Chapter 156: Impervious to Swords and Spears?

As a constable, Liu Zhi was highly experienced in handling civil unrest. Without a second thought, he drew his ox-tail saber and pointed the tip at the crowd. Stirred by his surging vital blood, a piercing chill erupted from the blade, howling as it swept toward the people.

At the same time, Liu Zhi sternly shouted, "Open your eyes and look closely! We are county officers! Attacking government officials is a capital crime punishable by beheading. Have you all grown tired of living?!"

The scouts behind Liu Zhi drew their sabers in unison, following his lead to rouse their vital blood. These scouts were elite border troops who had clawed their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, possessing an intense, overwhelming aura of slaughter.

The moment they unleashed their restrained murderous intent, even the rabid, demon-like folk of Yunxi Town were cowed. Stunned, they all involuntarily slowed their pace.

Before Liu Zhi could even catch his breath, the Master’s voice echoed once more from within the shaman temple, carrying a deeply inflammatory seduction:

"Do you see it? They are trying to crush you with their status as officials! They are using the laws to imprison you! They do not want you to escape this sea of suffering, nor do they want you to attain true humanity and godhood. They only want you to remain corpse-guarding ghosts forever, trapped within the cages of your physical bodies, the laws, and the country, so they can control and enslave you... Are you truly willing to sink into this abyss forever?"

With every word the Master spoke, the bloodshot veins in the eyes of the Yunxi Town residents multiplied, and their breathing grew increasingly ragged. By the end, upon hearing the Master’s rhetorical challenge, they burst into a roar like a collapsing mountain and a crashing sea:

"We are not willing!"
"We refuse to be enslaved! We refuse to be prisoners, and we refuse to be corpse-guarding ghosts!"
"We want to be human! We want to become gods!"

With just a few brief sentences, the Master plunged these people back into a state of utter madness. Even the county soldiers lying in ambush all around felt a trace of doubt creeping into their hearts, wondering if they were acting as accomplices to tyranny, helping the imperial court imprison and poison the common people.

Abruptly raising his voice to cut through the crowd's roars, the Master demanded, "Now someone is stopping you, refusing to let you become human. What should you do?"

"Kill them!"
"Deliver them to transcendence! Let them help us become human!"

Screaming at the top of their lungs, the denizens of Yunxi Town plunged once again into frantic delirium.

"Since you know what must be done, what are you still hesitating for? What are you waiting for? Go! Slaughter these running dogs of the court! As long as you kill them, you can become human and escape the torment of the corpse-guarding ghosts! Do not fear the blades in their hands; as long as you firmly believe that you are impervious to swords and spears, their weapons cannot harm you!"

Hearing the Master’s words, the people of Yunxi Town cast away all hesitation and fear. Like a pack of crazed beasts, they roared and lunged once more at Liu Zhi and his men.

***

Charging at the very front were several notorious ruffians of Yunxi Town. These scoundrels never went anywhere without their blades, and now they brandished butcher knives, short daggers, and other lethal weapons they usually relied on to terrorize neighbors and extort money.

"Come on, then!"

If they were children or the elderly, Liu Zhi would have had to hold back to avoid hurting them. But facing these thugs, he had no intention of showing mercy whatsoever. Liu Zhi intended to use these scoundrels to make an example, killing the chicken to scare the monkeys and cowing the rest.

"You actually think you're impervious to weapons? Absurd! I'll hack off your hands right now!"

With a cold snort, Liu Zhi executed the Tendon-Severing and Bone-Breaking Blade technique. The ox-tail saber traced an arc in his grip, slashing directly toward the lead ruffian with the intent to sever his hand.

The strike was blindingly fast, leaving the ruffian no time to dodge. He was struck dead center. Yet, the expected explosion of flying blood and severed wrists never happened. Though the scoundrel possessed no cultivation whatsoever, his flesh had miraculously turned as hard as bronze and iron, stubbornly blocking Liu Zhi's slash. The blade left nothing more than a faint white mark on the ruffian's skin, failing to even break it.

"Truly impervious to blades?" Liu Zhi was utterly shocked.

The ruffian burst into a wild, ecstatic laugh. "Hahaha! I'm not hurt! The Master didn't lie to us! As long as we firmly believe we are impervious to weapons, we won't get hurt!"

With that, he whipped his hand upward, thrusting his butcher knife straight for Liu Zhi's heart. Fortunately, Liu Zhi's reflexes were sharp enough. Just before the butcher knife could pierce him, he launched a flying kick straight into the ruffian's belly.

Though the scoundrel's body possessed the bizarre ability to shrug off blades, his physical strength fell far short of Liu Zhi's. Sent hurtling backward by the kick, he crashed into several people behind him, knocking them all down in a heap.

Yet, like a rising tide, even more people surged forward, surrounding Liu Zhi and his men. Among them, some shared the ruffian's imperviousness to weapons. Others, however, were slashed by blades, resulting in gushing blood and agonizing cries.

Remarkably, the injuries sustained by these individuals did nothing to dampen the morale of the rest. Instead, it drew reprimands and mockery from their peers, who accused them of failing to truly believe in the Master, of not completely purging their fear, and of doubting their own invulnerability, which was why they had been wounded.

"What you believe manifests! What you doubt does not! Your injuries are proof that you doubted the Master's words—you deserve it!"
"You actually dared to doubt the Master! You are unworthy of killing to attain humanity! You deserve to remain corpse-guarding ghosts for the rest of your lives!"
"Get lost! Go howl somewhere else and don't get in our way here, or we'll kill you right along with them and help deliver you to transcendence!"

Not only were many of the Yunxi Town residents impervious to blades, but some who had never practiced martial arts whatsoever had suddenly erupted with strength rivaling that of Liu Zhi and his seasoned men.

***

Lacking formal techniques and combat experience, they relied sheerly on overwhelming numbers and bizarre anomalies to press Liu Zhi's squad into a terribly difficult predicament, even managing to wound a few scouts.

Through eyes blessed by the Liver Spirit, Shang Lu clearly saw that those who proved impervious to weapons and possessed terrifying strength all harbored a ball of eerie, wicked fire within their chests. That wicked flame sat right at their hearts, burning away their life force at a frenzied pace. The bronze-like skin, iron bones, and monstrous strength of these people were all bought by sacrificing their lives.

Caught up in their frenzied, delirious state, the residents of Yunxi Town rejoiced only in their newfound invulnerability and superhuman strength, utterly oblivious to the fact that their bodies were rapidly aging and their internal organs were suffering catastrophic failure.

Now that the grass had been beaten and the snake alerted, Shang Lu hesitated no longer. He issued crisp orders: "Du Feng, take a few men to reinforce Old Liu. Tu Pi, signal Old冯 and the others. Follow me to charge into the shaman temple and capture the Master!"

The rabble of Yunxi Town were entirely under the Master's bewitchment. Fighting them was meaningless; only by capturing the Master could these people be restored to normal.

"Understood!" Tu Pi shouted in acknowledgment. He grabbed the bronze whistle hanging from his chest, shoved it into his mouth, and blew one long and two short blasts.

"Bee—bee-bee."

On the heels of the whistle, several arrows whistled from the roofs of the dwellings surrounding the shaman temple, streaking straight toward the Master, who was lurking in the shadows of the idol. At the same time, over a dozen figures emerged from various directions, spurring their horses into a headlong charge toward the shaman temple!

Shang Lu took the lead, moving at lightning speed. Anyone attempting to block his path along the way was sent flying by his outward-surging vital blood. In the blink of an eye, Shang Lu galloped right up to the entrance of the shaman temple.

Someone frantically tried to slam the temple doors shut from the inside. Patting his horse's neck, Shang Lu conveyed his intent. The official steed instantly understood, surging forward with a sudden burst of speed before rearing its front hooves and kicking out heavily against the temple doors.

*Boom—*

The doors of the shaman temple were shattered to pieces by the horse's kick. The people behind them were thrown into total disarray by the tremendous impact, collapsing to the ground in a heap.

"The government is here to arrest criminals! Anyone who doesn't want to die, step aside at once!"

Drawing his saber and reigning in his horse, Shang Lu bellowed in a thunderous voice.