The other three won activated their silver needles the instant Chen Shi made his move. Slender needles, as fine as ox hairs, shot toward him.
The needle technique they unleashed was specifically designed to counter golden body spells. It was called the Weaver Maid's Embroidered Dragon Chart, an esoteric art of the Gao family that was never passed on to outsiders.
The young master was close with the Gao family and had obtained this technique from them, then taught it to these won.
The Weaver Maid's Embroidered Dragon Chart was created by the Weaver Maid herself to embroider a dragon robe. In truth, it was an embroidery needle technique with stitches so dense they were said to be flawless. Later, it evolved into a spell.
When paired with the silver needles crafted by master artisans at the young master's request, its power doubled and its speed increased even further!
All three won were at the Nascent Soul Realm, their cultivation a full realm higher than Chen Shi's. Ard with a weapon tailored to breach his physical body, they were unstoppable.
Yet the silver needles pierced only the afterimage Chen Shi had left behind.
Chen Shi's speed was too fast.
Incredibly fast!
So fast that with a single step, his afterimage lingered behind as he appeared right in front of them!
Not within the two-zhang distance the young master had predicted, but even farther out!
The young master's judgnt was wrong!
His assessnt was based on Chen Shi being at the seventh revolution of the Golden Core Realm.
But in that short ti, Chen Shi's cultivation had advanced from the seventh to the ninth revolution of the Golden Core Realm!
Not only that—his Eight Gates Golden Grotto Tempering had elevated his physical body to near the level of a Dao Body!
A misjudgnt ant death.
In the blink of an eye, two of them died by Chen Shi's hand!
Those twenty-seven silver needles flew past. Four struck the corridor pillars, piercing straight through. The pillars exploded with a series of cracks, sending countless wood splinters flying.
Six hit the ground, instantly carving out pits several feet deep.
The three won remained calm. They ford sword mudras with their hands, directing the silver needles.
Though they had missed, the needles remained steady. The various talismans inscribed on them activated, sending the hair-thin silver needles darting through the air at high speed, utterly silent.
They were like celestial maidens weaving for the gods, with Chen Shi as the garnt they sought to craft.
But while the Weaver Maid sewed clothes, they aid to riddle Chen Shi's "garnt" with a thousand holes!
Given the slightest chance, they could kill him.
But that chance ca too quickly for them to seize.
As the silver needles from the second woman on the left flew out, Chen Shi was already at her side. His whistling leg swept in, compressing her qi and blood, forcing it away from her eyes and plunging her vision into darkness.
Yet she could sense his rising leg slicing through her Nascent Soul force field with crystal clarity—not through sight, but pure perception!
She heard thunderous wind roaring toward her. She tried to dodge, her body already moving, but that leg was too fast—faster than any spell she had ever seen, like an executioner's death blade chopping down.
Crack!
Her throat was struck by sothing foreign. Her brain trembled violently. Then she felt her body pierced by countless tiny objects!
Those were the silver needles from the other two won.
A thought flashed in her mind: These two idiots must be so desperate to kill Chen Shi that they couldn't recall their needles in ti, hitting her instead.
They had called themselves sisters before, but at her mont of death, they stabbed her in the back. Cheap sisters indeed.
As the silver needles passed through her Nascent Soul force field, she felt nothing—that was the terrifying part. Her force field had no effect on them.
And there were so many: As they pierced her body, the forty-six talismans engraved on their shafts erupted with power!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Suddenly, eighteen blood holes burst open on her back, each the size of a bowl. They linked together, shattering her back ribs and shoulder bones entirely. Her five viscera and six bowels exploded into pulp!
She was a Nascent Soul Realm expert, her body tempered through both Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages, which kept her from being torn to shreds.
Otherwise, even a single needle's power would have reduced her to fragnts!
But she no longer felt pain. Chen Shi's leg had smashed her throat, snapping her neck bones and nearly severing her head.
She had died in that instant.
The stray thoughts were rely the chaotic final surges of her brain.
As those eighteen silver needles pierced the second woman on the left, they halted abruptly and shot backward.
Now only the second and third won on the right remained. Their reactions were lightning-fast, but Chen Shi's were faster. As he kicked the second woman on the left to death, his figure had already left its original spot, charging toward the third on the right, causing their needles to miss.
The third woman on the right retreated at top speed, only to see Chen Shi's right sleeve shake. The narrow cuff suddenly expanded enormously, as if to devour the heavens!
Though she retreated with utmost haste, Chen Shi's spell was exquisitely profound. She involuntarily tumbled into his sleeve.
Chen Shi shook his sleeve, his arm stirring fiercely within. Blood plasma trickled down his arm.
Taotie Devours the Heavens Art—one sleeve to hold the universe.
Chen Shi's foot landed. He abruptly turned, charging toward the second woman on the right. She fled in alarm, but he caught up in two steps.
She had retreated to the well's edge. Chen Shi's bloodstained palm slapped over her face, shoving her backward.
Headfirst into the well she went. With his other hand, Chen Shi pinched his thumb's first joint between his middle and ring fingers, forming the North Emperor Seal. Lightning crackled between his fingers as a Five Thunders spell blasted into the well.
A massive boom echoed from within. The ground bulged upward over three feet. Lightning erupted from the well, shooting skyward over ten zhang high, like iron trees blooming with silver flowers, a spectacular sight.
Chen Shi sidestepped. Nine silver needles flew past him silently, striking the gate. The grand doors of the deep compound exploded with terrifying residual force.
At that mont, Blackie Pot had just grabbed the face veil but hadn't put it on yet. Hu Feifei had only just seized the hat. All five won were already dead.
Chen Shi walked past them, through the collapsed gate, toward the matron.
The matron hadn't expected Chen Shi to strike at that mont, let alone so swiftly. The five top experts of Rouge Alley were slain in an instant, their young master's specially forged silver needles utterly useless.
Chen Shi's aura surged, carrying the montum of having butchered five Nascent Soul experts. Terrifying killing intent washed over her, sending the hair at her temples fluttering backward.
Dry yellow leaves on the ground rustled, blown by the killing intent toward the lavish courtyard opposite, stirring the thin clothes of the girls there and revealing their youthful, beautiful forms.
The killing intent grew even more rampant.
The matron's palm rested on the little girl's head. She sighed.
"Chen Shi, halt. Otherwise, I'll have to kill this little bastard."
She could tell Chen Shi desperately wanted to save the girl, so she had repeatedly—sotis subtly, sotis overtly—used the child's life to manipulate him. She couldn't seduce him with beauty, but a woman's hold over a man went beyond re allure.
She relished the sensation of controlling n, watching them waver between softness and hardness before her, twisting and struggling. It gave her an indescribable pleasure.
Chen Shi's step faltered slightly. Then he advanced again, saying softly,
"Little sister, don't be afraid. If brother can't protect you in this life, may you be reborn into a good family in the next."
The matron felt a chill run down her spine.
This man wasn't afraid of her threatening the little girl at all!
Not one bit!
Chen Shi planted his foot. The Eight Extres Golden Grotto opened. His Golden Core force field fused perfectly with it, eight gates manifesting around him at a distance of four zhang.
Divine light orbs shone from within the gates, tugging at his Golden Core.
His Golden Core force field was several tis larger than a normal cultivator's—comparable even to a Nascent Soul Realm force field!
The matron barely had ti to see his field activate before the gates of her deep compound shattered into pieces. Chen Shi strode forward, swinging his fist. Thunder rumbled from the punch, booming like a deafening bolt from a clear sky!
This single punch's thunder alone could shatter the souls of weaker cultivators.
She dared not slack. Ignoring the little bastard girl, she leaped up, channeling a profound art.
As it circulated, her body glowed brilliantly with golden light. Her flesh expanded with crackling sounds.
She was already tall, a head or two taller than Chen Shi. Now she grew even taller, surpassing the walls. In a blink, she exceeded one zhang, her rapidly growing bones and muscles stretching her skin to the tearing point, as if it might burst at any mont!
In monts, she resembled a female bodhisattva. From a woman still retaining her allure, she beca withered and sallow. From a promiscuous old procuress, she took on a sacred, solemn air of Buddhist divinity.
Her palm struck out—a hand as large as a palm-leaf fan—eting Chen Shi's thunderous fist.
Her palm force erupted. A Divine Shrine appeared behind her head, a Divine Embryo seated within. Her Nascent Soul stood over a foot tall, its qi and blood several tis denser than the other won's.
Her Nascent Soul struck alongside her palm, chanting Buddhist mantras. Vast Vedic chants resounded!
"Om, sha, po, po, shu, tuo, sa, po, da, mo, sha zong, po, po, shu, du, ling!"
(Excerpted from the Essentials of the Yoga Tantra of the Wish-Fulfilling Wheel Avalokitesvara, Secret Mantra.)
Twisted, exotic Sanskrit characters flowed from her shoulders, spinning. They followed her whistling palm downward like a great wheel of Sanskrit. When the mantra characters reached her palm, the imnse Buddhist power within erupted forth!
This was the golden body forged by the Great Wheel Wisdom King's Golden Light Mantra, corresponding to its first technique.
The Heart Wheel.
When Monk Kuzhu visited the bath city, the Wheel King Divine Seal he taught the young master was this very Heart Wheel.
The Heart Wheel required matching techniques to activate. When imparting it to the young master, Monk Kuzhu also passed on the corresponding mantra, allowing the young master to master it.
The Great Wheel Wisdom King's Golden Light Mantra consisted of various mantra techniques. For Monk Kuzhu to teach the young master the Heart Wheel was an incredibly heavy gift.
That the young master had passed such an art to the matron, an old procuress, explained her unwavering loyalty.
At the sa ti, Chen Shi's Golden Core rose from his dantian to his chest, traveling along his right arm with his punching fist. The Golden Core blasted forth!
This was the Great Wheel Wisdom King's Golden Light Mantra's golden body combat thod!
During the Archzhou demonic upheaval, Monk Kuzhu twice controlled the mushroom-headed giant to attack Chen Shi, who had secretly learned a bit of its mysteries.
Fate was truly wondrous. Both wielded techniques from the Great Wheel Wisdom King's Golden Light Mantra—one a combat thod—and they now collided head-on!
The matron sensed the opponent's magic power as vast as the ocean, unfathomably deep. Though less refined than hers, its profundity surpassed her own. Alard, she thought: What Divine Embryo is his?
The young master hadn't told her what Chen Shi's Divine Embryo was. This gap in information made her uneasy.
She realized Chen Shi's inherent magic was inferior to hers, but bolstered by his Divine Embryo, it rivaled her own!
She had never known such a Divine Embryo existed!
"But even if your Divine Embryo is strong, it can't surpass the true transmission of my Wheel King Divine Seal!"
She shouted, about to unleash another strike. Suddenly, a beam of light flashed. Her Tanzhong acupoint stung faintly, a point of hall light shining from the needle-eye hole below her chest.
The matron froze. "What is this?"
Her golden body crumbled instantly. Her body shrank rapidly as qi and blood surged out from the tiny hole in her Tanzhong acupoint!
A hissing leak sounded from the hole, the qi and blood spilling faster and faster!
"Monk Kuzhu never told the young master the flaw in the Great Wheel Wisdom King's Golden Light Mantra, did he?"
Chen Shi landed before her, clenching his left fist, his face stern.
"I used the young master's silver needles to break your golden body.
"You didn't expect that, did you?"
The matron opened her mouth to speak, but Chen Shi's left fist shot out. Accompanied by his ninth-revolution Golden Core channeling along his left arm to the fist, it smashed heavily into her Tanzhong acupoint!
Her face twisted, even turning ferocious. One hand clutched her chest, the other clawed at Chen Shi's face, as if in agony she wanted to drag him down with her.
Chen Shi withdrew his fist. His bloodied right hand pressed her face first, shoving hard.
Once the golden body is broken and power scatters, stay far away or die.
Chen Shi shoved her tumbling and rolling over a dozen zhang down Rouge Alley, where she lay like a dead dog.
Chen Shi strode into the opulent deep compound. anwhile, on the street outside, the matron's curvaceous body suddenly inflated like a balloon, swelling round and drum-like, akin to a massive beast long dead in water.
She was horrified—this was the sign of a broken golden body, her vital essence leaking away!
She saw Hu Feifei erge from the ruined house. Like grasping a lifeline, she rasped, "Save... save ..."
Before she finished, her uncontrolled qi and blood burst her body apart with a bang. Nearby houses collapsed as if in a gale, forcing Hu Feifei to raise her sleeve to shield her face, bracing against the storm!
When the bloody wind passed, only a massive pit remained on the ground. The matron had vanished like evaporated mist.
Hu Feifei hurriedly looked across. Chen Shi had entered the lavish den of tenderness. The young girls there continued diligently learning seduction, how to entice n, as if the matron's death hadn't affected them at all.
The old crones supervising them panicked, staring fearfully at the approaching Chen Shi.
They each activated their Golden Cores, eyes gleaming murderously, yet none dared advance.
Chen Shi ca to a girl leaning on the railing, plucking a pipa. Softly, he said, "Lend
your hairpin for a mont."
The girl opened her eyes, tilting her head up at him. Her pupils were clear, like autumn waters rippling with fall's gentle waves.
Chen Shi drew the hairpin from her coiled tresses, holding it in his palm. He smiled at her.
Infected by his smile, the girl smiled back.
Chen Shi blew on the hairpin adorned with an openwork copper bead. "You blow on it too."
The girl parted her red lips gently, blowing softly on the hairpin.
The hairpin flew.
Whoosh!
It pierced one old crone's temple, exiting the other side. The copper bead jingled.
Those who aid tigers must all die.
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