Chapter 81: Chapter 81

Chu Li observed the place with his Omniscient Mirror, and Ding Weisong looked as feeble as a seventy-year-old man. It seemed that the secret technique had taken a huge toll on him.

So, Chu Li stealthily crept into the boiler room and stood silently beside Ding Weisong.

Ding Weisong did not notice anything odd as he continued his cultivation to recuperate his health. He felt exhausted, and his reflexes were badly impaired.

Chu Li reached out his hand to block Ding Weisong’s temple, but stopped himself after he had second thoughts. The temple of a body cultivator might differ from that of a martial artist. Besides, it was highly probable that his palm strike would not be effective enough, which would then give Ding Weisong a chance to forcefully fend him off.

Chu Li let out a cough.

Ding Weisong was startled and he opened his eyes. The color drained from his face when he saw Chu Li. Then, he got up and prepared to flee.

Chu Li reached out his hand and pressed him down, stopping him. “You’ve already drained every single ounce of your energy, why bother trying? Let’s have a proper talk!”

“What’s there to talk about?” Ding Weisong seized the opportunity to activate his secret technique. He wanted to strike Chu Li with the element of surprise.

Chu Li asked, “Where did you keep your Sun Cultivating White Tiger Portrait manual?”

“What white tiger?” Cheng Wenhui was taken aback by that and he revealed a puzzled expression. “What are you talking about? What tiger art?”

Chu Li smiled. For a moment then, he felt impressed by Ding Weisong’s acting. “Let’s change the topic then. I’m sure you’ve earned a lump sum of money after all these years. Where did you hide them?”

“What is it that you want?” Ding Weisong replied coldly.

Chu Li grinned as he replied, “I can imagine that you’ve kept the banknotes in a secluded place that is rigged with your very own traps, rendering access to only yourself, am I right? You’ve earned quite a lot, but don’t you think it’s stupid not to spend them so quickly and save them for the older days instead? Brother Ding, do you really think you can live that long?”

“That’s none of your business!” Ding Weisong scoffed at him. “What? You want to get your hands on the banknotes?”

Chu Li said, “How about you use them to buy back your life, eh?”

“How much do you want?” Ding Weisong jeered at Chu Li.

Chu Li laughed. “To buy the company of a pretty lady from the New Moon Brothel alone would cost nearly ten thousand taels. For a man of your character, I’m sure you don’t go to lowly places like New Moon for girls?”

“Just give me a number, how much?” Cheng Wenhui scoffed.

Chu Li thought for a moment and then reached out his left hand. He said, “Five hundred thousand taels!”

“Alright, deal!” Cheng Wenhui replied in a low voice.

A wide smile etched across Chu Li’s face. “Well, Brother Ding, you’re quite a generous man!”

Ding Weisong reached inside his robe and took out a stack of banknotes. He gave them to Chu Li. “There’s a hundred thousand taels in there. Just hold on to it for the time being, I’ll pay you the rest later on!

Chu Li was just about to reach for the bank notes when Ding Weisong suddenly threw out a palm strike towards him.

Just in time, Chu Li retreated and dodged the hit.

Ding Weisong retracted his fist and shook his head. “Remarkable!”

He exhaled disappointingly, knowing that he had blown his one and only chance to take his enemy down. This Chu Li is indeed a cunning fella!

Chu Li smiled. “Brother Ding, that was not nice at all!”

“Fine, I give up!” Ding Weisong sighed. “The bank notes are all yours. After this, I’ll give you the remaining four hundred thousand taels. I’ll gather the money as soon as I can.”

“When will you be able to give them to me?” Chu Li did not take the bank notes from him but smiled instead. “I think it’s better for you to give them to me once you’ve collected the whole amount!”

“I won’t be able to do that right now.” Cheng Wenhui shook his head. “I can’t even walk straight right now, and the money can’t be retrieved by anybody else!”

This time, his face appeared more yellowish than ever, as if he had just applied some ginger extract.

If he decided to use the hidden technique again, he would be so incredibly worn out that even talking might seem like an impossible task for him.

Chu Li took a glance at the banknotes in Ding Weisong’s hands and smiled. “I know there’s something on those banknotes; I better not touch them.”

Cheng Wenhui forced a smile back. “Nonsense!”

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“You’ve applied poison on the banknotes. Anyone who comes in contact would die before they reach seven steps… Brother Ding, tell me, where did you uncover the Sun Cultivating White Tiger Portrait?”

“What is Sun Cultivating White Tiger Portrait?” Ding Weisong asked with a doubtful look. “Is that a martial arts secret technique?”

Chu Li sighed. “Brother Ding, then don’t blame me for what I do next. Goodbye then!”

Once he had finished talking, he appeared right behind Ding Weisong in a single blink. His sword gave out a chilly glow, and it sliced through his enemy’s throat. Ding Weisong succumbed to an instant death.

If it was on another occasion, Ding Weisong’s body cultivation would have prevented the sword from taking his life so easily. However, Chu Li had baited him to use his secret technique twice consecutively, resulting in a complete drainage of his strength and powers. At that time, he was weak as a kitten and stood no chance against Chu Li’s sword.

Chu Li exhaled sharply as he pulled out his sword, wiping it on his victim’s clothes. He tore off a chunk of Ding Weisong’s clothing and used it to wrap around his banknotes. He kept them in his robes and stealthily left the mansion. He then quickly made his way out of town.

The moonlight was soft, and the night was young.

Chu Li was seen in the heart of the forest, dashing from one corner to another, just like a shuttling shadow. He was rushing towards the very place that Ding Weisong had hidden his Sun Cultivating White Tiger Portrait manual.

He had also found out the person who had requested Ding Weisong to murder him. It was Feng Shicai, the father of Feng Wen. He was a big name in the martial arts world.

Though Chu Li had decided not to approach Feng Shicai just yet.

He could imagine the people from the Tempest Temple waiting for him there, waiting for him to fall into their trap. Besides, it could be a better idea to let Feng Shicai live scot-free for a while. Right now, his priority was to locate the Sun Cultivating White Tiger Portrait manual, and then master the Sentient Menace technique. With that, he would then be ready to take on his enemies from the Tempest Temple, and finally take down Feng Shicai.

The Imminent Skyline technique would drain a huge amount of inner energy but would grant him supernatural speed. He only needed a night’s time to cover over a thousand miles. At the end of his journey, he arrived at a mountain.

The sun had just risen as it shined brightly across the landscape. Chu Li stood at the base of the mountain and glanced upwards. All he could see was a snow-covered mountainside; the peak was shrouded by clouds.

Chu Li activated his Imminent Skyline technique, and not long after, he had reached a cavern halfway up the mountainside.

The surroundings were covered in ice. However, every step on it felt as hard as a rock; it did not feel like soft fluffy snow at all.

A cavern opening was completely covered by ice, and it looked no different than the ice wall around it. If he had not known the exact location of the cavern earlier, he would have missed it.

He then used the force of his palm to break through the thick ice, granting himself passage into the cave opening. Along the way in, he avoided all the booby traps before he came across a rickety stone table in the heart of the cave. On top of it were white porcelain bowls and plates. There were also leftover crumbs of dried meat and bread.

This was Ding Weisong’s secret hideout. Besides going downhill for kill missions or odd visits to town to loosen up, he would spend the rest of his time in this place, and that was precisely why nobody could locate him.

On top of the stone table, there was a wooden box. Chu Li picked up a shard of ice from outside the cave and pried open the box. Inside, he found a yellowing book which looked exactly like the Sun Cultivating White Tiger Portrait manual that Su Ru had given him the other day.

Chu Li used the ice shard and hit hard at the box, breaking it apart.

He then used his sword to pick out the thin book.

The cover wrote, “Sun Cultivating White Tiger Portrait”. The four big words were carved in gold and silver ink, and the style of the font looked just like the one he had seen before. It was clearly written by the same author, but what was missing was that it did not specify whether the book was the first or second volume.

Chu Li knew that Ding Weisong had not realized that what he was cultivating was only a half of the manual. He must have thought that the Sun Cultivating White Tiger Portrait was only comprised of six diagrams. Though even so, Cheng Wenhui had only managed to visualize one of the diagrams. He was not capable of doing the same for the other five since it would render him a major headache whenever he tried to.

That was because he did not have enough mindpower. His brain was scorched because he could not withstand the intensity of the tiger’s powers. Therefore, he was not able to properly visualize and cultivate it.

Chu Li skimmed through the six diagrams rather quickly, and he was soon immersed in a deep thought. He decided to combine the pictures of both volumes on the spot as all twelve images flashed across his mind, spinning around quicker and quicker. Suddenly, his visualization snapped and all the projected images were gone; his mind was engulfed by darkness.

However, Chu Li was very composed — thanks to the help of his Omniscient Mirror. He stayed put and continued the visualization calmly. Even though there was only nothingness in his mind, he did not panic at all.

“Woooo…” A howl was heard.

His whole body shuddered with the loud sound as a huge wave of energy entered the space from nowhere. The last time, his cultivation had only produced energy surges as tiny as needles. Yet now, it was transformed into a huge wave that cascaded into his body. He felt as if the force was tearing his muscles apart, shattering his bones into pieces.

The pain overwhelmed him like a huge wave from an ocean. He could not help but shudder.

Then, the long howl of the tiger shattered the darkness, revealing a bright light in his mind — a white tiger, the size ten time larger than the previous one he had seen, appeared. Its paws landed in mid-air as its fur stood on their own ends, and vibrated as if a strong wind had blown across them.

Dragons with the clouds; tigers with the wind. Now this is the real white tiger!

The giant tiger imitated each of the acts from the manuals. There were twelve actions in total, and it performed them with a kind of fearsomeness.

Now, the excruciating pain he felt earlier had dissipated. Chu Li’s body suddenly felt warm, and the energy wave that surrounded him was turned into spring water, moisturizing his body.

Chu Li opened his eyes and looked at himself. His clothes were drenched wet, and his whole body smelt pungent. It made him feel like puking.

He hurriedly discarded his clothes, and immediately ran outside. He rolled himself in the snow on the ground. After that, it left a blackish mark on the snow as if a layer of diesel had been poured onto it.

Chu Li went back into the cavern and put on some new clothes. He destroyed the secret manual by turning it into ashes. Then, he wrapped the banknotes and made his way downhill.