Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Mission Complete
After Fang Shuwen saw off the last disciple in the main hall of Zhuji Pavilion who needed the antidote, the shouts and cries of battle outside had also gradually faded away.
The reason these people had been gathered was that they represented the very peak of Zhuji Pavilion’s fighting strength.
By using the Life-Ending Powder to render their Inner Strength unusable, followed by an attack from Feng Mantian and his men—if everything had gone according to the Black Death Sect’s plan, Zhuji Pavilion would have been utterly destroyed.
Now, only three people remained in the entire hall: Fang Shuwen, Zhou Qingmei, and Lu Xiaoqing.
The only other two still breathing were a half-dead Guan Tianyue and the person whose face remained hidden beneath a hood.
Guan Tianyue was alive because Xu Chongshan wanted to make him suffer endless torment.
The hooded man, however, was alive by Fang Shuwen’s design.
He had a feeling this man was strange. The way he and Feng Mantian had interacted was odd. Feng Mantian’s Martial Arts were clearly superior, yet Fang Shuwen got the distinct impression that Feng Mantian was wary of him.
Fang Shuwen remembered something else...
He’d once asked Zhang Fang what kind of backing the Black Death Sect had to be so brazen in their attempt to annihilate Zhuji Pavilion.
Zhang Fang had mentioned an organization.
But he hadn’t known many details.
The dynamic between Feng Mantian and the hooded man made Fang Shuwen suspect: ’Could this man be connected to that organization?’
That was why he’d been left alive for now.
With nothing else pressing at the moment, he decided to go over and use the man’s life to experiment with "A Line" once more.
The feedback from his last attempt on Zhang Fang hadn’t been perfect.
The technique could indeed inflict immense pain, but it also caused tremendous physical damage.
What Fang Shuwen wanted was a method like the Painful Scripture—one that could inflict immense suffering without causing physical injury.
Otherwise, he would always have to worry about his subjects dying from the torture before he had extracted all of their secrets.
But just as he was about to make his move, the system’s notification suddenly rang out.
[Ding! Mission: Protect Zhou Qingmei has been completed! Calculating reward!]
[Ding! Reward calculated successfully!]
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained: North her Divine Technique (Great Perfection)!]
[Claim reward now?]
"Huh?"
Fang Shuwen stared in astonishment at the prompts appearing before his eyes.
Li Nanchen was dead, Feng Mantian was dead, and the Black Death Sect’s forces were being killed or scattered. With the crisis averted, Zhou Qingmei was naturally out of danger.
So the notification was right on time.
The problem was, the reward was the North her Divine Technique!
’The North her Divine Technique is powerful, of course. If this had been my first reward, I’d have no complaints.’
’The problem is that this is my second reward.’
’I remember that to cultivate this technique, you have to destroy your own Cultivation first.’
’Give up the Muscle Strengthening Scripture for the North her Divine Technique?’
Fang Shuwen couldn’t bring himself to do something like that.
’But what would happen if I tried to claim the North her Divine Technique while keeping the Muscle Strengthening Scripture? Would there be a problem?’
"Brother Fang?"
Zhou Qingmei saw him take a step and then abruptly stop, her heart filling with confusion.
"What’s wrong?"
Fang Shuwen snapped out of it and shook his head.
He knew from his experience claiming the Muscle Strengthening Scripture that receiving an Inner Strength technique required some time for Qi Guiding and Returning to the Origin.
Now was not a good time to claim it.
’In any case, I know what it is now. I can just claim it later when I have some free time.’
With that thought, he resumed his course and walked over to the hooded man.
Pulling back the hood revealed an unremarkable face.
The man’s face was deathly pale, and he was clearly in a bad state.
Fang Shuwen’s Inner Strength had shattered many of his meridians and acupoints, and his legs were twisted and deformed from being smashed into Feng Mantian and Guan Tianyue.
Now, he was barely breathing at all.
Fang Shuwen reached out and patted his face. There was no reaction.
He immediately brought his index and middle fingers together. As his Inner Breath circulated, the thread formed from Inner Strength materialized in his senses.
With a flicker of thought, he slightly reduced the amount of True Qi in the thread and inserted it into one of the man’s acupoints.
The hooded man, his eyes previously shut tight, suddenly snapped them open and let out a bloodcurdling scream.
He had been forcibly jolted awake from his unconscious state.
Fang Shuwen’s mind raced, and he immediately demanded:
"Who are you?"
The hooded man finally seemed to understand his predicament, but he just clenched his teeth.
"...Don’t even think... I won’t tell you..."
’So this bastard really isn’t from the Black Death Sect!’
Fang Shuwen raised an eyebrow and increased the pressure slightly.
A moment later, the hooded man could no longer bear the pain and let out a strangled cry.
But immediately after, blood began to trickle from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
Already hanging by a thread, his life force began to drain away at a visible rate.
Seeing this, Fang Shuwen quickly withdrew the thread.
"Still not talking?"
The hooded man’s unfocused pupils regained a sliver of clarity.
His body trembled uncontrollably. Seeing Fang Shuwen raise his index and middle fingers again, he finally spoke, but his words made no sense to Fang Shuwen.
He was heard to say six words, his voice as faint as a dying breath:
"Wanli... Jing!
"...Emperor... on... the... throne!!"
As he finished speaking, a deep crimson light flared in his eyes, and a moment later, violent flames erupted from within his body.
Fang Shuwen’s expression changed. He instantly shot out a hand, grabbed the man, and flung him out of the main hall.
With a loud BANG, the hooded man exploded into a rain of fire, his burning remains scattering across the plaza before the hall.
Fortunately, there was nothing flammable in the plaza, or a massive fire would have been unavoidable.
Even so, the sudden turn of events left everyone present staring at each other in stunned silence.
"Wanli Jing? Emperor on the throne?"
Lu Xiaoqing murmured:
"What does that mean?"
"His words were probably incomplete... It’s hard to figure anything out from just those six words."
"And besides, why did he suddenly burst into flames?"
Zhou Qingmei instinctively looked toward Fang Shuwen.
Fang Shuwen’s eyes narrowed.
"The flames came from a separate surge of True Qi. I only detected it when it erupted. I don’t know if he used that True Qi to immolate himself, or if someone else attacked from the shadows..."
’If it’s the former, it means the man was incredibly stubborn, willing to die rather than reveal a single word.’
’If it’s the latter... that’s even more dangerous. It would mean the crisis at Zhuji Pavilion isn’t over. There’s still someone lurking in the shadows.’
But regardless, Fang Shuwen’s mission was complete.
He would just have to give Zhuji Pavilion a warning about what came next.
Just then, the sound of someone cutting through the air reached the outside of the hall.
A figure flashed, and Zuo Qingshuang appeared before them, longsword in hand.
"That was exhilarating! It’s been thirty years, and those Black Death Sect scoundrels have actually managed to create so many freaks with Copper Skin and Iron Bones. They’re tougher to kill than the sect’s usual little devil spawn!"
"Young Hero Fang, Zhuji Pavilion is hosting a banquet tonight. We must drink until we drop!"
"By the way, what was that burst of fire just now?"
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