Qin Jingzhou, as always, ruffled his foolish son's hair. "My poor, disaster-prone son."
In a split second, Lu Zhentong’s wind blade had sliced off one and a half of his arms. He should have passed out at any moment, but his father pulled him by his side. With a rush of adrenaline, he felt no pain and didn’t care at all about the blood streaming everywhere. Lu Jiuxiao could even squint his eyes and grin, showing off his dimples. "Yeah, paralyzed, disfigured, lost an arm and a half, but... I don’t mind at all."
His foolish son now looked like he could be cast straight into a horror movie. The sight not only startled Xuan Wei, who was clutching the stone wall, but even made Qin Er and Xu Chen droop their faces with worry.
Qin Jingzhou signaled to Qin Er and Xu Chen to support his foolish son, while he himself walked through the air. "No big deal." He beckoned toward the foot of the mountain. The lost arm and half-arm traced a perfect arc through the air and landed steadily in his hand.
With a piece in each hand, he poured a small amount of pure wood-element spiritual energy into them, aligned them with the wounds, and pressed them back in place.
The foolish son, Lu Jiuxiao, sat in a daze for a full half-minute, then cautiously made a fist and moved his arm. He realized everything worked smoothly and couldn’t stop himself from shouting, "Whoa! It really sticks back on!"
But although the nerves, blood vessels, and all types of muscle tissue were perfectly matched, there were still a few minor gaps. So when he moved his newly reattached arm, blood continued to seep from the damaged spots.
For a martial artist at the postnatal middle stage, this truly was a minor scratch. If Qin Jingzhou took more than an hour to deal with the demonic master and Lu Zhentong, his son’s wounds would surely have healed completely by then.
Lu Jiuxiao knew this well. He even tried "fighting himself," tugging on his own arms. "I can’t help it, I have to say it again—I’ve never seen anything like this, Dad, you’re amazing!"
Qin Jingzhou ruffled his foolish son’s hair again. There was nothing he could do—after spending so much time with Qin Er, his son’s goofy side always came out when he got excited.
Qin Er and Xu Chen both gave a big thumbs-up, completely sincere. "Uncle Cheng, you’re the best!"
Xuan Wei glanced toward her own father, who was unconscious halfway up the human mountain, his life or death unknown. She managed a forced smile and gave a thumbs-up as well.
Following Xuan Wei's gaze, Qin Jingzhou saw Lin Baiming collapsed on the mountainside. He looked further up, where the demonic master and Lu Zhentong stood side by side, their faces grave.
The System spoke up at just the right moment. "I guess in the original plot, the demonic master died in this isolated space."
Qin Jingzhou replied, "That's right."
This relatively independent space was powered by the impressive innate corpse right before their eyes. When it was about to deplete its energy, the demonic master discovered it. After understanding the effects of this space, the demonic master naturally started thinking big. Lu Zhentong and the magical earring were just icing on the cake. Even without them, the demonic master would’ve carried on with his grand plans.
In the original plot, Gu Su killed Lu Jiuxiao and got her "first pot of gold." Both she and her golden-finger earring were strengthened and thoroughly bound together, so Lu Zhentong couldn’t just snatch the earring from her with ease.
Even when Lu Zhentong sensed something was wrong, he still became Gu Su’s "blood bag" under the influence of the gray mist.
Gu Su understood not to drain the well dry all at once. Patiently, she cut leeks for years, until even the martial arts association and foreign forces took serious losses because of the demonic master, leaving only postnatal middle-stage cultivators to hold the line. Guided by her earring, she seized a huge opportunity and gobbled up the association’s Yunling grass fields.
At the top of the human mountain, the faces of several high-level association members whom he’d only met in passing appeared one by one. Qin Jingzhou sighed, "They really asked for it and got what they wanted."
Lu Zhentong flashed a brilliant smile and pulled the dagger out of his back. "I wonder what you taste like after turning into nourishment."
Qin Jingzhou raised his hand and slapped him. Lu Zhentong spun in place two and a half times.
This all-too-familiar scene made the demonic master involuntarily take a step back.
Qin Er couldn’t help muttering, "Mouth off like that and you’ll get yourself killed, idiot."
Xu Chen and Xuan Wei nodded silently.
Lu Jiuxiao was not surprised in the slightest. His father landed from the sky without a scratch, lifted him with one hand and reattached both his arms, and now even slapped Lu Zhentong silly. He knew his father was far stronger than he’d imagined. "Dad, aren’t those two beyond the innate realm now?"
"Lu Zhentong is only at the initial stage of the innate realm, about the same as your Uncle Lin. The demonic master is relying on the power of the space and the human mountain to exceed the innate level." Qin Jingzhou leapt up, found Lin Baiming on the human mountain, grabbed him by the left ankle, and hauled him back to the stone passageway, shaking him several times. "If I raise you and your Uncle Lin up to Lu Zhentong and the demonic master’s level, do you think you can win your pride back?"
Lin Baiming woke up as soon as he got shaken head-down, his voice hoarse. "Compared to your son, this treatment is lacking. At least put me down…"
Qin Jingzhou let go, and Lin Baiming plopped face-first into the ground.
The demonic master suddenly spoke, "If we win, will you really let us go?"
Qin Jingzhou nodded. "Sure."
He absolutely meant it. With new nourishment added, the human mountain was still diligently transferring huge amounts of spiritual energy to the demonic master. Lu Zhentong was still reaping the benefits at his side. With this fusion to the earring, at most two hours, and he too could reach the Golden Core, which was above the innate realm, the master rank.
But whether it was the demonic master or Lu Zhentong, as soon as they left this space, heavenly tribulation would hit at once. Both of them were doomed.
If Lu Zhentong didn’t go down the evil path and relied on his immense fortune to cultivate step by step to the Golden Core stage, the World Will would gladly send him on to an even higher-level world.
It was probably because all the major legacies in this world had been lost, so none of the remaining ancient scriptures mentioned that heavenly tribulation or the road to immortality even existed. That was why the demonic master and the others were so arrogant and unafraid.
Qin Jingzhou didn’t bother explaining. Only a real-life example could wake up these proud yet clueless martial artists and Extraordinaries.
He placed one hand on his foolish son’s forehead, slapped Lin Baiming’s back with the other, and sent a strand of pure spiritual energy into each. "Feel it carefully."
The demonic master and Lu Zhentong, seeing this, hurried to absorb as much spiritual energy as they could from the human mountain below.
Qin Jingzhou boosted his foolish son all the way to mid-innate stage, a whole major realm, and his foolish son could still handle it with ease.
Lin Baiming was pushed right up to the edge of the next major realm. He felt about half of his dantian’s true qi condense from gas to liquid. He exhaled. "So this is what invincibility feels like…" He glanced deeply at Qin Jingzhou. "You’re deeper and more unfathomable than I imagined. That’s why you look down on the association. If… this time I drag the demonic master to die with me, or he devours me, will you… still have a way?"
Xuan Wei, who had been quiet the whole time, finally exploded in anger. "This is exactly why grandpa wanted to pass on his skills to you! On your own, you’d never make it to the innate realm at all! Such a coward, scared of everything—I’m so tired of it!"
Lin Baiming was left speechless.
Qin Jingzhou laughed too. "You really can’t compare to your daughter. As for what I’d do if the demonic master devoured you? I’d just give him another slap and make him face reality."
The demonic master snapped. "You said you’d let me go! How can you go back on your word!"