Demon Possession (Part 1)

The main gate was smashed open by a ball, revealing the interior of the Iron Oar Shop.

The semi-open counter had been brutally remodeled. Gloves, helmets, and iron rods were crammed into display cases that did not fit them, embedded in the walls. The rest area originally meant for customers had been turned into something like a dance hall, with a color-changing disco ball illuminating posters of scantily clad singers. In the center of the hall, several young men wielding blunt weapons were beating up a trembling old man, while spectators on the second floor cheered and mocked him.

"This is my shop..." the old man pleaded.

"You say it's yours, so it's yours? Huh? If you said you were my dad, would I have to kneel before you?!" A thug raised his club and struck him. "I told you not to spread rumors, old man! You're making things hard for us, idiot!" The thug viciously stomped on the old man's face. "But this place originally..." "Originally what, old man?! Say that again if you've got the guts, you dead fossil!!" the thug bellowed threateningly!

Chu Hengkong's hearing was excellent—good enough to catch the conversation inside before the door was broken down. The instant the iron gate flew open, everyone in the room turned their eyes toward him. The thug who had been shouting threats paused for a second, then continued as though nothing had happened. "See? Next, it'll be your—"

He did not get to finish. Chu Hengkong's tentacle suddenly lengthened, lashing out like a silver whip. Its tip struck the thug across the face, violently deforming his entire face like dough. The tremendous force, enough to warp steel, shattered his teeth and sent them flying. The blow was so fast and vicious that it hurled him into his companions. One thug after another was "stacked" by the immense force, until they all slammed into the shop wall at once!

Dust flew through the room, and the lights swayed violently. For a moment, the room fell utterly silent; the simple-minded brutes had yet to understand what had happened. Then the silver tentacle sprang out again, this time coiling around the injured old man. Having fallen to the ground, the old shopkeeper had avoided the previous lash. Now, thinking he was being attacked by a monster, he was so terrified he could barely speak. "Please... this place..."

"I know. This is your shop."

The old man froze. Only then did he clearly see the intruder's true form. He had not expected those tentacles to belong to a young man. The man's gaze could even be called gentle.

"Don't run around." Chu Hengkong gently set the old man down behind him. "The authorities have come to seek justice for you."

At last, the thugs in the room reacted. The spectators on the second floor hurriedly drew their guns, while the remaining three thugs on the first floor hastily pulled their blades and charged forward. Chu Hengkong drew the Silver-Eyed Tome from his coat and hurled it forcefully toward the second floor. The tome landed amid the crowd and smashed through the floorboards, drawing a chorus of screams. The impact descending from above sent the thugs crashing down to the first floor, like a giant boulder plunging into water and throwing up spray in every direction.

They were standing too close together, and their reactions were too slow. Even if these inexperienced punks rushed him all at once, Chu Hengkong did not fear them in the least. As he threw the tome, he stepped forward lightly on the balls of his feet. His tentacle contracted, then flashed past the first man's chin like lightning. It was like how he had shaken the gatekeeper's head earlier, instantly jolting the brain and robbing the enemy of all fighting strength.

The first man silently passed out. A step later, the second man, wielding a short knife, charged with an intimidating roar. Before he could swing, Chu Hengkong smashed his larynx with a punch and sent him sprawling. The last man was the one from earlier, dressed in rusty armor and sandals. He held a small pistol and stared at his companion on the ground, clutching his throat as though choking to death. His two hairy legs would not stop trembling.

Chu Hengkong curled his tentacle at him. The armored thug let out a shriek as piercing as a woman's. Tossing aside his pistol, he fled in a blind panic and pounded desperately on a tightly shut iron door. "Help! Boss Hugos! The tentacle demon is here to wreck the place!"

The entire iron door flew sideways, taking the armored man pounding on it with it, and smashed into the ceiling!

A pair of feet that could only be described as enormous stepped out amid the crumbling plaster. They belonged to a powerful, savage-looking man. He wore jeans and a floral shirt. An eyepatch covered his blind right eye, while venomous light gleamed in his remaining eye. As the one-eyed man flexed his fist, his knuckles cracked one after another. A black Iron Ring encircled his right arm—the very arm that had sent the iron door flying with a single swing.

"Looks like you're a newcomer from the Resurrection Corps." The one-eyed man, Hugos, stared at Chu Hengkong. "Your senior failed to die this afternoon, so now you've come to deliver your—"

Boom!

The gale scattered the gunpowder smoke, and a heavy footfall shook the ground. Chu Hengkong had no interest in listening to nonsense. In the blink of an eye, he was already before Hugos. As his right heel struck the ground, his right fist drove forward. The blow smashed into Hugos's chest like a heavy hammer, pounding both his drivel and threats back into his gut. Hugos was sent flying backward. He crashed straight through the wall and flew out of the shop!

Stomping shock, swinging hammer—basic Bajiquan training. The Foot Feint he had used to scare the fanatics earlier was merely a bluff. This low, heavy stomp was the true skill of his lower body. The stomping shock could attack an enemy's lower body, or rapidly close the distance. The recoil from striking the ground, combined with the cross-force of the punch, could turn a simple fist into a killing move.

This was Chu Hengkong's preferred opening stance. An opponent who could withstand it was worth taking seriously; anyone who could not survive a single punch was just small fry. This mission target, however, seemed to have some ability. He rose from the dust.

The one-eyed man's body twisted violently. His upper body rapidly swelled, his silhouette in the smoke savage as a beast.

"Boss..." "The chief's angry..." "We're dead, we're dead! Run!!"

The conscious thugs went pale. No one tried to help; each fled outside as fast as they could. Of course they feared Chu Hengkong, but they feared their own boss even more. If the tentacles struck them, their bones would break. But if they were caught up in their boss's battle... they would definitely die!

Amid the frantic fleeing crowd, Chu Hengkong stood as still as a mountain. He silently calculated the time. Two minutes and ten seconds had passed since he had started counting.

Would less than eight minutes be enough to deal with a "demon-possessed one"?

"You tentacle bastard, I'll slaughter you!!"

A foul gust blew away the smoke, fully exposing the savage, horrifying figure beneath the lights. It was a monster through and through! Hugos's legs had thickened threefold, and his height had surged to four meters. His entire upper body, head included, had mutated into a gigantic beast's head. His enlarged single eye sat in the center of that head. His thick arms had vanished completely, replaced by two dark-blue "tusks."

The monster reminded Chu Hengkong of the lion dances back home. With its top-heavy, bottom-light shape, it looked exactly like some otherworldly "elephant dance." But there was no festive cheer about this dancing elephant, only killing intent. It raised one tusk as thick as a small tree and smashed it down at Chu Hengkong.

Chu Hengkong contracted his tentacles around his waist to reinforce his center of gravity. He padded one step forward with his left foot, changed his right hand from palm to fist, and drove it diagonally upward. He neither retreated nor dodged Hugos's brute force, choosing instead to meet it head-on with a Skyward Palm. Flesh palm and tusk collided directly, and both men's stances sank at once under the contest of strength. Spiderweb cracks spread across the floor beneath Chu Hengkong's feet, yet he himself did not budge an inch beneath the enormous force.

He had actually endured it! With only one palm, he had blocked the demon's attack!

Even the watching thugs felt a surge of admiration, but Chu Hengkong did not relax in the slightest. Because he noticed the enemy's Iron Ring trembling. After the transformation, that ring had slipped around Hugos's tusk. At this moment, it emitted a pitch-black radiance, giving him the same feeling as the High Shaman's Pendant.

"—Enhance!"

The pressure in his hand instantly intensified. If he had previously been resisting a boulder, then now the tusk was like an entire iron mine attached to it. Chu Hengkong decisively withdrew his hand and leaped backward, but even though he had noticed the anomaly in advance, he was still half a beat too slow. Hugos's tusk crashed into the ground, smashing out a crater nearly three meters deep.

His perilous retreat barely avoided the direct blow, yet the excessive force created an invisible shockwave. It was like a savage sweeping strike, blasting the airborne Chu Hengkong away!