Chapter 195
Chapter 195
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 195
Chapter Title: Administering Benevolence and Righteousness
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"The Master's martial truths?"
The scholar trembled with rage, his face flushed red as he stepped forward and shouted, "What do you take the Master's Analects for? The Master's teachings are clearly meant to guide people toward goodness, to teach them how to cultivate virtue, regulate the family, govern the state, and pacify the world— not some doctrine of brawling and killing!"
Chen Shi sat in the grand armchair, surprised. "The Master lived in the Spring and Autumn Period, traveling the world with three thousand disciples, wandering among the states until they all submitted. You say he didn't rely on force? Could it really have been just his silver tongue? The Master spoke of martial matters: 'An army may be robbed of its commander, but a common man cannot be robbed of his will.'"
"Pluck the head of a general amid three armies? As easy as reaching into a bag."
"Three armies full of common men? No need to humiliate them—just beat them to death."
"See? These are martial truths, aren't they?"
The scholar laughed in extreme anger, stammering, "You're slandering the sage's teachings—"
Chen Shi grew a bit angry too. "The Master spoke of benevolence and righteousness—by their names, benevolence means cleaving the foe in two."
"Righteousness means pounding the enemy's head into his gut."
"You're just a lackey for Young Master Yudu, slandering the sage's teachings. Today, I'll administer benevolence and righteousness upon you!"
The scholar was about to argue further when the woman in the joyous union skirt said indifferently, "Brother Pei, no need to waste words with him."
"Chen Shi, you stole the young master's soul-returning lotus and slaughtered the entire Taiping Sect, violating the code of the jianghu."
"Today, you'll pay your blood debt in blood!"
Chen Shi smiled faintly. "Straight to the point! The Master said, 'The gentleman wishes to be slow in speech but quick in action,' teaching us to skip the chatter in a fight and just strike. Looks like I'm not gentlemanly enough."
"Nonsense!"
The scholar was furious beyond measure and charged forward. With his movement, the peddler and the woman in the joyous union skirt followed suit. All three were Nascent Soul cultivators, with the woman boasting the highest cultivation.
This woman was named Jiang Pinting, a matchmaker of some renown in Yudu who made her living from brokering marriages. Not yet past thirty, she was tall and striking—often, when making a match, the groom would take a fancy to her instead of the bride.
On the surface, she earned her keep this way, but she also served under the young master.
Nascent Soul Realm was divided into five stages: Great Medicine, Yellow Sprout, Infant Formation, Soul Exit, and Great Completion. Jiang Pinting had reached the late Soul Exit stage, her Nascent Soul nearly a foot tall—one more step and she would achieve Great Completion.
To cultivate to this level was grueling, step by step. No child of nobility, she had no choice but to rely on the noble houses and pledge herself to the young master, gaining superior techniques and resources from him.
She had long been aware that to advance further, she must stake her life!
Her first strike unleashed her strongest spell: Nine Domains Dragon Capturing Art!
Nine Domains Dragon Capturing controlled the surrounding trees, compelling them to grow within her Nascent Soul force field. Within the field, trees sprouted wildly, their branches and roots transforming into flesh and blood, intertwining and empowered to capture dragons!
As the spell activated, the trees in the Chen residence's courtyard erupted in all directions, bursting from the soil. Branches and roots thickened like arms, shifting from wood to flesh in an instant—no skin, just raw, interlacing crimson muscle, utterly horrifying!
These flesh-trees were her limbs: a punch carried ten thousand jun of force, a twist could crush foes, thorns became swords, chops turned to blades—swift as lightning!
At the same time, the peddler roared and circulated his profound art.
While others expanded their Nascent Soul force fields outward, his contracted inward.
He cultivated a close-combat killing art called Great Ghost Mother Primordial Art.
As it circulated, the once-slim peddler ballooned like an inflating bellows, becoming massively fat and tall—over three meters, his arms and legs like plump lotus roots.
His head swelled round, vital energy surging from his flanks to form two extra arms, while more poured from his skull, birthing a ghostly infant behind him with stubby limbs all forged of blood and qi.
Each of his four arms gripped an iron rattle-drum. At first resembling ordinary toys that clanged with their spins, they suddenly expanded into massive drums over a man's height.
The drums' surfaces bore ghostly faces like those of infant demons, surrounded by intricate talismans and incomprehensible ghost-script.
Each rattle-drum weighed thousands of jin. Empowered by ghostly might, the peddler strode forward, shaking the earth, swinging them with thunderous winds.
He charged through the Nine Domains Dragon Capturing field, then leaped high, smashing all four drums with unmatched force toward Chen Shi!
Unlike the peddler and Jiang Pinting's eerie spells, the scholar's was upright and proper: Righteous Qi Refining Golden Core, nurturing a Nascent Soul.
His force field unfurled as Dividing Yin and Yang into Two Instruments, forming a Taiji diagram.
His steps fell on the eyes of the yin-yang fish: left foot on yang, right on yin.
As his feet moved, so did the Taiji diagram.
The yin-yang fish shifted and flowed, profoundly mysterious.
This art was Taiji Lotus Platform Art, immensely powerful—but unfortunately incomplete, only reaching Nascent Soul. It was his reward from the young master for great merit.
Otherwise, he wouldn't qualify for even this flawed technique.
After cultivating Taiji Lotus Platform Art, his foundation grew ever deeper and vaster—even Jiang Pinting, highest among them, couldn't match his reserves.
He stepped forward, vital energy surging like crashing waves. His palms shifted between yin and yang, crashing toward Chen Shi like avalanches!
The three knew Chen Shi was a master talismanist—two of their Soul Exit Nascent Soul comrades had night-raided the Chen residence only to be blasted by his talismans. Thus, none manifested their Nascent Souls; instead, Divine Embryos stood in their Divine Shrines behind their heads, cradling Nascent Souls in their palms to empower their spells.
Chen Shi remained seated in his armchair, unmoving, his gaze coldly fixed on them.
The moment they attacked, the talismans hung on walls and trees erupted.
Sixty talismans in total, drawn with Blackie Pot's supreme yang blood: Sixty Tai Sui Star Lord Talismans.
As their power burst forth, sixty Tai Sui Star Lord figures materialized!
Whether from Chen Shi's advancing cultivation, his potent true qi, or Blackie Pot's mighty bloodline, these lords seemed to step from talisman to reality—flesh-like divine forms, their power surging!
The sixty Tai Sui Star Lords' auras tore through the trio's force fields, bearing down to suppress.
Each of Chen Shi's Tai Sui talismans was placed with exquisite precision, following the sequence of the sixty Tai Sui's annual guardians.
Different Star Lords broke different malign influences, positioned accordingly.
Bing Yin Tai Sui broke Furnace Fire Malignancy—placed by the stove. Wu Chen Tai Sui broke Woods Malignancy—stuck to trees.
Metal, Earth, Water Malignancies each had their places: on blades, rooftops, wellsides, forming the Sixty Tai Sui Malignancy-Breaking Array together.
As all talismans ignited, the array formed, specialized against the Five Elements arts.
Jiang Pinting's Nine Domains Dragon Capturing field shattered instantly. The thick, twisted flesh-branches snapped under the Tai Sui suppression, withering to wood chips that rained down.
Her shrine's Nascent Soul took heavy damage; blood trickled from her mouth. Without hesitation, she fled backward, crashing through the Chen residence wall in a boom of collapsing masonry.
The peddler, trusting his sturdy flesh, pressed forward. His Great Ghost Mother Primordial Art was an evil art thriving on malign qi—against Tai Sui Malignancy-Breaking, it rioted. His blood-qi arms exploded one by one.
The ghost infant behind his head rotted, limbs melting—terrifying.
Even his malign Nascent Soul was suppressed, dimming!
Tai Sui broke evils!
He and Jiang Pinting's evil arts suffered worst; the scholar's, though from a fragment, was righteous and faced little hindrance.
The peddler roared, swinging his iron rattle-drums at Chen Shi's skull. Before they landed, his body was pierced by flying sharp bamboos, sent tumbling backward!
Jiang Pinting had just leaped from the Chen residence when the peddler's body hurtled toward her. Shocked, she rolled aside, dodging his inflated bulk.
Entertaining no thought of battling Chen Shi, she fled down the street at full speed.
A massive crash echoed behind— the peddler slamming into the opposite tavern.
In her fleeting glance, she saw the green bamboos piercing his brow, throat, heart, left lung, right lung, liver, gall, left kidney, right kidney, dantian, and testicles. No time to save him.
Jiang Pinting had heard the rumor: grandmaster talismanists could use talismans to contend with Nascent Souls at Divine Embryo Realm.
Seeing Chen Shi's sixty Tai Sui talismans form an array, she knew he was such a one!
His talismans were too powerful; the array collapsed her field, damaged her Nascent Soul—lingering meant death, flight offered hope.
Sharp whistles pursued from behind. Glancing back in haste, she saw green bamboos whistling through the air after her!
"Even if your cultivation is superior, your flying sword arts can't sustain for long!"
Jiang Pinting raced down the street.
Though in the bustling market, her speed was blistering, weaving past pedestrians with whooshes.
Her movement ethereal, dodging crowds barely slowed her horse-galloping pace. In moments, she crossed streets to East City, threading its crowded alleys.
East City's terrain was labyrinthine, lanes narrow—some single-file, dark, damp, chill: the city's most tangled quarter.
She figured Chen Shi's bamboo flying swords couldn't track here; even if they did, they'd lose her trail.
Halting in a dark alley, she hid in shadows to check her wounds when— whoosh!—a green bamboo shot forth. Despite dodging desperately, it pierced her right lung!
Coughing blood, Jiang Pinting summoned qi and fled madly.
She whooshed out of the city, leaped into a river-stride across the De River estuary—a li wide—reached the far bank, plunged into woods, ran tens of li until her chest burned and breath failed, then stopped.
She coughed up more blood, expelling lung plasma, and slumped against a great tree.
"Over eighty li from Xinduo provincial city. Only Soul Transformation experts could project spells this far—and even then, power would wane."
"She should be safe now."
Jiang Pinting sighed in relief, gritted teeth, tore her clothes to expose the right chest wound near her shoulder where the green bamboo still protruded.
As she moved to snap it off— crack-crack-crack-crack!—bamboos pierced the tree behind her, stabbing through her back: one into her hindbrain, one hindheart, one left lung!
Her eyes twitched as two more skewered her kidneys, liver, gall—her spleen too!
"How did he track eighty li to here?"
Her eyes dimmed, blood surging to her throat. "I don't understand..."
A green bird alighted on her tree, then flitted opposite, cocking its head to inspect if she were truly dead.
Confirming her demise, the bird transformed into a green bamboo, planting in the earth. True qi within bloomed into vast vitality, rooting it, sprouting branches—soon reaching ten to twenty feet.
Nearby, Governor Xu Jian's nascent spirit witnessed this, praising inwardly before withdrawing.
Xinduo provincial city, Chen residence.
The scholar eyed the towering Tai Sui Star Lord phantoms encircling him. Their pressure was immense, freezing him in place.
"Blackie Pot's blood is getting stronger."
Chen Shi marveled inwardly at the sight.
He knew his talisman skills were solid, but alone couldn't manifest sixty Tai Sui Lords so vividly!
It had to be Blackie Pot's blood unlocking such unprecedented power.
"Blackie Pot reads books all day—seems he's grown stronger."
He mused to himself.
In direct clash, victory was uncertain, but with Blackie Pot's blood talismans set as ambush, plus Hanshan Scattered Person's flying sword technique monitoring Jiang and the others' every move, he orchestrated from afar—slaying them effortlessly.
"Chen Shi, you only dare rely on talisman power, not face me in a fair fight to the death!"
The scholar shouted.
Chen Shi raised his hand; green bamboos flew up. Hearing this, he smiled as they descended, the Tai Sui array dissipating.
The scholar felt the pressure lift, sighing in relief. He fixed Chen Shi with a stare. "If I win—"
Chen Shi laughed. "I'll let you live."
The scholar paused. "If I win, you'll let me live?"
Chen Shi said, "As long as it's not direct confrontation, I have a hundred ways to kill you."
The scholar fell silent, then helplessly: "Fine."
"If I win, let me live."
"If I lose, my life is yours..."
Chen Shi shook his head. "If you lose, answer a few questions, and I'll let you go."
"Good!"
The scholar declared firmly.
Chen Shi drew a deep breath, circulating Eight Extremes Golden Threshold Divine Chapter. Lady Shiji sat in his Divine Shrine; his Golden Core flew out—emerald and plump. Days of practice had advanced him to seventh revolution Golden Core!
He urged the core; his feet stamped Eight Extremes Birth. In the Golden Core field, eight extremes established, each with a golden threshold towering at the field's ends. Divine power brewed within the eight, surging mightily.
Chen Shi stepped out, compressing air with a boom—he was before the scholar!
The scholar rallied blood-qi, mobilized his Divine Embryo, urged his Nascent Soul. Among the three, his mana was vastest; facing Chen Shi's momentum, he showed no fear!
The Divine Embryo was the second nascent soul; his was third-grade, harboring divine power rivaling Nascent Souls!
He trod Taiji, steps shifting yin-yang, raising hands to meet Chen Shi's fist. Suddenly, violent true qi crushed down, blood-qi reversing—crack! Four fingers broke.
Chen Shi's fist drove his broken hand into his chest, caving it inward, bulging his back. Ribs thrust outward, shredding his shirt.
Blood and sweat on his back shot rearward from invading qi, pocking the wall with tiny holes.
Chen Shi's other hand's two fingers reached his eyes, nearly gouging them—he hastily halted.
"That's a killing move—can't use it!"
Chen Shi startled himself; he'd nearly slain on reflex.
The scholar collapsed to his knees in shock, looking up arduously. "What Divine Embryo is that? Why so powerful? It nearly matches the young master."
Chen Shi's heart stirred. "What Divine Embryo does your young master have?"