Tricks of the Eye, Poison Bee Stings

Boxing and martial arts seemed more stirring, more exhilarating than communing with spirits and chanting incantations.

But that was when one was practicing. When people used such things to fight and kill one another, they could not help revealing a side opposite to that excitement.

Cold-blooded!

Chu Tianshu had sensed it faintly the last time he fought the leopard cat warrior. After fighting his way out of town today and engaging in a battle of weapons here in the woods, he felt it even more deeply.

Of all the moves and techniques in boxing, almost none had been of use just now.

Apart from the weapon in his hand, he could only rely on his willpower to turn the fight around.

The line between victory and defeat was that fragile.

He believed the swordsman must also have had many sword techniques, but before he had a chance to show them, he had lost his hand and his life.

"How terrifying! I probably won't die from a nightmare now. I'll make a different wish on my next birthday..."

Chu Tianshu plunged a needle into his shoulder, near his neck.

"When the day comes for me to die, at least let me have a chance to show off the move I'm proudest of at the time."

The silver needle took effect, stimulating his blood and oxygen supply and easing the ache in his head. His stray thoughts were suppressed as well.

That was the good thing about having studied medicine: he could treat himself while fighting.

Once Chu Tianshu had caught his breath, he immediately turned around. Within two strides, he kicked up the peachwood sword sheath and caught it.

The broken branches and leaves on the ground scattered as his footsteps quickened.

Chu Tianshu charged at the swordsman and jabbed the end of the peachwood sheath into the back of his head.

The swordsman, who had appeared to be on the verge of death, trembled all over when the wooden sword struck him. Only then did blood begin to gush from his severed arm.

Just as he had thought!

Even after losing an arm and having his torso pierced by a sword, the swordsman had not completely lost consciousness. He had still been controlling the muscles around his severed arm to slow the bleeding.

But whether he had been preparing one last counterattack or hoping to escape by playing dead,

Chu Tianshu's blow with the wooden sword had truly sent him to the next world.

With a rasp, the iron sword was swiftly pulled free of the tree trunk and the man's body.

The fruit tree swayed once more, while the man carrying the sword had already gone like the wind.

The shrill sound of the bone whistle grew clearer and clearer.

The sorcerer's red, chubby face had turned a little purple from the effort. Suddenly, as though startled, he turned to look ahead and to his left.

"Gah!!"

The two dwarfs protecting him shrieked at the same time and charged out to kill.

As soon as Chu Tianshu rushed into the clearing, he saw two small, dark figures arcing swiftly toward him from either side, attacking his lower body.

The wooden sword remained still, while the iron sword shot out.

The daggers in the dwarfs' hands were pitch-black and dull, excellent weapons for a surprise attack in the darkness.

The dwarf on the left had his mind full of his dagger and his eyes fixed on the enemy's figure. Suddenly, he saw a flash of silver light, even lower than his already low field of vision.

Shk!!

The sword stabbed him in the shin and withdrew the instant the blade flashed. He pitched to the ground, but his momentum was so great that he continued sliding forward.

The peachwood sheath drove down through his back, pinning him dead to the ground.

The talismanic markings on the peachwood lit up for an instant. The dwarf's limbs shot straight out, leaving him spread-eagled against the ground, stiff and motionless in death.

The dwarf on the right was still standing with his dagger raised, but he too had gone rigid.

The iron sword had pierced his forehead.

Just then, Chu Tianshu's heart seemed to skip a beat.

A frenzied premonition of danger made him release both the sword and sheath in his hands and dart to the left as fast as he could.

That single movement carried him more than a meter sideways.

A branch snapped, and a gunshot rang out through the woods.

Chu Tianshu was intensely focused, his pupils trembling slightly from the strain. Even the leaves falling around him seemed to move more slowly.

His gaze pierced the roughly ten-meter gap and locked onto the evil sorcerer.

He was certain the shot had come from beneath that large tree.

Yet the evil sorcerer standing under the tree held only a bone whistle, which had just left his lips. No gun was anywhere to be seen.

Bang, bang, bang!!

Gunshots rang out one after another as Chu Tianshu darted sharply left and right in a zigzag.

He stamped down with all his strength to change direction, blasting shallow craters into the fallen leaves and soil. The rushing air sent bits of dirt and leaves flying after him.

Even as he dodged, he was still sprinting forward.

The distance closed from ten meters to five.

The chances of a gunshot hitting him rose sharply.

At that very instant, a silver needle flashed out!

Some ancient acupuncture techniques had even used stone needles, which naturally could not have been too thin. The medical silver needles of this era retained some of that classical style. The thickest of the forty-nine needles was nearly as thick as a disposable wooden chopstick.

That needle also had fine spiral grooves on its surface, mainly for draining pus and blood.

If such a needle pierced flesh without any pus in it, it would cause the greatest pain.

"Aah!!!"

A scream rang out beneath the tree.

But it did not come from the evil sorcerer. It came from a spot several feet to his side.

The air there rippled faintly, and another man appeared, looking exactly like the evil sorcerer. A thick needle was embedded in his chest, and he held a gun in his hand.

He instinctively clutched his chest. By the time he reacted and tried to fire again, his gun hand had been seized from the side by another powerful, sinewy hand.

Crack!!!

The bones in the evil sorcerer's hand were forcibly twisted apart, and a jagged shard of bone pierced the skin at his wrist.

Chu Tianshu gripped the man's broken hand with his right and swung his left fist at full speed, smashing it into his temple with a thud.

A small section of the evil sorcerer's skull caved in. His eyes rapidly filled with blood, which spilled from their sockets and streamed down.

Without stopping, Chu Tianshu flicked his left hand, catching four silver needles from his sleeve between his fingers, and slapped his palm down on the evil sorcerer's head.

A sharp, explosive crack came from within the evil sorcerer's body, like a glass vessel being struck and shattered.

Yin Qi spread from him, blowing the hair over Chu Tianshu's forehead into disarray.

Beside them, the figure of the evil sorcerer holding the bone whistle, who had remained motionless all this time, was struck by the Yin wind and dispersed on the spot like mist.

A trick of the eye!

Relying on some kind of evil spirit, the sorcerer could instantly use a trick of the eye to create an illusory double, while his real body hid and drew a gun.

It was a very good tactic, but from an enemy's point of view...

It was fucking underhanded to the extreme!

After killing the man, Chu Tianshu snatched the gun from him before letting the corpse fall.

"So there were only six bullets in all."

Chu Tianshu looked at the gun in his hand as his racing heart gradually slowed.

His knowledge of firearms was very limited. He had seen the guns in town, and their bolts had to be worked after every shot. Even if several well-trained people laid down crossfire, they could not threaten a skilled boxer.

But just now, when he was about to reach the bandit leader, he had suddenly been shot at from hiding.

In that instant, the guns he thought of were not the ones in town.

They were the peerless master marksmen he had seen in films and television dramas set in the Republican era.

Twenty-shot "turtle boxes," twenty bullets in one gun, spare magazines carried on the body, instant reloading...

If that were the case, he feared that continuing to dodge would only make it easier for him to die.

That was why he had chosen to take a gamble, darting forward and using the gunshots to locate the man's real body, then facing him head-on to decide who lived and who died.

"This was my first time facing a situation like that, after all. I still wasn't calm enough."

Chu Tianshu thought to himself that he needed to learn from it.

That was true. If the evil sorcerer really had such world-shocking marksmanship, there would have been no need for him to hide in the woods playing with evil arts while watching large numbers of his men die or suffer injuries.

Back in the town, the bone whistle had stopped controlling them.

Some of the venomous bees buzzing in circles could no longer resist diving straight into the fireballs, where they were burned to death on the spot.

"Little Chu did it?!"

Shopkeeper Ma's spirits lifted, and he guided them with a finger in the air.

The three fireballs abruptly descended toward the bandits' heads. The venomous bees followed the fireballs and swarmed among the bandits.

The fireballs suddenly rose again, bobbing up and down to avoid being struck by the bandits. As the venomous bees followed, the bandits got in their way, and the bees stung them without hesitation.

Screams erupted among the bandits. Their morale utterly collapsed, and they fled in panic, clutching their heads.

The militiamen and guards saw the black smoke raging amid miserable howls. Shocked and frightened themselves, they did not dare continue the pursuit.

A small number of bandits actually escaped the town, but before they had gone far, they fell to the ground and died as the venom took effect.

Shopkeeper Ma walked along the path, also feeling that the venomous bees were even more formidable than he had expected.

"Those who bring calamity upon themselves cannot live."

Murmuring to himself, Shopkeeper Ma raised the three fireballs high and left them hovering motionless in the air.

The remaining venomous bees swarmed into the fireballs, burning with a crackle as thick smoke billowed.

Chu Tianshu saw the three masses of smoke and firelight from afar. Carrying a sword in one hand and a gun in the other, he walked over and only then discovered that bandit corpses littered the ground.

The fighting here, too, had finally drawn to a close.

The militiamen and guards noticed Chu Tianshu over there and murmured among themselves, their gazes mingled with surprise and awe.

Seeing that Chu Tianshu seemed lost in thought as he gazed at the firelight, no one called out to disturb him.

Chu Tianshu, now relaxed, was not actually looking at the fire. He was looking at the token screen in midair.

The fortune column had only accumulated about a fifth of what he needed to return home.

There were quite a few more evil spirit materials, however.

[Worm-Belly Leopard Cat: In its innocence, it ate people and was close to its master's household. It died a miserable death in a worm's belly, harboring deep resentment.

Traits: Possesses a person, granting strong muscles and bones, frenzied ferocity, and a bloodthirsty heart. It can make a person's clumsy, heavy body display the agility of a leopard cat.]

[Youngster Inside the Crocodile (two): Whether while hunting or at play, they fell into a swamp and were swallowed by a crocodile. Their heads remained intact, but their seven orifices were blocked. Their resentful spirits did not disperse and fought the crocodile.

Traits: Possesses a person, making their skin as tough as crocodile hide. They are exceptionally skilled swimmers, able to stay submerged for a full quarter-hour and see underwater as clearly as in daylight.]

[Century-Old Leopard Cat: A leopard cat in the mountains lived for over a century and attained the mysterious with a leaf held in its mouth.

Traits: Can transform a leopard cat descendant into a hundred or so illusory doubles, all within sixty feet.

When possessing a human, it can turn invisible at night. The illusory double it creates for a person remains within six feet of the real body.]

[Note: Current materials are sufficient for one deduction.]