Chapter 62: Killing Like Lightning

Whoosh!

Chen Xuan dashed straight toward Wang Jiu’s residence with blinding speed. With a loud crack, the wooden door shattered into countless pieces, and his terrifying physique rushed forward instantly like a ferocious ghost.

While circulating his cultivation technique, Wang Jiu’s hearing and eyesight were at their absolute peak. The moment Chen Xuan approached the courtyard, Wang Jiu had already sensed the anomaly, yet he never expected this person to move with such terrifying speed.

A split second ago, the figure was outside the courtyard; the next second, he had directly smashed through the door.

It was just like teleportation!

However, Wang Jiu’s Heavenly Demonic Art had already reached the realm of proficiency, and his personal cultivation was by no means ordinary, having long since broken through to the Meridian Realm. Therefore, swift though Chen Xuan was, Wang Jiu reacted instantly. He leaped into the air and drove the Heavenly Demonic Art, his palms instantly turning pitch-black and emitting a shrill, piercing sound like the wailing of vengeful ghosts as he fiercely struck toward Chen Xuan’s body.

Yet, the moment his palms lashed out, goosebumps erupted all over his skin, and he sensed an unimaginably terrifying crisis. A prickling sensation suddenly spread across every pore of his body.

The formidable nature of the Heavenly Demonic Art not only endowed him with profound internal energy but also made his spirit exceptionally acute, enabling him to perceive subtle and terrifying dangers—an ability that had pulled him out of perilous situations on numerous occasions.

It was the same this time!

Indeed, this time he felt a crisis far more terrifying than anything he had ever experienced before.

Was this... death?

Wang Jiu’s expression changed drastically. He hurriedly stamped his foot against the ground and shot backward, throwing out a continuous chain of palm strikes with both hands. Terrifying wave after wave of palm force rolled forward ceaselessly like surging billows, crushing toward the figure ahead.

He did not know what terrifying methods this person possessed; he only trusted his intuition!

His intuition told him that if he did not retreat immediately, certain death awaited him.

Swoosh!

Suddenly, thousands of brilliant, tiny silver lights bloomed before his eyes like a kaleidoscope. Dense as ox hair and executed at ultimate speed, they pierced through his palm force and swept toward him in a overwhelming deluge.

Wang Jiu let out a furious roar, driving his palm force even more fiercely and pushing his cultivation to the extreme. Streams of silver needles were deflected by his fierce blast of wind, emitting loud whistling sounds as they struck both sides of the room with repetitive thuds, causing the very walls to tremble violently.

Yet, fierce though his palm force was, blasting away the majority of the silver needles, quite a number of them still pierced through his barrier and struck his body.

Thud, thud, thud!

Blood splattered everywhere. In a split second, his sturdy, muscular body was struck by an unknown number of toxic silver needles.

"Ah..."

He let out a miserable shriek, retreating rapidly, preparing to roar at the top of his lungs to alert the three elders of the netherworld outside.

However, the moment Chen Xuan unleashed the Storm Pear Blossom Needles, his terrifying physique followed right behind them. Almost simultaneously with Wang Jiu being pierced by the needles, Chen Xuan closed the distance and brought his massive hand down like a lid directly onto the crown of Wang Jiu’s head.

Bang!

A muffled sound echoed as four thousand catties of terrifying force poured downward, causing blood to instantly burst forth from Wang Jiu’s facial orifices.

The sheer, overwhelming might forced both of his eyeballs right out of their sockets.

Following that, with a swift motion, Chen Xuan grabbed Wang Jiu’s neck and gave it a violent twist.

Crack!

His neck was snapped into a grotesque shape. Chen Xuan casually tossed Wang Jiu’s corpse aside, slamming it against the wall.

Boom!

Without breaking his stride, Chen Xuan instantly shattered the wall, kicking up a violent gale of fierce wind as he charged into the distance.

"Audacious scoundrel!"

An angry roar rang out as an old man, surging with terrifying energy fluctuations, fiercely attacked Chen Xuan’s charging form.

Chen Xuan plowed straight through, unleashing a single palm strike as he passed.

Four thousand catties of force.

Bang!

A muffled impact sounded. The old man’s wrist was snapped on the spot, and the terrifying force drove his own broken wrist violently into his chest, instantly rupturing his internal organs. He spun backward through the air, coughing up blood profusely before crashing into the distance, dead on the spot.

Chen Xuan did not halt for even a fraction of a second, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.

From his appearance to his departure, everything happened at the absolute limit of speed.

It took less than two breaths of time in total!

He killed like lightning!

He moved like a ghost!

By then, furious roars echoed from outside as the remaining two of the three netherworld elders finally arrived. Carrying terrifying fluctuations of energy, they landed inside the room, but by that time, Chen Xuan’s figure had long since vanished.

"Master Nine!"

"After him! Chase!"

The two elders roared furiously, sprinting wildly into the distance in pursuit.

Yet, how fast was Chen Xuan? Having bolted away, he had long since melted into the boundless darkness.

No matter how furiously the two men exerted themselves in pursuit, they could not find the slightest trace of him.

With bloodshot eyes, they looked up as if about to roar to the heavens.

"Return, quickly!"

One of them bellowed.

...

In the distance, moving at incredible speed, Chen Xuan had not yet deactivated his transformation state. He flexed his wrist, feeling a slight, dull ache.

Though he had slapped that old man to death with a single palm just now, the rebound of his own terrifying strength had made his palm sting slightly.

The Meridian Realm was, after all, the Meridian Realm.

The man he had killed must have been one of the three netherworld elders who guarded Wang Jiu year-round!

Nevertheless, through this battle, Chen Xuan gained a much deeper understanding of his Super Saiyan form.

This was simply freakish!

He realized he had still been too cautious; he shouldn't have bothered using the Storm Pear Blossom Needles. Without them, he probably could have taken down Wang Jiu all the same.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

His figure flickered continuously, quickly vanishing into the dark of night.

Deep within the yamen.

Chen Xuan had changed into a fresh set of clothes, having already recovered from his Super Saiyan form. Holding a folding fan and with his dark hair drifting freely, he exuded an ethereal, otherworldly grace—truly a dashing young master of the mortal realm.

Looking at the translucent cyan light screen before him, Chen Xuan smiled.

[Mission Five completed!]

[System tallying in progress!]

[Tallying complete!]

[Reward: 200 experience points]

[Reward: 100 stamina points]

Swish!

The light screen vanished once more.

With a radiant smile, Chen Xuan brought up his attribute panel to inspect it.

He saw that the stamina value had cleanly risen to 1,720.

His experience points had increased to 410.

He could allocate points to the Five Poisons Heart Scripture once again.

After a brief moment of thought, he tapped on the Five Poisons Heart Scripture entry. With a flash of light, the technique transformed from "Hall Entering" (0/280) to "Mastery" (0/560).

His internal energy surged explosively by twenty years, reaching a total of fifty-seven years of internal power.

He felt the meridians within his body swell violently, becoming more than twice as wide as before. Internal Qi flowed endlessly and majestically through his body, while simultaneously, a tingling, numbing sensation rippled through numerous acupoints across his entire frame.

He furrowed his brow in bewilderment.

What was happening?

After carefully sensing the changes, he noticed that those acupoints felt increasingly numb, as if a faint electrical current were pulsing through them, accompanied by a subtle throbbing.

He pondered to himself.

Could this be reaching the limits of the human body? Did he need to open the Conception and Governing vessels next?

He had read in books that the most powerful martial arts prodigy had stored seventy-two years of internal energy before beginning to open the Conception and Governing vessels. Surely, he thought, he couldn't fall short of seventy-two years?

Or perhaps, once internal energy accumulated to a sufficient degree, it would automatically break open the vessels and the micro-macro cosmic orbits?

Chen Xuan looked back at the panel and saw that after deducting 280 experience points, 130 points remained.

Ah, the remainder would be just right for practicing the Blood-Sucking Divine Palm.

While others found it exceedingly difficult to master the Blood-Sucking Divine Palm, it would be a breeze for him.

Without delay, he closed the panel and began practicing the forms within his room.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Shadows of palms fluttered wildly, whipping up fierce, piercing gales of wind.

...

Back at Wang Jiu’s estate.

The place was in complete uproar. All the servants and guards had been roused; torches blazed brightly, and everyone was gripped with shock and terror.

Two corpses lay inside the room.

One was extraordinarily corpulent, his flesh pale and flabby like rolling waves of fat, weighing at least five or six hundred catties. His neck was twisted entirely to the side, his face covered in blood, eyes wide open in death.

The other was an old man with a caved-in chest, bulging eyes, and a right wrist broken into a grotesque shape.

Two elderly men were examining their bodies.

After a long while, one of them stood up and said respectfully, "Lord Marquis, although Wang Jiu's fatal injuries were on the crown of his head and his neck, dozens of poisonous needles were also found embedded in his body. Combined with the other scattered needles on both sides of the wall, this can be confirmed as the legendary Storm Pear Blossom Needles!"

"Storm Pear Blossom Needles?"

"Tang Sect hidden weapons?"

Many of the retained guests were startled.

"Indeed."

The old man nodded grimly, "However, the person who fired the needles does not seem to be a successor of the Sichuan Tang Sect. His needle-firing technique was completely nonexistent, which is why the majority of the toxic needles were deflected by Wang Jiu, with only a small portion actually striking him. If he were truly a Tang Sect successor, he would not have made such a mistake. Moreover, his physical strength is immense; as he fled, he even managed to kill the eldest of the Three Netherworld Elders with a single blow."

"Whom has Wang Jiu offended recently?"

A cold, detached voice rang out from the front.

It was a gloomy-looking man wearing a purple python robe and a jade crown. Standing with his hands clasped behind his back, tall and lean, he radiated an unspeakable aura of oppression.

"Replying to the Marquis, the situation in the city has been rather chaotic lately. All sorts of experts keep gathering here, and they've had various clashes with us to some extent, making it difficult to determine precisely who committed this heinous act. However, this afternoon, Master Nine dispatched the Three Heavenly Kings together to deal with Wu Tiande, the newly appointed constable of the yamen. The Three Heavenly Kings have yet to return, so Wu Tiande bears the heaviest suspicion!"

Said the Southern Heavenly King, whose hands were tightly wrapped in bandages.

"Wu Tiande?"

Marquis Pingnan narrowed his eyes, let out a cold snort, and said, "Let's see if the Three Heavenly Kings return by tomorrow. If they don't, bring Wu Tiande to me!"

"Understood, my Lord!"

The Southern Heavenly King cupped his fists in acknowledgment.