Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Fist of Dark Lightning

At that moment, Fan Fan and Xia Dan were running through the corridor of the teaching building. As they ran, Fan Fan shouted to Xia Dan, “What on earth is happening to these people? Why are they acting so strange? And were you just communicating with Qin Xiaochuan?”

“It’s complicated. Let’s just focus on getting away first!” Xia Dan replied.

They pushed open the door to the teachers’ office and rushed inside. Once in, Fan Fan saw Teacher Huang Kui slumped over the desk, drool trickling from his mouth, apparently unconscious. Skirting around Teacher Huang, Fan Fan spotted a telephone on the windowsill and hurriedly grabbed it, but only heard the busy signal—the phone line had been cut.

“What do we do? Even the phone line’s been severed!”

“Don’t panic, Fan Fan. Let’s try another room. Maybe we’ll find another teacher,” Xia Dan suggested.

“That’s all we can do, this is terrifying...” Fan Fan muttered.

Just then, the office door was suddenly pushed open. Teacher Li burst in, drool dripping from his mouth, clearly hot on their trail. Seeing Fan Fan and Xia Dan, Teacher Li lunged at Fan Fan, arms outstretched, as if determined not to stop until he caught her.

Seeing Teacher Li coming, Xia Dan shoved Fan Fan aside and shouted, “Run!” The two darted around Teacher Li and fled the office, sprinting into the corridor.

Pointing to the scene behind him, Vermilion Bird boasted triumphantly, “Well? Seeing your girlfriend suddenly become the heroine in a horror story, isn’t this scene realistic? How does the surreal sensation feel? Her expressions are superb, aren’t they? This is a truly touching moment of life and death! Ahahaha!”

“Unforgivable! You bastard!” Watching Fan Fan and Xia Dan escape on the mirror’s surface, Qin Xiaochuan trembled with rage, his fists clenched tighter and tighter. He charged toward Vermilion Bird, shouting, “I’ll kill you, you bastard!”

Qin Xiaochuan rushed up to Vermilion Bird and unleashed a flurry of punches, his speed now twice what it had been during his training with Master Jinghai. Seeing Qin Xiaochuan attack, Vermilion Bird transferred the magic flute to his left hand and blocked with his right, confident in his own speed.

‘This guy? His punches are fast!’ After fending off a frenzied assault, Vermilion Bird saw Qin Xiaochuan attack again, then dodged and leaped into the air, seemingly intent on striking from above.

“Now’s my chance!” Qin Xiaochuan, seeing Vermilion Bird airborne, wasted no time in raising his right hand and firing his most powerful Spirit Bullet. After nearly a month of life-or-death trials, he was confident in his attack—the Spirit Bullet had grown many times larger than when he first mastered it, from the size of a bullet to that of a fist. Clearly, the brutal training had greatly increased his spiritual energy.

Vermilion Bird, suspended in midair, saw the flash of light shooting toward him and knew it was trouble. He roared, raised his right fist, and struck the Spirit Bullet, knocking it off course toward the left side of the domed roof. The Spirit Bullet hit the roof, and a tremendous explosion followed, blasting a gaping hole above. The sky outside turned dark, rolling clouds bursting with lightning that illuminated the figures inside.

“Impressive power!” Vermilion Bird landed and shook his right hand. “I’m truly amazed. If that had hit me, I’d have been injured for sure. It’s been a long time since my fist felt numb!”

‘This guy? He knocked away the Spirit Bullet I’ve improved through several stages of training.’ Seeing Vermilion Bird deflect his strongest attack, Qin Xiaochuan was taken aback. After Master Jinghai’s hellish regimen, his Spirit Bullet had gained tremendous power, yet Vermilion Bird simply brushed it aside. Clearly, Vermilion Bird’s leadership over the Four Sacred Beasts was no fluke.

“To show my respect—oh, there’s conveniently a hole up there.” Vermilion Bird glanced at the roof, then brought his right index and middle fingers together in a sword shape, pointing skyward. “I’ll use the power of lightning to turn you to ash! Come! Lightning!”

As if summoned by Vermilion Bird, a bolt of lightning crashed down through the hole, striking his right hand. Lightning crackled around his fist, enveloping it in dazzling light. “Behold, my Dark Lightning Fist! An ordinary person struck by this would instantly become dust. I wonder how many hits you can endure, haha! Prepare yourself!”

Vermilion Bird tapped his toe and vanished instantly, faster even than Feiyan. Qin Xiaochuan realized the danger and instinctively retreated, but it was too late. Vermilion Bird appeared before him in a flash, his sword-formed fingers slashing at Qin Xiaochuan’s chest and abdomen. Though Qin Xiaochuan’s instincts helped him evade a fatal blow, the residual lightning still grazed him. It felt like being hit with high voltage; the massive current coursed through his body, making him stand rigid and uncontrollable.

‘What? I was only lightly grazed, yet this toxic current surged through me. I’m completely paralyzed.’ Qin Xiaochuan’s vision swam with gold stars as he lost control of his body, collapsing face-first to the ground.

“Well well, not bad! You managed to block my Lightning Fist with your spiritual energy,” Vermilion Bird observed the trembling Qin Xiaochuan, struggling to stand. “You’re the first human my sword fingers have touched who hasn’t died by electrocution. I’m truly astonished!”

‘I have to guard against his lightning first.’ Gradually adjusting to the paralysis, Qin Xiaochuan braced himself with one hand and forced himself upright, the lightning’s power finally dissipating from his body. He sniffed his smoking arm—a scorched smell filled his nostrils. Another Lightning Fist would surely fry him completely.

“Your courage is commendable!” Vermilion Bird clapped his hands as Qin Xiaochuan stood. “But you won’t last long. Why not just lie here with me and watch those two girls get torn apart by monsters? Hahaha! And you? I won’t let you die alone. Once those girls are dead, I’ll send you off myself. Isn’t that merciful of me? Ahahahaha!”

“Stop joking...” With his trembling hands finally steady, Qin Xiaochuan’s eyes burned with defiance as he faced the laughing Vermilion Bird. “Fan Fan won’t be harmed by your third-rate monsters, and neither will I...” As he spoke, Qin Xiaochuan slipped off his leather shoes and pulled them over his fists, apparently intending to use the rubber soles to block Vermilion Bird’s lightning attack.

“Hahahaha!” Seeing the shoes on Qin Xiaochuan’s hands, Vermilion Bird burst out laughing. “What are you doing? Trying to defend against my Lightning Fist with shoes? That’s hilarious! That layer of leather is like paper—it’ll be pierced by my Lightning Fist. No matter how you defend, you can’t stop my lightning, ahahaha...”

“You never know until you try!” Qin Xiaochuan wasn’t angered by Vermilion Bird’s mockery; instead, his eyes shone with confidence. It seemed he’d found a way to counter the Lightning Fist.

“Then die! Dark Lightning Fist!”

Meanwhile, back at the school, Fan Fan and Xia Dan had been cornered at the end of the corridor by a group of people controlled by magic insects. Each drooled and reached out toward the pair, closing in. With no escape route left, Fan Fan said to Xia Dan, “There’s nowhere left to run! They’re after me, so I’ll distract them—hurry and escape!”

“What are you saying? You think I’d leave you behind? If I did, I’d never be able to face Xiaochuan again.”

“...Then what should we do? ...Hey, look!” Fan Fan suddenly noticed not far away, embedded in the wall, a set of firefighting tools—a fire extinguisher among them. She pointed it out, saying, “There! I’ll draw them over, you grab the extinguisher. Maybe we can both escape!”

Seeing the firefighting equipment, Xia Dan nodded to Fan Fan, who rushed toward the encroaching crowd. These people, their minds erased and now puppets under Vermilion Bird’s control, saw only Fan Fan as their target. As she ran at them, they all reached for her.

Fan Fan, being a girl, couldn’t break through the blockade of over a dozen puppet-like figures. After several attempts, two grabbed her arms, and others closed in, about to lock her down completely. Just then, thick white smoke sprayed out, enveloping the puppets’ vision. The two holding Fan Fan let go, flailing blindly. Seeing the opening, Fan Fan dashed past the blockade and, with Xia Dan wielding the fire extinguisher, headed for the stairs. Armed, they found it easier to deal with the puppets.

As they reached the stairwell, preparing to descend, one puppet rushed from behind and seized Fan Fan’s arm. Xia Dan, seeing Fan Fan caught, unhesitatingly sprayed the puppet with the extinguisher nozzle. Amid the billowing smoke, Fan Fan broke free, grabbed Xia Dan, and prepared to flee down the stairs. Just then, another puppet darted out from the stairwell corner and grabbed Fan Fan from behind. This puppet was none other than Teacher Li from the guidance office, who had apparently been lurking there for some time, waiting for his chance. Seeing the opportunity, he sprang out and wrapped his arms around Fan Fan.