A Clear Breeze Past the Ear, a Thousand Miles Away

Chu Tianshu had switched between the two kinds of Aperture Opening several times before, but never completely.

He had neither released it to the fullest nor drawn it in to the deepest point.

Even so, it had felt like quite a burden, so he had not deliberately put himself through it. At the time, he had devoted most of his mental effort to practicing his fist techniques.

Now, inspired in the midst of battle, he released his Spirit Communication Aperture Opening state outward to its fullest, then, in the space of a thought, drew it in with all his might.

It was like someone expelling every last breath of stale air to the greatest extent of his life, then greedily gulping down the fresh scent of wind and rain between heaven and earth.

A flood of details from his surroundings came pouring in.

They collided in his mind to form a bright, brilliant, colorful moving image, every line vivid and striking, each distinct from the next.

The old eunuch was already charging at him to kill him.

The wounds on that old face, the trembling wrinkles in his skin, the change in his expression from arrogance to gloom-all those details were reflected in Chu Tianshu's eyes.

His gaunt body still held the same posture, his upper body pitched far forward, his feet tensing and driving hard against the ground at high speed.

That was a skill from the old forms of Xinyi Fist.

Ever since this fist art had made its name in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, it had been known for its viciousness. By the Daoguang era of the Qing dynasty, it had become much milder.

Even so, Li Laoneng, the great fist master of Zhili at the time, had judged it excessively ruthless and insufficiently steady. He had therefore improved it into a set of Xingyi Fist, retaining its fierce power but making its strikes steadier and allowing more room to respond to changing circumstances.

In years past, the old eunuch had been trained in the Forbidden City to do the work of killing. Naturally, the people above him had not cared whether he was steady or not. Later, he had gained status, but the style of his fist art had already seeped into his nature.

It was impossible to make him change the fighting style he had practiced since childhood. Now, even if he struck a little more slowly, he felt that he had thrown the punch for nothing.

But he figured that, with Coin Body Armor, he had made up for that flaw from another angle.

Thus, though he was old, his fists sought speed even more than they had a few years ago.

His legs were like powerful bows and taut crossbows, alternately loosening and tensing as he bent forward and shot through the wind, his fists striking on top of that speed.

The instant he closed in, his fist shot out like a stone from a cannon.

Boom!!!

Chu Tianshu could almost see the air in front of him swell slightly under the blow.

It was then that his right hand chopped into that mass of air, cutting against the inside of the old eunuch's right elbow.

His first reaction was that his palm had struck an iron bar.

Coin Body Armor provided protection all over, even on the eyelids, so naturally it covered the inside of the elbow as well. But to maintain the joint's mobility, the rebounding force there was already a little softer than elsewhere.

That palm strike knocked the other's arm aside, seeming to announce a prelude.

The main theme followed close behind. The old eunuch's fists flew like a volley of arrows, beating droplets of water into mist, the fierce wind and currents of air like boiling soup and raging snow.

Chu Tianshu's arms chopped freely like swift blades, striking form where there was form and shadow where there was none, doubling the chaotic currents before him.

With his teeth clenched and eyes shining, he looked as though he had only caught a blurred glimpse of a shadow, yet, heedless of everything else, his hand had already chopped into that spot.

The collision between the two did not feel like a string of firecrackers going off one after another.

It was more like a great iron bucket filled halfway with iron beans and then shaken with all one's might.

In a single instant, who knew how many iron beans struck the bucket?

The sound was so violent that it set the mind on edge and made the eyes blur and the spirit reel!!

Not far away, Zhong Jinqiu held his breath at that instant.

With his experience, he could at least be certain that, in every collision he could see, Chu Tianshu's palms were cutting and whipping against the inside of the other's elbows.

It was astonishingly precise, but even so, Chu Tianshu's hands were probably still not as hard as the inside of the other's elbows.

With the collisions coming so rapidly, it would take only a few seconds for Chu Tianshu's hands to grow sore and swollen.

Zhong Jinqiu suddenly came to his senses and instinctively wanted to kick. At worst, he would cripple another leg; there was still a chance he could distract that old thing for a moment.

But before he could lift his foot, he heard an explosive crack.

It was an especially crisp yet deafening crack, like someone bursting a sheepskin raft with tremendous force.

A palm trailing an afterimage slammed into the side of the old eunuch's head, striking his ear.

The old eunuch's body tilted to the right and crashed sideways into the ground, shattering several stone paving bricks.

Chu Tianshu's abdomen jolted, as though his stomach and intestines were exerting force, and his left foot suddenly scraped forward.

The tip of his foot kicked straight into the old eunuch's eye socket.

Thud!!!

The old eunuch's body spun away and struck the base of the wall. Only then did he manage to let out a scream.

"Ah! You!!"

He rolled on the ground and got to his feet. One eye was a bloody mess, and dark red blood streamed from his ear as he swayed and looked at Chu Tianshu.

"You only just learned insight..."

The old eunuch pointed at Chu Tianshu, his voice full of hysterical fury.

But he had only taken one step when he dropped to his knees, bracing both hands on the ground. His head tilted left and swayed right, blood dripping onto the stone bricks, and he could not get back up.

The extreme dizziness in his head made him retch.

"The inside of your ear's been blown apart, and you still expect to stand steady?"

Chu Tianshu's lips and teeth trembled slightly, whether from panting or bearing the pain was unclear, and he smiled through gritted teeth.

"I did only just learn this skill of gaining insight into the battlefield. I may not be as seasoned as you."

"But the details a person senses have to be processed by the brain. You injured your lungs earlier, so your brain wasn't getting enough oxygen."

"We both took a deep breath and held it, but I stood my ground and fought you head-on. As the exchange went on, your brain couldn't keep up with mine."

That was why the old eunuch's ear had been struck by that palm.

Before Chu Tianshu's hands could truly swell, he had already suffered a blow that guaranteed his defeat.

The old eunuch said hatefully, "So that's how it is..."

By the time Chu Tianshu had spoken those words, the soreness in his toes had eased. His body suddenly moved, bringing him to the old eunuch's side, and he kicked the man's other ear.

The old eunuch's whole body shuddered, and his remaining eye was full of unwillingness.

If he could do it over, he would not charge in and fight head-on at high speed. He would fight while moving instead, or simply flee...

His body toppled sideways and rolled onto the ground, lifeless.

On the other side, Zhong Jinqiu twisted and kicked the ground. Stone bricks cracked apart, and two fragments shot through the air.

The two servants in the hall had seen the eunuch suffer a crushing defeat and were about to flee when the fragments struck the backs of their heads, knocking them unconscious.

Chu Tianshu switched hands as he inserted several silver needles into his arms. Only then did he dare let out a breath.

Once he released that tightly held breath, the pain seemed to multiply.

"Fuck me!"

Chu Tianshu flicked his foot beneath the old eunuch and turned him over.

Ding!

A silver needle shot at the tattoo on the corpse's chest, only to be deflected.

Chu Tianshu drew a soft hiss.

He knew that a creation of this sort of evil art was unlike an ordinary possessing fiendish soul: it would not rapidly weaken and die suddenly just because its host had died.

To collect the evil spirit material, he had to destroy this creation of evil art as well.

But the old thing was already dead, and the tattoo still could not be pierced?

Fortunately, a sparrow soon flew over the courtyard.

Not long afterward, Shopkeeper Ma came running in, panting.

"Done?"

Shopkeeper Ma looked around and said, "Good. Then let's hurry and go. The screams here have already made some people at the end of the street stop and watch."

"Leave the children in the Meng Clan's care..."

Chu Tianshu cut in and asked, "Uncle Ma, do you have any other ritual implements?"

Shopkeeper Ma opened the chest. "Only a jar of cinnabar talisman ink."

Chu Tianshu's eyes lit up. He took it, poured it straight into his palm, crouched down, and slapped the old eunuch's chest.

After seven or eight strikes, the tattoo's sinister Qi, no longer controlled by its master, passively took the blows and gradually dispersed.

A little later, the jade coffin in the hall was also smashed to pieces from end to end by the palm covered in cinnabar talisman ink.

Outside the mansion, the town head had arrived with Wang Fu and the other guards.

"What's going on? Why were there screams from the old master's mansion?"

The town head looked at the townspeople, but no one else knew either. "Where's the militia? Didn't their patrol come this way?"

Wang Fu said, "I heard the militia say a few days ago that when Adjutant Zhou was here, he told them not to come near this place. The old master had his own guards."

One townsman said, "I think I saw Factory Manager Meng and Shopkeeper Ma go in just now."

As they were speaking, several old men came out carrying a group of children.

There were also some children who looked a little older, walking timidly behind the group.

Sharp-eyed Wang Fu noticed that some of the children who could walk still had silver needles in their bodies.

The town head was utterly bewildered, startled and anxious. "What on earth is going on?"

Meng Lianfa held his own Xiaobao with boundless tenderness, a wooden board in his hand. He was about to say something when the sound of approaching hoofbeats reached them.

Everyone looked toward the intersection.

Through the fine rain, a tall horse came galloping toward them.

The horse looked somewhat familiar, but the person on its back was not a tall, thin man in military uniform. It was an armored general.

His helmet gleamed, with flaming-cloud ear guards on either side and an iron mask covering his face. Overlapping armor plates covered his body; one hand gripped the reins, and the other carried a great saber more than five feet long.

The town head and the others were stunned for a moment.

Although it had not been many years since they entered an age dominated by guns and cannons, they had never in their lives seen a general like this.

He seemed like a great general who had come galloping out of an opera, out of history.

Wang Fu and the other guards all went on alert and shouted, "Who goes there?"

The fine horse gave a long neigh. The general swung up a leg and jumped down, as swiftly as though the fifty jin of heavy armor did not exist.

When his feet struck the street with a resounding impact, it reminded everyone that the armor was certainly not just for show.

"It's me!"

The general lifted his mask, revealing Adjutant Zhou's face, and swept his gaze over the crowd.

For a fist fighter who had mastered Guanyin Bone, the drawbacks of wearing heavy armor outweighed the benefits. For one who had mastered Eating Makes an Immortal, wearing heavy armor was likewise like putting shackles on himself.

But a fist fighter who had mastered Dragon Coils Around the Body had sinew strength throughout his body like a living dragon.

Heavy armor was not much of a burden to them. Its weight and inertia could even become part of the living dragon's wild strength, its benefits far outweighing its drawbacks.

Adjutant Zhou did not know the precise mysteries of the sparrow's spirit, but he had a general idea of the maximum range at which a sorcerer could "command a soul and borrow its eyes."

Once beyond that range, he had immediately ordered someone to help him into his armor, then galloped hard and taken a roundabout route back to town.

He had thought he could return to clean up the aftermath, but now it seemed he was still a little late.

"Adjutant Zhou!"

Meng Lianfa cried out, tears streaming down his face.

"You've finally come back! A gang of villains and swindlers disguised themselves as an opera troupe and deceived the old master. Behind the scenes, they committed unlawful deeds and abducted the children of many families."

"Doctor Chu and the others discovered signs of it and rushed to rescue the old master and all the children. Who would have thought the old master was so unyielding? When he learned he'd been deceived, he fought those villains to the death."

Any shrewd person would know something was wrong after giving those words a little thought. It was like a convenient way out, left there to see whether one was willing to fill in the gaps oneself.

The town head, for instance, had already thought of something and hurriedly kept his mouth shut, not daring to say another word.

Adjutant Zhou's face was as stiff as wood. The corner of his mouth twitched. "Something like that actually happened? Then what about Doctor Chu and the others?"

"After going through this, Doctor Chu and the others felt deeply how treacherous the world is and resolved to retire to the mountains and forests."

Meng Lianfa held out the wooden board in his hand.

Adjutant Zhou took it and looked. The writing on the board actually appeared to have been traced with a finger.

Brother Zhou, I came down from the mountain to temper myself and encountered many twists and turns. I have now achieved something and decided to return to the mountain for further study. When I have time in the future, I will surely return to visit you all.

Until we meet again!

Adjutant Zhou asked again, "All three of them retired together?"

Not one or two of the three had died?

Meng Lianfa met the general's gaze calmly. "Yes. Would you like to go into the mansion and take a look, Adjutant Zhou?"

Once you enter the mansion, you should be able to see that not one of the three died.

Adjutant Zhou lowered his mask again, hiding his expression. After a while, he murmured so faintly it was hard to notice.

"True old hands of the jianghu, tough and ruthless."

The three who had actually fought and posed a real threat had gotten away. These little ants left in town were slow on their feet, but... never mind.

After a moment's silence, the general let out a great wail that moved heaven and earth, then strode toward the mansion.

"Old master, I thought it over and over and realized something was wrong. I hurried back, but you were still killed by those villains!!"

The three villains had struck once and fled a thousand miles.

Old master, believe me, I didn't expect them to be quite so villainous either!