Chapter 83: Buried Alive.

The observers on the roof also became restless.

"What's going on?"

"Did he withdraw his energy at the last moment?"

"He doesn't seem to be a completely wicked person."

It might have looked that way to the Sky Formation Sect, but Qibidan Hun, who knew better than anyone, understood that his attack just now was filled with intense malice and full power.

Qibidan Hun's eyes narrowed as he looked at Hou Gong.

Now his gaze had changed.

The opponent was not just a scholar, nor was he inferior to himself. He also recalled that the young master of the Ximen family was at the center when they confronted the Ximen family.

"The position of Sky Formation Sect Leader wasn't obtained easily, it seems."

Jin Jixian, the Three Harmonious Heroes, the Wu Mountain Twin Heroes.

He had thought that these renowned figures were merely enjoying themselves under the name of the Sky Formation Sect, but it was a misconception.

"Young Master, let's see if you can do it properly."

"Properly?"

Hou Gong smirked.

It meant that he had never done it improperly.

Qibidan Hun understood.

But he was already on the tiger's back, with no way to back down. A new desire to confirm something also arose in his heart.

'Was it by chance, or by skill?'

Qibidan Hun pushed his inner strength to the limit.

In the meantime, Hou Gong took the initiative this time.

One step!

As he stepped on the formless step, the shadow disappeared. When it reappeared, it was right in front of Qibidan Hun, grabbing his neck. It was the Golden Willow Technique. Qibidan Hun was surprised but immediately responded.

'Impossible!'

To use the Golden Willow Technique against him. Qibidan, meaning seven arms, was a nickname derived more from the Golden Willow Technique than from his palm techniques. Qibidan Hun caught the wrist that was coming at him.

He was sure he had done it.

But Hou Gong's hand slipped away like it was greased and his left hand pressed Qibidan Hun's shoulder.

"Ah!"

Qibidan Hun was shocked and hastily retreated. His back was cold with fear.

He couldn't understand why he had lost sight of the young master's wrist, which was right in front of him, or how the young master's left hand, which was at his waist, had suddenly pressed his shoulder without any visible movement. It was a move that could make even the young master seem to have multiple arms.

Before the surprise had faded, Hou Gong immediately attacked again.

Qibidan Hun immediately responded with the Hundred Arm Strike.

The Hundred Arm Strike was his unique technique.

It was the technique that had made him who he was today.

In an instant, it seemed as if dozens of arms appeared, creating illusions.

"Good!"

Hou Gong praised. The countless attacks from Qibidan Hun were perfect for testing his movements. He immediately activated the Ziling Eye to distinguish the illusions while entrusting the meaningful strikes to the Feather of the Wind.

At the Fourth Level, the Feather of the Wind did not disappoint. It became like a feather of the wind, using the fierce attacks from Qibidan Hun to change direction and dissipate the force, rendering the attacks ineffective.

The distance between the two never exceeded one zhang (about 3 meters). As a result, Qibidan Hun's confusion grew.

His illusions from the Hundred Arm Strike were being filtered out and not serving as decoys. The real strikes were also ineffective. Whenever he thought he had landed a precise hit, the energy he had poured into it seemed to evaporate, having no effect.

It made him feel like a child trying to grab a feather floating in the air.

The more he tried to grab it, the more the feather would flutter away due to the child's hand movements. The young master was doing the same, slipping away.

The way he deflected and avoided the attacks became increasingly flexible. It seemed that even if it were the Thousand Arm Strike, he wouldn't be able to catch him.

'Is this all it is?'

The faster he moved his hands, the faster the avoidance. The slower he moved, the more relaxed the avoidance became.

Unable to even grab a collar, his inner strength was quickly depleting, and his despair was growing.

On the other hand, the eyes of the observers, including Yin Ang Gai and Miao Bing Bing, were wide open, and their mouths were agape.

"Wow, the boss is so strong!"

"Bro, you were this scary?"

"Is the person I'm seeing really the Sky Formation Sect Leader?"

The three on the roof couldn't believe what they were seeing. Even though the boss had told them to stay put, they had been ready to take the Spirit Formation Pill and jump in if necessary, but it turned out to be unnecessary.

The situation was overwhelmingly one-sided.

At first, when Qibidan Hun's fierce palm strikes seemed to hit, they thought he was holding back. But the current scene was far from that.

Qibidan Hun's confusion and the ferocity of his attacks were evident on his face.

In the midst of this, the boss moved with a peculiar agility, neither too fast nor too slow, deftly neutralizing all the attacks and circling around Qibidan Hun, leaving the observers in awe.

Song Hua and Yang Xiao were no different.

Knowing well what their master used to be like, they were beyond shocked. It felt like just yesterday when their master was beating Li Gongzi with a stick in the Tianhua Library, and now he had reached an unfathomable level.

To grow like this, is this what a genius truly is? Since the person who had achieved this was the young master of the Tianhua Library, Song Hua and Yang Xiao felt a deep sense of pride and satisfaction just by watching.

At this point, Hou Gong was satisfied with the application of the Feather of the Wind and the Ziling Eye.

It had been almost three hundred seconds.

It was time to end it.

Qibidan Hun's techniques were no longer new, just repetitive. The limitations of someone bound by techniques were clearly evident, and there was no more point in testing the Feather of the Wind.

Qibidan Hun's palm strike came at his shoulder.

Hou Gong swayed his body.

The Shadowless Step!

As he swayed, an afterimage appeared, and he retreated as if slipping away, then lunged forward to strike Qibidan Hun's side.

Bang!

"Ugh!"

Qibidan Hun lost his balance and staggered. As he tried to regain his footing, a burning pain hit his abdomen.

"Ouch!"

In pain, he curled up and tried to lift his head, but a foot came flying from the left, causing his head to spin and his vision to go dark.

Was his body floating?

Or did it hit the ground?

Qibidan Hun didn't know.

When he came to, he found himself face down in the dirt.

He had apparently fainted for a moment.

How much time had passed?

But the issue wasn't the fainting.

Even though he had regained consciousness, he still felt disconnected from reality.

'It can't be... It can't be... How... '

This wasn't what he had expected. The outcome he had envisioned was not this. Therefore, he couldn't understand how he had ended up like this, even as his face was being rubbed into the dirt.

His thoughts stopped there.

Tap, tap!

A finger touched his forehead, and Qibidan Hun only moved his eyes to see who it was.

"...Young Master."

His lips didn't move well, and his saliva was thick. He saw the young master of the Tianhua Library squatting and smiling.

"You're awake."

"..."

"Why don't you listen to people? What did I say?"

"..."

Qibidan Hun couldn't answer. He had never been one to listen to others.

"If I told you not to follow because it was scary, you should have listened."

"What do you mean...?"

Qibidan Hun didn't understand at first.

But then, reflecting on his situation, he realized.

It wasn't that he felt scared, but that the young master himself was a terrifying person.

Come to think of it...

[Have you never met a scary person before?]

[No, I haven't.]

[Then you met one today.]

Indeed, he met one today.

"I... was rude."

"Tsk, tsk, if you had been like this from the beginning, it would have been better. We could have shared a drink, built a bond, and looked forward to the future."

"..."

"But look at this mess. The carriage is broken, the horses are dying, and you're about to be buried alive. Tsk, tsk."

"??"

Qibidan Hun's eyes widened.

"What... do you mean...?"

"You must have heard."

"You're going to... kill me, a member of the Nangong family...?"

"You really don't listen to people at all."

"What... nonsense... I'm afraid of... repercussions... Ah!"

"Stop making a fuss."

Qibidan Hun's acupoints were immediately sealed, and his body was lifted.

He was then moved somewhere and thrown into a pit.

Thud.

The pit had been dug deep while he was unconscious, and it was spacious enough for him to be buried alone.

Qibidan Hun's pupils shook wildly as he looked up at the pit. The faces of the four people looking down were shadowed by the sunlight.

"Boss, should we cover him?"

Only the voice could be heard, not the movement of the lips.

"Sure."

"Bro, let's cover him and plant some grass."

"Hehehe."

"This place is really remote. If we plant grass, no one will find him for a hundred years. It's perfect!"

Even a cheerful woman's voice.

Qibidan Hun's pupils trembled, but only for a moment.

Swish, swish.

Dirt started to cover his face. He tried to blink rapidly to shake it off, but it didn't work. He tried to move his body, but he couldn't control even his fingers.

'Are they really going to bury me like this? No, it can't be... They're just scaring me... '

His thoughts were cut off.

He was completely covered.

His vision was blocked, and the weight of the dirt pressed heavily on his body.

'These bastards... '

Being buried alive. How could a person do this? He couldn't die like this. This wasn't right. He couldn't become one of the many missing persons in the martial world. He would die eventually, but not like this.

He guided his inner energy.

First, he needed to unblock his acupoints.

He desperately pulled up his inner strength.

At that moment,

Crack.

His body moved.

But,

'...?'

His waist lifted, and his body bent like a bow. The dirt hadn't completely covered him, so his stomach and chest were exposed. He couldn't be happy about it, as his waist had lifted on its own.

The noise above grew louder.

"What, he's moving!"

"We need to re-seal his acupoints!"

"No, just bury him quickly!"

It was the coffin Hou Gong had set up in the carriage.

It had manifested at the right time, but neither Qibidan Hun nor the Sky Formation Sect knew about it.

Dirt started to pour down from above, faster and faster.

Qibidan Hun's body began to twist. His neck twisted left and right, his arms bent and straightened, creating a chaotic scene. It was like a strong fish thrashing and flapping, causing dirt to fly in all directions.

"Wow, that's impressive."

"This isn't the time to be impressed!"

The heavy dirt continued to cover him.

Under the weight, Qibidan Hun writhed heavily. His bones didn't break, but he felt like he had no control over his body.

Was it a case of demonic possession?

Or was this also the young master's doing?

Qibidan Hun didn't know.

But he realized one thing.

'Who exactly did I mess with?'