Chapter 128: Finally Meeting

Chapter128: Finally Meeting Face to Face

Boom!

Thunder rolled like drums, white lightning like knives; beneath the suddenly rent sky, rain poured down as if the Milky Way had been upended.

The lashing raindrops fell like ten thousand blades, yet still they could not pierce the rolling black smoke, nor cut through the arrogant flames.

Li Jun cupped his palm over the cigarette tip to shield it from the invading rain, picked up a smoldering shard of wood from the ground, and brought it close to light it.

"Hah, Old Lord Ma this old roué really has taste; this smoke tastes like... Jiaozi?!"

Li Jun smacked his lips, slowly exhaling a long stream of smoke, his face full of satisfaction as he praised it.

But just as he thought to take another drag, he found the cigarette had gone out on its own at some point, the half-stub at his fingertips already soaked through with fresh blood.

Li Jun shook his head helplessly, slowly sat down on the steps, reached out to catch the raindrops dripping from the eaves, washing the congealed blood scabs and grease from his hands.

He looked at the inferno before him, and the corner of his mouth couldn't help but curl into a smile.

Lord Ma's cigarette-rolling skill is not bad; this specially made burning oil is a good thing too.

The great fire it caused, surprisingly, could not be extinguished even by such a torrential downpour.

"All these years, so many of the Martial Dao Sequence have endured; why is it you who cannot endure?"

Amidst the roaring rain, a weak voice sounded from behind.

Li Jun rubbed his hands as he replied indifferently: "They endured, so they all died."

That voice suddenly rose several degrees, "You could run!"

"Better dead than alive?"

"That is still life."

"To me, that is death."

Li Jun slowly turned his head; in his black pupils was reflected a mountain of corpses and sea of blood immersed in raging flames.

The half-mechanical bodies severed at the waist still sputtered sparks; the decapitated corpses crackled and popped as they burned in the sea of fire.

Flayed bellies turned pale from the rain soak, flesh and machinery mixed together, utterly indistinguishable from one another.

And the sole survivor, at this moment, sat winnowing-basket style beneath a corridor pillar.

A bloodstained long saber pierced through his chest, nailing him dead to the pillar.

"Hard bones? That's just an excuse to raise the price. But you've played with fire too far this time; the Gu Clan's ancestral manor is burned. Unless Gu Xi has lost his mind, he absolutely will not compromise with you."

Qian Hai let out a cold laugh, forcing open eyelids heavier than a thousand catties; a mocking glint appeared in his dim pupils.

"Compromise?"

Discussing backbone with a kneeling man is truly playing the lute to a cow.

Li Jun shook his head coldly, "I'm not the type to wait for others to give; I only like taking with my own hands."

Qian Hai raised a trembling hand, "Just this pile of ruins, take it all you like."

"Brother Qian, I was at least a high-level executive at Shu Dao Logistics; though my time was short, I still know some secrets."

Li Jun sneered, "Your split with the Dao Sect is settled monthly; a place storing such massive cash flow, could you let a fire burn it?"

"So you set the fire not to vent anger, but to find the vault? You do have some brains."

A teasing expression appeared on Qian Hai's bloodless face, "But too bad; looks like you didn't find it."

Li Jun tilted his head, narrowed his eyes and smiled: "Aren't you still alive?"

"The vault uses genetic recognition; only the direct bloodline of the Gu family can open it."

"I know Brother Qian has a way; open the vault, and I'll spare your life."

"We are what we are; let's not play tricks to fool fools."

Qian Hai seemed to feel his current winnowing-basket posture was inelegant, and wanted to straighten his back.

But he had only shifted a fraction when bone-chilling agony shot from his chest, draining the last dregs of strength from his body.

Were his body not already nailed to the corridor pillar behind him, he would surely have collapsed limp to the ground at this moment.

"Won't open. If I don't, only I die—an old man with one foot in the grave. But if I open it for you, my entire Qian clan dies. Which is lighter, which heavier, I needn't say more, right?"

Li Jun raised an eyebrow, "Greed-blinded, yet you'd give yourself up for others?"

Qian Hai retorted, "A solitary wretch like me—how would I understand weighing the scales?"

Looking into Qian Hai's eyes, filled with deathly resolve, Li Jun no longer had a shred of intent to threaten.

"Fine. Since that's the case, I'll send you on your way."

Li Jun nodded heavily, bracing his hands on his knees to stand up.

"Should've done this long ago."

Qian Hai tilted his head back; a sudden rally before death brightened his dim eyes a few degrees, and he sneered: "Then, Little Brother Li, see you on the other side?"

"That might trouble you to wait a few more years down there, Old Brother."

Li Jun laughed loudly, reaching out to draw his saber.

Pfft!

The ink-black saber left its sheath, its edge white as frost. The wound on Qian Hai's chest was a ghastly white, not a drop of blood to be seen.

His blood had long since drained dry.

[Gained 70 Proficiency Points.]

A venerable Confucian Eighth Rank who had controlled a clan's inner court for decades now shared the same price as that ant-like Luo Zhen.

How bitterly ironic!

[Sequence]: Martial Dao Sequence Eight — Red Blood

[Techniques]: Po Lu Saber (Grade Eight Grand Perfection), Ba Ji Fist (Grade Eight Grand Perfection)

[Movement]: Yue Yuan Step (Grade Eight Grand Perfection)

[Body Tempering]: Golden Bell Shield (Grade Eight Grand Perfection)

[Internal Art]: Qing Di Canon (Grade Eight Grand Perfection)

[Proficiency Points]: 443 points

"Saved up this much 'money', finally almost time to spend it."

Li Jun looked at the small characters floating on his retina, muttering to himself.

Boom!

This combustion accelerant personally blended by Lord Ma possessed power far exceeding Li Jun's expectations.

The continuous rows of towering houses could no longer endure the fire's erosion; amidst one thunderous crash after another, they collapsed spectacularly.

Shattered debris and carbonized black dust rose like a dust dragon, just trying to soar, but in a flash were pressed entirely into the muddy ground by the violent rain.

The originally winding, deep mansion compound had now been reduced to a pile of ruins.

With no more shelter, the wind and rain could finally rage unchecked; the fire that had raged for so long finally showed signs of weakening.

The view before him suddenly opened wide.

Li Jun seemed to sense something; he suddenly turned his gaze toward the main gate.

“Finally, you’ve come.”

Amidst the gloom of wind and rain, a "Flesh Mountain" stood erected there, none knowing when it had arrived.

A bone-piercing chill abruptly rose.

“Why wouldn't you just wait obediently for me at the Academy? I could help you ascend to a Sole Sovereign; by then, no one in all of Chengdu County could stop you.”

Li Jun’s face was full of disdain. “After you’ve stripped me of my consciousness and completed the possession?”

At this moment, thunder exploded beneath the night curtain, pale light casting a cold gleam in Li Jun’s eyes.

It also illuminated the peak of that "Flesh Mountain"—a face rife with greed, like that of a malignant ghost.

Yu Kou grinned. “Wouldn't that still be a Sole Sovereign?”

“If the Commander puts it that way...”

Li Jun dragged his saber in hand, advancing with measured steps; the ink-black blade tip kissed the ground, striking sparks.

Before his words fell, this corridor suddenly erupted with a heaven-shaking boom, collapsing inward.

Amidst the horizontally flying debris, a black robe shot out like a powerful arrow!

*Shing!*

Saber light, like the moon, illuminated a face arrogant and domineering, the fluttering hem of his clothes stained with specks of raging flame.

“How about I let this old man extract your Dao Foundation instead?!”