I Cheated While Cultivating

The Golden Dragon Mirage came howling down from the sky!

But the little boy didn’t dodge or avoid it; he simply raised his palm and grabbed at the Golden Dragon Mirage.

He was actually going to take it head-on!

Clearly, he had utmost confidence in his own strength.

Boom!

The Golden Dragon Mirage that Zhou Heng unleashed with his Flying Dragon in the Sky strike collided with the boy’s hand, and then white fur swiftly grew on his palm. Each strand stood erect, piercing into the Golden Dragon Mirage.

The Golden Dragon Mirage rapidly shrunk and in the blink of an eye, it was completely absorbed by the white fur, leaving absolutely nothing behind.

“Ah~~~” The boy let out a satisfied cry, a smug smile on his face as he opened his mouth wide, his sharp teeth showing. He stuck out his tongue and said to Zhou Heng with a chuckle, “Such pure Inner Qi, it hardly seems like that of a mere Eighth Rank Martial Artist; it’s truly delicious!”

Suddenly, the boy inflated like a balloon, growing seven or eight years older in a few short breaths, turning into the appearance of a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old.

His pair of originally somewhat oversized compound eyes now seemed normal in proportion to his face, yet the red blood vessels surrounding his eye sockets were still there, seemingly about to burst at any moment, looking ferocious.

“Can he actually absorb Inner Qi?!” Wu Zongshan, seeing this scene, showed an incredulous expression, exclaiming in shock, “Is this one of his abilities, or… or has he learned Martial Arts?!”

Martial Arts techniques that forcibly absorb others’ Inner Qi are not uncommon, and can even be considered numerous. While the principles vary, the effects are generally the same.

After all, who wouldn’t want something for nothing? These people include martial talents, naturally leading to a plethora of Martial Arts that can forcibly absorb others’ Inner Qi.

This would not have surprised Wu Zongshan, a Sixth Rank Innate, but the sight of evil creatures practicing Martial Arts shocked and even frightened him.

Evil creatures capable of cultivating Martial Arts meant they could become stronger.

It meant that evil creatures could reach the level of a Fifth Rank Grandmaster, step onto the peak of Fourth Rank, and theoretically even ascend to Upper Third Rank, achieving the status of Celestial Man, Tao Lord, Saint!

This was an extremely terrifying prospect.

“It’s Martial Arts, indeed Martial Arts, haha! Surprised, aren’t you? Astonished, aren’t you?” The boy… who should now be called a youth, laughed smugly, looking at Wu Zongshan and said, “Are you scared, are you terrified? Just wait to die! Hahaha!”

“Lord Prefect, do not be deceived by it, it doesn’t know any Martial Arts at all!” Zhou Heng shouted sternly, leaping forward directly in front of the youth, and with his finger shaped like a sword, he jabbed at the youth’s pair of eyes.

The evil creature’s eyes were so distinctive, so vivid, it would be a shame not to target such an obvious feature.

“You think I only know how to absorb Inner Qi?” The youth-shaped evil creature sneered, raising its palm toward Zhou Heng’s fingers, while layers of dense scales sprouted on its palm, protecting it.

The creature grabbed with tremendous force and speed. Before Zhou Heng’s sword fingers could reach its eyes, it blocked them, attempting to grasp and break Zhou Heng’s fingers.

But at that moment, Zhou Heng’s other hand suddenly emerged at a strange angle, executing a move completely different from his right hand’s sword finger, slapping towards the evil creature’s heart.

Thump!

With a muffled sound, the youth-shaped evil creature immediately stiffened, the blood vessels around its eye sockets burst open, and blood spurted out like a fountain. The pair of compound eyes was blasted into a mushy mess.

Zhou Heng’s palm had struck directly at the creature’s heart, causing the entire chest to cave in. The force, balanced between hardness and softness, penetrated the creature’s skin, muscles, and bones, and hit the core place inside its body.

This was also a move from the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms.

Stepping on Frost, Ice Arrives! It was the palm technique that harmonized both hardness and softness!

His initial move, the feint with his sword finger, was just for show. His true intention was to use the ambidextrous fighting technique, with one hand performing Stepping on Frost, Ice Arrives to pierce through the exterior of the evil creature and directly attack its core within.

This attempt, indeed, proved effective.

“Ah!” The youth-like evil creature let out a scream, and the bulge on its back suddenly grew larger, then its entire back split open as if it were a burst cocoon. The back dried out rapidly, and a huge insect flew out from within.

This, too, was a gigantic monster resembling a “mosquito,” yet it was far larger than the previous Ninth Grade evil creatures; its very emergence brought about a sensation of blotting out the heavens.

It was about fifty feet in length with wings spanning forty feet when unfolded. It had twelve legs, all covered in scales and white hair, and its mouthparts were surrounded by dense white hair and needles, truly terrifying to behold.

“Ah! Ah! Ah!!” The monstrous mosquito-like creature emitted a piercing sound, attempting to affect Zhou Heng’s spirit with the combination of its original psychic assault power and the shock brought upon by its fearsome appearance.

But Zhou Heng remained unmoved. Seizing the moment when the evil creature had just emerged from its host, he immediately circulated the Innate Power of Pure Yang True Qi within his body, unleashing several consecutive palms.

Dragon Regret! Shocking for Miles! Dragon Battle in the Wilderness! Flying Dragon in the Sky!!

A series of Golden Dragon Mirages rushed towards the evil creature, which hadn’t even had the chance to absorb Inner Qi, and it was completely surrounded by these Golden Dragons. The extremely terrifying Power of Pure Yang restrained its movements and slowly extinguished its life force.

However, when facing evil creatures, Zhou Heng’s foundational attribute bonus of +2 against Yin spirits was far less potent than when attacking ghosts; while not ineffective, it was certainly limited.

Back in Ansong County, ordinary Seventh Rank ghosts couldn’t even withstand the residual waves of his attacks with Innate Power of Pure Yang Inner Qi, yet this evil creature, also of the Seventh Rank, managed to endure under his assault for so long.

This was not only because evil creatures were by nature more elusive and tougher to deal with than regular ghosts, but also because the bonus against Yin spirits did not play a significant role.

Otherwise, the evil creature wouldn’t have had even the chance to absorb the Golden Dragon Mirage; it would have been incinerated by the Innate Power of Pure Yang Inner Qi right away.

Now, even the extreme rigidity and Yang nature of the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms could not erode the creature’s life force, only managing to restrict its actions for a short time—and this was after catching it by surprise.

It had to be said that the evil creature was indeed extremely difficult to handle.

If Zhou Heng had been just a martial artist with great Martial Arts skills but no special means of combating evil creatures, he would now be in a situation with no remedy, totally unable to kill the evil creature.

However, he was no ordinary martial artist. Setting aside his formidable special skill cards, he was also the “Ziwei Master” of the Zhou Tian Boundary Officers.

Therefore, taking advantage of the moment when the evil creature was bound by the Golden Dragon Mirage and could not move, Zhou Heng quickly formed seals with his hands and chanted incantations.

He was preparing to cast the Taoist Formula “Star Punishment Decree,” invoking the power of the Celestial Mansions Chart to exterminate the evil creature!

But just as Zhou Heng was about to complete the Taoist seals and incantations, with starlight beginning to emerge from his body, he suddenly felt as though he had entered a world filled with starlight and purple qi.

The brilliance of all the celestial bodies seemed to be at his command, and the Star Officers appeared to pay homage to him.

At this moment, he heard the decrees from Ziwei.

——————

ps: If there are typos, I’ll update now and fix later. A bug from the previous chapter has been corrected.

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