*Bang!*
Shen Ying had only just plunged into the passageway in pursuit of Philanthropist Xu.
A moment later, a red silhouette flew backward out of the tunnel, crashing heavily to the ground.
Lu Changsheng focused his gaze and saw that it was indeed Shen Ying.
Moreover, a crossbow bolt protruded from Shen Ying's shoulder.
At that moment, dozens of martial artists poured out from the passageway.
Every one of them brandished a loaded crossbow, aiming at Lu Changsheng, Shen Ying, and the physicians and apothecaries.
Although Shen Ying was a Refining Organs martial artist, he was injured.
Even in peak condition, facing dozens of martial artists armed with crossbows, who could withstand such a dense volley unless clad in iron armor like Zhao Xing?
"The master has ordered! Show no mercy to the thieves who broke into the secret chamber—kill them all!" one of the martial artists shouted at the top of his lungs.
Philanthropist Xu had indeed fled.
Yet as he fled, he had given these martial artists a death order, commanding all the guards to kill Shen Ying, Lu Changsheng, and the others at any cost.
If these martial artists were merely hired hands, they certainly would not throw away their lives for Philanthropist Xu.
However, they had all been poisoned; their lives were entirely in Philanthropist Xu's hands, leaving them no choice but to obey.
Even though they knew the man in black possessed terrifying strength, they had to bite the bullet and charge!
*Swish! Swish! Swish!*
A dense hail of crossbow bolts poured toward Lu Changsheng.
Lu Changsheng immediately rolled across the floor to another stone table, flipping it upright to shield himself.
Clutching his wound, Shen Ying also retreated into a corner.
Those apothecaries and physicians attempting to flee were not so fortunate, falling in droves as bolts tore through them.
Only a tiny fraction of the apothecaries and physicians had left the pill-refining room, taking the risk to escape, yet now all of them lay dead.
Lu Changsheng glanced at the martial artists. There were roughly fifty or sixty of them—still an immense number.
Pinned behind the stone table, Lu Changsheng did not dare poke his head out.
Showing his head meant death.
After all, no matter what boundary one reached across the Three Hurdles of Body Tempering, one was still made of mortal flesh and blood, incapable of withstanding the lethal pierce of crossbow bolts.
Yet he could not simply crouch here and take a beating forever.
Lu Changsheng observed the martial artists.
They held the high ground and were rapidly encircling him from behind.
Once they reached his rear and surrounded him from all four sides, a single stone table would never protect him from the bolts.
To deal with them, he could either push forward while holding the stone table before him—but the passage above was narrow, making it impossible to maneuver while lugging such a slab—or he needed a long-range means of attack.
Yet Lu Changsheng had no bow or crossbow at hand; how could he counter those martial artists?
"Long-range attack..." Lu Changsheng murmured under his breath.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up as a faint spark of inspiration flashed through his mind.
In truth, martial artists were capable of ranged attacks.
Martial artists at the Body Tempering level, whether in Strengthening Blood, Tempering Bone, or Refining Organs, could release their qi and blood externally.
And the external release of qi and blood was precisely a long-range attack.
However, once a martial artist released their qi and blood externally, it depleted at an alarming rate.
Even for a Refining Organs martial artist with robust qi and blood, releasing it outward might drain their reserves completely in the span of a single breath.
Moreover, once qi and blood left the body, its potency plummeted drastically; retaining even ten percent of its power was considered fortunate.
For that reason, no martial artist would resort to releasing qi and blood externally against an enemy.
It was entirely an unrewarding, thankless effort.
Furthermore, Xu Family Manor had fifty or sixty martial artists armed with crossbows.
Even with an external release of qi and blood, how could he possibly counter so many foes?
Lu Changsheng took a deep breath and circulated his qi and blood.
*Boom!*
All at once, Lu Changsheng stood upright. His qi and blood surged straight into the air, manifesting directly above his head.
The billowing, tempestuous qi and blood formed a visible presence above Lu Changsheng, vaguely tinting the entire underground hall in a shade of crimson.
Unflinchingly masculine and unyielding, the qi and blood burned like blazing flames, instantly driving up the temperature of the subterranean chamber.
The dark, damp underground hall even took on a faint sensation of scorching heat.
"What is he doing?"
Many of the men exchanged bewildered glances.
Even Shen Ying showed confusion in his eyes.
Though he too was a Refining Organs martial artist, he could not fathom Lu Changsheng's intention in the slightest.
Releasing qi and blood externally?
Shen Ying shook his head. What could releasing qi and blood accomplish at a time like this?
It was nothing more than a waste of strength.
Yet Lu Changsheng showed no sign of stopping.
On the contrary, the qi and blood pouring from his body continued to surge out with astonishing speed.
Taking a standard Refining Organs martial artist's qi and blood as a baseline, the qi and blood manifesting from Lu Changsheng was climbing rapidly.
Double, triple, five times, eight times, ten times...
Who could have imagined that the qi and blood Lu Changsheng manifested would rival ten times that of an ordinary Refining Organs martial artist!
"How could he possess such vast qi and blood?"
Shen Ying was utterly shaken!
That was ten times the qi and blood!
Never had he seen a Refining Organs martial artist capable of unleashing tenfold reserves.
Meanwhile, an ominous premonition seized each of the Xu Family Manor martial artists.
"Kill him! Quick, kill him!"
Voices erupted one after another.
Crossbow bolts shot toward Lu Changsheng in a dense barrage.
Yet it was useless; qi and blood existed somewhere between the ethereal and the corporeal.
Crossbow bolts could not affect it in the slightest.
At this moment, Lu Changsheng focused entirely on manifesting all of his qi and blood.
It was only by having reached the limit of qi and blood, combined with undergoing a single blood exchange, that he could unleash more than ten times the normal amount.
Even so, the consumption of releasing qi and blood externally remained terrifying.
In just this brief span, a sizable portion of his qi and blood had already burned away.
"Divide!" Lu Changsheng barked in a low growl.
The colossal mass of qi and blood hovering above his head fractured in an instant.
*Hum...*
The qi and blood split from one into ten, ten into a hundred, a hundred into a thousand, a thousand into ten thousand...
In the blink of an eye, the vast surge of qi and blood divided into individual silken threads.
Tens of thousands of blood-red silken strands appeared before everyone's eyes.
Turning qi and blood into silken threads!
This was originally a Refining Organs martial art Lu Changsheng cultivated to temper his internal organs.
Yet now, Lu Changsheng had released his qi and blood externally and spun it into silk.
Since qi-and-blood silken threads could temper the viscera, they naturally harbored considerable force.
Furthermore, Lu Changsheng exercised peerless control over his qi and blood; every single thread answered to his will as naturally as his own limbs.
"Go!"
Shrouded beneath a sprawling canopy of silken qi and blood that resembled a blood cloud, Lu Changsheng cut an extraordinarily imposing figure.
In an instant, the threads of qi and blood shot forth like razor-sharp arrows, cascading toward the Xu Family Manor martial artists in an overwhelming deluge.
Dense and inescapable!
Moreover, Lu Changsheng had incorporated the principles of the Instant Kill Technique into the silken strands, driving every single thread to extreme speeds!
*Boom!*
The qi and blood erupted, raining down instantly upon every martial artist of Xu Family Manor.
*Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!*
The silk flew like arrows!
Strands of qi-and-blood silk instantly pierced straight through the martial artists' bodies, sending them crashing to the ground with agonizing screams.
In a single breath, the burst of silken threads felled all fifty or sixty martial artists at once.
Even those fortunate enough to survive were grievously wounded by the punctures, stripped of nearly all fighting capability, left with nothing to do but wail in agony on the floor.
Such a breathtaking scene left everyone stunned.
Even Shen Ying's jaw dropped, his face filled with utter disbelief.
As a fellow Refining Organs martial artist, Shen Ying knew all too well how terrifying such an external release of qi and blood was.
Had it been him, releasing qi and blood outward would have drained his reserves in an instant; how could he possibly have spun it into silk, let alone struck down dozens of martial artists in a single breath?
In the snap of a finger, dozens were wiped out!
Such terrifying might even made Shen Ying wonder whether this man in black was truly merely at the Body Tempering level.
Perhaps even if someone in the Divine Strength Realm arrived, they might not have accomplished it any better than the man in black.
Chapter 46