At this moment, no one expected that Living Buddha Sangji, who always talked about compassion, would be so vicious—his move was pure poison. The toxic needles he unleashed were so potent that even the faintest whiff in the air knocked out several nearby women with delicate constitutions.
"Kill him—let ten thousand needles pierce his body, let the poison finish him!" At this point, not only Bill Wu but even Greg Rory was shouting, teeth clenched.
In an instant, the poison needles were about to turn Ryan Ling into a human beehive—death was a certainty.
Nearby, not even Warren Yuan and the others, nor zombie Frank Qin, could get within half a step of him.
"Master Ryan!" Harvey Jin shouted in terror.
But right then, Ryan Ling suddenly spun his entire body. A wild wind whipped up around him, growing stronger by the second, until it formed a compact tornado encircling him.
Everyone watching was struck dumb by the sight.
Earlier, whether it was psychic blasts or slicing off an arm with Wind Blade, people could barely rationalize it as the work of a strong cultivator.
But this scene—no matter how strong you are, even past the innate stage, even reaching grandmaster level—there’s just no way a human could whip up a hurricane with bare hands.
This was totally outside the bounds of science—honestly, it was beyond human understanding, straight-up supernatural.
After a few seconds of stunned silence, an elderly man suddenly dropped to his knees with a thud. "Why aren't you all kneeling? A deity has descended upon Peachvale!"
The old man clearly held some sway—once he spoke up, everyone around instantly knelt, chanting 'Amitabha' in unison.
Even Warren Yuan and his crew were totally floored. As a cultivator, Warren knew how much Dao force it took to whip up a hurricane like this—he quickly knelt, chanting, "Master’s divine might! Truly the reincarnation of a Da Luo Golden Immortal. To become your disciple in this life must be a blessing earned over lifetimes!"
With Warren saying that, the rest quickly knelt too. Harvey Jin was especially anxious, blurting out, "Master Ryan, you promised to be the Jin family's chief jade appraiser—please don't go back on your word..."
"Da Luo Golden Immortal? I don’t buy that you’re some reincarnated immortal. If you’re a god, then I’m the Buddha!" Sangji watched his countless poison needles dissolve in the raging wind, his mind shattering. He roared, then suddenly yanked two thick steel needles from his chest and stabbed them straight into his own skull.
In an instant, light flared from the back of Sangji’s head, his body swelled up like it was pumped full of air—he looked just like a ‘Buddha’ descending.
Greg Rory was so shocked he could only kowtow—clearly he'd seen something like this before, and it left him dumbstruck.
"I’ve become the Buddha—watch me deal with this monster!" Sangji shouted, then lunged straight at Ryan Ling.
"Self-delusion. Since you’re so eager for the Western Paradise, I’ll send you there myself!" Ryan didn’t hesitate—the hurricane wrapped Sangji up, and this was Wind Blade’s strongest strike. Anyone caught in it would be torn to pieces.
"Ah, my body..." Sangji’s clothes exploded off him, his body slowly ripped apart. Before, he’d only stimulated his acupoints with silver needles to unlock potential—it was never real Buddha-light or enlightenment. Now, in a flash, his skin and flesh tore open, and his internal energy scattered to the wind.
In a flash, this so-called Living Buddha lost all composure—like his true form had been exposed, he began frantically begging for mercy: "G-great god, spare me! Please, don’t kill me…"
"Begging now? Useless!" Ryan Ling sneered. Sangji had openly tried to snatch a top treasure—by Heavenly Dragon Auction House rules, that’s a capital crime. Plus, with all those poison needles under his monk’s robes, who knows how many people he’s killed. On a day like this, he more than deserves to die.
"Kill him!"
"Finish him!"
"Scum like him, a fraud and a killer—taking him out is doing the world a favor!"
...
Now, even the auction boss was shouting along—practically everyone was cursing Sangji out.
"Die!" Ryan Ling didn’t hesitate for a second—today, he’d use Sangji’s death as a banner for his own path to the Dao.
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a loud bang—Sangji’s body shattered, his organs instantly ground to powder.
Ryan Ling let out a long breath. Honestly, the Purgatory Soul-Suppressing Art is way too strong—even this trial move wasn’t a third as powerful as the real killing technique, and it’s still got a time limit. If he ever masters a true move, even just the first realm, he’d be totally unbeatable in Harbor City.
Back then, most of his wins came from System-granted skills—he’d never really experienced true Daoist techniques. And what he lacked most was raw power; otherwise, even Wish-Bound Telekinesis Art wouldn’t have felt so useless.
No matter what, he had to figure out how to truly master this art!
With Sangji slain, Ryan Ling’s next target locked onto Bill Wu.
"Great god, I was wrong—I swear I know I was wrong, please spare me!" Bill Wu’s face was waxy yellow, panic written all over him as he backed away.
"Spare you? You’ve got the nerve to say that? I let you off once at Huifeng Restaurant, and you learned nothing. You brought Sangji here to kill me—how could I possibly let you go?" Ryan Ling sneered, his hand swirling with fierce winds.
"It wasn’t me—it was him! He brought Sangji to kill you, it’s got nothing to do with me!" Bill Wu shouted, frantically pointing at Greg Rory.
"You bastard! You heartless snake!" Greg Rory clutched his chest, face flushed, nearly coughing up blood.
"Utterly despicable. I’ve always hated ingrates like you!" Ryan spat, not hesitating at all—a Wind Blade shot out, splitting Bill Wu’s skull wide open.
In half a minute, Ryan Ling had killed two men. He couldn’t help but suck in a cold breath—killing really does drive people mad!
Then Ryan’s sharp gaze fell on Greg Rory. Greg was so terrified he wet himself, collapsing to the ground with a thud, eyes wide in horror.
"Forget it, I won’t kill the old, the weak, or women and children…" Ryan Ling said, and Greg Rory let out a heavy sigh of relief.
"But you must hand over your family fortune as penance—distribute it to the poor across Xia!" Ryan’s second sentence hit Greg Rory even harder than death; he collapsed, his long-standing heart condition finally acting up.
...
All the villains were dead, and the Soul-Capturing Alms Bowl was in hand. Ryan Ling didn’t linger—last time he’d lost out to the White Snake, but this time, no matter what, he was determined to win.
Hearing that Ryan was taking this artifact to subdue the snake demon, Harvey Jin perked right up—he insisted on tagging along. To help with the monster hunt, he immediately offered up several ancient swords and some jade stones brimming with spiritual energy.
Now that he had the Soul-Capturing Alms Bowl, Ryan was ninety percent sure he could handle the White Snake. The artifact was powerful, like Master Fahai’s golden bowl—just a single incantation, and no matter where the White Snake hid, she’d show her true form and be sucked inside.
As the saying goes, there’s always a counter for every monster—the System’s suggestion had been spot-on.
"No time like the present—let’s go catch that White Snake now!" Leaving from Harvey Jin’s place, Ryan didn’t head to Liu Sitian’s, but straight for Bichen Garden. His only worry was if the White Snake became a true spirit, things would get tricky. But Warren Yuan had calculated with his fortune-telling: for a snake to shed its skin takes at least seven days. It’d only been four since their last battle—three days left, plenty of time.
They sped off in their car, but when they arrived, they found Bichen Garden cordoned off by police tape. Several officials were leading a cocky young man around—he seemed to be a cultivator too, flanked by three beauties with umbrellas, all calling him ‘Young Master Feng’ and saying that catching the monster in Qing Lake would be a breeze.
The officials kept nodding, insisting that having someone like Young Master Feng in Peachvale was a blessing for all the locals.
Ryan Ling was stunned—he’d planned for everything except this. A monster had appeared in Qing Lake days ago, so of course the local government would step in. But hiring some clueless young master was bound to mess things up…