Chapter 224: Slave

As Shen Dahu's fist struck, Meng Yifan deployed Taiji Fist, extending his right hand to brush against Shen Dahu's fist, then retreated half a step, following the opponent's momentum.

Shen Dahu lost his balance and was suddenly pulled outward; then, Meng Yifan's hands swept, and a spiral of Qi energy wrapped around Shen Dahu's body, pulling him into a continuous spin.

Shen Dahu felt the world spinning and wanted to break free from this strange rotational force, but every time he exerted strength, Meng Yifan's hands moved in tandem, guiding Shen Dahu's power and causing him to spin even more rapidly.

The subtlety of Taiji Fist lies in receiving, neutralizing, issuing, borrowing force to strike, and four ounces deflecting a thousand catties.

The Taiji Grandmaster Yang Luchan could make a sparrow land in his palm and be unable to fly away; this relied on Listening Energy and Transforming Energy.

For a sparrow to fly, it needs to push off the ground with its legs; Yang Luchan would cause his palm to tremble slightly the moment the sparrow pushed off, neutralizing the sparrow's force and making it unable to fly.

Meng Yifan seemed to be a closed-door disciple of Zhang Sanfeng; his Taiji Fist was personally taught by Zhang Sanfeng, so he could naturally neutralize Shen Dahu's struggling force with ease.

Shen Dahu felt as if he had fallen into a whirlpool in the middle of the ocean, helplessly spinning along with Meng Yifan's hands. This feeling was extremely uncomfortable, and it also made him realize that Meng Yifan's strength was too great; he and Meng Yifan were simply not opponents on the same level, and continuing to fight would only be asking for humiliation.

"Striking people is like playing with a ball; Lord Meng's Taiji Fist is truly formidable."

"I must follow Lord Meng and study Taiji Fist properly in the future."

"Erdan, didn't you say the day before yesterday that Taiji Fist was soft and weak, and boring to practice? Why have you changed your tune now?"

"Go, go, go! That was just because I hadn't seen Taiji Fist in actual combat before. Now that I see how powerful it is, I will definitely study it well in the future."

The soldiers of the Imperial Guard Company watched Shen Dahu spinning continuously with Meng Yifan's hands, and spinning faster and faster, all of them dumbfounded and whispering among themselves.

"Stop, I won't fight anymore, I surrender," Shen Dahu shouted.

Meng Yifan smiled, withdrew his hands, and stopped adding rotational force. Shen Dahu spun another five or six times before stumbling to a halt.

"Later, open your mind and prostrate yourself before me; from this day forward, you are my servant," Meng Yifan said.

Within the Nine Yin Corpse Refining Art, there is a secret technique to control the life and death of others, but to perform this method, one must split off a strand of Soul Imprint, which causes a certain amount of damage to the main Divine Soul.

When Meng Yifan was a First-grade Immortal Cultivator, he could separate at most one Soul Imprint, which he used to control the Crocodile Gang leader, Liu Sheng.

Now that Meng Yifan has used Experience Value to raise his cultivation to a Third-Grade Immortal Cultivator, his Divine Soul has been strengthened, and he can now separate two more Soul Imprints.

Shen Dahu is a Third-grade Intermediate Martial Artist with decent combat power; since he wants to surrender, Meng Yifan will reluctantly accept him as a servant.

"Open my mind?" Shen Dahu was stunned. Just now, he had only seen that Meng Yifan was a Third Grade High Stage Martial Artist with powerful martial skills and great strength; he hadn't expected Meng Yifan to also be an Immortal Cultivator capable of controlling others' souls. To be a dual cultivator of Dao and martial arts—this was too monstrous.

Shen Dahu is a mountain lord, accustomed to freedom. He was forced into a corner and said he would surrender, but in reality, he only wanted to bow his head temporarily and then find an opportunity to escape.

But now that Meng Yifan was making him acknowledge a master, Shen Dahu became somewhat unwilling.

The methods of an Immortal Cultivator are mysterious and unpredictable; if he were truly tampered with by an Immortal Cultivator on his soul, then Shen Dahu would really be nothing more than someone else's slave.

Seeing Shen Dahu hesitate, Meng Yifan frowned, then gripped his Ghost Head Blade and said coldly, "I'll give you three seconds to consider. If you aren't willing to acknowledge a master, then go die."

Meng Yifan's cold blade pressed against Shen Dahu's neck, and nearby, a large group of soldiers held Flintlocks surrounding Shen Dahu; with a single command from Meng Yifan, they could instantly blast Shen Dahu into fragments.

Shen Dahu was sweating profusely with anxiety. He didn't want to be someone else's slave, but he wanted to die even less. Looking at Meng Yifan's increasingly impatient expression, Shen Dahu finally yielded and said, "I am willing to acknowledge you as my master."

Meng Yifan put away the Ghost Head Blade and brought Shen Dahu back into the room. First, he used the Binding Demon Rope to tie Shen Dahu up, then Meng Yifan performed the secret technique, separating another Soul Imprint from his own Divine Soul Origin.

Meng Yifan pressed his finger against the center of Shen Dahu's brow, and with a thought, that Soul Imprint burrowed into Shen Dahu's Mud Pill Palace.

After that Soul Imprint entered Shen Dahu's Mud Pill Palace, it transformed into the likeness of Meng Yifan and shouted loudly, "Open your mind and prostrate yourself!"

Meng Yifan's voice was like rolling Thunder, echoing through Shen Dahu's mental world, shaking Shen Dahu's Divine Soul until he couldn't help but shiver.

"Too strong, there is simply no power to resist!" Shen Dahu looked at Meng Yifan in terror, feeling the terrifying energy contained within Meng Yifan's Soul Imprint; this Soul Imprint alone had the power to crush him.

In the end, Shen Dahu obediently prostrated himself, bowing deeply to Meng Yifan and saying, "This humble one is willing, and acknowledges Lord as master."

Meng Yifan smiled. The Soul Imprint burrowed into Shen Dahu's Spirit Core; from this moment on, as long as Meng Yifan had a single thought, he could make Shen Dahu's soul scatter and perish.

The Soul Imprint is a secret technique for controlling the life and death of others; it can subtly influence a person's mind, making Shen Dahu increasingly worship Meng Yifan, feeling that everything Meng Yifan says is correct and that he should unconditionally obey Meng Yifan's orders.

Shen Dahu opened his eyes and said respectfully, "Master."

Meng Yifan patted Shen Dahu on the shoulder and then took him outside for a walk, letting everyone know that Shen Dahu had become his servant and that they were all one family from now on.

The group of bandits led by Shen Dahu had been killed or wounded, and nine soldiers of the Salvation Army had also died, with five severely injured.

This served as a wake-up call to everyone: any refugees coming to seek refuge in the future must undergo careful screening to prevent such incidents from happening again.

Meng Yifan decreed that in the future, when refugees come to seek refuge in Luolong County, Shen Dahu will be responsible for overseeing them. With his Third-grade Intermediate Martial Artist strength, combined with the Flintlocks of the other soldiers, even if someone among the refugees dares to riot, they can be suppressed.

During this period, Luolong County has successively recruited over five thousand refugees, and as the news that Luolong County is willing to accept refugees has spread, more and more refugees are gathering toward the Luolong County area, which makes Meng Yifan both happy and somewhat worried.

What makes him happy is that there is strength in numbers; among these refugees are quite a few Martial Artists, from whom experts can be selected to join the army, and others can be assigned to various trades to accelerate the construction of Luolong County.

Moreover, the more refugees absorbed, the stronger the gathered Dynasty Luck, and the greater the power the Luolong County Great Seal can exert.

Meng Yifan's strength is currently stuck in a bottleneck period and must undergo Enlightenment before it can continue to improve rapidly, but Luck Energy is different; the more the hearts and minds of the people are gathered, the stronger the Luck Energy becomes.

Just like those big figures standing at the peak of the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty, their individual strength might be weak, but they hold the mandate of Heaven in their mouths, and by invoking Luck Energy, they can exterminate a high-level Immortal Cultivator with a single word.

To others, these refugees are a burden and a drag, but to Meng Yifan, they are the source of his own power.

What worries him is that the more refugees recruited, the greater the consumption of grain. The Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes have already been planted, but it will take at least three months for them to be harvested.

With the grain currently existing in Luolong County, it simply cannot last for three months.