Chapter 32: Revenge

“Has he made his move?”
“The strength of a Grand Martial Master is truly astonishing!”
Through his spiritual connection with the Mind-Control Gu, Lu Sheng swiftly perceived the vision transmitted by the Blue-striped Coral Snake. Ma Buti’s technique of projecting his profound energy outward and condensing it into a barrier left even Lu Sheng amazed.
“To wield external profound energy with such mastery and depth, Ma Buti must be at least in the late stage of Grand Martial Master, perhaps even at the very peak.”
“In terms of sheer strength, a Grand Martial Master possesses a force of at least ten thousand catties, and after completing Blood Refinement, that can be doubled, reaching over twenty thousand catties!”
“My current strength is about eight thousand catties. With a threefold amplification, I can reach twenty-five thousand, on par with an ordinary peak Grand Martial Master!”
Calculating the power on both sides, Lu Sheng quickly made up his mind:
“In that case—let the battle begin!”
Although there was also an exit behind the Golden-spined Dragon, that passage was farther from Lu Sheng, and he sensed that Wan Gu Xiao was already there, dissecting the dragon.
Therefore, Lu Sheng’s only way out of the dragon’s belly was to break through Ma Buti’s blockade!

He flipped his fingers, stowing the dagger into his spatial ring. Relying on the ring’s greatly enhanced absorption ability, Lu Sheng drew in all the seawater within several yards ahead—
Instantly, a vacuum formed between him and Ma Buti, devoid of seawater.
“Ha!”
With a thunderous shout, taking advantage of Ma Buti’s confusion, Lu Sheng launched himself forward, propelled by the pressure from the seawater behind, body shooting out like lightning. He unleashed his full power and hurled a punch at Ma Buti—
Within the gap left by the receding water, Lu Sheng leapt several yards, his fist landing right before Ma Buti!
Ma Buti, already startled by the miraculous scene, was caught completely off guard by such an eruption of force. Before he could muster his full strength, Lu Sheng’s blow, carrying twenty-five thousand catties of force, sent him reeling several yards back, out of the Golden-spined Dragon’s maw.
Fortunately, Lu Sheng’s profound energy cultivation was still shallow; he failed to break through the energy wall and strike Ma Buti’s body—
Otherwise, that single punch would have been enough to injure him.
“A Grand Martial Master truly can’t be overcome by brute strength alone!”
Sensing Ma Buti’s situation, Lu Sheng mused, though he was not surprised. Many fierce beasts famed for their raw strength ended up easily slaughtered by humans who possessed profound energy—

Martial cultivation reigns supreme in this world!
His thoughts did not delay his actions. With Ma Buti hurled from the dragon’s belly, only the Blue-striped Coral Snake, still under Wan Gu Xiao’s control, remained in his way.
“To subdue you—”
“That will be much simpler!”
His spirit shifted abruptly. Once more, Lu Sheng affected the Mind-Control Gu. While it and the snake stood frozen for a moment, Lu Sheng seized the opportunity, catching the immobilized snake and knocking it out, then stowing it in a pouch drawn from his spatial ring.
“As for the Mind-Control Gu, you will stay obediently with me!”
Retrieving the Gu into his own spiritual sea, Lu Sheng commanded,
“Ruyi, confine it!”
Immediately, a ray of light split off from the Ruyi’s spectral image within his spiritual sea, enveloping the Mind-Control Gu and imprisoning it in one corner—
This was the power Lu Sheng could now wield from the Ruyi after his mastery of the Three Treasures Ruyi Art, becoming a true heir to the legacy!
As the vessel of inheritance, to prevent the legacy from being seized, the Ruyi not only utilized merit but also possessed formidable powers to protect the spirit and soul—
Otherwise, Lu Sheng’s soul could never have followed it into this world!
Now, Lu Sheng used this power to completely subdue the Mind-Control Gu.

At the very moment Lu Sheng subdued the Mind-Control Gu, Wan Gu Xiao—who was dissecting the Golden-spined Dragon from a crevice near its tail—suddenly felt his spirit waver. Unable to control his blood and energy, he spewed blood violently from his mouth.
“It’s gone! My life-bound Gu is gone!”
No longer able to sense his Mind-Control Gu, Wan Gu Xiao cried out in horror. There was no time for regret over not having retrieved his life-bound Gu earlier; frantically, he floated upward, snatched out several medicines from his spatial pouch, and swallowed them quickly.
As a Gu that had been merged with his innate vital energy, the loss of his life-bound Gu was not fatal, but it severely wounded his vitality—
One could say that Wan Gu Xiao had now almost completely lost the power to fight!

By the dragon’s maw, Ma Buti, regaining his composure during Lu Sheng’s slaying of the Blue-striped Coral Snake, extended his fingers like swords. Two blades of sword energy shot forth, forming violent currents in the water as they pierced straight toward Lu Sheng.
Seeing this, Lu Sheng quickly shrank his body away, dodging both sword blasts. With a swift roll, he slipped out through the dragon's mouth.

Witnessing this, Ma Buti realized that sword energy underwater was useless against Lu Sheng and was about to surge forward—only to see Lu Sheng flash a smile, press his right hand to the dragon’s corpse, and in an instant, the massive dragon, more than a yard thick, seven to eight yards long, and weighing several hundred thousand catties, vanished into his spatial ring!
“How is that possible!”
“How could he possess such a large spatial treasure?”
Even in the ocean’s depths, Ma Buti could not suppress his cry of shock!
To his knowledge, any spatial item that could directly contain a dragon corpse of such length must have a capacity of at least eight yards square, with an interior space of over five hundred cubic yards.
A capacity of five hundred cubic yards—if used solely for grain—could store over two hundred thousand dan. One dan equals a hundred liters, and with an ordinary person consuming two liters per day, that would feed a million people for a day—
Such a storage artifact could rightly be called a treasure of national military significance!

“A treasure of such scale—let alone a Martial Master, even a Martial Patriarch would rarely lay eyes on it. How could it possibly fall into his hands?”
Amazement gripped his heart, and as the waves stirred by the dragon’s disappearance blurred his vision, Ma Buti looked up to see Lu Sheng already beside Wan Gu Xiao.

“My Mind-Control Gu!”
Wan Gu Xiao, however, seemed oblivious to Lu Sheng’s approach, instead desperately calling out for his lost Gu—
Drawing near, Lu Sheng released the Ruyi’s confinement on the Mind-Control Gu, allowing Wan Gu Xiao to sense it once more. His spirit, which had just calmed, surged chaotically again.
Seizing the moment of distraction, Lu Sheng drew his dagger from his spatial ring and easily plunged it into Wan Gu Xiao’s skull!

“It’s you!”
The pain snapped Wan Gu Xiao back to reality. Staring at Lu Sheng, a twisted smile crept across his face.
Then, relying on the formidable vitality of a Grand Martial Master, he lashed out in a desperate, dying attack.
Yet the strike was far too obvious, and Lu Sheng evaded it with ease. He then twisted the dagger, splitting Wan Gu Xiao’s head cleanly in two—
Thus, the man who had brought ruin to the Lu family of Black Stone Island, was finally dead—beyond all hope of return!