Chapter 45: Stats Unknown, Stronger Against The Strong
The man was called Huo Kai, who had been tracking Jiang Ce since yesterday.
A funeral home employee, after getting off work, went to a spa clubhouse and stayed for three hours, then called a ride-share car home after leaving, didn’t sleep after arriving home, kept the lights on all night, and near dawn went downstairs to abuse animals, enjoying it immensely.
Unfortunately, there was surveillance downstairs, so it wasn’t convenient to act, thus Huo Kai restrained his impulse and quietly waited for a better opportunity.
Finally, Jiang Ce appeared again and seemed about to go out.
The opportunity had come!
Huo Kai held his breath and trailed far behind.
He had come for revenge.
Zhang Wenyuan, his childhood friend who grew up with him and was also his benefactor, had died the night before last.
The Gluttonous Ghost higher-ups said Zhang Wenyuan died at the hands of ghosts and monsters, and traces of other unidentified people were found at the scene, the situation was extremely complex, so an internal no-action order was issued, and all Gluttonous Ghosts were not to act rashly unless necessary, best to avoid going out and exposing themselves.
But Huo Kai couldn’t accept it.
He had previously been just a little thug who fought recklessly, fled to another place after causing big trouble, didn’t dare return to his hometown for decades, thought his life was ruined, but unexpectedly his childhood friend Zhang Wenyuan didn’t hold grudges, not only cleared his identity but also led him into the gate of ghost refining cultivation.
From that day on, he swore he would never let down Zhang Wenyuan in this lifetime.
And what surprised him was that he unexpectedly had great talent, and in just a few years he had surpassed Zhang Wenyuan.
Both were very happy about it; Zhang Wenyuan was sincerely happy for his old friend, while Huo Kai was glad that with greater strength it would be easier to repay Zhang Wenyuan’s kindness.
But man proposes, heaven disposes; after years of secluded cultivation, he had just entered Sixth Rank and was pondering where to get some powerful vengeful spirits for Zhang Wenyuan to cultivate with to help him reach Seventh Rank soon, yet he heard the bad news of his death.
He didn’t believe that Zhang Wenyuan, who kept countless little ghosts at home, would die at the hands of ghosts and monsters, and he was almost certain there was something fishy about it.
So he sought out Zhang Wenyuan’s closest junior, Zhang Yuan.
From Zhang Yuan, he learned that Zhang Wenyuan’s final action was to deal with an ordinary person named Jiang Ce.
After a whole day of tracking, he found nothing unusual in Jiang Ce’s daily activities.
But strangely, he really discovered the death curse cast by Zhang Wenyuan on Jiang Ce’s body.
The death curse: Whoever kills me gets it, whoever kills gets killed in turn by others, transfer again later!
This proved that he had killed Zhang Wenyuan.
Even if he wasn’t the mastermind, he must be related to Zhang Wenyuan’s death.
“Whether you’re really an ordinary person or what method you used to kill Wenyuan doesn’t matter anymore; as long as the death curse isn’t broken, Wenyuan can never be freed. In any case, I can’t break the death curse without killing you, and as for other matters, I’ll ask after refining you into a ghost soul first.”
Huo Kai watched Jiang Ce’s back from behind, his eyes filled with killing intent.
Unlike Zhang Wenyuan’s summoner-like path, Huo Kai’s path was more warrior-oriented, incorporating ghosts and monsters into his body to strengthen his physical physique, fighting without relying on external objects, purely using his own power to attack.
Although his realm was only Sixth Rank, in terms of physical strength, he could go toe-to-toe in close combat with Fifth Rank cultivators who specialized in sorcery and had weaker physiques.
This was his trump card.
Since Zhang Wenyuan dared to deal with him, it meant he wasn’t that strong, at least not beyond imagination.
Moreover, he didn’t believe a person this young could have a realm that high; could he really be Fifth Rank at such a young age?
Seeing Jiang Ce walk into a long alley, and once out of here it would be leaving the suburbs, Huo Kai knew now was the best opportunity.
Harboring thoughts of Zhang Wenyuan, full of heartache, and immense hatred for Jiang Ce, Huo Kai charged with the most determined steps of his life, while throwing the most powerful punch of his life.
Although his movements were wide and sweeping, as fast as lightning, they surprisingly made no sound at all.
His boundless killing intent was hidden like still water, and the stark contrast on him seemed perfectly harmonious, as if it was supposed to be that way.
A killing move that never revealed the slightest threat until the last moment—this was the offensive technique Huo Kai, specialized in close combat and assassination, was most skilled at!
This punch was named: Piercing!
But the instant Huo Kai’s confident fist struck the back of Jiang Ce’s head, a look of incredulous shock suddenly flashed in his eyes—
Jiang Ce’s head didn’t explode like a watermelon as he imagined; it only tilted forward slightly.
On the contrary, an extremely terrifying counter-shock force transmitted back from the fist, nearly shattering Huo Kai’s entire arm in that instant.
“Huh? Who the hell poked me?”
Jiang Ce instinctively turned his head and looked behind.
But the alley behind was empty, with no trace of any living creature.
“Strange, the spiritual energy in my body just suddenly surged; could it be that my Golden Bell Shield cultivation isn’t quite perfected?”
Jiang Ce touched the back of his head, looking slightly puzzled.
He stood in place waiting a moment longer, but with no further anomalies, Jiang Ce shrugged it off, treating it as the Golden Bell Shield acting up.
After all, he had just mastered it, so being a bit unproficient could lead to such situations; no big deal, he could study it next time it happened.
So Jiang Ce didn’t take it to heart and continued immersed in his fantasies, envisioning hosting silver parties in his future mega-villa while happily heading to the address Su Feng had given him.
He didn’t notice that on the roof of a flat house on the side of the alley, no more than ten meters away in a straight line, there was a Sixth Rank evil cultivator gasping his last breaths.
Huo Kai didn’t hear Jiang Ce’s mutterings because the counter-shock force in his body was still rampaging, continuously destroying his vitality, and his eardrums had long been shattered.
Thus, unaware that Jiang Ce had practiced Golden Bell Shield, right up to his death, he was still wondering why his sure-kill strike had turned into several times the force rebounding onto himself, while he wasn’t hurt at all.
He didn’t know that his proudest One Force Breaks All Laws had been his downfall.
If it had been a sorcerer or ghost keeper, they might not have been able to harm Jiang Ce but wouldn’t have brought disaster on themselves, but Huo Kai specialized in close-quarters physical combat, and before Jiang Ce’s special edition Golden Bell Shield, not only could he not hurt him, but he had to bear several times the backlash of a full-force strike.
In other words, even if he were a bit weaker, the outcome might not have been this bad.
Stats unknown, stronger against the strong.
This was the truest depiction of Jiang Ce’s current advantage over body cultivators.
And besides that, what terrified Huo Kai most was that in his body, alongside the uncontrollable raging power, there was also an inexplicable burning heat.
First came the burning heat, then an unbearable scorching sensation, and finally the pain and despair of his whole body being burned to ashes!
After an unknown amount of time, a gust of wind blew, scattering some black ashes from the rooftop.
I mean, this damn COVID is worse than I imagined; last night I woke up every one or two hours, was groggy during the day and coded one chapter before sleeping again, got up in the evening, ate something casually, coded more, managed to release one chapter before midnight, so the second chapter will be tomorrow…
