Chapter Twenty-One: The Girl Exuding a Strange Medicinal Fragrance
“Don’t think that just because you’re an assassin who knows how to hide, you can mess with me!”
“Not long ago, a woman ranked second on the killer list came to assassinate me, and she ended up riddled with bullets.”
“That woman, I severed the tendons in her hands and feet and tormented her for more than ten days. I must admit, a young lady who’s practiced martial arts since childhood is truly something. Her belly was so pale and smooth! Unfortunately… she starved herself to death. Still, her corpse wasn’t bad either.”
In Blood Whirlwind’s eyes burned equal parts lechery and malice.
“That’s why I say, times have changed! What’s the use of being a master of external martial arts? You’ll still get shot to death!”
Blood Whirlwind cackled in triumph, grinning madly.
But suddenly, his laughter cut off abruptly.
Because—Lin Qiye walked out of the study, completely unharmed.
Not a scratch could be seen on Lin Qiye, let alone a bullet wound.
The bodyguards’ faces shifted; jaws clenched, they unleashed a wild barrage in Lin Qiye’s direction.
Yet silver light shimmered around Lin Qiye, deflecting every bullet.
Amid this hail of gunfire, Lin Qiye advanced step by step until he stood before Blood Whirlwind, a faint smile curving his lips.
“Sorry, but the times haven’t changed.”
Seeing Lin Qiye unscathed, Blood Whirlwind’s face blanched. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. He screamed hoarsely, issuing orders to his professional bodyguards.
“Shoot! Shoot! Kill him! Kill him for me!”
Lin Qiye shook his head lightly. In an instant, he became a specter, gliding behind the bodyguards.
Crack.
Crack.
Their necks snapped with a chilling sound. Their heads, unsupported, lolled limply against their chests.
More than twenty bodyguards died with bulging eyes and tongues protruding, their faces twisted in agony.
Blood Whirlwind instinctively shrank his neck, but in terror realized a hand was gripping the back of it.
He turned his head slowly.
And found himself staring into Lin Qiye’s expressionless features.
Blood Whirlwind broke out in a cold sweat, tears streaming down his face, and a pungent odor of urine filled the air beneath him.
He’d fought and killed in River City for decades—what martial arts experts or assassins hadn’t he seen? Even masters of external arts feared bullets.
But Lin Qiye was utterly fearless. Under a rain of gunfire from dozens of rifles, he remained unscathed!
Not even a science fiction novel would dare depict such a scene!
Terror-stricken, Blood Whirlwind dropped to his knees and banged his head on the ground in desperate supplication.
“Sir, please spare me! I know I was wrong! I’ll be your most loyal servant, I beg you, sir, please forgive me!”
Lin Qiye’s face remained calm.
“Do you know how to be a good lackey?”
Blood Whirlwind smashed his head against the floor until his face was covered in blood. “Yes, yes, I know! I’ll serve you with all my heart!”
Lin Qiye cast him a sidelong glance. “This villa is mine now. You’re my servant. Stand aside and await my orders. Of course, if you’re not convinced, you can bring an armored vehicle and try your luck against me.”
He paused, his tone cold and devoid of emotion. “But the consequences of failure will be dire. If you wish your whole family wiped from the face of the earth, then by all means, take the gamble.”
To Blood Whirlwind, these words landed like a block of ice in his chest, sending a freezing chill straight to his core.
“No, no, your servant wouldn’t dare resist! I will serve you loyally, sir!”
At this, Lin Qiye waved his hand. “Get lost!”
“Yes, sir!” Blood Whirlwind nodded and bowed, slinking away in embarrassment.
Watching the fool depart, Lin Qiye frowned in distaste.
“If I didn’t need someone to run errands for me right now, I’d have killed you already. But once I’m done, your time will come.”
“For now, cultivating is what matters most. I should check out the dried-up well first.”
With these words, Lin Qiye made his way to the villa’s back garden.
He searched carefully.
But there was no sign of the well.
He fell into contemplation.
“The whole garden, especially around the rockery, is lush and unusual. The well must be beneath it!”
Reasoning thus, Lin Qiye backed up a few steps.
He suddenly drove his fist forward.
A dragon-elephant phantom, nearly thirty feet tall, blasted out; the rockery was instantly reduced to rubble.
Beneath the shattered stones, a cement-sealed well was revealed.
It was an ancient well, clearly several centuries old.
Lin Qiye scraped away the cement.
The mouth of the well met daylight once more.
Wisps of spiritual energy rose from its depths, refreshing Lin Qiye’s mind and spirit.
“So the spiritual energy at the bottom is indeed denser. But… it’s still not enough.”
He fetched a military shovel, leaped to the well’s bottom, and started digging downward.
He dug until he was thirty meters below ground.
There, he touched bedrock and discovered a fissure in the earth’s meridian.
Spiritual energy seeped slowly from that fissure.
“So, deep within the earth’s meridian, a spiritual spring has formed.”
Realization dawned on Lin Qiye.
He dug along the fissure.
At first, it was narrow and required forceful chiseling, but after dozens of meters, it widened enough for a person to pass.
Lin Qiye pressed on quickly and finally, a thousand meters below the surface, he saw the spiritual spring.
A tiny pool of water had collected atop a platform as smooth as jade, radiant clouds swirling above, white mist drifting like the folds of heaven.
Judging by eye, the concentration of spiritual energy was a thousand times higher than the surface!
Lin Qiye was overjoyed.
He sat down cross-legged at once.
He activated the flawless version of the “Qi Refinement Technique,” devouring the rich spiritual energy.
In just three hours, Lin Qiye had absorbed every trace of spiritual energy from the spring, refining it into pure spiritual power.
His meridians surged with rolling energy.
Lin Qiye’s cultivation soared to the third level of Qi Refinement. The manifestation of the Dragon-Elephant Physique reached thirty percent!
His combat strength had increased more than tenfold.
Now he could destroy an armored vehicle with a single punch.
Feeling the tremendous power coursing through him, Lin Qiye’s face was alight with joy.
“Excellent. No wonder they call these spiritual springs precious—the benefits are obvious. If only I could find a few more, that would be sublime. Unfortunately… spiritual springs are rare, and this one is now completely drained. It’ll probably only recover when the world’s spiritual energy revives.”
Lin Qiye sighed helplessly.
“It’s a pity—the spiritual energy of this world is just too thin. If I want to advance quickly, I’ll have to hunt for more spiritual springs.”
With that, he returned to the well’s mouth.
“I’ll come back next time.”
As he murmured to himself, Lin Qiye suddenly felt a jolt of excitement.
His gaze snapped toward the villa.
There, a strange medicinal fragrance, intoxicating to his very soul, wafted slowly out.
“Is that the scent of a spiritual herb? Such a rich and soothing aroma—it must be a medicine over a century old. If I can refine it, I might reach the fifth level of Qi Refinement! Cutting a warship in half with a sword would be child’s play!”
“But why would there be such a fragrance inside the villa?”
Lin Qiye arched an eyebrow in curiosity.
Intrigued, he walked inside.
On the first floor, in the living room, Blood Whirlwind was busy directing the servants as they set a lavish dinner table.
At the sight of Lin Qiye, the powerful man who once ruled River City immediately fell to his hands and knees, prostrating himself.
“Sir, your meal is ready. These are the finest ingredients—I only hope they suit your taste.”
Lin Qiye’s gaze swept the room.
He found the source of the fragrance behind a vase under the opposite window’s curtain.
But it was not a spiritual herb.
It was a young girl.
A young girl… exuding the scent of medicine?
Lin Qiye frowned in thought, then, a few seconds later, a faint smile touched his lips.
“Let’s fill up first, then see what she’s up to…”