Chapter 50 - 48: The Warm Cousin Became an Ice-Cold Modified Value
Fu Jinmin cowered behind the sofa, scared witless after witnessing the horrifying scene of Lu Yun withstanding bullets and instantly killing four Ninjas.
It wasn’t just him. Even Wen Sheng, Qiucai, and Ren Facai were so stunned by the scene that they were left gawking, their minds completely blank.
"The... the gun... it was useless?"
Wen Sheng’s lips trembled. He could hardly believe his own eyes.
’What the hell kind of old monster crawled out of some deep, ancient forest?’
Meanwhile, the distant Beifeng Daoist made one last, desperate move!
He ignored the excruciating pain, snatched the small black vial from the floor with his good right hand, and flung its contents toward Elder Ren’s specter floating in the air!
The next moment, the Beifeng Daoist heard a fierce wind roar past his ears! An invisible palm force struck from across the room, precisely hitting the blood that had been flung into the air!
It was as if the blood had struck an invisible wall. Not only did it fail to reach the specter, but the immense force sent it flying back, splattering across the nearby floor and walls.
The Beifeng Daoist looked up in astonishment, his eyes meeting Lu Yun’s cold, indifferent gaze.
"You..." The Beifeng Daoist opened his mouth to speak.
But Lu Yun gave him no chance. His response was a bolt of Fist Force that shot across the room, as fast as lightning!
BAM!!
A dull thud erupted from within the Beifeng Daoist’s chest, and the black robe covering it instantly disintegrated!
A clear fist-shaped indentation was embedded deep in his sternum, the surrounding flesh and bone visibly collapsing inward!
"SPURT!" The Beifeng Daoist violently spewed a mouthful of blood. He flew backward as if struck head-on by a speeding truck, his body leaving the floor before crashing heavily against a solid marble pillar in the distance!
He slid down the pillar like a pile of boneless sludge, his head lolling to one side. His eyes were wide open, devoid of life.
With the Beifeng Daoist’s death, the last, faint thread of his control over Elder Ren’s specter was completely severed.
The frenzied specter floating in mid-air lost all control. It let out a piercing shriek as the baleful yin energy around it surged. The temperature in the grand hall plummeted, and even the light from the crystal chandelier dimmed!
Its twisted, blurry face "looked" toward Lu Yun, the one with the most vibrant life force in the room. In an instant, it transformed into a visible, gray-black gale of sinister wind, rushing to strike him down!
Lu Yun’s brow furrowed. With a quick shift in his footwork, he flashed backward and to the side, evading the specter’s direct assault.
As he dodged, Lu Yun’s eyes grew cold. He unleashed another ranged strike with his right fist, which he had already charged with power!
The Fist Force slammed into the specter from across the space, causing it to recoil as if seared by a red-hot branding iron!
The point of impact sizzled, and great clouds of milky-white smoke billowed from its form.
Lu Yun didn’t press his attack. Instead, he glanced over at the other fight.
Lin Fengjiu was being pinned down by two Wa Country Ninjas. Seeing this, Lu Yun moved, his form blurring as he reappeared a short distance away.
Lying there was the corpse of one of the heretical disciples he had killed earlier—the one who had been using a Mauser pistol.
Without a glance, he made a grasping motion from afar. A surge of suction force pulled the pistol from the corpse’s hand, and it flew into his with a WHOOSH.
Without the slightest pause, he flicked his wrist and aimed the muzzle at the two Ninjas who were furiously attacking Lin Fengjiu!
"BANG! BANG!" Two crisp gunshots rang out, almost one on top of the other!
"SPLAT! SPLAT!"
Perfect headshots. Both Ninjas’ heads burst into a shower of blood and brain matter, splattering the floor. Their bodies swayed for a moment before crumpling to the ground.
The pressure on Lin Fengjiu instantly vanished, and he seized the precious moment of respite!
He quickly produced the Ancient Bronze Eight Trigrams Mirror from his cloth bag once more. With a solemn expression, Lin Fengjiu placed his left forefinger in his mouth and bit down hard.
With his bloodied fingertip, he quickly traced the lines of the Cinnabar Talisman on the mirror’s edge, chanting a profound, ancient incantation.
"Primal ancestor of Heaven and Earth, root of all ten thousand Qi. I have weathered countless eons to attain my Divine Techniques. Within and without the Three Realms, the Dao reigns supreme."
"A golden light resides within me; let it cover and shield my form! Manifest swiftly, Golden Light, and protect this True One—Urgently, as if by imperial decree!"
The moment the final word of the incantation fell, Lin Fengjiu slammed his bloodied fingertip into the center of the mirror!
VMMMM!!!
The Eight Trigrams Mirror trembled violently! The Cinnabar Talisman on its surface erupted in a brilliant golden light!
Golden light flowed across the mirror’s face before a condensed beam of gold shot forth, enveloping Elder Ren’s specter just as it was about to pounce on Lu Yun again!
Enveloped in the golden light, the specter let out a shriek even more piercing and pained than before!
It writhed and struggled madly, but it was as if it were trapped in a quagmire. Its movements became incredibly sluggish, and an even denser white smoke steamed from its body.
Lu Yun watched the specter, now firmly pinned by the golden light of the Eight Trigrams Mirror. He turned to Lin Fengjiu, who was concentrating fully on maintaining the Magic, and asked in a low voice.
"Master Lin, this specter of my cousin... what is your opinion on how to handle it?"
’In truth, I could have just struck out and completely annihilated it with my Huajin Fist Power.’
’But, considering this specter originated from the corpse of my late older cousin, I was worried that if I "killed" it directly, its soul would be scattered, cutting off any chance of reincarnation.’
’I’m not so heartless as to condemn a relative to eternal damnation, all for a few measly modified value points.’
Upon hearing this, Lin Fengjiu explained without a moment’s hesitation, "Sir, this creature is no longer your cousin’s true soul."
"It was formed from the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi gathered over many years at the Dragonfly Water Pointing Acupoint, mixed with the lingering obsessions and death-resentment left in Elder Ren’s corpse. The result is a malevolent entity that knows only slaughter, and it specifically targets its own blood relatives."
"It is a purely malevolent being, completely unrelated to your cousin’s actual soul."
He paused, then offered his suggestion. "The best course of action is for me to use this Magical Artifact to completely scatter it, allowing it to return to the natural world."
"However, if you can’t bear to do so because its appearance resembles your kinsman, I can also devise a way to temporarily seal it within a special Magical Artifact."
"But its malevolence runs deep. There will be risks while it’s sealed, and it would require careful guarding..."
Lin Fengjiu hadn’t even finished speaking.
Lu Yun raised his right fist again and threw another punch from across the room at the specter trapped in the golden light!
The punch was fearsome. An incredibly condensed, invisible ward of fist energy, imbued with a searing heat, shot from his hand.
Pinned by the golden light and struck by this fatal blow—a pincer attack from within and without—the specter let out one last, soul-tearing shriek!
Within the span of a breath or two, the white smoke roiling off the specter gradually dissipated.
The space in mid-air was now empty. The baleful specter had been utterly scattered by Lu Yun’s merciless punch.
Having dealt with the greatest threat, he immediately turned part of his attention inward, sinking it deep into his mind.
[Extreme Blue Martial Arts Modifier]
Name: Lu Yun
Sex: Male
Realm: Grandmaster of Huajin (Mid-Stage)
Cultivation Technique: Mountain-Breaking Inch Force Fist 2nd Floor (Initiate)—Modifiable, Hard Qigong 1st Floor (Mastered)
Modified Value: 30
’My modified value jumped from 19 to 30! That’s a full 11-point increase!’
’My dear, warm cousin... reduced to nothing but a cold, hard number.’