Chapter 46: Consecutive Victories and an Unexpected Windfall
Pay up and save his life, or refuse?
Chen Ming thought for a moment, then directly threw his basket to the ground, letting the raw Yin Wind Stone ore spill out. With reluctance written all over his face, he slowly backed away a few steps.
Seeing how spineless Chen Ming looked, the leading Evil Spirit Master immediately grew excited. He stepped forward, lowered his head, and prepared to pick up the ore. At the same time, Chen Ming stood off to the side, gripping his mining pick so tightly that his teeth were grinding.
Watching this, the other Spirit Masters hurried forward as well, afraid they would miss their share of Chen Ming's ore.
But just as all of them relaxed their guard, a fierce light suddenly flashed through Chen Ming's eyes. The spirit power around him surged, and he instantly completed Spirit Possession. The mining pick in his hand swept out in a wide arc and smashed directly into the leading Evil Spirit Master's head, blowing apart his skull on the spot.
Taking advantage of that instant, Chen Ming violently swung his pick again while the light of his first Spirit Ring flared around him.
There was a huge difference between fighting barehanded and fighting with a weapon. So Chen Ming immediately targeted the 2 Beast Spirit Masters who were still holding mining picks.
One of them had his arm broken on the spot.
The other was smashed through the chest and abdomen by the pick. It was obvious he would not survive.
"Damn it, kill him!"
Seeing Chen Ming suddenly explode into action, killing 1 person, heavily injuring another, and lightly injuring a third, the Evil Spirit Master who had only been lucky enough to suffer a few scratches shouted furiously.
But even while shouting, his body visibly took a step back.
He had clearly intended to hide behind the others and let them test Chen Ming first. Yet when he glanced sideways, he saw that the remaining 2 were also retreating, instantly exposing the heavily injured man with the pierced torso and the one with the broken arm.
Because they were already badly wounded, the 2 Beast Spirit Masters could no longer use their mining picks and could only grit their teeth and rush forward with bare hands.
Especially the one whose chest had been pierced. Relying on a certain trait of his Spirit, he launched a desperate counterattack as though staking his life on it.
Just as the others thought Chen Ming would finally be injured, they saw those 2 fists slam into Chen Ming's body as if they had struck a mass of gel.
The fists sank in deeply at first, then were violently bounced back. During that instant of contact, a layer of putrid green followed the impact and attached itself directly to the 2 men.
Chen Ming dropped the mining pick, guarded his vital points, then used his body to crash into them, forcefully rubbing his skin against the wounds on their bodies.
The vicious corrosive poison rapidly entered through their wounds, crushing through the resistance of their spirit power and corroding their meridians and flesh.
The heavily injured man with the hole in his chest glared unwillingly for a moment, then collapsed with a thud, completely dead.
As for the one with the broken arm, he instantly felt unbearable pain erupt from the wound, as if all his internal organs had caught fire.
Under that extreme pain, he lost almost all awareness of the outside world and the vast majority of his reactions. Chen Ming seized the opening and struck him with a vicious double ear clap, bursting both eardrums at once. The poison poured into his brain through his ears and killed him instantly.
After killing 3 people in a row, Chen Ming did not pause at all. Relying on the terrifying appearance of his current form, he twisted his face into a savage, bloodthirsty, sinister grin. Thick saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth, and his eyes were full of hunger.
"Human flesh, human flesh! I want to eat human flesh! I've held back for so long, and you still had to come looking for death!"
Chen Ming let out hoarse, distorted shouts while greedily sweeping his gaze over the 3 corpses. Then he strode forward, flailing his arms as though he were about to tear someone apart.
Seeing Chen Ming instantly slaughter 3 people and then start shouting about eating them, the remaining 3 who had no sense of teamwork at all immediately scattered like frightened birds. They abandoned their companions and fled in panic.
Using that moment, Chen Ming suddenly sprang out like a compressed spring, closing the distance with the nearest Evil Spirit Master at a speed that completely contradicted his bulky body. He pinned the man down and repeatedly smashed his poison covered fists into the other's head and temples. After several strikes, he directly beat him to death.
As for the remaining 2, they had already thrown away their baskets and run for their lives while Chen Ming's attention was elsewhere. Neither of them showed the slightest intention of avenging their companions.
After confirming there was no one else nearby, the bloodthirsty greed on Chen Ming's face disappeared instantly, replaced by helplessness.
"What a bunch of trash."
With slight disdain, Chen Ming flicked the fresh blood off his hands. To ordinary Evil Spirit Masters, such blood would have been a delicacy. Then he looked at the 4 corpses on the ground.
What was the core truth of fighting a group battle?
Ruthlessness.
Presence.
When fighting, you had to focus on beating 1 person to death first. The more disadvantaged you were, the more you had to project a terrifying aura.
Although Chen Ming had not mixed with the underworld in his previous life, he understood very clearly that the biggest difference between thugs and ordinary people was precisely ruthlessness and aura.
The more viciously and savagely one acted, the easier it was to intimidate others.
Many of the seemingly inhuman rules of the underworld existed precisely to strengthen that intimidation over ordinary people and build up one's own aura.
Originally, Chen Ming had thought he would end up being besieged by 3 or 4 people and had already prepared himself for a life and death struggle.
But as the fight went on, he discovered that it had actually turned into 4 consecutive one on one fights.
If the other side had shown even a little more caution, or if their coordination had been slightly better just now, Chen Ming might really have chosen to abandon the ore and retreat first, only to strike hard later when they were alone.
Instead, he had killed 4 people without injury and scared 2 more into fleeing.
As for whether those 2 would come back for revenge.
To put it simply, if those 2 actually dared to return, Chen Ming would have to think highly of them.
In a mob that lacked even the most basic coordination, the chance of true brotherhood and loyalty existing was not zero, but it was definitely lower than the chance of a Spirit Bone dropping.
And what if word spread that he had shouted about eating people?
Please.
This was the Holy Spirit Cult, the main stronghold of Evil Spirit Masters.
If news like that spread here, it would be no more remarkable than saying, "I slaughtered a pig today," in a butcher shop.
In fact, Chen Ming had originally planned to deliberately let 1 person escape so that word would spread that he was not someone to provoke.
Since 2 escaped instead, then so be it. He could not be bothered to chase them down.
After stabbing each of the 4 corpses once more for insurance, Chen Ming squatted down and began looting them.
Because the environment inside the Holy Spirit Cult was unstable, most people carried their valuables on their person.
That made corpse looting an extremely profitable line of work.
.....
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