Let's Play Big!

[Profound Communion and Life Seizure 2.0: increased the number of lives seized]

[Skull Incantation 5.0: increased the number of white bone skulls]

As he scanned the updates appearing on the Law Technique Panel, Qi Yun's expression shifted slightly. He raised his right hand, his five fingers dancing as he formed the Method Formula for [Skull Incantation] with practiced ease.

Whoosh-

In an instant, a bone-chilling wind swept through the courtyard without warning, sending dust spiraling across the ground. Unending, strange cackles circled him, turning into three bobbing white bone skulls with eerie ghost flames burning in their eye sockets.

Once the mechanics were relatively complete, would the numerical values start increasing?

Qi Yun formed a Method Formula, and the three white bone skulls immediately soared into the air. Vast streams of gray-black Corpse Qi gushed from their hollow mouths like a flood bursting through a dike, completely enveloping the courtyard.

Gloomy mist spread, so thick he could not see his own fingers before him. Only those six points of ghostly green flame flickered in and out of sight, lending it an even more uncanny air.

Not bad.

Qi Yun nodded slightly. Although it had merely increased the number of white bone skulls and seemed very simple,

three white bone skulls were by no means as simple as one plus one.

Not only were there fewer blind spots in his defenses, but he could also keep two to protect himself while directing the other to support him against enemies.

This turned what had originally been a protective Law Technique into one that combined offense and defense.

Shifting his gaze away from the three white bone skulls, Qi Yun cast [Profound Communion and Life Seizure].

The next instant, four identical bronze wolfhounds walked side by side out of the depths of the void, breaking through layers of dense mist. The metallic clangs of their footsteps echoed endlessly, and four pairs of eye sockets burning with ghostly green flames turned toward Qi Yun in unison.

"Four?"

Qi Yun was somewhat surprised as he looked at the four bronze wolfhounds summoned through life seizure.

It seemed most of the Dao intent within that Southern Mulberry Bird egg had been absorbed by [Profound Communion and Life Seizure].

[Skull Incantation] had only received a portion.

The oppressive presence of four bronze wolfhounds, each the size of a small calf and exuding a hard, heavy air, was far more terrifying than that of one.

Fearless in the face of death, boundlessly strong, and fast.

Their bodies were forged of metal, impervious to blades and spears.

Qi Yun imagined being surrounded by four such bronze wolfhounds without using [Clear Breeze Technique].

In a head-on fight, even if he could win, he would probably suffer severe bite wounds himself.

With a sweep of his sleeve, he dispersed the dense mist filling the courtyard, then lowered himself into a seat. His gaze flickered slightly as he studied the four bronze wolfhounds and three white bone skulls before him.

After the appearance of Wu Tianming and his group from [Ninefold Heaven],

he had realized that the consequences of Black Mountain True Person's scheme against him were far more serious than he had anticipated.

In corners he could not see, there were probably others secretly fanning the flames.

"A mud-legged peasant with no backing, worthy of being champion?" "He merely stumbled into dogshit luck and used underhanded tricks!" "That undeserved title of champion was probably obtained through fraud!" ...

Remarks like these had surely already spread like wildfire throughout the Outer Mansion.

"Lift someone high, then dash them to the ground. Killing a man and crushing his heart."

Tilting his head to look at the vat of once-clear water beside him, now turbid, Qi Yun gently rubbed his brow. A vicious gleam flashed through his half-closed eyes, as though he had made some decision.

"Since the water's already muddy, I might as well stop hiding.

Setting traps to play me to death?

Fine. Why would a barefoot man like me fear someone wearing shoes?

If you want to play so badly..." Qi Yun slowly rose, his entire presence seeming to sharpen.

"Then let's play big."

Wuji Sacred Sect, Seventh Outer Prefecture.

In a secluded corner of the Outer Mansion stood a stern, imposing hall of black bricks and dark tiles. Every part of it exuded oppressive majesty, and its presence was utterly unlike that of the other halls.

This was the Punishment Hall.

The station of the Outer Mansion's law enforcement teams.

It was also the prison where Outer Mansion disciples who violated sect rules were detained and punished.

Today, a figure strode toward the entrance of the Punishment Hall, clutching a letter.

He went straight to the door of an inner chamber on the left side of the Punishment Hall, stopped, and respectfully knocked twice before reporting in a low voice:

"Captain, someone has submitted an accusation.

Qi Yun, a disciple of the Seventh Outer Prefecture, has disregarded sect rules and slaughtered his fellow disciples.

Forty-one people have already disappeared under mysterious circumstances from the Seventh Outer Prefecture this month.

Neither living persons nor dead bodies have been found."

Creak-

The chamber door slowly opened. A young man with silver-white temples, sword-like brows, and star-bright eyes sat upright behind a desk, dressed in dark blue-black law enforcement robes. Brush in hand, he swiftly reviewed documents.

Without raising his head, he simply asked calmly:

"Is there evidence?"

"Yes. The informant provided a lead: Qi Yun is committing violence inside [Ninefold Hall] right now. They hope we can apprehend him as soon as possible," the man holding the letter said quickly.

Li Chong, captain of the Third Law Enforcement Team, paused briefly with his brush, but still did not look up. He merely gave a concise order:

"Take two men and have a look. If it's true, bring him back for questioning."

"Yes!"

After answering, the man set down the letter of accusation, turned, and hurried away.

Glancing sideways at the letter on his desk, Li Chong paused slightly with his brush, a ripple passing through his eyes.

"Qi Yun... this year's Human Origin Champion?"

"Qi Yun! Get the hell out here! Hiding like this-I despise you!"

Amid an endless expanse of sand, three Outer Mansion disciples stood back-to-back, looking around in terror for any suspicious sign.

Swallowing, Zhou Ming wiped the sweat from his forehead with a trembling sleeve, his face pale. Feng Changwen and Chen Wei beside him looked just as scared out of their wits.

"I told you we shouldn't come, but you insisted. If he didn't have real ability, could he have become champion?

You just had to believe one-sided rumors. Now look-we're going to lose our lives." Feng Changwen's face was full of despair, his voice tinged with sobs.

Their party of nine had relied on supposedly "precise" information supplied by an inside source and confidently sneaked into [Ninefold Hall], planning to ambush that "undeserving" champion and seize his resources.

Who could have known that the moment they entered this area, they would be swallowed by gray mist formed from sinister Corpse Qi so dense it would not disperse?

Immediately afterward, several dark shapes had darted out, clamping their jaws around two people's necks and dragging them into the depths of the mist before they could resist. Screams had followed.

By the time they followed the sounds over, all that remained on the ground was a pool of blood and a few chunks of flesh.

In just half a day,

only the three of them remained out of the nine who had entered. They, too, had reached their limits, their True Qi depleted and their physical strength nearly exhausted.

Yet from beginning to end, they had not even seen Qi Yun's face.

"No! Those wolfhounds are coming again!"

Suddenly spotting faint figures charging rapidly toward them at the edge of his vision, Chen Wei cried out in terror, tears spilling uncontrollably from his eyes.

Several hundred meters away, Qi Yun stood with his hands behind his back, still dressed in that plain white cloth robe. His gaze was calm, betraying neither joy nor anger.

With these nine, that would make exactly fifty.

Over the past month, nearly fifty Outer Mansion disciples had died at his hands.

That number did not seem large, but in fact, the entire Seventh Outer Prefecture only had a little over a hundred people.

"You're Qi Yun?"

Just as Qi Yun quietly waited for the bronze wolfhounds to complete their final kill, a cold, abrupt voice suddenly sounded a short distance behind him.

Turning his body and head, he saw three stern-faced young men in dark blue-black robes striding toward him.

The law enforcement team?

Recognizing their attire, Qi Yun's expression remained unchanged. Beneath his broad sleeve, his right hand lightly formed a Method Formula, and the bronze wolfhounds about to pounce on Zhou Ming and the other two immediately dispersed like smoke, vanishing into nothingness.