Old Refining Spirit

"I am an official appointed by the imperial court, bearing the fate of the nation on my shoulders! How dare you, a mere commoner Taoist priest, disrespect me? Guards, seize him! I will skin him alive!"

Zhu Dachang roared and strode heavily out of the hall. With each step, the ground of the county government office groaned under his weight.

Li Xuangeng had already stepped through the broken gate and entered the front courtyard of the county government office. Dressed in pure white, blindfolded, and wearing a white mourning robe, he stood out starkly against the bloody and filthy environment.

Faced with the overwhelming official aura emanating from Zhu Dachang, Li Xuangeng didn't even pause for a moment.

"National destiny? Dragon aura?" Li Xuangeng felt the power attempting to oppress his soul, a mocking sneer curling his lips. "If it were the true purple aura of the Human Emperor, I might still be somewhat wary. But your so-called official prestige..."

Li Xuangeng activated [Absolute Rationality], and the oppressive force that tried to invade his brain and force him to kneel and submit was instantly analyzed into a bunch of meaningless, chaotic data.

"It's nothing more than sucking the resentful blood of countless people, mixed with the putrid stench of this morbid Heavenly Dao. Wearing a fig leaf of the imperial court, it really thinks it's the supreme ruler?"

Li Xuangeng's voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached Zhu Dachang's ears.

"Insolence! Nonsense!" Zhu Dachang roared. He knew this Taoist priest was a bit strange, so he simply stopped talking nonsense.

His blue official robes ripped apart instantly with a "rip," revealing his terrifying true form hidden beneath human skin!

It was a giant, mutated wild boar, over ten feet long and two meters tall! Its entire body was covered in black bristles like steel needles, each bristle drenched in sticky drops of blood. Most disgustingly, the boar's belly was covered with more than a dozen human faces! Those faces belonged to the people it had eaten, and they were now emitting painful screams.

"roar--!"

Zhu Dachang transformed into a heavy tank, its four hooves pounding through the bluestone slabs, charging madly towards Li Xuangeng with unstoppable force. Its two enormous fangs, each half a meter long, gleamed with a ghostly green, highly poisonous light.

The force of that impact was enough to collapse a city gate tower!

"So it's finally showing its true colors? This meat, although a bit fatty, contains enough vitality to barely qualify for the furnace."

Facing this charging mountain of flesh, Li Xuangeng's Adam's apple bobbed heavily, and the tips of his ears beneath the white silk blushed slightly with excitement. This was a unique micro-expression he displayed when encountering his most prized prey.

He didn't back down. The best treatment for those suffering from a fear of insufficient firepower is to use the most absolute firepower to completely crush the fear itself!

"The universe is created, and all things are made of bronze!"

Li Xuangeng gave a light shout. He did not draw his sword or use thunder magic. Instead, he stepped into a horse stance, aligning his waist and stance, and poured all the pure true energy he had accumulated over the past ten years, which was like a surging river, into his right fist!

Due to the intense compression of his true energy, a dazzling dark golden light emanated from the surface of his right fist, and the air around his fist emitted a sonic boom as if it were about to collapse.

"Crush this piece!"

Just as Zhu Dachang's tusks were about to pierce Li Xuangeng's body, Li Xuangeng's right fist, with a terrifying speed that could tear through space, slammed into the giant wild boar's indestructible forehead!

"Boom!!!"

A deafening roar, like a meteorite hitting the ground, exploded in the front courtyard of the county government office.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment.

Then, in Xiaoman's extremely constricted pupils, a scene she would never forget was reflected.

The centuries-old pig demon Zhu Dachang, capable of crushing mountains, stiffened abruptly the moment it came into contact with Li Xuangeng's fist. Then, starting from its skull, terrifying cracks spread rapidly across its entire body like a spiderweb.

"No...this is impossible...I am an official appointed by the imperial court...the guardian of the nation's destiny..."

Only one last thought flashed through Zhu Dachang's mind.

"Bang--!!!"

The giant pig demon was actually smashed to pieces by Li Xuangeng's punch!

Black blood, bits of flesh, and shattered bones filled the sky, like a brutal rain of blood. But all the filth that splashed towards Li Xuangeng was blocked by the invisible shield of true energy on his body, and his white robes remained as white as new.

"Ding! Slaying a century-old pig demon (with a slight national fortune attached), meeting the top-tier refining standards! The Creation Furnace is activated!"

As the system's cold notification sounded, the illusory image of the ten-thousand-foot-tall dark golden [Creation Furnace] descended once more behind Li Xuangeng!

This time, the furnace's suction force was more than ten times stronger than before. Zhu Dachang's scattered flesh and blood, along with his resentful soul, and even the black demonic aura representing "official fortune" hovering above the county government office, were all swallowed up by the furnace!

The furnace was ablaze, with a faint purple glow mixed in with the dark blue flames.

"Ding! Refining successful!"

"Obtained a top-grade elixir: [Official Fortune Golden Pill] x1!"

"This pill contains a century's worth of cultivation and the faint national fortune of the Great Abyss Dynasty. Consuming it can cleanse the marrow and break through one's cultivation realm!"

A pill the size of a pigeon egg, golden in color, with a tiny black dragon phantom coiled around its surface, floated quietly in Li Xuangeng's palm.

Li Xuangeng took a deep breath, and without hesitation, threw the golden pill into his mouth and swallowed it with a gulp.

"boom!"

The moment the pill entered his stomach, Li Xuangeng felt as if a volcano was erupting within him. An unimaginably vast amount of pure spiritual energy, mixed with that mysterious "official fortune," surged wildly through his limbs and bones. His Taoist robes fluttered and rustled even without wind.

With a soft "crack," an invisible shackle within his body was instantly broken.

Li Xuangeng slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, which shot out more than three feet high like a white dragon. At this moment, his cultivation level achieved a qualitative leap.

"That feels good."

Li Xuangeng smiled gently. He turned his head and used his Qi Observation Technique to scan the messy county government office. Suddenly, his gaze stopped under the armchair where Zhu Dachang had been sitting.

There, there was a letter that had not been destroyed by the qi and was emitting a faint golden light.

Li Xuangeng strolled over and used his inner energy to capture the letter in his hand.

The letter was unsigned, containing only one line written in blood: "One hundred thousand units of blood offerings in Qingping County are ready. They will be sent to the capital on the fifth day of next month for the Imperial Preceptor to enjoy. Remember to keep this a secret."

"The capital? The Imperial Preceptor?"

Li Xuangeng's slender fingers gently caressed the letter, and his eyes, hidden beneath the white silk, burst forth with a chilling killing intent and extreme fanaticism.

"So, the root of the Great Yuan Dynasty rotted from the capital."

He turned around, looked at Xiaoman who was huddled in the corner, completely terrified, and his compassionate smile returned to his lips, his tone as gentle as a spring breeze.

"Miss Xiaoman, this county office is too dirty. Please go and boil some water. I need to take a bath and change my clothes."

Li Xuangeng slowly folded the letter, tucked it into his sleeve, and gently licked his lips.

"After dealing with these scraps... it's time for this humble Taoist to move on and savor the world's finest 'main course'."