The Great Oni
Volume (1) Benoni Chapter (34)
Li Fan arrived back home and, while chatting with his beloved girl Yue Ying Ar, noticed that it was already seven o'clock.
Just then he heard a knock at the door.
Knowing it was Arsham, Li Fan went to open it.
Afterwards he pointed with a finger at the cup of water set on the table and told him to drink.
Although Arsham was confused, he drank the water exactly as Li Fan said.
After gulping it down in one draught, he looked at Li Fan with a slightly dazed face.
But suddenly his whole body felt wonderfully light, and he sensed strength welling powerfully from his muscles.
"Ahhh…" The rush of new strength felt so good that Arsham let out a low moan.
For about ten seconds that sensation continued, and Arsham became extraordinarily strong.
"Big brother, what kind of water was that?" Arsham, now completely respectful, asked.
"That was a fairy's tear—extremely rare. One drink grants the physical toughness of a single Martial Lord," Li Fan lied without changing expression.
"Martial Lord?" Not knowing anything about cultivation, Arsham was bewildered.
"All right, sit down first—I'll explain a bit." Li Fan laughed and motioned him to a seat.
After taking roughly two minutes, he gave a brief outline of cultivation.
"All right, Arsham, do you want to join my group?" Li Fan suddenly asked.
Without the least hesitation Arsham nodded.
"Of course, big brother—no need even to ask."
"But… what's the group for?"
Smiling, Li Fan explained:
"Just a little crew for fighting enemies. I'll make you the group leader."
Arsham thumped his chest and pledged.
"Absolutely, big brother, I'm in!"
"Good. Now head home. Next time we meet—maybe tomorrow—we'll drop by that Devil-what ever crew."
Li Fan, wanting to keep talking with Yue Ar, nudged Arsham out.
"Big brother means the Devil-Envoy Crew?" Arsham asked with a grin.
"Yeah, that's the one. Rest up—off you go."
Since Li Fan was firmly dismissing him, Arsham took his leave.
The next day—June 1—was Li Fan's birthday.
Because he meant to cultivate all night, he was still training when midnight came.
When the clock struck twelve, a cracking sound echoed inside Li Fan's soul.
"Crack."
"Hm?"
Sitting cross-legged, Li Fan opened his eyes in surprise.
Even while half-dazed, he sensed a sword's shadow forming behind him.
It was an ancient-looking blade radiating great force: more than a metre long, about three-inches wide—a large sword.
"This… is my personal Martial Spirit!" Li Fan murmured in astonishment.
At first he had thought his own Martial Spirit was the Original Lifeform, yet now that did not seem to be the case.
While still bewildered, memory streams from the Sword-Martial-Spirit inheritance poured into him, so Li Fan closed his eyes and absorbed them.
After about one minute, Li Fan's eyes opened again.
"Hm, good, so it's another **God-rank Martial Spirit**, huh," Li Fan said with a neither-sweet-nor-sour smile.
This Martial Spirit is called the **Shan Tian Ancient Sword, a God-rank Martial Spirit no lower than the Original Lifeform**.
Thus Li Fan now owns two God-rank Martial Spirits.
Because this Martial Spirit is of the weapon type, the more Li Fan studies sword techniques, the faster his progress will be, and eventually he will be able to summon full-body armor.
In any case, having two God-rank Martial Spirits doubles Li Fan's cultivation speed, so he felt pleased.
If other cultivators knew that Li Fan merely felt "pleased" at getting a God-rank Martial Spirit for free, they would probably surround him in jealousy.
If they obtained a God-rank Martial Spirit, they would be so ecstatic they would jump around celebrating.
Martial Spirits are divided into twelve ranks, and the gap between each rank is enormous.
A cultivator who possesses a **Rank-1 Mortal Martial Spirit**—even if he studies his cultivation method to perfection—still has a ceiling no higher than the **Martial-Spirit stage**.
Moreover, reaching "perfection" is almost impossible.
Because of their short lifespans, many die soon after reaching only the "comprehension" tier.
At **Earth rank**, a cultivator might spend his whole life as a low-level cultivator with an absolute ceiling around **low Martial Lord**.
Only upon reaching **Heaven rank** can one be considered a mid-level cultivator in the cultivation world.
For **King** and **Empire** ranks—just as the names suggest—one needs great fortune to reach Martial King or Martial Empire.
Li Fan estimates that, in the entire current cultivation world, the strongest living person is only at Martial Empire.
The reason is the present world's poverty of spiritual-qi.
Back to Martial Spirits: the power of a God-rank Martial Spirit is truly frightening.
Even if the owner is lazy and learns nothing, the Martial Spirit will automatically gather spiritual energy every day and bestow enlightenment.
Therefore, as long as the owner does not die, he will reach at least **Martial-God Empire**.
Hence, with two God-rank Martial Spirits, Li Fan—even if he never trains again—will still reach **Martial-God Emperor** at minimum.
Li Fan spent the whole night cultivating.
In the morning and midday he went out to eat and shop; in the evening the family held Li Fan's birthday party.
Originally they planned something big, but because Li Fan refused, only their **seven family members** attended.
After happily finishing the party with his family, Li Fan went to his room and video-chatted with **Yue Ar**.
"With big sister's present, what will I get?" Li Fan asked, smiling.
"What does little brother want?" came Yue Ar's sweet, alluring voice.
Because it was a video call, Li Fan could see her pretty face on screen.
"Actually, I've prepared something for you," she teased, sticking out her tongue. "I'll give it when you get back to **Yankin**."
"But what is it? Can't you tell me now?" Li Fan pressed, eyes shining.
Yet Yue Ar refused to reveal it, and they chatted happily until late at night before Li Fan finally said good night.
That night Li Fan decided to skip cultivation and went to sleep.
The next day Li Fan woke up early and went out together with Arsham.
Today Li Fan was wearing a pair of long black trousers and a long-sleeved grey turtleneck; the two pieces matched neatly, and he looked so handsome that not only girls but even boys turned their heads like startled deer.
Arsham, for his part, wore an ordinary blue sports outfit.
Because he was mixed-race, he too was quite handsome, yet standing next to Li Fan he was hardly noticeable.
"Alright—did you ask that guy for the location the other day?" Li Fan, hands in his trouser pockets and lively-eyed, asked while they walked.
"Already asked, big brother Li. If we go by car it's only a ten-minute drive," Arsham—his body still buzzing with the power burning inside—replied.
Their family owned more than a hundred luxury cars, but first: they were both still underage.
Second: neither of them could drive.
They had drivers, of course, yet because today they were going to pick a fight with someone else's gang, they simply rented a Taxi.
The city they were staying in was one of the great cities of Europe, roughly twice as large as Yankin.
Unlike quiet, sparsely populated Yankin, this city was extremely crowded, and the roads were packed with cars.
Because it was morning rush hour, a distance that normally required a ten-minute drive took half an hour.
Not long after, they reached the city's edge and saw a huge abandoned building.
At the gate two men who looked like thugs were standing guard.
Those two were physically stronger than normal—about three times Stronger—yet their life-energy was weak.
Having already seen many people in the same state, Li Fan became even more interested.
When Li Fan and Arsham started walking toward them, the two gate guards, faces rough, barked out:
"Hey! Who are you? This is Devil-Envoy territory! Get lost right now!"
Arsham merely smiled a little and, saying nothing, vanished in a flash and struck.
"THUNK!"
Because Arsham still could not fully control his strength, he used a bit too much; even a gust of wind burst out, the first guard lost about twelve teeth and fell unconscious.
Those men were three times overall stronger than ordinary, so they were lucky; if it had been an ordinary person, Arsham's punch would have broken his neck and ended it.
When his fellow collapsed, the remaining guard froze, drew a cleaver, and slashed at Arsham.
But Arsham sidestepped lightly and punched the man's solar plexus, knocking him out.
"Ghh—"
Because the strength had increased even more, blood spurted from the man's mouth; he instantly lost consciousness.
Winning so easily, Arsham, full of excitement, kicked the big iron door.
"BOOM—CLANG!"
Because it was locked from inside, the sound of the lock breaking rang out.
When Li Fan and Arsham entered, they saw a scene completely different from the outside.
Outside it looked like a big abandoned structure, yet inside it was luxurious: red carpet was laid on the floor.
In addition, there were about ten couches, and roughly one hundred people were staring at the two of them.
"Fight!" Suddenly a voice sounded, and all one hundred ran toward them.
"Come on then!" Arsham, grinning savagely and without the slightest fear, charged straight in.
"DOONG! BANG!"
Arsham's punch split a large chair clean in two.
Although roughly one hundred people stood on the ground floor, they were so weak that—compared with Arsham, who now possessed a Martial-Lord's physical Ability—it was like a hundred rabbits facing one tiger.
With each punch he sent bodies flying; three or so men were knocked out at a time.
Very soon, seeing the situation turn sour, the thugs bolted up the stairs.
Grinning broadly, Arsham chased them to the upper floor to continue the beating.
Li Fan, smiling at the boy's excitement, followed behind to the second floor.
The second floor was likewise splendid, packed with expensive furniture.
In the centre of the wide hall stood a huge conference table—the sort used for formal meetings.
At that very moment a meeting seemed to be under way: neatly dressed middle-aged men sat in chairs, squinting warily at Li Fan and Arsham.
Li Fan's eyes gleamed in mild surprise:
each seated man's bodily Overall strength had reached the Martial-Lord level—yet their life-energy was only five to ten years.
There were nine of them in all, every one in a full black Western suit, seated solemnly.
The leader—handsome enough, a knife-scar across his face—sat at the head chair. He wiped his brow and spoke:
"Elder Nine, what is going on here?" The leader's tone was tight.
"I apologise, Boss. I will deal with it immediately," Elder Nine replied, face flushed with embarrassment.
Elder Nine looked about fifty, a little white in his hair—normally a kindly elder—but his expression now was twisted and ugly.
This rundown building was not the Devil-Envoy Crew's headquarters: although luxurious inside, it was only Elder Nine's ordinary branch office.
He had only recently been promoted and had just received permission to cultivate the Black Winter Rose.
Today he was hosting a progress meeting when Head Office suddenly called everyone here.
Now Li Fan and Arsham had barged in, shaming him; Elder Nine seethed with anger.
Arsham, meanwhile, knocked lackeys away; gusts of wind burst with every strike, and he turned just in time to see—
Elder Nine vanished from his seat, reappeared in front of him with unbelievable speed, and swung a kick.
Startled for an instant, Arsham still caught it on his forearms.
"BOOM!"
The force was so great that cracks split the floor beneath them; fierce wind roared.
Yet Arsham did not retreat a single step—he held firm.
Elder Nine's eyes widened in shock; he had kicked with full force, driven by great anger.
He himself knew well that if he had to block such a kick, he would fail.
"Die!" Boss Elder whipped his leg back and punched in.
Arsham bent slightly downward, dodged, grabbed the waist, then took a breath, gathered all his strength, and punched Elder Nine in the heart.
"WHOOOM!"
Because the force was huge and fierce, gusts of wind burst forth; the cracks in the floor spread wider and deeper.
"CRACK!"
Elder Nine received a direct blow to the heart; many of his ribs cracked and broke.
Instantly, from intense pain, he lost the ability to fight and fell unconscious.
"Hmph," the gang chief blew his nose and signaled.
At that moment, all eight remaining elders charged in at once.
Elder Nine had the same Overall Strength as Arsham, yet he had underestimated him and paid the price.
Otherwise, Elder Nine would not have been defeated so easily.
Now eight Elders, each slightly stronger than Elder Nine, attacked together; Arsham was overwhelmed at once.
Immediately Elder Four seized an opening, struck at Arsham's heart, and tried to kill him.
Li Fan, watching from a distance, went cold; he vanished.
The next second he reappeared beside Elder Four and flash-kicked him.
"BANG!"
Elder Four could not even react; his neck snapped and he died instantly.
At that moment the Demon-Energy Master activated automatically, sucking everything pure from Elder Four's right side.
"That kid—" the gang chief, watching from afar, involuntarily straightened.
It was not only Arsham who had come up here—how had this youth appeared?
The other Elders were frightened; Arsham, likewise, was shocked.
But Arsham's shock was not because Li Fan had appeared; it was because Li Fan, without any hesitation, had just killed a man.
Without pause Li Fan moved again, appeared beside Elder Five, and used his hand like a blade, slicing through the neck.
"SWISH!"
Immediately Elder Five's aged head flew; his body knelt and died.
"Retreat!" shouted the gang chief, finally reacting and planning to fall back.
Li Fan's gaze locked on the gang chief.
"Eek—" The chief, chilled by Li Fan's icy stare, trembled in fear.
Li Fan vanished again, reappeared in front of the chief, hooked a clawed finger at his throat, intending to kill.
"Wait a moment, Young-Master!" The chief instantly knelt.
Li Fan paused.
Seeing him stop, the chief, overjoyed, spoke quickly:
"Young-Master, please spare us—our entire gang will submit to you!" He gestured for the seven Elders still alive to kneel.
The Elders, terrified of death, threw pride aside and knelt at once.
"Hmm, submit, is it?" Li Fan smiled.
At first he had come to discover why these people were so strong yet had such low life-energy—and also to pick up some dirty money.
If an entire gang now became his underlings, that was not so bad, he thought, and he nodded.
"All right—first clean up the bodies, then we'll sit down," Li Fan clapped twice and spoke cheerfully.