pjbooks Chapter 5 Slaying the Candle Dragon
Chapter 5 Slaying the Candle Dragon
"Click-clack!"
Where Lu Yan couldn't see, the corner pieces of the 3x3 Rubik's Cube slowly rotated, vaguely as if being held by an invisible hand.
"Click-clack-clack-clack!"
The Rubik's Cube spun faster and faster, the friction of the corner pieces was continuous and like tearing silk, which startled Lu Yan, who was immersed in crying.
Before he could react, a picture suddenly flashed into his mind:
Starlight fell upon the plains, and a dreamlike sea of fiery red flowers bloomed in the wind, making a rustling sound. In the center of the sea of flowers, a blood-soaked figure, whose face was obscured, wailed loudly, and endless black shadows descended from the sky.
The next moment, the scenes kept changing:
Beyond the golden horizon, the two stood facing each other, and one said, "Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you again in the physical world."
In the vast blue sky, the small boat pushed aside the lotus leaves and flowers in the strong wind, and a golden beetle jumped onto the deck and landed on a plain white hand.
In the thick clouds and heavy rain, a red lantern flickered, but no one was in sight; only a harsh voice rang out: "Live when you should live, die when you should die!"
As the sun rises and sets, amidst the icy snow, one person practices with a knife, while another paints cranes. The cranes dance, and suddenly the person holding the knife drops it, stretches out their arms, and joyfully imitates the call of a white crane. The two, one human and one crane, flap their wings and leap about, making it difficult to distinguish who is the human and who is the crane.
Finally, all the images vanished in an instant, leaving only a gigantic, boundless Rubik's Cube spinning rapidly in Lu Yan's mind.
"Click click click!"
"I see!"
"I see!"
Lu Yan repeated it as if he were in a trance. It turned out that the Rubik's Cube had six sides: red, blue, yellow, green, orange, and white. Each time a side was aligned, it would temporarily grant an attribute, corresponding to strength, energy, perception, recovery, speed, and fate.
The white face is the most special. The Rubik's Cube is temporarily imbued with the attribute of fate, which gives it a certain chance to step into the river of fate of others and learn about information that disturbs their fate.
Well, peeping tom and screen snooping are overjoyed. Lu Yan couldn't help but complain, "This thing doesn't fit my values at all."
But who can resist a juicy piece of gossip before bed?
He couldn't help but stretch out his hands, grasp the Rubik's Cube and twist it a few times. In no time, the white faces of the Rubik's Cube were perfectly aligned.
With a "buzz," another image appeared in Lu Yan's mind, only the angle was a bit strange, like the low-angle view of an insect or frog.
Through the layers of grass, one could vaguely make out the figures of two men; one had a sharp, chiseled face, while the other had a fair, baby-faced appearance.
Lu Yan vaguely felt that the former looked familiar, but couldn't remember where he had seen him before.
The baby-faced man grinned and said, "I thought you were reluctant to kill that girl; I was even thinking of doing it for you."
Mind your own business.
The baby-faced man said, "Is she really your sweetheart? Tsk tsk, you really went for it. You're ruthless, Lao Liu."
The man with the chiseled face was silent for a moment, then said, "If she doesn't die by my hand, she'll die by someone else the boss sends."
Lu Yan was watching with great interest when the image abruptly stopped. Looking down, he noticed that the previously aligned white surfaces had somehow shifted and returned to a chaotic state.
A new message appeared in my mind.
"No energy."
Lu Yan held the Rubik's Cube up to his eyes, and sure enough, the white face of the Rubik's Cube, which had been shining brightly and looked like white jade, had become gray and dull, as if it had been left unused for more than ten years and had just been taken out of the storage cabinet.
The other five sides, however, remain brand new and shiny, just like before.
Lu Yan had a sudden thought and tried to align the red side with the red side.
As soon as they were aligned, a strange force flowed from the Rubik's Cube into my body, like seventy or eighty little mice rushing up my arm and spreading throughout my body in no time.
Lu Yan felt his blood circulating like the wind, his heart pounding incessantly, like a giant cowhide drum being struck in his ear. His skin was as red as blood, and every pore seemed to be breathing and leaping with joy.
As soon as the red face of the Rubik's Cube dimmed, the next second, the blue, yellow, green, and orange faces dimmed in turn.
Lu Yan thought that the other five sides, apart from the white side, should share the same energy, but he didn't know how to replenish it.
Lu Yan's hair and clothes billowed without wind. Suddenly, an indescribable frenzy surged from the bottom of his heart, like a dam releasing a flood, unstoppable and seemingly impossible to suppress.
The grievances of the past seventeen years, the hardship of not having money to practice, the criticism suffered by the family, and the suppressed youth and dreams, all turned into one action:
Throw a punch!
Break it!
Break free from all the shackles imposed on me!
Lu Yan suddenly threw a punch, and an overwhelming force slammed into the wall, creating a muffled thud in the room.
"Thump... Buzz!"
In an instant, the walls shook violently, and the entire building trembled as if it had not been hit by the fist of an ordinary high school student, but rather crashed head-on into a truck that had darted out of the road.
The next moment, all sorts of profanities erupted, and Lu Yan lost all his relatives in an instant.
"Are you crazy? Why are you making such a commotion!"
"Someone in my family died, and they're banging on the wall in the middle of the night!"
"Which bastard did this? Come here and take your beating!"
"Damn it, you scared me so much I went limp. I'm sorry, wife."
"No, no, judging by this noise, could it be that a car crashed into the outer wall?"
A short while later, the faint sound of people rushing down the stairs could be heard, as a group of people crowded down to check the non-existent car.
Lu Yan felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him, and he became completely dejected.
Looking back, although the building was built with exceptionally solid and heavy materials due to certain historical reasons, a fist print nearly two centimeters deep was still left on the wall, with each of the five fingers clearly visible.
hiss!
Lu Yan's mouth was slightly open, his expression blank and his eyes staring in disbelief at what was in front of him. "Did I do this?"
He stretched out his palm and rubbed the dent in his fist. The plaster was deeply embedded in the red brick, pressed into a thin layer. The surrounding area was full of neatly broken brick fragments, as if it had been fired like this from the beginning.
Phew, I really did it!
Despite such immense force, his right hand, which had thrown the punch, remained unbroken. Shocked and exhausted, Lu Yan couldn't help but repeatedly exclaim in amazement.
Just then, the immense force that had surged into his body receded instantly, vanishing in the blink of an eye, as if nothing had ever happened, merely a fabricated dream. All that remained was the dark fist-shaped crater on the wall, from which fine sand was slowly leaking out.
This turn of events is like Schwarzenegger has degenerated into a wild chicken fluttering around on the roadside!
Lu Yan's body was weak and numb, and he couldn't even lift a finger. His clothes were soaked through, and he looked like he had just been pulled out of the river.
He clutched his aching back, panting heavily, and immediately realized: he only had the strength for one strike! But... in certain crucial moments, that would be enough!
Ok?
Lu Yan was taken aback. Just now, his Rubik's Cube had sent him another message, which contained an unknown qigong called "Zhan Zhulong". There was no explanation of its content or source, and its details could not be discerned from its name.
"Zhulong, Zhulong..." Lu Yan muttered to himself. Isn't this the mythical creature or ancient god from the Classic of Mountains and Seas? It has a human face and a snake's body, is thousands of miles long, controls day and night with its eyes, and holds the power of the underworld in its hands. Who can slay it? Such a boastful tone!
However, he didn't take it seriously. After the Black Domain's impact, all sorts of qigong techniques circulated in the market, each with an astonishing tone, such as "Heaven-Piercing and Earth-Penetrating Great Magic", "Human Universe Special Ability Technique", "Cosmic Natural Technique", "All Laws Return to One Technique", "Sun and Moon Qigong", and "Primordial Ultimate Technique". In the end, they were sold for five cents a book at street stalls, and wholesalers could get a discount. He even had a copy of "Strengthening the Foundation and Nourishing the Origin Technique" under his dining table.
Well, it's really sturdy for propping up table legs. It's been four or five years and hasn't moved an inch. The reputation it has is well-deserved; it's certainly made the best use of its potential.
It wasn't until a number of people were ruined by the training, many of whom became completely mentally ill and unable to take care of themselves, that the Superhuman Conduct Code, also known as the "Temporary Workers Management Division," had to take drastic measures, arresting and executing a number of people. Only then did this trend come to a halt, and the "Master Creators" gradually disappeared and vanished from the public eye.
As for whether the masters will scatter to surrounding foreign countries to continue their swindling and deception, that's none of the "temporary workers'" business, and the other side may not be willing to let others interfere.
So far, Lu Yan only knows one legitimate form of Qigong, namely the "Ninth Set of Broadcast Qigong" that Mao Xiaoming just taught him that afternoon. It is said to have been jointly revised by dozens of grandmasters and great masters. It looks simple, but it is actually profound and can be practiced smoothly all the way to the field stage.
"I wonder how it compares to Zhan Zhulong, in terms of skill and superiority."
Lu Yan leaned against the headboard, closed his eyes, and looked around for a long time before letting out a soft sigh.