Panic Caused by the Corpses

As the three of them fell from the air to the ground, Lin Chuan had landed at least a dozen punches on each of them. The instant they hit the ground, they all vomited blood. Their injuries were so severe that they were nearly dead. Yet, strangely, not one of them had a single mark on their body!

Nearby, Qin Lang's mouth had long since fallen open in an O. He stared blankly as Lin Chuan took down three Qi Refining Stage level-three cultivators in an instant. As for Bu Lianshi, whether she was scared senseless or hadn't managed to react, she stood obediently where she was, bewildered, her beautiful eyes fixed on Lin Chuan without blinking.

Whoosh!

Lin Chuan let out a breath and lowered his fists. He was fairly satisfied with the results of his attacks. If his body hadn't been in such poor condition to begin with, his Gentle Fist would have been even more powerful. But he'd had only half a month to recover, so what he'd achieved was already quite impressive.

"You... you..." The three sprawled on the ground were utterly horrified. Looking at Lin Chuan's white hair and pale eyes, they seemed to be staring at a devil. They could clearly tell that their bodies had no external injuries at all, yet most of their internal organs had been crushed, their meridians completely severed, and they could no longer circulate spiritual energy.

This was the first time they had ever seen a technique that could so strangely attack meridians and internal organs. It would also be the last.

Lin Chuan flashed over to them. The Byakugan in his eyes slowly changed, his pale eyes gradually turning into a pair of sky-blue eyes—the Tenseigan!

A moment later, Lin Chuan gently laid a hand on one of them. Blue energy immediately streamed from his hand into the man's body. After a while, Lin Chuan frowned and put away the Tenseigan. He gathered whatever useful items the three had, then turned and left.

As expected, the chakra I absorb can't be stored. I can only use it immediately to attack or heal my injuries; otherwise, it disappears! That does match chakra's time-limited nature. In other words, once chakra has been refined, it'll disappear after about a second if I don't use it!

In the original Naruto, the Lightning Release Armor used by someone like the Fourth Raikage worked by constantly channeling lightning-transformed chakra over the surface of the body. Even as the armor was maintained, chakra was being continuously consumed.

Otsutsuki Toneri, who possessed the Tenseigan, also used chakra immediately after extracting it, or let it erupt directly. All of this showed that chakra couldn't be stored.

Lin Chuan had only wanted to test whether chakra in the cultivation world differed from chakra in the original series. It seemed the two were the same.

The Tenseigan's abilities are powerful, but unfortunately, there's very little I can use right now! Remote control of puppets and control over other people's minds, spatial abilities, summoning stone statues, gravitational and repulsive forces, Tenseigan Chakra Mode, and extracting other people's chakra—of these six abilities, the only one I can use right now is chakra extraction, and even that's a weakened version!

Lin Chuan shook his head helplessly. He paid no further attention to whether the three lying on the ground were alive or dead, and returned to Qin Lang. He helped close Qin Lang's hanging jaw, patted Bu Lianshi on the head, and released them both from their "paralysis."

"Lin Chuan, you... you're incredible..." Qin Lang finally came back to his senses. His gaze was full of admiration, but also touched with horror, because Lin Chuan's strength had gone beyond anything he could comprehend.

Bu Lianshi stared blankly at Lin Chuan, her thoughts unreadable. Her eyes trembled uncontrollably, revealing how shocked she was.

"Let's go. A fight broke out here, so we need to find another place quickly. Otherwise, we might attract some Spirit Beasts or something, and that would be trouble!" Lin Chuan led the two eight-year-old children, still reeling from shock, away at top speed in a safe direction, keeping his Byakugan active.

Not long after they left, three figures came bounding over to the three corpses. Two were children around eight years old, at Qi Refining Stage level three. The third was around nine, and a little stronger, at Qi Refining Stage level four.

"They're already killing one another? Isn't it a bit early for that?" one of them said.

"Some people come in without any supplies, like medicine or food. They're planning to rob the weak. By robbing and killing, they can get what they need and reduce the number of competitors at the same time. Why wouldn't they?" said another. He then searched the corpses on the ground and found, just as he'd said, that they had no food or other supplies.

"See? I told you I was right!" the boy said smugly to the one in front of him.

"Wait!" The Qi Refining Stage level-four boy's expression suddenly changed. He crouched down and began tugging at the three men's clothes.

The other two stared at their leader, who was stripping the corpses, looking baffled and unsure what to do.

"Don't you see something wrong?" the nine-year-old asked, his expression grim.

"What's wrong?" the two asked, their faces strange. They looked at the three naked corpses on the ground. Something did seem off, but they thought their leader's apparent interest in them was even stranger.

"There aren't any wounds on their bodies!" the boy said gravely.

"Could it have been poison, or a hidden weapon?" the two asked, puzzled. They crouched down too, checking the corpses for anything unusual.

Then their faces turned pale with horror. They stared at the three bodies in disbelief and stumbled backward. "Their internal organs and meridians are all crushed! Who did this? Why don't they have a single wound on them... this... this is terrifying..."

"Besides, all three were Qi Refining Stage level-three cultivators, yet they all died here. If all three weren't capable of using this bizarre technique, then they must have been killed by the same person. And that person's strength..."

The nine-year-old's expression was dreadful. He never would have imagined there was such a strange method—one that could directly attack meridians and internal organs without harming the body. His hair stood on end. Even he had no confidence that he could withstand such an attack.

The next moment, without another word, he grabbed his two companions. Spiritual energy surged through him as he whisked them away from this terrifying place.

"What kind of monsters are taking part in this assessment..." the boy muttered, swallowing hard as his pupils shrank.

In previous assessments, having a single Qi Refining Stage level-three cultivator in a group was enough to give it a good chance of passing. But this time, Qi Refining Stage level three seemed to be nothing more than an ant anyone could casually crush to death.

About a kilometer away, Lin Chuan, Qin Lang, and Bu Lianshi were resting in a tree. Lin Chuan's Byakugan had just witnessed everything that happened around the three corpses. He had even seen every word they said.

"They're pretty clever. Just from three corpses, they figured out so much. I'll have to remember to dispose of the bodies next time." Lin Chuan slowly closed his eyes and murmured to himself.