Chapter 102: Aftermath (2)

Even if he was unwilling to resign himself to death.

Even if he were to go all out in this fight.

The tragic truth was that Ma Renze wasn’t Shi Kaihuang’s opponent even at his peak strength.

Shi Kaihuang was also in the Light Shaking Realm, and he was a veteran who had been at the very peak of the Light Shaking Realm for quite some time.

As an assassin, Ma Renze didn’t excel in head-to-head combat, so if he wasn’t Shi Kaihuang’s opponent even in peak condition, there was no way he was a match now that he was heavily injured.

Thus, there was no suspense in his defeat, nor were there any unexpected twists.

After being struck by Shi Kaihuang’s earth-shattering palm, Ma Renze flew into the air and then fell to the ground like a kite that had its string cut, unable to crawl to his feet.

Yue Longsha walked towards him. “Ma Renze, you also have such a fate. When you killed my father, did you think this day would ever come?”

Lying on the ground, Ma Renze laughed loudly, “I have killed many people already. Who knows which bastard’s daughter you are. You seem quite clever to not be found by me earlier; otherwise, I would have captured you and enjoyed you to my heart’s content before selling you to some brothel. Would you be able to act so arrogantly if that were the case?”

“You!” Yue Longsha grew agitated. She was about to strike when Shi Kaihuang grabbed her and held her back. “Don’t fall into his trap. Although my palm strike was heavy, he isn’t about to die yet. He’s just trying to anger you so that he can draw you in and take you hostage.”

“Bastard!” Ma Renze was infuriated. His last trick had been seen through, so he leapt into the air, his body transforming into smoke as he charged towards Yue Longsha and Su Chen.

Taking Su Chen or Yue Longsha alive was his only hope for survival.

Shi Kaihuang, however, sighed. “Your cheap tricks don’t count for anything in front of me. Su Chen, take a close look. This is the Sumeru Void.”

As he spoke, he gently placed his palm in the air.

Su Chen didn’t dare blink his eyes. He activated his Origin Energy-seeing capabilities to their absolute limit.

It was rare for Shi Kaihuang to teach him an already perfected Origin Skill. Naturally, he wanted an opportunity to experience it for himself.

The palm flew forwards, causing the space around it to seemingly pause. The air seemed to solidify, and the wind slowed to a crawl. Breathing became difficult, and even Concealing Smoke seemed to slow down. It was like a dense cloud that could not dissipate or a black smear on a painting.

Under the influence of Sumeru Void, Ma Renze’s Concealing Smoke had suddenly become much slower. Even though Su Chen was only a few feet away, the distance seemed to stretch as far as the horizon.

Shi Kaihuang said, “This is the Nirvana Hand. It borrows power from the void and is omnipresent.”

He clawed out with one hand, leveraging power from the void. The inky Concealing Smoke began to slowly congeal, revealing Ma Renze’s figure. Shi Kaihuang borrowed his own powerful Origin Energy to force Ma Renze back into his original form. This was a textbook example of suppressing someone with pure power. He was being bullied simply because he lacked the power to resist.

“No! I’m not convinced!!!” Ma Renze yelled furiously, his face contorting madly. The Concealing Smoke constantly twisted and swirled, desperately attempting to escape from Shi Kaihuang’s control.

But no matter what he did, he could not escape from the power of the Nirvana Hand.

Shi Kaihuang’s hand began to slowly close. He purposely did it slowly to allow Su Chen to see more clearly, as well as to make it more painful for Ma Renze.

Under the Nirvana Hand’s control, the Concealing Smoke continued to take on a physical form. Finally, Ma Renze was forcefully squeezed out from the Concealing Fog, and his true body once again appeared.

But this time, the amount of pain he felt was even greater than what he felt from Uncle Eleven’s Heavenly Wolf Finger.

His internal organs were all displaced from the Nirvana Hand’s squeezing. One layer of his skin had already been peeled away, and now another had also been peeled away.

Two layers of his skin had been peeled away, and his internal organs were in a mess. He was the captain of the Immortal Temple’s operations in Long Coiling City and a well-known, wanted assassin, yet he was suffering so bitterly.

At this moment, blood leaked from every inch of his body, and it was as if his cells had chosen to implode. He let out one pained, earth-shattering howl after another.

Even Shi Kaihuang hadn’t expected this outcome. After pausing slightly, he sighed and pulled his hand back, saying, “This time he really doesn’t have any more strength to attack. You can make a move now...... put him out of his misery.”

A pleased expression appeared in Yue Longsha’s eyes. “This is the price he should pay for his sins. I don’t want to end his suffering too quickly.”

Su Chen walked over and placed a hand on Yue Longsha’s shoulder. “I can understand your thoughts, but you shouldn’t let hatred cloud your judgment. Torturing people isn’t a good thing. Even if he is an evil bastard to the bone, there is no need to take pleasure from this.”

Yue Longsha’s heart trembled before she nodded her head. “Thank you for reminding me. I know now.”

She stepped forward, watching Ma Renze howl in anguish. When she swung her arm, a blade-like streak of moonlight slashed across Ma Renze’s throat.

A head flew into the distance.

The anguished howls stopped.

————————————

After killing Ma Renze, the matter had finally been concluded.

Apart from Shi Kaihuang, Su Chen, and Yue Longsha, Zhu Xianyao had also survived.

Another one of the survivors was Hong Ming.

Hong Ming was very lucky to have lived. Right before Uncle Eleven was about to kill him, Su Chen had stopped Uncle Eleven. Even though Hong Ming had tried to escape while Uncle Eleven and Ma Renze were fighting, Shi Kaihuang had still nabbed him.

“What are you planning on doing with those two?” Shi Kaihuang asked Su Chen.

Even though Su Chen was his disciple, Shi Kaihuang valued and respected Su Chen’s ideas on these kinds of matters.

Su Chen instantly replied, “Whether they’re alive or not, we should bring them all back. I have a use for them.”

Shi Kaihuang had an “I knew it” expression on his face as he began gathering the corpses together. Because corpses were inanimate objects, they could be stored in an Origin Ring.

But when he was about to store another person, Shi Kaihuang exclaimed in surprise, “This person is still alive.”

“Who is it?” Su Chen came over and found that it was Zheng Bashan.

This woman had been struck in the head by Uncle Eleven. By all counts she should have been dead by now, but they had discovered that she was not completely dead yet; at the very least, she was still breathing while in an unconscious state.

When Su Chen saw that Zheng Bashan hadn’t died yet, he smiled in delight. “This woman has quite the impressive regenerative Origin Skill. It’s a good thing she hasn’t died yet; now I can use her to perform some more research.”

“Su Chen, are you planning on doing research on all of them?” Shi Kaihuang asked.

“Mhm, this is a rare opportunity. In addition......” Su Chen hesitated for a moment before he said, “Bloodline Nobility Clans have such a level of prestige not just because a bloodline is necessary to raise one’s strength, but also because they have stronger combat prowess compared to others at the same cultivation level because of their Bloodline Origin Skills. Thus, if we want to break the bloodline restrictions, we not only need cultivation techniques to break into higher cultivation realms, but we also need bloodline-less Origin Skills that are more powerful than Bloodline Origin Skills. In the Qi Drawing Realm, we have already taken care of how to reach the Blood Boiling Realm without a bloodline, so next we should be searching for a way to take care of the issue with bloodline-less Origin Skills.”

“You won’t be willing to release these publically, right?”

Su Chen laughed, revealing his pearly teeth, “Perhaps one day I will distribute them, but right now I am planning on using them to bolster my trump cards...... After all, I can’t rely on you to take care of everything for me.”

“Take care of everything for you?” Shi Kaihuang sighed. “This plan didn’t have much to do with me. I just so happened to be here.”

“Look at you, old man, treating me like an outsider.”

“Hmph, speaking of outsiders, I don’t think you have told me what your relationship with the Immortal Temple is yet, right?”

“...... I thought you weren’t planning on asking about that.”

“Hmph, I was waiting for you to come clean yourself.”

“Looks like I mistakenly thought our friendship was mutual.”

“......”