Chapter 148: Annihilating Caisheng Hall
Red Mountain Pot Pot felt that the conditions he proposed were a bit excessive, and quickly added,
"Destroying a incense hall is a grave matter. Completely eradicating their incense hall means thoroughly burning bridges. I'm taking on considerable risk too—three days is the minimum!"
"Good!" Chen Shi declared resolutely.
Red Mountain Pot Pot was overjoyed.
At this moment, Instructor Hu inside Caisheng Hall had already noticed the disturbance. He raised his hand, signaling everyone to fall silent.
Suddenly, the clamor vanished, replaced by silence.
Absolute silence.
The Caisheng Hall disciples stood stern and speechless. Three disciples vaulted onto the roof of the front courtyard pavilion, crouching low as they crawled forward. Two hid behind the fake mountain, three concealed themselves in the tree canopy, and four more slipped quietly into the fish pond, holding their breath as they lay face-up just beneath the surface, eyes wide and unmoving.
Meanwhile, five disciples hid in the wall corners, hunched over. Two pressed tightly against the corridor door from either side, while others lay flat on the ground, using shadows for cover.
Everyone moved without a sound, quietly channeling their golden intent to summon their golden cores. They first condensed a spell, then dispersed the shrine's golden core to avoid its glow alerting the intruder. Instructor Hu summoned the harvesting ghouls that had been absorbing moonlight yin qi. One by one, the harvesting ghouls floated silently into the air, their heads swelling larger than an Eight Immortals table.
Pairs of eyes locked deadly onto the corridor door.
Their spells were primed and ready.
They had seized every advantageous position. The moment anyone emerged from the door, they would be drowned in spells and blasted to bits!
The corridor was utterly still.
The harvesting ghouls tilted their heads to listen, but they detected no sounds.
No footsteps.
No breathing or heartbeats.
They listened intently. In the corridor, Chen Shi closed his eyes, listening as well.
They did more than listen—they sensed.
Ever since he had cultivated the Saintly Core Body Refinement method from the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art, Chen Shi's senses had become extraordinarily sharp. Even without sight, he could hear the faintest stirrings around him.
He sensed the positions of the five Tianlu Society disciples behind the wall, their stances, their spells, and their heartbeats.
His senses extended farther, "revealing" the floating earthenware jars in the air, along with the black heads atop them.
He also "saw"
the six prone on the ground and pavilion roof, the two behind the fake mountain, and even
the four lying face-up beneath the pond's surface.
He could sense even deeper things: their qi embryos, the depth of their cultivation, the strength of their spells.
Their cultivations varied—some had refined true golden cores, while the shallower ones had only just formed theirs.
Indeed, with each heartbeat, the fetal liquid surged from their hearts, flooding through limbs and meridians to skin and extremities—Chen Shi could "see"
it all crystal clear!
But the hardest to sense was the man standing in the courtyard's center.
That person's presence felt to Chen Shi extremely hazy, their aura flickering indeterminately.
He could sense a person there—or at least a silhouette—but everything about them remained blurred.
A true expert.
Chen Shi noted silently.
With Red Mountain Pot Pot as his golden core, his senses were sharper than before, yet he still couldn't clearly detect Instructor Hu's form. Clearly, Instructor Hu's cultivation surpassed that of Han Instructor, who had just died by his hand.
Instructor Hu focused intently on sensing the corridor as well.
Yet he only detected three corpses and some shattered jars.
No breathing, no heartbeats, no fetal liquid flow, no qi embryo circulation, no spell auras.
Aside from the three corpses and broken jars, the corridor was empty!
Either the intruder had already fled, or they were extremely dangerous!
Instructor Hu steadied his core and nodded toward one disciple, signaling him to check the corridor.
The disciple swallowed hard, crept slowly to the corridor door, thrust his head out in a flash, then yanked it back!
As long as he retracted fast enough, there'd be no danger.
Zheng!
An invisible sword qi streaked past, slashing the opposite wall and leaving a smear of blood.
That Tianlu Society disciple's neck had retracted, but his head hadn't—it rolled into the corridor.
His retraction hadn't been fast enough.
At the same instant, Instructor Hu propelled two harvesting ghouls into the air, hovering over the corridor to peer down, taking in the entire scene at a glance!
There was only one person in the corridor: a half-grown boy, no older than twelve or thirteen, dressed in simple but neat clothes. Behind his head floated a glow, within which sat a tiny shrine, incense smoke curling faintly.
Instructor Hu used the harvesting ghouls' eyes to scout— a spell called Borrowed Sight. Though minor, it was immensely practical.
The disciple who had peeked was mere bait to draw the enemy's attention. The true scouting came from these two ghouls.
He had just taken in the corridor's sight when—pa pa!—invisible sword qi shattered the jars beneath the ghouls. Yin qi erupted outward as the two ghouls let out shrill wails, plummeting down!
The ghouls' torsos had long been hollowed of heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, stuffed only with strange talismans and herbs. With their jars broken, they lost their anchors, unable to breathe, rotting rapidly. Their cries grew more piercing yet fainter.
"Such fast spellwork!"
Everyone's hearts jolted. Amid their shock, Chen Shi's figure appeared at the corridor door!
The two Tianlu Society disciples flanking the door froze for a split second before striking. The instant their intent stirred, Chen Shi's left hand clenched four fingers into a half-fist and punched, smashing the right disciple's temple like a ten-thousand-jin hammer. With a crack, half his skull shattered, caving inward.
He twisted right, right leg snapping back in a whipping kick from low to high.
The other disciple's groin took the blow—pubic bone snapped, body launched upward over the wall.
He wasn't dead yet, only feeling the upward force dizzy his head. But next came the agony of eggs shattering, then ruptured organs surging into his skull.
At the same time, spells from the other Tianlu Society disciples in the courtyard whistled in, engulfing the corridor door.
The airborne harvesting ghouls opened their gaping maws and lunged.
As their spells launched, Chen Shi's legs exploded with power. He stepped forward so swiftly it boomed like thunder!
In that instant, the front courtyard filled with howling wind. Everyone felt a gale slamming them, robes flapping wildly—save the disciple prone on the pavilion roof, untouched by the blast.
The spells pulverized the door in a cloud of dust and debris. Yet a boom echoed from the right wall corner. The disciple there, holding terrain advantage, had his head smashed into the wall by Chen Shi's fist, brains painting the stone.
From the shrine behind Chen Shi's head, two sword qis whistled out, spinning along the walls at blinding speed. The other two Tianlu Society disciples saw only sparks racing toward them along the wall, flashing past their waists—then sensation vanished below.
Instructor Hu drove his swarming harvesting ghouls toward Chen Shi while channeling a prepped golden passage. Thunder crackled from his palms, lightning arcing wildly across the courtyard, bolts striking straight at Chen Shi!
His reactions were lightning-quick, but suddenly his vision blurred—Chen Shi's second step had carried him into the courtyard, under the osmanthus tree. One sweeping leg kick—crack!—snapped the tree trunk. The trunk and canopy hurtled flat toward the fake mountain with a whoosh!
Three Tianlu Society disciples hid in the canopy, attacking from above, but managed only their first spells before the second could form. Their cover tree was severed by Chen Shi's kick, flinging them airborne.
Midair, starlight burst around them. Chen Shi treaded starlight, dodging pursuing ghouls. He caught the first, index and middle fingers clenched as he punched the man's chest—force piercing straight to the heart, shattered ribs stabbing out his back!
Chen Shi shifted midair onto Tianxuan Star, striding to another's back. Both hands wrenched—the neck snapped.
Light flowed beneath his feet; Tianxuan became Tianquan. He plummeted from above, stomping the last man's face—boom!—smashing through the floor tiles into the earth.
Said and done in a flash: the flung osmanthus tree sailed past the fake mountain into the pond.
At the exploded door, the first Tianlu Society disciple to die by Chen Shi's hand was obliterated by allies' spells, bones gone. The other, lower abdomen crushed by Chen Shi's kick, now dangled from the walltop.
By the wall, three corpses toppled.
Chen Shi strode forward. The four ambushing in the pond startled by the tree, leaped skyward. Before they could act, air shuddered—sword qis slashed past.
The instant they broke the surface, each took a sword strike. Mid-leap, heads separated from bodies.
Chen Shi's foot landed on a pond lily pad, true qi surging to shove water aside in all directions. Qi embryo propelled from his soles; in two steps, he was ashore behind the fake mountain.
Of the two hidden there, one peeked—his head burst with a qi hole.
The other panicked, scrambling ape-like up the rock formation hand and foot.
Then his body lightened. Glancing back, he saw his lower torso still midway up, hands still climbing.
Swarms of harvesting ghouls howled from the sky, yin qi invading—even moonlight turned sickly green.
Chen Shi dashed near ground level, evading the assaults. Three more prone in ground shadows hadn't reacted before his feet crushed their bones.
He burst under the pavilion; next instant, incoming ghouls smashed it to splinters. The three atop, set for a sneak attack, were hurled airborne by the impact.
The ghouls not fully refined, savage and untamed, tore into the trio midair, ripping them apart in sprays of fetal ichor.
Instructor Hu pursued Chen Shi at full speed but couldn't close the gap. In a single breath, every Tianlu Society disciple in the front courtyard was eradicated.
Chen Shi halted. Instructor Hu roared, channeling his golden core—green light swirled, bathing the front yard in emerald.
Green cultivation golden core, seven revolutions.
The core's force field unfurled; ground tiles cracked and popped.
Harvesting ghouls floated, encircling Chen Shi from all sides. Heads like jars loomed overhead, gazing down under moonlight.
Eight feet across, they dwarfed Chen Shi, who seemed tiny before them.
They blocked the moon, casting shadows—save the patch atop Chen Shi's head, where light bathed the boy.
Instructor Hu's face twisted viciously, pushing his seven-revolution core to the limit. He gnashed,
"Today, even if it's the Heavenly King himse—"
Before he finished, Chen Shi stepped forward, right hand sword art thrusting fiercely. From the shrine behind his head, Red Mountain Pot Pot involuntarily shouted along, right hand mimicking the sword thrust!
Thrusting Sword Form!
"Chi!"
A sword qi howled through the air, piercing the wall behind Instructor Hu, leaving a basin-sized hole.
Instructor Hu looked down: a fist-sized hole gaped at his chest, clean through.
Where his heart should have been—it was gone.
"Such fast swordsmanship!"
Instructor Hu collapsed.
Around Chen Shi, the harvesting ghouls giggled eerily, diving not at him but at Instructor Hu and the other Tianlu Society corpses.
They harbored deep hatred for these cultivators, cackling madly as they tore and fought over the bodies, shredding them. Yet they ignored Chen Shi standing there.
They vented wildly, then turned on the buildings, demolishing house after house!
Chen Shi stood unmoving, gaze fixed on the back courtyard.
Numerous Tianlu Society disciples rushed from the back upon hearing the commotion, but approaching sword qis cut them down. None dared step into the front courtyard.
Chen Shi remained still, sensing a formidable aura from the back courtyard.
It held him back from rash action.
This aura—that of a Nascent Soul Realm powerhouse.
He had felt it before from Red Mountain Hall's two incense masters.
Red Mountain Hall's Xiao Incense Master and Lu Incense Master—immensely powerful, far beyond golden cores.
He sensed a similarly mighty cultivator now facing him across the wall.
This one far stronger than Instructor Hu, slain by his Thrusting Sword Form.
Chen Shi lacked confidence to kill them.
"This must be Caisheng Hall's incense master. I have no assurance of slaying an incense master."
Chen Shi considered retreat.
His opponent found him equally thorny, launching no proactive strike.
Someone who cleared Caisheng Hall's front courtyard in moments was no trifling foe—victory uncertain.
Over twenty Tianlu Society disciples held back courtyard vantages but held their attacks.
Everyone held their breath, eyes on the front-to-back door.
Chen Shi slowly backed away, preparing to leave.
Then, rampaging ghouls toppled houses, exposing wall-hung torture tools and grooved stone beds for fetal extraction.
Chen Shi's gaze swept over, spotting huddled figures in room corners—children clutching knees, staring terrified at the beds.
They weren't living children.
They were souls of the dead ones.
Ones who hadn't survived the harvesting's first stage, arms and legs harvested, perished on those beds.
Chen Shi clenched his fists, looking away.
Suddenly, from one house's cellar entrance, something crawled out.
Chen Shi retreated, glancing inadvertently—and froze.
It was a living person, but limbless, using his chin to claw from the cellar.
His chin was mangled bloody, white bone visible.
Unable to climb, he gnawed the earth with teeth, worming upward like an undead insect.
Finally emerging from the dank cellar, he lifted his head, meeting Chen Shi's eyes—a familiar face.
Zhao Kaiyun.
Zhao Kaiyun saw him and smiled faintly.
"Kill me."
His classmate smiled as he pleaded, "Chen Shi, please—for our school days' sake."
Chen Shi's eyes reddened. He halted, gaze averted. Softly,
"Hang on a bit longer. I'll avenge you."
Heavenly Peng Nine Origins Evil Child Subduing Demon Body Art!
His qi embryo roiled, body swelling violently. Savage qi embryo overflowed, forming three heads and six arms. Qi flooded his hair, strands cascading like a waterfall into the sky!
Chen Shi stomped heavily—earth quaked!
"I command this gale and snow!"
Atop his fetal hair, qi surged, forming the Nine Heavens Windthunder Talisman suspended in the air!