Mister Kongfang wanted He Jiaqing to kill Ma the Fifth. To demonstrate his sincerity, he had even sent He Jiaqing a generous supply of medicinal herbs for accumulating Dao karmic affinity.
He Jiaqing did not dare accept them. "Reward without merit is not my place. What Senior has instructed, He has committed to memory. Once the deed is accomplished, I shall ask Senior for my recompense."
Mister Kongfang waved a hand. "What are a few herbs worth? Could I come to your house empty-handed? Once the matter is resolved, your payment will be settled separately."
He Jiaqing still looked troubled. "Senior, Ma the Fifth is protected by formidable people. Killing him will not be easy."
"You mean Feng Daiku, do you?" Mister Kongfang flicked a copper coin beneath his bamboo hat and offered his assessment: "Among the local spirits of the proper lands, Feng Daiku's cultivation isn't remarkably high, but her methods are indeed extraordinary. When gauging her combat capability, she certainly ranks first-rate."
He Jiaqing added, "In particular, her skill with Passion Threads Filling the Plate poses quite a counter to my pathway."
Mister Kongfang nodded slightly. "Put that way, it is indeed asking a great deal of you."
He Jiaqing let out a long breath inwardly; he had finally shed this burdensome chore.
Mister Kongfang sat in silence for a moment, then said, "I will find you an assistant to meet you here tomorrow at noon. Today is the twenty-third. On the twenty-fifth, carry out the task."
"The twenty-fifth..." He Jiaqing's brows knit tight.
Mister Kongfang smiled. "Don't dwell so much on how difficult it will be. Once you meet the helper I've found for you, you'll surely be spared a great deal of effort."
He Jiaqing said no more; this matter left him no room to refuse.
Mister Kongfang finished his tea and departed.
***
At noon the following day, a man who appeared to be in his early twenties arrived at He Jiaqing's estate.
The man wore his shoulder-length hair tied in a ponytail. His skin was exceptionally fair and tender, his eyebrows slender, and his eyes large. He was strikingly handsome—especially those eyes, which sent a shiver straight to the heart whenever they flashed. Even He Jiaqing barely dared to look him in the eye.
"Young Master He, your fame precedes you!" The man lit a cigarette, holding it between his thumb and forefinger, and drew a gentle puff.
"You flatter me, you flatter me," He Jiaqing bowed respectfully. "May I ask how to address Senior?"
"Why call me Senior? That only makes one sound old," the man chuckled. "My name is Shang Rongchu. You may just call me A-Chu."
A wave of heat washed over He Jiaqing's face, and beads of sweat trickled down his forehead.
Shang Rongchu offered He Jiaqing a handkerchief. "Young Master He, spring has only just arrived and the snow hasn't even melted away. Why are you sweating like this?"
He Jiaqing wiped away the sweat and said, "Last night I met with a fair confidante and momentarily lost all restraint. I exerted myself a bit too much, leaving my constitution rather frail."
"Then that confidante is truly blessed!" Shang Rongchu smiled, then turned and asked, "Young Master He, why tell me such a thing?"
Indeed, why tell him that?
Was it to prove to himself that he liked women?
Did such a thing need proving in front of him?
He Jiaqing steadied his mind, forcing the sweat down as best he could, and turned to ask Shang Rongchu, "If Junior may be so bold as to ask—Senior is a Joy Cultivator, isn't that right?"
"That is hardly bold. I am indeed a Joy Cultivator." Shang Rongchu exhaled a plume of smoke, and amid the swirling haze, his features appeared all the more captivating.
He Jiaqing struggled to maintain his composure and turned the subject to business: "When a Joy Cultivator clashes with an Emotion Cultivator, I fear it is very difficult to gain the upper hand."
Shang Rongchu smiled. "Who says one cannot gain the upper hand? Without joy, whence comes emotion?
"If a fair confidante comes along and speaks of love and devotion all day long with Young Master He, yet never breathes a single word of the pleasures of the bedchamber, could that truly be called love? Speaking only of emotion without joy—that is plainly using a harlot's scheming to toy with you!
"With Young Master He's status, you surely have no shortage of fair confidantes by your side. Only genuine joy begets genuine emotion. Could it be that Young Master He still hasn't grasped the logic in that?"
With that, Shang Rongchu blew a puff of smoke straight at He Jiaqing.
As the smoke drifted across his face, the sweat He Jiaqing had just suppressed broke out anew.
He Jiaqing wiped his brow, thinking to himself: *I came to discuss combat with him, so what is he babbling about this for?*
"Brother Rongchu, let us stick to business."
Shang Rongchu smoothed a stray lock of hair and smiled faintly. "It seems I overstepped and delayed Young Master He's affairs. Then tell me, shall we do away with Ma the Fifth today, or wait until tomorrow to strike?"
He Jiaqing pondered for a moment. "I believe we cannot rush into this. First, we must ascertain Ma the Fifth's movements, as well as the status of those around him.
"If Ma the Fifth only has Feng Daiku at his side, our odds of success are fairly good. But if another expert aids him, we cannot act rashly."
Shang Rongchu blinked and looked at He Jiaqing. "I already know Ma the Fifth's whereabouts. He is on his newland. He has plenty of guards around him, but aside from Feng Daiku, the rest are only at ground level.
"As for other friends Ma the Fifth has made, there are indeed cultivators above the clouds, but none of them are currently by his side. When the time comes, I will pin down Feng Daiku. So long as your strike is swift and clean, you will kill Ma Junyang.
"We promised Mister Kong to finish the job on the twenty-fifth. That timeline cannot be altered under any circumstances."
As he spoke, Shang Rongchu lit another cigarette and moved to offer it to He Jiaqing.
He Jiaqing did not take it. He lit one of his own and handed the handkerchief back to Shang Rongchu.
The sweat on his body had finally subsided.
"Since Brother Rongchu has made up his mind, then let us set out tomorrow."
He Jiaqing had his people arrange lodgings for Shang Rongchu. For the entire night, He Jiaqing did not contact him once.
Sitting alone in his room, Shang Rongchu nodded slightly. "To think this young fellow could withstand such temptation. Truly out of the ordinary."
***
At noon the following day, Shang Rongchu and He Jiaqing arrived at the edge of Ma the Fifth's territory.
Shang Rongchu had disguised himself as a newland hunter, clad in tattered rags, his face smeared with grime, and a matted, felted beard pasted to his cheeks.
The purpose of this getup was to counter Feng Daiku's technique, Passion Threads Filling the Plate.
Feng Daiku left passion threads throughout places where she regularly resided—threads as fine as spider silk, used to detect formidable enemies entering the territory.
The essence of Passion Threads Filling the Plate lay in discernment. Countless people brushed against the threads; she had to distinguish who truly counted as a threat.
Cultivation could not be seen, but emotional impulses could. If an ordinary woman walking down the street encountered an unfamiliar man and felt an overwhelming urge to throw herself into his arms, that man was certainly no ordinary person.
Thus, Shang Rongchu had to conceal himself, or he would give himself away the moment he stepped into Ma the Fifth's territory.
He Jiaqing had also disguised himself, dressing as a porter.
He had absorbed both the Qingyun Society and the Baihua Sect in rapid succession, handling things with ruthless ostentation. By now, his name rang loud throughout Puluo Province; ordinary people who recognized him would veer two streets away to avoid him. A man so terrifying would inevitably be detected by Feng Daiku through her passion threads.
Ma the Fifth's newland was bustling. The speed at which the three-headed people reclaimed land was astonishing, and nearly half the territory had already been cultivated.
Patches of heavenly light shone against the vast, thick mist, suffusing the entire domain with the distinct vigor of early morning.
Ma the Fifth was strolling through the woods with Feng Daiku. Over this period, he had endured a great deal of strain and had thinned down considerably.
Just as Li Qi had experienced back then, Ma the Fifth had not reached above the clouds before forcibly becoming a local spirit. Lighting up land parcels during reclamation had become a hurdle he had to cross.
Every time he lit a parcel, he had to borrow methods from Feng Daiku. But techniques from above the clouds could not be employed casually; each use took a physical toll on his body.
Feng Daiku looked worried. "Wulang, slow down the reclamation. Once your cultivation advances further, I will teach you other ways to light the land."
During this time, Ma the Fifth had cultivated with tremendous diligence. He had built a grand manor on his land, naming it the Night of Fine Pleasures. Sixty-three strange oddities, twenty-seven wandering oddities, and one hundred and thirty-six three-headed people had moved in one after another to cultivate alongside him.
Combined with Feng Daiku's guidance and the elixir pills Li Qi had gifted him, Ma the Fifth had already attained the seventh tier of cultivation.
Clasping Feng Daiku's hand, Ma the Fifth said softly, "If there's a better way, I'll certainly learn it. But if there isn't, I have to grit my teeth and endure it on my own. A few days ago, I went to check on Chu the Second's territory. Her reclamation is moving even faster than mine. I can't fall behind her."
Feng Daiku pinched his cheek. "Chu the Second is risking her life just to win a word or two of praise from Li Qi. Why compare yourself to her? Don't tell me you're jealous of her?"
"What sort of talk is that?" Ma the Fifth shook his head. "Old Seven risked his life to earn this territory for me. If I lose to Chu the Second, I'll be letting down his goodwill."
"So you really are just doing it to please Li Qi!" Feng Daiku snapped, growing vexed. "Let me tell you, don't even dream of competing with Chu the Second. She has backing. The high branch of Old Mother Ku isn't something just anyone can climb."
Hearing this, He Jiaqing slipped silently behind the two of them and gently dismantled two passion threads that Feng Daiku had left on Ma the Fifth.
Those two passion threads were Ma the Fifth's lifelines; in a moment of life and death, Feng Daiku could use them to save him.
Yet there were far more than two such threads. Feng Daiku had left twelve on Ma the Fifth in total. For He Jiaqing to use an ambush opportunity to remove only two seemed rather unwise.
Shang Rongchu could not fathom He Jiaqing's intention. By then, He Jiaqing had already struck at Ma the Fifth, drawing a folding fan from his robe, snapping it open, and sweeping the leaf toward Ma the Fifth's throat.
*Using a weapon?*
Shang Rongchu found this odd as well. Given He Jiaqing's cultivation, killing Ma the Fifth shouldn't require a weapon.
Feng Daiku unleashed Love Firmer Than Gold, draping a layer of armor over Ma the Fifth. When the edge of He Jiaqing's fan slashed against his neck, the paper shredded, the ribs snapped, and a fine weapon was ruined just like that.
Without slacking his offensive, He Jiaqing twisted a ring on his right hand. A needle-sharp barb sprang forth, driving toward Ma the Fifth's forehead.
With tears welling in her eyes, Feng Daiku swept a glance at He Jiaqing.
An Emotion Cultivator technique: Tender Vulnerability.
He Jiaqing's strike missed. His hand went soft, terrified of causing Feng Daiku sorrow, allowing Ma the Fifth to twist aside and dodge.
Having missed two strikes in a row, He Jiaqing found himself at a disadvantage and prepared to pull back slightly from Feng Daiku, waiting for Shang Rongchu to back him up.
Feng Daiku extended an index finger and lightly hooked He Jiaqing's cheek. He Jiaqing froze in his tracks.
This was the Emotion Cultivator technique Bound Like Fish and Water. He Jiaqing felt that if he moved any further from Feng Daiku, it would be like a fish leaving the water—he simply would not survive.
*Then I'll move closer and stake my life against Feng Daiku with Thief Cultivator arts.*
He Jiaqing took a step forward, only to see Feng Daiku assume a solemn expression and bow to him with utmost respect.
At the sight, He Jiaqing dared not advance another inch. He had been struck by the Emotion Cultivator technique True Love Above Defilement. He Jiaqing was now bound to Feng Daiku by pure, genuine affection; drawing a single step closer would be nothing short of desecration.
Reluctant to pull away, yet forbidden from drawing near, He Jiaqing was pinned in place roughly three paces from her.
This distance was fatal. Thief Cultivator arts could find no purchase, and escape arts could not be deployed properly, yet it was ideal for Feng Daiku. Her sleeves suddenly elongated, wrapping straight around He Jiaqing's neck.
With tears in her eyes and reluctance in her heart, Feng Daiku pulled her wrists taut, intending to strangle He Jiaqing to death.
At the same time, Ma the Fifth let out whistle after whistle. A-Qin, Huo Ling, A-Rou, Duan Wuchou... over a hundred fair confidantes charged out from the manor.
He Jiaqing was in dire straits, yet Shang Rongchu, lurking to the side, had not made a move.
He felt the situation was growing increasingly bizarre. Feng Daiku was at the third tier above the clouds, but according to Mister Kongfang, He Jiaqing's cultivation might have already surpassed the clouds.
The disparity in their combat experience was significant. Feng Daiku had dominated Kudaikan for years and had surely seen far more battles than He Jiaqing.
Even so, the combat prowess He Jiaqing displayed today was utterly wretched; he wasn't showing the slightest trace of his cultivation advantage.
Under the siege, He Jiaqing was on the verge of losing his life. Shang Rongchu could watch the show no longer.
He leapt into the midst of the crowd, flung his ragged clothes wide, and casually opened a pouch of rouge, stirring a perfumed breeze among them.
Catching the scent, the women besieging He Jiaqing felt their bodies go numb, and Ma the Fifth went numb as well.
Their cheeks flushed crimson, their breathing grew ragged, and their legs turned soft, leaving them barely able to stand.
Suspecting the cosmetic scent was poisonous, A-Qin shouted to the others, "Hold your breath!"
Feng Daiku yelled, "Don't hold your breath! Get Wulang out of here!"
Holding their breath was useless. The rouge was not poison, only a catalyst. What truly overwhelmed them was Shang Rongchu's Joy Cultivator technique, Soft Jade and Warm Fragrance.
Having inhaled the scent from Shang Rongchu's body, a deep longing for him took hold of them, and their fighting spirit steadily drained away.
The technique struck with such ferocity that even Feng Daiku felt her mind turn hazy. Once she recovered a shred of clarity, she looked toward the newcomer. "Senior Brother Shang, it has been many years."
Shang Rongchu smiled faintly. "Junior Sister Feng, all these years, I have never forgotten you."
"Senior Brother, do those words come from the heart?" Tears spun in Feng Daiku's eyes.
"Dear Junior Sister, asking that chills your brother's heart," Shang Rongchu stepped right up to Feng Daiku, murmuring softly, "In all these years, when have I ever spoken a single word of truth to you?"
Feng Daiku's face twisted in sorrow, and she wept, "Then your little sister was flattering herself. Brother truly never has spoken the truth."
The moment the words fell, Feng Daiku manipulated her passion threads, aiming to sever Shang Rongchu's throat.
Shang Rongchu dodged the threads, his fingernails brushing gently through Feng Daiku's hair.
Feng Daiku took fright. Shang Rongchu's movements were simply too swift; she failed to evade the touch.
She assumed Shang Rongchu was about to strike a vicious blow, at least flaying a layer of skin from her, yet she remained completely unharmed. Instead, a surge of hatred welled up in her heart.
*Disaster!*
This blow had struck Feng Daiku's most vital weakness.
A Joy Cultivator technique: Love Turns to Hatred.
Struck by this technique, Feng Daiku's heart was consumed by fury toward Shang Rongchu, and she could no longer muster any tender affection.
Without affection, the vast majority of Emotion Cultivator techniques became entirely unusable.
Without Emotion Cultivator techniques, how could she fight?
Her eyes rimmed with red, Feng Daiku first attempted to use Tender Vulnerability to soften Shang Rongchu's heart, and then Intertwined Affection to maneuver against him with her passion threads.
Feng Daiku hoped to stall until Love Turns to Hatred wore off, but Shang Rongchu gave her no such chance.
He spread both hands, his fingertips trembling as his ten fingers stroked tenderly through the air around Feng Daiku.
Feng Daiku mobilized her passion threads to force Shang Rongchu back, only to discover that every thread around her had snapped.
A Joy Cultivator Stellar Technique: Heartless After the Act!
This was a technique Shang Rongchu had created specifically to counter Emotion Cultivators.
*Heartless after the act* aligned perfectly with the disposition of Joy Cultivators. By severing the root of emotion in one stroke, all of Feng Daiku's methods lost their foundation. In the blink of an eye, Shang Rongchu had driven her into a corner.
Shang Rongchu stepped before Feng Daiku once more, hooking her chin to deliver the killing blow.
Ma the Fifth lunged forward and rubbed a hand across Shang Rongchu's arm.
Shang Rongchu felt as though a layer of skin had been stripped from his arm. It brought excruciating pain, yet also a strange sense of pleasure.
He did not rush to retaliate. This was the Joy Cultivator technique Rubbing Powder and Kneading Vermilion—in plain terms, applying Joy Cultivator arts directly to the flesh.
Shang Rongchu was indeed wounded by the strike. Under the technique's influence, not only was his skin broken, but his blood pressure surged, causing him to bleed profusely.
To Shang Rongchu, this was a humiliation. Had he not been focused entirely on Feng Daiku, a cultivator at the seventh tier of ground level like Ma the Fifth could never have harmed him.
Yet Shang Rongchu did not turn to seek vengeance against Ma the Fifth; he continued pursuing Feng Daiku.
With all of Feng Daiku's passion threads severed, was Shang Rongchu truly unable to spare a hand to deal with Ma the Fifth?
He could, but he was unwilling. The reason was simple: this was Ma the Fifth's territory, and Ma the Fifth was the local spirit here.
Shang Rongchu's cultivation had already surpassed the clouds. Killing Ma the Fifth on Ma the Fifth's own turf was tantamount to making himself a marked man with the peddler.
He Jiaqing's cultivation was also beyond the clouds; was he not worried about breaking the peddler's rules?
Of course he was, and he didn't want to kill Ma the Fifth either. He had simply been backed into a corner by Mister Kongfang.
Facing a cluster of ground-level cultivators, He Jiaqing naturally held the absolute advantage. Ma the Fifth was wounded and clearly on the verge of collapsing.
Shang Rongchu pressed forward step by step. Finding an opening, he blew a gentle breath into Feng Daiku's ear.
A numb tingle shot through Feng Daiku's ear, and suddenly, her body burst into flames.
A Joy Cultivator technique: Joyfire Incineration.
Smoke began pouring from Feng Daiku's ears, then her eyes, then her nose and mouth, before her entire body ignited.
This was the most venomous kind of Joy Cultivator technique. Normal flames burned from the surface of the skin inward, but the fire unleashed by this technique ignited the opponent's inner heartfire, burning from the inside out.
Terrified, Ma the Fifth moved to rush forward to extinguish the flames, but He Jiaqing kicked him flat onto the ground.
This fire could not be saved. With Ma the Fifth's current strength, he had no way of quenching this heartfire. Touching Feng Daiku would only draw the flames onto himself, burning them both to ashes.
Feng Daiku looked at Ma the Fifth, her flame-wreathed face filled with longing and sorrow.
Shang Rongchu let out a soft laugh. "Junior Sister, take a good, long look at your sweetheart. If you want to see him again, it will have to be in your next life."
To extinguish heartfire, the best method was a Cold Cultivator technique to chill the heart and suppress all love and hatred, allowing the fire to die.
Yet Feng Daiku did not know Cold Cultivator techniques. Those two pathways were as incompatible as fire and water; an Emotion Cultivator could never cultivate Cold arts on the side.
Feng Daiku struggled desperately within the blaze. The more she clung to Ma Junyang, the fiercer her heartfire burned.
Ma the Fifth crawled toward Feng Daiku, only to be kicked back once more by He Jiaqing.
The others swarmed He Jiaqing, but with a kick for each, He Jiaqing knocked them all to the ground.
Shang Rongchu stopped paying attention to Feng Daiku. He watched He Jiaqing, waiting to see when he would kill Ma Junyang.
While He Jiaqing was still trying to think of a way to stall, Feng Daiku, who had been writhing in the blazing flames, suddenly froze in place.
*Burned to death already?*
*Not that quickly, surely?*
Shang Rongchu was stunned for a moment, then noticed the woman in the flames beginning to change shape.
Her silhouette grew less soft, its contours turning sharp and angular.
Her attire was no longer refined, replaced by heavy garments bearing rough, crude needlework.
Her face was no longer youthful and fair; beneath white hair, layers of deep wrinkles emerged.
While Shang Rongchu was still reeling in shock, He Jiaqing suddenly shouted, "Brother Rongchu, help me!"
*What kind of nonsense is that? He Jiaqing is dealing with a few ground-level weaklings—why would he need my help?*
Shang Rongchu glanced at He Jiaqing, and his eyes went wide with horror.
He saw Feng Daiku, wisps of scorched smoke trailing from her body, leading Ma the Fifth and the others in besieging He Jiaqing.
*When did Feng Daiku get over to He Jiaqing's side? Wasn't she burning in the fire?*
*Why is there only smoke left on her? Did her heartfire go out?*
*When did it go out?*
*If her heartfire went out, then who is this person in front of me?*
*Who is this person still being scorched by the raging inferno?*
The blaze roared, burning with escalating fury. The blinding glare prevented Shang Rongchu from seeing the woman's face clearly, yet he could feel the crushing majesty radiating from her.
Amid the thick smoke, the woman within the flames was indeed being roasted alive, yet she did not utter a sound, nor did she struggle in the slightest.
*Could it be her...*
*Could this be the Suffering Cultivator technique, Substituting Plum for Peach?*
His guess was right. The woman had used Substituting Plum for Peach to transfer the flames on Feng Daiku onto herself, bearing the agony on Feng Daiku's behalf.
The woman raised a hand and pointed at Shang Rongchu. Shang Rongchu let out a wretched wail as raging fire burst from within him.
A Suffering Cultivator technique: Shared Pain, Divided Suffering.
In an instant, Shang Rongchu's body was engulfed in flames.
Unlike Feng Daiku's situation, where the heartfire had built up bit by bit, the heartfire within Shang Rongchu tore from the inside out, consuming his entire body in a flash.
The blaze charred Shang Rongchu's flesh and melted his skin. Unable even to keep his footing, he collapsed directly onto the ground.
Opening his mouth, he marshaled every ounce of strength in his body and inhaled violently, sucking all the flames on his body straight into his mouth.
This was a technique above the clouds for Joy Cultivators: Devouring One's Own Wicked Fire.
It possessed no offensive power; it was strictly a life-saving technique for cultivators.
The higher a Joy Cultivator's tier, the more susceptible they were to backlash from their heartfire. Talented Joy Cultivators associated everything in the world with their own pathway. Take Ma the Fifth: when he saw a hollow piece of bamboo, he thought it must be useful for cultivation.
When he saw a lock, he thought that was useful for cultivation as well.
Feng Daiku had once been curious and asked Ma the Fifth, "How could a lock be of any use to a Joy Cultivator?"
Ma the Fifth had his own explanation: "Think about it. A lock has a keyhole, and opening it requires a key. A key going in and out of the keyhole—isn't that the very essence of our pathway's practice?"
Feng Daiku hadn't understood at the time and even argued with him: "Once the key enters the keyhole, it has to turn! That's not the same thing as your pathway at all!"
Ma the Fifth had answered in all seriousness, "I can turn too. Why don't you try it?"
Feng Daiku tried it, and she decided Ma the Fifth had a point.
A gifted Joy Cultivator could perceive the origin of all things in the world from the connection between a lock and a key.
The foundation of everything in creation stemmed from the cultivation of the Joy pathway.
For cultivators like this, the higher their realm, the deeper their mental state. Once they reached above the clouds, seeing anything at all would remind them of the course of cultivation, keeping their heartfire burning continuously until it burned them to ash.
Among the techniques above the clouds for Joy Cultivators, there was Devouring One's Own Wicked Fire—a pure survival art.
Shang Rongchu was an intelligent man. Though he knew one could only select a limited number of techniques above the clouds, he had still chosen this one for the sole purpose of preserving his life.
With that single inhale, he swallowed over ninety percent of the flames on his body. Less than a tenth remained on his back, but Shang Rongchu had no time to worry about it.
The smaller the fire, the harder it was to swallow. The lingering embers couldn't be cleared in a breath or two and would have to be dealt with later; he had to save his strength to run for his life.
He might still escape now; delay by a single step, and he was dead.
Shang Rongchu scrambled up from the ground and fled. Before he had run more than two paces, he spotted two wild boars passionately rutting in the woods.
At the sight, Shang Rongchu's heart stirred, and the flames on his back grew by ten percent.
Taking another few steps forward, he saw two snakes tightly coiled together.
Shang Rongchu hurriedly averted his eyes, but the flames on him flared by another ten percent.
*Is this a coincidence? How am I running into this everywhere?*
It truly was no coincidence; there was karmic causation at work.
He was a Joy Cultivator, and Ma the Fifth was a Joy Cultivator. The two had been battling in these woods, and their techniques had rippled out to affect the surrounding creatures.
Looking ahead, a pair of wild oxen were rutting.
Looking to the left, two hedgehogs were embracing.
Looking to the right, two massive trees were entwined together.
Shang Rongchu looked down, and a cluster of earthworms were squirming in knots against one another.
He looked up, and two crows were building a nest.
No matter where he looked, everything triggered him. The flames on Shang Rongchu multiplied, roaring back into a towering inferno.
Why was this cause and effect operating with such terrifying precision?
Because he had been struck by a Fortune Cultivator technique: Sudden Fortune and Misfortune.
Shang Rongchu could run no further. Even with his eyes shut tight, the scenes he had just witnessed replayed relentlessly in his mind.
Sprawled on the ground, he poured every scrap of energy into the technique and drew another deep breath, sucking away every last flame.
Having exhausted the technique, Shang Rongchu was utterly drained. Lying flat on the ground, he cried out for mercy, "Senior, spare my life!"
The woman who had been swallowed by the inferno earlier was now completely free of flames.
She was entirely unharmed; not even a scorch mark marred her clothes.
The woman looked down at Shang Rongchu without saying a word.
In his desperation, Shang Rongchu looked toward He Jiaqing, actually hoping He Jiaqing might save him.
Under the siege, He Jiaqing had fallen among the crowd, covered in wounds and seemingly lifeless.
Before Shang Rongchu could plead for mercy again, all opportunity vanished. The ground churned with rolling heat, and a geyser of scalding spring water erupted from beneath.
Powerless to resist, Shang Rongchu was on the verge of being boiled alive.
A shower of copper coins scattered over Shang Rongchu, gripping him and hauling him out of the boiling spring.
Seeing this, the woman lifted her gaze. "So you came after all."
Mister Kongfang stood within the dense forest, cupping his hands toward the woman. "Elder Sister, I truly had no idea you were here. Otherwise, I would never have dared cause offense."
The woman gave a light chuckle. "I was only passing through. I intended to check in on my nephew, but who would have thought that instead of seeing my nephew, I'd run into you bunch of wretched scoundrels."
Chapter 650