Chapter 273: Immortal, Save Me!

There are no rules in the black market; the strong prey on the weak.

A poor kid who usually can only scavenge junk, suddenly pocketing three hundred credit points, is like a piece of fat meat dropped into a pack of wolves—how could he not attract attention.

"Immortal…" A Qi's palms sweated, and his steps became a bit erratic.

"Why are you panicking?"

In Gu Yuan's tone there was a hint of coldness: "You're currently at roughly Level 1 in cultivation; although you have no spells, your bodily strength and reaction speed already surpass ordinary humans. Those two who have been tailing you aren't even equipped with crystal cores—they're just street thugs. Use them to practice; let me see how much of that first layer of Chain Qi on this wasteland is actually substance."

A Qi took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

A Qi deliberately quickened their steps and turned into a secluded dead‑end alley.

Three men followed and walked in.

The leading man's left arm was severed at the elbow, fitted with a crudely made hydraulic prosthetic arm, its exposed gear gaps packed with black oily sludge.

He brandished a high‑frequency vibrating short blade, its edge slicing the air with a shrill buzz. The other two each carried a modified stun baton, electric arcs crackling erratically from the metal tips.

"Three hundred credit points," the man with the hydraulic arm extended his right hand, palm up. "Hand them over, and you may live to leave this alley."

A Qi halted, clenching their fists.

The power of the first layer of Chain Qi coursed through the meridians.

It was the first time in his life that he wielded power not granted by a conglomerate's crystal core.

The extremely thin ambient spiritual energy completed its most basic celestial cycle within him, reshaping his muscle fibers and neural response speed.

He said nothing and charged forward, meeting the high‑frequency vibrating blade.

The hydraulic‑arm man clearly hadn't expected a destitute without even a neural interface to strike back.

He swung the short blade, thrusting straight at A Qi's throat.

By past experience, that slash alone would have severed the opponent's head from the body.

In A Qi's vision, the blade that had been too fast to track suddenly slowed.

A Qi sidestepped, the blade grazing his nose tip and shaving off a few hairs.

Seizing the moment, A Qi lunged forward, his right fist rising from below to hammer the man's jaw.

The sound of bone cracking echoed through the dim passage.

The man was flung backward, crashing heavily into the grime‑covered wall, collapsing unconscious before a scream could escape.

The two remaining men froze in place.

They glanced at the fallen leader, then at the unscathed A Qi.

The two shouted, swinging their stun batons to attack from both sides.

A Qi crouched, dodging the leftward sweep, then kicked the man's knee joint.

A crisp snapping sound rang out; the man clutched his twisted right leg and howled as he fell.

A Qi seized the fallen stun baton and, with a backhand, smashed it onto the face of the last man, whose jaw was fitted with cheap metal.

Metal fragments sprayed everywhere, and the third man fell straight down as well.

The fight ended quickly.

A Qi panted heavily, staring at the three bodies sprawled in a pool of blood.

He looked at his own hands; the power felt real and mighty.

A surge of pleasure at the power rose within him!

The crippled thug on the ground dragged his broken body backward, tears and snot mingling: "Don't kill me! We don't want the chips any more! My sister still has a faulty prosthetic that needs anti‑rejection medicine—please spare my life!"

A Qi's hand holding the stun baton hovered in midair.

He grew up in the slums, having seen countless low‑life people die from full‑body decay because they couldn't afford anti‑rejection drugs.

He looked at the opponent's mud‑ and blood‑splattered face and lowered the weapon in his hand.

"Get out," A Qi turned, "and don't let me see you again."

Gu Yuan watched the farce with cold eyes from within his sea of awareness.

"You released him," Gu Yuan stated a fact.

A Qi's mental response: "They're already combat‑incapacitated, Immortal, I got the chips, he still has a sister, there's no need to exterminate him; surviving on the wasteland is already hard enough."

"Frankly, your stupidity exceeded my expectations,"

Gu Yuan's tone was even, without fluctuation: "You displayed power beyond the ordinary, yet you didn't root out the problem. Do you think he'll be grateful for your mercy when he returns, or will he report your anomaly to those who can trade it for more credit points?"

A Qi's steps halted.

He spun around sharply.

The other one‑armed thug didn't flee.

He was lying prone on the ground, his left hand clutching a black communicator.

The red signal light had already lit up.

"Iron Blood Society… the elders of the Iron Blood Society are arriving any moment!" the thug, face smeared with blood, grinned grotesquely, "You're doomed! A monster without even a prosthetic—its leader will definitely be interested in a mutant like you!"

A Qi's face turned deathly pale; he raised the stun baton and rushed forward, smashing the communicator to pieces with a single strike.

Too late.

From the far ends of the passage, dense mechanical roars reverberated.

The sound of tracks crushing water‑filled pits and the hissing of heavy hydraulic valves releasing air intertwined into an impenetrable web.

"The price of a woman's mercy."

A Qi gripped the stun baton tightly, backs against the wall.

At the left passage entrance, five modified hover‑motorcycles blocked any retreat.

At the right passage entrance, a dozen fully‑armed gang members stepped in, treading on a floor slick with engine oil.

The man leading the group stood over two meters tall.

His left side was completely covered by heavy industrial armor, and a four‑stage energy‑concentrating engine was embedded at his chest.

When the engine ran, eerie blue aura flowed through a transparent conduit into his mechanical prosthetic, emitting a deep roar.

Iron Blood Society President, Tie Tu.

One of the controllers of the underground black market of Tian Shu No. 11 City, late Golden Core cultivation.

Tie Tu glanced at the three subordinates lying on the ground, then turned his gaze to A Qi.

The high‑precision tactical cyber‑eye in his eye socket quickly focused, scanning A Qi's bodily data.

"No neural interface, no prosthetic modification marks, yet a faint aura circulation reaction inside the body." Tie Tu's voice carried a heavy metallic synthetic tone, "Either a lingering innate Dao body, or you have a special fate—bring it back to the lab for a live dissection, and remember not to kill it."

Dozens of gang members pressed in step by step.

A Qi clenched his teeth and took the initiative to strike.

He knew that being captured meant only a dead end.

He poured all the spirit power of the First Realm into his legs, and his whole body shot forward like an arrow toward the foremost big man.

The stun baton struck the big man's chest armor, sparking a burst of fire.

The big man remained unmoved, then a mechanical heavy punch landed on A Qi's shoulder.

Bones shattered.

A Qi's entire body was flung sideways, crashing heavily at Tie Tu's feet.

The gap in realms, the crushing of equipment.

Late Golden Core is nothing in Gu Yuan's eyes.

It only barely touches the Divine Dao threshold.

But for A Qi, who is only at the First Realm.

Such a gap is like a Heavenly Rift!

Tie Tu lifted the mechanical leg that weighed several hundred jin and stepped on A Qi's chest; the ribs emitted a strained wail.

A Qi spat blood in large gulps, his vision beginning to blur.

He desperately shouted in his mind, "Immortal… save me…"

Gu Yuan did not respond immediately.

He was weighing his options.

In the Tian Shu Source Realm, the Heavenly Dao's defect and the laws are twisted by the conglomerates' giant spirit‑collecting array.

Although a strand of his divine soul possesses the essence of a half‑step Immortal King, releasing power without restraint in this world could trigger the planetary outer‑layer spirit‑collecting matrix's alarm, draw the gaze of the founders of the four great conglomerates, and his divine soul count is limited.

Once exhausted…

…only his true body can bring Grandfather over.

By then, it will be a crushing situation again.

The training Grandfather mentioned may no longer have any effect.

However, dealing with a few ants beneath the Divine Dao realm won't require much.

"Remember today's lesson," Gu Yuan finally said.

A Qi closed his eyes.

The next second, the air inside the passage stopped moving.