He stood amidst the encirclement, yet wore an expression of enjoyment, his spear-work growing ever more masterful; sparring with others, especially when surrounded, was the perfect crucible for honing his spear techniques.
In that brief time, his comprehension of the spear reached a profound new level.
Suddenly, his expression shifted, and the spear transformed into a surging dragon, tearing outward, invincible to all opposition. In the blink of an eye, it struck before Qi Langyun, the spear’s shadow enveloping him completely.
This sudden assault caught everyone unprepared. The Left and Right Protectors watched helplessly as Qi Langyun was caught, unable to intervene in time. They frantically shoved aside their own gang members and rushed toward the center.
Li Muzhan spoke no unnecessary words. After two spear thrusts, a silent 'Oceanic Divine Sword' shot forth.
With a muffled thud, Qi Langyun was flung backward. Li Muzhan frowned, then hurled his long spear with his right hand, driving it clean through Qi Langyun.
He hadn't anticipated that Qi Langyun’s chest was protected by an incredibly tough piece of armor, which had successfully blocked the Oceanic Divine Sword.
However, this spear thrust landed precisely where the Divine Sword had struck moments before. There was simply no defense against this strike; it pierced directly through the body.
He flashed away, appearing beneath Qi Langyun to catch the falling short black sword. Shaking his head, he vanished from that spot in an instant, drifting outward.
……………………………… “Gang Leader!” “Stop!” the Left and Right Protectors roared as they chased, only to watch powerlessly as Li Muzhan impaled Qi Langyun, blood spraying forth.
The two rushed forward and caught Qi Langyun. A gaping hole in his chest bled profusely. The burly man quickly pressed his hand over it, trying desperately to staunch the flow, but it was futile.
“Gang Leader…” the refined middle-aged man sighed mournfully.
“Avenge… avenge me! Uh… uh…” Qi Langyun clutched the refined middle-aged man’s arm, staring fixedly at him, his mouth suddenly filling with blood, choking his words.
“Gang Leader! Gang Leader! You cannot die!” the burly man shrieked, his hands uselessly pressing against the wound.
Qi Langyun suddenly convulsed, his legs spasmed once, then went slack. His eyes remained wide open as his spirit departed.
“Gang Leader!” the burly man wailed, a cry that echoed across the heavens.
Waving his blood-drenched hands, his eyes red, he screamed hoarsely, “Kill! Kill them all! Avenge the Gang Leader!”
“Avenge the Gang Leader!” the crowd roared in unison, throwing themselves recklessly at Li Muzhan.
Li Muzhan, now without his spear, weaved through the flurry of blades and swords like a swimming fish. He struck out with both palms; anything he touched flew away—not just swords or blades, but the entire person.
His internal power was overwhelming. As his palms struck, a strange inner force invaded the opponents' bodies, launching them backward, akin to the kinetic force of his spear.
In moments, he had sent over a hundred men flying, yet his body remained utterly spotless.
The refined middle-aged man had stood outside the fray, coldly watching Li Muzhan’s flickering movements, his retreat seemingly divine. Suddenly, he shouted, “Everyone listen to my command! Storm the Li Residence! Kill everyone inside and avenge the Gang Leader!”
The crowd paused, then realized the logic: ultimately, this was all because of Li Wudi. Since they couldn't defeat this young man, killing the people in the Li Residence would still serve as vengeance for the Gang Leader!
Li Muzhan frowned, flashed over the heads of the mob, and landed atop the gatehouse.
…………………………………………………… At the refined middle-aged man's command, the nearly thousand men surrounding the Li Residence mobilized, leaping over the walls and charging inside.
Li Muzhan shook his head, flashed once, and appeared before the refined middle-aged man, unleashing a palm strike.
The refined middle-aged man spun and fled, his footwork astonishingly fast. Li Muzhan clung to him like a shadow, his right palm held a foot away from the man’s back.
The refined middle-aged man’s form blurred as he executed intricate, peculiar steps, twisting and dodging.
This footwork was exquisite; otherwise, given his lightness skill, Li Muzhan would have struck him already. Seeing this, Li Muzhan frowned, deciding it was not worth the effort to engage closely, and two streams of finger force shot out.
“Argh…” The refined middle-aged man failed to evade; two bloody holes appeared on his chest.
Li Muzhan flashed away instantly, sighing inwardly. Though this middle-aged man was a master, in such a chaotic location, with his focus divided, how could he possibly defend against the Oceanic Divine Sword?
Li Muzhan flashed again, reappearing on the wall, then flashed once more, arriving behind the burly man in the courtyard, firing several silent streams of finger force.
The burly man was still busy charging forward, waving his bloody hands. Suddenly, he trembled, two holes appeared on his body, and he dropped stiffly.
These two were the pillars. After their deaths, panic spread through the crowd, and they scrambled wildly within the Li Residence.
Li Muzhan paid them no further mind. He drifted into the back courtyard, onto the training ground, where about twenty people stood. Li Wudi held a spear, and four middle-aged men flanked him, guarding the twenty or so people behind them.
Wen Yinyue stood to one side, her snow-white uniform utterly immaculate, holding a short bow and four quivers of arrows, gazing into the distance.
Li Muzhan flashed and suddenly appeared, taking the short bow with a smile. “The leaders are dealt with.”
“Mmm,” Wen Yinyue nodded lightly.
Li Muzhan grinned. “Senior Sister, I’ll scatter these remaining thugs. I leave this area to you.”
“I will be careful,” Wen Yinyue replied.
Li Muzhan turned and smiled. “Senior Li, this rabble is nothing to worry about. I will drive them back!”
“I trouble you, Zhanran,” Li Wudi smiled, his expression composed.
Li Muzhan laughed, flashed, and vanished from the spot, reappearing in the front courtyard to begin slaying with arrows. Each shaft flew as if guided by eyes. The members of the Gale Gang had no ability to resist or evade; an arrow flew, a soul vanished—not one missed its mark.
In moments, Li Muzhan had shot down more than twenty of them.
“Get out of the Li Residence, and I will spare your lives!” Li Muzhan bellowed to the sky.
The Gale Gang, as if granted amnesty, fled madly out of the residence, vanishing completely in an instant. The Li Residence became empty and silent.
In this battle, the Gale Gang lost its leader, and both Protectors were dead. Leaderless, the various factions turned against each other, descending into internal strife. The vast Gale Gang shattered into pieces.
…………………………………… Li Wudi’s confidence soared.
Without Li Muzhan, they would surely have perished this time. A single man drove the entire Gale Gang away. The disciples of the Oceanic Sword Sect were indeed formidable; he had truly gambled correctly.
As evening approached, Li Muzhan and Wen Yinyue strolled through the rear flower garden.
The sun dipped low, the afterglow filling the sky, reddening Wen Yinyue’s face, causing her beauty to shimmer.
Walking side by side, Li Muzhan asked with a smile, “Senior Sister, how many people do you think the mountain faction will send this time?”
Wen Yinyue replied, “At least a dozen or so. They’ll likely send an Elder Martial Uncle or Martial Uncle to stabilize the situation. The Dragon Slaying Secret Manual is too tempting; we cannot be too careless.”
“Next, people from the Seven Great Sects will arrive, right?” Li Muzhan looked up at the sky.
Wen Yinyue nodded, “Mm…”
The two strolled leisurely, bathed in the rosy glow of the setting sun.
After a while, Wen Yinyue asked, “How is your practice of the Dragon Slaying Hand coming along?”
Li Muzhan smiled. “I’ve been thinking about it constantly, but haven’t actually started practicing.”
“Can you master it?” Wen Yinyue inquired.
Li Muzhan laughed. “I can’t say for sure. It is truly profound, involving secret techniques I’ve never encountered before. It requires extreme caution…”
“Nothing can stump you,” Wen Yinyue stated calmly.
The Vajra Undying Divine Art, Li Muzhan mastered it. The Oceanic Divine Art, Li Muzhan mastered it. The Great Bright King Sutra, Li Muzhan mastered it as well. In Wen Yinyue’s eyes, nothing was impossible for this Junior Brother.
Li Muzhan chuckled. “This Dragon Slaying Hand is indeed mysterious; ordinary people truly cannot master it…”
Wen Yinyue said no more, and the two continued their slow walk.
The next two days passed peacefully. The collapse of the Gale Gang had a chilling effect; people dared not make any rash moves. Li Muzhan observed the entire Wancheng City with his Void Eye; an uncanny calm had settled over everything.
Li Muzhan seized the opportunity to cultivate the Dragon Slaying Hand.
The heart method for the Dragon Slaying Hand was bizarre, tracing through twenty-four acupoints Li Muzhan had never seen, never heard mentioned, nor read about in any book.
When he circulated his inner force according to the method, he discovered these acupoints were stagnant and blocked—they were hardly like regular acupoints at all.
Inner force was like water, and acupoints like lakes; but the path prescribed by the Dragon Slaying Hand heart method was like towering mountains—they not only failed to store the water but actively obstructed its flow.
If Li Muzhan hadn't trusted his intuition, he would have suspected it was a deliberate trick, a farce designed to humiliate him. Yet, his intuition told him the method was correct and should be practiced.
………………………………, the so-called cultivation was actually a process of breaking through gates. Each acupoint was like an iron bolt on a door, comparable in difficulty to breaking through the Ren and Du Meridians.
When his inner force struck, vivid illusions surged before his eyes, along with blazing Yin fires, making it hard to escape entanglement. Li Muzhan’s profound state of Zen contemplation, however, rendered him unafraid.
For any ordinary martial arts master whose mind cultivation was insufficient, attempting to break through these points was tantamount to suicide. Initially, the illusions might be mild, but as the impact force intensified, the hallucinations would grow stronger and more lifelike, until the boundary between reality and illusion vanished, leading to mental derangement.
If one could recognize the danger and retreat, that was fortunate. If one became too obsessed, the final outcome would be tragic.
Even with his deep foundation in Zen concentration, if Li Muzhan had attempted this technique before forming his Sarira relic, it would have been exceedingly perilous, making it very difficult to retreat unharmed. The stronger the spirit, the more intense the illusions. But now that he had formed the Sarira, his will was unbreakable, having undergone a fundamental change, and he had no fear of the illusions.
He spent his first day in secluded practice, attempting to breach the first gate, but failed. The acupoint was like a mountain fortress; no matter how much his inner force surged like a flood, it had no effect, showing no sign of yielding—a truly despairing situation.
Li Muzhan paused, considered, and finally conceived a plan: using the power of starlight to break through the points.
No sooner thought than done. After entering meditation, he spent an entire night drawing in the starlight of Tian Shu from the Heavenly Dipper constellation, condensing it into a mass of mercury-like starlight within his body.
He guided this mass of starlight with his divine sense, an arduous task. He then used his inner force to refine it. The starlight continuously shrank until it was the size of a pinky nail.
At this size, he could command it at will, circulating it as his intent dictated, fast or slow, perfectly obedient. Then, he began to strike the acupoint.
Boom… Golden light flashed before his eyes, swirling like golden serpents.
He focused his gaze, and his vision cleared; the illusions vanished. He then guided the mass of starlight to strike again. Boom… The golden light reappeared.
Boom… Boom… Boom…
This mass of starlight ceaselessly hammered the acupoint, like an endless ocean tide crashing against a reef, again and again.
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