Chapter 17: The Spirit-Piercing Finger

“Is that you, Senior Brother?” Huang Guanyuan looked at the man standing not far away, carrying a pile of severed heads, momentarily taken aback.

Liu Changqing had clearly become a disfigured wreck, so why had his appearance suddenly returned to normal?

And more puzzlingly, why had the man who once wouldn’t even crush an ant underfoot transformed into this ruthless figure?

Before Huang Guanyuan could unravel these mysteries, Liu Changqing spoke calmly from a short distance away:

“Congratulations, Junior Brother Huang, on your wedding day. On this joyous occasion, your senior brother has little to offer...”

With that, Liu Changqing tossed the heads he held forward, letting them scatter across the ground like beads.

“Consider these my wedding gifts to you.”

Huang Guanyuan looked down at the heads, each face still frozen in expressions of terror, shock, or confusion, and forced a smile.

“Senior Brother, you’re so heartless. These were your fellow disciples.”

Liu Changqing shook his head.

“No, they were not. The day I became a cripple, I ceased to be one of them.”

Huang Guanyuan nodded.

“It seems you have fallen into madness and strayed from the righteous path.”

Liu Changqing turned his gaze to Huang Guanyuan, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

“I ask you—were those demon cultists who crippled me arranged by you?”

Huang Guanyuan feigned innocence, raising his hands.

“Senior Brother, don’t slander me. As a disciple of a righteous sect, would I really do such a thing?”

Liu Changqing’s expression darkened with realization.

“So it was a trap you set all along. I was just too naive, too foolish to see it.”

Huang Guanyuan grasped the hand of the woman beside him, pulling her into his embrace.

“Senior Brother, have you come to crash the wedding?”

Liu Changqing looked at the woman in Huang Guanyuan’s arms and recalled how, after he became a monster, she had looked at him with disgust and contempt.

He felt it was time to return that gaze.

“No, I have come to enlighten a certain mind.”

“To enlighten a mind?”

Huang Guanyuan frowned, not understanding.

“What do you mean?”

Liu Changqing explained coldly,

“Simply put, I have come to kill you.”

“To kill me?”

Huang Guanyuan was briefly stunned, then burst out laughing.

“Hahaha, Senior Brother, have you lost your mind?”

A dark aura emanated from Liu Changqing.

“Do you think I cannot kill you?”

Huang Guanyuan released the woman’s hand.

“I think what you should consider is how you will beg for mercy later.”

Before Liu Changqing could respond, a fierce shout rang out from behind him:

“Foolish brat, how dare you cause trouble on the joyous day of the Changheng Sect? Have you grown tired of living?”

Before Liu Changqing could turn, a powerful oppressive force pressed down from above his head.

He immediately dodged backward several steps.

In the next moment, the ground where he had stood was a deep pit.

At the bottom lay scraps of torn cloth—remnants of disciples who had been caught off guard around Liu Changqing.

The Changheng Sect was renowned for three ultimate secret techniques.

The first was the Changheng Art, a cultivation method.

The second was the Mountain-Sealing Seal, a powerful offensive immortal technique.

The attack Liu Changqing had just evaded was the Mountain-Sealing Seal.

This technique could only be mastered by cultivators beyond the Golden Core stage, and within the entire Changheng Sect, only the Supreme Elder and the Sect Leader knew it.

The one who had just launched the surprise attack from behind was none other than Huang Zhishan, the current Sect Leader of Changheng.

Liu Changqing turned to face him.

He saw a middle-aged man glaring at him from only five or six yards away.

Liu Changqing greeted him first.

“Uncle Shi, long time no see. Your strength has improved considerably.”

Huang Zhishan snorted coldly.

“Hmph, Liu Changqing, my junior brother should never have brought you into the sect. If he saw you like this now, he’d probably crawl out of his grave to clean house!”

“Master...”

The so-called junior brother Huang Zhishan referred to was one of the few who had genuinely cared for Liu Changqing within the sect.

Unfortunately, Liu Changqing’s master had passed into immortality when he was only fifteen.

“Uncle Shi, did Master really die from a cultivation accident during seclusion?”

Huang Zhishan’s eyes flashed.

“What are you implying?”

Liu Changqing nodded.

“So that’s how it was... Haha, I really should have realized sooner.”

Huang Zhishan curled his fingers into a special formation.

“You dare slander! Mountain Imprisonment!”

As his words fell, an invisible force enveloped Liu Changqing’s body, rendering him immobile.

“Go apologize to your master underground!”

Huang Zhishan swiftly closed the distance, raising his palm to strike Liu Changqing’s forehead.

Had the blow landed, Liu Changqing’s head would have shattered like a balloon.

In a critical instant, Liu Changqing’s shoulder trembled, and a surge of black energy burst forth from within, breaking the binding power.

He transformed his palm into a finger and pointed directly at Huang Zhishan’s brow.

“Spirit Piercing!”

A black beam shot from Liu Changqing’s fingertip, breaking through the spiritual barrier surrounding Huang Zhishan’s body and entering his skull.

In the blink of an eye, the black line burst out from the back of Huang Zhishan’s head and struck the roof behind him.

Boom.

A circular hole was blown in the roof, moonlight pouring through and illuminating Huang Zhishan’s brow, now bleeding.

“This... this is... the Spirit Piercing Finger!”

The Spirit Piercing Finger was the third ultimate secret technique of the Changheng Sect.

Its difficulty and power surpassed even the Mountain-Sealing Seal.

Until now, only a few extraordinarily gifted disciples had mastered it.

Liu Changqing’s master was one of them.

“Your talent is truly terrifying.”

Having spoken, Huang Zhishan’s eyes widened, and he collapsed with a thud.

Blood spread around him.

All the disciples who witnessed this were stunned.

The once arrogant, supreme Sect Leader, who ruled above all, had just been killed by Liu Changqing?

What was Liu Changqing’s current cultivation level and strength?

Before anyone could answer, Liu Changqing turned back to Huang Guanyuan.

At this moment, Huang Guanyuan was too terrified to mourn his reckless father. He took a step back, filled with fear, jealousy, and resentment.

“W-Why? Why are you so much stronger than me? I’m just a country bumpkin!”

Liu Changqing advanced toward him.

“Will you do it yourself, or should I help you?”

Huang Guanyuan retreated step by step.

“Heh... I haven’t lost yet. Don’t get too happy too soon!”

The woman, who had said nothing until now, stepped forward and blocked Liu Changqing’s path, tears glistening in her eyes.

“Senior Brother, please stop! Huang Junior Brother and I are already married. Nothing can go back to how it was. Please let it go. What I want to see is the senior brother who was humble and sincere before—not this monster who kills his own disciples indiscriminately.”