juemin’s clothes.
The violent fist wind kicked up rubble and dust from the ground. A flicker of surprise crossed the scar-faced man’s eyes, but he quickly put power into his waist and followed up with a spinning back elbow.
"WHOOSH—"
However, before the scar-faced man’s terrifyingly powerful elbow could connect, a hand had already gently landed on the side of his elbow joint, pressing down firmly just as he was about to exert force.
Immediately after, a whistling fist shot toward his temple...
"BANG!"
The tower-like scar-faced man swayed and staggered two steps to the side.
He expressionlessly raised a hand and wiped away the trace of blood by his ear. When he looked at Fu Juemin again, the last shred of contempt in his eyes had transformed into pure killing intent.
"Now... it’s too late even if you beg for a quick death."
Protected by his Vitality Qi Membrane, the punch he had just taken was far heavier than anything an ordinary Blood Refining practitioner should be able to deliver, but in the end, it had only rattled him slightly.
Right now, the scar-faced man only wanted to end this meaningless fight as quickly as possible. The remaining time would be spent properly torturing this annoying ant before him.
However, as the fight continued, the scar-faced man grew increasingly shocked and unnerved.
This kid, who was only at the mere Blood Refining Realm, seemed able to predict the future. He could always anticipate the start or end point of every attack, intercepting his force generation half a step ahead.
It was like a needle, always managing to pierce the most critical "qi opening" of his power exertion with perfect precision.
After a dozen or so exchanges, the scar-faced man was fighting in extreme discomfort, unable to unleash his full power even once.
Not only had he failed to gain any advantage, but he had also been cut several times by the strangely shaped, unorthodox weapon in his opponent’s hand. It had pierced his Vitality Qi Membrane and left several shallow wounds on his body.
As a Tongxuan Martial Artist, he was fighting a Blood Refining Realm Martial Artist a full two major realms beneath him, yet he couldn’t secure a victory.
If the result of this battle got out, his, Qin Xiao’s, reputation in the Martial Arts world would be utterly ruined.
At this thought, a savage look flashed across the scar-faced man’s face. His muscles suddenly tensed, and he shoved his palms outward, an invisible Force erupting between his arms like a gale.
"Get back!"
Fu Juemin’s figure was forced back.
The scar-faced man’s expression was grim. He didn’t even notice that a sheen of nervous sweat had broken out on his forehead and cheeks. He wiped it away without a second thought.
"Feeling frustrated? In disbelief?"
Fu Juemin calmly came to a stop ten paces from the scar-faced man and spoke, his eyes narrowed.
"My speed, strength, and reflexes... are all far inferior to yours. And yet, you find yourself suppressed at every turn, unable to use even half of your full power?"
The scar-faced man’s eyes were dark as he pursed his lips. He felt a strange thirst and said nothing.
"You have an injury three inches below your left ribs that still hasn’t fully healed."
Fu Juemin’s sudden statement caused a flash of shock in the scar-faced man’s eyes.
But what followed were more words that struck his chest like an invisible sledgehammer, one blow after another.
"Every time you circulate your technique, your heart beats in a cycle of seven. There’s a slight pause at the end of the third cycle because you have an old lung injury."
"Your right shoulder dips slightly whenever you strike, because your shoulder blade was once shattered. Even though it’s healed, it’s still flawed."
"When your Qi Blood passes through your chest and abdomen, the Fengmen Acupoint on your back becomes an opening. It’s a flaw in your Martial Arts. You must have deliberately trained to hide it, so why aren’t you using that training against me?"
With every sentence Fu Juemin spoke, the horror in the scar-faced man’s eyes grew. The dryness in his mouth felt like a fire searing his throat, making him swallow subconsciously again and again.
"Whenever it’s damp and rainy, you have at least three old injuries that pull on your meridians, a pain like needles in your bones. It must be hard to endure..."
Fu Juemin’s tone was haunting. He reached up and tapped his own ear. "For the past month, I have heard every breath you take, every beat of your heart, and every slight tremor caused by your old injuries, all with perfect clarity.
In my eyes, you have no secrets whatsoever.
If I were just half a level stronger, killing you..."
Fu Juemin looked up at him, his clear eyes filled with nothing but indifference and coldness.
"...would be as easy as killing a chicken."
"You!"
The scar-faced man’s vision blurred. Stunned and enraged, he lunged forward. He tried to speak, only to find that the root of his tongue had swollen shut without him realizing it. Saliva was dribbling from his mouth, and a chilling numbness spread through his limbs.
"You... you... used... poison on me!"
The scar-faced man stared at Fu Juemin in disbelief, raising a hand as if he wanted to strangle him to death from across the distance.
Only now did he realize that the unorthodox weapon his opponent had used to pierce his Qi Membrane and skin had been coated in poison.
"You... despicable!"
The scar-faced man cursed, his words slurred by his swollen tongue.
"You’re two realms above me, and you call me despicable?"
Fu Juemin’s expression was calm as he stood composed, his hands hanging naturally at his sides.
He looked the scar-faced man straight in the eye and said lightly, "Survive this next move... and I’ll let you live."
With that, Fu Juemin closed his eyes.
The next instant, a strange aura surged from his body.
Beneath his shirt, his muscles rippled and swelled like a tide. Amidst a fine, crackling sound of bones, the buttons on his shirt and vest popped and flew off.
On the inside of his forearms, dark, snake-like veins bulged.
A terrifying aura emanated from Fu Juemin’s body. Like a Formless Qi, it rose in wisps, coalescing and churning behind him.
This proved that Fu Juemin’s choice to practice the Five Aggregates Profound Slaughter Technique had been correct. When his Snake Phase Poisonous Qi grew to a certain point, it naturally created a strange and ineffable resonance with the Black-Scaled Snake Demon Soul Seed inside him.
As that Momentum built to its peak, Fu Juemin could almost perceive the Black-Scaled Snake Demon from Taohuang Village reappearing, coiling behind him like a formless specter.
"SHING, SHING, SHING—"
The Snake Scale Gloves on his hands emitted a sharp, clear hum.
"Die!"
The scar-faced man in front let out a muffled roar. In that moment, he seemed to unleash all his remaining potential, his ferocity surpassing all his previous efforts as he made a final, desperate struggle.
Fu Juemin’s eyes snapped open. Not dodging or evading, his entire body transformed into a black rainbow, shooting forward to meet the attack head-on.
This killing blow of his used the Black-Scaled Snake Demon Soul as its soul, the Snake Phase Poisonous Qi as its blood, and the Glazed Pure Radiance Slash as its bones...
Its name—
"[Snake Form: Demon Light]!"
"SWOOSH—"
The two figures crossed paths in an instant.
Fu Juemin came to a gentle stop where the scar-faced man had just been. Behind him, the tower-like body froze.
Then...
A head tumbled to the ground, and a pillar of blood erupted like a fountain!
...
