Chen Long shrieked, almost dropping his Pink Passion potion vial.
"Who?!" Chen Long narrowed his eyes as he tried to look through the smoke.
Gu Fan stepped through the thick, acrid smokescreen, "Just the ghost of the servant you tried to cripple," he whispered, his voice a rasping, venomous echo.
Chen Long's bloodshot eyes went wide. Despite the excruciating pain radiating from his crushed groin, the 9th Stage Body Tempering Qi flared wildly around him.
He was heavily constrained by his thick bandages, but the sheer rage and the numbing effect of the premium spirit wine turned him into a cornered, unpredictable beast.
"Die you trash!" Chen Long roared, lunging forward with shocking momentum, "You did this to me. You did it..."
He threw a wild, sweeping backhand at Gu fan, the moment he saw him.
Gu Fan attempted to duck the arm swinging in his direction, but the fat cultivator was fast and his massive forearm clipped his shoulder before he could even dodge.
Crack!
The sound of bone cracking echoed through the room, and Gu Fan was sent skidding violently across the room as he crashed hard into a decorative stand.
"Ohhh!" Pain surged through Gu fan's body as he spat a glob of blood on the white jade floor.
His arm, all the way to his collarbone burned with searing pain. The power gap between the 3rd Stage Body Tempering Realm and the 9th Stages was real.
"Ehhh! I thought you were just a ugly, fat piece of juggling meat," Gritting his teeth Gu fan stood up as he grabbed a solid ironwood chair beside him and sprang to his feet, "But I am going to chop you today, you fat pig!"
Chen Long charged blindly through the corrosive smoke as well, Gu Fan swung the heavy ironwood chair with every ounce of his strength.
CRASH!
The chair shattered directly against the side of Chen Long's skull. Wood splintered everywhere.
Blood sprayed from Chen Long's already broken nose, painting the toxic smoke red.
But the fat cultivator barely flinched. The dense Qi protecting his flesh made him a tank.
Without missing a beat, Chen Long grabbed the jagged, splintered leg of the shattered chair right out of Gu Fan's hands.
And then with a brutal, overpowering yank, he pulled Gu Fan in and drove the jagged wood hard into Gu Fan's ribs.
"Aahhh!" Gu Fan gasped as hot blood immediately stained his grey uniform.
Before Gu Fan could retreat from the stabbing pain, Chen Long dropped the wood and delivered a devastating headbutt.
Thwack.!
Gu Fan's vision flashed blinding with white light. He stumbled backwards, as the skin on his forehead split open after the heavy impact.
Blood poured down into his glowing green eyes, and he dropped to one knee, coughing up a mouthful of warm blood onto the floor.
"I will turn you to paste!" Chen Long wheezed, his own bandages soaking in red blood as his torn groin muscles ripped further from the violent exertion, "You made me lose face in front of everyone, you cripple."
"You are no cripple. You are fooling everyone!" With a flash of light from his Storage Ring, the massive, spiked Meteor Hammer from earlier materialised in his fat hands.
"But it does not matter! I will kill you today!" He swung the heavy iron ball high overhead, aiming to crush Gu Fan's skull into the floor.
But Gu Fan moved like a flash as he lunged inside the massive weapon's downward arc.
And before the heavy iron ball could crush his skull, his hands ignited with sizzling, blackish-purple Corrosive Qi.
He drove his glowing, toxic palms straight up into Chen Long's heavily bandaged, crushed crotch.
The sickening sound of searing flesh and melting cloth filled the room.
"AAGGGHHH!" Chen Long unleashed a high-pitched, ungodly shriek of absolute agony.
His grip around the iron chain loosened instantly as the sheer, targeted torture completely short-circuited his Qi.
Gu Fan didn't hesitate. He snatched the heavy iron chain of the Meteor Hammer right out of the fat man's trembling hands, and using the momentum of the falling weapon, Gu Fan pivoted, yanking the chain taut.
He swung the melon-sized, spiked iron ball in a horizontal arc.
Holding his crotch in his palm, just as Chen Long tried to raise his other arm to block the incoming strike, his entire skeletal structure gave out.
The 'Bone-Softening' poison he had absorbed from his wine-soaked robes finally reached its peak. His knees buckled, and his thick arms flopped uselessly to his sides like wet noodles.
SMASH!
The spiked iron ball caved into the side of Chen Long's defenceless face with a wet, horrific crunch.
Teeth shattered like brittle glass, exploding out of Chen Long's mouth in a spray of thick, dark blood and torn gums. His fat cheekbone caved inward grotesquely.
Chen Long's eyes rolled back into his skull. He crumpled to the jade floor, a twitching, bleeding, unconscious heap.
Gu Fan leaned against the wall, panting heavily, clutching his bleeding ribs.
"Fuck this is one stubborn pig!" Gu Fan grunted, but he did not stop to admire his triumph over Chen Long.
He first snatched the Storage Ring from the bloody table.
[Spatial Ring Acquired.]
He swiped then grabbed the vial of Pink Passion Potion and threw it in his inventory
[Pink Passion Potion Acquired.]
He then grabbed the Meteor Hammer and threw it in his inventory as well before grabbing the unconscious, bleeding Chen Long by the collar of his ruined silk pants.
He slung the 300-pound man over his shoulder. To his surprise, the massive body folded over him with a sickening, unnatural flexibility.
Chen Long's limbs dangled limply like soft, boneless tentacles.
The 'Bone-Softening' poison had turned the fat man's entire skeleton to absolute jelly, making his massive bulk surprisingly easy to balance and carry.
The room was still thick with the burning leaf smoke, and the visibility was almost zero.
Gu Fan ran to the back window, the one facing away from the courtyard, leading into a small backyard. Gu Chen was just outside, he would be coming inside any moment. he could not risk an altercation with him. not right now when he was still an ant in front of him.
He silently undid the latch open with his uninjured arm, hauling the boneless Chen Long through.
Meanwhile, up on the roof, Gu Chen stood up abruptly. The smokescreen was blinding, but he channelled his Qi into his vision. His "Heavenly Eyes" flared with a brilliant, piercing blue light, cutting straight through the toxic fog.
He instantly spotted a blurred silhouette through the window, trying to slip out of the back window into the backyard, carrying a limp body over its shoulder.
His heavenly Eyes were still not power enough to discern who it was, but he could make out the scene in front of him. It was straining for his eyes, but he could not let someone spoil his plan.
"An assassin?!" Gu Chen's eyes narrowed coldly.
"Leave the ring!"