Chapter 109: Can't Take It Anymore

'Ah!'

From the three-meter-deep pit came Feng Qingyun’s agonized scream.

Facing the boulder, Feng Qingyun showed no fear—he didn’t even dodge. His longsword was a Grade Three rune weapon, capable of cleaving through stone without needing to gather even a trace of gangqi.

But facing the flames, he had also been unafraid—until now. Trapped in this narrow pit, he had nowhere to flee. The fire surged down upon his head, forcing him to unleash his gangqi in self-defense.

Unfortunately, he was only at the Seventh Layer of Martial General cultivation; his gangqi had not yet fully permeated all his meridians and could not cover his entire body.

Thus, even with his full strength poured into his protective gangqi, his clothing still caught fire. The sparks spread like wildfire, engulfing him in moments.

Feng Qingyun was terrified. His gangqi trembled violently, trying to extinguish the flames—but just as one patch died, more fire crashed down from above, relentless, accompanied by blinding white smoke.

He tried to leap out of the pit through the flames, but the moment the thought formed, another massive boulder crashed down from above.

This time, Feng Qingyun couldn’t even split the boulder—he took the full impact. His head spun, his vision blurred. Fortunately, his gangqi shielded him; otherwise, his skull would have burst open on the spot.

Unable to escape the pit, and with flames, smoke, and boulders continuing to rain down, Feng Qingyun soon became a living torch. His clothes were long gone; every inch of his skin burned. The agony was unbearable.

He realized he’d been tricked. Someone wanted him dead—they’d set this trap. But he didn’t know who.

'Ah... Ah Hu!'

Feng Qingyun screamed again, calling for his beast companion, the Shadow Tiger, to save him—but the Shadow Tiger never appeared, only roaring endlessly.

You idiot!

You’ve killed me!

Feng Qingyun fell into despair. He knew he was going to die.

Above the pit, Cang Luo wore a grotesque grin, heaving pre-prepared boulders the size of washbasins into the pit without pause.

Cang Luo had no grudge against Feng Qingyun—he didn’t even know him, had never laid eyes on him.

But here and now, Feng Qingyun had to die!

As a stepping stone on Cang Luo’s path of cultivation.

No—I’m doing heaven’s justice, killing a criminal who dared to molest a young lady.

Cang Luo kept hurling stones, inventing excuses for himself to ease his guilt...

Beside him, the Flame Wolf, Erha, also poured fire relentlessly into the pit. Cang Luo ordered him not to hold back—burn it to ashes.

As a result, Erha’s snout blistered.

Severe internal heat!

Cang Luo whispered through spiritual transmission: 'Don’t worry—I’ll get you some cool tea later...'

Seven or eight meters from the pit, Uesugi Emiko, her lower body pinned beneath the corpse of the Shadow Tiger, stared anxiously, tense and trembling.

She faced away from Cang Luo, clutching his phone, frantically fumbling with it, occasionally glancing back in fear he’d catch her tampering with his communication artifact.

What kind of artifact is this?!

It doesn’t just record text and images—it transmits them, even functions as a spiritual voice device.

Now it can even summon the Shadow Tiger’s roar!

Uesugi Emiko was utterly stunned. She kept manipulating the artifact and noticed two protruding bumps on its side.

One bump was long, one short. After thinking, she couldn’t resist pressing the short one.

The moment she pressed it, one side of the artifact lit up like a mirror. She jumped, nearly dropping it.

When the artifact’s side lit up, Uesugi Emiko saw an image—and strange symbols alongside Chinese characters.

The image was just the lock screen wallpaper: a photo of Cang Luo and Yunjiao. The symbols and characters were the date and time. The Martial World had no Arabic numerals, so she didn’t recognize them.

Uesugi Emiko stared at Yunjiao in the image for a few moments. Who was this woman? What was her relationship with Lord Cang? A lover?

Could she have one of these artifacts too?

Uesugi Emiko thought it likely, but didn’t dwell on it. She memorized Yunjiao’s face, then mimicked Cang Luo’s motions, touching the screen with her fingers.

She accidentally swiped open the numeric unlock interface.

Panicked, she thought she’d triggered something forbidden. She stopped touching it. Ten seconds later, the phone dimmed.

Uesugi Emiko frowned. She wanted to press the power button again, then remembered the longer bump. She pressed the volume down.

The looping tiger roar suddenly grew quieter.

Uesugi Emiko gasped, quickly glancing back at Cang Luo. The change was subtle—he probably hadn’t noticed?

Now she understood: the longer bump controlled the volume of the Shadow Tiger’s roar.

She dared not press it again, fearing discovery. So she pressed the short bump—the power button.

The screen lit up again, revealing Cang Luo and Yunjiao’s image. This time, she noticed the symbol at the center had changed slightly.

Ignoring the symbols, she tried swiping again—and this time, she unlocked the camera. She jumped again, but quickly regained composure.

With the camera open, Uesugi Emiko finally understood how the artifact captured images.

She noticed a small eye-like lens on the artifact’s back. Wherever the lens looked, everything was recorded as an image.

She was stunned! Shocked!

How was this even possible?

Uesugi Emiko didn’t understand, but kept exploring. In her fumbling, she accidentally pressed the shutter, entering burst mode—but the images flashed too fast for her to notice.

Several photos captured her wide-eyed expression, taken during her fumbling to flip the device. She was completely unaware.

After more exploration, she realized the short bump was the artifact’s power button: press once to turn it on, press again to turn it off.

Knowing how to power the artifact on and off, Uesugi Emiko began studying how it transmitted messages—and what secrets it might hold.

Unfortunately, the phone was locked. No matter how she fumbled, she could only toggle between the camera and unlock interfaces.

Uesugi Emiko frowned, baffled.

After more random inputs, she mashed buttons on the unlock screen—and triggered a failed unlock. The phone vibrated once.

There’s a restriction!

Uesugi Emiko froze, heart pounding. She thought the artifact had a forbidden array, and she’d triggered it. She hastily returned the phone to its original spot.

After a while, she noticed no further reaction. She exhaled in relief.

But she dared not touch it again. She feigned innocence, watching Cang Luo and the Flame Wolf as they buried Feng Qingyun alive.

He didn’t notice, did he?

Uesugi Emiko believed her secret snooping had gone undetected—unaware that her clumsy actions had already been photographed, leaving irrefutable evidence.

And in truth, Cang Luo had known from the start. Every move she made was under satellite surveillance.

Cang Luo decided he’d have fun teasing her later.

After a while, Cang Luo noticed Feng Qingyun’s screams had stopped. He checked via satellite—Feng Qingyun was dead, reduced to a charred black corpse.

'Phew!'

Cang Luo exhaled deeply, murmuring: 'So that’s it? A Seventh-Layer Martial General killed so easily by me?'

Cang Luo suddenly realized how easy it was to kill low-level cultivators. Warriors, Martial Generals, Martial Masters—all had weak spiritual awareness, unable to sense their surroundings or targets. Easy to trick.

A simple bait, a simple pit—Feng Qingyun was dead.

But Cang Luo felt no pride. He grew more cautious. He knew this method only worked on low-level cultivators. Try it on a Martial Spirit, and you’d die without knowing how.

Just now, I hid behind a giant cedar. If Feng Qingyun had been a Martial Spirit, he’d have sensed me the moment I entered his spiritual range—and fired a streak of gangqi...

Even if he’d been just a little more cautious, less blinded by lust, he’d have realized the Shadow Tiger had been dead for a long time—that the roar came from something else—and he wouldn’t have fallen for it.

Cang Luo was reflecting on his tactics when Uesugi Emiko, having crawled out from under the Shadow Tiger’s corpse, ran over, clutching his phone.

She glanced at Feng Qingyun’s charred remains, her face paled slightly—then she exhaled in relief.

He’s dead. I’m safe.

Without looking at the corpse, she offered the phone to Cang Luo with both hands, her voice trembling with awe: 'Lord Cang, mighty indeed! With only Warrior cultivation, you outwitted and killed a Martial General! I am utterly humbled—you truly are a genius of the Profound Heaven Sect...'

After a few more flatteries, once Cang Luo reclaimed the artifact, she couldn’t help asking: 'Lord Cang, what exactly is this artifact? It can display images and emit sounds like the Shadow Tiger’s roar...'

In my opinion, it’s surely not just a simple Ten Thousand Beasts Scroll, is it?'

Uesugi Emiko stood on tiptoes, neck stretched, watching Cang Luo manipulate the artifact. She longed to step closer, to see how he lifted the restriction—but dared not, fearing suspicion.

Her wide-eyed, neck-stretched expression amused Cang Luo—but he held back a laugh.

Then, when he opened the photo album, he couldn’t hold it in—he burst into laughter.

Uesugi Emiko’s heart sank. He found out? She tensed: 'Lord Cang, why are you laughing?'

Cang Luo laughed a moment longer, then turned the screen toward her, face dark.

Uesugi Emiko looked—and saw her own image captured by the artifact. She froze in horror—then horror turned to shame.

Her image was truly... truly unbearable to look at. So humiliating.

Ninety percent of the image was her face—enormous, like a washbasin, eyes bulging stupidly...

Seeing her own face, Uesugi Emiko suddenly realized—she dropped into a deep bow: 'Lord Cang, I’m sorry! I... I was just too curious, I couldn’t help playing with it!'

As she apologized, she began violently shaking her hips.

Cang Luo kept his dark expression, feigning anger—though he wasn’t truly angry. He just wanted to watch the hip-shaking longer.

Cang Luo watched... then watched again.

Only when his little brother nearly gave out did he stop her: 'Enough. I don’t blame you.'

Uesugi Emiko instantly stopped. She opened her mouth to speak—then noticed the subtle change in Cang Luo’s body.

She knew exactly what that meant. Her face flushed crimson. She tugged at her tattered clothes, barely covering herself—but still, large portions of her body were exposed.

Facing Cang Luo’s burning gaze, Uesugi Emiko felt awkward—then, in the next second, she straightened her spine, lifted her chest, boldly displaying her curves before him.

She had made her decision: even if she sacrificed her body, she would uncover the artifact’s secrets!

Between her own body and the rise of Japan—which mattered more? Uesugi Emiko instantly knew.