Serpent-Transforming Force

"How ignorant."

Peng Huo sneered and reached into his robe, pulling out a palm-sized bronze cup. Its surface was mottled and uneven, as though it had been weathered by the passage of years.

"Not long ago, I came here, and those idiot villagers actually dug up a bronze cup left behind by an ancient sect. Then I discovered that this bronze cup possessed two abilities. One was refining and controlling Corpse Wraiths. I tested it on these villagers, and the results were excellent. As for the other ability..."

Tested it on the villagers?

What a beast.

Lin Nan and the other two darkened.

Peng Huo licked his lips as he looked at them, as though they were delectable prey.

"The other ability is condensing Mysterious Yin Blood."

"Mysterious Yin Blood? You mean Mysterious Yin Blood?" Yu Qianqian's expression changed in shock.

"You know about Mysterious Yin Blood?" Lin Nan asked curiously.

Yu Qianqian nodded slightly. "I heard my father mention it. Mysterious Yin Blood is a sacred medicine of the martial path that once circulated in Ancient Western Shu. Rumor has it that a single drop can equal years of a martial artist's bitter cultivation, and may even help the human body break through martial bottlenecks."

"That's right. Refine the essence blood of six qi-and-blood experts together, and Mysterious Yin Blood can be condensed." Peng Huo sighed. "My talent in the martial path is mediocre. I'm already twenty-nine this year. If I still can't break through the Qi and Blood Realm, I'm afraid I'll have to spend my entire life in this shithole of an outer city..."

"Why? Why have people younger than me all been promoted? I've obviously worked so hard!"

As soon as he finished speaking, veins bulged across Peng Huo's face. His hardened qi and blood surged from within his body, while rings of white vapor seeped from his pores.

"By refining the essence blood of six qi-and-blood martial artists together and using the bronze cup's yin-gathering effect, one drop of Mysterious Yin Blood can be condensed. So, for the sake of my martial path, please... all of you die!"

Bang!

The earth beneath Peng Huo's feet abruptly exploded. Hardened qi and blood protected his body as he shot toward Lin Nan like a blur.

Before coming here, he had already investigated. Lin Nan and the Xu siblings were the weakest members of the group, merely at the first level of qi and blood.

Yu Qianqian and Xiong Hui were at the second level of qi and blood, making them slightly more troublesome to handle.

Of course, one squeezed the softest persimmon first. He would kill the weakest, Lin Nan, then slowly deal with the rest! Even a lion used its full strength to hunt a rabbit.

"Lin Nan, dodge!"

Yu Qianqian and Xiong Hui hesitated no longer and immediately attacked Peng Huo from behind with their swords.

Peng Huo twisted aside to evade, snorted coldly, and swung his saber backhandedly. Two strikes crashed respectively against Yu Qianqian's and Xiong Hui's sword blades, producing a piercing clash of metal.

Yu Qianqian and Xiong Hui felt immense force travel up their swords, numbing the webs between their thumbs and forefingers. Before either could react, Peng Huo kicked them both flying.

They slammed viciously into trees.

"It's over..." Yu Qianqian's face was full of despair.

Peng Huo was far too strong, only one step away from the Skin-and-Flesh Realm.

Even if Zhou Yi were still here, he would only barely be able to contend with him. Let alone the two of them?

"Die."

Peng Huo's momentum did not slow. In an instant, the steel saber in his hand came roaring down straight at Lin Nan's head.

"Sigh, why did you have to force my hand?" Lin Nan stepped forward. Rather than meeting force with force, he lightly twisted his waist and hips. His entire body softened like a white snake, evading Peng Huo's lethal strike.

"Oh? A few flashy moves." Peng Huo halted sharply, violently flipped his wrist, and turned the saber's chop into an upward slash in an instant.

Breaking Gate Saber!

Tongue-Thrust Baleful Intent!

Lin Nan directly tossed aside his steel saber. He had never been skilled with a saber, and using one would only limit his strength.

His arms lashed out like white snakes, wrapping precisely around the blade. The force of Tongue-Thrust Baleful Intent hidden within his fists burst forth like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.

Smack!

Power erupted!

In an instant, the steel-forged blade shattered on its own at the point where Tongue-Thrust Baleful Intent had erupted!

Force penetrating within, hidden without showing itself—this was hidden force!

"Hidden force? No, that's not right. You're not at the first level of qi and blood. You're at the third level of qi and blood!!" Feeling the robust qi and blood erupting from Lin Nan's body, Peng Huo's expression changed drastically.

Without reaching the third level of qi and blood, a martial artist could not use hidden force. This brat had concealed himself deeply!

"Even if you're a third-level qi-and-blood expert, why hasn't your condition deteriorated after killing so many Corpse Wraiths just now?"

This should have been impossible. He had investigated before coming here. This brat had clearly only entered the school a little over two months ago—how could he possibly be at the third level of qi and blood?

"Whether you're at the third level of qi and blood or not, you still have to die!" Peng Huo's expression gradually turned savage. He thrust out both fists, gathering the qi and blood throughout his body like white waves atop them, then smashed forward with brute force.

Thousand-Kilogram Drop!

He intended to use the iron bones forged through hardened training as a constable of the yamen to crush through Lin Nan's snake-form footwork head-on.

Serpent-Transforming Force!

Lin Nan's legs stood like pillars, while his arms coiled like white snakes. His qi and blood condensed into force, faintly wrapping his body in a layer of soft, yielding energy.

This was the force born after the White Snake Fist had reached major mastery!

With Lin Nan's current qi and blood, he could only unleash Tongue-Thrust Baleful Intent's hidden force five times and Serpent-Transforming Force twice in a day.

Bang!!

The two forces collided, detonating a thunderous blast even in the air.

Peng Huo felt his thousand-kilogram brute force strike something like a sponge. It was instantly dismantled and dissolved, with most of its power falling into empty air.

"Force energy—this is force energy! Impossible! This is force energy that can only be born by training an ordinary martial art's external techniques to perfection. Usually, only Skin-and-Flesh Realm martial artists can truly master it. How could someone your age possess such a fist art? This makes no sense!!"

Peng Huo screamed in fright.

Before he could recover from his shock, Lin Nan suddenly exerted force through his arms, twisting Peng Huo's arms like a braided rope.

"Ah!"

Peng Huo let out a miserable scream.

Crack.

Lin Nan's fist momentum did not lessen. One punch crashed down, caving in Peng Huo's entire chest.

Several dozen breaths later.

Peng Huo lay on the ground, his face covered in blood, barely clinging to life. He could only watch as Lin Nan kept taking the bronze cup and every valuable item from his body.

"Ha... ha..." He kept gasping.

"The winner becomes king, the loser a bandit. If you've got the guts, kill me!"

"Kill you?" Lin Nan smiled. "Why would I personally kill a yamen constable? Wouldn't that just be asking for trouble?"

"Looks like you're afraid the yamen will investigate too," Peng Huo sneered.

In his eyes, Lin Nan, a third-level qi-and-blood disciple, had disguised himself as a newly promoted inner disciple of a martial school. He must have some other secret that could not see the light of day.

"Whether you die by my hand or by the demons and Corpse Wraiths in these woods, who can truly make that clear?" Lin Nan smiled carelessly.

Those indifferent words gave Peng Huo a sudden fright.

"No, you... you can't do this. Please, give me a quick death!"

Peng Huo begged, "I... I was wrong. I'm a dog... Please... give me a quick death!"

"I'll ask you one final question. If you answer honestly, I'll give you a quick death." Lin Nan said coldly, "Since you slaughtered all twenty-odd households in Withered Locust Village six months ago, why did you leave the village chief alive? Did you have some sort of deal?"

"Left... left him alive? H-how could that be!" Peng Huo said with difficulty, blood filling his mouth.

"The... the village chief was killed by me long ago."

The village chief had died long ago?

A chill suddenly rose up Lin Nan's spine.

"Impossible. Then who was the person we saw yesterday afternoon?"

"I... I don't know either... When I sent him out yesterday... he disappeared in the blink of an eye..."

As he spoke, fear surfaced on Peng Huo's face as well.

"I... I clearly remember killing him with my own hands... I even chopped him into pieces."

"Lin... Lin Nan..."

At that moment, Yu Qianqian suddenly cried out from not far away.

"Xiong Hui! Xiong Hui is gone!"

Lin Nan turned around and saw a complete set of martial clothes lying lightly where Xiong Hui had fallen earlier. But Xiong Hui himself had vanished at some point.

He swiftly scanned the surroundings and discovered that, at some unknown moment, the entire forest had become incomparably silent. The insects and birds that had been chirping seemed to have vanished in an instant, leaving only boundless gray mist.

"Go, leave now! Otherwise, we'll all die!" Lin Nan's pupils abruptly contracted. At this point, even a fool could tell that something was wrong.

Yu Qianqian instantly came to her senses as well. The two exchanged a glance, not daring to linger, and immediately sprinted along the narrow goat path they remembered.

"No... you promised me... you'd give me a quick death... You lied to me..."

Peng Huo lay on the ground, watching the two figures grow farther and farther away. His face turned ashen. He desperately struggled to rise, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not stand.

"Hee... heehee..."

Not long after Lin Nan and Yu Qianqian left, mist shrouded the entirety of Withered Locust Village. A peal of laughter, clear as silver bells, drifted from the forest.

The despair on Peng Huo's face deepened...

"No!!!"