C36 – In a Desperate Situation
“Grandfather, take this Healing Pill first and leave the rest to me,” Min Zhenkang urged as he swiftly retrieved a Healing Pill from the Bag of Heaven and Earth and placed it into Min Hanshi’s mouth.
“Zhenkang, no, you must flee now. As long as you survive, there will come a day when the Min family can rise again.” Witnessing the unfolding events, Min Hanshi realized his fate was sealed.
If Min Zhenkang could get away, and with Min Qigang outside, there was a chance to restore the fallen Min’s mansion!
“Escape? It would be laughable to think you could slip through my fingers!” The mysterious man scoffed at Min Hanshi’s suggestion.
“Who are you?” Min Zhenkang demanded, turning to face the enigmatic figure.
“I’ve said it before; you’re not entitled to know my identity. Just understand that I am the one who ended you today. You wouldn’t want to arrive in the underworld ignorant of who sent you there!”
As the mysterious person prepared to strike, Min Zhenkang called forth his Martial Spirit for protection, drawing a mid-grade Profound Rank spirit weapon with his right hand from the Bag of Heaven and Earth, while his left hand blazed with the Sun Devouring Demonic Fire—his most formidable combat form.
The flames wielded by an alchemist, powerful enough to concoct various Pills, were equally formidable in battle, their inflicted harm rivaling that of Profound Qi.
Inside the hall, Chu Keke had been reduced to tears. Her rare smile from the past ten days emerged when Min Zhenkang dispatched the Guo family’s guards.
Yet, as the mysterious man made his move, Chu Keke’s face was etched with concern. Having clashed with him before, she was acutely aware of his fearsome power—none present could match him.
Even if all the attendees banded together, they would stand no chance against him, especially not with just the three of them at Min Zhenkang’s side.
Now, with Min Hanshi incapacitated by injury, Min Zhenkang and Min Huiyu were already hard-pressed in their struggle against Guo Yong alone. Facing the mysterious man as well, the outcome seemed all too clear.
Seizing a moment of distraction from her two maids, Chu Keke broke free and dashed forward at her top speed, determined to shield Min Zhenkang with her own body, ready to die for him if necessary.
If death was their fate, they would face it together.
“Zhenkang, I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault!” Chu Keke sobbed, her tears making her look like a little kitten.
“Silly girl, what are you saying?” Min Zhenkang extinguished the Sun Devouring Demonic Fire in his left hand and tenderly stroked her cheek.
“To die alongside you, Zhenkang, I’d be at peace,” Chu Keke said, her tears giving way to a smile.
“Silly girl, don’t talk like that. I won’t let you die,” Min Zhenkang declared, pinning his final hopes on his enigmatic dantian.
“Zhenkang, there’s no cure for me. I took the Heartbroken Powder before coming here, and it’s about to take effect,” she confessed.
“I know, and I’m going to wrestle you back from the clutches of the King of Hell himself,” he assured her.
“Thank you, Zhenkang!” Chu Keke nestled into Min Zhenkang’s embrace, finding solace there.
Elder Zhou, witnessing the Sun Devouring Demonic Fire in Min Zhenkang’s hand, was visibly shaken.
He finally understood the sense of familiarity he felt towards Min Zhenkang; he was the enigmatic figure who had repeatedly auctioned Pills at the Heaven and Earth Auction. Elder Zhou had been searching for him for so long, at one point even suspecting someone from the Guo family, which was why he had brought gifts to celebrate their union with Chu Keke.
He had been mistaken all this time, and had inadvertently steered the auction house’s executives astray.
The apothecary’s shopkeeper was equally taken aback by the sight of the Sun Devouring Demonic Fire. Over the years, only one person had purchased the specific Pill materials needed to merge the flame into one’s body from his shop. If his guess was right, it had to be Min Zhenkang—the very same man who had crossed paths with Jee Gong at the shop.
The Jee family members were beside themselves with excitement at the unfolding scene.
Their eyes were fixed on Min Zhenkang’s hands. In his right, he clutched a Profound Rank Middle Level Spirit Weapon, a prized possession of the Jee family, which he had wrested from the grip of their Second Young Master.
The Sun Devouring Demonic Fire in his left hand, though not belonging to the Jee family, was linked to them by Jee Gong’s previous encounter with an offender in Whalespell, whose defining trait was the possession of a flame.
Bang!
Clang!
Another strike sent the middle-grade Profound Qi from his right hand flying across the distance, one end embedding itself deep into the earth while the other quivered ceaselessly.
Yet again, the mysterious man’s palm paused momentarily, only to continue its downward trajectory.
Bang!
The next palm strike snuffed out the Sun Devouring Demonic Fire in his left hand, contorting his arm into an inconceivable angle.
The mysterious man’s garment was singed slightly, but his unyielding palm remained unaffected.
Min Zhenkang watched the descending palm with a surge of helpless rage.
He was painfully aware of his own weakness; anyone could overpower him, even end his life.
Since his arrival in Suanikos, Min Zhenkang had never felt such an intense longing for greater power.
As the palm loomed larger in his vision, Min Zhenkang closed his eyes and clutched Chu Keke close.
“Keke, I’m sorry. I can’t keep the promise I made,” Min Zhenkang silently apologized in his heart.
Bang!
The palm fell, but not upon Min Zhenkang.
Puff! Blood sprayed across Min Zhenkang’s face. He snapped his eyes open to see Min Huiyu had taken the blow for him.
“Second Uncle!”
“Guangxia!”
“Uncle Min!”
Three voices cried out in unison.
“Hehe—I’m okay,” Min Huiyu managed a weak smile, but it only deepened the trio’s distress.
As it turned out, Guo Yong, after injuring Min Huiyu, hadn’t immediately finished him off but instead stood by, observing Min Zhenkang’s plight.
In a swift move, Min Huiyu seized the moment of Min Zhenkang’s distraction and intercepted the palm strike meant for him.
The act of deflecting the blow came at a grave cost to Min Huiyu. His internal organs were shattered, his meridians severed, and his bones crushed, leaving him clinging to life by a mere thread.
It was a stroke of luck that Min Zhenkang’s Martial Spirit and weapon had absorbed much of the force from the mysterious man’s palm strike. Without that, Min Huiyu would have undoubtedly perished.
Surviving such catastrophic injuries meant a recovery time of at least two or three years, and that was if recovery was possible at all. The question of whether he could ever return to his martial cultivation loomed large.
The mysterious man, realizing his palm strike had been thwarted by Min Huiyu, swiftly turned his gaze to Guo Yong.
Guo Yong, noticing the attention shift to him, dropped to his knees in a plea for mercy. “Sir, it was not intentional. I believed Min Huiyu to be gravely wounded already, so I hadn’t yet managed to finish him off!”
Tears streamed down his face as he begged, his head bowing repeatedly in fervent kowtows, not ceasing even as his scalp split open.
The mysterious man, unswayed by Guo Yong’s display, surveyed the four individuals before him and once again lifted his palm, poised to strike.