Bombardment

Barrage of Blasts

Leaving the pill shop, Han Yi headed straight for the courtyard where he lived.

To him, the entire Mengshan City probably had only two truly safe places: Mystic Fire Pill Shop and that courtyard.

He had come out today and reaped a bountiful harvest.

Not only had he bought an incomplete sword-control spell, but after trading pills and purchasing materials, the spirit stones he had on hand had surpassed one hundred for the first time.

A massive cash flow.

Back on Little Spirit Void Peak, probably only those outstanding outer sect disciples at Qi Refining Layer 5 or Qi Refining Layer 6 could afford to be so lavish.

As the saying went, money gave one confidence.

That was the truth in any world.

Han Yi was already planning how, while grinding his progress from here on, he could finally cut loose and use spirit stones without restraint.

If aptitude was lacking, spirit stones would make up the difference.

Qi Refining Layer 3 was only the beginning. Qi Refining Middle Stage, Qi Refining Late Stage, even Foundation Establishment on the immortal path—those were merely matters of time.

As Han Yi was thinking this, he had already covered more than half the distance. He was passing through a small alley, only two streets away from his courtyard.

This alley was the most secluded stretch between Mystic Fire Pill Shop and his residence.

As always, whenever he passed through this alley, he kept himself on the highest alert.

Just as he was about to leave the alley, heavy footsteps sounded behind him.

The footsteps drew near from afar. In the span of a single breath—roughly three seconds—they closed the distance from dozens of meters away to within three meters of him.

Han Yi frowned, slowing slightly as he turned sideways and moved closer to the wall.

Since the approaching person was in such a hurry, he would let them pass first.

That would reduce the danger of close contact.

It was his instinctive response.

The alley was not narrow; it was three meters wide. The other person would pass him in half a breath, hardly delaying anything.

Han Yi had only just turned aside, before he could make out the passerby's appearance, when he caught a sharp, burnt smell.

This was... the smell of pills.

Was the passerby an alchemist?

Only someone who practiced alchemy and refined pills year-round would carry such a peculiar scent.

But why did this smell seem faintly familiar? Where had he smelled it before?

That thought surfaced in his mind.

Just then, the newcomer had drawn level with him, about two meters away, and was about to pass through the alley.

The thought of that "sharp burnt smell" had only just emerged in Han Yi's heart. Before he could understand it, doubt still lingered.

In an instant, images flashed through his mind before freezing on a scene within Mystic Fire Pill Shop—the faint scent he had caught when he first entered the shop.

The owner of that scent was...

Suddenly, he jerked his head up.

Jiang De.

The man brushing past him was Jiang De.

Before he could think further, he keenly sensed a trace of dharma power stirring.

That trace of dharma power erupted from the figure level with him, two meters away.

At the same time, killing intent—bare, undisguised killing intent—exploded forth.

In that instant, every hair on Han Yi's body stood on end, and his scalp went numb.

The stench of death was so close.

In that flash of lightning, he had no time to think. His body's instincts had already reacted first.

Puff!!

He violently flicked his right hand, bending his fingers before snapping them out hard. Spiritual light shot forth.

Because it was instinctive, the dharma power compressed into this Spirit Void Finger was still one-fiftieth of his total dharma power.

The spiritual light exploded between the two of them. Flames danced within the burst of spiritual energy.

A scorching aura rushed straight at him.

The other party's spell was fire-elemental.

Han Yi did not dare imagine whether he would be burned to ashes if struck by that fire-elemental spell.

But he could roughly foresee that he would likely meet his end here today.

That thought flashed through his mind in an instant.

Before it could fade, rage surged wildly within him.

Yet what erupted even before his anger was still instinct.

A Spirit Void Finger burst forth, severing the other party's spell. The other party had clearly not expected such an accident; believing one move would kill Han Yi, they had not yet prepared their next spell.

Under the stimulus of death, instinct would not stop.

Almost immediately after the Spirit Void Finger from his right hand, his left hand flicked out another one as well.

Within a fleeting interval almost impossible to catch, the second Spirit Void Finger pierced through the chaotic mass of spiritual energy where flames danced, smashing heavily into the other party's arm.

Boom!

The other party's arm exploded clean off at the shoulder.

A mist of blood burst outward.

A short, sharp scream rang out.

It was not over.

Puff, puff, puff...

Amid the threat of death and shocked fury, instinct erupted first, then reason took control of his body.

Whichever it was, within the brief span of two breaths—six seconds—

all the spiritual power in Han Yi's body was drained dry.

A full fifty Spirit Void Fingers exploded one after another in the alley like dazzling fireworks.

A furious barrage.

It sounded slow, but it happened in a flash.

From the footsteps sounding behind him, to Han Yi turning sideways, to the fluctuations of spiritual power on the other party's body, to Han Yi snapping his fingers on instinct at the very brink, to the spiritual power in his body being emptied—

only a few short breaths had passed.

Only then did the others in the alley react.

The spiritual energy mass was still churning, and screams rose all around.

Han Yi had no time to think.

He was about to rush through the mouth of the alley and flee.

Suddenly, his foot kicked something. He lowered his head, scooped it up with one hand without stopping, turned out of the alley, and vanished into the distance.

A quarter of an hour later.

The cultivators organized by Mengshan City's authorities finally arrived belatedly.

What they saw was a corpse blasted so thoroughly that even its bones had shattered into fragments.

Calling it a corpse was not quite right. At most, it was a mangled lump of flesh.

One high-level Qi Refining cultivator frowned.

"The residual aura here is roughly at Qi Refining Layer 4, no higher than Qi Refining Layer 5."

"Besides, all that remains is this lump of rotten flesh. There are no identifying marks on it at all—what is there to investigate?"

"Cultivators fighting is an everyday occurrence, isn't it? Not a single mortal was harmed."

"Besides, the other party's storage bag isn't at the scene. It was probably taken."

"No need to investigate. Classify it as a rogue cultivator robbery case."

With a sweep of his hand, the high-level Qi Refining cultivator settled the nature of the battle and left on his own.

Nearly an hour later.

Low-level cultivators came to clean up the scene.

Two hours later, aside from the smell of blood, no other trace remained.

But turning back time.

After Han Yi turned out of the alley, his body could not help trembling. Yet with immense willpower, he controlled his steps, keeping himself from walking too fast as he quickly blended into the crowd.

Once he reached the outside of his courtyard, he squeezed the last of his spiritual power from his body into the Array Disk, opened the courtyard, then locked it behind him.

At last, he could hold on no longer.

Leaning against the courtyard gate, he collapsed to the ground.

Lingering fear, shocked fury, panic, nausea...

A myriad of emotions, too many to count, surged up one after another.

Only now did the heartbeat he had forcibly suppressed abruptly begin to pound wildly, as if his entire heart were about to leap alive out of his throat.

"Jiang De wanted to kill me."

"I killed him."

(The End of This Chapter)