Chapter 258 - 252: Black Jade Mirage, The Funniest Joke

Chapter 258: Chapter 252: Black Jade Mirage, The Funniest Joke

Seizing the moment while the crowd was stunned, Fu Juemin raised his saber and continued walking forward.

His steps seemed slow but were actually fast, his form as ephemeral as a phantom moving through mist and clouds.

The curtain of rain tore apart before him and closed behind him.

Suddenly, a burly figure charged at him once more!

At this moment, the Human Bear’s eyes were bloodshot. He let out a series of low roars, his ragged, sharp teeth fully bared. His entire being radiated a monstrous, baleful aura.

He was like a living beast, driven to a frenzy by the sight of blood, growing stronger with every setback.

Yet he was far more ferocious than any beast, because he knew Martial Arts—and highly advanced Martial Arts at that.

"HUMMM—"

The Human Bear, enveloped in a dense layer of bright yellow Vitality, threw a punch. His massive hands were like a pair of colossal golden hammers. The instant he struck, visible ripples spread out from his fists, causing large swaths of the rain to disintegrate and explode...

Fu Juemin narrowed his eyes and suddenly slashed out with the Blue Tassel Saber in his hand!

"CLANG!"

With his blood pumping, the Human Bear’s Momentum was now nearly double what it had been initially. He didn’t dodge or evade, instead smashing his fist directly into the terrifying blade of light that rushed toward him!

"BOOM!—"

The fist and saber collided, unleashing an incomparably terrifying shockwave. The Human Bear’s burly frame staggered backward, tipping over...

"CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—"

Beneath his feet, large patches of pooled water, along with the bluestone street beneath, cracked and shattered!

A few breaths later, as the Saber Momentum waned slightly, his tilted-back body righted itself bit by bit. A demonic, savage expression appeared on his beastly face, which was covered in messy black hair. His two massive, fan-like hands had actually caught Fu Juemin’s long saber, clamping it firmly between his palms!

Bathed in the bright yellow Vitality, his hands began to vibrate at an incredibly high frequency!

Relying on this vibrating force, the Human Bear continuously dissipated the powerful Vitality clinging to Fu Juemin’s saber, like a pair of heavy golden alms bowls clamping down on a white fish!

Fu Juemin watched the Blue Tassel Saber tremble wildly under the Human Bear’s Palm Force. He expressionlessly tried to push the saber forward, only to find it unexpectedly difficult to move. He then tried to pull it back but found it was stuck fast.

The Human Bear saw his struggle, and the smile on his face grew colder and more savage.

"WHOOSH—"

The sound of figures cutting through the air rose continuously, mixing with the downpour.

Those who dared to ambush the Demon Elephant were no amateurs. Though they had been shocked by Fu Juemin’s instant kill of the one-eyed old man, they now sensed a shift in the battle and swarmed in like sharks smelling blood.

’If I wasn’t so set on not ripping my clothes today...’

The Human Bear, whose smile was triumphant as he held the long saber clamped between his hands, suddenly heard Fu Juemin mutter this inexplicable phrase.

Before he could figure out what the words meant, he suddenly heard the long saber in his grasp begin to groan, as if unable to bear the strain!

This groaning wasn’t caused by the pressure of his "Unarmored" Palm Force. It was because the Vitality clinging to the long saber was too abundant, too strong... so strong that the blade of this Thousand-refined Treasure Saber was on the verge of being unable to contain it!

The Human Bear watched as the Vitality around his hands melted away like snow, and a blinding blade of light, more brilliant than anything he had ever seen, surged forth!

The smile on his face froze instantly, replaced by a look of utter shock.

If the long saber he’d clamped before was like a white fish, it was now a giant python, a flood dragon!

Under the terrifying Saber Qi, the Human Bear’s own Vitality was rapidly sliced apart. Amidst a stabbing pain like being cut by a thousand blades, he suddenly looked up.

He saw the young man in the snow-white suit still standing there quietly. The endless lines of rain fell behind him, blurring into a gray backdrop.

And in that grayness, a pair of enormous, sinister, and ice-cold serpent eyes seemed to be silently opening... gazing at him.

Demon Soul infusion!

The moment the Black-Scaled Snake Demon’s Soul entered his body, Fu Juemin’s Vitality began a new "qualitative change."

"WHOOSH—"

Fu Juemin lightly raised the long saber. With a turn of the blade, a brilliant flash of light shot out, and all ten of the Human Bear’s fingers tumbled to the ground.

His Saber Technique had entered an unfathomably treacherous realm. He thrust the long saber forward, slashing at the throat of the Human Bear, whose face was now twisted in agony.

This should have been the decapitating blow Fu Juemin intended, but unexpectedly, the moment he struck—

The Blue Tassel Long Saber, a gift from Xue Hen, could no longer withstand the infusion of terrifying Vitality and shattered into several pieces with a "CRACK"!

"AHHH!—"

The uncontained Saber Qi, no longer bound by a blade, raked across the Human Bear’s face, violently scraping away half his cheek and an inch of his scalp.

His head was covered in blood, making him look like a vicious demon, yet he summoned some unknown technique or strength. He instantly shifted his position, moving like a phantom to get behind Fu Juemin, then wrapped his arms around him in a death grip!

"Corpse Covering Armor!!"

The Human Bear roared hoarsely. Black blood quickly began to seep from his seven facial orifices and all over his body. Following this, a chilling, tragic, yet indestructible and solid aura emanated from him!

"Now!—"

The Red Lady shrieked in the distance. The figures who had already closed in no longer hesitated and erupted into action!

In an instant, the curtains of rain around Fu Juemin were torn apart by one figure after another. Attacks—some sharp, some sinister, some tyrannical, some ferocious—rained down on him like a tempest!

"BANG! POW! CRASH!—"

Terrifying shockwaves exploded one after another, blasting through sheets of rain.

It was like a repeat of the situation with the Seven Heroes of Jiangzuo, but the experts participating in this ambush were far beyond what those six could compare to.

The strongest among them were at the peak of Heart Sensing, while the weakest were masters of the Inner Sensing Realm!

These people—whether for fame, for profit, or for revenge—all wore savage expressions, as if they intended to pour every ounce of their life’s training into the young body locked in the Human Bear Iron Corpse’s grip.

"It’s no use!"

After a moment’s stalemate, someone muttered with a trembling voice, "This kid’s Vitality is unprecedented! We can’t even break through his Protective Qi Membrane..."

"Cold poison! Fire poison!"

Someone stared at their own palm, their expression savage, their tone a mix of fear and disbelief. "This is... the Five Poison Skills at the Great Success stage!

How could anyone in this world possibly cultivate the Five Aggregates Profound Evil, a suicidal Evil Technique, to the stage of Great Success?!"

"How is that even possib—AHHH—!!"

The heavy rain fell relentlessly, as if trying to wash away all the filth in the world.

A strange chill spread through the long street with the rain, just as the Red Lady, holding her umbrella, ran forward frantically with her hair in disarray!

"Shut up! Just wait until I’ve locked his Vitality!"

She soared into the air like a demon, then circled rapidly around the deadlocked battle. In the space of a breath, countless slender silver needles shot out from the handle of her umbrella!

"Lingering Makeup!"

"Penetrating Yin Needle!"

"Acupoint Locking! Lock Meridian! Soul Lock!..."

Amidst the downpour, only the Red Lady’s shrill cries remained.

Her red dress was soaked through. Her hands moved like they were weaving through flowers as she flung out tangible streams of Vitality. Every silver needle sank into the figure being suppressed by the combined force of the crowd.

Finally!

Under the Red Lady’s frantic assault, the figure’s Momentum gradually faded, and his once-upright body seemed to slowly bend and slump...

The besieging crowd was overjoyed.

But before the joy could linger on their faces for long....

"BOOM!!!"

In the heart of Vermilion Bird Street, beneath the memorial archway’s pillars, an even more immense and formless mass of air suddenly exploded!

Under this terrifying force, the Human Bear Iron Corpse was torn limb from limb. The other expert attackers were also sent flying!

"SPLASH—"

The rain poured down.

Beneath the downpour, only a single figure remained standing.

Fu Juemin stood calmly in place, head bowed, slowly smoothing the wrinkles on his white suit.

"CLINK-CLANK—"

With his movements, one silver needle after another fell from the folds of his clothes and clattered to the ground.

At this moment, his entire body was enveloped in a thick, viscous, distorted halo of light. It was Vitality, compressed and condensed to an unbelievable degree.

And unlike the Vitality he had released before, faint, elusive wisps of dark muddiness seemed to flow along this transparent, formless halo.

This added a sinister air to his already tyrannical aura.

The Red Lady was stunned. She stared blankly at Fu Juemin, her cherry lips slightly parted, as if she couldn’t believe her eyes.

The faces of the experts who had been violently thrown back showed nothing but shock and horror.

After Fu Juemin smoothed the last wrinkle on his suit, he lifted his head, his calm gaze locking onto the Red Lady.

The Red Lady felt his gaze like a needle prick. She snapped back to her senses and immediately tried to flee.

But just as she began to turn—

Fu Juemin’s figure, trailing a slowly fading wake in the water, appeared before her as if by teleportation. He grabbed her by the neck and lifted her clean off the ground!

"Gasp... Gurgle!"

The Red Lady’s body hung in the air. She struggled desperately, repeatedly jabbing Fu Juemin’s body with the concealed point of her Vitality-infused umbrella handle, but she could only create insignificant ripples on that dark, muddy, transparent barrier.

"What did you want to lock?"

Fu Juemin held the Red Lady with one hand and used two fingers of the other to pluck a silver needle from the folds of his clothing.

He examined the needle for a moment before casually tossing it aside and sighing softly. "What a shame. You couldn’t lock a thing."

As his words fell, the last thread of hope in the Red Lady’s heart quietly snapped.

She suddenly stopped moving, as if she had given up all struggle. A look of despair slowly spread across her face.

Fu Juemin was about to exert his strength and casually end her life.

Just then, an indescribable aura abruptly rose from one end of the long street!

He whipped his head around. When he saw where the aura was coming from, his eyes widened slightly in a daze.

—He suddenly saw that beneath the vast, gray curtain of rain, a towering, ancient Black Tower had appeared at some unknown time, wreathed in clouds!

’A mirage?’

Fu Juemin’s mind wavered for a moment. The next instant, he saw the Black Tower dissolve into smoke, the roiling clouds flowing rapidly downward... finally converging into a single, unremarkable fist that was rapidly growing larger before his eyes!

’Hm?!’

Fu Juemin’s pupils contracted violently!

He barely had time to react!

"BOOM!—"

In the middle of the street, a huge explosion of air and water erupted!

A figure was sent flying backward like a kite with a snapped string...

On the Third Floor of Dingqing Tower, Nie Yunzhen, who had been watching the tumultuous battle with nerves stretched taut as a bowstring, finally saw the short, slender figure that had appeared on the scene. He let out a long breath as if completely drained and murmured, "Heart Intent... Peerless... Warm Evil, Fan Wuyan!"

.....

"SCREEECH—"

Fu Juemin’s feet hit the ground. With one hand, he formed the Dragon Elephant Root Seal, plowing two long furrows through the water on the street.

Not until he had passed the memorial archway’s pillars completely and slid back another ten meters did he finally manage to neutralize the power of that unfathomably treacherous and tyrannical punch.

Once he stabilized himself, he slowly straightened up.

He released the Fundamental Seal and looked down.

A rather clear black fist print had appeared on the skin of his chest.

The suit fabric, the lining, and the mother-of-pearl buttons sewn onto the lining in that spot had all been completely turned to dust and scattered in the wind.

Fu Juemin looked up at the small, mustachioed old man standing on the other side of the archway and said calmly:

"You ruined my suit."

Hearing this, the little old man’s mustache twitched upward slightly.

He walked slowly toward Fu Juemin and said softly, in a tone that was almost consultative, "How about this? I’ll compensate you for the suit, and you give me your life."

"CRACK—"

Fu Juemin casually snapped the neck of the Red Lady, who was still clutched in his five fingers.

The little old man’s steps faltered, and his gaze seemed to turn cold in an instant.

But Fu Juemin paid him no mind. He simply closed his eyes and took a slow breath.

With this action, the dark muddiness in the transparent, distorted layer around him grew thicker. These dark, muddy wisps floated upward like a miasma and began to rapidly condense behind him...

When the countless miasmic wisps of Dark Muddy Qi coalesced behind Fu Juemin into the savage shape of a giant Black Python.

Fu Juemin opened his eyes. A demonic and wildly insolent smile appeared on his handsome face.

He took off his suit jacket, leaving him standing in the rain in just a snow-white silk shirt. He said softly, "That’s really..."

"...the funniest joke I’ve heard all year."

....