My Cultivation Techniques Upgrade Automatically

Chapter 55: Chapter 55: Eyes Are Much Clearer

”Stop him! Stop the guy behind me!”

Qian Fugui burst through the city gates and fled toward the mountain forest. Seeing a few of his men recruiting workers for the quarry, he yelled at them.

He knew that if Wu Chen could easily kill the five late-stage Flesh Refining Realm experts he had hired, then killing these few Mid Stage Flesh Refining Realm underlings would be child’s play.

But he didn’t expect them to actually stop Wu Chen. He just needed them to cause the slightest bit of obstruction.

’As long as I can make it into the mountains and tell my father that Wu Chen has appeared in Black Stone City, he can take action personally, and this whole desperate situation can be turned around!’

HUFF! HUFF!

Qian Fugui gasped for air, his chest feeling like a bottomless pit that could never be filled.

He was straining so hard that his lungs burned as if pierced by needles. Every breath made him break out in a cold sweat.

He felt like he was back in those days of desperate flight, his hair a mess, his body soaked, sweat dripping from the corners of his clothes.

Hearing the sound of metal slicing through flesh behind him, he knew those few lackeys would only cost Wu Chen a single slash.

Qian Fugui didn’t dare look back. He could only drag his heavy body forward.

His legs felt as stiff as if they were filled with lead. Every step seemed to drain the last of his Qi Power.

The path into the mountains, usually a short walk, now seemed impossibly far away.

Finally, the path ahead opened up.

The entrance to the quarry appeared before Qian Fugui, and the CLANGING and BANGING sounds of work already reached his ears.

”Father!”

Qian Fugui mustered his last ounce of strength and screamed toward the lean figure inside the quarry.

Qian Sanjin, who was inspecting the quarry to make sure everything was in order, paused and looked over at the sound of the shout.

Seeing his disheveled son at the entrance, soaked in sweat, he frowned.

”Panicking like this, what a disgrace!”

At his father’s words, Qian Fugui’s body froze in place.

Qian Sanjin assumed his son was stopping to straighten his clothes before entering the quarry, so as not to embarrass him.

’But I distinctly told him to hide in the city, so why is he suddenly showing his face back at the quarry?’

’Could it be that traitor from the Blood Slaughter Sect found him?’

A sense of alarm shot through him, and he was just about to leap forward to meet his son.

But then he saw a black blade appear above Qian Fugui’s head. In an instant, it plunged down, slicing straight through him.

The blade was unnaturally sharp. As it descended, Qian Fugui’s large frame seemed to have no bones, offering no resistance at all.

BOOM! BOOM!

Qian Fugui’s body was split down the middle. The two massive halves of flesh crashed to the ground, one to the left and one to the right, kicking up a cloud of dust.

”AAAAAAGH!”

In that single instant, before Qian Sanjin could even process what had happened, he watched as his son was literally split in two.

His eyes, bloodshot with fury, looked as if they would burst from their sockets as he let out a grief-stricken cry.

His beloved son had died right before his eyes. His heart twisted in agony, and he was consumed by grief and rage.

It felt as if he had been struck by a heavy blow. A metallic, sweet taste rose in his throat, and a trickle of crimson overflowed from the corner of his mouth.

”It’s you!” Qian Sanjin’s voice was hoarse. In an instant, he seemed to have aged more than ten years.

His cloudy eyes stared deadly at the figure holding a sharp blade standing behind his son’s remains.

Although the newcomer’s face was partially obscured, he was almost certain from his eyes and brow that this was the man from his own bounty notice—that bastard named Wu Chen!

He just never expected it. One moment, Wu Chen was destroying the medicine farm on the border of Cangzhou; the next, he was here in Black Stone City, and had even found his quarry.

And now, he had killed his son right in front of him!

HUFF! HUFF!

Qian Sanjin gasped for breath, his lips trembling. He pointed a shaking finger at Wu Chen, unable to speak.

”Don’t be angry, old man. I’ll be sending you to see your son soon enough.”

Wu Chen casually stepped over the corpse on the ground.

After offering this ”kind” reassurance to Qian Sanjin, who was so enraged he could barely speak, he began to survey the quarry, taking in the entire situation.

’So this is the Blood Slaughter Sect’s hideout.’

Wu Chen nodded, looking out over the vast quarry.

On the quarry floor were about two hundred bare-chested, burly men.

However, judging by their attire and their dumbfounded expressions as they stared at the commotion, it seemed they were just ordinary citizens from Black Stone City working here.

Not Blood Slaughter Sect fiends.

RUSTLE! RUSTLE!

In the surrounding forest, the trees and grass began to shake incessantly.

It was the guards stationed around the perimeter, protecting the quarry. Having sensed an intruder, they were now rushing over.

Based on the rustling in the vegetation, Wu Chen estimated that, including the old man before him, there were about thirty Blood Slaughter Sect fiends in the quarry.

But he didn’t know if the men in the surrounding woods were armed with hidden crossbows. If he couldn’t kill this old man immediately, he might get bogged down and overwhelmed.

Before they could form an effective encirclement, Wu Chen’s figure shot forward, his blade shimmering with a cold light as he slashed ahead.

But soon, seven or eight millstone-sized boulders flew toward him in a tight formation, blocking his advance.

Qian Sanjin weaved back and forth, constantly hooking nearby rocks with his feet. His legs hummed like taut bowstrings as he kicked the massive stones.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Each boulder whistled through the air like a cannonball, shooting toward Wu Chen.

The thousand-jin of Qi Power infused within them was enough to crush an ordinary Martial Artist to a pulp.

Qian Sanjin’s movements never ceased. The number of rocks in the air continued to grow, blotting out the sky as they rained down on Wu Chen, threatening to bury him.

”Dying like this would be too easy for you!”

Qian Sanjin’s eyes were bloodshot as he drew the long blade from his waist.

He planned to wait for a half-dead Wu Chen to crawl out from the pile of rocks, then carve him up, slice by slice.

The next moment, however, his eyes widened abruptly and he cried out in shock:

”How is that possible!”

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

Amid a series of dull thuds, the boulders that had been smashed toward Wu Chen were suddenly flying back, faster and more ferociously than before!

This left Qian Sanjin stunned for a moment.

He was about to dodge, but then he realized the trajectories of the returning millstone-sized boulders wouldn’t hit him!

”All that strength, but no accuracy!” Qian Sanjin sneered, preparing to charge forward with his blade.

But then he heard a continuous series of crisp sounds from all around.

CRACK! SNAP! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

Immediately followed by agonizing, shrill screams that echoed across the quarry.

”Agh! My arm is broken! My arm!”

”My leg is pinned under a rock! Somebody help me lift it!”

”...”

Qian Sanjin, who had been about to charge, looked left and right, following the screams.

Only then did he realize that while the rocks Wu Chen had kicked back weren’t aimed at him, they were aimed at the guards rushing out from the forest!

Of the guards who had rushed out, at least seven or eight were struck squarely by the flying boulders in an instant.

Half of them died on the spot. Those who survived lost their ability to fight, leaving them to do nothing but wail in agony.

Even the boulders that missed their targets snapped surrounding trees in half, their sap spilling out, blocking the path of the remaining guards.

’So this guy was deliberately controlling the stones to hit targets farther away?!’

Qian Sanjin finally understood. His opponent’s initial targets had been the guards rushing in from all sides.

But in that fleeting moment of stunned realization, Wu Chen had already charged through the gap created by the rocks he’d kicked away.

”Don’t space out, old man.”

Seeing the distracted Qian Sanjin, Wu Chen offered a reminder as he raised his black blade high and brought it down on his head.

It was a simple, unadorned chop, as crude as a monkey swinging a stick.

Recalling the scene with the kicked-back rocks, Qian Sanjin sneered.

”You ignorant brat. It seems all you have is a bit of brute force.”

He raised his blade horizontally to block. The two meridians in his body tensed like bowstrings, ready to first neutralize the force of the attack and then maneuver for a counter.

He had been the quarry’s foreman for twenty years and had survived more than twenty life-or-death battles, accumulating countless experiences in combat.

He knew very well that as long as he could break his opponent’s opening offensive, he would be the one to control the situation.

BANG!

But it only took a single clash.

As Wu Chen’s blade fell, Qian Sanjin felt his body go completely out of his control. His knees buckled uncontrollably.

He ended up slamming one knee into the ground. Even so, the residual force didn’t dissipate, cracking the stone slab beneath him before the vibrating Qi Power finally subsided.

BUZZ! BUZZ!

The two meridians inside Qian Sanjin’s body vibrated wildly, nearly shattering, as he barely managed to disperse the immense force that had struck him.

He knelt on one knee, staring at Wu Chen in utter shock.

’This is the fucking Meridian Passage Realm?!’

After just one blow, Qian Sanjin’s vision cleared considerably.

All thoughts of avenging his son vanished. Faced with such a colossal gap in strength, his only thought was to get up and flee, to fight another day.

Fortunately, the remaining living guards finally arrived, swinging their blades at Wu Chen and causing the pressure on Qian Sanjin’s blocking arms to suddenly release.

However, before he could even get up, the sound of rushing air came from above him again.

The guard hadn’t even lasted a single breath. A solid kick to the chest from Wu Chen sent him flying like a phantom, crashing into a distant pile of rocks and going completely still.

Seeing Qian Sanjin trying—but failing—to get up during the opening, Wu Chen naturally brought down another powerful, heavy slash.

He wielded the slender blade with the force and presence of a broadsword.

CLANG!

Qian Sanjin, who had just started to rise, fared even worse this time. The brutal force sent him crashing down to both knees as dark red blood trickled from his nostrils.

”Foreman Qian!”

Luckily, another guard arrived, giving Qian Sanjin a moment to breathe.

But it was only for a moment. Wu Chen’s blade fell again!

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!...

The sounds of chopping were endless.

Soon, all the guards around the quarry were dead. After enduring more than ten slashes, Qian Sanjin’s meridians were severed, his bones were shattered to dust, and his entire body was reduced to a pile of mangled flesh.

He couldn’t be any more dead.

In that short time, the ordinary workers had already fled the hellish scene.

Wu Chen shook the gore from his blade and looked around the now empty quarry and its surrounding buildings, preparing to thoroughly search for spoils.

But just then, his ears twitched. He heard the sound of hurried footsteps rapidly approaching the quarry.

Wu Chen turned his head toward the quarry’s entrance, the source of the footsteps.

He stroked his chin, his eyes lighting up.

”It sounds like Miss Hongling is here!”