On the stone bed in the pill room, Lu Li sat cross-legged in cultivation.
Although he worried that Mo Shang would tighten surveillance on him after learning the truth, he had no other choice but to take things one step at a time.
Right at this moment, the stone door trembled and ground open.
Lu Li quickly withdrew from his meditative state. He looked toward the stone door in confusion, wondering if Wu Liu had arrived.
Today was the last day of the month. According to the rules, Wu Liu would come today to collect the Pills refined this month. Under normal circumstances, however, Wu Liu only came in the dead of night. He shouldn't be this early, right?
While he was pondering this, a tall, slender figure wearing a purple fanged mask walked inside. It was none other than Wu Qi.
However, Lu Li did not recognize this person. After a brief hesitation, he stepped down from the stone bed.
When Wu Qi saw Lu Li, a flash of hatred involuntarily crossed his eyes. It was because of this brat that he had been punished, enduring a full hundred strikes from the cold rod, and his standing in the Great Elder's eyes had plummeted.
His gaze shifted slightly as he stepped into the stone room, simultaneously using a jade token to seal the heavy door shut.
This made Lu Li furrow his brows, secretly raising his guard. Previously, whenever Wu Liu and the others entered, they had never closed the stone door. Could it be that the Great Elder was preparing to make a move against him?
"Brat, what are you standing there for? Come here when you see this seat," Wu Qi said coldly, glaring at Lu Li by the stone bed.
"Qi Refining sixth level?"
Lu Li probed slightly and then withdrew his Divine Sense, feeling somewhat reassured. He slowly walked over and calmly asked, "What is the matter, milord?"
"What is the matter?" Wu Qi chuckled lightly. "You're quite good at running, brat. Last time, you made your father here chase you for over two months without catching you, making me suffer a full hundred heavy rods."
Seeing Lu Li's bewildered expression, Wu Qi could not be bothered to explain further. He sat down aggressively by the stone table.
"It seems you do not know about my ordeal. Come here, obediently kowtow to me three times, and secretly offer this seat a few of the Pills you refine from now on. Then, we can consider this matter settled."
"Kowtow?"
A cold gleam flashed in Lu Li's eyes. "Fellow Daoist, don't you think this is going too far? Although I am stooping to serve your noble sect, I am still an alchemist."
"Hahaha, an alchemist?" Wu Qi laughed uproariously, as if he had heard the greatest joke in the world. "What bullshit alchemist? You are all just a few dogs of our Corpse Sect. In fact, you are not even as good as the corpse puppets in my hands! Hahaha..."
Wu Qi laughed wantonly, completely failing to notice that Lu Li's eyes had narrowed into slits.
After his laughter died down, Wu Qi suddenly remembered something and restrained himself slightly. "Speaking of which, a dog like you actually has some ability, making the Great Elder rack his brains to control you."
"If the Great Elder hadn't ordered me to fetch your old mother to serve as a hostage, I wouldn't have even known you were already captured."
Wu Qi seemed to be suppressing a great deal of resentment, his words thoroughly vulgar and crass.
But upon hearing this, Lu Li's mind raced. He instantly understood what Wu Qi was doing here.
All of a sudden, Lu Li vanished from his spot.
In the next instant, a yellow light flashed around Wu Qi's body. With a heavy bang, he was knocked diagonally off the stone stool, crashing to the ground over two zhang away.
"Such audacity!"
His pupils shrank rapidly, his reaction speed extraordinary. He instantly leaped to his feet and formed hand seals, causing a thick, earthy-yellow light to immediately enshroud his entire body.
"Shake Mountain!"
Just as Wu Qi's yellow protective barrier took shape, a cold shout rang out right in front of him. An air vortex materialized out of thin air, and a fist glowing with golden light smashed forward with unstoppable momentum, shattering the barrier like dry weeds and rotten wood.
Terrified out of his wits, Wu Qi retreated madly.
Yet that fist clung to him like maggots feeding on bone, pursuing him relentlessly.
Seeing this, Lu Li's eyes flashed. He stomped the ground again, shouting, "Gale!" as he violently accelerated. With a deafening thud, his fist heavily bombarded Wu Qi's chest.
Instantly, blood splattered through the air.
Wu Qi let out a miserable shriek and smashed against the stone room's wall. He lowered his head, staring at his deeply caved-in chest and the fractured ribs jutting out of his flesh, his eyes brimming with horror and fear.
But he did not give up. After a single glance, he decisively formed a hand seal. With a rumble, a heavy black coffin slammed into the center of the stone room. The coffin lid flew off, and a 'person' wearing a bronze mask leaped up under his control, throwing a ferocious punch straight at Lu Li's head.
Lu Li had originally intended to pursue Wu Qi, but hearing the whistling wind from his right, he was forced to pivot and throw a punch to meet the incoming attack.
Boom!
The two fists collided heavily. With a sickening crack, the arm of that bronze-masked 'person' was directly shattered into several segments by Lu Li's fist, clattering onto the ground.
Strangely, although the severed arm possessed both bone and flesh, not a single drop of blood flowed out. Moreover, the flesh did not resemble that of a normal human-it was somewhat dry, yet extremely tight and dense.
"You... your physical body is actually this strong!"
Wu Qi's eyes were filled with absolute shock. This was his bronze-armored corpse puppet, an entity he had refined for over ten years, yet it had been demolished to such a state with a single punch!
"Hmph. Now that you know, I am afraid it is already too late!"
After a brief moment of surprise, Lu Li charged at Wu Qi once more. He had already seen through it-this bronze-masked thing was not a 'living person' at all. That meant everything was being controlled by the other party. As long as he eliminated the corpse controller, the threat would collapse on its own.
Seeing Lu Li lunging straight for him, Wu Qi was frightened out of his wits. While mentally commanding the corpse puppet to attack Lu Li, he fled frantically, pulling out the jade token at his waist to throw open the stone room's door.
"Don't even think about it!"
How could Lu Li let him have his way? With a sweeping kick, he knocked the corpse puppet to the ground while violently channeling his wind-attribute True Qi. Accompanied by the howling of a gale, he instantly arrived before Wu Qi, snatched the jade token away, and simultaneously unleashed 'Shake Mountain,' heavily burying his fist into the center of the other's chest.
"No!"
Wu Qi screamed in terror, but it was far too late to dodge.
With a muffled thump, Lu Li's fist blasted clean through the man's chest. He then lifted his leg and kicked the body flying backward.
With a heavy thud, Wu Qi crashed flat on his back, his breath leaving him forever.
The corpse puppet on the ground also grew still, lying completely motionless.
"Phew!" Lu Li shook his arm and exhaled a long breath. "Truly worthy of being one of the Corpse Sect's Seven Martial Wraiths. Although his cultivation realm was lower than mine, his reaction speed really wasn't slow."
He had to admit that if he did not have his Gale Steps, his brute strength alone might not have been able to handle the opponent.
At the very least, once the man used the corpse puppet to tie him down, he would have been fully capable of opening the stone door and escaping. If that had happened, the one who died would probably be himself.
"I can't stay here. Hopefully, you have a pass token on you. Otherwise, things will really blow up in my face."
Lu Li's decisive strike against Wu Qi was largely based on the guess that Wu Qi, after accepting Mo Shang's assignment, had acquired Mo Shang's pass token. Although he could not be completely certain, an opportunity like this was incredibly rare-it was worth the gamble.
He stared at Wu Qi's corpse for a moment before walking over briskly, untying a small black pouch from the man's waist.
Peering inside with his Divine Sense, he saw a pile of jade bottles, several black cards marked with numbers that were likely the Corpse Sect's contribution points cards, and a technique manual titled 'Earth Armor Technique'.
"How could this be!"
Looking at the items within the Storage Bag, Lu Li's expression turned slightly ugly. There actually wasn't a pass token inside?