Kicking a Man When He Was Down

Now that the tables had turned, Meng Huai eyed Ye Zifeng with ill intent, clearly ready to take advantage and kick him while he was down.

Even at his best, Ye Zifeng had been beaten senseless. Now that he was barely hanging on, the outcome was obvious. All he could do was grind his teeth.

Grinding his teeth, Ye Zifeng said, "You're a Gu Master, for crying out loud, and you're taking advantage of me like this? Have you no shame?"

Looking thoroughly punchable, Meng Huai said, "You clearly don't know me. My motto is: don't fear the reckless, fear the shameless. As long as I get something out of it, I don't care whether I keep my dignity.

"Once I kill you, I can boast however I like. I'll say you possessed the Nine Extremes Ten Evils Gu and I still took you down. Everyone will have to believe me.

"People in our line of work praise each other to their faces and tear each other apart behind their backs anyway. So don't get too hung up on dignity. It's not much use."

Ye Zifeng was left utterly speechless. Nothing got through to this man, and there was nothing he could do but grit his teeth and hold out.

Meng Huai snorted. "Look at you, half-dead already. How could you possibly be a match for me? Hand over your life-bound Gu and turn yourself in. At least you'll leave an intact corpse."

Ye Zifeng said through clenched teeth, "Keep dreaming. If you want to take me down, you'll have to prove you can."

As he spoke, he formed seals with both hands. Red light shone from his eyes, and the pores on his face opened, letting red insects crawl out. The sight was deeply unsettling.

Seeing Ye Zifeng's face densely covered with insect heads, the three women broke out in goose bumps. It made their skin crawl.

Meng Huai sneered. "Trying that trick on me? You think a face full of pimples will scare me? Let me give you a face mask."

He also formed seals with both hands. This sequence was quite complicated, taking over ten seconds to complete. Then he spat out a piece of chewing gum.

The chewing gum instantly spread into a flat sheet and stuck to Ye Zifeng's face like an actual face mask. No matter how he struggled, he couldn't get it off.

Meng Huai lunged forward, grabbed the chewing gum, and yanked it down hard. A ripping sound rang out, followed by Ye Zifeng's earth-shaking scream.

The chewing gum was densely covered with red insects, forcibly ripped out of his face. It was like having hairs plucked out while still alive.

Ye Zifeng had never expected Meng Huai to have such a trick. He had truly brought this suffering on himself. With the insects torn out, his face was riddled with tiny pits.

He covered his face with both hands and screamed nonstop. That yank had been no different from peeling his face off alive. No one could have endured it.

Meng Huai formed seals again, preparing to press a finger against the spot between Ye Zifeng's eyebrows, destroy his cultivation completely, and force out his life-bound Gu. Suddenly, alarm surged through him, and he leaped backward.

A splash of green liquid landed where he had just stood, instantly melting a hole through the floor slab. Its corrosive power was plain to see.

The full name of Miaojiang's Gu Arts should actually have been Gu Poison Arts. They encompassed both Gu Arts and poison techniques, but Gu Arts were so famous that everyone overlooked the poison techniques.

Every expert in Gu was also an expert in poison. As the saying went, Gu and poison were inseparable. That was why Miaojiang's Practitioners had always been such a headache for everyone.

Meng Huai looked toward the window. Fan Yuli was hanging outside it from a strand of spider silk. Clearly, the venom had come from her.

Fan Yuli glanced at Meng Huai, then turned her gaze to Yun Zimo.

Fan Yuli smiled. "You're getting prettier and prettier, boss. A man's loving attention really does work wonders."

Yun Zimo glared at her. "Hanging there on a thread, waiting for someone to string you up—aren't you afraid you'll fall to your death? Just because you survived the last fall doesn't mean you'll be that lucky every time."

Putting on a sorrowful expression, Fan Yuli said, "We're sisters, after all. Why would you say that to me? Since it's what you want, boss, I'll oblige."

As she spoke, she shot out a strand of spider silk and dragged Ye Zifeng over to her. The silk supporting her snapped, and the two of them fell from the building.

Zhao Yuejiao cried out in fright, then worked up the courage to look down. To her astonishment, the two were walking away along the sidewalk. Her eyes went wide.

Guessing what Zhao Yuejiao was thinking, Yun Zimo patted her shoulder. "They've got real abilities. Forget jumping from the eighteenth floor—they'd be fine jumping from the hundred and eightieth."

Meng Huai smiled and shook his head. "You can't quite put it that way. Practitioners are still human, after all. Everyone has a limit. If I jumped from here, I'd fall to my death.

"Fan Yuli may be different, but if she really jumped from the hundred and eightieth floor, the fierce winds generated during the fall would shred her doppelganger Gu. She'd be dead before she hit the ground.

"Flying is a human dream. Even among Practitioners, those who can fly are incredibly rare. At least, there isn't a single one in Miaojiang. No matter how powerful our insects are, they can't carry us through the air."

Meng Huai spoke casually, but the others listened in stunned silence. Even if they were incredibly rare, that still meant some people could fly.

Zhao Yuejiao shook her head. "If someone can fly on their own, doesn't that make them Superman?"

Meng Huai said nonchalantly, "Apart from flying, Superman isn't anything special. He only gets to throw his weight around in those barbaric lands.

"Bring him to China, and he'd be dead within two or three days. Does he think the cultivation world is just for show? At the very least, I could send my insects to bite him to death."

Yun Zimo shot Meng Huai a glare. "Enough of your nonsense. We've met both of the main players tonight. What should we do?"

Meng Huai spread his hands. "What else can we do? I offered them a way out before, but they refused. What can I do about that? Tonight was just the appetizer. Cockroach Man definitely won't let this go.

"You two women might be fine, but this fat bastard is doomed. Now it depends on what Cockroach Man has in mind: deal with you first, fatty, or fight Wang Taiying to the bitter end.

"If it's the latter, you'll have lucked out. The Night God Church is immensely powerful. Cockroach Man may be formidable, but he's alone and outnumbered. In the end, he'll probably only manage to take a few people down with him.

"So if Cockroach Man dies, you'll survive. But you still have to repay what you owe him, and you owe him a lot. You're bound to have plenty of bad luck ahead. In short, look after yourself!"

Liu Shourui's face twisted into a miserable grimace. He was now sick with regret. If he could choose again, he would be a decent person and never do anything so heartless.

Meng Huai glanced at Liu Jun. "Heaven watches what people do. If you do good with one hand and evil with the other, retribution will catch up with you sooner or later. Think carefully about your choices. Also, you really picked a lousy floor."

After saying his piece, he paid them no further attention and led Yun Zimo outside. He glanced at a small alley in the distance, and a faint smile curled his lips.