Daoist Kong Shuai's Magical Artifact

Maybe.

He meant maybe.

Maybe at the very beginning, the Daoist had only wanted to take the Small Sumeru Bag from Pan Yu. The chance of him going for the kill might have been only fifty percent.

But now, the Daoist's expression had begun to twist into something increasingly ferocious.

Yang An felt that the chance of the other man killing them had suddenly shot up to one hundred percent.

And at this moment, Pan Shi lay heavily injured on the ground, looking at him helplessly. Pan Yu was so nervous she was practically pressed against him. He had abruptly become their final line of defense.

Yang An suddenly felt an enormous weight on his shoulders.

The main reason was that he could not run.

Even Pan Shi, an actual cultivator, had already fallen. He was nothing more than an ordinary person—how could he run?

Not to mention that before this, the senior brother and sister had helped him. They had carried his unconscious body out of Jiu Nan Town, given him food, and given him pills.

Although there had been a certain misunderstanding mixed into all that, their help had been genuine.

Yang An searched his conscience. Although the Daoist had been ignoring him all along, if he could run, perhaps the Daoist would not bother with him.

But when it came to morality, could he really choose to abandon them and flee alone?

But if he did not run, how was he supposed to contend with this Daoist?

He simply did not have the corresponding strength. Once he faced this powerful Daoist, the fact that he was merely an ordinary person would be exposed as well. In the end, he would still be unable to do anything...

Huh?

Wait!

It seemed it was not impossible...

Just as Yang An's thoughts were a tangled mess, he caught sight of the Daoist whom Pan Shi had ambushed and injured. The man gripped the bone spike embedded in the flesh of his abdomen with one shriveled hand, apparently intending to yank it out by force.

Yang An's eyes suddenly lit up.

Perhaps... he could give it a try?

On the other side.

The Daoist reached out and grasped the bone spike in his abdomen, frowning slightly.

After entering his body, the bone spike had been rapidly releasing a toxin that somewhat suppressed the Mana inside him, though the effect was not significant.

At most, it would restrain his strength somewhat, leaving him able to use only seventy percent of his power.

But even at seventy percent, dealing with the two remaining weaklings who could not withstand a gust of wind would be no problem.

With the sensing ability of his cultivation technique, he had long detected that the remaining two were both mortal flesh and blood. The woman still possessed faint Mana, but the man had no Mana at all. He was just an ordinary mortal, nothing worth worrying about.

"Hehe, even if you managed to injure this Daoist, that was as far as you could go. But now you have thoroughly offended this Daoist. Today, this Daoist absolutely will not let you off easily."

He continued to let out strange laughter as he clenched his hand around the bone spike and pulled hard.

Splash!

The bone spike, roughly three inches long, was forcibly pulled from his stomach. The sudden opening caused blood to spray all over the ground, much of it splattering onto the Daoist's filthy robe. The scene was exceedingly bloody.

Yet the Daoist did not even furrow his brow. After merely glancing at the bone spike in his hand, he squeezed hard and crushed it into powder.

At the exposed, still-bleeding wound on his abdomen, the flesh contracted slightly and actually squeezed the wound shut. It no longer looked quite so horrifying, though blood still trickled out slowly.

The Daoist then stopped paying attention to his injuries and turned his gaze toward Yang An and Pan Yu, who were still standing.

More precisely, his eyes were fixed solely on Pan Yu. Yang An merely happened to be standing between them, like an irrelevant outsider.

He lifted his feet and slowly walked toward them, an immense pressure rushing head-on at them.

Standing behind Yang An, Pan Yu tightly gripped the Small Sumeru Bag at her waist with one hand, her heart thrown into utter chaos.

She knew Yang An was a cultivator in the Origin Feeder Realm, but the Daoist opposite them was also in the Origin Feeder Realm.

Besides, Yang An's physical condition had not fully recovered. He might not be able to stop him.

What should she do?

What should she do?

If Yang An could not stop this Daoist either, the Small Sumeru Bag would be snatched away. Then it would be difficult for her to ever eat delicious barbecue again!

Those seasonings had taken her fellow senior brothers so long to gather for her...

Pah!

What was she thinking?

Pan Yu, Pan Yu, how could she still be thinking about food at a time like this? They were about to die!

They said a woman's heart was a needle at the bottom of the sea. In that instant, countless thoughts flashed through Pan Yu's mind, so many that even she could not grasp them. Before she knew it, her thoughts had drifted elsewhere, only to suddenly wheel back around.

Her senior brother had already been heavily injured and knocked to the ground for her sake. How could she be thinking about such random nonsense now?

But... if she died with so many seasonings left unused, only for someone who did not recognize their worth to casually throw them away as useless things, that would make her feel terrible too...

At that thought, Pan Yu's expression looked even worse than crying.

If Yang An and Pan Shi knew what Pan Yu was thinking at this moment, who knew how they would feel.

However, even if Yang An knew, he had no time to care about that now.

As the Daoist drew closer and closer, sweat continuously poured from Yang An's entire body, yet he had no choice but to remain calm.

The Daoist did not look at him. His gaze remained fixed on Pan Yu. This was the best opportunity!

Three meters!

Two meters!

One meter!

Yang An counted silently in his heart until the Daoist finally arrived before him and was about to brush past him.

At such close range...

Fellow Daoist Yang, hurry and strike!

Pan Shi, lying on the ground, struggled to raise his head. His hands were clenched tightly into fists as he looked at Yang An.

All their hope rested on Yang An now, yet Yang An still had not made any move.

At this moment, the Daoist looked at Pan Yu and slowly spoke.

"Little girl, if you had listened to this Daoist earlier and obediently handed over the Small Sumeru Bag..."

The Daoist stopped halfway through his words. His gaze suddenly shifted toward a hand attacking from beside him, and a cold smile immediately appeared on his face. Clearly, he had been prepared.

He looked at Yang An beside him and could not help licking his lips.

"Hehe, a sneak attack? This Daoist—Aaaaargh!"

But just as he was about to mock the man before him for overestimating himself, a fierce white flash suddenly lit up before his eyes, instantly blinding him. He reflexively raised a hand to shield his eyes.

At the same time, it felt as though countless fine needles had been driven into every part of his body. A violent stabbing pain suddenly surged through him, catching the Daoist completely off guard and making him let out a pained scream.

And at that very moment, while the Daoist was suddenly blinded, a hand shot into the wound on his abdomen at incredible speed.

Yang An had practically performed at the fastest speed he had ever achieved since learning the Lighting Method.

Chant! Hand seals! They were completed almost in an instant!

The Lighting Method required blood as a medium, but it did not have to be his own blood. Someone else's would work as well.

By sheer coincidence, before Pan Shi fell heavily injured, he had left a wound on the Daoist's body. That was what gave Yang An the chance to try.

Then next came...

Ignite!

Buzz—

A massive red blaze instantly swelled, igniting and erupting from inside the Daoist's body before crazily shooting out from every pore and opening across his body, spewing countless fire serpents like a raging torrent.

In the blink of an eye, the Daoist became a man wrapped in flames, every piece of his flesh burning beneath the scorching, terrifying red fire.

And because this fire had suddenly erupted from within his body, using his blood as fuel, there was simply no way to suppress it.

A cry of agony immediately burst from the Daoist's mouth. Then he fell to the ground and began rolling about frantically, trying to extinguish the flames on his body, but it was completely useless.

"Run!"

The instant he ignited the Daoist's blood, Yang An shoved the stunned Pan Yu.

If they did not run now, when would they?

Pan Yu immediately came back to her senses. Her eyes filled with shock and admiration as she looked at Yang An. Knowing this was not the time to speak, she immediately ran toward her senior brother Pan Shi, intending to help him up so they could flee together.

Yang An also prepared to run toward Pan Shi, but just as he raised his foot, he paused when he saw the staff the Daoist had thrown to the ground in his panic.

This staff was the Daoist's weapon, and Yang An had witnessed the power it displayed earlier. It was surely a magical artifact as well.

Without another thought, Yang An decisively picked up the staff from the ground and ran without looking back.

At the same time, before he had gone very far, an information panel had already appeared before his eyes.

Daoist Kong Shuai's Rectal Staff: A magical artifact refined by Daoist Kong Shuai from his own filthy flesh and blood. Hard on the outside, supple within; as it is part of Daoist Kong Shuai's physical body, it also contains Mana. It can release foul substances and possesses the power to strike mountains and shatter rocks.

Cost of use: Out with the old, in with the new. Prolonged use of this item will cause the rectum and genital sinews to rot.

Status: Can be purified!