Yu Wenjin’s house, outside of Si Shui county…
A black Audi pulled over quietly in front of the house, and a young and refined-looking man emerged from the car.
This young man looked like he was in his twenties. He was wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and his pale smooth skin suggested that he never worked one day in the field. Although he looked polite and well-mannered, he carried a repulsive eerieness about him.
“Young Master, Zhang Ben had just sent us a message. He said that Master Chen kidnaped him and Granny Snake to here.” A ghostly looking old man said in a husky voice.
“Humph! Master Chen?” displeasure flickered in the young man’s eyes. “He is just a country hill billy from Jing Bei. He stood no chance against the Ghost Witch Sect. I will let him taste the pain of ten thousand ghosts gnawing at his heart.”
“Such an arrogant fool. He would never imagine your power, my lord.”
The ghostly old man replied as fear flashed across his face.
He had seen the art of Gnawing of Ten Thousand Ghosts in action, and it was more terrifying than watching the cruelest punishment on earth.
Although the old man had never met Master Chen before, the promise of seeing the sadistic art again filled the old man’s heart with regret and pity for Master Chen.
“Tong Shan, Let’s go.”
The young man waved at someone inside the car, and a brawny brut emerged out from the back seats. Even the extra large size suit the man was wearing didn’t seem to be able to encase his enormous muscles fully. The fabric of the suit was stretched out so much that it was going to rip open at the seem. The man was about two meters tall, and his arm was one size bigger than the average human’s thigh. His hulking frame made him stand out like an iron pagoda.
The suit he was wearing was blotched with stains from blood; some were still fresh.
The brute’s face was expressionless and eyes lifeless. He grunted a reply and trailed behind the Young Master.
The three walked slowly toward the house. When they were only five meters away, the young master suddenly announced.
“Master Chen, Lord Bai, we are here. Come out and meet us.”
Yu Wenjin’s house was located outside of the town and was surrounded by only farmlands and bushes. Therefore, there were no onlookers that the crowd had to worry about. They watched as the red gate of the house cracked open, and Zhang Ben emerged from the other side. As soon as he saw the young man, he lowered his head submissively and said: “Young Master, they are all inside waiting for you.”
“Humph. Conceited fools! ” The Young Master grunted.
Although he looked like he was in his twenties, he is actually in his forties. However, he had never been looked down upon once in his entire life, except for today.
As fire sprouted out inside of his heart, the Young Master walked past the gate and arrived at a large courtyard. He was greeted by Granny Snake, Yu Wenjin, Bai Wuji and the two disciples of Master Cui.
The crowd surrounded a table and two chairs. Chen Fan was sitting in one of the chairs while sipping on a cup of tea.
The Young Master closed in, and the first thing he did was examine Yu Wenjin from head to toe. Satisfied with what he saw, he sat down in the other armchair. He cracked a smile and then said:
“I wager you are the Master Chen of Jiang Bei? What a strapping young lad!
“I believe there is a misunderstanding between us. I have no quarrel with anyone in the Jing Bei region. If you hand over the girl and the white-haired one, I will offer my alliance. I have heard that Master Chen is a smart man, and you must know which one is more important to you: a useless girl or a powerful ally?”
Yu Wenjin’s tightened her body at first sight of the Young Master. Hearing his cold-hearted bargain, she felt fear shoot through her mind. She held onto Chen Fan’s sleeve and squeezed it to overcome her terror. Bai Wuji furrowed his brows and looked concernedly at Chen Fan.
Chen Fan said, really: “Who told you to sit down?”
“Excuse me?” The Young Master’s smile was frozen on his face.
“I might spare your family’s life if you kneel before me and accept your punishment.” Chen Fan said lightly as he rubbed a finger playfully along the surface of the clay teacup.
“Your are courting death!” Before the Young Master could say a word, the ghostly old man shouted.
“Master Chen!”
The Young Master pulled a taut face and then said coldly.
“I respected you, and I was hoping you would do the same. Who do you think you are? You are not even worthy of sitting at the same table with me!
“You are just a country hillbilly from Jiang Bei. Do you think you are so tough with that Martial Arts skill? I have lost count of how many martial artists I have killed.”
“Well, if you say so. I will have to do away with you.” Chen Fan shook his head and lamented.
“Humph!”
The Young Master could no longer hold back his anger. He slammed the table and shouted: “Tong Shan!”
The hulking frame that had been standing lifelessly behind him all the while suddenly moved with nearly mechanical efficiency. He opened up his arms and then closed it around Chen Fan’s head like an iron clamp. His hands were the size of a basketball, and if his strike landed on Chen Fan’s head, it would smash through Chen Fan’s brain like through a watermelon.
“How dare you!”
Bai Wuji shouted.
He murmured a spell as a flame burst into life on his palm. The flame quickly turned into a longe whip as it flew at the brute. Bai Wuji’s strike had hit home, and the falling whip set the brut on fire, turning him into a giant human torch.
The black suit that wrapped around Tong Shan’s body was quickly burned away, and the fire started to eat the man’s flesh. However, Tong Shan didn’t seem to mind the pain. He formed a fist and punched at Bai Wuji.
Despite his ponderous weight, Tong Shan’s attack had the same efficiency as that of a grandmaster. His fists sprung into action like a loaded spring being released. Bai Wuji gasped and bent backward to roll away from the danger.
“What is going on?”
Yu Wenjin exclaimed.
The brawny man was still engulfed by flame. Fire ate away his shirt and hair; however, when it met the man’s bronze colored flesh, it quickly died out due to lack of fuel. It was as if the brutish man’s skin was made out of implantable metal.
When Tong Shan reemerged from the fire, he looked more like a lifeless killing machine than human.
“This is the Young Master’s secret cadaver-refining art: Bronze Armored Cadaver. It was one of the three deadliest Cadaver-Refining art in China, along with the Iron Cadaver and the Blood Cadaver.”
Bai Wuji managed to pick himself up and said heavily.
“Bingo.”
The young master stood up and said: “Tong Shan used to be a powerful martial artist in southeast Asia. Years ago, he offended me, and in return, I have made him into a Bronze Armored Cadaver using my secret art.”
“Do you see his muscles? It’s not flesh under the skin, its pure bronze. I gave him immeasurable strength and nearly indestructible body. He knows no pain nor exhaustion and can fight for me forever. No ordinary martial artist can stand a chance against him. He would be a headache even for a Transcendent Master.”
So saying, he linked his hand behind his back and looked to Chen Fan.”What do you think now, Master Chen?”
Everyone’s heart sank after hearing the power of the giant freak.
He had poured melted bronze into a body and turned the cadaver into a walking killing machine.
This was the most morbid and terrible thing the crowd had ever heard.
Even Granny Snake started to doubt her decision of handing Xiao Jin over to such a sadistic man. Yu Wenjin leaned against Chen Fan to support herself as her legs trembled uncontrollably.
“What do you think, Master Chen?”
Bai Wuji was getting anxious. The fire bending skills were all that’s under his disposal. Since it was useless against the metal freak, he suddenly was not sure what to do next.
“It’s just a worthless cadaver-refining art. You are so full of yourself.”
Chen Fan snorted and then shook his head disdainfully.
He gently lifted his left arm, and suddenly a giant bone whip appeared out of thin air. Every section of the whip was made out of white jade. The bones wheezed in the hair as the whip-lash rolled over and withered like a python toward the Young Master.
In the blurred shadow of the sweeping whip, people could vaguely see a giant snake snarling at the sky.
“Dharma Artifact!”
The Young Master’s face paled.
He tapped the ground with the tip of his toe and flipped backward to get out of harm’s way. The ghostly old man was not so lucky before he knew what was going on, the whip had caught and sliced through his waist.
Tong Shan didn’t evade the attack either. He growled like a beast and crossed his arms to cushion the frontal blow.
“Kaboom!”
Tong Shan’s giant body flew into the air like baseball during a home run. It rammed into and through the wall, leaving a giant hole behind.
Everyone was stunned by the development.
Half of the courtyard was turned into rubble by Chen Fan’s one sweeping attack.
After the dust settled, everyone saw a large crack on the ground extending from under Chen Fan’s feet to the outside of the courtyard wall, where the Bronze Armored Cadaver was laying on the ground. Both arms of the Bronze Armored Cadaver were broken off from its body, and a large wound cut deeply into his metallic flesh from head to toe. However, the spell that bound the sorry soul to the bronze armored husk spurred the monster to get up but failing at each trial.
“This. This..”
Bai Wuji was rendered speechless.
Wasn’t Master Chen just an Internal Force user? How on earth could he have gotten such a powerful Dharma Artifact?
Tong Shan weighed over a few hundred kilos, and he was blown away by Chen Fan’s attack as a baseball would by a baseball bat. He estimated that the amount of force in Chen Fan’s attack should be enough to cut a big bus in half.
Zhang Ben eyes rounded and gaped at Chen Fan in disbelief. He watched as the Young Master who he had revered so much got his ass kicked. Granny Snake started to wonder if she had placed her loyalty in the wrong place.
After a while, the Young Master finally gathered himself and seeing how badly his fighter was beaten, he threw his head back and shouted at the top of his lungs: “I will CRUSH you!”
Then he produced a bone flute and started blowing it.
“Shit, stop him. right now!”
Bai Wuji’s face paled. He wanted to throw himself at the Young Master, but it was already too late. A long and archaic note came out from the flute, evoking a wave of howlings from countless phantoms in its wake.
Suddenly, dark clouds blotted the sun, and the courtyard was quickly engulfed by the Ghost Realm.
There they were: the March of a hundred Phantoms and the Gnawings of Ten Thousand Ghosts on full display.