Coercion and Killing

Having reached the Postnatal Martial Artist realm, even if he had only just entered it, once he activated his Vital Energy, his brute strength exceeded ten thousand jin.

With such astonishing brute strength, one could imagine the quality of his body.

With only a slight activation of Vital Energy, a single leap carried Zhang Ming dozens of meters. Mountains, rivers, forests, cliffs, and ravines were as flat ground beneath his feet.

How could Niu Kangshao, a mere Warrior whose Vital Energy had reached completion, possibly escape?

Even if Niu Kangshao had been allowed to run for several hours, Zhang Ming was confident he could catch up.

Let alone being given only a few minutes' head start?

A few minutes later.

Bang—

With a single leap, Zhang Ming landed in front of Niu Kangshao.

"Y-you... who exactly are you? You're absolutely not Zhang Ming, absolutely not Zhang Ming."

"Zhang Ming can't possibly be this strong. He's a martial arts cripple, a useless man who took more than ten years to sense Vital Energy."

"You're definitely not him!"

Watching Zhang Ming descend from the sky and appear before him with lightning speed, Niu Kangshao's heart leaped into his throat. He was terrified beyond measure.

"Oh? How am I not Zhang Ming?"

He spread his hands and turned around once.

"I am Zhang Ming. Martial Uncle Niu, you really are funny."

"No, no, no, you definitely aren't!"

"No, no, no, you are, you are, you are Zhang Ming! Zhang Ming, don't kill me! Zhang Ming, don't kill me! Spare this dog's life! This is all a misunderstanding."

"It's all a misunderstanding!"

Zhang Ming smiled faintly, unconcerned by his pleas for mercy.

Instead, he asked, "How did you know I had just left the Mine?"

"Do you have someone inside the Mine?"

Niu Kangshao said nothing. He merely controlled his trembling body and silently backed away.

"Not talking? Then let me guess."

"The Mine is surrounded by forests and cliffs. There couldn't be anyone outside; the person could only be an employee inside the Mine."

"And that person should have joined the Mine not long ago."

"Oh, right. You wanted to make a move against me because I became a Warrior, didn't you?"

Niu Kangshao remained silent, his feet continuing to retreat.

Zhang Ming smiled and paid it no mind.

"First, let me guess who that person in the Mine is."

Several dozen names matching the criteria surfaced in his mind.

"Is it Shang Huacan? Cai Junmao? Zhong Lie? Or..."

One name after another, more than a dozen in all, came from Zhang Ming's lips.

But he was not done. Zhang Ming continued.

"Is it Wang Ning? Is it He Fu?"

"Oh, looks like it is."

The evasiveness in Niu Kangshao's eyes and the slightest changes in his expression were all laid bare before Zhang Ming.

Recalling the information about the man named He Fu, Zhang Ming guessed, "I didn't expect it to be him, though it makes sense.

He joined the Mine only recently, and he has an elderly mother at home. I heard she fell seriously ill some time ago. The expenses were enormous, and it took a great deal of money to cure her."

"Money."

"He Fu had no father. He was raised by his mother, who ran a little stall, and they had an extremely hard life. There wasn't much money left in the household."

"Without money, and desperate to save his mother, He Fu would have come to you to borrow money."

"So, because he owed you money, you forced him to go to the Mine, didn't you?"

Niu Kangshao's mouth fell open, his face filled with disbelief.

He had not expected Zhang Ming to piece together the whole matter with only a few words.

At that moment, Niu Kangshao suddenly recalled how, more than a decade ago, Yang City had been abuzz with talk of the Zhang Family's prodigy, a banished immortal descended to the mortal world!

And now, looking into Zhang Ming's eyes, which saw through the tiniest details, fear rose uncontrollably within him. Those eyes seemed to see through every falsehood and disguise in the world, like a Demon's.

"You're a ghost! You're a ghost! You're not human, not human!"

"Hehe."

With a soft laugh, Zhang Ming slowly approached Niu Kangshao.

"Who I am isn't important. What matters is that you should start thinking about how you can die well."

"Didn't you just say you wanted me to experience a fate worse than death?"

"I'm someone who likes to repay a debt in kind, so..."

He moved a little closer. Less than two meters now separated them.

"An opening! Mighty Bull Fist!"

Niu Kangshao was a Warrior, after all.

Even when facing certain death, he would never surrender without a fight.

Bang—

Fist against fist, force against force.

Niu Kangshao's desperate final counterattack came suddenly, but Zhang Ming's reaction was not slow either.

The instant Niu Kangshao circulated his Vital Energy, Zhang Ming had already noticed.

Just as Zhang Ming had been unable to hide his successful sensing of Vital Energy from Niu Kangsheng back then.

None of Niu Kangshao's movements could escape Zhang Ming's eyes either.

"Ahhh!!!"

Fist against fist.

How could Niu Kangshao's fist compare to Zhang Ming's?

Before this absolute disparity in strength, Niu Kangshao's resistance was utterly insignificant!

A heavy punch struck, instantly shattering Niu Kangshao's entire right arm. Flesh and blood sprayed everywhere, leaving a mangled blur.

Blood surged forth like a tide, a horrifying sight to behold.

The pain was beyond Niu Kangshao's control. Tears and snot mixed together, covering his entire face.

Clutching his right arm as blood gushed from it, he rolled painfully across the ground, his wails echoing through the air.

"Hehe."

Stopping not far from Niu Kangshao, Zhang Ming raised a hand and pinched up a pebble.

Crack—

The small stone shot out like a cannonball, leaving a clear bloody mark on Niu Kangshao's face.

"I ask. You answer."

"Answer properly, and perhaps if I'm in a good mood, I'll let you go?"

"I'll talk, I'll talk, I'll talk! I'll tell you everything! Don't kill me, don't kill me!"

The bone-deep agony in his right arm, coupled with the despair brought by Zhang Ming's terrifying combat strength, had long since stripped Niu Kangshao of any will to resist.

Only the thought of surviving remained in his mind.

Like a drowning man clutching at his last life-saving straw.

"What is the superior Cultivation Method of the three techniques, [Mighty Bull Strength], [Mighty Bull Fist], and [Mighty Bull Body]?"

The Mysterious Buyer knew superior Cultivation Methods existed. There was no reason for the Mighty Bull Martial Arts School itself not to know.

"No, no, there isn't any superior Cultivation Method."

"Hm?"

At a time like this, he still wanted to conceal it?

"A fate worse than death—have you heard of Death by a Thousand Cuts?"

Holding a Ring-Pommel Great Saber, Zhang Ming approached Niu Kangshao, who lay collapsed on the ground, completely stripped of his fighting strength.

"Death by a Thousand Cuts?"

"Put simply, it means being carved into ten thousand pieces. I read about it in a book. I've never done it before, so I wonder whether I can imitate the ancient texts?"

Swish!

Zhang Ming immediately sliced off a piece of flesh.

With the martial realm of a Postnatal Martial Artist, combined with the Great Perfection level [Black Tiger Saber].

Even wielding a Ring-Pommel Great Saber that weighed dozens of jin, Zhang Ming could make light work of heavy lifting.

"Ah!"

Niu Kangshao could not help but howl, but in these mountains, with no one living within dozens of li, it was completely useless.

The Ring-Pommel Great Saber swung, shaving off thin slices of flesh as fine as paper.

After merely three or four slices, Niu Kangshao could no longer bear it and began begging for mercy.

"I'll talk, I'll talk, I'll talk! Don't kill me, don't kill me, don't kill me!"

"Don't rush. We've only just begun. Let me get the feel of it first."

Zhang Ming struck again with another slash.

"Unfortunately, you're missing an arm. You're short a piece now. I wonder whether I can still carve you into ten thousand pieces—whether there'll be enough?"

"What do you think?"

Niu Kangshao's mind completely broke.

To hell with getting the feel of it, to hell with whether there would be enough pieces!

Yet seeing the serious look in Zhang Ming's eyes, Niu Kangshao realized in despair that Zhang Ming seemed to mean it.

"I'll talk, I'll tell you everything! Whatever you ask, I'll answer! Don't do it, please don't do it~"

Several more slices of flesh were carved away, and Niu Kangshao wailed.

"Look at you. I tried to reason with you nicely, but you wouldn't listen. You had to wait until I got rough. I'm a scholar—I usually read the Spring and Autumn Annals—and yet you forced me into this state. Tell me, whose fault is that?"

"My fault, my fault, it's all my fault."

Zhang Ming stopped his Great Saber and nodded in satisfaction.

"Mm, knowing your mistakes and correcting them makes you a good child. Can you talk now?"

"Yes, yes, yes, I can talk."

Niu Kangshao nodded frantically, then hurriedly said,

"It's [Mighty Bull Cultivation Method]. The superior Cultivation Method of the three techniques is [Mighty Bull Cultivation Method]."

"Continue!"

Under the threat of life and death, Niu Kangshao haltingly revealed the manual for the [Mighty Bull Cultivation Method].