The Final Battle Begins

The three of them returned to the mortuary in a daze. Xu Rongyu collapsed to the ground, while only Lin Heier and Wu Pifu briefly explained what had happened outside.

Over a hundred mounted bandits had been almost completely wiped out. Even Xu Zhenshan, the chief of the Yanshan Screeching Harrier, was missing, dead or alive... No, judging by the situation, Xu Zhenshan was almost certainly dead... No, he had almost certainly become a paper person.

"...Mr. Xu Zhenshan roamed Xuanhua Prefecture and beyond the passes for over twenty years. He was a renowned master in the north, yet I never expected him to fall here," Lin Heier said mournfully.

Wu Pifu did not know how to comfort Xu Rongyu. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Xu Rongyu, my condolences. You can still inherit your father's legacy. You said before that your father had several thousand bandits under him. Only a hundred or so died here. Your father should have trusted confidants or something, right? Once you return, you can keep doing the promising work of being a mountain bandit or mounted bandit."

Lin Heier looked at Wu Pifu in astonishment. Xu Rongyu, who had been weeping bitterly, had a twitching mouth. Even Yamadai and Xu Shilan felt their faces redden.

Yamadai said bluntly, "Wu, if you don't know how to comfort someone, then don't speak."

Xu Shilan also said, "In this era, anyone who could arrive on horseback while carrying firearms had to be Xu Zhenshan's trusted core men. He may have commanded thousands, but he probably had no more than a few dozen true confidants. I was already very surprised to hear that there were more than a hundred of them. That proves Xu Zhenshan had a strong hold over his forces. But once these core men are gone, Xu Rongyu will likely have nowhere to be buried if he returns."

Wu Pifu froze, then looked at Xu Rongyu in shock. "No, you're mounted bandits, not an imperial court. You have internal power struggles too?"

Everyone stared at Wu Pifu speechlessly. It was the first time they had realized that he could be so utterly lacking in common sense.

That was because Wu Pifu had read too many unreliable novels, the sort where someone commanded five hundred thousand cavalry on the frontier, then immediately knelt and surrendered power the moment the emperor sent down an edict, only to be falsely accused and die afterward...

Lin Heier said to Xu Rongyu, "Brother Xu, if you don't mind, come back to Tianjin with me after this battle. Whether it is the Boxer Movement or the Red Lantern Society, we are all friends. You will have a place to settle."

Xu Rongyu buried his head in pain and still said nothing.

Wu Pifu spoke at that moment. "Let's survive this first... Forget the unlucky talk. Let's talk reality. Those paper people have become stronger."

Everyone fell silent.

There was no doubt that the paper people had truly grown stronger. They had begun displaying supernatural abilities. Their ghost wall had been enough to prove it: they had run for seven or eight minutes over what should have been a short distance. The crucial part was that, aside from Wu Pifu, none of the others had even noticed. That was terrifying. If they had fallen into that situation, they would likely have been no different from the mounted bandits.

They could be devoured or transformed by the paper people without even realizing it.

Lin Heier raised this concern immediately, but after thinking it over, she refuted herself. "That should not be possible. A master's Yin-Yang Eyes, or Wisdom Eyes, allow us to see the paper people. Whether one sees them, whether one notices them at the first encounter, is extremely important. In Buddhism, this is called awareness—an awakening of the heart. Senior Xu likely fell victim to their trick because he never noticed any of this. Otherwise, with Senior Xu's abilities as a master, escaping would not have been a problem."

Xu Shilan shook her head. "But from your descriptions, it is clear that the paper people are becoming stronger, and not slowly either. That much is certain. They have now killed more than a hundred people. Some became new paper, while the old paper people devoured wandering souls and wild ghosts, then devoured these living people as well. How powerful will they become?"

Yamadai added from the side, "Don't forget that Xu Zhenshan also became a paper person. He was a master, as you call them. What abilities will he possess after becoming a paper person? How strong will he be? That is still unknown."

That was also one of the things weighing most heavily on Wu Pifu and Lin Heier.

They were both Dark Force martial artists, so they naturally understood the enormous gap between Dark Force practitioners and ordinary people. Calling it complete domination would not be an exaggeration. Yet paper people transformed from ordinary people were already not something they dared touch carelessly. What about paper people transformed from Dark Force martial artists?

Xu Shilan continued, "There is another strange thing. Don't you think it has been too quiet these past few days?"

Everyone turned to look at her. Xu Shilan spread her hands. "More than a dozen paper people attacked us. Even if they fear fire, you all saw how slowly they burn. And what about us? Apart from Wu Pifu and Lin Heier, you two—or perhaps Yamadai as well—only three out of five of us have any fighting ability. Faced with more than a dozen paper people, we could only flee toward the back mountain. So why did those paper people run away at first? And why have they not entered the mortuary these past few days?"

Wu Pifu immediately said, "You mean... those wandering souls and wild ghosts?"

Xu Shilan nodded. "What the Magic Conch said may not have been misleading us, nor was it necessarily trying to harm us. Staying away from the living and close to the dead may truly have allowed us to fight these paper people. The paper people are not only enemies of the living, but enemies of the dead as well. Unfortunately, we reacted too slowly. Most of the wandering souls and wild ghosts have already been devoured, and we also lack any effective means to communicate with them. So now, all that remains is us, fighting alone."

Everyone felt another weight settle in their hearts. Wu Pifu stood and headed toward the side hall.

Everyone watched him. Lin Heier followed Wu Pifu toward the side hall as well, and Yamadai asked, "What are you doing?"

Without turning back, Wu Pifu said, "We missed our chance with the wandering souls and wild ghosts. Now the paper people have grown stronger again. Their all-out attack will probably come today or tomorrow. Even if it's cramming at the last minute, I need to master Lotus-Seated Force as quickly as possible. Otherwise, we will not even have the strength to fight."

Xu Rongyu had raised his head and sat up by then. Hearing this, he said in alarm, "We can run toward the back mountain. Brother Wu and I already scouted out the route before, didn't we?"

Only then did Wu Pifu turn his head slightly. He shook his head helplessly. "That was before. Those paper people moved slowly, like ordinary people walking. We could hide and run. Didn't you see what happened today? Those paper people can already float through the air. They are even slightly faster than ordinary people running. If we really run for the back mountain, Lin Heier and I might last a little longer. But what about the rest of you? You would all die before running three li, and then it would be my turn."

After saying that, Wu Pifu entered the side hall without looking back. Lin Heier followed him silently, carefully observing the stance he assumed and meticulously pointing out its flaws.

That night, the others only slept fitfully, waking in fright from time to time.

Wu Pifu and Lin Heier did not sleep at all. They spent the entire night trying to comprehend Lotus-Seated Force.

The more Wu Pifu studied it, the more marvelous he found Lotus-Seated Force to be.

His complete Tiger Demon Art contained a vague description of Dan Force.

It was an achievement reached after attaining Transforming Force, when the entire body had been trained to complete transparency. Not even a feather could be added, not even a fly could land; one could restrain one's strength within an inch of the skin's surface.

The external path of traditional martial arts effectively reached its limit at Transforming Force. To advance further, one could only seek inward. That was Dan Force.

One guided one's own qi and blood to a certain acupoint within the dantian, thereby forming the so-called "Golden Dan," or Dan Force. In essence, it was the achievement of a traditional martial artist completely controlling the direction and circulation of their own qi and blood. Once one reached Dan Force, one's control over qi and blood would attain an inconceivable realm, producing all manner of changes: further growth of the physical body, refinement, purification, recovery, and more.

At the same time, a Dan Force martial artist could unleash more than ten times the explosive power of a Transforming Force grandmaster in an instant. They could also control that tremendous power with minute precision, displaying abilities that seemed almost supernatural, such as squeezing iron into mud or blowing a cup into powder.

Naturally, Wu Pifu had no possibility whatsoever of achieving Dan Force at present. Even if he tried to forcefully condense his qi and cross-sit, his qi and blood would certainly flow in reverse, killing him outright during the process of condensing the dan. He had not even discovered the acupoint needed to form the Golden Dan yet.

But Lotus-Seated Force took another path. It did not require one to truly condense a dan. Instead, it simulated a dantian acupoint for condensing a dan, creating a false dan for a short time before unleashing it rapidly. It allowed one to use roughly ten to twenty percent of the power and control of true Dan Force, exhausting the condensed qi and blood of the false dan.

This caused great harm to the body, but it would not damage one's foundation. With slow nourishment over time, one could still recover. Furthermore, the qi and blood condensed within the false dan would not cause depletion or reverse flow when it erupted. One could even use the false to seek the true, gaining insight into Dan Force cultivation. It was of tremendous benefit even for achieving Transforming Force.

Nothing happened through the night. Early the next morning, Xu Shilan began preparing breakfast. She turned all the remaining ingredients into food and piled the table high with it. No one was in the mood to talk. They simply sat around the table and ate in great mouthfuls.

After the meal, Xu Rongyu pulled himself together and began helping Yamadai make throwing weapons. Xu Shilan silently checked the oil, made torches, and placed them in suitable locations. At the same time, she repeatedly patrolled the entire mortuary's ignition points.

Everyone knew the final battle was about to come. Even Wu Pifu, Yamadai, and Xu Shilan no longer entertained any hope of dragging things out for five more days.

The paper people would not let them live for five days. Either they would eliminate the source of the paper people and survive together, or everyone would die in the coming siege. There was no third possibility!

Morning passed, then noon, then dusk. The anticipated paper people attack did not come, but the weight in everyone's hearts only grew heavier. Then, as the sun set and the final ray of sunlight vanished, crying, howling, and shouting rose from all around the mortuary.

"Senior Sister, where are you?"

"Senior Sister, we have all ascended to immortality and bliss. We have gone to the True Emptiness Homeland. Why won't you come with us?"

"Rongyu, your father has finally attained the Dao. Come out quickly and follow me to the heavenly realm."

"It hurts so much! Don't kill me..."

"My money is all here. Spare my wife and children..."

"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts..."

A thin mist spread through the mortuary, and indistinct figures appeared within it.

They were not paper people, but humanoid creatures with blank expressions, their features outlined in black lines. They wore the same vacant smiles, pushing the uncanny valley effect to its limit.

Ten, a hundred, a thousand...

More than a thousand humanoid figures emerged from the mist, all stiffly walking toward the mortuary!