In My Name, Burn My Wrathful Flame

Chen Xu stood at Lin Qi's bedside, quietly watching him for a moment.

A moment later, perhaps because of some strange connection between them, Lin Qi's tightly shut eyes suddenly began to tremble.

He struggled, as though he were about to wake up!

Just then, Chen Xu shot out a hand like lightning and plucked three stray hairs from beside Lin Qi's temple.

At the same time, his palm covered the area above Lin Qi's eyes, making it seem as though he were concerned for him and checking the temperature of his forehead.

This motion concealed Chen Xu's act of pulling out the hairs, while also pressing heavily upon Lin Qi's eyes just as they were about to open.

Xu Wenyuan, squeezed beside Chen Xu at Lin Qi's bed, said emotionally, "Brother Chen, your concern for Brother Muxian is far more genuine. Brother Muxian's friendship with you all these years was not misplaced."

Because of the strange look on Lin Qi's face, Xu Wenyuan was deeply worried about him, but truthfully, he did not dare reach out and touch him.

Seeing Chen Xu act this way, Xu Wenyuan was at once moved and ashamed.

Chen Xu smiled faintly.

No one knew that Lin Qi's eyes were trembling as he struggled madly.

Yet his struggles were utterly useless. The slender palm pressing over his eyes and forehead seemed to exert no force at all, yet somehow carried an indescribable sense of oppression.

Like a towering mountain, like an ancient furnace descending upon the mortal world at this very moment, it held him firmly beneath boundless darkness.

Lin Qi was furious, terrified, and filled with hatred. He wanted to scream, to warn his family and friends that Chen Xu was the true culprit behind his suffering.

But he was suppressed too completely, as though his whole body had sunk deep into a pitch-black mire.

He could only remain awake in agony, letting his enemy stand beside him while his relatives and friends took that villain for a good man!

He heard his mother, Madam You, ask expectantly, "Nephew, have you discovered anything? You scholars have seen much and learned much. Can you tell what illness has befallen Qi'er?"

Then the "villain" Chen Xu put on an act and answered with a sigh, "I am sorry. Brother Lin's sudden illness is truly strange and difficult to understand. I am shallow in learning and lacking in talent; in the end, I can do nothing."

Madam You was overcome with grief and could not help sobbing. "It is not your fault. It is only that my poor son... sob..."

Xu Wenyuan and the other classmates hurriedly began consoling Madam You from all sides, utterly forgetting Lin Qi, the actual patient, lying there.

With so many people around him, not one of them noticed that Chen Xu was harming him!

Lin Qi could only feel, in fury and terror, his consciousness struggling, crying out, and sinking ever deeper into the abyss of darkness.

If his cries had possessed sound, they would surely have burst the eardrums of the entire world by now—

Just then, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.

It was Lin Qi's servant, announcing joyfully, "Madam, Daoist Master Xuanjing of Qiyun Temple has arrived! Master has invited him back!"

Lin Qi was overjoyed.

Madam You exclaimed in delight, "Quick, quickly invite the Daoist Master inside!"

The next instant, a finger descended like a falling boulder and pressed fiercely against Lin Qi's brow. All his wild joy was swallowed by darkness with that single press, and he lost consciousness.

Lin Qi hated!

Outside the room, several sets of footsteps drew closer and closer.

Madam You was anxious and hopeful as she hurriedly said to the people from the County Academy, "My apologies, everyone. We truly have no other choice. We have invited every renowned physician nearby, yet none could treat Qi'er's illness. We have long heard that Qiyun Temple's incense offerings are efficacious and that Daoist Master Xuanjing possesses great divine powers. That is why Qi'er's father went to invite him personally. Fortunately, he has come."

The students understood the unspoken meaning and quickly said, "It is naturally best if such an expert has come. An expert will surely need peace and quiet to perform his arts, so we ought to step aside."

Madam You had someone lead the students out. Of course, they were not sent away directly; servants led them instead to a pavilion in the garden of the Lin Residence.

Everyone was deeply concerned about Lin Qi's condition and wanted to wait here for the outcome.

As they left, the students came face-to-face with a group walking along the covered corridor and passed them by.

Chen Xu's gaze fell upon the gaunt black-robed Daoist in the middle, and his brow twitched faintly.

The instant he saw this man, a subtle pressure suddenly surged into his heart.

The Daoist seemed to sense something as well, for he turned and looked toward the students.

Chen Xu's thoughts stirred, and he immediately stowed the three hairs clenched in his palm inside Embers Kitchen.

The moment those three hairs had been pulled out, they had gained an entry: [Parting Hair, after being calcined, can be ground into Blood Remainder Charcoal. It may be taken internally or applied externally and has an extremely slight hemostatic effect...]

Chen Xu had needed to use the hairs to suppress Lin Qi earlier, so he had not placed them in Embers Kitchen. But now that the Lin Family had truly invited an expert, Chen Xu immediately used Embers Kitchen to seal the hairs away into the void.

The black-robed Daoist frowned. Lin Qi's father hurriedly asked, "Daoist Master, is something wrong?"

Daoist Master Xuanjing furrowed his brows slightly, seemingly puzzled. Yet after a moment, he still shook his head. "Nothing. Perhaps my senses were mistaken."

Chen Xu suppressed the fluctuations in his heart and recalled what Mr. Zhou had said: once he used the karmic thread to cast the spell and slay Lin Qi's divine soul from afar, Lin Qi's soul would vanish completely like it had been scorched by the blazing sun.

Once Lin Qi's divine soul was destroyed, the karma between them would be settled.

From then on, no trace would remain upon this thread, and all the fortune Chen Xu had originally had drained away by Lin Qi through the Head Exchange technique would return in full.

Chen Xu watched Lin Qi's father and the others crowd around Daoist Master Xuanjing as they entered Lin Qi's room, and before he knew it, he had fallen behind the other students.

The group passed through the covered corridor. Ahead, flowers and trees flourished in scattered profusion, and the little garden led into secluded depths. Their previously heavy moods all improved somewhat.

Several students discussed, "Now that the Lin Family has invited an expert like Daoist Master Xuanjing, Brother Muxian is surely saved."

Yet no one knew that Chen Xu, lingering behind them, opened his palm to reveal three more strands of black hair.

He stared at them and silently recited, "Heaven and earth endure, all things bear karma. Where there is evil, there must be retribution... In my name, burn my wrathful flame—ignite!"

As the words fell, a transparent flame nearly identical to the daylight around them spouted from his mouth.

In an instant, it burned the three black hairs in his palm to nothing, leaving not the slightest trace behind.

Up ahead, a student suddenly said, "Strange. Why does the sun feel especially hot today?"

His words had barely fallen when a heaven-shaking cry of grief erupted from Lin Qi's room behind them. "Qi'er! Qi'er! My son! What has happened to you?"

The students hurriedly turned around in surprise and looked back.

Chen Xu also turned around, listening to the anguish and grief spilling from that room.

Lin Qi's father cried out in alarm, "Daoist Master Xuanjing, is my son dead? Th-this... how could this happen?"

Daoist Master Xuanjing's voice was perfectly calm. "I arrived one step too late. There was nothing to be done."

"No, I do not believe it! When we entered just now, Qi'er was still breathing. How could he, in the blink of an eye..."

"Are you questioning me?"

The commotion in the room abruptly fell silent.