The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#165 - Heartbeat

Chapter 165: Heartbeat

Counting it, this was already the eighth day that Lu Jing had been in this oasis city.

After discovering that the black pebbles could effectively consume the internal energy in his dantian, Lu Jing regarded them as treasures and had been working hard to collect them.

Just last night, in the sandstorm following his encounter with the black wizard, Lu Jing finally reduced the armored warrior squad of over two hundred men to just two remaining.

Subsequently, Lu Jing pressed on and eliminated the commander of this army, the tallest figure with the best armor and weapons. In addition to the black pebbles, the commander also dropped a stone blade that looked quite exquisite in its craftsmanship.

Lu Jing picked it up and examined it, but couldn't figure out what the knife was for, so he stowed it away for the time being.

As for the remaining armored warrior, Lu Jing was not in a hurry to act.

Before his death, the Shrike had said that the mastermind behind this disaster wanted to control the armored warrior army in the sandstorm, but at that time, he obviously didn't know that the army had been almost completely plundered by Lu Jing.

Looking at Tus's bewildered expression, it was clear that he didn't know that his last trump card, which he regarded as his ultimate weapon, was just a small card when revealed.

While Tus was still in a daze, Lu Jing had already confronted the last armored warrior.

He raised his Zen staff, blocked and struck with clean movements, then reached out and inserted his hand into the sand behind the armor, skillfully extracting the black pebbles inside.

In just a few breaths, the armored warrior that Tus had summoned to save the day turned into a pile of yellow sand.

Tus was left dumbfounded, seemingly unable to believe what had just happened.

His ultimate move, launched at the cost of self-harm, had ultimately only served as a warm-up act.

It didn't even buy him enough time to escape.

The contrast between before and after almost made Tus vomit blood.

And without asking, Tus now knew how the armored warriors in the sandstorm had disappeared. Judging from Lu Jing's skillful and appalling movements, he knew that this guy was definitely a repeat offender.

Seeing that the sandstorm outside was also rapidly receding, and the sky was returning to clarity, Tus knew that his situation was hopeless.

However, he certainly wouldn't give up struggling and wait to be slaughtered.

While continuing to fight Lu Jing, he opened his mouth and shouted something loudly.

If the female shopkeeper hadn't fainted earlier, Lu Jing would have known that Tus was currently summoning the guards, trying to use his status as the city lord to call for reinforcements.

In fact, the newly appointed guard commander, Nasin, had been leading people to guard outside the castle, but speaking of which, this was Tus's own fault.

He used the black heart to summon the sandstorm, and Nasin and others kept in mind his order that no one was allowed to enter the castle, so when they saw the sudden arrival of the sandstorm, they could only lead people to take shelter in nearby houses.

They hadn't come out yet, so naturally they couldn't hear his angry roar.

After shouting for a while, seeing that no one came to rescue him, the look in Tus's eyes became more and more desperate. Soon, his hands and feet were broken by the Zen staff, and he could no longer move.

Seeing Lu Jing's Zen staff about to fall on his head, Tus's eyes showed a look of pleading, and he opened his mouth to say something quickly, without the previous arrogance, and his tone became unprecedentedly humble.

Lu Jing shook his head, "Sorry, my translator is not here right now."

Then, with a direct strike of the staff, he smashed the old city lord's head to pieces. Fearing that he wasn't completely dead, Lu Jing added a few more blows after the first strike, smashing Tus's heart as well.

Only after confirming that he was dead beyond any doubt did he put away the Zen staff and check his own body.

He found that his internal energy had been consumed by about 50%.

This result was much smoother than Lu Jing had imagined, especially Tus's mid-battle self-destruction, risking serious injury to tear open his chest and take out the black heart, just to summon the armored warriors, which moved Lu Jing greatly.

However, speaking of the black heart, Lu Jing turned his gaze to his feet again.

When Tus's hands and feet were broken just now, the black heart rolled to the ground, and strangely, even though it had left Tus's body, the heart was still beating in a contracting manner.

Moreover, it emitted a thumping sound like a war drum.

After listening for a while, Lu Jing felt a little upset.

Logically speaking, he should have smashed the evil and dangerous black heart to pieces, because if any normal person were here, they would probably make that choice.

However, when it came to Lu Jing, he was a little reluctant.

It wasn't that he was greedy for immortality or eternal youth like Tus, after all, becoming like the latter's ghostly appearance, whether or not he had youth was not very important to Lu Jing.

What Lu Jing coveted was the Yin-cold and corrosive Qi in Tus's body. If there were no accidents, that Yin-cold and corrosive Qi could only be produced because of this black heart.

Now that the armored warriors in the sandstorm had been completely plundered by him, Lu Jing naturally turned his attention to this black heart again.

Moreover, unlike the black pebbles, this black heart might be able to continuously generate Yin-cold and corrosive Qi, and if that were the case, if handled properly, Lu Jing felt that he could solve the problem of excess internal energy once and for all.

This possibility couldn't help but make his heart flutter.

Therefore, Lu Jing ultimately didn't destroy this thing, but went to find a box to pack the black heart up first.

Then, he woke up the female shopkeeper and briefly explained to her what had happened after she fainted.

Then, the two returned to the council hall. Vulture's head was gone, so there was definitely no saving him, but Lu Jing checked the others and found that they still had a faint heartbeat.

It was just that there was an extremely weak Yin-cold and corrosive Qi in their meridians, which was why they had become like wax sculptures.

This kind of thing naturally couldn't stump Lu Jing. He used the Lesser Vajra Force to dissolve the Yin-cold and corrosive Qi in the bodies of the people in the council hall one by one.

What Lu Jing didn't expect was that although these people couldn't speak or move, they still maintained their self-awareness.

Although they didn't witness the battle just now due to the angle, they still heard the sound of the two fighting and talking.

This saved Lu Jing a lot of explanation.