Shivering Mind

Chapter 78

Chapter 78

Spinning around, Lu Sheng made a beeline for the main doors. He grabbed onto Li Shunxi and flung him violently towards the exit. He himself flew out like an arrow at lightning speed.

Just as the two of them stepped past the main doors, a bang echoed out from behind them.

Turning around to look at the Manor that was burnt beyond recognition, they saw that the pair of charred doors had actually been forcefully shut tight. It was as if there was someone violently shutting it close from the inside.

The momentum propelled Lu Sheng more than ten meters away before he gradually slowed to a stop. He gripped onto Li Shunxi, who cut a sorry figure. Malice clouded over his eyes as he craned his neck to look towards the manor.

“There’s still danger in this place!”

“I get it… this is an Anomaly. It must be! My Master had once mentioned that only an Anomaly would be like this! A Blood Corpse that can’t even be destroyed in a blazing fire…” Li Shunxi’s expression was suddenly replaced with shock and fear.

“What anomaly!” Lu Sheng’s voice was as if it could cut through glass.

Swallowing his saliva, Li Shunxi stared fixedly at the tightly shut doors of the Song Manor.

“Let’s leave this place first before talking!” His face had turned somewhat pale.

Collecting himself, Lu Sheng glanced at Song Manor. Presently, it was shrouded in sinister stillness. Compared to before, it was even more dilapidated and rundown, and even more dangerous.

“Let’s go, retreat for the moment,” he looked down at the tuft of woman’s black hair that was still hanging from the tip of his blade. Despite the huge fire, it had not been destroyed.

***

At a branch base of Crimson Whale Sect.

In a small patch of woods outside Mountain-Edge City, there was a bamboo tower, standing silently among the bamboo grove. Verdant green of the bamboo leaves crowded around the tower, rustling in the wind from time to time.

In a quiet room on the third floor of the bamboo tower were numerous guards from the Sect, who kept watch as Lu Sheng and Li Shunxi sat facing each other. Before them were various wines and dishes that were displayed on a bamboo table. [ ]

Lifting his head, Li Shunxi surveyed his surroundings; there was emerald green as far as his eyes could see. The sight caused one’s heart to be freed of its troubles and be reinvigorated.

“Brother Lu indeed has fine taste.”

“Brother Li hails from an extraordinary background; what’s this little scene to you?” Lu Sheng replied casually. “Let’s continue from where we last ended–what’s that so-called Anomaly? Will Brother Li please advise?” He didn’t harbor any ill feelings towards this Li Shunxi other than having the impression that he was a goody two-shoes. This person had a strong sense of justice, but lacked experience and was easily fooled by what he saw before him. Other than that, he was a rather decent chap.

Upon hearing the term, Li Shunxi’s expression distorted.

“Anomaly…”

Lifting up his wine-cup, he gulped down a few mouthfuls of green wine.

“If ghosts can be considered the result of a form of mutation, then Anomalies are extraordinary sceneries that are absolutely impossible to destroy.”

“Sceneries?” Lu Sheng was startled. “You mean, naturally occurring phenomenon like rainbows and earthquakes?”

“No… not just that. I heard from my Master that the most special trait about anomalies is that they exist forever. The Song Manor, for example. I’m certain that if we were to go back there, we’d still be able to see that little girl Song Yunjuan, as well as those Souls of the Dead,” Li Shunxi explained in low tones.

“How did Brother Li come to know all these?” Lu Sheng was solemn as he asked.

Li Shunxi also grew solemn.

After a long while, he poured himself yet another cup of wine and downed it in a gulp. “My Master… he died in an encounter with the anomalies.”

Shocked, Lu Sheng didn’t say anything else. He hadn’t imagined that Li Shunxi would actually have such a deep connection to such things.

Li Shunxi smiled a little, his expression somewhat sinister.

“I came out to gain some experience, all to continue to upgrade myself. One day, I will avenge my Master!

“From the looks of it, Brother Li comes from quite a distinguished background, isn’t it? Don’t you have a way around it now?” Lu Sheng asked seriously.

Li Shunxi was startled when he heard that. He smiled bitterly. “My family is indeed of high standing. However, Anomalies are similar to the Noble Families–they’re simply not something that we ordinary mortals can hold up against.”

“You know of the Noble Families too?” A slight sparkle shone in Lu Sheng’s eyes.

“Yes. All officials, after achieving a certain rank, would know of this,” Li Shunxi said lightly. “The present Emperor’s lineage–the Huang Family that wields power in the entire realm–is most likely one of the Noble Families.”

‘So it was true. ‘

Lu Sheng’s heart sank. Indeed, it was as he had guessed; the present-day royal family of the Song Dynasty was actually a member of the Noble Families.

“Alright, let’s not talk about this, it’s too far removed from us. The Noble Families are of incredible status and extremely mysterious; they belong in a different world than we,” Li Shunxi said bitterly.

“There would likely be encounters with Anomalies in other places as well, right? How then have those been settled?” Lu Sheng enquired.

“Cordon them off as forbidden zones, and take a detour,” Li Shunxi replied.

“Cordon them off as forbidden zones?” Lu Sheng was speechless. Didn’t that mean that there was no way to deal with them?

“Yes. All Anomalies are limited to an area and have boundaries. As long as we don’t go inside to mess around, it should be fine,” Li Shunxi nodded. “Speaking of which, I’m rather interested in how Brother Lu was able to hurt the Souls of the Dead.”

“Is that very rare?” Lu Sheng was alarmed.

“Yes, rare enough,” Li Shunxi looked at Lu Sheng strangely. “Although there are numerous inner force skills of Yang attribute that, when trained to high levels, can hurt ghosts, those are after all low-level ghosts. Moreover, it’s already quite impressive if the ghost is destroyed after more than tens of strikes.

Souls of the Dead are considered deadly even among ghosts, and yet with Brother Lu had them all beaten into black pulp within less than ten moves. This is the first time I have seen something like this.”

Lu Sheng, likewise, was rather curious.

‘Perhaps the Yang attribute of my inner force skill is exceptionally powerful?’

“May I be so bold to ask Brother Lu what’s the name of the inner force you train?” Li Shunxi asked out of curiosity.

: Options

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“It’s an incomplete skill called Black Fury Skill,” Lu Sheng did not attempt to conceal it. After all, it was a skill that he had acquired from an auction. Though it might have been mysterious to the average person, it shouldn’t be considered any sort of secret to those in the know.

Indeed, upon hearing the name of this skill, Li Shunxi’s brows scrunched up.

“Isn’t Black Fury Skill a body tempering skill? I’ve heard that it indeed has fire poison effects. But just that fire poison itself should merely be enough to burn boils out of a person’s skin. How much inner force would it take to have power like Brother Lu–enough to slay a Soul of the Dead?”

As the words left his mouth, Lu Sheng instantly recalled the difference between himself and other inner force experts.

Hesitant, he asked softly, “May I know how many strikes Brother Li can execute at full strength?”

“At full strength? One strike of course, isn’t it?” Li Shunxi cast Lu Sheng a weird look. “Mustering inner force from the entire body and putting it all into one strike… of course that would consume the entire body’s inner force. Any strike after that will have to wait till Qi recovers. Isn’t that basic common sense?”

Lu Sheng was stunned.

“Then how long does it take for your Qi to recover, Brother Li?”

“Probably about an hour of meditation. Why? Isn’t it like that for everyone?” Li Shunxi replied casually.

It dawned on Lu Sheng how different he was from others.

Ever since he achieved full-mastery of several inner force skills at the same time, inner force had flowed ceaselessly within him, cycling without end. Even at full strength, he could strike over ten times continuously before needing to recover Qi. And he even had Yin Yang Attraction to replenish inner Qi too.

As a result, the depth and thickness of his inner Qi was several times that of other experts in the same level.

Moreover, after Black Fury Skill had evolved into Blood Fury Skill, his inner Qi became even denser, by more than a fold.

As a result, his strikes were accompanied by a sweeping force that was unimaginable by the average cultivator’s standards.

“I’d like to ask a question,” Lu Sheng ventured after his realization. “If one was powerful enough to resist an Anomaly’s assault, is there a chance that one can thoroughly eliminate it?”

Li Shunxi stared at him with a peculiar expression, dumbfounded.

By the time he slowly replied, Lu Sheng was even getting slightly impatient.

“Anomalies cannot die. No matter how many times you kill it, it will easily reappear again. Perhaps Noble Families have methods to deal with them, but not us.

Besides, as time passes, Anomalies will grow stronger and stronger. We should count ourselves lucky to have met a recently formed Anomaly. If we were trapped in those Anomalies that have been formed decades, even centuries ago, we probably wouldn’t be sitting here talking now.”

A recollection seemed to come upon Li Shunxi all of a sudden. His face turned dark and ugly once again.

Lu Sheng guessed that he had recalled the Anomaly his master had encountered previously and so fell into silence as well.

The two of them sat in silence for a moment before Lu Sheng spoke again. “Brother Li, do you mind explaining about all the supernatural beings that you’ve encountered before for me? So that I can understand the danger involved.”

He had just saved Li Shunxi’s skin. Naturally, Li Shunxi readily agreed to such a small request.

He chuckled, “Earlier, I misunderstood Brother Lu. So of course, this is not a problem.”