In the backyard of the blacksmith shop, dim light filtered through a hole in the roof, casting eerie shadows on the ground. The massive figure of Kui Leihan sat cross-legged in the center, his giant form dwarfing the surroundings. The iron ring around his neck—crudely welded and broken countless times—glistened faintly. Hanging from it were nine command tokens, each bearing the character "禁" (forbidden). These tokens, relics of ancient weapon prohibition orders, emitted a weak glow whenever Kui Leihan moved, but their power seemed more symbolic than binding, offering only a faint, ornamental light in the gloom.
"Xu Xiaoshou…" Kui Leihan murmured to himself, his deep voice barely audible. Empty wine barrels lay scattered around him, the strong scent of alcohol filling the air. Though the blacksmith shop and its backyard were quite large, they felt cramped due to Kui Leihan's enormous size. He was like a mountain, ancient and immovable, his presence so vast that ten men linking arms couldn't encircle him. One of his arms alone was as thick as a grown man's torso.
Despite the chaos unfolding outside, Kui Leihan remained indifferent, his mind focused elsewhere. He had easily flicked away the demi-saint Hell's Lord White Sin as if it were nothing more than a minor annoyance. Now, with electric light flickering in his eyes, he pondered the situation.
"Speak plainly, boy," his deep voice echoed from inside the shop. "What do you mean by all this talk?"
His words were directed at Jin Ren, whose Divine Puppet stood outside the shop. Kui Leihan's voice carried a hint of amusement, as if he already knew the answer but wanted to hear it spoken aloud.
"You said Bazhun'an regards Elder Dao the Flamboyant as a pile of dog shit," Kui Leihan continued, chuckling. "That sounds exactly like something he would say. But there's more, isn't there?"
Silence followed. Then came the unmistakable sound of drinking, the scent of strong wine wafting through the cracks in the door, detectable even to the Divine Puppet's senses. After a long pause, Kui Leihan's voice, now tinged with mockery, broke the silence.
"Don't hesitate because of that ghost spirit's injury. Speak freely." His tone darkened slightly. "I like straightforward people."
Outside, Aunt Xiang, standing beside Jin Ren, shivered violently. Her hair stood on end as if electrified, transforming her appearance into something sharp and spiky. Jin Ren, controlling the Divine Puppet, was equally stunned. There had been no thunder, no visible strike, yet Aunt Xiang had been affected as though she had been shocked by lightning.
"Does he like straightforward people or not?" Jin Ren thought nervously. "Did Kui Leihan get the message, or didn't he?"
The Divine Puppet shifted slightly, its joints creaking as Jin Ren prepared to retreat. But before he could make his escape, a faint crackling sound echoed within the puppet. The Dao patterns embedded in its structure were malfunctioning, as if damaged weapons were interfering with its movements. Jin Ren realized what was happening—this was a warning. He too was on the verge of being struck by Kui Leihan's terrifying power.
"You asked me to speak, right?" Jin Ren's voice trembled as he tried to muster his courage. But his mind was racing, trying to find the right words.
Before he could speak again, footsteps echoed from the alley across the street. Dao Qiongcang, holding the Divine Sinan in his hand, walked over with a calm smile. His appearance seemed to only add to the tension. Jin Ren took a deep breath, pointed boldly at Dao Qiongcang, and finally spoke.
"My point is…" he hesitated, then forced the words out. "Even someone like Bazhun'an dares to call this guy a pile of dog shit. And you, Kui Leihan, with power enough to topple mountains, to destroy saints with a flick of your finger… why are you content to remain in this rundown blacksmith shop?"
The words hung in the air like a challenge, daring Kui Leihan to respond. Jin Ren's heart pounded in his chest as he pushed further.
"What is it that binds you here? Is it the Holy Emperors? The Five Great Aristocratic Clans? Or is it merely this Dao Qiongcang?"
Dao Qiongcang, who had been walking slowly, stopped upon hearing this. His expression didn't change, but his eyes glinted with interest. Merely? Was he being called "merely"?
Kui Leihan's presence loomed even larger as the crackling sound within the Divine Puppet intensified. Jin Ren felt his scalp tingle, the unmistakable sign of lightning ready to strike. He had no choice but to speak.
"Speak!" Kui Leihan's voice thundered from within the shop, and the air itself seemed to tremble.
Jin Ren's laughter broke the tension, wild and reckless. He knew he was walking a fine line between life and death, but he couldn't stop now.
"Hahaha! I was wrong about you!" Jin Ren shouted, his voice echoing through the silent town. "Fearing even a minor figure like Dao Qiongcang… The great Kui Leihan, the leader of the Ten High Nobles, is nothing but an empty name! You can't even compare to a foot hair of Bazhun'an! I think you're not even worth a pile of dog shit!"
As his laughter echoed, the dust began to settle. The entire town of Changde fell into a deadly silence. Not just the blacksmith shop, but the whole of Changde Town seemed frozen in time. Tens of thousands of evil spirits surrounded the town, their forms quivering in fear. Some clung to the walls, others clambered onto bone dragons, desperately trying to flee. They wished for wings to escape the impending storm.
As the clouds parted, revealing a clear blue sky, the oppressive chill that had loomed over Changde Town for so long began to dissipate. The sudden shift in atmosphere was palpable, as if an invisible weight had been lifted. Aunt Xiang, who had stood frozen with terror, blinked as her consciousness returned, though her body remained paralyzed by fear. Her wide eyes fixated on the Divine Puppet, unable to utter a single word.
"Bravo!"
The unexpected voice of Dao Qiongcang pierced the silence, his sudden exclamation more startling than thunder. He clapped his hands together, the sound echoing eerily through the quiet streets.
With exaggerated movements, Dao Qiongcang placed the Divine Sinan on the ground and resumed his heavy applause, stepping forward with mock enthusiasm. "Bravo! Wonderful!" he shouted, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Well said! The mighty Kui Leihan, not even worth a pile of dog shit! Xu Xiaoshou, you truly have guts, daring to claim you're better than me!"
Jin Ren, controlling the Divine Puppet, glanced nervously at Aunt Xiang, then at the ominously silent blacksmith shop. His situation was growing more perilous by the second. He turned back towards Dao Qiongcang, his voice laced with venom as he spat out, "Where's this dog shit from, splattering everywhere, stinking up the place, needing to be stepped on to get closer?"
The clapping stopped. Dao Qiongcang's hands froze awkwardly above his head. He bent down, picked up his Divine Sinan, and without another word, retreated, his once-confident demeanor suddenly faltering.
"Brat..."
The voice that came from the blacksmith shop was low, seething with barely contained rage. Then, with a deafening explosion, the shop itself disintegrated into a storm of debris. Purple lightning crackled and surged, sweeping across the surrounding streets. Roofs and walls were torn apart, revealing townsfolk who had been hiding, now trembling in terror. The force of the blast shattered iron tools, reduced the forge to dust, and obliterated the bellows. For a brief, blinding moment, the world was bathed in purple light.
When Jin Ren regained his senses, the ruined signboard of "Cao's Blacksmith Shop" crashed onto the Divine Puppet's head, jolting it back to awareness. But Jin Ren's attention was entirely consumed by the sight before him—the towering figure of Kui Leihan, fully revealed amidst the wreckage.
"Alarm! Alarm! Alarm!"
Warnings blared in Jin Ren's mind as his spiritual connection with the Divine Puppet faltered. "Telepathic communication array damaged! Speech function damaged! Linkage of head, shoulders, waist, knees, and ankles abnormal. Central signal transmission is abnormal. Lower limbs damaged…"
The alarms went silent. The only sound remaining was the faint hum of electricity, signaling the Divine Puppet's systems had failed entirely. Jin Ren's spiritual senses, though severely impaired, still provided a vague perception of the scene before him.
Kui Leihan, seated amidst the wreckage, was now fully visible. His enormous, bare-chested form exuded an aura of overwhelming power. His arms, thicker than tree trunks, rested casually—one on his knee, the other on a shattered wine barrel. A black-gold cloak billowed behind him, caught in the swirling storm of purple lightning and wind. His face, broad as a millstone, was framed by fierce eyebrows like halberds, and his eyes blazed with the fury of a Vajra deity.
Blue and purple lightning crackled madly around him, forming a chaotic storm that tore through the air. Each bolt of purple lightning left black streaks in its wake, creating a chaotic tapestry of destruction. The interwoven flashes of light framed Kui Leihan's figure, turning him into a terrifying, otherworldly presence.
For the first time, Jin Ren grasped the true meaning of "God Punishment Tribulation"—the overwhelming power Kui Leihan wielded with such ease. It was a force beyond comprehension, beyond the limits of Jin Ren's understanding.
"Brat..." Kui Leihan's voice rumbled once more, low and deadly. "You court death."
With just a glance—one cold, sidelong look—Kui Leihan's iron neck ring snapped, and the nine weapon prohibition orders hanging from it rose into the air, emitting a faint glow.
"Boom!"
Thunder roared in the Nine Heavens, reverberating across the sky. Jin Ren saw it clearly this time: a wisp of purple lightning, delicate and graceful, emerged from Kui Leihan's pupils. It was not violent, but gentle, almost like a breeze. Yet this lightning did not follow the natural laws of space or time. It simply appeared, bypassing all known principles and instantly acting upon the Divine Puppet.
"Thought..." Jin Ren's mind flickered with realization. In his weakened state, a memory surfaced—his early training in the "Ten Sections of the Finger Sword," where he had first begun to understand the power of "intent," "energy," and "thought." This was it—the pure, unshakable will that transcended all barriers.
The battle between thought and power had reached a new level—one where the intangible had become tangible. As Xu Xiaoshou grappled with the revelations before him, the concept of Penetrating Divine Senses became clear. Sword Will and Sword Energy were once distinct, but in Kui Leihan's hands, "thought" itself transcended the limits of both, turning pure intent into a destructive force. His "God Punishment Tribulation" was no mere manipulation of energy—it was the very materialization of thought, something beyond comprehension and limitation.
In contrast, Xu Xiaoshou's Sword Cognition had always focused on channeling power outward, amplifying the Sword Energy into a more tangible form. Sword Image was an evolution of this, shaping Sword Will into reality. But Kui Leihan had pushed the boundaries even further, into the realm of pure thought. His first-generation Penetrating Divine Senses eliminated the distinction between internal and external, harnessing the essence of thought itself as a weapon.
With just a glance, Kui Leihan had obliterated the Divine Puppet, reducing its powerful components to dust. The puppet stood there, half-destroyed, its divine properties completely stripped away, now no more than a lifeless husk.
Dao Qiongcang, having fled three streets away, panted heavily as he pressed the combat channel button of the Heavenly Group. "Everyone, come quickly!" he barked into the communicator, his normally confident tone laced with urgency.
The white-clothed people, who had been hesitant to approach, gathered quickly, their faces pale as they observed the devastation left in Kui Leihan's wake. Dao Qiongcang stood before them, the front of his robes pristine, but his back severely burned from the residual power of the God Punishment Tribulation. He pointed toward Kui Leihan, still sitting amidst the storm of purple lightning, and spoke with awe.
"See that? That's Kui Leihan," Dao Qiongcang said, his eyes sparkling with a mixture of admiration and fear. The gathered white-clothed people, recognizing the extraordinary figure before them, nodded silently. They all understood that such a person, with strength that defied the natural order, was a rarity in the world. Only the Ten High Nobles could match him—beings that existed in legend more than reality.
One of the sharp-eyed white-clothed people noticed the iron ring around Kui Leihan's neck, a symbol of the nine weapon prohibition orders meant to suppress spiritual techniques. "Even with nine prohibition orders, he can still use spiritual techniques?" the white-clothed person asked in disbelief.
"No," Dao Qiongcang corrected, shaking his head. "This isn't a spiritual technique."
"Then… Penetrating Divine Senses?" another white-clothed person asked, clearly confused. "Shouldn't those be suppressed by the prohibition orders too?"
Dao Qiongcang sighed, "It's not Penetrating Divine Senses either."
The white-clothed people exchanged glances, bewildered. "What is it, then?" one of them asked.
Dao Qiongcang paused, taking a deep breath. "It's just 'thought' and 'force,' a mere 'gaze,' nothing more."
He likened Kui Leihan's power to that of a Saint—a presence so overwhelming that it could crush someone without the need for physical action. "Kui Leihan doesn't need to move. His thoughts alone can manifest like a spiritual technique, and his gaze alone can kill."
The white-clothed people shuddered at the implication. Kui Leihan had ingrained Penetrating Divine Senses so deeply into his very being that every thought, every look, was a weapon.
Dao Qiongcang pointed once more at the shattered Divine Puppet standing before Kui Leihan. "Do you see that half-puppet? That's Xu Xiaoshou… Saint Servant Lord Shou!"
The white-clothed people nodded, though confusion still lingered in their eyes. Why was Dao Qiongcang mentioning Xu Xiaoshou now, amidst all this chaos?
As if reading their thoughts, Dao Qiongcang raised his head proudly and declared, "As powerful as Kui Leihan is, in my presence, he must kill Xu Xiaoshou to prove his loyalty to the Holy Divine Palace!"
The white-clothed people collectively gasped at the bold statement, only for their shock to grow when Kui Leihan turned his gaze toward them. His eyes crackled with purple lightning, a storm of power barely contained.
"Boom!"
Thunder exploded overhead, shaking the ground beneath their feet. Dao Qiongcang, confident in his superiority, smiled as if to reassure his troops. "Don't worry… I've anticipated this. Kui Leihan may attack me, but I—"
Before he could finish, a bolt of purple lightning blasted him away.
"Clang!"
His Divine Sinan clattered to the ground.
"Crack, crack..."
Two teeth, one real and one fake, hit the ground beside it.