Chapter 905 - 871: Shrewd and Calculating

Xiahou Zun lay on the ground, his hands and feet twitching uncontrollably, and just at this moment Cao Mulan came in from outside. Seeing the scene before her eyes, Cao Mulan was shocked, and shouted angrily, "You filthy lecher, how dare you harm my father!" She drew another knife from behind her back; after going out just now, the more she thought about it the angrier she got, so she picked a good knife that suited her grip and came back to settle accounts with Xu Chunliang.

Xu Chunliang said, "Can you use your brain for once? I never touched him. He coughing up blood has nothing to do with me."

Xiahou Zun said in a trembling voice, "Mulan... don’t be... reckless... pff!" and sprayed out another mouthful of fresh blood.

Seeing her father spit blood again, Cao Mulan panicked completely. She took a step forward and grabbed her father’s arm. "Father, you... what’s wrong with you?"

Xiahou Zun could no longer speak.

Cao Mulan raised her head to look at Xu Chunliang. This bastard’s medical skills were superb; at this moment, he was the only one she could count on. "Hurry, help me."

Xu Chunliang sneered inwardly. Is this how you ask for help? Who am I to you? You actually order me around?

Cao Mulan also realized there was a problem with her attitude. At this point she could only lower her head. "I beg you, please help me."

Xu Chunliang said, "What did you say?"

"I beg you, please save my father."

Xu Chunliang nodded. "Move aside!"

Cao Mulan let go of Xiahou Zun. Xu Chunliang walked up close and placed his hand on Xiahou Zun’s pulse gate. The moment his fingers touched that skin it was like touching a block of ice. Xu Chunliang was somewhat puzzled. What kind of acute illness did this old dog get? His body had turned corpse-like, yet he kept vomiting blood.

Cao Mulan stood to the side, her face full of concern. Suddenly Xiahou Zun reversed his hand and clamped onto Xu Chunliang’s wrist, his thumb locking down hard on Xu Chunliang’s Taiyuan acupoint. Like a fierce tiger he pounced onto Xu Chunliang’s body, his legs coiling around Xu Chunliang’s torso like the roots of an old tree.

Xu Chunliang had not expected such a turn of events. Xiahou Zun actually used such a despicable method to launch a sneak attack on him. Xu Chunliang secretly rallied his Inner Strength, preparing to fling this old bastard away with full force, but at the spot where his Taiyuan acupoint was locked by Xiahou Zun, it was as if a vent had been opened there; Inner Qi surged out in a continuous torrent.

This shock to Xu Chunliang was no small matter. The lung governs the hundred vessels, the vessels converge at Taiyuan, and Qi is the commander of blood. Taiyuan opens at the hour of Yin and first receives Qi, making it one of the most important acupoints in the human body. Once the Inner Qi in Xu Chunliang’s body rushed out from Taiyuan, the place it flowed to turned out to be Xiahou Zun’s body. Xiahou Zun was like a gigantic vortex, endlessly drawing in Xu Chunliang’s Inner Strength.

In Xu Chunliang’s impression, the highest-level Cultivation Technique for absorbing others’ Inner Strength for one’s own use was none other than Beiming Divine Skill. The Cultivator’s True Qi would form a vortex in the Dantian that spun at high speed from the outside toward the inside, and every acupoint in the body would generate a vortex suction, capable of absorbing others’ Inner Strength and transforming it into Beiming True Qi—embracing both yin and yang, with the yang as scorching as a furnace, and the yin several times colder than ice.

In fact, Xu Chunliang had always been watching Xiahou Zun’s behavior, yet still failed to make an accurate assessment of this man’s strength. Xiahou Zun concealed it very well: first during the negotiations he appeared to give ground, then he haggled back and forth to increase believability, and in the end he even staged an act of sudden illness and spitting blood.

He was, after all, the Weary Sect Leader—an old schemer with deep cunning. Even Xu Chunliang was successfully fooled by him. The more Xu Chunliang tried to shake Xiahou Zun off, the tighter the old man clung. Xu Chunliang had initially tried to use Inner Strength to blast Xiahou Zun away, but the more Inner Strength he used, the stronger the other’s suction became, and the faster Xu Chunliang’s Inner Strength streamed out.

Xu Chunliang no longer dared to recklessly move his Inner Strength. He steeled his resolve, hoisted Xiahou Zun up with all his might, then slammed him hard against the wall. Xiahou Zun’s back hit the solid wall with a booming thud, yet his four limbs still locked tightly around Xu Chunliang, like maggots clinging to bone.

Xu Chunliang let out a roar, leaped up and slammed Xiahou Zun down hard onto the floor. Xiahou Zun’s face twisted into a vicious grin as the vortex formed by Inner Strength sped up its rotation, straining to suck out every drop of Xu Chunliang’s Inner Strength.

Cao Mulan clearly hadn’t expected things to take such a turn. She stared, dumbstruck, at everything happening before her. Instead of feeling any joy, she was filled with fear—she had never seen her father like this.

Xu Chunliang clutched Xiahou Zun as they crashed around, leaving the Hundred Herbs Building in complete disarray, but no matter how he struggled he couldn’t break free of Xiahou Zun’s entanglement. Xu Chunliang felt his body being hollowed out bit by bit. Ever since he came to this world, it was the first time he felt death so close to him.

Xiahou Zun’s strength grew more and more formidable. Xu Chunliang knew this was because his own Inner Strength was being siphoned away. As one waned the other waxed; the stronger the opponent became, the weaker he himself became.

Cao Mulan didn’t know exactly what was happening, but she saw Xu Chunliang’s counterattacks getting weaker and weaker, until in the end he no longer moved at all, and realized her father had gained complete upper hand.

Xiahou Zun finally let go of Xu Chunliang, who lay limp on the ground like mud. Xiahou Zun straightened his body and rolled his neck, his cervical joints cracking with firecracker-like pops.

Cao Mulan said in a trembling voice, "Father, are you all right?"

Xiahou Zun said, "Of course I’m fine. This kid is truly strange—after fainting he still kept resisting me." He had originally wanted to drain every bit of Xu Chunliang’s Inner Strength, but as he absorbed it, something felt off. The more he drew, the more strenuous it became. It seemed there was some kind of power inside Xu Chunliang’s body opposing him; this was a situation he had never encountered before.

At this moment Yan Hong woke up. He opened his eyes and said, "Wh-where is this place?"

Seeing Xiahou Zun, he froze for a moment, but quickly came to his senses. "S–Sect Leader..."

Xiahou Zun said, "You’re Old Yan’s nephew?"

Yan Hong nodded and said, "It’s me!"

Xiahou Zun asked again, "You were the one who brought this man here?"

Yan Hong hurriedly dropped to his knees. "Sect Leader, please forgive me. Your subordinate was forced and had no choice."

Xiahou Zun smiled and said, "What are you afraid of? I’m not blaming you. Your uncle and I are as close as brothers; you’re his nephew, which makes you my nephew. How could I stand by and watch you die? Don’t worry, I’ve already helped you remove the poison needles in your body."

Yan Hong was so grateful that tears streamed down his face. "Many thanks, Sect Leader."

Xiahou Zun said, "And how do you plan to thank me?"

Yan Hong’s heart gave a jolt. "From this day on, this life of mine is placed entirely in the Sect Leader’s hands."

Xiahou Zun said, "Good, very good!" As he finished speaking, he stretched out his left hand and lightly rested it on the top of Yan Hong’s head. Because his movement was slow, Cao Mulan thought her father was merely showing affection to a junior.

Yan Hong’s expression changed abruptly. He felt the blood in his whole body surge up to the crown of his head in an instant, his Inner Qi riding the blood straight into Baihui. Baihui is one of the Three Yang and Five Meetings points; according to medical theory, it has the effects of opening the orifices to rouse the mind, restoring yang and preventing collapse.

Compared to Xu Chunliang, Yan Hong’s meager cultivation wasn’t even enough to count as dessert after a meal. In just a few short seconds, Yan Hong’s face went from red to white, from white to blue, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.

Xiahou Zun inwardly looked down on him to the extreme. This kind of trash was tasteless to eat yet a pity to throw away. His gaze fell once more on Xu Chunliang, who was already unconscious. This bastard’s Inner Strength was still extremely abundant; there was quite a bit he hadn’t yet sucked away. He would have to give it another try later.

Suddenly, his palm felt as if it had been pricked by a needle. Sensing something wrong, Xiahou Zun hastily pulled his hand away.

Yan Hong’s body toppled straight over onto the ground, utterly still. Xiahou Zun had no time to care whether he lived or died. He brought his left hand up to his eyes and saw at the Lao Gong acupoint a tiny needle hole. Lao Gong, also called Ghost Road—ghost being opposed to heaven and usually referring to the earth aspect; road meaning path. The name "Ghost Road" implies that the qi and blood within the point come from the earth aspect. The material of this point mainly consists of the qi of transformation born of the dampness within spleen earth; its qi and blood substances arise from the earth aspect, hence the name Ghost Road.

The five-phase attribute expressed by the changes in qi and blood running through Lao Gong is fire. The qi nature is dry, following the hot, parched qi transmitted from Zhongchong straight up into the heavenly part of heaven, displaying the flaring-up characteristic of fire.

Xiahou Zun naturally did not believe Yan Hong possessed the ability to plot against him. At this moment his entire right arm’s Hand Jueyin Heart Sack Meridian felt a kind of penetrative pain. At Daling acupoint, Neiguan Acupoint, Jianshi acupoint, Ximen acupoint, Quzhe acupoint, Tianquan acupoint, Tianchi acupoint, qi apertures had all appeared. His meridians and acupoints had been pierced through by a hair-thin needle as fine as an ox hair.

With just a little thought, Xiahou Zun immediately grasped the reason. Xu Chunliang had not actually helped Yan Hong remove the Autumn Death Needle just now, or else that Autumn Death Needle wasn’t the only one—Xu Chunliang had left a backhand.

In truth, if anyone was to blame, it could only be Xiahou Zun himself. He was too greedy. After sucking so much Inner Strength from Xu Chunliang’s body, he was still not satisfied and even refused to let Yan Hong go. When he was absorbing that pitiful bit of Inner Qi from Yan Hong’s body, the Autumn Death Needle was drawn by the suction, following Yan Hong’s meridian flow, bursting out of Baihui and directly entering Xiahou Zun’s Lao Gong acupoint.

By the time Xiahou Zun sensed something was wrong, it was already too late. Although he immediately ceased his drawing, the inertia of the absorption still carried this poison needle into his meridians, smoothly piercing through one acupoint after another, straight into Tianchi. If this needle had only remained in his upper arm, he might still have been able to deal with it on his own, but the Tianchi acupoint is located in the chest, very close to the heart and lungs.

Staring at the tiny needle hole at Lao Gong, Xiahou Zun’s mood was stormy and uncertain.

Cao Mulan had no idea what had just happened to her father. She walked over to Yan Hong, reached out to feel his breath at his nostrils, then felt his pulse gate. Yan Hong was already dead.

Cao Mulan then came to Xu Chunliang’s side and checked his breath. She felt that he was still breathing; his pulse, though faint, was still beating.

Cao Mulan said, "Father."

Xiahou Zun abruptly turned his head, his sinister gaze sending a chill through Cao Mulan. His mood at this moment was extremely foul. "What?"

Cao Mulan said softly, "Yan Hong is dead."

Xiahou Zun snorted coldly. "A traitor who betrays the Weary Sect and leads wolves into the house deserves more than death."

Cao Mulan’s heart gave a jolt. Hadn’t her father previously said that Mr. Yan was his close friend and that he would save Yan Hong? Could it be he had said all that just for her benefit? Cao Mulan didn’t know exactly how Yan Hong had died, but she had seen with her own eyes that not long after her father’s hand settled on the top of Yan Hong’s head, Yan Hong had turned into a corpse. Cao Mulan had never thought about killing anyone—Xu Chunliang excluded.

But now she no longer wanted to kill Xu Chunliang either. Although Xu Chunliang had toyed with her in a way that was hateful enough, it wasn’t to the point that he needed to die.

Xiahou Zun’s gaze once more fell upon Xu Chunliang. Cao Mulan secretly worried that her father might intend to kill Xu Chunliang as well.

The second update is delivered! Begging for monthly votes!