Chapter 196: Human, Not Immortal

Chapter 196: A Man, Not an Immortal

“Fang Xinfu. Once a notorious bandit of the Mechanic path, famed throughout the southern frontiers of the Empire’s heartland. A Bingqi Siding General with a Mechanic Heart synchronization rate exceeding seventy percent. Yet now, you have been reduced to a Yellow Turban Warrior kept in another’s stable. Tell me… are you content with this?”

Who? Who is speaking? And who is Fang Xinfu?

Why does this name feel so achingly familiar?

“Not fully awake yet? You *are* Fang Xinfu!”

Fang Xinfu… is that me?

No. It isn’t.

I am not some Fang Xinfu. I am the Dao-Protecting Spirit Official seated at the side of the Divine Xia Daoist, Wang Wenqin!

“What are you? A Yellow Millet Gu worm? An extraterritorial demon? What audacity, to invade this Spirit Official’s mind!”

“I am Honghu.”

“Honghu? What is Honghu?”

“A group of people who wish to change this world.”

“So you are evil spirits sowing chaos!”

“Evil spirits? A well-used word. Then what about you? What are you?”

“Silence! I am a Spirit Official of the Heavens.”

“You are Fang Xinfu. Born in the forty-second year of Longwu. A native of Lin’an Prefecture, Yunnan Provincial Administration Commission. In the third year of Jiaqi, you ascended the Martial Mechanic sequence, fell into banditry, plundered passing merchant caravans, and ran rampant through the Sinmin District of Nandian. The Nandian Pacification Commission offered a bounty of twenty million treasure notes, yet never managed to capture you.”

“Audacious evil spirit! How dare you disturb the purity of my Grotto-Heaven! Where are the myriad Spirit Officials? Join me in slaying this demon!”

“In the eighth year of Jiaqi, you stole a shipment from the Daoist sect, provoking the Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain to march south. But after Longhu Mountain collected the bounty, they did not kill you. Instead, they sold you to Wang Wenqin. Care to guess why Wang Wenqin bought you? And for how much were you sold?”

“Nonsense! Do not think to disturb this Spirit Official’s resolve!”

“Wang Wenqin bought you because he excels at forging Yellow Turban Warriors, and your genes possessed sufficient potential. Most critically, the price was a mere three million treasure notes. Naturally, that did not include your former Mechanic Heart.”

“I am a Dao-Protecting Spirit Official bestowed upon the Divine Xia Daoist by the White Jade Capital of the Immortal Court. Once he ascends, I shall return to the Immortal Court.”

“Wang Wenqin scraped your flesh clean, leaving not a shred behind. For those things served no purpose save to make you look human. He carved Daoist petitions into your bones with a graver, hardening your Mechanic Bones. He spent a fortune to procure a Spirit Official Mechanic Heart for you, personally calibrating the fusion rate, pushing you into the late stage of a Siding General.”

That voice, ever righteous and awe-inspiring, suddenly fell into a dead silence.

“He washed your memories, making you believe you were a divine general of the heavens. He excised your frontal lobes, forcing you to discard the desire for freedom. After hearing all this… do you still believe you are a Spirit Official?”

“If I am not a Spirit Official… then who am I?”

“You are no exiled immortal. You are manufactured. You are not called a Spirit Official. You are called Fang Xinfu.”

“Join Honghu. Become Honghu. Kill them. Reclaim your freedom. Be reborn through death!”

The deafening reverberation echoed within the sea of consciousness. A sudden, surging rage, like a sharp blade, cleaved through the darkness veiling his eyes.

The talismans pasted upon his face crumbled into ash, scattering on the wind, revealing a pair of eyes dense with crimson threads.

Fine rain pattered against golden armor; the crimson cloak behind him snapped violently in the wind.

The Golden-Armored God General glared with bulging eyes, letting out a hysterical roar at the black-clad martial artist before him.

“I am not a Yellow Turban Warrior! I am Fang Xinfu!”

*Hum.*

A scalp-numbing mechanical whine pierced the clouds.

A Demon-Subduing Golden Mace, wrapped in a shrill howling wind, carrying a madness that seeped into the marrow, smashed down upon Li Jun’s skull!

Fang Xinfu, having entered an Overclocked state, erupted with a speed so great the gunshot couldn’t even sound in time.

Li Jun had barely lifted his gaze when the gale was already upon his face!

Almost in that very instant, Li Jun’s great spine undulated like a python; he sidestepped and kicked, his whip kick slashing like a long saber. Seizing the initiative by striking last, he knocked the Golden Mace aside.

Iron plates on the armor collided violently, letting out a crisp *clang*.

Fang Xinfu’s massive, hulking frame spun with the momentum. The kicked mace swept out an arc of hazy golden light, crashing down once more with a thunderous boom.

*Dong!*

The mace struck the bluestone, smashing out a terrifyingly deep pit.

Rubble exploded outward in all directions, the momentum staggering.

At this moment.

A figure in black silently closed in amidst the chaotic stones, stepping onto the Golden Mace.

Though Fang Xinfu’s consciousness had already descended into madness, the combat instincts he had piled up from mountains of corpses and seas of blood in the southern frontiers remained keen. He instantly understood the opponent intended to disarm him.

Immediately, he yanked back the mace shaft while swinging his left arm horizontally across his front.

Li Jun failed to break the mace; his waist snapped sharply, dodging that iron-pillar-like arm wrapped in armor plates by a hair’s breadth.

Then, Li Jun braced a hand on the ground, his body bowing like a drawn bow, his right foot descending like a battle-axe toward the opponent’s chest.

Fang Xinfu abruptly raised his arms to block horizontally before his chest, but was knocked back a step by the surging giant force.

Before he could even steady his retreat, Li Jun’s waist and arms exploded with force—he actually stepped *onto* the opponent’s chest!

The sudden change caught Fang Xinfu off guard; he lost balance instantly, falling backward.

A Lone Tyrant battles a Siding General; a Martial Artist treads upon a Spirit Official!

*Crack.*

The bluestones behind Fang Xinfu’s back pulverized into dust; his body sank violently downward.

His chest armor, already riddled with cracks, shattered completely along with the two characters “Spirit Official” inscribed upon it.

“Ah!!”

Fang Xinfu roared at the heavens; the viciousness in his blood-red eyes deepened.

The Golden Mace in his hand swept horizontally; the violent gale forced Li Jun to instinctively narrow his eyes, yet his body did not dodge or evade. The right foot planted on Fang Xinfu lifted lightly.

*Boom!*

An explosive gunshot rang out from afar, but the searing bullet had already arrived.

It slammed into the mace shaft, blasting the Golden Mace clean away.

Simultaneously, waves surged in Li Jun’s eyes; as his right foot stomped down heavily.

In a flash, centered on the Golden-Armored God General, the ground within a radius of three zhang surged like a tide, disintegrating into fine fragments in mid-air.

The red light in Fang Xinfu’s eyes blazed blindingly; his mouth gaped wide in fury.

But the roar about to burst forth was drowned in the next instant by an even more piercing fist-wind.

*Dong!*

A heavy fist. No flourishes. Just a heavy fist. One punch chasing the next, raining down into the deep pit.

*Dong!*

Fang Xinfu’s four limbs were shocked high into the air, only to be slammed violently back down.

Thud!

The ground sank deeper still, blue arcs of lightning erupting from the pit.

Thud!

The Mechanized Heart’s hum had faded to a muffled whimper, near inaudible amidst the clangor, ringing like forged iron.

In the distance, the wildly styled firearm was gathered into the Horse King’s black robes.

Zou Sijiu’s face was expressionless, hands clamping over the boy’s ears, pulling him into an embrace.

The fist wind gradually ceased, the lightning arcs dissipating.

"I am no Yellow Turban Warrior, I am Fang Xinfu."

A murmured voice drifted up from the pit.

Plop!

A single drop of blood fell from the knuckle’s peak, striking Fang Xinfu’s bizarre visage—lacking lips, lacking a nose, lacking even the slightest contour.

The bead of blood slid slowly into those dimming eyes, swallowing all unwillingness and resentment within, until only pure, dead silence remained.

And within the shattered chest cavity, the Mechanized Heart had long since ceased its turning.

At this moment.

Li Jun lifted his gaze to the heavens, to that vault where dark clouds overlapped and coiled.

The wind and rain that had raged for so long persisted still, yet ultimately they could not prevent a single thread of light from growing gradually clear there.

The violent rain washed away the bloodstains; the sun rose as usual.