Chapter 358: Explosion

An Ziyang stared at the expressionless woman, standing with his hands behind his back.

Although he looked composed on the surface, he was secretly on high alert. The silk threads he held could trigger all his mechanisms at any moment, and his Gu insects were already prepared to pounce and kill.

Liu Jin.

The Director of the Eastern Depot.

The martial artists of the Jianghu were merely pawns, expendable materials used to test An Ziyang. This great eunuch was the true threat tonight.

"Director Liu, don't you want to chat?"

An Ziyang asked.

The woman did not answer; she merely looked at An Ziyang quietly for a moment, turned her gaze to the surroundings, and then shifted it back.

"This place is just a diversion. Your real plan is elsewhere."

He said this with absolute certainty.

"Without a Heaven-Man guarding it, this cannot be the true location of your setup. Your true setup is at—"

"Wang Gongchang."

An Ziyang's pupils shrank.

But the next moment, he forcibly suppressed his emotions and said with a smile,

"What is Director Liu talking about?"

The woman did not answer.

She had no intention of bickering with An Ziyang, nor did she have any desire to probe for information. She simply picked up a long sword from the corpse of a masked man and slowly wiped it against her body, clearing away the bloodstains.

An Ziyang frowned.

Liu Jin had never cultivated internal energy, so while his method of possession was eerie, it had many limitations. This applied not only to time but also to quantity and quality; thus, the targets Liu Jin had possessed previously were basically ordinary people who knew no Wu Gong.

Possessing someone who knew Wu Gong was also a great drain on Liu Jin. Therefore, this woman must be a very important pawn.

And this woman's Wu Gong posed no threat to An Ziyang.

Then, what was he trying to do by picking up the sword?

A desperate struggle?

Would someone like Liu Jin, who was like a puppet, do such a meaningless thing?

The next moment, the woman raised her hand and tore at her body!

Her clothes were ripped away in one motion, revealing her snow-white body.

An Ziyang's eyes widened sharply.

It wasn't because of the woman's body—he had seen plenty of that. It was because of a scar on her abdomen, stretching from side to side and still oozing blood! It had been crudely stitched with hemp thread, and one could vaguely see the flesh wriggling!

And the woman's hand had already grabbed the hemp thread.

Without a moment's hesitation, An Ziyang raised his hand and pulled! The silk threads tugged at the mechanisms, triggering dozens of traps that fired countless hidden weapons at the woman!

No matter what Liu Jin wanted to do, he could not let him succeed!

Kill him first, ask questions later!

Pu pu pu pu—

Countless hidden weapons pinned the woman's body in an instant; her eyeballs were pierced, her nose and mouth were sliced off, and her scalp was even peeled back, revealing a stark white skull.

Yet, at the very last moment of her life, the woman still pulled the hemp thread.

Her abdomen opened wide.

A box slowly emerged from the flesh and fell to the ground.

And behind the box was a bundle wrapped in oil paper, emitting blue smoke. The smoke was carried by the wind to An Ziyang, releasing a pungent odor.

An Ziyang was very familiar with this smell; he had been tinkering with this very thing at Wang Gongchang for the past few days.

Gunpowder.

The next moment—Boom!

The woman exploded with a roar!

An Ziyang suddenly raised his hand, his sleeve burst open, and an iron umbrella unfurled to block his front.

Splattering bits of flesh hit the surface of the umbrella and then slid off.

After a few breaths, he lowered the umbrella.

The woman, or rather Liu Jin, had vanished.

On the ground, there remained only two severed legs lying askew, some shattered remains, and a severed hand still tightly gripping the long sword.

The box that had been hidden in her abdomen had been caught in the explosion and shattered, revealing the items stored inside.

They were several scraps of paper, seemingly torn randomly from a book, with some text written on them. Several had already been ignited and were slowly burning.

An Ziyang's brow slowly furrowed.

"What exactly does Liu Jin want to do?" "Commit suicide just to deliver a few scraps of paper to me?"

"Now, apart from me, there are no living people here. What threat could a few scraps of paper pose to me?"

He pondered for a moment, chanted a mantra, and directed his Gu insects to pounce on one of the scraps. After confirming it was non-toxic, he brought it back and placed it in his hand.

He fixed his eyes on the text above.

"Form dissolves, no self, spirit returns to the Great Void..."

"Intent wanders the eight poles, spirit illuminates the Zhou Tian?"

"This is! A remnant of the Yingzhou Profound Observation Art!"

An Ziyang suddenly looked up.

He finally understood Liu Jin's plan!

The explosion was not meant to kill him, but to destroy the evidence while simultaneously sending a signal!

And now, he truly had the Profound Observation Art in his hands!

Without a moment's hesitation, An Ziyang lunged forward, rushing toward the pile of paper scraps! He raised his hand in a palm strike, unleashing the vigorous Qi of the Wedding Dress Divine Art, intending to crush the scraps into powder!

But the next moment—Boom!

A tall figure appeared before him, blocking his palm.

The next moment, another figure darted past and snatched away the pile of paper scraps.

"Got it! Everyone!"

The figure jumped onto the roof like a wisp of blue smoke, carefully and quickly extinguished the flames on the scraps, and then, by the moonlight, took one look and slapped his own thigh.

"Indeed, indeed!"

"The rumors are not false! I cannot fathom the depth of this technique, but it is absolutely different from all the Wu Gong currently in the Jianghu. It does not train Qi or tendons and bones, but the spirit—this is the legendary Profound Observation cultivation method!"

"Pity, only four or five pages! The rest has already been burned away!"

He beat his chest and stamped his feet.

But the next moment, an aged voice interrupted him.

"No matter, the person is still here."

An Ziyang exchanged a blow with the tall figure, retreated rapidly into his Gu insects and mechanisms, and scanned the surroundings.

On the walls, roofs, and throughout the courtyard of this small compound, more than a dozen figures had appeared, all dressed as Jianghu people. But unlike the masked men from before, these people did not hide their faces.

Thus, An Ziyang recognized them instantly.

"Why, esteemed Sect Leaders, can't you sleep? Did you get lost coming to my Embroidered Uniform Guard's territory?"

He reached his hand behind his back, his gaze shifting to the roof.

There were two people there, the most dangerous ones.

Water's End Zen Monastery, Liaoxing.

Kunlun Sect, Qiao Cailian.

The two Heaven-Men who had won the "Peak" plaque for their respective sects at the Songshan Moon-Viewing Banquet.

Qiao Cailian glared at An Ziyang with hatred.

"Li Miao humiliated me like that that day; today, I will collect some interest from you, his lackey!"

Liaoxing simply pressed his palms together, let out a long sigh, and shook his head.

"The elders in the temple are trapped in the Five Decays of Heaven, and this monk had no choice but to come... Battalion Commander An, please forgive me."

He smiled apologetically.

"But Battalion Commander An, this monk truly does not wish to offend the tiger might of Lord Li. Coming here today is merely to request this technique from Lord Li."

"If Battalion Commander An is willing to hand over the full volume, this monk will ensure your safety. Once the elders in the temple recover, this monk is willing to pay with his life to Lord Li to atone for today's offense. Would that be acceptable?"

A roar erupted from the side.

"Why waste so much breath on this lackey and eagle dog!"

A middle-aged man with reddened eyes, holding the woman's severed hand that gripped the long sword, stared fixedly at An Ziyang.

"So many lives, one technique is not enough!"

"I want him buried with my daughter!"