Chapter 27: Facing Death

After becoming a half-paper person, Xu Zhenshan was more than just a little bit stronger than he had been in life.

Martial arts use force, which is essentially the body's own power; it is just that martial arts manifest this as explosive might.

However, this half-paper person used a cold, sinister substance; when it struck a human body, it actually caused an effect similar to flash-freezing.

To be honest, this was already a true supernatural power, similar to internal energy, and not just ordinary internal energy, but a powerful, attribute-based internal energy like icy true qi. That was why, in their first clash, Lin Heier, caught off guard, had been felled in a single blow.

Otherwise, if Xu Zhenshan were still alive, Lin Heier could have easily beaten him to a pulp.

At this moment, Wu Pifu charged directly over, using the Lotus-Sitting Force he had not yet fully mastered to clash with him. Upon the first contact, Wu Pifu’s heart immediately sank; an indescribable, icy energy surged down from where their palms met, threatening to freeze the meridians and blood vessels in his hand in a mere instant.

But at this moment, Wu Pifu was using the Lotus-Sitting Force—or rather, a semi-finished version of it. Although it had not yet become a simulated Dan-stage force, it had condensed half of his body's blood and qi. Its cohesive effect far exceeded the Dark-stage, and as it erupted now, it scattered the cold energy directly, then surged upward along the half-paper person's palm with wild force.

A loud "bang" exploded between their palms. Immediately after, the half-paper person's flesh-and-blood palm was blown apart, and this force—half Dark-stage, half simulated Dan-stage—continued to spread upward, shattering half of the half-paper person's arm until it stopped at the elbow. At the same time, the half-paper person was blasted back nearly ten meters, landing right at the edge of the line of fire.

At the same time, Wu Pifu himself did not have it easy; his blood and qi had condensed and erupted in an instant, and his entire body was aching slightly.

However, the benefits of a robust body and blood-qi became apparent. Although Wu Pifu was aching all over, it had not damaged his foundation. Within a few breaths, his body gradually filled with blood and qi, and the slight pain vanished.

In terms of physique alone, Wu Pifu was even stronger than Amadai, a veteran of the Third World War who had undergone genetic modification. He was roughly at the peak of a normal human physique. Don't let his height of just barely 1.8 meters fool you; his strength, endurance, blood-qi, and robustness were all superior to the top athletes of the 21st century. If they were playing basketball, he could even knock a peak-era O'Neal flying in a physical collision.

After one blow, the half-paper person, whose arm had been blown away, actually revealed shock.

That’s right, the half-paper person, who should have been ignorant and mindless, actually showed a look of shock on Xu Zhenshan’s head. However, this expression flashed and vanished, and it returned to that sinister, terrifying dead-man’s face.

"Who... are... you?" Xu Zhenshan’s head asked in a very "difficult" tone.

Wu Pifu was surprised, but he still stood up from his crouch. He looked left and right, and seeing Lin Heier slowly rising, he felt relieved. He then cupped his fists toward Xu Zhenshan: "Tiger Demon Art... Wu Pifu!"

This could be considered "when in Rome, do as the Romans do." Wu Pifu did not understand many of the etiquettes of this era, but after talking with Xu Rongyu and Lin Heier these past few days, he roughly knew some of the exchange rules in the martial arts world.

For example, when two martial artists are strangers and fight for the first time, they either state their sect, such as "So-and-so of Wudang" or "So-and-so of Shaolin," or they state the name of their region, such as "So-and-so of Foshan" or "So-and-so of Guangdong." If they have neither, either because they aren't famous in their region or their sect is gone or cannot be seen in public, they state the name of their martial art, such as "So-and-so of Taiji" or "So-and-so of Xingyi."

Upon hearing this, the half-paper person used a very "difficult" posture to perform a cupped-fist salute with one hand, then continued "difficultly": "Tablet-Shattering Hand... Xu... Zhen... Shan!"

Thoughts raced through Wu Pifu’s mind. He had an incredible conjecture.

Could it be that Xu Zhenshan’s self-consciousness had not been completely annihilated?

Was it now trying to use its last bit of consciousness to fight one last battle as a martial artist?

Just as Wu Pifu was guessing and doubting, he saw the half-paper person suddenly reach out, grab a paper person that was about to float past it, and pull it onto its palm. The paper person struggled and shrieked wildly, its voice sharp as a needle, but the half-paper person was completely unaffected and actually raised the paper person and stuffed it into its mouth.

It appeared to be made of paper, but once it entered its mouth, it was bitten into flesh, blood, and bone. Dark red blood, rolling with rotten flesh and bone, sprayed out from its mouth. Xu Zhenshan’s head was almost entirely deformed, its mouth tearing wide enough to swallow a basketball in one bite. As the entire paper person was swallowed whole, a long, thin tongue licked up the remaining scraps of flesh and blood from its jaw.

In a few seconds, the half-paper person had devoured a paper person. Immediately after, its missing arm began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye. Paper-like threads extended from the severed arm, then wove and wound together to outline the arm, which then transformed from paper into flesh and blood. The half-paper person was whole again.

"Come!" The half-paper person extended one hand forward, covering downward as if lifting something heavy as if it were light, and held the other hand upward, lifting as if it were heavy. After assuming this stance, it strode toward Wu Pifu.

Since Wu Pifu had stood out at this moment, he naturally had no intention of backing down. Perhaps he had not yet fully mastered the Lotus-Sitting Force, and perhaps Amadai had not yet fully completed the projectile, but the arrow was on the string and had to be fired; a man couldn't be stifled to death by his own urine. He also headed toward the half-paper person.

The half-paper person used a different martial art with each arm. One hand was "lifting the heavy as if it were light," moving like a long whip; every palm strike made a snapping sound. The other hand was "lifting the light as if it were heavy," as if holding a thousand jun of force; every palm strike had the power to split mountains and break walls.

Upon their first clash, Wu Pifu’s Tiger Claw was pressed down by the whip-like palm, unable to advance even half an inch. At the same time, the other Tablet-Shattering Palm struck toward his chest from the side. Before the palm arrived, the wind was fierce, and Wu Pifu felt a dull pain in his chest. Just as the palm was about to reach him, his body flashed, and he actually flipped himself completely upside down.

Wu Pifu supported himself with both hands on the ground, feet facing upward, and a flying kick collided head-on with the Tablet-Shattering Hand.

With a dull "bang," the Tablet-Shattering Hand, which seemed to have the force of a thousand jun, was actually kicked away by this foot. Immediately after, Wu Pifu’s palms moved rapidly, rushing upward. He almost pressed himself right in front of the half-paper person, switched his hands to claws, and leaped, digging a large chunk of flesh out of its arm, revealing the bone.

"Good... move!"

The half-paper person cheered with difficulty, then actually grabbed another paper person, chewed and ate it on the spot, and its arm was restored to completeness once again.

The half-paper person’s blood-red mouth and long, thin tongue licked away the bloodstains. Then, surprisingly, it did not attack immediately, but instead stared at Wu Pifu with Xu Zhenshan’s head. Then, its moves changed again; its palms joined in a circle, its feet stepped in an unknown pattern, and it stepped toward Wu Pifu, one step at a time.

"Furnace Grinding-Disk Palm!" Xu Rongyu lay weakly on the ground. At this time, Xu Shilan was holding two torches to protect him, deterring the paper people that were floating in.

Seeing this move, Xu Rongyu shouted immediately: "The human heart is like iron, official law is like a furnace, heaven and earth are one grinding disk... My father had never mastered this move. It is said that this move penetrates directly into the realm of a Transformation-stage Grandmaster. He often sighed that he had learned this move too late. How could this monster possibly be able to use it!?"

Wu Pifu remained silent.

In terms of moves, the Tiger Demon Art might not be very marvelous, but he had already developed a bit of Sleepless Spiritual Sense. In a real life-or-death battle, although his mind was full of distracting, demonic, and evil thoughts, when the moment of life and death truly arrived, his Sleepless Spiritual Sense would react like an instinct. Just like when he faced the Tablet-Shattering Hand reaching him, his body had actually performed a 180-degree rotation and kicked toward the Tablet-Shattering Hand.

This move in the Tiger Demon Art was called "Returning Tail." But a normal "Returning Tail" involved the body leaning backward, remaining flat, and kicking with one foot, not this kind of upside-down, double-footed kick.

One must know that the strength of the human legs is twice that of the arms. This brilliant move allowed him to easily break the Tablet-Shattering Palm.

At this moment, the half-paper person pressed forward again, palms joined in a circle as if holding a round grinding disk. Wu Pifu still met it, Tiger Claws roaring, tearing toward the half-paper person’s neck. But he had only extended halfway when he immediately felt a rolling force coming from between the half-paper person’s arms.

The half-paper person’s one palm rotated spirally clockwise, while the other rotated spirally counter-clockwise. Between the rotation of the two palms, a cold, sinister force erupted, pulling Wu Pifu’s Tiger Claws to rotate along with it.

In that instant, Wu Pifu felt as if his Tiger Claws had reached into extremely viscous mercury, and this pulling force was rapidly expanding. His forearm, elbow, chest, and upper body—in less than a second, he even felt himself being solidified, unable to move even a finger.

Just then, the half-paper person’s two palms merged, and the spiral force exploded violently. The palms easily crushed Wu Pifu’s Tiger Claws, and without stopping, the force penetrated his body. In the blink of an eye, the palms struck deeply into Wu Pifu’s chest.

With a loud "boom," Wu Pifu was blasted more than ten meters away, crashing into the outer wall of a building, breaking through it, and rolling into the interior.

"Transformation-stage!?" Lin Heier had already stood up. She didn't even bother to wipe the ice-blood from the corner of her mouth, just gasped.

"Ha, hahaha, hahaha..."

The half-paper person laughed toward the sky in fits and starts. It still used that dead-man’s face, saying words that sounded extremely joyful: "I have... attained the Dao, blessed by the grace of the Old Mother. Transformation... Transformation-stage, what is that? My child, now I will let you attain the Dao together."

This half-paper person seemed to stutter and hesitate whenever it spoke words belonging to the martial artist Xu Zhenshan, but it was extremely fluent when speaking of the Dao or the Old Mother.

Everyone could see that this seemed to be the half-paper person, or rather, the remnant will of the original Xu Zhenshan, but it was estimated that there wasn't much left.

Xu Rongyu cried out in grief, shouting at the same time: "Father, if you still have consciousness, resist the influence of this monster!!"

The half-paper person remained silent, stepping toward Xu Rongyu, while those floating paper people flew toward Lin Heier, Xu Shilan, and Amadai, who was making final adjustments.

Everyone’s life and death hung in this very moment!

Suddenly, at this moment, the half-paper person stopped, all the paper people stopped their flight, and even the thin mist was forced back by an invisible power.

Inside the half-collapsed building wall, a pair of blood-red pupils suddenly opened!

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 77 =====