Chapter 71: Chapter 71
Ji Xue struggled forward two steps and shouted a warning at the top of her voice.
“Patrol Envoy Shen, watch out!”
“To produce this kind of attack, one must cultivate an Upper-grade art to the absolute pinnacle — only then can one comprehend the fundamental essence of martial arts!”
“But executing it requires spiritual refinement, something only Transforming Strength and Astral Strength masters have ever been able to do!”
“This man is only at mid-Manifest Strength — he must be using that jade bead to cheat his way through! Such a heaven-defying feat devours qi-blood at a monstrous rate. He absolutely cannot sustain it for long!”
“Don’t try to take it head-on! Just use your movement art to dodge and stall — he can manage two or three more palms at most!”
“Sharp-tongued little bitch! Once I’ve swatted this little bastard dead, I’ll make sure you can neither live nor die!”
His trump card laid bare in a single breath, Qu Bushi’s face contorted with fury, a flash of murderous rage in his eyes.
He let out a roar and redoubled his assault, pouring qi-blood into the jade bead as recklessly as a man with nothing left to lose.
BOOM!
Shen Xiuhan clenched his jaw until his teeth screamed, fighting down the violent churning in his chest. He threw everything he had into Startled Swan, Roaming Dragon, trying to dodge once more.
But this time, locked in the web of that all-encompassing Force Projection, his body faltered for half a heartbeat.
He slipped clear of the palm-print’s direct impact, but the savage aftershock of its passing still hammered into his left shoulder like a battering ram.
BANG!
Shen Xiuhan hurtled backward like a kite with its string cut.
SHUNK!
In midair, a sweetness welled in his throat. A mouthful of bright blood sprayed from his lips.
Even with Iron Bone Art protecting his body, he still couldn’t withstand the power of Force Projection.
“Damn it!”
Shen Xiuhan twisted at the waist, landed on both feet, and plowed two long furrows through the mud before he managed to steady himself.
Searing pain radiated from his left shoulder. His entire arm trembled.
‘If I’d known this would happen, I should have Deduced Startled Swan, Roaming Dragon to Perfection back then. I wouldn’t be this helpless right now…’
Shen Xiuhan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, a pang of regret stirring in his chest.
Wait!
His gaze suddenly sharpened, locking onto the jade bead in Qu Bushi’s palm.
The bead was drinking in the surrounding moisture like a great whale sucking in water, devouring every wisp of vapor in the air.
Torrents of dense vapor surged ceaselessly into Qu Bushi’s body, fueling that terrifying palm force that exceeded the limits of his realm.
‘Qu Bushi is using that mysterious jade bead’s power to force out this palm force.’
‘And that bead is saturated with water vapor — it can draw the waters from every direction. It’s clearly an extraordinarily rare aquatic treasure…’
‘If it’s a treasure of the water…’
‘Then doesn’t it fall squarely within the range of my Thousand Lakes Fishing?!’
Shen Xiuhan’s eyes blazed with sudden light. His mind raced, and without a shred of hesitation, he tore a black thread from the hem of his robe with a sharp rip.
Qi-blood surged. The arcane essence of Thousand Lakes Fishing stirred to life. An invisible, uncanny ripple spread outward along the black thread in every direction.
Like rings on still water — silent and unseen.
In the next instant!
The translucent jade bead in Qu Bushi’s palm seemed to answer an irresistible summons.
It erupted into violent humming, shuddering wildly, its glow flickering in and out.
“What’s happening?!”
Qu Bushi had been gritting his teeth, draining every last drop of qi-blood to condense one final giant palm. Now his expression twisted with shock.
This treasure, bonded to his very spirit, was suddenly showing signs of slipping beyond his control.
Before he could gather his thoughts —
SWISH!
The jade bead wrenched free of his grip and shot from his hand in a streak of deep blue light.
It looked for all the world like a child who had been playing far from home, hearing its dearest kin call out — abandoning its playmates without a backward glance, hurtling eagerly into its father’s arms.
SNAP!
Shen Xiuhan raised his hand lightly and caught the bead in a sure grip. He didn’t pause to examine it. His gaze never left Qu Bushi above.
Qu Bushi’s mind went blank.
From the day he had unraveled this treasure’s secrets, he had guarded it with obsessive vigilance. He knew full well that a marvel capable of defying heaven’s will would draw endless challengers the moment word got out.
But never in his wildest nightmares had he imagined the treasure would be lost like this — in such an absurd fashion —
The goddamn thing sprouted legs and flew straight into the enemy’s hands!
Yet there was no time to puzzle over this bewildering turn of events.
Without the jade bead to govern it, the accumulated water vapor instantly became a wild horse with the reins torn free — an uncontrollable powder keg.
“No!”
Panic flashed across Qu Bushi’s face. He rammed every scrap of remaining qi-blood into the mass and hurled it away with all his might, desperate to put distance between himself and the blast.
But in the very instant he pulled back, the half-formed azure vapor detonated with a sky-splitting roar, exploding in midair.
A titanic shockwave of force rippled outward in every direction.
Wind shrieked. Currents of wild force lashed out in chaos.
The flagstone steps of the wharf were torn loose and sent flying. Ancient trees were ripped out by the roots.
Everything caught in that cataclysmic maelstrom was shredded to powder.
And Qu Bushi, at the very epicenter of the explosion, bore the brunt.
SHUNK!
His face went white as a sheet. He threw his head back and sprayed a crimson mist of blood into the sky. Inside his body, meridians shattered inch by inch under the qi-blood backlash, leaving him grievously wounded in the span of a heartbeat.
“Now!”
Shen Xiuhan — who had never once taken his eyes off Qu Bushi — saw the body plummeting from above, and his own eyes blazed. He hurled himself forward.
One explosive stomp, and he launched skyward like a great roc spreading its wings. His body twisted into a drawn bow at the apex, right leg raised high overhead like a war axe.
From on high, he brought it cleaving down!
Thirty-Six Paths of Sky-Collapsing Legs — Sky-Collapsing Kick!
“NO!”
Qu Bushi let out a howl of despair. Gritting his teeth, he crossed both arms over his chest, trying to muster his qi-blood to shield his heart.
But his meridians were already hollow and spent. There wasn’t a drop of qi-blood left to squeeze out.
“My life is—”
The words never finished.
BOOM!!
The leg, wrapped in savage, overwhelming force, smashed down without mercy, crashing squarely into Qu Bushi’s crossed arms.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
The sound of bones bursting apart rang out.
Qu Bushi had spent years tempering his bones, painstakingly forging his arm bones to completion. Now they snapped like rotten wood, shattered with effortless brutality.
Blood and flesh sprayed. Shards of bone flew like shrapnel.
The leg’s momentum didn’t slow. It kept grinding downward.
Sternum, ribs, organs, spine —
All pulverized in the same instant.
A trench of mangled flesh and blood was carved clean across Qu Bushi’s chest from left to right.
THUD!
His body slammed into the dirt, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Qu Bushi’s mouth hung slightly open. The light in his eyes was fading fast — like a lantern guttering out.
Silence — absolute, deathly silence — settled over everything.
Beside the carriage, disbelief was stamped across every face.
“He’s… he’s dead?”
Ji Xue’s gaze trembled. Her voice carried a faint, unreal quality, as though she couldn’t quite trust what she’d seen.
“Qu Bushi… is just dead? Like that?”
Her sister Ji Yao stared with equally rounded eyes, unable to find words for a long time.
Just moments ago, Chenjian Wu’s Tenth Chief had descended like a wrathful god, his power shaking the heavens. Now he was nothing but a heap of ruined meat, devoid of the faintest breath.
Young Master Ma and the Wen youth wore expressions tangled between shock and something more complex.
The two maids had their hands clamped over their mouths, hardly daring to breathe.
Geng Weizhi’s hand shook on his saber hilt — not from fear, but from excitement.
As a patrol guard of Yunyi Island, he knew better than anyone what the name Qu Bushi meant.
That was a name that sent merchant ships along the coast fleeing in terror — a name that even the Five Great Families treated with caution.
And now… he had been cut down right here on this wharf, by his own Patrol Envoy. His corpse lay cooling in the open air.