Cold wind swept past, and fine rain slanted through the air!
Standing in the narrow alley, Deng Yun felt as though he had plunged into an ice cellar. He wanted to curse aloud.
-This was utterly unreasonable!
How could a mighty Half-Step Fetus Embracing expert possibly drive a carriage for some greenhorn brat?
He could open a martial hall anywhere and enter the trade, become an honored guest of wealthy merchants and powerful clans, and stuff his pockets with banknotes!
Besides, with a Half-Step Fetus Embracing expert in his service, Lu Yulin had not kept him for himself, but sent him to guard Lu Sui, who had still been sickly just a few months ago?!
There had to be a limit to doting on one's son!
As though reading Deng Yun's thoughts, Lu Sui added fuel to the fire:
"Sorry, but being a young master means I can do whatever I please."
"A petty man drunk on success!"
Crimson surfaced in Deng Yun's eyes, blood vessels crowding his eyeballs in a frightening sight.
"Fight me alone if you've got the guts! I'm not afraid of you!"
Lu Sui ignored him.
He activated the Heavenly Sight and Earthly Hearing Great Art and examined Deng Yun closely.
The fellow looked like a dried corpse, but his mind remained fairly clear, showing no signs of frenzy;
His nails were sharp and tinged gray-black;
His heartbeat was slow, his Qi and Blood weak, and he gave off a faint smell of decay;
His teeth were loose, his eyebrows sparse, and his eyes red...
One look is enough to tell he isn't human. He's turning into an "evil entity."
Lu Sui silently reached his judgment, then shook his head and asked:
"What exactly did Zhou Qing do to you? In just a few days, he's turned you into something neither human nor ghost."
Could Calamity Qi really be contagious, like a virus?
Was that why it could keep spreading, growing worse and worse?
At the name "Zhou Qing," fear appeared on Deng Yun's face, and he said in a trembling voice:
"You know... no, how could you know it was him!? I didn't say... it has nothing to do with me!"
Seeing Deng Yun so terrified that he could barely speak coherently, Lu Sui grew even more curious.
What exactly was so extraordinary about the Calamity Artifact Zhou Qing possessed?
He had practically trained Deng Yun into a dog!
His back hunched, Chai Sanjin blocked the alley's entrance and asked hoarsely:
"Young master, alive or dead?"
[Seeing you encounter a formidable foe, "Panwu Great Strength True Art" had a gleam in its eyes, its fighting spirit soaring!] [If you can defeat him, it will be as though you threw a hundred punches, tempering your tendons and bones...]
It could even trigger an encounter battle?
Lu Sui drew a deep breath. His scorching Qi and Blood turned into little snakes that swiftly slithered beneath his skin.
"Master Chai, sorry for the trouble, but please stand guard for me."
"If he can keep me from beating him to death, we can leave him alive and send him to Father."
Deng Yun froze, seemingly unable to believe it:
"You dare fight me?"
He considered himself a changed man after his "fortuitous encounter."
His physique alone was more than two or three times as strong as before. With his senses dulled and his pain greatly reduced, he had no fear of trading injury for injury in a life-and-death struggle.
He held every advantage!
Sure enough, a spoiled rich brat gets a little ability and lets it go to his head...
Feeling the fierce presence locked onto him suddenly disperse, Deng Yun punched his palm and walked toward Lu Sui with a savage grin.
"Let me bleed you properly..."
Bang!
Suddenly, Deng Yun's vision blurred. He felt only a fierce wind rushing at his face, carrying threads of rain that slapped against it!
The soft, powerless rain seemed to explode into sprays of fine needles!
Then an arm bulging with veins tore through the air and smashed down!
Everything happened too fast for him to react. Before Deng Yun could even make out the figure closing in, his right shoulder collapsed and hung limp.
The crisp sound of shattering echoed through the narrow alley. Deng Yun staggered, pitching sideways until he stood braced against the wall.
His eyes filled with shock, as though he refused to believe it:
"You... you've mastered 'Cicada-Chasing Steps'!?"
How long had that Lu brat even been at the martial hall?
Had Master made a special exception and given Lu Sui private instruction to curry favor with Lu Yulin?
"You really can take more punishment than an ordinary Strengthening Qi and Blood practitioner."
Lu Sui lashed his hand out like a whip, immediately feeling his Qi and Blood flow freely, surging unchecked through every limb and bone!
[Seeing you as light as a swallow, running swiftly, "Cicada-Chasing Steps" felt immense delight...] [Seeing you accomplish something with a single move and overpower a formidable foe, "Panwu Great Strength True Art" felt thoroughly exhilarated...]
Tiny, tadpole-like characters flickered, rising and scrolling through his vision.
But Lu Sui had no attention to spare for them. He was completely immersed in the wondrous state of his first exchange, every muscle and tendon in his body seeming to burn!
His scorching Qi and Blood boiled, urgently needing an outlet!
His whip-like arm abruptly retracted, then turned like a great python rolling over.
While Deng Yun was still stunned, his five fingers clamped onto that pallid, blue-white face!
Thud!
With a slap and a shove of Lu Sui's palm, Deng Yun's head struck the wall like a heavy hammer.
The blue bricks shuddered, shaking loose a great cloud of dust!
Fighting methods, fighting methods! Methods for beating people to death!
The essential lesson Tan Jingzong had taught surfaced in Lu Sui's mind.
He finally understood why the martial trade said, "First courage, second strength, third skill."
Why courage came first!
Unless the gap in their levels was too great, once a fight began, it was hard to hold back. Every move aimed to cripple or kill.
The moment hesitation arose and courage faltered, punches became slower, and Qi and Blood could no longer move swiftly!
"Let's see how many moves you can take!"
Lu Sui planted his feet, driving forward with the hand clamped around Deng Yun's head!
Flesh scraped across rough brick, leaving a glaring streak of blood!
An ordinary person would already have been maimed.
"Aaargh!"
Deng Yun let out a beastlike howl of agony.
However numb he was, he could not withstand the excruciating pain of having his entire face ground into bloody pulp!
With a wild roar, he struggled free of Lu Sui's grip!
"I'll skin you alive! Lu Sui..."
As his thick tendons stretched madly, Deng Yun's eyes flooded with blood, his presence ferocious.
His waist twisted like a wrung towel, squeezing out every ounce of strength as a heavy kick shot straight toward Lu Sui's face!
"No wonder Master Tan thought you had no talent. Your fighting methods are far too clumsy."
Lu Sui did not meet Deng Yun head-on. He sidestepped, letting the powerful kick pass.
An old saying in the martial trade went: an inch longer, an inch stronger!
Thus, when practicing kicking techniques, the first thing to remember was to extend and retract freely.
Otherwise, a kick could easily expose an opening.
"Nonsense! Master Tan praised my strong muscles and bones! He thought I had a chance of tempering internal force and becoming a true martial practitioner!"
As though driven mad, Deng Yun unleashed kick after kick, swift as a rainstorm, attacking Lu Sui without pause.
Compared to last time, he had more strength and could sustain it longer.
The pattering autumn rain grew heavier, pouring down in an urgent torrent.
Deng Yun's iron-whip legs shattered it into a hazy mist.
Lu Sui chose not to counterattack, only continuing to retreat and evade.
Tan Jingzong's graceful, agile figure flashed through his mind, and he faintly caught a spark of insight.
Dodging and weaving within a tiny space-whether footwork or movement techniques, the key isn't the legs, but the waist...
[Seeing you hold your own against a formidable foe, "Cicada-Chasing Steps" roused itself...] [Seeing you completely focused, engrossed in battle, "Heavenly Sight and Earthly Hearing Great Art" also came to assist...]
As the tadpole-like characters flickered, Lu Sui seemed possessed by a summoned god, inspiration coming naturally to him.
His body moved with the flow like streaming wind. Each step landed beyond Deng Yun's reach, like a startled swan wheeling in flight, elusive and unpredictable.
Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap-
Lu Sui retreated five steps in succession, his soles striking puddles and splashing water!
Light shone in his eyes like two great stars.
His chest heaved, filled with hot currents like molten lava burning through flesh, scorching his pounding heart!
"My turn."
Lu Sui raised his right knee, tightened his muscles, and kicked toward the sky!
He seized the opening as Deng Yun drew breath with razor-sharp precision, his rising toe striking the chin squarely!
"You... really think... I'd fall for it again..."
Deng Yun's jawbone cracked, air leaking through his words, yet even such a severe wound had not affected him in the slightest.
Instead, he bared his teeth in a savage grin, as though his scheme had succeeded.
"If I can't kill you, I'll still make you a cripple!"
Deng Yun's collapsed shoulder arched high, and his palm-leaf-fan-sized hands abruptly closed.
They swiftly locked around Lu Sui's ankle, ready to twist!
He had clearly decided to cripple one of his legs!
"Oh no! He's got the young master locked!"
At the alley's entrance.
Besides the utterly unruffled Chai Sanjin, Heiwa was also there.
Though he had little discernment, he knew that kicking experts feared grappling most, and could not help crying out.
"What're you panicking for?"
Chai Sanjin spoke casually.
"The young master's got some formidable skills!"
Whoosh!
The torrential rain drenched both figures in the alley.
Wind Chasing, Swallow Stepping, Startled Swan-the three moves train the legs, the hips, and the waist.
The waist must be "alive." Once the lumbar spine is alive, the hands, feet, knees, shoulders, elbows, and buttocks become one connected whole, exerting force together...
Long passages of insight flowed through his mind, some from his own deliberations, others distilled by his martial arts.
With one leg planted, Lu Sui's lumbar vertebrae snapped and shook like a great dragon, carrying his entire body into an airborne flip!
His force spiraled, springing Deng Yun's hands apart, followed by a backward kick like a dragon swinging its tail that struck his cheek!
Crack!
Bang!
Deng Yun's head smashed into the brick wall once more, sending stones flying and fragments scattering.
After repeated heavy blows, his head buzzed as though it would explode.
"What... did Master Tan teach you... this shouldn't... I started before you..."
Deng Yun staggered upright again, mumbling incessantly, but before his voice could carry-
Bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang!
Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Sui continued his assault.
His long leg swept upward like a steel blade leaving its sheath, tracing a sharp line that tore through the transparent curtain of rain!
The first kick landed behind Deng Yun's ear, blooming into a great spray of blood!
The second followed, kicking his neck askew and nearly breaking it!
Then came the third, the fourth, the fifth...
Deng Yun's inhuman body was like a tattered sack, full of holes on every side!
It was hammered again and again!
"Hh... hh..."
Snakelike trails of blood seeped from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Deng Yun seemed to "float" in midair!
Only after a full four or five breaths did he crash heavily to the ground.
A large crimson stain quickly spread beneath him.
Lu Sui slowly lowered his leg, brushed his rain-soaked robe, and softly exhaled a long breath.
That exhalation seemed to open a valve.
Billowing heat burst from the pores all over his body, not only drying his drenched robe but even making the curtain of rain hanging between heaven and earth pause for an instant.
Agitated by his scorching Qi and Blood, the bean-sized raindrops turned into strands of dense white mist that slowly shrouded his upright figure.
"You helped me unify the Six Harmonies-"
"Your death served a purpose after all!"