Chapter 455 430: Life-taking Finger

Song Ciwan approached. On the ground, Steward Luo was tense with anticipation!

Though he lay on the ground looking completely powerless, it was clear he was merely preparing for a last-ditch counter-attack.

Song Ciwan stopped three feet from Steward Luo and slowly drew a long whip from her sleeve.

Steward Luo's eyes flew open. Turning his head anxiously, he asked Song Ciwan, "What are you doing?"

Song Ciwan said coolly, "Didn't you say I could kill you or torture you as I please? I've always had a soft spot for the dying, and I'm more than willing to grant your wish. In that case, how about three thousand lashes first? It won't be too late to kill you after that."

As she spoke, she raised her hand and cracked the whip with lightning speed.

WHAP!

The long whip landed on Steward Luo, making the golden light around his body shimmer erratically.

The golden light came from the trembling of Steward Luo's Protective Treasure. The whip in Song Ciwan's hand was merely an Upper Grade Magical Artifact; logically, it shouldn't have been able to break the treasure's defenses at all.

But the whip was in Song Ciwan's hands. She used her True Qi to simulate Qi Blood, infusing it into the whip. The immense, profound power instantly magnified the whip's might several times over.

And so, after just two consecutive strikes, Steward Luo's already battered Protective Treasure shattered completely.

It takes longer to describe than it did to happen. The two lashes landed in a single instant.

Even "the blink of an eye" would be too slow to describe it. In a true instant, the Magical Treasure on Steward Luo's body shattered, and he screamed in agony.

"You..." he cried out.

"AARGH!" he screamed again in pain.

Without another word, Song Ciwan lashed him thirty times.

This Magical Artifact whip had no special properties other than one: it inflicted excruciating pain. A pain so intense it felt as if one's very marrow was shattering and their Qi Veins were flowing backward.

During this time, the Heaven and Earth Scale successively received two more masses of energy: [Human Desires: the fury, resentment, and agony of a Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator. Two catties and six taels. Exchangeable.]

[Human Desires: the fury, hatred, and tension of a Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator. One catty and nine taels. Exchangeable.]

Thirty lashes rained down in the blink of an eye, and Steward Luo had provided two masses of energy.

Just as Song Ciwan was about to continue, Steward Luo finally broke. His tone shifted, and he screamed, "Sir, I was wrong! I was blind and failed to recognize your greatness! I never should have tried to rob and kill you! Just give me a quick death, please, a quick death! AARGH!"

His limp body began to writhe on the ground, and as he did, he seemed to inch closer to Song Ciwan, as if by accident.

They had only been three feet apart to begin with. As Steward Luo writhed, the distance between them quickly shrank to two feet, then one...

But at that exact moment, Song Ciwan took a step back. The whip cracked again. WHAP! WHAP! WHAP!

The pain intensified. Steward Luo threw his head back, his neck arching unnaturally.

He yelled again, "Lu Bell, for torturing me to death today, the Seven Treasures Tower will hunt you to the ends of the earth when they find out!"

Song Ciwan scoffed. "The Seven Treasures Tower will hunt me? Perfect. Then the whole world can learn how a Steward of the Seven Treasures Tower uses his position to ambush and murder a distinguished guest holding a Seven Treasures Order!"

The whip kept cracking. Each time Steward Luo managed to writhe a step closer, Song Ciwan would subtly retreat a step.

In the process, the Heaven and Earth Scale received two more masses of human desires from Steward Luo.

However, the weight of these two masses of human desires had begun to plummet compared to the previous ones.

One weighed one catty and one tael; the other, six taels and three maces. It was obvious that even though Steward Luo was still in agony and filled with resentment, he was beginning to rein in his emotions with intense focus.

Seeing that she had nearly squeezed him dry, Song Ciwan watched as Steward Luo, his face a mess of tears and snot, yelled, "Then just give me a quick death! I have a Treasure Map! I'm willing to hand it over!"

Those words made Song Ciwan's whipping arm pause for a fraction of a second.

Song Ciwan said, "What?"

Steward Luo said quickly, "It's a Celestial Immortal Secret Realm Treasure Map! There's a verbal key. Just listen to me—"

He was about to say, "Just listen to me speak," but the words never fully left his mouth.

For just as he was about to utter the final word, "speak," Song Ciwan suddenly raised a hand and pointed a finger at him.

The gesture was utterly mundane, like an ordinary person simply raising their hand. There was no killing intent, no oppressive aura, no warning whatsoever—

Yet with that simple point of a finger, all of Steward Luo's words were suddenly choked back down his throat.

His head was thrown back, his eyes still flickering with a mix of tension and anticipation, but that single finger had snuffed out all his vitality in an instant.

This was the Life-taking Finger.

Song Ciwan's newly acquired Celestial Level Martial Technique.

Although she had only learned it recently, her mastery of the Life-taking Finger had already reached the level of Masterful Skill.

The only reason she had not yet reached Mastery was a lack of practical combat experience.

She had ample time for Cultivation. Her last seclusion had only seemed to last about ten days, but by exchanging for more Cultivation time, she had advanced her various Cultivation Techniques to an extremely high level.

These days, Song Ciwan no longer focused her efforts on directly raising her Cultivation.

She had no need to directly raise her Cultivation. As long as she continuously practiced various Daoist Martial Arts, her Cultivation would naturally and gradually increase through the process.

By not deliberately trying to advance, she could even suppress her realm, preventing her Cultivation from rising too quickly and spiraling out of control.

Practicing various Martial Techniques and Daoist Skills, however, presented no such problem. On the contrary, improving them allowed Song Ciwan to achieve an exquisitely fine degree of control over her own Cultivation.

This ensured that her every small advancement felt fluid and effortless, as natural as a master commanding their own limbs.

At this level of control, she no longer had to worry about her Cultivation spiraling out of her grasp.

As soon as the Life-taking Finger struck, Steward Luo collapsed onto his side.

A pinprick of a blood-hole appeared on his brow. In that instant, his spirit was annihilated, and his aura rapidly faded.

Only his spirit, in the throes of annihilation, seemed to be faintly crying out: "The Treasure Map..."

It seemed he was still trying to tempt Song Ciwan, hoping she would hesitate on the brink of his death and give him an opening to strike back.

But Song Ciwan had anticipated he was waiting for just such a moment. Why would she ever give him that chance?

Even with her absolute confidence, Song Ciwan would never grant an enemy even the slightest possibility of turning the tables.

She had no intention of listening to his talk about a Treasure Map. No matter how overwhelming the temptation, when it was time for him to die, he would die.

Finally, a shower of Spiritual Light, like a burst of meteors, erupted in the small space around him.

It was Steward Luo's spirit. Within a three-foot radius, it flared, burning on its own for a moment as if attempting one final eruption. But in the end, it was no match for the chilling killing intent of the Life-taking Finger.

His spirit was utterly annihilated. Steward Luo was dead.

A strange sense of crisis seemed to descend upon Song Ciwan from the unseen world. But she was prepared. The Heaven and Earth Scale flew out and intercepted it.

[Death Mark: The exclusive death mark of a Seven Treasures Tower Steward. One tael and one mace. Exchangeable.]

Steward Luo was dead. All his lingering unwillingness was ultimately for naught.

From the moment he appeared on the banks of the Jing River, his destruction today was already sealed.