NOVEL NEXT Chapter 63 Force Power
Under the dimly lit alley, as luck would have it, a light drizzle began to fall once again.
Chen Ku fumbled over Huang Gun's headless body and finally found a couple of bottles and jars, along with a silver note and some Small Change of Silver.
One Hundred Taels?
Chen Ku looked at the silver note, musing, Shouldn't be, right? Huang Gun has been embezzling for so many years, how could he be so poor?
One Hundred Taels, while not a small fortune to Chen Ku—equivalent to a Treasure Herb—was nothing for someone like Huang Gun, who had been in charge of the Inner Treasury and embezzling for years. A slight leak from between his fingers should amount to at least Eight Hundred Taels, shouldn't it?
Chen Ku frowned, somewhat dissatisfied, preparing to search Huang Gun's courtyard later.
Finally, he looked down at the two porcelain bottles. It was surprising that they hadn't shattered in the scuffle; the materials must have been quite extraordinary.
But then Chen Ku reconsidered.
During my attack, I first lured the enemy with the White Dog feigning sleep. At the critical moment, I withdrew the White Dog, deactivated the Skinny Dog Transformation, and then attacked with the force of an elephant and a tiger... I also used that trick from Ni Kun, tying Knockout Drug to the head of the staff, just in case. After all, as someone at the Force Transforming stage, to kill an expert at the Inner Qi Realm, even with the power of an elephant and a tiger, I couldn't afford to be arrogant, nor could I be overconfident. Caution was paramount. I only have one life! Securing a flawless victory is instinctive. Why risk taking damage when one can emerge unscathed?
It had to be said, the Knockout Drug worked well, at least disrupting a significant amount of Huang Gun's Force Power and Inner Qi, preventing him from mustering his strength. This led to the subsequent overpowering, full-power attack.
It was precisely because of all these calculations that life and death were decided in a flash. A single strike crushed the neck, without the damage spreading to other areas. Below the chest, everything was intact. This was why the silver note and medicine bottles were preserved; otherwise, the silver note would have been soaked in blood, rendering it useless.
What are these two medicines?
Chen Ku carefully opened the two porcelain bottles. Having spent so much time at the Medicine King Hall, he could more or less identify most Pills and processed medicines. After opening the cap and giving it a light sniff, he knew what the medicines in the two jars were.
One is a Qi Revival Pill, for cultivation after reaching the Inner Qi Realm. It requires one to have cultivated Inner Qi to use it. I don't need it right now, but maybe I could sell it. The other...
Chen Ku looked at Huang Gun's corpse, his expression cold as he thought, corpse-dissolving powder?
He immediately understood. This powder was probably prepared by Huang Gun for himself, intending to destroy the evidence after killing me.
He had heard about such Poisons in the black market before. They were extremely expensive. Such a bottle would cost at least five hundred taels of Silver. But its use was certainly worth the price.
The effect of this corpse-dissolving powder was exceptionally potent. If it touched intact skin, it was completely harmless. However, if it touched even a single drop of blood, it would become poison. Upon contact with blood, it turned all flesh and bone into a corrosive yellow liquid. This liquid dissolved flesh and bone, becoming even more toxic yellow water, which continued to dissolve blood, increasing in quantity as it did. Like a single spark from flint, it could incinerate an entire hay field.
You were considerate after all, carrying your own 'Urn' when going out...
Chen Ku muttered to himself, then used his little fingernail to pick up some powder and flicked it onto the wound at Huang Gun's neck. Instantly, like a chemical reaction, the powder truly reacted violently upon contact with blood...
SIZZLE! A bubbling sound came from the ground. In less than half a minute, Huang Gun's body began to bleed, and the blood activated the poison. In the end, no remnants of the corpse or bones remained. The blood-soaked Conical Hat and straw raincoat were also gone, leaving only a pool of yellow liquid.
DRIP. DRIP. DRIP.
Chen Ku watched as the light rain from above washed the yellow liquid into the gutter.
Not a trace of the corpse remained.
He then looked at the Seven-foot Hexagonal Staff on the ground, picked it up, activated the Spirit Ape Transformation, and using the cover of night, had the Spirit Ape throw the two-hundred-pound iron staff into the nearby river.
SQUEAK.
Chen Ku slipped into Huang Gun's courtyard.
After some searching, he found another silver note for One Hundred Taels, and a silver Token of unknown purpose. Since it was made of Silver, he took it. It bore the character 'Ya,' meaning tooth, but it only weighed Four or Five Taels of Silver.
Chen Ku looked displeased.
He had to admit that Huang Gun's major assets must still be in his original home. This shabby little courtyard was just a temporary refuge; it was impossible for Huang Gun to have hidden his entire fortune here.
Two hundred taels isn't too little.
Chen Ku secretly warned himself not to develop a habit of killing for wealth. Otherwise, if he ever found money too easy to come by through indiscriminate killing and robbery, he would be in trouble. Although the world was in chaos, there were plenty of capable people who could deal with him.
Ultimately, everything today boiled down to self-preservation. Prompted by the Transformation Diagram, he had once again violently snuffed out another person's murderous intent towards him, dissolving it into a pool of yellow fluid.
「...」
Chen Ku slipped back to his own courtyard under the cover of night.
This county town was large, with over ten thousand households both inside and outside its walls. Death was very common here, whether from illness, old age, drunken brawls, or gang fights. Huang Gun, even as a Pharmacist of the Medicine King Hall at the Inner Qi Realm, was now just another missing person, his body never to be found.
He returned to the kang bed in his small courtyard.
It wasn't long before the Spirit Ape returned, and Chen Ku put everything away.
I've disposed of another enemy who threatened me.
Following his usual habit, Chen Ku had another exceptionally good night's sleep.
「The next morning」
After sleeping for just four hours (two shichen), Chen Ku got up and went to work as usual. No one knew what he had done.
After he started work, another shichen (two hours) passed.
The cooldown period for the Transformation Diagram was over. He had swapped out the Transformation Diagram twice the previous night, both instances triggering a cooldown. After the second diagram was cultivated, the cooldown had decreased from six hours (three shichen) to five hours (two and a half shichen).
Finally, I can see what kind of transformation killing an Inner Qi Realm expert like Huang Gun will yield!
The Transformation Diagram in his Heart Sea shimmered slightly.
[Huang Gun Evil Spirit, Inner Qi Realm (First Realm Demon-Level)]
[Can be equipped onto the Transformation Diagram]
Chen Ku deactivated the Spirit Ape Transformation.
He saw Huang Gun's Evil Qi shadow streak like a shooting star and merge into the Transformation Diagram.
[Huang Gun Transformation · Shape Shifting]
[Transformation Part: Huang Gun Force Power (Unity of Move and Force)]
When Chen Ku saw the result of the Shape Shifting displayed on the Transformation Diagram, his eyes widened.
This is indeed the first time I've used the Transformation Diagram for an 'Other Transformation'.
Still, the bizarre effect astonished him.
Previously, when Shape Shifting into beasts, it only involved mimicking certain abilities of their physical parts—those were innate talents and abilities. But it turns out, when it comes to humans... even skills and Combat Skills acquired through postnatal Cultivation can be mimicked!
For a moment, Chen Ku had a bold thought: If Monkey Brother and True Lord's 72 Transformations worked like this... then wouldn't it mean... if I killed The Buddha, I could even master his Five Finger Mountain?
GULP.
Chen Ku swallowed hard, instantly eager to experience the state of 'Unity of Move and Force'.
The Huang Gun Transformation in the Transformation Diagram shimmered faintly.
With a flick of his wrist, the bone-chopping butcher blade in his hand spun...
The 'lion rolling ball'—the Secret Fighting Technique within the Ox Splitting Knife that Ke Yansheng had personally demonstrated to him that day—was executed effortlessly.
He merely inserted the knife into the belly of the female leopard before him, gave it a twist, and the blade light and Force Power intertwined. The Force Power surged within, and in an instant... the leopard fetus needed for the leopard fetus muscle-changing pills rolled out perfectly.
Unity of Move and Force.
Inside Workshop No. 3, Qin Sheng, who happened to see this, was dumbstruck, thinking, Junior Brother Chen has broken through again! Wait, why did I say 'again'?