"Hiss—"
Jiang Tian sucked in a sharp breath and muttered, "That's terrifying... How is this any different from using a sniper rifle in my previous life?"
If he'd had a technique like this when he fought the Black and White Elders, he wouldn't have had to spend so long getting beaten down.
One punch would've been enough.
At the thought, Jiang Tian's mind stirred, and the panel appeared before his eyes.
[Host: Jiang Tian] [Lifespan: 16/100] [Realm: Qi Gathering] [Martial Arts Mastered: Five Animals Creation Play (Perfection), Sharp Metal Brilliant Qi Gathering Method] [Traits: Martial Dao Sacred Body (Red) (1+/100000), Heaven-Defying Comprehension (Red) (1+/100000)] [Momentum: Tiger in a Cage, Deer in the Snow, Bear in the Cave, Ape in the Cliff, Bird in the Rain] [Trait Points: 7542]
Jiang Tian's eyebrows lifted slightly.
His lifespan had increased by another twenty years, bringing his total to a hundred.
That was a remarkably long life, even by the standards of his previous world.
What surprised him, though, was that the Sharp Metal Brilliant Qi Gathering Method had no proficiency progress listed after it like his martial arts. There were no stages of beginner, minor mastery, major mastery, subtle mastery, and perfection.
Strange.
As for this "Qi Gathering Realm," he supposed it was what Wang Yun had called an "immortal."
"Heavenly Fire Sect..."
Jiang Tian murmured the words.
It seemed he needed to go take a look at the Heavenly Fire Sect.
He shook his head, suppressing his stray thoughts, then turned toward the gold mountain he'd just drained of its qi.
The pile of gold and silver had lost all its color. It was now a heap of dull gray, like rusted scrap metal.
Jiang Tian reached out and touched a gold bar with his fingertip.
"Poof—"
The gold bar instantly crumbled into dust, scattering from his fingertip. The rain washed it away without a trace.
Then the entire gold mountain collapsed like a row of dominoes, one piece after another, turning into a cloud of gray dust that the rain swept down into the low ground.
In only a few breaths, the little mountain of gold had vanished completely into the rain, as though it had never existed.
Jiang Tian hid the porcelain in a nearby cave.
It would be inconvenient to carry it around, and he didn't yet know what was happening in Blackwater County. Better to hide it somewhere and come back for it later. He covered the cave entrance with branches and rubble, and only left once he was sure there was no sign of it.
Before long, he reached the city gate.
Earlier, to save time and keep Wang Yun from getting away, he hadn't wasted time fighting the armored soldiers. He'd simply carved a bloody path through them.
But now, every armored soldier outside the gate was dead. Their bodies lay sprawled across the ground, each charred black as if seared by something scorching hot. The air reeked of burnt flesh.
Jiang Tian's expression tightened.
Had something gone wrong?
But these were all camp soldiers. Whatever had happened, it could only work in his favor.
He didn't dwell on it and hurried to the Li Family as quickly as he could.
The Li Family was in utter chaos.
Servants clutched chests and lugged bundles, rushing back and forth across the courtyard. Vases had been knocked over, porcelain trampled underfoot, and debris littered the ground.
Li Yuanhao stood in the middle of the courtyard, frantic, barking orders until his voice cracked.
"Quick! Hurry! Those porcelain pieces take up too much space. Leave them all behind!"
"Master, what about these chests of gold?"
"Leave them! All of it!"
"The Heavenly Sun Sect's people are here! This was all a trap! That bastard Fang Ping set us up! While things are still unsettled—"
Li Yuanhao's voice abruptly cut off.
His eyes flew wide, and his mouth opened and shut as if someone had grabbed him by the throat.
Following his gaze, a servant carrying things across the Li Family courtyard could be seen with a thin golden line suddenly appearing across the middle of his face, stretching straight from left to right.
Then the top half of the servant's head slid silently away and dropped to the ground with a slap.
Blood gushed like a spring.
Li Yuanhao jerked around to look toward the entrance.
A young man was walking toward him, soaked head to toe in blood. A faint golden glow curled around his palm.
"Jiang Tian?!" Li Yuanhao cried out in shock, just about to speak.
A streak of golden light pierced through his brow.
It moved so fast he didn't even have time to scream.
Li Yuanhao felt warmth at the center of his forehead. Then a chilly breeze seemed to pour into his brain.
His vision went black. He swayed, then crashed to the ground.
Jiang Tian's gaze swept indifferently over the courtyard.
He'd developed this new technique while racing here.
He had to admit, with Heaven-Defying Comprehension enhancing him, he could think through martial arts at a stunning speed.
A brief turn of thought, and he'd grasped a new application. Since the Gold Qi drawn into his body by the Sharp Metal Brilliant Qi Gathering Method was incredibly keen, why not compress it into a line, a point, and bring its sharpness to the utmost?
Compress.
Concentrate.
Release.
As he savored the power of his new technique, an angry voice reached his ears.
"Jiang Tian?!"
"You killed my father?!"
Jiang Tian came back to himself and turned toward the voice. Li Batian stood there, clutching a wooden chest, the whites of his eyes bloodshot as he glared at Jiang Tian like a crazed bull calf.
"Die!"
He flung the chest aside and charged at Jiang Tian, force surging through his fist with a hint of Momentum.
Watching him charge, Jiang Tian had only one thought.
Was there something wrong with Li Batian's head?
He wasn't even going to run?
What a dutiful son.
Jiang Tian casually flicked out a streak of golden light. The keen Gold Qi sliced straight through Li Batian's body, splitting him neatly in two.
The two halves fell away in opposite directions, hitting the ground almost at the same time with two wet thuds.
Jiang Tian let all the Li Family servants go.
He was bloodthirsty, but not so bloodthirsty as to slaughter innocents.
But when it came to anyone surnamed Li, young or old, man or woman, he spared no one.
Fail to pull out the roots, and the spring breeze will bring them back to life.
The Li Family wasn't all that wealthy.
Jiang Tian searched the entire estate and found thirty thousand taels in banknotes, quite a bit less than the Wang Family had.
But they had plenty of silver in cash, and several chests of gold gleamed dazzlingly in the storeroom.
Jiang Tian already had plenty of banknotes on him, and carrying all that silver would be inconvenient.
So he simply gathered qi on the spot, sat cross-legged among the gold and silver, and circulated the Sharp Metal Brilliant Qi Gathering Method, drawing all the "qi" from the silver and gold into his abdomen.
As Gold Qi entered his body, the golden vortex in his dantian grew larger and spun faster, like a forming nebula, giving off a faint golden glow.
Once he'd finished gathering the qi, he struck out with a palm from a distance, shattering every trace of metal left behind and turning it into a carpet of gray powder.
Gold and silver crumbled to dust and scattered on the wind.
Just as he finished, a dense patter of footsteps reached his ears, drawing closer.
It was County Magistrate Fang Ping and his people. His master, Yuan Long, was among them, carrying several wounds, though his vitality and spirit seemed in good shape.
But Fang Ping wasn't at the front.
A young man and woman were.
They wore matching uniforms in different colors, one red and one blue. A large character for "fire" was embroidered on each of their chests, its strokes flamboyant, as if burned into the fabric by flames.
The man was handsome, and the woman striking. They walked side by side.
The man glanced around the Li Family courtyard. Seeing the bodies and the wreckage strewn everywhere, he frowned and covered his nose with distaste.
Then his gaze settled on Jiang Tian, sizing him up from head to toe.
He held out his hand, all five fingers spread, his eyes haughty and his tone carrying the matter-of-fact authority of a command.
"You've already ransacked the Li Family, haven't you?"
"Give me all the banknotes."
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