Chapter 29: Shocking Change

Chapter 29: Upheaval

The vault of heaven was like an oceanic abyss, rainwater converging into a waterfall that poured down, its roar deafening.

Swirling black clouds pressed down extremely low, almost kissing the carved eaves atop the high-rises.

The holographic projections that once seemed like divine miracles were all swallowed whole; even the gorgeous, dazzling lights emitted from shop signs were suppressed into dimness.

At the southern end of Nine Dragons Street, a mansion in the Gu-Ming style lay coiled in shadows unreached by lamplight.

Before the mansion, over a hundred Paoge disciples in black robes stood with hands clasped behind their backs, legs braced apart, letting the wind and rain lash them, yet not a soul spoke.

Silent as reefs at the bottom of the sea.

When thunder in the black clouds roared once more, a figure holding a black umbrella finally slowly appeared.

In this instant, the Paoge disciples standing in the heavy rain parted to left and right in unison, making way for a path.

Where the figure passed, these usually arrogant and domineering Hunshui Paoge all lowered their heads in salute, respectful and reverent.

"Jun-ge."

"Jun-ge."

Voices intertwined, rising and falling like surging waves, actually drowning out the heavy, drum-like patter of the pouring rain!

Before crossing the mansion's threshold, the figure under the black umbrella suddenly halted, the canopy tilting slightly, revealing a section of jaw, cold and hard as if carved by knife and axe.

Li Jun tilted his head to look at the plaque with gold characters on a black background hanging on the lintel, the corner of his mouth slowly hooking into a cold sneer.

"Heh, 'Righteousness Reaching the Heavens'?"

The construction of this mansion, representing the Paoge Association's main hall, was not complex; it had only one courtyard in depth. Bypassing the screen wall in the courtyard led to a spacious council hall.

Although upon seeing the formation at the hall entrance, Li Jun had faintly anticipated it. But when he truly saw the coffin placed in the center of the hall, he couldn't help but freeze in place.

Zhao Ding... really dead?!

"You've come."

Kuang Qingyun, kneeling before the coffin, hearing the footsteps behind him, slowly stood up. He still wore that cyan robe, but his eyes held none of their former luster, exhaustion fully displayed.

Li Jun looked at the grief on Kuang Qingyun's face that didn't seem feigned, and after a moment of silence, asked: "How did it come to this?"

Kuang Qingyun smiled bitterly: "Genetic collapse had reached that stage for him; death had long been shadowing him, its arrival at any time was no surprise."

Li Jun's gaze passed over Kuang Qingyun, fixing long on that coffin.

At this moment, he still did not believe Zhao Ding would die so suddenly.

Even if genetic collapse was truly irreversible, this Helmsman of the Hunshui Paoge would absolutely not have died so silently, without a sound.

Kuang Qingyun, seeing the indifferent expression on Li Jun's face, suddenly erupted with surging rage in his eyes.

"Li Jun, Ding-ye is dead, don't you feel even a shred of sorrow?"

"Are you crazy?"

Li Jun's voice had just fallen when he suddenly felt a tightness at his neck; his collar was seized in Kuang Qingyun's grip.

"I'm crazy? Aren't you the one who's too cold-blooded?"

Kuang Qingyun raged: "Yes, I know regarding the Zhao Dou matter, you believe you were used as bait by Ding-ye, so you harbor resentment against him."

"But you damn well forget, without Ding-ye, you'd have been hacked to death by those beasts of the Jidao Association long ago!"

Facing Kuang Qingyun's sky-piercing fury, Li Jun's eyes held not a ripple, still calm: "Whether grace or grudge, I don't need you to remind me."

"Fuck!" Kuang Qingyun raised his left hand, a fist smashing toward Li Jun's face.

With a dull thud, Kuang Qingyun's fist was caught fast in a palm.

In the empty hall, the low roar of a Gearheart activating suddenly sounded, then immediately, extremely abruptly, ground to a halt.

Li Jun's fist hovered before Kuang Qingyun's brow, the violent fist wind blowing his temple hair into a frenzy, simultaneously extinguishing the gradually brightening red dots in his eyes.

His strength... is actually this strong?

Kuang Qingyun's eyes were horrified; both were Sequence Nine Followers, yet Li Jun gave him a sense of insurmountable oppression.

"Your bond with Ding-ye was deep; unable to accept his sudden passing for a time, I can understand that."

"But don't forget, there are over a hundred pairs of eyes watching us outside right now! If you don't want the Paoge Association to collapse right now, you'd best sober up for me."

Li Jun's sword-brows stood on end, the killing intent on him suddenly exploding, coldly: "After Ding-ye's affairs are settled, Second Master Kuang, however you want to fight me, I'll accompany you to the end!"

Kuang Qingyun's face cycled through green and white, finally letting go of Li Jun with great reluctance.

He knew Li Jun was right; with Ding-ye's sudden death, the Paoge Association was leaderless; the only ones capable of suppressing the situation were him and Li Jun, these two Sequencers.

If internal strife broke out between them, the entire Paoge Association would immediately crumble.

Ding-ye did so much in life precisely to prevent such a thing.

Kuang Qingyun took a deep breath, suddenly rolling up his right sleeve.

Li Jun frowned tightly at this, thinking the other party was still stubbornly unrepentant, preparing to use heavy hands to help Kuang Qingyun sober up completely.

But the next moment, he saw the bionic skin on Kuang Qingyun's right forearm split open, revealing a cavity, inside which was stored a silver metal injector.

Kuang Qingyun raised his hand and threw the injector over; the liquid in the drug chamber was green like jade, and as it swayed, one could almost feel the ultimate, surging vitality within with the naked eye.

"This is what Ding-ye asked me to give you. Li Jun, I'm telling you, the old man didn't forget the promise he made to you even before he died!"

The instant the injector touched his hand, Li Jun felt his body erupt with an unprecedented hunger!

This intense impulse originated from that set of revived Martial Dao Sequence genes deep within his body.

As if this drug was a piece of delicious flesh and blood, and Li Jun's body was a beast about to starve to death.

"Inject! Quick, inject it!"

Li Jun's ears were filled with urgent roars; uncontrollable desire converged into a terrifying torrent, constantly battering his remaining reason.

Puchi!

Li Jun's five fingers suddenly dug into his palm, instantly blood flowed freely, the assaulting pain barely letting him keep the last thread of clarity.

"What is this thing?"

Kuang Qingyun's eye twitched; he knew Li Jun still harbored suspicion, the anger just suppressed in his chest surging up again.

"I'm telling you, this damn thing is 'Vernal Equinox', one of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms of the Nongjia Sequence, a treasure even more precious than the Daoist Life-Extending Golden Elixir, able to fetch millions of Daming Treasure Notes on the black market!"

Kuang Qingyun pointed at Li Jun and berated: "Ding-ye left you the very thing he used to prolong his own life, and you still suspect him. Li Jun, are you even human?"

Blue veins bulged on Li Jun's temples, blood dripping from his palm, staining the injector, making the emerald liquid within look inexplicably bewitching.

"What else did Ding-ye say?"

Kuang Qingyun crossed his arms, lips pressed tight, eyes full of mockery.

"Speak!"

Li Jun erupted with a wild, beast-like roar, bloodshot veins weaving in his eyes, fierce and terrifying.

A sudden panic surged in Kuang Qingyun's heart; the bio-chip in his skull simultaneously detected his disordered body hormones, immediately transmitting an alarm to his brain.

At this moment, he inexplicably had a genuine premonition: if he didn't speak, Li Jun would not hesitate to make a move on him!

Kuang Qingyun took a wary step backward, his voice low and grave:

"Master Ding sent me to tell you: using the Martial Arts Injector is already taking a shortcut. You must absolutely not rush ahead in greed for merit. Only by pushing every single martial art to its absolute limit before advancing in Sequence can you avoid falling into genetic collapse."

What Zhao Ding said and what Crow Blossom said were almost identical!

The two accounts corroborated each other; it confirmed Zhao Ding was telling the truth, and this vial of 'Vernal Equinox' serum was the genuine article.

Thinking to this point, Li Jun no longer suppressed that hunger burning to consume him. He drove the needle into the artery in his neck.

As the liquid entered his blood vessels, a deafening cheer erupted within Li Jun's body. Be it flesh, bone, sinew, or cellular genes, all frantically devoured this vibrant life force.

[Acquired 300 Proficiency Points]

Gazing at the small characters floating on his retina, Li Jun swiftly completed the point allocation.

[Consumed 100 Proficiency Points, Single Saber Technique raised to (Late Stage Rank Nine, 33/100)]

[Consumed 100 Proficiency Points, Bagua Swimming Body Step raised to (Late Stage Rank Nine, 0/100)]

[Consumed 100 Proficiency Points, Iron Cloth Shirt raised to (Late Stage Rank Nine, 5/100)]

..............

Li Jun looked at Zhao Ding's coffin, the light in his eyes unfathomably complex.

This vial of 'Vernal Equinox' serum was the sole leverage Zhao Ding had to control him, yet he had let Kuang Qingyun hand it over so easily.

Perhaps... Zhao Ding was truly dead.

Amidst Kuang Qingyun's melancholy gaze, Li Jun, the ferocity faded from his form, stepped forward to stand before Zhao Ding's coffin. He stood tall for a long moment, then finally bowed deeply.

"Helmsman, what I promised you... I will surely accomplish," Li Jun vowed silently.

Just then, a sudden clamor of noisy argument erupted at the hall entrance, followed by the main door being kicked wide open.

A large crowd filed in, and leading them was none other than Luo Zhen.

This Inspector of the Chicken and Goose District currently wore a smile, his brows suffused with barely contained joy.

"Well, well. He really is dead?"