Rankless Spirit Talismans

Steward Chu instinctively raised the scalpel in his hand to block, but the sharp blade snapped the instant it touched Lu Yan's fist.

That thin layer of golden light was as hard as refined iron. The fragile scalpel could not defend against it at all, and the scattered fragments sliced bloody gashes across Steward Chu's face.

"Bang!"

Lu Yan's fist smashed into Steward Chu's face without holding anything back, sending his tall, fat body crashing heavily onto the operating table.

The blow left Steward Chu seeing stars, blood pouring from his nose and mouth. To a vicious man who had slaughtered dozens, such injuries were not fatal—instead, they stoked the savagery in his heart.

With agility utterly at odds with his bulk, he rolled aside from Lu Yan's second punch and reached for Lu Yan's throat with a vicious grin.

"You little bastard, you deserve to die!"

But before his hands could touch Lu Yan, they were stopped by that seemingly thin layer of golden light. Only then did he finally see the anomaly surrounding Lu Yan.

"What is this?"

The smile vanished from Steward Chu's face, replaced by bewilderment and panic.

When Lu Yan had activated the Small Golden Light Talisman earlier, Steward Chu had not noticed. Even when the scalpel broke, he had merely assumed it was an accident.

But once he clearly saw the golden light flowing over Lu Yan's body, Steward Chu felt as though the experience of his entire life had been utterly overturned.

Yet Lu Yan's fist was the only answer to his question.

A punch fell. Steel collided with flesh and bone, and the bones in Steward Chu's hand shattered inch by inch.

His palm seemed to turn into a lump of mush. Stark white bone pierced through the flesh as blood gushed out, and searing pain consumed Steward Chu's mind.

"Ahhhh!!! You deserve to die!!!"

Having lost his reason, Steward Chu's viciousness did not diminish. He opened his mouth wide, trying to bite Lu Yan's throat, but Lu Yan answered him with another iron fist.

Every tooth in Steward Chu's mouth had long since been knocked loose by those iron fists. Before he could spit them out, dozens of teeth lodged directly in his throat and blocked his airway.

One punch, two punches, three punches. Lu Yan swung his fist expressionlessly, as though repeating some mechanical task.

Steward Chu's face had already become a bloody blur. His collapsed nasal bone had been driven deep into his skull, and grayish-white matter continuously seeped from his facial features.

Only when shattered bones cut open his fist and brought a sharp sting did Lu Yan finally stop punching.

By then, Steward Chu was dead beyond doubt. Half an hour ago, he had still been a lofty Mid-Stage Qi Refinement cultivator; now, only a miserably mangled corpse remained.

Sitting on the operating table beside him, Lu Yan saw that the Small Golden Light Talisman enveloping him had already failed during the fight. That was why Steward Chu's broken bones had been able to injure him.

As a Rankless Spirit Talisman that required no spiritual power to activate, the Small Golden Light Talisman's effects were naturally rather limited.

Looking at the fallen corpse, Lu Yan revealed a smile of relief.

"In the end, I won!"

In his original plan, the safest course would have been to take everything from the basement, get far away from the Spirit Talisman Shop, and only then undergo the Version Update.

That would have directly avoided running into Steward Chu and inviting unnecessary danger.

But Lu Yan was unwilling!

He had toiled at the Spirit Talisman Shop for three months, enduring threats to his life and exploitation even crueler than a capitalist's. How could Lu Yan set his mind at ease if he simply ran away?

Besides, there was another crucial matter: the Demonic Soul Banner in the basement.

Although the methods used to refine a Soul Banner were cruel, it had to be admitted that it was an exceptionally high-potential Demonic Path Magical Artifact—the most valuable item in the entire Spirit Talisman Shop.

Lu Yan would not deliberately slaughter innocent people to refine a Soul Banner, but he felt no psychological burden over merely using one that was already nearly complete.

For Lu Yan, who would inevitably experience several Version Updates and changes in the future, the key was to increase his strength as much as possible so that he could face coming crises.

But as a Demonic Path Magical Artifact of the Xianxia Version, if Lu Yan fled the Spirit Talisman Shop, the Demonic Soul Banner would disappear along with the Version Change.

If he wanted to obtain the Soul Banner, Lu Yan had to be holding it at the moment of the Version Update.

Yet the Soul Banner was a Demonic Path Magical Artifact. If an ordinary person like Lu Yan remained in contact with it for too long, he would only be devoured by Vengeful Souls. Furthermore, there was an eighty-percent chance that the formation used to forge the Soul Banner contained a hidden safeguard; touching it recklessly would only summon Steward Chu back early.

Thus, Lu Yan decided to wait in the basement for the Version Update. At the instant of the update, he would briefly touch the Soul Banner and let it pass through the Version Change with him.

Remaining in the basement meant he might run into Steward Chu when he returned, carrying a certain degree of risk.

Lu Yan chose to place his hopes on the Version Update. As long as he entered a world version like the Urban Version, one without supernatural power, Steward Chu would lose his Mid-Stage Qi Refinement cultivation.

Even if it was not the Urban Version, changes in other versions could still offer Lu Yan A Glimmer of Hope, since their supernatural systems might differ.

Without the suppression of his cultivation, and with several Rankless Spirit Talismans prepared in advance, Lu Yan had an excellent chance of killing Steward Chu.

Fortunately, Lu Yan had won his gamble!

Among the three Version Update options, the Urban Version had appeared. The Mid-Stage Qi Refinement Demonic Path Cultivator had become an ordinary man and was easily slain by Lu Yan.

Of the several Rankless Spirit Talismans he had prepared beforehand, he had only used a single Small Golden Light Talisman.

Thinking of this, Lu Yan looked down at the corpse on the floor with a smile.

"I still have to thank Steward Chu for his spirit talismans."

Those Rankless Spirit Talismans had been personally drawn by Steward Chu for sale in the Spirit Talisman Shop.

However, Rankless Spirit Talismans were meant for the wealthy and powerful among mortals. Since demand was scarce, there was little stock on hand, and they had to be ordered in advance. As a result, Steward Chu had not drawn many Rankless Spirit Talismans.

Over the past three months, Lu Yan had secretly switched them out and hidden some Rankless Spirit Talismans among the talisman paper in the warehouse, allowing him to preserve them.

Without those Rankless Spirit Talismans, even if Steward Chu had lost all his cultivation, his displayed ferocity far surpassed that of ordinary people. Lu Yan most likely would not have been his match.

After resting briefly, Lu Yan finally had the mind to examine his surroundings.

The Underground Factory, frozen corpses, organ trafficking—upon seeing these things, Lu Yan suddenly recalled some street rumors he had heard during the Urban Version.

Luo City, where Lu Yan lived, was a small third-tier city. For a time, some elderly people in his residential complex had spread rumors with great seriousness that someone was selling organs.

"I thought it was just an urban legend. I never expected it to be real—and that this organ-trafficking factory in the Urban Version corresponded exactly to Steward Chu's basement for refining the Soul Banner in the Xianxia Version."

"It seems that while different versions cannot correspond completely one by one, some places still share certain commonalities."

Lu Yan silently committed this point to memory, but he was in no hurry to leave.

The commotion from killing Steward Chu had not been small, yet it had not drawn anyone else. That proved Steward Chu was likely the only person in this Underground Factory.

Since there was no one around, Lu Yan could use the opportunity to sort through this round's gains—and the Soul Banner that had been brought over.