Chapter 357: Knuckle-Duster Li Hua

Chapter 357: The Ironclad Li Hua

Winter's chill, a snowy night, north of the city, atop a hill.

Standing here, lifting one's gaze allows a panoramic view of the entire Dog Mountain.

Flames scorch the snow, thick fog spreads, whether towering steel buildings or low wooden houses, now serve as kindling for the raging fire engulfing the city.

Above the intensifying blaze, once brilliant neon lights are dimmed. Various strange and peculiar projections still sway in the air, until they are surrounded by the spreading fire dragons, exploding with a bang before vanishing completely.

The night wind, warm from the burning and carrying a burnt smell, blows from the city's direction, brushing against Zou Si Ji's white robe of a divine official.

Even at such a distance, he still feels his eyes filled with scorching light, and his ears are filled with faint screams and wails.

Arson burning the city!

These raptors have such ruthless hearts, such venomous methods!

"So, Quan, are you saying that Black Dragon Capital is the mastermind behind the covert capture of the Imperial mainland's Yin-Yang Order this time?"

"Based on what I saw in the underground of Black Dragon Capital's building, it should be so."

Zou Si Ji gathers his thoughts, turns to look at the speaker.

The face before him, unlike the one he saw in Edo City before, is entirely different.

A strong sense of unease rages wildly in his mind, urging him to stay away from this person.

This feeling is like a voracious evil beast staring at him, ready to pounce at any moment, devouring him completely.

"These farmers who treat their bodies as 'experimental fields,' damn it, they're really perverted!"

Zou Si Ji mutters under his breath, takes a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his instinct to avoid danger, lest he alert Song Shan.

"But I believe the real culprit behind this operation is not just Black Dragon Capital alone."

"No need to believe, that's certain. Such a bloodthirsty act doesn't fit the style of the Akisato family."

Song Shan smiles slightly, "Even the Imperial mainland's Yin-Yang Order was beaten so badly by the Dao Order, they're at best 'Yin-Yang branches' charlatans. How could they dare to act alone against the supreme?"

"Although the flaws of the White Jade Capital's immortal class have caused internal conflicts in the Dao Order, with people no longer cultivating but scheming against each other. But the Dao Order is still one of the Three Teachings, not something a small company in the Owari area could provoke."

What do you mean by 'beaten so badly'? Do you even know how to speak?

Being mocked on the face, Zou Si Ji can't help but feel a bit annoyed.

He wishes he could grab Song Shan's collar and ask which eye saw the Yin-Yang Order's plight? Do you understand what it means to retreat for advancement?

Zou Si Ji secretly taps his teeth, one hand quietly behind his back, pinching his joints without a sound.

"Quan, what do you think the Four Great Companies are trying to achieve by risking so much to strip away so many Huangliang permissions?"

Song Shan gazes at the vast fire below, asking seemingly casually.

Zou Si Ji frowns slightly, "Perhaps to break through the Imperial seal on the Owari area's Huangliang dream, so they might avoid Imperial surveillance and secretly accumulate strength."

"Accumulate strength?"

Song Shan's tone is mocking, "Are you saying the Four Great Companies want to use this as the beginning of their restoration? If Quan thinks so, you're overestimating them."

"Isn't that the case?" Zou Si Ji retorts in confusion.

Song Shan sneers, "Not everyone keeps national grudges and family hatred in their hearts. In fact, for most people, personal desires and ambitions are what truly matter."

"Deputy Minister Hiroshi, Akisato Harusato, Araume Retsu, each harbors their own schemes. On the surface, they share hatred for the enemy, but secretly exploit each other's defenses. Perhaps only Takeda no Tadatsune, that stubborn old blacksmith, would look at this big pie with hope."

"But now Edo City is no longer under my jurisdiction. These troublesome matters should be left to others to handle."

Song Shan suddenly turns to look at Zou Si Ji, changing his tone, "The guards of Dog Mountain City are quite interesting."

"Clearly, this time the raptors entered the city to stop the implementation of the new policies, and they won't let the Master's Temple go. So they placed a general of the guards openly on the surface, waiting for my kagai to imprint. But this step was already a known move, nothing surprising."

"Taking advantage of the situation, letting Kado pretend to surrender to me, luring my kagai imprint into the game, uniting the guards of Kanagawa City, spending over a billion treasure notes to buy equipment for a siege. This step was well-executed, quite decisive."

"But the Dao Order's Tian Shi actually willingly hid in this small hundred-house stronghold, and even used his own Huangliang permissions to summon lightning to kill my strongest red kagai imprint. This step was unexpected by me."

Song Shan speaks slowly, recounting the events in Dog Mountain City tonight, peeling back the layers one by one, savoring them carefully.

"These three moves, each calculated me into their grasp. This hundred-house stronghold in Dog Mountain City is interesting, really too interesting!"

At this point, he suddenly laughs loudly, his laughter revealing no trace of magnanimity, but a chilling malice.

"A Dog Mountain City, actually devoured three of my kagai extensions. Good! There's plenty of time ahead, I'll play with you slowly in the future!"

The mad words echo in the night wind, falling into the sea of fire.

Song Shan slowly retracts his grin, his expression returning to calm.

"Tonight's matters will be put on hold for now. Let's go, Quan. Return to the organization to claim your reward and a new mission."

"I do want the reward, but tonight... I'm afraid we can't leave."

Zou Si Ji steps back a few paces, shaking his head with a smile, "Perhaps there's no 'plenty of time ahead' anymore."

"What do you mean, Quan?"

Song Shan frowns, his eyes dark and gloomy. Zou Si Ji slowly removes the brain machine from behind his head, tossing it carelessly into the snow.

"Don't call me that damn Quan anymore, it makes me sick. The person you knew is already dead beyond death."

Zou Si Ji tears off his divine official's hat, presses his hands to his temples, tightly presses his disheveled hair against his scalp, re-combing it into his signature large braid.

"Remember this, my name is Zou Si Ji. Also, our Yin-Yang Order has never feared the Dao Order!"

Song Shan looks at the brain machine on the ground and this entirely unfamiliar face, unable to suppress the rising fury in his heart. His figure charges forward without warning, his right hand's five fingers pressing toward Zou Si Ji's face.

"You're already a dead man, what else can you use to kill me?"

Zou Si Ji watches the approaching black and blue claws, his figure motionless, a smug smile curling his lips.

Clang!

A cold, sharp light like lightning shoots out, arriving before the hand. Song Shan, on a whim, suddenly stops and withdraws his hand.

The exaggerated blade-like edge presses against his fingertips, 'clanging' as it sinks into the ground before him.

A vicious wind surges behind him. Song Shan abruptly turns around, a cold, stern face already close at hand.

In his pupils, a fire of murder burns!

Facing the sudden change, Song Shan remains fearless, resolutely turning to face those eyes he finds annoying, throwing a punch!

Crack!

The crisp sound of bones breaking and tendons snapping echoes clearly in this silent, uninhabited cliff.

Song Shan's figure is thrown backward, his expression dark, his right arm, which had just thrown the punch, hanging limp at his side.

"Uncle, look, I didn't lie to you, I'm really powerful now."

A silver bell-like voice sounds: "If I meet that Red Dragon again, I'll definitely break it!"

"Our little flower is really great!"

Li Jun presses his eyebrows, his eyes complex as he looks at the bronze-colored arm guards on both sides of his fists.

On the edge of the arm guards, a flower is carved with naive brushstrokes.

The lively sound just now came from within.

Pure offensive ink armor, Li Hua.

Li Jun slowly lifted his head, his tiger-like gaze fixed ahead, the corners of his tightly pressed lips tugging into a stiff smile. "Then let's settle this, uncle and nephew, today."

"Let's beat him up first!"

Li Hua took over the conversation, resembling a girl with twin braids and crossed arms, her face twisted in fury as she stomped her feet.

Whoosh!

Li Jun's cold eyes burned with intensity, two pale breaths puffing from his nose. With a casual tug, he tore off his muscle-stretched armor, his smile unchanged but now laced with unhidden disdain.

"No wonder I've never seen you, a Jin Yi Wei captain—you've been lurking in the shadows, plotting like a magpie."

Song Shan clutched his severed arm, realigning the displaced bones inch by inch. "Think killing my 'Three Corpses' would make me your prey? Li Jun, you're overestimating yourself!"

"The last person who spoke like that died horribly."

Li Jun rotated his shoulder, eliciting a series of crackling sounds. "Take this advice—lose, and you must admit it."

"Stand tall when you're beaten!"

A crisp, childlike voice rang out from the iron claws.

"Who would've thought I'd receive such a grand gift before leaving?"

Song Shan flicked out a crimson tip of his tongue, licking his pale teeth. "Kill you—I won't be shortchanged this time!"

Before the words faded, his form surged forward, leaving a spray of mud and overturned turf in a deep pit.

Song Shan's right hand, fingers splayed like blades, slashed downward. Li Jun, instead of retreating, lunged forward, his left fist gripping the iron claws smashing the descending blade into fragments.

Bang!

Song Shan ignored the flesh and blood mangled by the claws, as if he'd already foreseen this outcome.

His grin remained, and his left foot, which had been lightly touching the ground, suddenly lifted, delivering a vicious knee strike in the moment the blade missed.

Though a peasant martial artist, his style was brutally violent, charging in with a ferocious intent to trade wounds!

Yet all his schemes had been laid bare by Li Jun.

Without hesitation, Li Jun crouched low, his right arm curled into an elbow, striking Song Shan's kneecap like a hammer, sending the knee strike crashing to the ground.

"Think you can trade injuries in close combat? Song Shan, you're overestimating yourself!"

Li Jun echoed the same words, advancing his body, arms wrapping around Song Shan's shoulders, driving his frame into his own knee.

Brutal to brutal, knee strike to knee strike.

Having coldly observed half the night, Li Jun's ferocity now surpassed his opponent's, his rage boiling over.

Crack.

Song Shan's left arm, blocking his chest, snapped with a sound. He hadn't expected his proud, self-cultivated physique to crumble like paper before Li Jun.

Cornered, Song Shan roared, his back clothes tearing as two thick arms sprouted from beneath his shoulder blades, striking Li Jun's temples in alternating blows.

The Five Springs of the Peasant Martial Artist—beyond the Three Corpses, there were Four Arms!

"Fancy tricks."

Li Jun let out a cold laugh, his arms lightly deflecting the counterattack, then twisting his elbows to pin Song Shan's hands under his armpits, giving a gentle shake.

Bones misaligned, tendons severed!

At the same time, Li Jun's right leg, already coiled with wind, struck Song Shan's left knee again!

A series of bone cracks echoed as Song Shan's left leg was completely ruined, his body involuntarily tilting toward the severed limb.

Before he could gather his senses from the searing pain, a flower-engraved iron claw loomed before him, enlarging rapidly.

Bang!

Where the fist, wielding eight extremes of internal force, landed, his mouth and nose caved in.

In an instant, Song Shan's four severed arms hung limp, like a torn sack, hurled toward the distance.

Li Jun's stance tightened, ready to press the attack, to crush him utterly.

A desperate foe must be pursued to the death.

This was the true law of martial combat.

But just as Li Jun's thunderous steps were about to land, Song Shan's dilated pupils contracted into pinpricks, and dark red blood spurted from his collapsed face.

Li Jun's forward charge halted abruptly, instinctively retreating.

The blood splattering before him stirred an inexplicable hunger in his gut, his belly rumbling as if craving a sweet rain of blood.

Yet simultaneously, his genes surged with a fierce repulsion.

The copper bells at his waist clanged wildly, jolting his dazed mind from this carnal desire.

Suddenly, flesh and blood instincts and genetic will clashed invisibly within Li Jun.

"Tch, you're really asking for trouble, challenging him alone."

Zou Si Jiu, who understood the stakes, leaned against a massive embroidered spring blade, lazily remarking, "Think a few extra arms and muscles make you a martial artist? You peasants forget the pain once the wound heals. I told you—don't plant so much audacity in your bodies. Too much courage won't save you, but it'll kill you."

Crack-crack-crack-crack!

The two arms beside Song Shan's fallen shoulder writhed, and his left leg, supposed to be shattered, somehow propped him up again.

The mangled right hand, crushed by the iron claws, writhed with flesh and blood, rapidly restoring itself to its original state.

The peasant martial artist's might was evident now.

Song Shan's choice to engage Li Jun in close combat, despite knowing he was a martial artist, was clear.

Yet oddly, the two severed arms and his collapsed facial bones healed far slower.

"You shut up—he dies next, and it'll be your turn."

Song Shan, irritated, swept his gaze at Zou Si Jiu, his chest rising and falling alternately, as if two hearts beat in separate chambers.

"Fine, go on—let me watch."

Zou Si Jiu chuckled, teasing, "I even cast a hex for you. Guess what it says?"

"Perish on the spot!"

The words had barely fallen when the silent Li Jun rose first, his steps thunderous, his advance swift as lightning.

The iron claws let out a sharp whistle, his brows knitting with icy intent to kill.