The Forbidden Path to Immortality-Chapter 273

Even Li Xun, cool-headed as he was, went completely blank for a split second when he heard that.

Right after that mental hiccup, Li Xun snapped back to himself and poured more force into his grip. But the second his fingers clamped tighter, a freaky ripple shot through the thick rolls of fat on the fat man’s neck. At the same time, some weird resistance flared up inside the guy’s body and straight-up melted every last wisp of the Burning Blood Primordial Breath Li Xun had forced in... like it never even happened.

That thick, meaty right leg whipped backward in a brutal arc, sharper than any magical weapon. Worse, before the kick even slammed into Li Xun’s gut, the fat man’s vicious, ice-cold divine sense had already locked onto him like a death mark. Li Xun felt his own limbs freeze up, suddenly too heavy and sluggish to obey.

It was every bit as deadly as the technique Li Xun had used to pin him down earlier. If he didn’t dodge in time, Li Xun had no doubt that the fat man would slice him in half with that kick.

The two of them tore apart in a flash. The fat man rolled forward like a goddamn meat boulder, tumbling head over ass. Just ahead of where he’d been, that fancy string of prayer beads on his wrist exploded into dust. One jagged shard even whipped across his own fat cheek, carving a thin red line through the blubber.

He quickly turned back around, crouching low, and for the first time fixed both eyes on Li Xun.

Li Xun brushed a hand across his abdomen. His outer robe had been split open, leaving a small tear. The blow hadn’t reached his skin, but a faint chill still crept through him.

This was getting bad. He didn’t even have time to regret anything. His heart, growing more sensitive and restless by the moment, responded for him.

Li Xun still wasn’t used to fighting the Blood Shadow Demon Form, so he naturally kept using his old stance and style.

Maybe because of that full-on “demonization” he’d gone through earlier, his burst of speed now was only a touch slower than when he was in the Blood-Shadow Demon Body. It was still insanely fast. No matter how wary the fat man was, the instant that flash of blood-light hit his eyes, everything blurred and the strike was already on him.

“Ha!”

The fat man barked out a sharp breath. His already plump body swelled even larger, and a surge of true breath blasted outward from within him. It rolled out like a massive wall rising between the two of them.

With a gap in speed this huge, it worked better than any kind of cover.

Li Xun slammed into the wall of qi, his body spreading with the impact as he twisted in a perfectly timed release that bled off the force of the collision.

At the same moment, the opponent’s life pulse rippled through that qi wall, unfolding before him like a long scroll.

This was obviously far more complicated than the structure of a fish, but Li Xun had this freaky divine sense. Without the slightest hesitation, he picked out several deadly “nodes” where the fat man’s qi converged. A heartbeat later, his Burning Blood Primordial Breath flared to life.

“Stop! I yield!”

The fat man, who had just introduced himself as the master of the Thousand Treasures Pavilion, shouted at the top of his lungs. But the only answer he got was Li Xun pressing his thumb forward.

The moment Li Xun’s thumb touched the energy wall, the fat man’s already small eyes shrank to pinpoints. He sucked in a sharp breath and yelped, “Blood God Calamity Finger! Mother of—!”

The energy wall unraveled. It wasn’t shattered by brute force. Something eerie and uncanny slipped inside it, vaporizing the key nodes that held it together. The wall collapsed from within, completely and irreversibly.

And this kind of “dissolution” spread like wildfire. It could pass through almost anything, jump to whatever was connected to it, and spark the next wave of decay.

Compared with this terrifying force that could annihilate everything, that so-called “Blood God Calamity Finger” a certain little bug had used a while ago was an absolute joke!

As the one taking the hit head-on, the fat man felt it the most. His plump body turned into a pinball again and tumbled backward.

While rolling away, he had already pulled out the Spirit-Stirring Bell. Before Li Xun’s second strike could land, he swung hard and struck it.

The deep, far-reaching toll boomed in his ears. It was Li Xun’s first time meeting the bell’s shockwave head-on, and only now did he understand why the fat man had used it to fend off Old Kunpeng.

The bell’s sound was strangely unsettling. Even though his bones, flesh, and blood were already fused into one at this moment and he had quickly sealed off the relevant acupoints, the ringing still seeped in everywheree. It wormed in through every pore, even hijacking the air itself to make his whole body resonate. The frequency kept shifting so wildly that there was no real way to block it, and his mind grew hazy.

That brief moment of dizziness was all the fat man needed. By the time Li Xun steadied himself, the guy had already scrambled several li away and was shouting from a distance, “Brother, don’t get mad. I was wrong, all right? I was wrong, isn’t that enough?”

Li Xun scowled. Now he was truly confused.

That crafty fat man clearly had frightening strength. Judging purely by cultivation, he was definitely above Li Xun. The only reason Li Xun gained any advantage just now was because of the bizarre abilities of the Blood God Child. If the fight dragged on, the tide might even turn.

The fat man had to know this perfectly well. So why in the world was he acting like this?

Li Xun might be half demon now, but he still trusted his brain more than his fists. After a moment of calculation, he killed his charge, closing the distance only a little. He gave the fatty’s bloated face a lazy smirk.

“Ji… Master of the Pavilion? If I remember right, your pavilion’s leader was Zhu Liang, wasn’t it? Since when did my second senior brother take over?”

The fat man pretended to wipe sweat from his forehead and shuffled closer with a cheerful grin. “Oh, that’s old news now. Just five days ago, my senior brother stepped down and wanted me to take the position. But a few of the managers in the pavilion weren’t convinced, so they sent me on an errand. They told me to come to the bottom of the East Sea and fetch some treasure to prove my qualifications.

“Who could’ve guessed I’d run into that Kunpeng demon? Even the helpers those managers sent got wiped out. What a loss, a huge loss!” 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Even though the fat man spoke lightly, Li Xun could hear all sorts of hidden meanings beneath his words.

It felt just like the way the fat man had casually sacrificed his own sect members earlier. Those claims about stepping down, being sent on errands, or receiving “helpers” all carried a cold, unsettling undertone of thick conspiracy and bloodshed.

Li Xun’s lips curved in a slight, icy smirk, though he chose to accept the fat man’s explanation for the moment. But the fat man’s next move made his eyelids twitch.

He started stripping off his clothes and shoes, then dug through his pockets. In a few quick moves the fat man was down to nothing but a sleeveless undershirt and a pair of knee-length shorts. All the junk he’d been carrying now sat in a messy little pile on his hands. By then he had walked right up to Li Xun, close enough that only a few feet separated them. It was a dangerously close distance.

With one glance, Li Xun saw that at least seven or eight of the items were high-grade treasures, each one worth an unimaginable amount.

“What are you doing…”

“Nothing much. I’m a man of my word. Since you were willing to back off this once, everything I’ve got on me is yours now!”

Fat Ji let out a cackling laugh and tried to look generous. When he turned his head his face twisted with a bit of embarrassment.

“Heh... I did have a string of sandalwood beads, but I had to burn it up just now to break your pulse-sealing technique, so that’s gone. And… well, this is awkward. The Spirit-Stirring Bell is one of the tokens the sect entrusted to me. Junior brother, you’re a big-hearted guy, so let’s just leave that one alone, alright?”

Li Xun watched the fat man put on his performance with cold eyes. In his head, he was now eighty percent sure about who this guy really was.

The way the fellow had freed himself from the restriction just now was a signature technique from the Thousand Treasures Pavilion called the “Bridal Vestment Method.” Anyone who could use it had to be either the pavilion master himself or at least someone high up.

After thinking it over, Li Xun nodded with a small smile. “Senior brother, you do keep your word. I respect that. But since you said we’re the same kind of people, then you should understand this saying: when someone’s being extra nice for no reason... well, you know what that usually means, right?”

“You’re overthinking this, junior brother...” The fat man was wore his friendly smile, but the moment his eyes met Li Xun’s cold, frosty stare, he hiccupped and quickly backpedaled. “Uh… alright, fine. To be honest, I did have a couple of… considerations!

“First of all, I just want to stay out of trouble. You saw it yourself: that Kunpeng freak is definitely not going to let me off in the future. It took a lot of effort to hide my identity and dodge him for now. How could I afford to make another powerful enemy…

“Heh heh. And sure, you’re still a little behind Kunpeng, but someone like you who’s cultivated the Blood God Child to the point of forming a ‘Blood Shadow Demon Form’... that hasn’t happened once in nearly ten thousand years. Definitely not someone I want to mess with!”

Li Xun answered only with a cold smile.

Seeing that didn’t move him at all, the fat man had no choice but to keep rambling. “The second thing I was thinking is more long-term. Ha... junior brother, you should know that the Blood God Child technique is basically hated everywhere. Of course, with your strength you can walk the world freely, but if all you ever do is charge around smashing things, how are you supposed to enjoy the pleasures of this world?

“Looks like fate brought us together today. We hit it off right away. If you don’t mind, junior brother, I can show you a few places to relax and have some fun. It’d help the two of us get to know each other better, don’t you think?”

Li Xun saw right through him. The fat guy really was slippery. Even though the Blood God Child had dazzled him for a moment and made him think Li Xun was just some unfamiliar face, he still managed to jump straight to winning people over for later benefit. That kind of foresight was top tier.

“And another thing…” The fat man was on a roll, but this time he lowered his voice on purpose, looking pretty nervous. “Another thing is, you really don’t know how to pick a proper place to make a move. You were lucky just now that it didn’t cause a huge commotion, otherwise you’d have a whole new mess to deal with!”

Huh? I have to pick a place before taking action? What is this place supposed to be?

Li Xun didn’t understand that reasoning at all. He glanced around in every direction and saw nothing but endless ocean. After all the back-and-forth with the fat guy, dawn was already starting to break, just enough light to tell east from west. Other than that, there wasn’t a single landmark to be found.