Republic of China: From Street Performer to War God in a Chaotic Era

Lu Guan gripped the iron dagger, coldly pressing it against Greyhound's collapsed chest, and then pressed it down slightly.

"I'll ask you one more time, where did you hide that mouse?"

The greyhound was covered in blood and slumped against the wall like a rag doll.

A cruel smile suddenly appeared on his face, which had been smashed by Lu Guan's elbow. The blood and foam spurting from his nose even emitted a wisp of black smoke in the dim light.

"Want Grandpa Gray? Fine... I'll bring him out right now, and we'll die together."

Before he could finish speaking, Greyhound suddenly bit his tongue, spitting a mouthful of foul-smelling blood directly onto his cotton-padded jacket.

"Sir, save me! This disciple is willing to sacrifice this physical body to become an immortal under your grace!"

"boom."

A foul-smelling, evil wind swept across the warehouse floor.

The flame of the kerosene lamp instantly turned a ghastly green, the surrounding temperature plummeted, and even the blood on the ground congealed into a layer of white frost.

During the Republican era, there was a slang term in shamanic practices: "sacrificing oneself to feed evil spirits."

If a disciple willingly sacrifices his three souls and seven spirits in a desperate situation, the immortals he worships can unleash a far greater evil power than usual in a short period of time.

Suddenly, a violent writhing sensation came from inside Greyhound's cotton-padded coat, as if something alive was trying to crawl out of his chest.

In a short while, he withered up quickly, his eyes bulged out, and all that remained in them was death.

"Trying to drag me down with you? You don't deserve it!"

A cold glint flashed in Lu Guan's eyes.

In this chaotic world teeming with strange occurrences, the worst thing you can do when dealing with evil spirits is to be cowardly and retreat.

The more afraid you are, the weaker the three yang fires on your shoulders become, and the easier it is for evil spirits to take advantage of your weakness.

"Give me the town!"

Instead of retreating, Lu Guan advanced, his feet hard planted in a horse stance, and his back muscles snapped back, shaking like a living dragon.

His newly acquired Ming Jin strength, combined with his exceptional bone structure, was like a fully erupting volcano. His entire body instantly turned crimson and heated up, and a ball of white yang energy rose from the top of his head.

Bajiquan is extremely powerful and yang!

Lu Guan once again unleashed his mastered "Tiger Climbing the Mountain," but this time, he didn't strike the body; he struck the mind.

"roar!"

As his qi and blood surged, a domineering tiger fist intent exploded from Lu Guan's fist, like a blazing sun smashing directly into the pale green yin wind.

"squeak!!"

A scream exploded in the air, and the foul, eerie wind that had just gathered was completely blasted away by Lu Guan's punch.

The flame of the kerosene lamp suddenly flickered and regained its warm color.

The greyhound's shrunken body, which had been twitching, now stiffened completely.

His eyes were wide open, black blood flowed from his seven orifices, and even his last glimmer of life was crushed by this pure yang fist intent.

Lu Guan withdrew his fist and exhaled a breath of hot white air.

He stepped forward, grabbed Greyhound by the collar, and dragged the shriveled corpse to a slightly better-lit corner of the warehouse.

"Sizzle..."

With a slash of his iron shovel, Lu Guan ripped open Greyhound's blood-stained gray squirrel fur coat and the tattered cotton-padded jacket underneath.

Inside the lining of the cotton-padded jacket, near the heart on the left side, was a small, concealed pocket.

Lu Guan opened the hidden bag and pulled out a small black wooden plaque, no bigger than the palm of his hand.

The wooden plaque was decorated with strange runes drawn in cinnabar, and the words "The Divine Seat of Grandfather Gray Gate" were written in the center.

Behind the wooden sign, a gray ball of fur was huddled up, trembling.

Lu Guan looked closely and let out a cold laugh.

It turns out that the so-called "half-human-sized" rat that could speak human language was actually only the size of an ordinary raccoon!

The enormous body and terrifying sense of oppression were all illusions created by this beast using the soul energy of the living people it had absorbed.

This thing usually huddles behind this memorial tablet, close to the greyhound's heart, enjoying the offerings while absorbing the greyhound's life force.

At this moment, the true form of this gray fairy was exposed to the air, its fur was falling off in patches, and its eyes, the size of mung beans, were filled with human-like fear.

Lu Guan's powerful strike, imbued with the intent of a fierce tiger's fist, had already shattered the soul foundation it had painstakingly built up.

"Squeak... Mercy, hero! Mercy!"

This rat spirit, the size of a kitten, actually stood upright like a human, its two front paws clasped in prayer, and it spoke in a trembling voice.

"This humble immortal was blind and did not recognize Mount Tai, thus offending a true god."

"If you, great hero, are willing to spare me, I will show you a 'secret path to wealth in Tianjin'."

"I've been digging underground in Nanshi for sixty years. I know which money exchange has a secret passage in its vault, and which warlord's ancestral tomb contains gold bars. I'm willing to acknowledge you as my master, and in the future, mountains of gold and silver will be mine..."

Its beady green eyes darted around as it pleaded while secretly gathering its strength, trying to find a chance to escape.

Lu Guan looked down at it, his eyes cold.

Money can move people's hearts? That's only true for fools.

Keeping such a treacherous and wicked creature around, capable of turning on its master and devouring people without spitting out their bones, makes it impossible to sleep soundly at night.

Today it can sell Greyhound, tomorrow it can sell Lu Guan.

"You can save your wealth for the underworld."

Lu Guan snorted coldly, reached into his robes, and pulled out the completely ashes "Eight Extremes Master" shadow puppet.

Previously, the old blind man had taught him a secret method of "suppressing evil spirits" passed down through generations of shadow puppeteers by the fire pit.

The old blind man said that shadow puppetry is also called "shadow play".

Ancient shadow puppets were made by carving human figures from animal hides and then dancing on white cloth.

In the even more ancient era of witchcraft, this object was originally a ritual implement used to "take the calamity in place of a person" and to ward off evil spirits for its master.

The old shadow puppets in the opera box are naturally designed to suppress evil spirits.

Lu Guan casually tossed the gray immortal tablet on the ground, then smeared his finger heavily on the still-warm blood on the gray dog's neck.

The blood droplets were crimson, still warm from the lingering presence of the living.

Lu Guan's eyes sharpened, and he pressed his blood-stained finger against the charred bullet hole in the tiger-skin shadow puppet's chest.

"Borrowing blood to revive the soul, a fierce tiger to suppress evil!"

"Buzz..."

Nourished by that drop of living human blood, the tiger-skin puppet, whose spirit had already dried up, began to tremble violently in Lu Guan's hands. The rough and dull tiger fur patterns on the surface of the puppet seemed to come alive in an instant.

A faint tiger's roar suddenly rang out in the empty warehouse.

The last remaining trace of the tiger's ferocious aura transformed into a phantom, a blood-red tiger with piercing eyes and a white forehead, which pounced out of the shadow puppet and bit at the gray immortal tablet on the ground.

"Squeak!"

The rat demon let out a miserable scream.

Before that tiger demon, which is naturally able to subdue all beasts and is extremely fierce and powerful, its meager cultivation level collapsed instantly.

It no longer cared about disguise, and suddenly darted out from behind the memorial tablet, turning into a gray afterimage as it frantically fled out of the warehouse, skimming the ground.

"Trying to leave?"

Lu Guan's gaze was like lightning, and he instantly activated the [Shadow Step] technique.

It covered a distance of two zhang in an instant, which was three times faster than the speed at which the rat spirit fled.

"die!"

Lu Guan's right arm bulged with veins, and he channeled his inner strength into the iron dagger, aiming it at the gray figure before hurling it fiercely.

"laugh!"

A flash of dark light appeared.

The sharp iron dagger pierced the rat demon's skull, and the immense force pinned it to the distant bluestone floor.

The foul-smelling blood spread along the cracks in the stone slabs. The once arrogant gray fairy twitched its limbs a few times and then fell completely still, only its bald tail remained nervously curled up.