Chu Yi's heart tightened. The Old Beggar's footsteps grew closer. As the Old Beggar's jujube wood crutch poked through the door crack, Chu Yi smelled that familiar sour stench, mixed with the smell of rotten flesh and dried tobacco, making his brain ache.
The door of the dilapidated temple was pushed open. The Old Beggar, hunched over, leaning on his jujube wood crutch, his face deeply lined with wrinkles, his murky single eye revealing a sinister, cold light.
“Oh, you little brats, you’re eating well today? Plain noodles?”
As the Old Beggar spoke, he twitched his nose. The moment his voice fell, he suddenly snatched up his crutch and fiercely poked Chu An's broken leg.
“Ah!” Chu An screamed in pain, his ten fingers desperately digging into the straw mat beneath him. Blood immediately oozed from his fingernails, and the excruciating pain made his body convulse uncontrollably.
Chu Yi was about to open his mouth to stop him, but the Old Beggar's single eye suddenly fixed on his trouser leg.
Chu Yi's newly grown left leg was fair and smooth, standing out especially in the dim, dilapidated temple, without even a single scar. “Your leg…”
The Old Beggar's voice suddenly rose, filled with disbelief, “How did your leg heal?!”
Chu Yi's heart skipped a beat, and he secretly thought, 'This is bad,' knowing that he probably couldn't hide it any longer.
He subconsciously looked down at his left leg, full of remorse, wishing he could slap himself a few times, cursing himself for being too careless.
“I…I don’t know either…” Chu Yi was still trying to play dumb, but his heart pounded like a drum.
The Old Beggar's expression instantly changed, quickly transforming from initial surprise to greed. He suddenly reached out and firmly gripped Chu Yi's shoulder, with such force that it felt like he wanted to crush his bones, shouting, “Little brat, what Opportunity did you get?!
Limb Rebirth… this is a technique only grand Martial Artists of the Transcendent Realm possess! You…did you get the Legacy of some important figure?!”
The excruciating pain and his younger brother's screams in Chu Yi's heart, the long-suppressed humiliation and anger, erupted with a roar!
He knew that if he didn't act now, the three siblings would surely perish!
“yi points! Increase my physical attributes by thirty times! One minute!” Chu Yi roared frantically in his mind.
“Consume 3 yi points, temporarily increase physical attributes by thirty times, lasts 60 seconds.”
An explosive force instantly surged through every inch of Chu Yi's muscles, bones, and fascia!
It was as if a dormant volcano had suddenly erupted, blood surged like great rivers, muscles bulged, and bones made faint but powerful crackling sounds.
Chu Yi felt a primordial beast dormant within him, fully awakening at this moment!
“Hm?!”
The Old Beggar was grabbing Chu Yi's shoulder, preparing to interrogate him, but suddenly felt the sensation in his hand change!
That originally thin shoulder, its muscles instantly became as hard and hot as fine iron, and an overwhelming, irresistible force surged out from within Chu Yi, making his fingers numb!
Chu Yi suddenly looked up, his eyes no longer showing any timidity or hesitation, only bone-chilling killing intent and a wild ferocity that made the Old Beggar's Soul tremble!
“Old dog! Get—out of my way!”
Chu Yi's low roar was like a muffled clap of thunder.
He grabbed back, so fast that the Old Beggar had no time to react, and the Old Beggar's wrist, like an iron clamp, was easily seized by Chu Yi!
“Crack!”
A crisp, horrifying sound of bone breaking was particularly piercing in the silent, dilapidated temple!
The Old Beggar's wrist bone was crushed by Chu Yi!
“Ah—!!!”
The Old Beggar's scream was so shrill it changed pitch. The intense pain and extreme shock made his single eye almost burst open!
“How is this possible?!”
This little brat…
Where did he get such strength?!
“You…you…”
The severe pain made the Old Beggar incoherent. He simply couldn't comprehend what was happening before his eyes.
How could a little beggar, who had just been so weak that he could be poked down with a single finger, suddenly possess such terrifying strength?!
“Impossible?”
Chu Yi's mouth curled into a violent arc, “There's something even more impossible!”
Before his words finished, his right foot, like a siege hammer, suddenly kicked out, with a whoosh that tore through the air, fiercely striking the Old Beggar's right knee!
“Bang!”
A dull thud accompanied by a teeth-grinding sound of bones shattering!
The Old Beggar's right leg bent backward at a strange angle, and the stark white broken bone pierced through his skin and torn trouser leg, exposed to the air!
Blood instantly spurted out!
“Ah—!!! My leg!!”
The Old Beggar let out an inhuman shriek, and his entire body was kicked flying like a broken sack, landing with a heavy “boom” against the mud wall of the dilapidated temple, making dust fall in a shower.
“This kick is for my brother Chu An!”
Chu Yi approached step by step, each step like treading on the Old Beggar's heart.
Thirty times the strength brought not only absolute power but also terrifying speed and control to match it.
The Old Beggar's meager Martial Artist cultivation, which had just entered the ranks, was like child's play in the face of thirty times the strength's absolute crushing power!
The Old Beggar lay slumped in the corner, his body convulsing from the intense pain, blood gushing from his broken leg, quickly staining the dirt beneath him red.
He looked at Chu Yi, who was approaching like a demon god, his eyes filled with extreme fear, disbelief, and deep regret!
He regretted his greed, regretted provoking this monster! What kind of powerful Legacy? This was clearly demonic possession!
“Mercy…mercy! Chu Yi! Master Chu! Spare this old dog's life! The money…I'll give you all the money! I'll never dare again!”
The Old Beggar was crying and snotting, his single eye full of pleading, no longer showing any of his previous sinister greed, only infinite fear of death.
“Mercy?”
Chu Yi looked down at him, his gaze icy and piercing, “When you poked my brother's broken leg just now, did you think of mercy? When you grabbed me and interrogated me, did you think of mercy?”
He crouched down, grabbed the Old Beggar's sparse, greasy hair, and lifted his face, which was contorted with pain and fear.
“Your eyes, they see things too viciously.”
He extended his right index and middle fingers, and amidst the Old Beggar's desperate wails, swiftly as lightning, he fiercely plunged them into his intact right eye!
“Pfft!”
A sticky, bursting sound rang out!
The Old Beggar's right eyeball was gouged out by Chu Yi's two fingers!
Viscous liquid mixed with blood flowed down between his fingers.
“Ugh ah—!!! My eye! Blind! Completely blind!!” The Old Beggar shrieked heartbreakingly, his body twisting and struggling violently, but he was held down by Chu Yi, like a fish nailed to a chopping board.
“This strike is for myself! And for all those you've bullied!”
Chu Yi flicked off the filth from his fingertips, looking at the two bloody black holes on the Old Beggar's face. The long-suppressed malevolence in his heart was unleashed as never before, immensely satisfying!
“You little bastard…demon! You'll die a terrible death! The Beggar Clan…the Beggar Clan won't let you go! I'll wait for you in Hell!!”
Extreme pain and despair completely destroyed the Old Beggar's sanity. His remaining consciousness was only the most vicious curses and insults, his voice hoarse like a ghost.
“Too bad, you won't see it!” Chu Yi's killing intent surged. Time was short, he had to finish off this old dog!
His gaze swept over the nearby incense altar, and the heavy cast-iron incense burner came into view.
Chu Yi stood up and grabbed the edge of the incense burner with one hand. Under thirty times the strength, the heavy incense burner felt light as nothing in his hand!
He swung the incense burner high, aiming for the Old Beggar's still viciously cursing head, bringing down all his strength and all his anger, smashing it down fiercely!
“Die—for me!”
“Boom!!!”
Like a watermelon smashed by a heavy hammer!
The collision of the incense burner and the skull produced a dull thud that made one's scalp tingle!
Red, white, and viscous mixture instantly splattered everywhere, splashing onto the walls, the ground, and Chu Yi's clothes!
The Old Beggar's wrinkled head, like a smashed egg, was deeply dented, half of his head sunken into the incense ash at the bottom of the incense burner!
His body convulsed violently a few times, then completely went limp, lifeless.
Those blind eye sockets, once sinister, greedy, fearful, and resentful, finally solidified in endless darkness and unbelievable death.
The entire dilapidated temple was dead silent, with only Chu Yi's heavy breathing.
The sixty-second time limit had just ended. The explosive power receded like a tide, replaced by a strong sense of weakness that made his knees buckle, almost causing him to fall, but he braced himself and stood firm.
Looking at the muddy corpse on the ground, an indescribable emotion, mixed with violence, satisfaction, and a hint of lingering fear, churned in Chu Yi's heart.
“Brother!” Chu An, quick-witted, ignored the severe pain in his broken leg and struggled to search inside the Old Beggar's tattered clothes.
He knew that a Beggar Clan Disciple like the Old Beggar, who had entered the ranks, would surely have something on him to identify himself and for tracking.
Soon, he felt a hard, little-finger-thick bamboo tube, with a blurry character “beg” (beggar) carved on it.
“Found it! His identity bamboo slip and Soul-tracking powder!”
Chu Yi, enduring his weakness, immediately reacted.
He had heard of the Beggar Clan's “Soul-tracking powder.” It was colorless and odorless. Once the bamboo tube was crushed, the special medicinal powder inside would instantly burst open, leaving a special scent on anyone it touched for a short period.
Only specially trained Beggar Clan tracking dogs could smell it!
“Throw it away!” Chu Yi hissed.
However, just as Chu An was about to throw the bamboo tube far away, the seemingly ordinary bamboo tube suddenly vibrated violently in his hand, emitting a faint “buzzing” sound, as if some mechanism had been triggered!
“Not good!” A warning bell rang loudly in Chu Yi's heart. He used his last bit of strength to lunge forward, snatching the bamboo tube and fiercely smashing it against the hard bluestone ground in the corner!
“Crack!”
The bamboo tube shattered!
But at the moment of shattering, a pale blue, almost transparent cloud of dust, like smoke, suddenly burst from the fragments, rapidly spreading!
This dust spread extremely fast, carrying a very faint, slightly fishy scent like rain-soaked earth mixed with some strange herb.
Chu Yi and the two siblings had no time to hold their breath or dodge. The dust, like a living thing, clung to their skin, hair, and old clothes, instantly disappearing as if absorbed, leaving only that faint, lingering fishy smell.
He turned his head, only to see Chu Yue stuffing cold meat buns into her satchel, with half a moldy cornbread wrapped in oil paper. Her small face was pale, clearly terrified by the bloody and violent scene just now, but her movements were unusually nimble.
She was also contaminated by the dust.
The Old Beggar's death and the triggering of this “Soul-tracking powder” meant that the Beggar Clan's pursuers would soon rush in like sharks smelling blood!
“Chu An, Chu Yue, pack your things, we have to leave immediately! Quickly!” Chu Yi's voice was hoarse and urgent, trembling from exhaustion and with an unprecedented sense of urgency.
He didn't care about much else, quickly rummaging through the Old Beggar's clothes.
Chu An and Chu Yue also realized the seriousness of the situation and moved even faster.
Chu An found several silver notes and some broken silver in the Old Beggar's hidden pocket. “Brother, money!”
Chu Yue, enduring her disgust, dug out a thin, oil-paper-wrapped booklet from a secret groove in the broken jujube wood crutch. “Brother, this!”
Chu Yi took the booklet and, by the moonlight, glanced at the cover— “Primordial Stance · Incomplete Scroll.”
A basic stance Mind-Cultivation Technique!
“Go!” Chu Yi hid the booklet and money close to his body, bracing his weakened body, pulling Chu Yue up, and helping Chu An.
The three rushed out of the dilapidated temple, plunging into the deep night outside, leaving behind only a tragically dead body in the temple, a mess on the ground, and the lingering, heavy smell of blood in the air.