C10 One Sword One Finger

A group of hooligans was eagerly rubbing their hands together in anticipation. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by a pair of indifferent eyes. Ling Tianxie's gaze brimmed with malice, and in a flash, he positioned himself squarely in front of the gang.

As the eight thugs were about to ascend the stairs, they were taken aback by the sudden appearance of a figure, causing them to jump and shudder in fear. Upon realizing the figure was just a young man, seemingly eighteen or nineteen years old, they relaxed a bit.

"Kid! What the hell are you doing out here so late? Looking to get yourself killed by blocking our way?" Heizi pointed at Ling Tianxie with brazen arrogance and bellowed.

Ling Tianxie responded coolly, "Someone is indeed looking to die tonight, but it's not me—it's you."

"Heh, you're quite the cocky one, aren't you? Do you even know who we are? Nobody in the Village in City dares to—"

Heizi's taunt was cut short as Ling Tianxie's foot connected with his chest, sending him flying over ten meters before he hit the ground, his condition unknown. The remaining hooligans' eyes bulged in disbelief. Was this guy even human? To send someone flying with a single kick!

"Brother, we meant no harm; we were just passing through. Please, spare us," pleaded Black Tiger, the gang's leader, who wielded considerable influence in the Village in City. Realizing he had bitten off more than he could chew, he immediately sought Ling Tianxie's mercy.

These street thugs were accustomed to preying on the weak and recoiling from the strong. How could they possibly stand against someone who could dispatch Heizi with a mere kick?

Ling Tianxie was not one to show mercy, especially not when he considered the irreversible consequences had he not returned in time. He was determined to eliminate any threat.

With Profound Qi gathered at his fingertip, he unleashed it with a single point. Black Tiger screamed as a bloody hole appeared in his right leg, gushing blood. The sheer force behind that one finger was horrifying.

The other six hooligans were petrified, their spirits nearly leaving their bodies in fear. Meanwhile, Heizi lay in the shadows, his fate unknown, and Black Tiger's thigh continued to bleed profusely. None of them wanted to share that fate.

Subsequently, the six men turned their gaze toward Ling Tianxie, their eyes filled with a pleading look.

Ling Tianxie observed the six with a smirk playing on his lips.

Their hearts pounding loudly, the six thugs quickly fell to their knees.

Ling Tianxie glanced up at the third floor before declaring, "Today, I'll spare your lives. Take them and leave!"

"Thank you, big brother..." The thugs, feeling like they had just received a pardon, hastily expressed their gratitude.

They swiftly hoisted Black Tiger and Heizi, ready to make their immediate exit.

To them, Ling Tianxie was akin to a demon.

"Hold on," Ling Tianxie called out to the six men.

Hearing his voice, they were stricken with despair, dropping Black Tiger unceremoniously to the ground.

Despite his pain, Black Tiger remained silent, his face ashen as he watched Ling Tianxie approach.

Ling Tianxie stepped forward and picked up a pebble.

"From now on, treat this place with the reverence of a final resting place! Should there be a next time, you'll end up like this stone!" With that, Ling Tianxie clenched his fist.

Upon opening his hand, the pebble had been reduced to dust.

Ling Tianxie watched the thugs, who looked at him with awe, and let out a roguish chuckle before turning to head upstairs.

Reaching the third-floor corridor, he found his sisters, Ling Yufei and Ling Yueer, standing there, watching eagerly.

Upon seeing Ling Tianxie's return, they quickly inquired about what had transpired.

Ling Tianxie simply mentioned he had dealt with a few thieves.

The Ling sisters were skeptical; they had faintly heard cries of distress.

However, noticing Ling Tianxie's reluctance to elaborate, they refrained from probing further.

That night, Ling Tianxie had intended to venture out in search of a place with a higher concentration of Profound Qi to practice his cultivation. Concerned for the Ling sisters' safety, he chose to stay and practice in his room instead.

Listening to the steady breathing of his sisters in the adjacent room, he knew they had fallen asleep.

Ling Tianxie immediately sat on the bed, forming a hand seal and crossing his legs in meditation.

He focused intently on his dantian and noticed two distinct auras outside of it—one blue and one red, representing Yin and Yang.

To his surprise, Ling Tianxie recognized the blue aura as the Profound Yin Qi he had absorbed from Wang Xue's body. He was puzzled, though, as there seemed to be more of it than he remembered absorbing.

As he attuned himself to the red aura, he could feel its scorching and fiery intensity.

Ling Tianxie was lost in thought, meticulously retracing the events that had transpired.

Eventually, a smile crept across his lips.

The Evil Nether Eye truly lived up to its reputation as a divine power. The creator of the Hongmeng Dao Scripture ingeniously devised the Red Soft Palm to counteract the side effects of the Yang Evil Qi produced by the Evil Nether Eye.

Ling Tianxie understood that using the Evil Nether Eye generated Yang Evil Qi within his body, which in turn created a craving for Profound Yin Qi.

He remembered how he had involuntarily used the Red Soft Palm on Qin Keqing and later indulged in caressing Ling Yueer's delicate feet.

"The additional Profound Yin Qi must have been absorbed then. The situation was awkward, and I didn't pay it much mind," he reasoned.

Ling Tianxie forcefully rationalized the malevolence within him as a consequence of the Yang Evil Qi's side effects.

But the Evil Nether Eye was an innate divine ability—how could it possibly have side effects? Yang Evil Qi could be absorbed on its own, yet combining it with Profound Yin Qi simply enhanced the process.

Without hesitation, Ling Tianxie harnessed the Yang Evil Qi to engulf the Profound Yin Qi, much like a ravenous wolf pouncing on an unsuspecting lamb.

The Profound Yin Qi, dwarfed by the Yang Evil Qi, was swiftly consumed. The two energies merged into a sphere of purple Qi that surged towards Ling Tianxie's dantian and soul.

With an abundance of Yang Evil Qi still lingering outside his dantian, Ling Tianxie absorbed the purple Qi, which made his dantian swell with power, propelling his cultivation to the mid-stage of Qi Condensation.

Another strand of purple qi reached the core of his soul, where the Hongmeng Purple Qi, previously dormant in the depths of his soul, absorbed it effortlessly.

Ling Tianxie anticipated some transformation within the Hongmeng Purple Qi, yet it remained still, as if it had vanished into thin air.

He was initially baffled by the creator of the Hongmeng Dao Scripture. Having granted him the Nine Nether Inheritance, why hadn't the complete cultivation system been revealed to him?

After much contemplation, he realized that everyone has their own path, and the one you carve for yourself is the most fitting.

Ling Tianxie activated the Evil Nether Eye, observing his sisters' peaceful sleeping faces. Ling Yufei looked serene, while Ling Yueer smiled, occasionally whispering 'Big Brother' in her sleep.

A wave of warmth flooded Ling Tianxie's heart.

He silently vowed, "Blood relatives or not, I, Ling Tianxie, will protect those I hold dear from any harm."

He had sensed from the start that there was no blood connection between him and the Ling family sisters, a fact made clear to him at first sight.

After using the Evil Nether Eye, he noticed an increase in Yang Evil Qi within his dantian. Though direct absorption was possible, Ling Tianxie believed combining it with Profound Yin Qi would yield better results.

His thoughts turned to Wang Xue, his girlfriend, and he wondered if she would mind some intimacy. But he quickly chided himself for entertaining such thoughts, especially since it was well past eleven at night, and she was likely asleep.

Besides, Wang Xue was the girl he had chosen to cherish!

Meanwhile, Wang Xue lay in bed, too excited to sleep, overjoyed by the thought of her confirmed relationship with Mr. Tianxie.

The night passed quietly.

At the break of dawn, around five in the morning, Ling Tianxie got up and left his home. It wasn't until he reached the ground floor that he noticed bloodstains on the pavement, remnants of last night's scuffle with the thugs.

This place was nothing like the True Profound Realm, where scenes of bloodshed and slaughter were commonplace. Concerned that he might alarm Ling Yufei and the others, Ling Tianxie sent a palm strike that sent the stone slabs flying, effectively concealing the bloodstains.

Ling Tianxie moved with exceptional speed and reached a lakeside forest in just a quarter of an hour. Finding himself alone, he decided it was time to practice some martial skills. Having recently acquired the Hongmeng Dao Scripture, he needed to start his cultivation anew.

Back in the True Profound Realm, Ling Tianxie had collected numerous cultivation methods and combat techniques, but they paled in comparison to the Hongmeng Dao Scripture. On Langya Mountain, in his eagerness to reunite with his sisters, he had only practiced the Misty Shocking Swan technique and neglected his martial skills. Now was the perfect opportunity to refine them.

Approaching a tree that required two people to embrace it, Ling Tianxie, swordless, resorted to using his fingers as a blade and cried out, "Human Slaying Sword!" His finger, charged with Profound Qi, made a cutting motion at the tree trunk.

His technique shifted as he concentrated Qi into his index finger and jabbed at the tree trunk, unleashing the Human Killing Finger.

With a sigh, Ling Tianxie exhaled and admired the tree trunk, pleased with the potency of both the sword and finger techniques. At his current mid-stage Qi Condensation level, the Human Killing Finger was a more Profound Qi-intensive technique than the Human Slaying Sword, suitable for a decisive blow but not for frequent use. It was significantly more powerful than the finger strike he had used against Black Tiger the previous night.

Noticing someone approaching from a distance, heading directly towards him, Ling Tianxie furrowed his brows, preferring to avoid further complications, and promptly left the area.

Shortly after Ling Tianxie's departure, an elderly man accompanied by two middle-aged men arrived at the tree. The elder was Wen Weiguo, a spry septuagenarian who made it a daily ritual to practice his boxing in the forest by Bright Clear Lake every morning. His curiosity was piqued by Ling Tianxie's peculiar actions from afar.

Ling Tianxie moved with such astonishing speed that before I could even inquire, he had vanished from sight.

Wen Weiguo approached the large tree and peered intently, his expression one of sheer disbelief. "A Grandmaster Expert! Was that person really a Grandmaster Expert? Impossible!"

Wen Weiguo was so overcome with excitement that he began to cough repeatedly.

A man with gold-rimmed glasses came up to support Wen Weiguo, cautioning, "Father, you must look after your health. Please, try not to get so worked up."

"Hanwen, you don't understand; that was a Grandmaster Expert! I've only seen a handful in my entire life. Alas, it's a shame I didn't get to witness his grace!"

Wen Weiguo was the picture of lamentation.

Another man, this one in military attire, came forward and said, "Dad, have you lost your wits? That person looked to be a young man at best. How could he possibly be a Grandmaster Expert?"

"I'm lamenting the missed opportunity to see a Grandmaster's true form, and you have the nerve to call me senile! You nincompoop, take a closer look at that tree trunk."

Wen Weiguo smacked the military-uniformed man on the head before pointing furiously at the tree where Ling Tianxie had demonstrated his martial prowess.

Wen Hanwu rubbed his head, resigned to the fact that no matter his age, his father was still quick to discipline him.

"Holy cow! How can this be?"

Wen Hanwu's eyes bulged in sheer incredulity.

On the tree trunk was a hole the size of a fingertip, and even more horrifying, from this angle, one could see an identical hole in another tree behind it.

The Wen brothers gasped in shock. Though Wen Hanwen was not a martial artist, the thought that this could have been caused by a single finger strike was terrifying.

Wen Hanwu, on the other hand, was a practitioner of martial arts and could fully comprehend the horror of such power.

He feared that the best he could manage would be a tiny hole.