Rumble!
A roar seemed to rise from within Qin Zheng's body.
Vast power surged wildly through him like a great river bursting through a broken dam.
After this latest increase, Qin Zheng now possessed three thousand catties of immense strength!
This was power enough to rival a martial artist in the Bone-Refining Realm!
But at the same time, his muscles, bones, internal organs, and entrails all let out cries of agony beneath the unbearable burden.
Such tremendous power had already surpassed the limit Qin Zheng's body could withstand!
He could feel every organ in his body beginning to ache sharply beneath the crushing, scouring force.
Yet beneath the fury in his heart and the exhilaration of his increased strength, that pain was temporarily forced down.
Qin Zheng took a single stride and instantly arrived before Shi Dian.
Shi Dian was quickly climbing back to his feet.
Qin Zheng's previous punch had not yet received another boost and contained only two thousand catties of force, so it had not inflicted any severe injury upon Shi Dian.
The reason Shi Dian had been sent flying with one punch was mainly because Qin Zheng's strength had startled him, causing him to lose focus for a moment.
Thus, when Qin Zheng approached again, Shi Dian cried wildly, "Good, good, good! Who would have thought that a mere executioner from Black Goose City would be a hidden martial arts expert!"
"Today, Shi shall see just how high and mighty this expert of yours truly is!"
Shi Dian let out a long howl. Golden light blazed all over his body, making him resemble a gleaming golden cicada.
He threw another punch at Qin Zheng.
But before that punch had even traveled halfway, a hand seized it once more.
"You? Ah!!!"
This time, he could feel that the palm of his opponent contained strength even greater than his own.
Under that force, his fist was instantly crushed into a mangled lump, its sinews and bones shattered!
Shi Dian abruptly let out a howl of pain.
He immediately tried to break free from Qin Zheng, but before strength that vastly exceeded his own, he could not move even an inch!
Qin Zheng's expression was icy as he controlled the vast, roaring power surging within him.
His body would not hold up; it could not withstand a punch from Shi Dian.
Therefore, if he wanted to kill the other man under such circumstances, he could only use even greater strength to crush him outright!
That was also why Qin Zheng had risked increasing the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill again!
"Tell me, then—what is a worthless, lowly thing?!!"
Qin Zheng bellowed fiercely at Shi Dian.
Then he tightened his grip again, crushing Shi Dian's right hand—bones and flesh alike—into a mass of minced pulp that instantly burst apart!
The ten fingers connected to the heart. Such an injury made Shi Dian unleash an even more miserable howl.
Qin Zheng did not give him another chance to struggle. He clamped a hand onto Shi Dian's shoulder, then began punching him in the chest again and again.
Bang!
"Say it! What is a lowly thing?!"
Bang!
"Say it! Tell me, damn it!!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Qin Zheng felt his entire body burning hot, his blood boiling, as his fists struck Shi Dian's chest without pause.
Bang!
Splat!
When he threw another punch, his entire arm suddenly punched through Shi Dian's chest, and blood immediately poured onto the ground like spring water.
Qin Zheng stopped, panting, and yanked his arm free.
Shi Dian was already dead. His eyes were wide open, filled with unwillingness and struggle.
Qin Zheng tossed his corpse onto the ground.
His entire arm was covered in muddy, sticky blood and gore.
He raised his other hand and brushed the fragments of heart from his arm.
Then he crouched down and searched through Shi Dian's belongings.
Before long, he found two banknotes, each worth one thousand taels.
Next, he found a white jade bottle containing several pills that radiated dense blood qi.
Finally, Qin Zheng found something like a piece of leather, covered in writing. At its very top were several striking words.
Great Sun Golden Cicada Skill!
This was the cultivation method that old bastard Shi Dian had practiced!
Qin Zheng's eyes lit up, and he swiftly tucked it into his clothes.
Along with the white jade bottle and the two thousand taels in banknotes.
Then he rose to his feet and turned to look back.
Ji Changyin had fled. Three people now lay on the ground.
Aside from the beaten-to-death Shi Dian and Fa Cai the Ruffian, there was also the unconscious Bailiff Xu Sanwei.
Qin Zheng walked over and checked Bailiff Xu's condition. He found that force had entered his body and injured his internal organs, but it was not enough to kill him.
After some thought, Qin Zheng picked up Bailiff Xu's saber, went to Shi Dian's corpse, and drove it into the chest before twisting it around.
He waited until the wound his fist had blasted open looked more like one that had been pierced and mangled by a long blade.
Then Qin Zheng used the saber to cut several bone-deep wounds across Shi Dian's more vulnerable spots.
After doing all this, he placed the saber back in Bailiff Xu's hand.
He arranged the bodies to make it seem as though they had perished together.
Qin Zheng turned around, wrapped the Ghost-head Saber in coarse cloth again, and slung it diagonally over his shoulder.
He then walked to Fa Cai the Ruffian, sighed softly, bent down, and lifted his corpse.
Using his lightness skill, he swiftly darted into the mountains, leaving this place of strife.
Qin Zheng did not know whether Ji Changyin would return. If he remained here, it would be hard to explain matters clearly.
He did not want his strength to be exposed so quickly.
After all, just a few days ago, he had still been an utterly ordinary little executioner.
No matter how great his talent or comprehension might be, comprehending a Ghost-head Saber Technique was already the limit.
If others learned that he had raised his strength to the three thousand catties only attainable in the Bone-Refining Realm within just a few days—
Then talent would no longer be enough to wave the matter away.
What he would face then would surely be the greed of the entire martial world!
At present, he had no internal cultivation method and could not rapidly raise his realm to adapt to the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill's swift improvements.
So he still had to keep a low profile and wait until his realm rose before acting openly and freely.
As for whether this would arouse suspicion, Qin Zheng could no longer worry about so much.
The fact that he had survived was itself suspicious.
But before the great merit of killing Shi Dian, a remnant of the Golden Cicada Gang, Bailiff Xu should not expose himself.
As long as Bailiff Xu claimed that merit, Qin Zheng would have plenty of explanations to clear himself of suspicion.
For instance, he could say that he had quietly fled while the two men were fighting. Such a story would hold up.
It was not that Qin Zheng had not considered imitating Shi Dian's method and directly killing the unconscious Bailiff Xu.
If both men died, then no one would have witnessed this battle. With the dead unable to testify, Qin Zheng could describe the situation however he pleased.
But when Qin Zheng focused his attention and looked at the other man, no information appeared on the Merit Scroll.
Clearly, Bailiff Xu was not someone who deserved to die.
Thus, Qin Zheng chose this course of action.
Using his lightness skill and weaving through the terrain, he soon arrived in a desolate stretch of deep mountains.
Qin Zheng drew the Ghost-head Saber and swiftly dug a pit. After burying Fa Cai the Ruffian,
He let out a slight breath of relief and sat down where he was.
After forcibly raising the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill, his body had long exceeded its limit.
Now that he had relaxed, before he even had time to spare attention to how much merit he had gained,
An unbearable agony erupted from every part of his body, drowning him like a rising tide.
Before losing consciousness, Qin Zheng vaguely heard a Buddhist invocation from afar.
"Amitabha!"
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