Apotheosis Begins with Tai Chi

The edge of the palm ground down, pulverizing skin and flesh.

The instant Chen Cheng’s palm pressed against it, the entire outline of the Cloth-Wrapped Demon’s left face disappeared.

The cheekbone caved in, a large section sinking inward abruptly. The two black pits of its nostrils were crushed completely shut, cartilage and flesh collapsing into its cranial cavity. The eye socket imploded, and its eerie red left eye burst instantly.

The jawbone snapped in the middle, twisting completely to the right. Within its massive mouth, the messy, uneven fangs shattered and flew in all directions.

That deathly gray skin, which not even a Refined Iron Long Saber could cut, was like wallpaper made of straw, cracking and peeling away piece by piece after drying out.

Finally, it disintegrated into countless fragments, caught by the Palm Wind and sent spiraling backward.

And all of this was merely the effect of the Bright Force’s Instant Burst.

An unprecedentedly powerful Dark Force, focused to a single point, imploded beneath the skin. Bolstered by the twin Traits of Penetrating Armor and Thunder Burst, the implosion was like countless heavenly bolts of lightning detonating at once.

Normally, with the skin holding it all in, the ruptured mess inside would have been somewhat contained.

But now, before the shattered fragments of skin could fly far, that mess followed close behind, pulled by the Palm Wind into a dark red torrent that shot several yards away.

The Dark Force seemed not to have dissipated yet, continuing to implode within that torrent.

It blasted the mess into even finer particles and thin threads, which finally dissipated in the wind as puffs of bloody mist.

The next moment, Chen Cheng landed gracefully, his figure drifting back some distance, completely unstained by the filth.

Moonlight spilled down as the snowy mist gradually dispersed.

The Cloth-Wrapped Demon was still standing there.

Only, from the neck up, there was nothing left.

Its exceptionally large head had been completely obliterated by Chen Cheng’s single slap.

The stump of its cervical spine was jagged, with shards of bone sticking out of the grayish-white muscle tissue like a snapped old tree stump.

From the center of the cavity, a grayish-white fluid was bubbling up, thick as day-old porridge, and trickling down the curve of its neck.

One breath passed.

Then another.

The ten-foot-tall body finally fell. It was like a great tower that, having lost its crown, could no longer support its own weight and utterly collapsed.

With a thunderous crash, the accumulated snow exploded outward, and the ground trembled slightly.

A dead silence fell over the scene.

An unknown amount of time passed before the wind swept over the hillside. Its mournful whistling finally brought a flicker of life back to Wang Peng’s vacant gaze.

He gasped sharply, as if waking from a nightmare.

In his constricting and dilating pupils, the figure of Chen Cheng, along with the wooden box stuck upright in the distance, was long gone.

Only the headless corpse of the monster proved that what had just happened was not a dream.

”So... so strong... That kind of power is definitely not something an ordinary Martial Artist could possess...”

Shen Chun had also just come to her senses, her voice trembling violently.

Her ten fingers were unconsciously digging into the frozen earth, her knuckles turning blue from the cold, yet she didn’t seem to notice.

Deep in her Heart Spirit, a suspicion had already formed, but she didn’t dare believe it.

”Old Wang... Old Wang...”

Du Wenshun had sat up. He gulped hard and couldn’t help but mutter in a trembling voice:

”That... that was a Secret Martial Artist, wasn’t it? Does he know you? Why else would he save us twice? We’d have been finished without him...”

”I don’t know him...”

Wang Peng shook his head haltingly. After a moment, he added in a low voice:

”Don’t make wild guesses, and don’t spread rumors. He deliberately wore a mask and different clothes because he doesn’t want to reveal his identity!

”We owe him our lives. Let’s not even talk about repaying him yet—the least we can do is not cause trouble for our benefactor!”

”Yeah, you’re right!”

Du Wenshun nodded emphatically. He had been about to ask what to do about the wooden box, but he forced the words back down.

Just then, the whistle of several figures rushing through the air at high speed could be heard.

It was Pang Qingyuan, arriving with several members of the Evil-slaying Red Armor.

They all bore traces of a recent battle, and two of them had even sustained minor injuries.

”This... Whose work is this?”

Pang Qingyuan’s gaze fell upon the enormous headless corpse. Not just him, but the eyes of the Evil-slaying Red Armor members behind him were also filled with shock and suspicion.

Immediately, their gazes shifted in unison from the corpse to Wang Peng and Du Wenshun.

”I just woke up. I don’t know,” Wang Peng said, shaking his head.

”I... I didn’t dare to look at all...” Du Wenshun said, shrinking his neck back, his face still pale.

Pang Qingyuan’s gaze swept to the other side.

Zhang Wen was motionless, his fate unknown.

Shen Chun’s condition was also extremely poor, but she was still conscious. It was impossible for her not to have seen.

”Shen Chun.”

Pang Qingyuan asked in a low voice:

”Who was it that slayed this Cloth-Wrapped Demon?”

”Reporting to Lord Pang...”

Shen Chun composed herself and said with a serious expression:

”I don’t know the man... but I saw him clearly. He was a handsome young man, dressed in white like the snow, with a graceful bearing.”

As soon as she said this, Wang Peng and Du Wenshun secretly exchanged a look.

It seemed Shen Chun had also overheard what Wang Peng had just said to Du Wenshun.

Not causing trouble for their benefactor had already become their unspoken agreement.

Pang Qingyuan and his subordinate exchanged a glance.

There was a look of contemplation in both their eyes, as if they were genuinely trying to guess the identity of this mysterious, handsome young man.

...

「Back at the wedding banquet.」

When Chen Cheng hurried back, the groom’s toast-making rounds were nearly over.

However, the seat of honor at the main table had been kept for him the entire time.

As soon as he saw Chen Cheng enter, Zhou Long quickly wrapped things up with the guests at his current table and ran over to greet him.

After leading him to the seat of honor at the main table, Zhou Long went back to continue his toasts.

”Cheng, where did you go?”

Li Family also sat at the main table, in the seat of honor to Chen Cheng’s left.

”A friend brought me a local specialty from out of town. I went to pick it up and we chatted for a bit.”