Shi Jian: Replacing Heaven's Will with My Own!

"Fall back!" Confronted by the furious imperial-clan jiangshi, Liu Xiu roared as he raised a foot, kicking Shi Shaojian out of harm's way. At the very same moment, his sword swept down, swiftly severing the two dharma ropes that had begun snapping under the monster's thrashing. It wasn't that he felt indifferent about ruining magical implements just because they weren't his; rather, the situation was far too dire, leaving him no other choice. With both dharma ropes severed, Dong and Bei were instantly pulled out of danger. Just as Liu Xiu reflexively swung the Crimson Firmament Sword—its bloody luminescence blazing even brighter—aiming directly for the imperial-clan jiangshi's face, Daoist Qianhe sprang out from behind the creature, beating Liu Xiu to the punch. Holding two corpse-suppressing talismans in his left hand, Qianhe slapped them firmly onto the monster's forehead with a sharp smack. The instant the talismans made contact, the imperial-clan jiangshi froze in its tracks. Without even drawing back his hand, Daoist Qianhe turned toward Liu Xiu, who had been forced to check his sword mid-swing, wearing a radiant smile. Yet just as Qianhe noticed Liu Xiu frowning back at him, making his smile waver with confusion, a sudden surge of heat radiated against the palm pressed to the talismans. In the next instant, both corpse-suppressing talismans spontaneously ignited without any flame. A breath later, freed from the suppression of the talismans, the imperial-clan jiangshi resumed its assault. It opened its gaping maw and lunged straight for Daoist Qianhe's arm. Qianhe's smile vanished instantly, replaced by a grimace of pain—yet he was no incompetent amateur. Gritting his teeth through the searing agony, he snapped his left arm back. Even as two fangs ripped two bloody gouges across his flesh, he managed to leap backward in retreat. The imperial-clan jiangshi moved to chase him down for another bite, but it was a step too late. Liu Xiu had already struck with exquisite timing, thrusting the Crimson Firmament Sword at a vicious angle straight into its gaping maw. Clang! Sparks erupted with the piercing ring of clashing steel. The monster clamped its jaws shut, its pair of impossibly hard fangs forcefully arresting the forward momentum of the Crimson Firmament Sword. "Die!" His smile entirely gone, the unyielding Daoist Qianhe paid no heed to the searing pain in his left arm. Chanting a mantra while weaving a hand sign, he drew his left hand across the peach-wood sword in his right. Blood smeared the blade, causing a flash of golden light to erupt as he swung the evil-breaking wood sword with all his might against the imperial-clan jiangshi. Though Shi Shaojian was furious that Liu Xiu had dared to kick him, he swallowed his anger for the moment, gritting his teeth as he brandished the Xuandun Sword and threw himself back into the fray. "Catch!" Seizing an opening, Liu Xiu tossed the repaired Three Purities bell over to Dong, who appeared to have sprained an ankle. Catching the bell without a moment's hesitation or distraction, Dong immediately invoked the corpse-controlling art from the Seven Yuan Corpse-Summoning Return-to-Mountain Secret Manual taught by his master. He commanded the black jiangshi waiting in the corner to charge forward and clamp the imperial-clan jiangshi in another rear chokehold. The moment the black jiangshi locked its grip around the creature's throat, Bei, clutching the remaining length of dharma rope, wasted no words either. Weaving through the crowd like a swimming dragon, he swiftly bound the rope around the imperial-clan jiangshi's torso. '...' *Honestly, I really suspect you guys were just putting on an act earlier!* Watching Daoist Qianhe and his disciples suddenly regain both their wits and their agility, Liu Xiu couldn't help musing internally. Even so, he didn't lose his focus. Gripping his hilt with both hands, he shoved the Crimson Firmament Sword with all his might toward the back of the creature's mouth—though the fangs continued to hold it at bay. "Qingqing, protect the others!" Seeing that the monster was not yet fully bound, Jiale called out as he spotted the longer segment of dharma rope beside Dong. Darting forward, he snatched up the rope and slipped into the fray just like Bei. Qingqing, refusing to sit back, figured she could pull her weight too. She pulled out a corpse-suppressing talisman Daoist Qianhe had given her and charged at the imperial-clan jiangshi alongside Jiale. Within seconds, a quadruple layer of restraints—coupled with the imminent danger of having its mouth skewered—descended upon the imperial-clan jiangshi. Pinned in place, the creature could only endure the relentless barrage of attacks as metal-clanging impacts and fiery sparks erupted continuously. Formidable though its defenses were, it could not withstand Qianhe and the others focusing all their power onto a single point to breach its hide. In less than two breaths, the imperial-clan jiangshi let loose an agonizing roar. The blast of corpse qi it vented struck right against the talisman pasted to the black jiangshi's face. Having grown far more virulent after feeding on the fox spirit, the corpse qi instantly scorched the paper of the black jiangshi's talisman. With a sharp pop, the talisman burst into flames without an ember and drifted away as scattering ash. Just as Dong realized in horror what was happening and lunged forward, and just as everyone assumed all was lost, Liu Xiu, still driving his sword into the creature's gaping mouth, spoke up: "Let go, and you're dead!" '???' *That's a jiangshi! Why would it listen to you?* Watching Liu Xiu issue threats to an undead corpse, the crowd stood flabbergasted. Yet in the very next second, the black jiangshi, which had been about to release its grip and flee, shuddered violently in sheer terror. It didn't run. Instead, it tightened its hold even more! *Roar???* The imperial-clan jiangshi's bellow carried profound bewilderment at the meaning of its undead existence. It glared furiously at the shameless traitor of their kind. The black jiangshi didn't care about honor or betrayal; it merely clung with all its might to the exact posture it had held before the talisman burned away—a desperate, unyielding chokehold. Or rather, the posture of a corpse that had been thoroughly intimidated into submission. *Honestly, I don't get it at all!* *Can you really intimidate a jiangshi like that?* It wasn't just Daoist Qianhe and his disciples who were baffled. Four-Eyed Daoist, who had just muttered, "Ah, anything works for me," was equally stunned. Charging in with Master Yixiu while brandishing a bronze ritual sword the size of a door, Four-Eyed Daoist had no idea why the black jiangshi was being so obedient. Even so, he knew this was no time to ponder the matter and plunged straight into the assault. "Get out of the way!" As he neared the melee, Four-Eyed Daoist yelled at the top of his lungs. Seeing everyone scatter, he raised the door-sized bronze sword and brought it down heavily upon the monster's skull. Clang! Clang! Clang! A series of resonant chimes, like temple bells and drums, rang out from the imperial-clan jiangshi's head. Master Yixiu looked down at the arm-length bronze dagger in his hand and hesitated, holding back. It wasn't that he feared the jiangshi; the blade was simply too short! Besides, he worried that once Four-Eyed Daoist worked himself into a frenzy, he might accidentally hack him in two as well. Just as the relentless pounding had the creature reconsidering whether the Seventy-First Prince was even worth the trouble, a sharp metallic snap echoed through the room. Four-Eyed Daoist's grin vanished in an instant, mimicking Qianhe's earlier expression. Meanwhile, having broken free from two of the dharma ropes, the imperial-clan jiangshi curled its lips into an eerily human smirk. Now, every single person here looked appetizing to it! *Roar—!* "Attack!" Seeing Four-Eyed Daoist scurry off to sketch a Taiji diagram on the wall to initiate a spirit possession, Liu Xiu bellowed to snap the others out of their stupor. Then, glaring at the black jiangshi as it attempted to slink away, he snapped, "Try to run, and I'll electrocute you into ash!" With that, Liu Xiu led the charge with the Crimson Firmament Sword. Perhaps recalling that old proverb about enemies seeing red upon meeting, the imperial-clan jiangshi wasted no time. A few sweeping strikes of its iron arms incapacitated Dong, Bei, and Qingqing. It then seized the opening to rake its claws across Daoist Qianhe and Master Yixiu. Within a few breaths, Liu Xiu was the only one left standing. Oh, and of course, there was the black jiangshi, currently sprawled on the floor quietly trying to peel its hands off the monster's ankles. It had intended to make a break for it, but a single glare from Liu Xiu made it clamp down tightly once more. '...' *Is he really our junior martial brother?* *If he's a junior brother, what does that make us?* Watching Liu Xiu weave around the imperial-clan jiangshi like a flashing dragon of sword light, completely out of reach of any assistance, Jiale stared blankly at the wooden sword in his hand. Qingqing wore an identical expression beside him. Jiale glanced at Qingqing, then at Shi Shaojian, who was equally helpless to intervene. Shi Shaojian couldn't even be bothered to look back at them. Only one thought occupied his mind: his father had secretly given Liu Xiu private tutoring! Moreover, Liu Xiu was undeniably his true biological brother! That was his immediate conviction upon realizing Liu Xiu had already trained the first layer of the Hegemon Body Three-Light Primordial Magnetism Art, Thunder-Sound Piercing the Subtle, to the minor achievement stage. His second thought was that when they returned, he would demand private tutoring from his father as well! And he wanted two sessions! No, three! Before Shi Shaojian's thoughts could wander any further, a thunderous, full-throated shout shattered the air! "Patriarch, save me!" Far more adaptable than Master Yixiu, Four-Eyed Daoist scooped up a handful of dust from the corner to substitute for consecrated water, dashed it across his face, and pushed himself up from the Taiji diagram on the wall! Just as in the original tale, the spirit possession took hold. Four-Eyed Daoist's frame swelled far beyond that of any modern bodybuilding champion, practically rivaling a muscular Nezha. Liu Xiu's eyes lit up. He swiftly retrieved his blade, grabbed the ankles of the black jiangshi sprawled on the floor, and used it like a broom to sweep a wide swath along the ground before falling back into spectator mode. Boom! In a few strides, Four-Eyed Daoist closed the distance and threw a punch. There were no flashy visual effects or profound Daoist resonance, only raw, unadulterated, devastating brute force! With one blow, the bloodlust vanished from the imperial-clan jiangshi's eyes. With the second, its appetite was entirely extinguished. In fewer than three punches, the terrifying monster was reduced to cowering in the corner like an abused daughter-in-law, taking a merciless beating while deciding that no one looked appetizing anymore! It desperately longed for its bronze-cornered golden coffin! *Master is so brutal...* Jiale clicked his tongue in awe. He began to worry that someone so savage wouldn't live long, making a mental note to earn plenty of money in the future so he could buy his master a coffin just as gorgeous as this jiangshi's. Boom! Bang! Crash! The imperial-clan jiangshi continued to absorb the pummeling, leaving a trail of shattered furniture in its wake. Master Yixiu's lips twitched as he clutched his short bronze sword, silently chanting Amitabha over and over. Four-Eyed Daoist said nothing, merely shooting Master Yixiu a look meant to insist he wasn't wrecking the furnishings on purpose. Immediately after, an "accidental" misstep smashed a chair to splinters, making Master Yixiu's eyelids jump, while Four-Eyed Daoist continued advancing on the creature. Yet just as he took another step, his heart skipped a beat at the sight of a broken porcelain shard directly underfoot. Unable to pull his foot back in time, he heard a crisp crunch, but no pain followed. Surprise flickered across his face. Then he remembered the steel-plated insoles fitted into his shoes. Delighted, he lifted his foot to inspect his unharmed sole and the porcelain pulverized into powder beneath it. *So that's how it is! Senior Brother foresaw even this! Senior Brother, I love you to death!* Four-Eyed Daoist beamed with joy, then charged the imperial-clan jiangshi with a feral grin. Boom! Bang! Crash! The scene was so excessively violent that even Liu Xiu found Four-Eyed Daoist a bit too merciless. Turning his head, Liu Xiu flicked a hand toward the black jiangshi as it attempted another stealthy getaway. Palm thunder—unleash! Crack! The bolt sent the black jiangshi trembling violently, instantly forcing it to stand at attention. Just as Liu Xiu turned back toward Four-Eyed Daoist, mentally preparing to celebrate an easy victory, he stopped himself from setting up any more flags. His expression shifted abruptly as he peered out the window at the dimming sky. In the next breath, a jagged flash of lightning tore through the overcast gloom. Rumble! A blinding bolt of heavenly thunder crashed down from the heavy clouds. Though it struck an ancient tree a hundred paces away, the sight caused Four-Eyed Daoist's expression to twist mid-swing. His eyes widened as an enraged roar tore from his throat: "Who dares?!" The voice was unmistakably not Four-Eyed Daoist's; it belonged to Patriarch Zongyan, who had bestowed his divine might upon him. In the next instant, Liu Xiu watched the heavenly thunder violently dispel the yin qi between heaven and earth. Dispersed along with it was the divine radiance of Patriarch Zongyan that had empowered Four-Eyed Daoist. With the holy light extinguished, the spirit possession broke. Four-Eyed Daoist's muscular physique deflated instantly, and a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his lips. *Damn it! I'm reporting this to the admins!* Liu Xiu cursed inwardly. At the same moment, the narration cheat chimed in at rapid speed: [Jie-jie-jie! What marvelous God Xiao lightning arts! What an exquisite Taiyi Sky-Blasting Thunder! This lightning strike targets possessing spirits and sunders invading yin entities. Staring at the dead end before you, you resolve to turn the tide to your advantage. You intend to borrow the imperial-clan jiangshi's claws to fulfill your Corpse-Baleful Yin-Demon Tribulation. Once this tribulation is cleared, the Rampant Misfortune trial of the Three Calamities and Nine Hardships will be instantly resolved, setting your Daoist path toward... ultimate dominion over the cultivation realm!] *God Xiao Sect? Taiyi Sky-Blasting Thunder?* Liu Xiu didn't bother listening any further. Looking at the revitalized imperial-clan jiangshi and the battered companions who had virtually lost all combat capability, then glancing at the darkened skies outside, he grabbed the Xuandun Sword from Shi Shaojian's grasp. "Senior Brother, lend me your sword!" "Huh?" Before Shi Shaojian could process what was happening, Liu Xiu had already snatched the Xuandun Sword, grabbed the half-severed dharma rope from the floor, and charged straight at the imperial-clan jiangshi. Whoosh! The dharma rope whipped around the monster, binding Liu Xiu tightly against it as well. Channeling his spiritual power, Liu Xiu gripped the Xuandun Sword in his right hand and commanded, "Ascend!" Swish! Crash! The roof splintered as bodies took flight. Only the furious howls of the ascending imperial-clan jiangshi echoed down, leaving the crowd pale with shock. "Ah Xiu!" "Junior Brother!" "Junior Brother, don't...!" "Nephew, come back! You can't withstand it...!" "Come back! You won't hold out...!" The shouts grew fainter and fainter. Riding the skyward momentum of the Xuandun Sword, Liu Xiu shot rapidly into the heavens while hurriedly pulling out packets of arsenic and other herbs, scattering them liberally around his neck and collar. "Come on, take a bite..." Having dusted himself in poison, Liu Xiu grinned and pulled back his collar to reveal the steel neck guard underneath, facing the monster nose-to-nose. The imperial-clan jiangshi stared in terror at the faint outline of the sun peeking through the clouds above. Enraged, it glared at Liu Xiu, snarled with wide jaws, and plunged its fangs down into his neck. "If you can bite through this—" Liu Xiu cut off abruptly, his smile vanishing as the monster's fangs bit clean through the steel plate. "Even so, I'm still the one who wins!" His face growing paler, Liu Xiu suddenly grinned, his eyes gleaming with jade light as he glared up at the cloud layer still a hundred paces above. In the next instant, a voice thick with suppressed fury boomed out alongside a rolling sea of blazing white lightning across the heavens! "Who goes there?!" Rumble! Blinding white lightning split the gloomy sky. Amid the churning tempest, arcs of radiant electric dragons writhed, instantly coalescing into a stern, unsmiling elderly visage. An enormous face of palpable wrath stretched across the clouds. It was none other than Shi Jian! Employing the method of replacing Heaven's will with his own, Shi Jian had manifested his arts across two realms. His arrival instantly swept aside the layer of dark clouds, revealing the hidden sun. As the scorching sunlight poured down, the imperial-clan jiangshi's flesh began to sizzle violently. Just as it grimaced in agony, attempting to drag Liu Xiu down with it in death, visible fury erupted across the colossal face of lightning above. In the very next breath— Boom! A terrifying, suffocating pressure descended as a massive hand of thunder, large enough to blot out the sky, materialized and swatted down toward Liu Xiu. '???' *Wait, you're killing me too—* *Oh, wait, I'm fine!* Before the thought had even finished forming, Liu Xiu watched with raised brows as the monster in his arms disintegrated into ash. He looked back up at the domineering face in the sky. Shi Jian tilted his head slightly, as though catching sight of something, and let out a cold snort. Boom! Boom! Two pillars of blazing white lightning lanced forth from Shi Jian's sun-like pupils. A fraction of a second later, a terrified shriek echoed from the distance: "Fellow Daoist Shi, this is a mis—" Boom! The voice was snuffed out along with its owner. Liu Xiu was left staring silently at his drained reserves of spiritual power as he plummeted toward the earth. "Mas—" Liu Xiu managed only half a word before falling quiet, gazing dumbly at Miss Su, who had caught him in a bridal carry. Miss Su had braved the broad daylight just to rescue him! High above, that wrinkled, frowning face looked down upon them in silence. Liu Xiu watched as Miss Su blushed, timorously looked up at Shi Jian, and then shyly lowered her gaze back to Liu Xiu. Honestly speaking, this woman was setting him up! *And stop looking at my master like an ugly daughter-in-law meeting her in-laws! One slip of his hand and he'll scatter your soul into nothingness, you know that?!* Liu Xiu thought helplessly. Shi Jian's frowning face vanished from the sky, leaving behind only a chilling, wrathful voice resounding through the firmament: "This disciple is occupied with urgent matters and cannot pursue the investigation personally. I beseech the ancestral masters of our sect to manifest their sacred presence! This person intentionally sought to harm a disciple of our Maoshan. May the ancestral masters use their discerning wisdom to conduct a thorough inquiry—examining three lifetimes of karmic ties above, and tracing back through kith, kin, and sect below—to distinguish good from evil and unearth the root of this calamity, so that the disciples of our order may remain safe!" As Shi Jian's fury-laden voice faded, Liu Xiu looked up. High in the sky, the sorrowful grimace of an old Daoist trapped within a cage of white lightning morphed into sheer terror. In the next instant, two rifts tore open across the sky, one after the other—the first ringed with clear light, the second crackling with lightning. From within the rift of clear light, an ancient, colossal hand reached forth, flicking a finger toward the old Daoist: "Granted!" Amid the booming proclamation, the old Daoist's form fractured into a faint, translucent wisp. As he was sent flying, a rift oozing thick yin qi tore open before him. Peering through the gloom, Liu Xiu caught a glimpse of an immense black mountain shrouded in rolling yin energy, teeming with ghost soldiers and yin souls. Right before Liu Xiu's eyes, the old Daoist tumbled into a massive, half-ajar stone gate atop the peak. Above the portal hung an engraved stone placard inlaid with gold seal script that read: *Tendon-Hanging Hell*. '???' *Torture first, trial later?* *To be honest, that actually makes a lot of sense!* That was Liu Xiu's final thought before drifting into unconsciousness...