Chapter 15: A Lack of Commitment
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A sinister wind swept through the gloomy basement.
The blood-red talismans affixed to the pillars on all four sides swayed in the chilling breeze.
A gaunt man knelt before a grotesque statue, clutching a stone hammer as he ceaselessly pounded the stone bowl in his hands.
“Ancest—Ancestor…”
“Please don’t abandon me. I’m suffering terribly now. No matter how powerful that man is, he couldn’t possibly find me, could he?”
“But… who exactly is helping the Fu family?”
“His mastery of feng shui is terrifying.”
Suddenly, the rhythm of his hammering stopped.
Two enormous tumors rose from his shoulders. A moment later, two ghost infants tore through the swollen flesh and crawled out.
“Go! Find out who it is… Who dares disturb me?”
The gaunt heretic was slightly angered. He assumed that yet another doctor had somehow stumbled upon his doorstep.
But in the next instant, every hair on his body stood on end.
The two ghost infants he had sent out had been instantly… banished to the underworld!
“This is bad!”
The gaunt heretic immediately set down the stone bowl and drew the spine sword beside him.
“How dare you disturb my cultivation on the path to immortality! Whoever you are, you will die!”
“Is that so?”
Chen Fan kicked open the basement door, a trace of amusement at the corner of his mouth.
He took one step forward, and the foul wind filling the basement was instantly scattered.
“You’ve ruined my cultivation! You’re courting death!”
The gaunt heretic did not dare lower his guard. Several ghost infants crawled out of his body and pounced upon Chen Fan.
They moved with astonishing speed, but the vast righteous aura surrounding Chen Fan instantly crushed them to the ground.
The ghost infants wailed.
Their shrill cries made Chen Fan frown. In the very next moment, the surging righteous aura forced them deep beneath the earth.
“Vast Righteous Aura!”
“A disciple of Kunlun?!” The gaunt heretic’s eyes widened.
“Kunlun?” Chen Fan gave a soft laugh and shook his head slightly.
He had to admit that this heretic possessed a discerning eye. He had recognized the Kunlun secret art he was using.
Back when Chen Fan had fought his way to the position of Daoist Supreme, he had terrified the entire orthodox sects. Kunlun had voluntarily offered him this secret art, sacrificing wealth to avert disaster.
After learning it, Chen Fan discovered that Kunlun’s Vast Righteous Aura was exceptionally effective against evil spirits.
“No.”
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Chen Fan said calmly, “I’m not from Kunlun. But you should know who I am.”
“Know you?” The gaunt heretic froze.
He racked his mind, searching for anyone whose appearance resembled Chen Fan’s.
But no matter how long he thought, he could not remember such a person.
“I will find you.”
“I will let you hide. I will let you flee.”
“But I will still find you.”
Chen Fan spoke without haste. His voice was like the tolling of a bell at dawn and the beating of a drum at dusk, reverberating through the gaunt heretic’s soul.
The heretic’s eyes widened as he stared at Chen Fan in disbelief.
“It’s you!”
Terror-stricken, the gaunt heretic immediately raised his spine sword and thrust it toward Chen Fan, shouting as he attacked.
“Ancestor! Ancestor, save my life!”
“I’m willing to offer you everything!”
The Vast Righteous Aura deflected the blood-soaked spine sword. At the same time, Chen Fan turned his gaze toward the grotesque statue in the distance.
“You worship an unorthodox deity?”
“An unorthodox deity?! That is the ancestral god my family has worshiped for generations!”
The gaunt heretic staggered backward before finally halting, glaring furiously at Chen Fan.
Chen Fan said indifferently, “Oh? Then didn’t you tell your ancestor that in this age, harming others comes at a price?”
“You wanted to kill Fu Xueyue, so I will kill you and eliminate the trouble at its source.”
Chen Fan raised a hand. The Vast Righteous Aura transformed into a golden dragon and lunged directly at the gaunt heretic.
The grotesque statue, which had only two heads and four arms remaining, suddenly shattered.
The gaunt heretic’s body abruptly swelled. His original height of barely five feet four shot up to more than seven feet five.
He could no longer stand upright in the basement.
His thick, powerful arms reached out, attempting to seize the golden dragon formed from the Vast Righteous Aura.
But the might of Chen Fan’s righteous aura was not something an unorthodox deity could withstand.
The golden dragon’s Vast Righteous Aura scorched the heretic’s palms.
The soul-corroding pain instantly drew a scream from him.
“Argh!”
“No! Ancestor! Ancestor, don’t leave!”
“You can’t abandon me!”
The gaunt heretic’s body suddenly deflated like a punctured balloon, shrinking back into a withered shell.
Chen Fan had not expected the unorthodox deity to flee the moment the situation turned unfavorable.
He had assumed the creature would fight him to the death for the sake of its descendant and blood relative.
“Return.”
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With a soft call from Chen Fan, the Vast Righteous Aura immediately returned to him.
The gaunt heretic leaned against the corner of the wall, barely breathing.
He stared at Chen Fan in terror, his voice trembling.
“Who are you? Who are you…?”
“How can Qingcheng possibly have such a powerful feng shui master?”
Chen Fan did not answer. He merely looked down at him from above and said calmly,
“Who did you make a deal with to kill Fu Xueyue?”
“Fu…”
The gaunt heretic was desperately trying to speak when his head suddenly exploded like a watermelon.
The Vast Righteous Aura shielded Chen Fan from the nauseating remains. He furrowed his brow slightly.
“A Word Spirit Seal was triggered.”
“Truly… they have no sense of honor when it comes to contracts.” Chen Fan shook his head faintly.
The mastermind behind this was remarkably cautious. He had imposed a Word Spirit Seal forbidding any revelation.
Anyone who exposed the secret would die on the spot.
“But… did he say ‘Fu’?”
“Was he trying to say Fu Xueyue? Or was the person who wanted Fu Xueyue dead someone with the surname Fu?”
Chen Fan shook his head slightly. It no longer mattered.
Fu Xueyue was still in danger tonight, and someone was continuing to try to curse her to death.
“Failing once or twice, yet still refusing to learn.”
“And they don’t even dare show themselves. Either they’re unbelievably cowardly, or…”
Chen Fan paused before murmuring, “Their identity is extraordinary.”
“Never mind. I’ll search for the spirit through heaven and earth.”
Chen Fan immediately sat cross-legged on the ground, drawing all of the Vast Righteous Aura back into his body.
The yin energy within the basement began gathering around him, while sinister winds howled in circles about his form.
“With three parts yin and yang…”
“With the Eight Characters as my guide…”
“Let heaven and earth show me the way!”
…
Inside an office on the upper floor of a high-rise building, an ancient monk suddenly opened his eyes wide.