Second Hand and Letting Go

Outside the Pill Tower, a chilling aura of murder filled the air.

Within the cage woven from golden lightning, the smell of charred flesh mixed with the stench of blood, spreading a burnt odor all around.

Ghost Face was pitch-black all over, like a piece of rotten wood struck by lightning, sprawling on the ground like a dead dog.

His mind buzzed, unable to figure it out no matter how hard he thought.

The reaction of these old ox-nosed Daoists from Dragon Tiger Mountain was way too fast! From the moment he made his move to being surrounded, it took no more than a few minutes, and his position was locked down completely.

This was a fucking ambush for sure!

Who tipped them off?

A woman's figure flashed through his mind—that woman who never parted with her liquor.

It must be that bitch!

Ghost Face gritted his teeth until they cracked. Hatred surged from the deepest part of his heart, almost burning him to ashes.

Good, very good!

If he could make it out alive, he swore he would drag that slut out, make her taste the cruelest tortures in the world, and then let her watch as her only younger sister died by his hands!

A strong desire to survive stimulated every inch of his charred muscles. Ghost Face convulsed violently, his lightning-paralyzed body trembling uncontrollably.

Using the last ounce of his strength, he struggled to fish out a tiny object from his chest and crushed it fiercely.

Crack!

The glass-like object shattered instantly.

A dark green light instantly enveloped him, forming an irregular sphere of light.

This light sphere seemed to ignore the laws of physics. Carrying Ghost Face's charred body, it phased directly through the gaps of the golden lightning cage, turning into a streak of light and rushing down the mountain.

Elder Gong Yue merely watched from afar as the green light shot quickly down the mountain, making no move to pursue it.

The green light's speed was extreme; in a flash, it passed through the descending path and returned to the small garden of the Heavenly Master's Mansion.

As the light dissipated, Ghost Face fell heavily to the ground like a puddle of mud.

He greedily breathed in the cold air of the mountain forest. The joy of surviving a disaster made him want to laugh out loud, but it only triggered a bout of heart-wrenching coughing.

I need to heal, quickly.

With trembling hands, he fished out a special syringe from his pocket. The tube was full of pale blue liquid; this was his life-saving trump card.

Just as he was about to stab the needle into his carotid artery, a slender, pale hand suddenly appeared, casually snatching the syringe away.

The movement was as casual as taking a bottle of water from a friend.

Ghost Face stiffened all over, his movements freezing.

He struggled to raise his head. On his charred face, a pair of eyes stared fixedly at the person in front of him.

Under the moonlight, Han Lu stood there gracefully, tossing the syringe in one hand. In her other hand, she held a green bottle, tilting her head back to take a swig.

The pungent smell of alcohol drifted out.

"You..." Ghost Face's throat let out a sound like a broken bellows.

"Oh, you can still speak." Han Lu let out a boozy hiccup. Her eyes were cold, but a hint of amusement played at the corners of her mouth. "You're quite tough to kill."

The moment he saw Han Lu, the ominous premonition in Ghost Face's heart reached its peak.

"Give... give it to me!" He reached out his hand, begging hoarsely.

Han Lu looked down quietly at the once-arrogant man on the ground. There was no pity in her eyes, only cold mockery.

"Xu Dog, you never thought you'd see this day, did you?"

"Did you think I really knew nothing?"

Before her voice faded, Han Lu flipped her wrist, aiming the bottle of Erguotou at Ghost Face on the ground.

The liquor poured out.

The clear liquid, the moment it left the bottle's mouth, condensed into countless sharp ice spikes, gleaming with a chilling light.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

The ice spikes pierced through the air, giving Ghost Face no chance to react, effortlessly penetrating his already battered body.

Ghost Face's eyes bulged wide. He opened his mouth, but could no longer make a sound.

His life force was instantly frozen.

Han Lu casually tossed the empty liquor bottle away. Without sparing another glance at the corpse on the ground, she turned and melted into the deep night.

The people of the Heavenly Master's Mansion would clean this up anyway. As for how the Heavenly Master's Mansion would negotiate with the people of Yanhuang Awakening, that was their own business.

--System: Waves surge! Waves flow! Ten thousand miles of torrential river waters never cease!--

The scene shifted back inside the Pill Tower.

The residual might of the Five Thunders Talisman had yet to fully dissipate. Arcs of electricity still crackled and danced on the charred ground, and the air was thick with the unique burnt smell that followed a lightning strike.

Buddha Face, who had been blasted away by the Five Thunders Talisman, lay flat on the ground, unmoving. He revealed burnt flesh underneath that no longer resembled a human form, his body utterly battered.

However, Zhang Gonglian could sense that Buddha Face was not dead, though he was severely crippled.

He panted heavily, almost completely drained of strength, but a wave of relief for surviving the disaster washed over his heart.

He never expected that the silk pouch given by Lin Mo would actually allow him to turn the tables.

He dared not delay. Taking advantage of Buddha Face's inability to move, he staggered forward and grabbed the Nine Heavens Divine Pill that was floating in mid-air.

The durian-sized pill felt warm to the touch. In the next moment, an unimaginably majestic pill aura exploded outward, turning into a rolling torrent that surged madly toward Zhang Gonglian's limbs and bones!

His dried-up meridians were like a long-parched riverbed encountering an inverted heavenly river. His exhausted spiritual power was replenished and filled at a terrifying speed, even beginning to overflow!

So refreshing!

An indescribable sense of comfort spread throughout his entire body, making him almost groan aloud.

Right at this moment, the dense pill aura condensed once again into the phantom of the Old Heavenly Master in front of him.

The Old Heavenly Master's face was full of anxiety. Seeing Zhang Gonglian frantically absorbing the pill aura, he practically roared, "Gonglian! Throw it away quickly! You absolutely must not fuse with it!"

It was too late!

That overbearing pill aura was completely out of control. Like an awakened primordial beast, it rampaged wildly within Zhang Gonglian's body, slamming fiercely against the seal on his dantian!

Boom!

An invisible boom exploded within his body.

That cyclone seal, which had once been as heavy as a millstone and strictly suppressed all his power, began to slowly shatter under the impact of the pill aura!

Zhang Gonglian's mind went blank.

He absolutely trusted his master. His master's roar was still echoing in his ears, telling him to immediately throw away this divine pill.

But the Nine Heavens Divine Pill seemed as if it had been coated with superglue.

No matter how hard he tried to shake it off, it wouldn't budge an inch, and the pill aura was even accelerating its entry into his body.

What was going on?

Just a moment ago you were calling me Madam Ox, and now you're calling me sweetie?

"Release!"

Shocked and angry, Zhang Gonglian tried to use his newly recovered spiritual power to resist.

But his spiritual power and the pill aura shared almost the same origin; there was absolutely no reaction.

At that moment, a flash of resolve crossed the eyes of the Old Heavenly Master's increasingly blurry pill aura phantom, and he actually slammed fiercely toward Zhang Gonglian without hesitation!

His momentum was exactly the same as when he had crashed into Buddha Face earlier!

"Master!" Zhang Gonglian turned pale with fright.

He only felt an irresistible massive force transmit over. His entire body flew backward like a cannonball, his palm shaking violently as the Nine Heavens Divine Pill finally slipped from his grasp and flew out.

Bang!

Zhang Gonglian crashed heavily into a pillar, which cracked upon impact.