Chapter 150: Master and Disciple Reunited

Night, the mountain forest.

Moonlight bathed the trees, silent and eerie.

Creak, creak, creak.

The sound of clothing brushing against leaves never ceased.

Huff, huff!

"Damn it, how did they find me?!"

The short, stout Headless Slave stared at the flickering lights darting before and behind him, cursing inwardly.

Ever since Jiang Lin slew his unlucky master, the Old Mother of Ten Thousand Ghosts, he had survived by his masterful art of feigning death.

Did they really think "Headless Slave" was just a fearsome nickname passed down alone?

No.

It was because of the technique he cultivated.

The Shrinking Body Art.

Note: it's Shrinking Body, not Shrinking Bones.

To understand why he mastered this art, one must begin with the final character of his three-word name: Slave.

Before becoming the disciple of the Old Mother of Ten Thousand Ghosts, the Headless Slave had been a plaything of an ancient monster from the Ghost Ming Sect, who taught him a Routishu.

He cultivated it freely, eventually reaching the realm of freely reshaping his form.

But this damaged his physique—his current four-foot height was an illusion; his true height was only two feet.

A dwarf among dwarfs.

His upper body was entirely a disguise crafted by the Old Mother of Ten Thousand Ghosts' disguise art.

Thus, all people believed him to be stern and silent—when in truth, he could not smile at all, spoke only through abdominal voice, and had behaved this way since the very first day he assumed the identity of the Old Mother's disciple; everyone's preconceptions kept them from noticing anything amiss.

Precisely because of this, it had saved his life.

Jiang Lin's sword had pierced only his false body—he had shrunk to half a foot using the Shrinking Body Art and escaped in the chaos, thus preserving his life.

He had originally planned to return to the Ghost Ming Sect and rebuild his power.

But without the Old Mother of Ten Thousand Ghosts as his patron, many ancient monsters who had long held grudges against her swiftly turned on him.

This was the scene Tan Hu had witnessed.

At that time, he was being hunted by a high-ranking Ghost Ming Sect cultivator.

Even worse, he had coincidentally run into Tan Hu.

Even after shaking off Tan Hu, he was soon surrounded again.

"Who?!"

"Who the hell is it?!"

The Headless Slave's veins bulged, his fury at its peak.

Though furious, he remained clear-headed—if surrounded, he could no longer feign death and escape so easily.

"Then I must fight my way out!"

The Headless Slave's gaze sharpened, his eyes brimming with murderous intent.

He had never been a gentle soul.

At least a hundred men had encircled him—though numerous, they must have had strong and weak among them; all he needed was to find a weak point and break through, no need to fight them head-on.

"Kill!"

The Headless Slave let out a low roar.

Just as he reached behind his back to draw his large hammer.

But at that critical moment—

Suddenly!

A gust of wind swept past his eyes, and the Headless Slave saw nothing but darkness.

Then a dragon-shaped blue light flashed by.

"Shit!"

"Damn it, where'd he go?!"

The group had closed in, yet not a single soul was visible—Tan Hu cursed loudly.

Dong Shen also frowned slightly.

He had clearly sensed someone in the forest—yet the man had vanished right under their noses.

At that moment—

Li Rui arrived as well.

"Where is he?"

Tan Hu spat on the ground: "That demon brat slipped away again."

Li Rui frowned: "Escaped?"

"Mm."

Tan Hu nodded.

Under Li Rui's command, they had finally tracked down a lead—only to let the Headless Slave slip away once more.

Catching him now would be even harder.

Li Rui paused, then said: "There's likely a confederate here. If the Ghost Ming Sect sends reinforcements, we're in trouble—we should withdraw for now."

"Wise."

Dong Shen was the first to agree.

He was here for show, not to fight to the death.

If they encountered a large force from the Ghost Ming Sect here, casualties would be heavy.

"Go!"

Li Rui acted decisively and left without looking back.

Seeing this, Dong Shen admired Li Rui even more.

Not only did he master tracking techniques, but he acted with such decisiveness—if Li Rui weren't an officer of the Peace Guard, Dong Shen would have recruited him to the Clear Wind Manor without hesitation.

Upon hearing there might be a Ghost Ming Sect ambush,

the group moved faster than when they arrived, by forty to fifty percent.

Soon—

the forest fell silent again.

About half an hour passed.

Li Rui returned, coming back into the mountains.

He headed straight for a spot, and moments later arrived beneath a tree.

A short, stout man, four feet tall, lay slumped against the trunk, covered by leaves—impossible to spot in the dark unless one looked closely.

Li Rui stepped forward.

He checked the man's breath.

"Perfect force."

Not dead—but unable to awaken for now.

Indeed, the one who struck just now was him.

Long Xian's dual forms manifested—whether the Headless Slave or Zhang Hao transformed into a ghost demon, both fell to a single slash.

The Willow Sinew Art has three stages: Nourishing Qi, Gathering Qi, and Forming Form.

Li Rui had already leapt into the Gathering Qi stage, even half-stepping into Forming Form; the Headless Slave was still in Nourishing Qi—how could he possibly match Li Rui?

Capturing the Headless Slave alive was both calculated and lucky.

There was no tracking art at all.

Li Rui was no immortal—how could he know everything?

He merely used his Insight Eye to sense changes in surrounding danger levels. Bringing the Clear Wind Manor men along wasn't to rely on them to find the Headless Slave or anyone else—it was purely to shake the tree and frighten the tiger.

With so many people, if the Headless Slave was still nearby,

he would inevitably sense the commotion and act.

Whatever action he took, it would eventually show in the Insight Eye.

It was precisely this method that allowed Li Rui to successfully locate the Headless Slave.

Had the Headless Slave fled outright from the Peace Prefecture, Li Rui would have been powerless to pursue.

Fortunately, his luck had always been good.

After another half hour—

"Ugh."

The Headless Slave's consciousness returned; he struggled desperately to rise and flee.

"Unbeatable!"

=9+ Shu _ Ba

His mind replayed the palm strike before his consciousness faded.

Only a Willow Sinew cultivator nearly at Forming Form could have delivered such a blow.

Yet as he tried to stretch his body, he realized he was bound by an iron chain.

It appears to be forged from spirit iron.

The Headless Slave raised his head and saw an old man grinning at him, holding half of his disguised body in his hand.

"Such a refined disguise technique—no wonder you're a disciple of the Old Mother of Ten Thousand Ghosts."

"Who are you?"

The Headless Slave, eyes blazing, growled the question.

Li Rui chuckled lightly: "You don't seem to understand your situation. Only I get to ask questions—you're not worthy."

"."

The Headless Slave fell silent.

He knew he was finished, captured by this old man.

Li Rui nodded in satisfaction: "Good."

"Now, I ask, you answer. I can—"

The Headless Slave smirked: "Can what? Spare me from death?"

He wasn't stupid.

This old man had surrounded him with men but hadn't killed him—he clearly wanted information from him.

But the moment he spoke, death would be imminent.

"No," Li Rui shook his head. "I can make your death easier."

The Headless Slave's smirk deepened: "You? Really?"

Li Rui still smiled. Slowly, he raised his right hand: "Young man, you haven't suffered yet, yet you claim you fear nothing. You're going to die anyway—say a few words and it'll be more comfortable."

You don't lose anything. Look: now you'll suffer, and in the end you'll still have to speak. Why not just save yourself the pain?"

"Just to let this old man stretch his limbs?"

The Headless Slave glared fiercely at Li Rui, his mind racing for an escape.

The longer he delayed, the greater his chance to flee.

"I'll see—"

Before he could finish the word, Li Rui's right hand pressed onto the Headless Slave's skull.

"Ugh… ah…"

The Headless Slave didn't even let out a scream.

His body convulsed violently, like an electric shock—within moments, yellow fluid pooled beneath him.

A terrifying true qi surged from Li Rui's palm, violently coursing through the Headless Slave's meridians.

Crown Injection.

A common method of transmitting cultivation, used by masters near death who deemed their disciples unworthy—they forced their own true qi into the disciple's body.

But their method was far gentler than Li Rui's.

Li Rui left not a single trace of Xuanqing Qi—he instead made the Xuanqing Qi circulate a small heavenly cycle within the Headless Slave's body.

Understand this:

The Headless Slave had barely cultivated qi—he couldn't even complete one full cycle. Now, forced to circulate qi against his will, his meridians shattered inch by inch, pain so excruciating he couldn't even scream.

Li Rui's gaze was cold, showing no mercy.

Mercy toward an enemy is cruelty toward oneself.

Since he was going to die anyway, how he died didn't matter—as long as he served a purpose.

He'd learned this method from a tale in a Jianghu Miscellany.

"Mm."

Li Rui withdrew his hand.

The Headless Slave collapsed helplessly to the ground, his lips trembling, as if trying to speak.

But Li Rui didn't even intend to listen—he simply stood still, watching the Headless Slave as a pile of ruined flesh.

After a stick of incense had burned.

Li Rui placed his right hand again on the Headless Slave's head.

He forced another thirty-six small heavenly cycles through him.

Then rested another stick of incense.

He repeated this, never caring what the Headless Slave tried to do or say.

The process continued until dawn began to lighten the sky.

The Headless Slave died.

Li Rui buried his body beneath a tree—leaving him a whole corpse was his reward for revealing information before death.

Li Rui glanced at the fresh earth beneath the tree.

It was scorching hot now; within two days, the corpse would rot into a pile of rotten bones.

He clapped his hands.

Turned and vanished into the mountain forest.

Two kezhong later, he returned to the Qingfeng Mountain Villa.

Tan Hu sprang to his feet the moment Li Rui stepped through the door: "Brother Li, nothing happened, did it?"

Li Rui shook his head: "No trace of the Ghost Ming Sect. No sign of the Headless Slave—he's likely left Anning Prefecture."

Last night, after returning, he'd claimed he feared a Ghost Ming night raid and gone alone to investigate.

Tan Hu grinned: "Good thing nothing happened."

He'd been on edge all night.

"Brother Li, you've been working all night—you must be exhausted. Go rest."

He'd wanted to go himself, but Li Rui insisted he was too reckless and that he himself was better suited.

Reluctantly, Tan Hu had agreed.

Li Rui nodded: "A bit tired, indeed."

He returned to his room.

His thoughts stirred slightly:

"Immortal treasure… Immortal art."

(End of Chapter)