Bang!
With an explosive crack, the aberration's head burst apart. It stopped struggling, its body went still, and it stiffened abruptly.
Ning Gongdao had blown its head clean off with Inner Qi.
A pool of blackish-green stuff slowly trickled down from its body.
Whoosh! Its entire corpse burst into flames. Within a few breaths, it had turned into countless wisps of black ash and smoke that drifted away.
"Too weak."
Ning Gongdao felt a little disappointed. The aberration didn't seem to have fully advanced—or perhaps, after advancing, it hadn't had time to get used to its own strength.
Its realm might already have reached the Blood Sha level, and its combat strength was infinitely close to that level, but it still felt a little short.
"Weakling."
Ning Gongdao's expression remained impassive. This aberration felt even weaker than the one before. An opponent like this couldn't even force him to use his full strength.
He opened his palm. A silver talisman glimmered in it.
"I went to all that trouble to prepare this talisman, and in the end I didn't even need it."
He put the talisman away against his chest.
Then he turned to leave.
He placed both hands on the gate and gave it a gentle pull. The gate came right off.
Hmm?
Countless willow-tree aerial roots formed a huge cage around him. Now that he had killed the aberration, the Rune Soldier should have sensed its death and made the cage disappear.
"But the seal hasn't lifted." Ning Gongdao looked toward where the aberration had been killed. The place was empty, save for the faint gray imprint of a figure.
"So the aberration isn't dead yet?"
His eyes turned icy. The aberration wasn't dead. "Are you toying with me?"
Whoosh!
He strode forward and brought his palm down. Surging Inner Qi, vast as the sea, pressed straight toward the gray imprint on the ground.
Whoosh! In an instant, the imprint seeped underground like flowing water.
Bang! The bricks shattered, sending countless fragments and clouds of dust flying. A pit one meter in diameter appeared in the ground.
Ning Gongdao's gaze turned cold as he looked into the distance. A figure in a white dress emerged from underground. It was indeed the aberration he had already smashed to pieces.
"What kind of technique is this?" Ning Gongdao furrowed his brow.
"Heeheehee... it hurts..."
"It hurts..."
As it spoke, the aberration's figure flickered like an illusion. In just a few steps, it appeared beside Ning Gongdao—on his left, on his right, in front of him, behind him. It seemed to be all around him.
"You..." Ning Gongdao lowered his gaze. This aberration seemed like it might be troublesome to deal with.
In an instant,
All the aberration's surrounding figures turned into illusions and shot toward Ning Gongdao like lightning.
"Child's play." With a low murmur, the Inner Qi protecting Ning Gongdao's body as he practiced body refinement surged outward. His Inner Qi exploded around him like a bomb.
Inner Qi wasn't only for protecting the body. It could hurt enemies, too.
Boom!!!
Almost at the same moment, the figures around him landed on Ning Gongdao, only to be blasted away by the Inner Qi exploding around him like a bomb.
A white shock wave, visible to the naked eye, surged outward from Ning Gongdao like a roaring river, crashing and raging.
Rumble!! The aberration's white figures were instantly blasted back. Countless white fragments scattered, then gathered together and re-formed into the aberration's figure.
"That hurts..." The aberration in the white dress winced, then chuckled. "But goodbye!"
It raised a hand and pressed two fingers together. Countless streams of black and red energy swirled around them as it lightly pointed at Ning Gongdao.
Suddenly, a deadly sense of danger descended, instantly enveloping Ning Gongdao's mind.
What was this?
Ning Gongdao lowered his head and looked at his chest. The blood-red number leaped rapidly, while a tremendous rumbling sounded in his ears.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
It was the sound of his heartbeat.
"So it's not just the sound of knocking that makes the number in my chest rise. My own heartbeat can do it, too?"
He looked up. Was this the greatest ability the aberration had gained by advancing?
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The aberration in the white dress repeated its earlier trick, its figure flickering again and again. Black claws sprouted from its fingers, and amid its piercing cries, countless figures lunged forward in a flurry.
Thump, thump. His heart began to ache violently. Ning Gongdao drew a sharp breath, endured the pain in his chest, and detonated his protective Inner Qi again. While the aberration was blasted away, he reached into his clothes with one hand and took out the silver talisman.
"I didn't think I'd end up using it after all."
There was no time to wear the aberration down. The blood-red numbers in his chest were climbing rapidly. Once they reached three hundred, the curse would erupt, and even the gods would be powerless to save him!
Inner Qi swirled around him as he activated the silver talisman.
Hum!
The instant the silver talisman activated, a sudden gale sprang up in the small space sealed off by the willow's aerial roots. The leaves of the other plants in the courtyard rustled, and a stifling presence spread through the area.
Ning Gongdao even had the illusion that the whole world had grown dim, and the sunlight overhead was rapidly fading.
The wind grew stronger and stronger. Then a small tornado appeared.
The moment it formed, the aberration—blasted apart by Inner Qi and not yet reassembled—was sucked into the tornado by an irresistible, surging force.
This little tornado wasn't a natural wind. It was the talismanic force produced by an advancement-level Wind Talisman. Within the tornado, endless frigid, grinding power surged.
The tornado towered over ten meters high, swallowing the entire courtyard. Countless bricks and plants were sucked into it and shredded by the grinding force within.
Ning Gongdao watched the tornado. A clear light shone from the silver talisman above his head, enveloping him and keeping him from being killed by mistake.
The blood-red number in his chest had vanished. The aberration had been killed, with not the slightest chance of recovering again.
He opened his hand. The clear light faded from the silver talisman, and it fell into his palm.
He stared at the talisman's runes. They had dimmed, and the talismanic force seemed to be exhausted.
"It still has one use left." He put away the silver talisman. By now, the aerial roots sealing the sky had disappeared.
Now that the aberration had been killed, there was no need to borrow the Rune Soldier's power again.
The Rune Soldier's protective power had already begun to take effect. Now he could sweep through the village and clear out the aberrations that had slipped inside.
He walked out of the courtyard and called to the bald man. "The aberration is dead. Let's go support the other teams. Among the patrol teams in the three villages, do you know which one is under the most pressure?"
The aberration was dead?
Hu Xing finally felt at ease. He sneaked a glance at his chest. The blood-red writing had finally disappeared.
The curse had vanished, which meant the aberration really had been killed.
He was elated. After all, everyone in the village, including him, had been cursed by the aberration, and they had all been on edge.
Now that the aberration had been killed and the curse lifted, he truly felt much safer.
He cupped his fists and bowed. "My lord, according to the reports from the people below, the Patrol Team in Xiaoqiu Village is in a bad way."
"Hmm?" Ning Gongdao raised an eyebrow. "I remember twenty people came to Xiaoqiu Village. That's more than came to Yuyang Village."
"Did they not encounter many aberrations over in Yuyang Village?"
He asked casually.
"No," the bald Hu Xing said, the corner of his mouth twitching. "Yuyang Village actually encountered more aberrations than Xiaoqiu Village."
"But the three leaders in Yuyang Village are formidable fighters, so they dealt with the aberrations very quickly!"