Chapter 49: Chapter 47 Body Refinement Great Achievement! Black Lotusl l
Translator: 549690339
Having killed Zhao Qing, Su Changkong felt a vicious satisfaction in his heart; Zhao Qing had schemed against him with malicious intentions, and now he had died by Su Changkong’s hand, a fitting end to his crimes!
But it wasn’t over yet!
Su Changkong glanced towards the distance with a cold sweat, as the blackclad, masked men holding crossbows in the darkness were all stunned.
“Zhao… Lord Zhao is dead?”
“Fight him! If Lord Zhao is dead, we won’t survive either!”
The faces of these black-clad, masked men were contorted with savagery, some shocked that Zhao Qing had died at the hands of Su Changkong, and others in despair, determined to fight Su Changkong to the death.
Su Changkong’s figure flashed, dragging a blur as he pounced toward a group of black-clad men!
“Whizz whizz whizz!”
Some black-clad men pulled the triggers of their crossbows, firing bolts at Su Changkong, but he had anticipated their moves; he twisted his body and all the arrows missed their target.
Before they could load new bolts, Su Changkong was already upon them!
“Thud!”
Without a shred of mercy, Su Changkong swung his Iron-Cutting Sword in a horizontal chop, like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, as several heads soared into the air accompanied by spurting blood!
“Kill him! Kill him!”
The remaining black-clad, masked men cried out frantically, drawing their side swords from their waists and lunging at Su Changkong.
“These men… most of them aren’t even Strength Refinement Realm martial artists!”
Su Changkong judged from their speed that many of these men were just ordinary people with some basic training, not even qualifying as martial artists!
Armed with crossbows, they posed some threat, but now in close combat, they were no different from a rabble.
“Ssh sshssh!”
Su Changkong wielded the Iron-Cutting Sword, and with each swing determined by his movements, someone’s head would hit the ground, someone would be cleaved in half and thrown into the air, just like chopping vegetables!
What surprised Su Changkong was that despite seeing their comrades die, these men were clearly terrified but not a single one tried to flee; rather, they desperately fought him to the bitter end.
“Leave one alive to interrogate for information,” Su Changkong thought to himself, as he slew all of the black-clad men cleanly, leaving only one masked individual.
“Ugh! Ugh!”
The sole survivor among the black-clad men, upon seeing the bodies, heads, and the spraying blood on the ground, like a slaughterhouse, couldn’t help but remove his mask and vomit repeatedly.
Once the man had nearly finished vomiting, Su Changkong slowly began to inquire, “Who are you? And what’s so special about this Zhao Qing?”
The Ghost Mask that Su Changkong was wearing was stained with blood, making him appear as terrifying as an Evil Spirit in the darkness.
The black-clad man bit down hard, his eyes filled with despair, knowing his fate was sealed. He sighed despondently, “I… am just a common bandit, I threw in my lot with Zhao Qing. Zhao Qing’s identity is mysterious, and I don’t know much, but it seems like he’s a member of some sect. He controlled us with a type of poison pill, forcing us to work for him. If we disobeyed, the consequences were worse than death!”
The black-clad man revealed the little he knew, but indeed he didn’t know much.
Zhao Qing was ruthless and controlled his people with poison. Everyone had to take the pills he supplied at regular intervals to alleviate the effects, or else the poison pill would make life a living hell. Now that Zhao Qing was dead, even if Su Changkong spared them, they wouldn’t be able to survive!
Su Changkong could see that the black-clad man wasn’t lying and only wanted a quick death.
“Swish!”
Su Changkong granted him that wish. He suddenly lifted his hand, and with a swift, clean chop, he decapitated the black-clad man, ending his life.
“Zhao Qing’s identity really is somewhat mysterious…”
Su Changkong thought to himself, using Poison Pills to control his henchmen to fight for him, and being of the Divine Strength Realm himself, he most likely came from some major force. However, since everyone was dead, Su Changkong had no way to interrogate further.
“Pack up all these crossbows and take them away.”
Su Changkong began to quickly clean up the battlefield, starting with the batch of crossbows that Zhao Qing had purchased at a high price to deal with Su Changkong, only for them to end up back in Su Changkong’s hands.
Su Changkong folded these crossbows, some he put into his basket, and others he wrapped into a huge package using the clothes of the black-clothed men to carry them away.
Besides this, Su Changkong didn’t forget to search Zhao Qing’s body, whom Su Changkong had angrily chopped into four pieces with two strikes, a particularly gruesome death.
On Zhao Qing’s body, Su Changkong indeed found quite a few valuable items.
First was more than 1000 taels of silver notes; Zhao Qing was quite wealthy!
“These pill medicines… they all seem to be Poison Pills.”
Several small bottles were on Zhao Qing’s person, each containing blackcolored pill medicines. Su Changkong recalled that the black-clothed men had said Zhao Qing used these Poison Pills to control them.
Zhao Qing also carried a metallic token.
Engraved on this token was a black lotus, looking very sinister!
“A black lotus, is this the Identity Token of the force Zhao Qing belonged to?”
Su Changkong glanced at the token, useless to him, he planned to throw it away later or even melt it down during forging to completely destroy it!
“And these metal gloves, could they be made of Black Gold? They withstood my chopping without any damage; they’re probably the most valuable item on Zhao Qing.”
Su Changkong removed the pair of black metal gloves from Zhao Qing’s body.
To Su Changkong’s surprise, not only did the gloves withstand his Iron-Cutting Sword without damage, but they were also exceptionally heavy. A pair of gloves might weigh eight or nine pounds, reminding Su Changkong of a rare metal he had heard of at Black Iron Manor—Black Gold.
This metal was extremely tough, several times more precious than gold. If these gloves were made of Black Gold, their price might well be over a thousand taels of silver!
“I could have my Iron-Cutting Sword reforged, melting these Black Gold gloves into it would certainly improve its quality to another level!”
Having thought this, Su Changkong tucked the pair of Black Gold gloves into his chest.
After doing all this, Su Changkong didn’t linger and quickly disappeared into the wilderness.
As for the bodies on the ground, Su Changkong didn’t deal with them. So many corpses and limbs, and the bloodstains, were not easy to handle. It would be better to leave the scene early! Best to lay low for a few months and not come to the Ghost Market!
The Ghost Market was a place of chaos, where killings for revenge were nothing out of the ordinary.
The eighteen crossbows were too conspicuous to keep at Black Iron Manor, so Su Changkong stored them in a cave a few miles away from the manor.
On the way, Su Changkong dropped by Ginseng Town to purchase enough Vital Qi Spread for two or three months, and then he returned to Black Iron Manor.
Back at Black Iron Manor, Su Changkong continued his cultivation and forging as usual.
The encounter with Zhao Qing had yielded benefits beyond just monetary gains, the battle had allowed Su Changkong to break through the bottleneck of the Divine Strength Realm and step into the Divine Bravery Stage!
“It’s quite miraculous… after breaking into the Divine Bravery Stage, the muscles beneath my skin seem to have undergone a second growth, becoming even tougher, and every action carries an impressive might. A single roar can cause ordinary people to lose their souls in fright and all their fighting spirit!” Su Changkong marveled at the changes in his body.
Body Refinement Great Achievement in the Divine Bravery Stage, is the peak for Body Refinement Martial Artists, where spirit and body become one. A single arm could possess the Divine Power of a thousand pounds, and one roar could intimidate others into losing all their morale.
Su Changkong’s physique had reached an astonishing level, the muscles extremely tough, tight, even a gentle stroke with a knife could only tear the skin, but struggle to injure the muscle beneath!