Shattering the False Idol

A towering fire blazed in the south, while the north shone as blindingly as the sun. The blast wave swept out from deep within the dense forest, nearly knocking over the residents around the settlement. Sharp-eyed people saw a blood-colored figure burst from the light, thrown onto the ground by the storm like a piece of trash. Yet the ominous glow remained, and Mud Glowing Corpses emerged one by one from the woods, silently crushing the hope in people's hearts.

"It's the end of the world," a despairing resident said. "The end has come."

The little confidence they had painstakingly gathered was ground away by the successive upheavals. Some people sobbed and cried out softly, while more stood stunned by the shock, utterly at a loss. At that moment, the armed cultivators appeared instead, vigorously shaking bell-like chimes. Great Wizard Adali had somehow climbed onto a rooftop, smiling at the bewildered people below.

"Pray. Chant my name," Adali said solemnly. "Do so, and calamity shall stay away. You shall receive peace."

So many people did as he said. As though desperately clutching at a straw that could save their lives, they knelt where they stood and prayed. "Adali." "Adali..." "Please save us, great Adali!" Their pleas were so humble, like weak commoners begging a god for grace. And the true culprit behind the disaster stood among the Glowing Corpses, openly accepting everyone's prayers.

But how could that be possible? Wasn't Great Wizard Adali fighting Chu Hengkong? Yes, this was merely a false illusion created with a Relic, meant to pull the rug out from under the Judgment Day plan... The real Adali stood in the northern part of the settlement, watching the battered human figure amid the ruins.

"I'll give you one word of praise, since you took measures exactly as I expected," the Great Wizard sneered. "But they were so crude and foolish it was almost laughable!"

A blood-soaked palm pressed against broken stone. Swaying as if he might collapse the next second, the gravely wounded Chu Hengkong rose to his feet. His right hand had been blackened by the high-temperature burns; stark white bones showed through the charred wounds, while tiny cuts had accumulated across his tentacles, silver blood flowing from them. A piercing wound in his left abdomen, bones shattered in their earlier clash, and the vicious poison still gnawing away at his life... Countless disadvantages had piled onto the assassin, yet he was still alive. He had survived the previous explosion.

Before the corpse explosion, Chu Hengkong had urgently leapt high into the air, using his final shred of strength to get away from the center of the blast. It was true that the mental attack had left him unable to control his body, but the body itself could still act autonomously. This was the precaution he had prepared before the battle: a conditioned reflex forged over three days. Once his rapidly moving body suddenly stopped, it would immediately leap away from the battlefield.

The countermeasure sounded utterly absurd, but Skillful Hands capable of controlling their bodies at the cost of their lives could employ such a mad fighting style.

However, merely escaping a fatal blow would not reverse the battle. In contrast to the miserable assassin, Adali was completely unharmed, in almost perfect condition. Chu Hengkong forced out a smile and stared at the blurred, distorted outline in the distance. "Why are you standing there? Afraid people will see your ugly true face?"

But Adali struck the ground with his staff. A Mud Glowing Corpse melted accordingly, wrapping around the Great Wizard's body like liquid clothing. With that, there was no visible difference between him and an ordinary Glowing Corpse. An expert like Chu Hengkong could distinguish the difference, but ordinary people could not. He had even accounted for such a minute oversight.

"That's why I said you're foolish beyond belief."

Adali coldly gave the order. The Mud Glowing Corpses that had come with him scattered and leapt forward like glowing insects hungry for flesh and blood. Left with no choice, Chu Hengkong retreated again. He swung his scarred tentacles, driving back the encircling Glowing Corpses like whips. But the Glowing Corpses that were struck lit up and exploded again!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Three more explosions erupted in succession. Chu Hengkong was blasted away by the shockwaves, crashing through two buildings before falling into the square of Deeproot Settlement. A bronze statue of Great Wizard Adali stood here. Outside the square, gathered residents were praying around the illusion. Upon seeing the flashes from the Glowing Corpse explosions, they thanked the Great Wizard's protection like madmen.

Adali maintained enough distance that Chu Hengkong had no chance whatsoever to approach him. He smiled smugly, his voice lowered to the barest whisper. He knew only Skillful Hands with highly developed hearing could hear him. "You should have hidden inside a building while you had the chance, but I knew you couldn't do it. Because you didn't want to accidentally hurt innocent people... And it is precisely that self-righteous arrogance that has decided your death!" Adali laughed disdainfully, scorning the assassin who opposed him and scorning everyone in the marsh.

There was nowhere left to hide. The assassin lay amid the ruins as Mud Glowing Corpses closed in. Chu Hengkong hurled out his tentacles with all his strength. Even at a time like this, he had not given up; he was still thinking of striking back. But the poison had completely damaged his senses. His tentacles lashed toward an empty side, and his final desperate counterattack failed to destroy even a single enemy. Mud Glowing Corpses swarmed over him. The collective corpse explosion was about to begin.

Blinding light shot out like swords, sweeping across everyone's eyes!

That light was not the precursor to a corpse explosion; the Glowing Corpses were not that fast. It came from blazing headlights. A deep-blue off-road vehicle roared through the wall and crashed into the enemy formation, moving so fast that the Glowing Corpses became mud beneath its wheels. The driver-side door stood wide open, and a thin hand gripped Chu Hengkong's tentacle tightly.

"Get in!" Jie An's voice was hoarse.

Chu Hengkong summoned his last strength and retracted his tentacles, climbing into the off-road vehicle an instant before the explosion. The detonation of the corpse pile blasted the vehicle into the sky! The Great Wizard had been completely wrong. Chu Hengkong had not refused to hide because he wanted to expose his own location. He had to make enough noise in an open space for the others to find him.

Realizing what had happened, Adali let out an enraged roar. The off-road vehicle bounced violently after landing, while Chu Hengkong lay in the passenger seat and burst into laughter. Jie An fumbled to shut the door. One hand drove while the other held a pestle, his voice trembling. "Laugh! You're fucking dying, and you're still laughing!"

"If I'm about to die... that's when I should laugh..." Chu Hengkong could not stop coughing, yet his eyes held savage delight. "Where are the others?"

"Ji Huaishu is fighting the fire-breathing monster. The others went to get reinforcements." Jie An's legs trembled without pause. He let go of the steering wheel and slapped his leg hard, but the hand holding the pestle continued moving inside the mortar without stopping for a moment. "You have to hold on! Say anything, just don't close your eyes!"

Chu Hengkong was still laughing, weakly and ugly, the muscles in his face nearly slipping out of control as death descended. "Why did you come?" He had not heard Jie An at all and continued the unfinished topic. "Too risky."

"When it comes to risking your life, you're not up yet." Jie An gritted his teeth. "This is my gold... my medicine!!"

He was the one who wanted gold most of all. Not merely to save Ji Qiufeng. Gold was the promise between him and his father; it was the meaning of his entire life. Everyone else was fighting with their lives on the line while he alone hid in the rear. What kind of bullshit was that supposed to be—doing his best?

This was his battlefield. It had nothing to do with assassins or knights. He, Jie An, was the one who most deserved to gamble his life!

The off-road vehicle rampaged through the city like a fierce beast. He kept the accelerator pressed down, smoothly shifting gears with one hand and changing direction at the limit time and again. The vehicle left the Mud Glowing Corpses far behind, yet did not injure a single civilian on the road. His driving skills were nothing short of divine, because he too was a Foundation of Point One. No matter how weak his talent was, the power to control tools and machinery had been carved into his blood.

Yet Jie An's expression grew heavier instead. The light faded in the rearview mirror, but a humanoid figure gradually enlarged. It was Adali, chasing them in person! He swallowed medicine again to stimulate the poison within his body. The joints of his legs bent backward, transforming into an ugly structure like insect legs. That mutated body granted him terrifying explosive power; he was even faster than the off-road vehicle. Every step Adali took left a deep footprint in the road, each heavy impact drawing closer like an unceasing funeral bell!

"Fucking monster. You call yourself a Foundation?" Jie An cursed.

He slammed down the pestle one last time, then shoved it and the mortar together into Chu Hengkong's arms. Chu Hengkong stopped speaking. Jie An could not afford to relax. He violently spun the steering wheel, trying to turn and shake off his pursuer, but Adali threw several purple poison needles. The needles were like venom-coated bullets, piercing the tires and punching through the vehicle's body before burying themselves deep in Jie An's hand and lungs.

He suddenly could not breathe. His vision shook constantly as though an earthquake had struck. The Great Wizard in the rearview mirror was still approaching. The car was about to stop. He knew he had no chance left. So he simply shifted into reverse and accelerated, crashing backward toward Adali instead!

Adali lightly leapt up, flipping over the vehicle and throwing poison needles again. Jie An's death struggle was useless. After veering forward for some distance, the off-road vehicle exploded. Adali stood far away, admiring the deaths of fools.

"Adali." "Adali..." "Adali!"

The foolish commoners were still praying, shouting his name at the illusion. The Great Wizard spread his arms wide and enjoyed the feeling of omnipotence brought by worship. This was the end of the farce. Just as Sang Jia had been driven into a remote backwater, just as Alex had been exiled to the Central District, all who opposed him would eventually be defeated—the fate of those who defied a god.

Everyone in the swamp worshiped gods, yet so-called idols were no more than phantoms in the eyes of fools. In this land of mutual self-deception, only one who ruled people's hearts was qualified to be called a god. There was only one god of dominion: him, Great Wizard Adali!

Yet at the very moment he should have been indulging himself, shock appeared in Adali's eyes. He saw a black outline emerge from the firelight. At the center of the ruins left by the explosion, the blood-soaked assassin stood up.

"Thank you," Chu Hengkong said quietly. "I feel much better."

He swallowed the last mouthful of medicine, and a cool current circulated through his body. His vision cleared, his sense of direction stabilized, the twisted elongated things returned to normal, and the light became yellow once more. Like a clear spring washing away accumulated foul poison, the vile toxins were uprooted completely. That miracle came from the spiritual medicine Jie An had desperately prepared along the way—the prescription every swamp dweller knew.

A panacea that cured wicked poison.

Chu Hengkong carefully put away the pestle, wrapped Jie An in his tentacles, and set him down in the distance. Poison needles flew at him from behind, and he evaded them with a slight tilt of his head.

The assassin turned and clenched his fist. His body became a streak of pitch-black light through sheer speed. In the next instant, a vengeful heavy punch tore through the air and smashed squarely into Adali's face!

Adali's vision plunged into darkness. Centered on his head, a perfectly circular shockwave spread outward vertically. That punch was astonishingly heavy. Adali was knocked straight to the ground. His body sank deep into the mud!

"You lowborn bastard!!" Adali roared as he rose. His Glowing Corpse disguise had been shattered on the spot, exposing his miserable true face to the air. Adali swung a hand blade laced with deadly poison, while Chu Hengkong drew back his right arm and met it with a tentacle lash. The sharp strike hit the wrist dead-on, completely seeing through the poison-stinger hand blade.

Adali calmly sidestepped backward, secretly channeling force to stimulate the poison within him. He saw that his enemy was preparing to Charge a punch. This was the perfect chance to poison him again. Yet the two fingers of Chu Hengkong's right hand, drawn back to his waist, flicked out. A Water Bullet struck Adali's shoulder first. The flesh on Adali's body convulsed. The stimulated poison burst from his body, baring venomous fangs, yet only shattered the Water Bullet. Then Chu Hengkong roared and punched. The heavy blow smashed the poison into pulp before shattering the Great Wizard's shoulder blade!

Adali howled in agonizing pain, and for the first time, incredulous bewilderment appeared in his eyes. Chu Hengkong remained expressionless. "Nothing but a cheap trick."

That vicious protective technique had been completely seen through. At its core, Adali was not a true fighter. The poison creatures' "counterattack" was merely an automatic defense mechanism formed through a programming-like pattern. So long as it was triggered first by a probing attack, it could be completely neutralized. A battle-hardened assassin would not be fooled by such cheap tricks.

Now victory and defeat could only be decided through real strength: Heart-Boring Poison Hand against Dragon Village Boxing. Adali leapt onto a rooftop as if flying, intending to widen the distance and wear down his enemy's stamina. But Chu Hengkong appeared on the rooftop at the same time as him. Their speeds were evenly matched. The two raced and leapt through Deeproot Settlement, using unarmed combat techniques to drain each other's stamina. One exchange... ten exchanges... thirty exchanges!

Adali launched a sideways spinning kick. Blade-like bone spurs grew from his shin, and Chu Hengkong countered with an identical spinning kick. At the moment their kicks collided, the crack of breaking bone rang out. Adali's right leg was broken on the spot!

This was only the natural result. Their strength was evenly matched, and Adali even held the advantage in speed and reflexes. But in the most crucial area—skill—the difference between them was as vast as heaven and earth. How could a fraud who had spent ten years deceiving hearts possibly defeat a battle-hardened assassin with fists and feet?

Adali's right leg bent at an unnatural angle as he rolled miserably across the rooftop. Chu Hengkong immediately pressed the attack, but without any warning, a wall of blue fire rose between them.

It was the top-hatted man's handiwork. Sensing that Adali was at a disadvantage, he intervened to change the battle. And the blue fire was not confined to one place. Chu Hengkong felt astonishing heat behind him. Five meters to his rear, the flames transformed into a savage giant bird's head and pecked toward his back. The firebird was as large as a car, yet as fast as a bullet. Even Chu Hengkong had to abandon the pursuit now, or the flames would pierce his heart.

But Chu Hengkong did not evade. He leapt with all his strength over the blue wall of fire. At the instant the firebird caught up, a golden shield of light appeared behind the assassin, blocking the fatal pursuit.

A moment later, a black sword-wind cleaved the firebird apart, and Ji Huaishu landed amid the spark-filled ruins. With her back to Chu Hengkong, she hoisted her greatsword onto her shoulder and exhaled scorching breath.

"I won't let anyone else interfere with your battlefield. Finish him like this!"

"—Leave it to me."

Thus, Chu Hengkong vaulted over the searing wall of fire. On the other side, Adali barely rose and struck toward the airborne assassin's heart. Chu Hengkong used his height advantage to answer with a Heel Drop. His heel smashed Adali's palm and kicked the Great Wizard off the rooftop.

At the same time, several gunshots shattered the prayers. Adali's illusion was pierced by bullets and vanished, while the armed cultivators were also knocked down by the enraged team members. Yet the action did not incite a riot, because an old woman stood among the crowd. She was Granny Sang Jia, brought here in an emergency.

"Look," Granny Sang Jia said, puffing out a cloud of smoke. The smoke spread above the people's heads, and clear images emerged within it. It showed Chu Hengkong, grievously wounded yet still fighting fiercely, and the ugly demon opposing him wore a face everyone recognized.

"The Great Wizard...?" "Lord Adali?" "Why would the divine envoy...?" "How can this be?" The crowd fell into chaos under the overwhelming shock, but Granny Sang Jia raised her staff high.

"Because Great Wizard Adali is the one who brought Light Poison," she said.

The scene nearly descended into madness. Some berated her for spreading wicked lies, while others cried out at the truth. But seconds later, the noise suddenly died down. In the smoke, people saw Adali raise his staff, golden light appearing around him.

"Don't get too full of yourself, brat!!!" Adali roared.

He had kept a tight grip on his stone staff all along, never releasing it even during the earlier fierce battle, because he needed to constantly command the Glowing Corpses. At this moment, that simple command took effect. Mud Glowing Corpses scattered throughout the city arrived around the battlefield, gathering again into a giant torch-like corpse pile. The immense Glowing Corpse's body blazed with light.

It was about to explode! The explosion of the torch corpse pile would be enough to level one-third of the settlement. Adali would rather drag countless innocent souls into the grave than fail to kill his enemy here. Chu Hengkong stopped. Rather than flee, he faced the corpse pile that was about to burst apart. He put a Charge Bracelet on his tentacle.

His wounds were still bleeding, but he spun his body with all his might as though he could not feel pain, exposing his defenseless back to the enemy. At the instant before the explosion, his rotating body snapped back into place. The Charge Bracelet activated at the same time, and the silver tentacle lashed out like light.

Clang!

It was like a hundred long arrows streaking across the sky, like a thousand blades leaving their sheaths at once. The thunderous roar of breaking through the atmosphere shook people's eardrums. In that instant, they saw a silver circle. It began at the heart of the torch corpse pile and expanded outward at the speed of sound. The corpse pile exploded with a crash, turning into mud rain that filled the sky!

This was the result of Chu Hengkong's arduous training. He used the power stored in the Relic as "fuel," built up force through the technique of rotation, and finally completed an ultra-fast lash with a flexible whip. A mud body could withstand thrusts and slashes, but it could not withstand lightning and thunder. The lightning-fast lash transmitted impact in every direction. The evenly dispersed power erupted at the same moment, shattering the Glowing Corpses that had originally feared no physical attack.

This was the ultimate technique made possible by the flexibility of his tentacles. Thunder Whip!

The corpse pile had been destroyed, directly interrupting the corpse explosion. The Great Wizard's final move had failed as well. Adali decisively withdrew. He leapt backward repeatedly, using the tremendous chaos of the disintegrating corpse pile to conceal himself. He could still wait for another chance. The faith of the people that he had cultivated for ten years would not be easily shattered. As long as his base remained, the Great Wizard would not die... But his steps abruptly stopped. A silver tentacle lashed out from the smoke and dust, wrapping precisely around his neck. It was sound-based positioning.

Adali breathed sharply, feeling fear for the first time in a long while. Then the blood-covered man emerged from the dust and smoke. His injuries were so severe that he looked as though he might die the next second, yet the fury in his eyes burned as hot as blazing fire.

"Enjoy this," the assassin said. "This is the last breath of your life!"

The tentacle surged. Adali was hurled into the sky by tremendous force. At that instant, he finally saw where he was. This was the central square of Deeproot Settlement, and directly beneath him stood his own bronze statue. Chu Hengkong used all his strength to smash the Great Wizard downward. Adali slammed into the statue, leaving an ugly dent, then crashed onto its pedestal.

The sudden impact squeezed all the air from the Great Wizard's lungs. He opened his mouth like a stranded fish, but could not breathe.

Because the assassin's iron fist had already arrived. Chu Hengkong lunged forward, his clenched heavy fist smashing into Adali's abdomen. The tremendous force made the bronze statue behind him tremble as well!

"Stop...! Stop..." Adali screamed in terror. "You cannot... offend... a god...!"

He desperately forced poison needles out from within his body, trying to drive Chu Hengkong's attack back with venom. But the assassin did not retreat a single step. He took the deadly poison head-on and punched through his own blood. His punches grew faster and faster, yet each one was heavier than the last. Those fists shattered the stone staff Adali used to protect himself, shattered the various poisons inside Adali's body, forced the ugly man to expel every breath from his lungs, and made him spit out venomous blood.

The tyrannical force traveled through Adali into the statue behind him, covering that great bronze idol in cracks. Chu Hengkong roared, pulling his right arm back like drawing a bow. With all the strength in his body, he delivered the final blow. He threw a fist like steel!

That punch pierced Adali's heart and shattered the tottering bronze statue. Before everyone's eyes, he smashed the false god!

Adali's upper body burst into purple flesh and blood, buried beneath the ruins created by the collapsing statue. Chu Hengkong spat out blood, casually wiped the corner of his mouth, and accepted his coat from the team members rushing over, draping it over himself.

"Mission complete," he said.