Wu Pifu felt as if his consciousness was submerged in an abyss.
If one were to say that the mental state of an ordinary person is calm and tranquil, then when faced with immense fright, emotions running high, and blood surging through the brain, one would appear dazed and confused, even to the point of not knowing what they were doing in the heat of the moment, leading to irrevocable actions.
At such times, a person's spirit is akin to turbulent waves, and few can maintain their composure and clarity.
However, Wu Pifu felt he had gone a step further; his self-awareness seemed to have condensed into a faint glimmer of spiritual consciousness, swaying amidst the endless darkness, void, and chaotic thoughts.
In the boundless darkness and void, only this tiny spark of unquenchable spiritual light flickered...
Wu Pifu stood up from beneath the broken wall.
He knew he had begun to succumb to demonic influence and was aware that he controlled his body, yet he could not fully master it.
The thoughts in his chest could only desperately resist the darkness and void; beyond that, it seemed he could do nothing else.
The Tiger Demon Technique, with the tiger as its form, and the spirit like a demon, has at its core the cultivation of a spark of unquenchable spiritual consciousness, which is then gradually strengthened using chaotic thoughts, demonic thoughts, and evil thoughts as nourishment.
Ultimately, upon realizing one's true nature and heart, the Tiger Demon Technique would be considered perfected.
However, this technique is inherently sinister and exceedingly difficult to practice.
Perhaps among a hundred or a thousand practitioners, only one might successfully cultivate unquenchable spiritual consciousness, while the majority who practice the Tiger Demon Technique likely end up... succumbing to demonic influence!
Within the Tiger Demon Technique, there exists a specific route for demonic energy transport, designed to bring about mutual destruction with the enemy in moments of despair!
The moment Wu Pifu was struck, he knew he could not defeat the half-paper man before him... it was too strong!
The bizarre, chilling energy unleashed by the masterful control, techniques, and moves of a martial artist was akin to the internal force used by a practitioner of national martial arts; its effects were far more complex than mere arithmetic.
Even with his physical constitution, he could not contend with it.
With a single strike, he was severely injured, having seven or eight ribs broken, his lungs punctured by the ribs, his internal organs shaken and torn, and the chilling, bizarre energy began to freeze his heart, lungs, and blood vessels, making it nearly impossible for him to breathe.
At this point, Wu Pifu understood he had failed; everyone had failed.
The only thing left was to be tortured to death or transformed into a paper man, doomed to eternal suffering.
Thus, he... activated the demonic energy transport route, reversing the flow of energy from his spine upward, ultimately transporting it directly into his spiritual platform!
His blood-red pupils were filled with surging torrents of blood beneath the film of his eyes!
The half-paper man, all the paper men, and even Lin Heier and the others turned to look at Wu Pifu.
The half-paper man and the paper men were one thing, but when Lin Heier and the others saw Wu Pifu for the first time, an overwhelming terror inexplicably surged within their hearts, rendering them frozen in place, like small animals facing a natural enemy.
Something that transcended Wu Pifu's essence gradually awakened within this flesh and blood.
"Done!"
At that moment, Yamada's loud shout echoed, and he leaped down from the throwing device in mid-air, rolled, and quickly ran to grab two torches, then rushed to Xu Shilan's side.
He had yet to see Wu Pifu's current state.
However, this loud shout startled everyone awake; they forced themselves to suppress their fear and aimed their torches at the half-paper man and the paper men.
Those paper men began to move again, flying toward the crowd, but the half-paper man remained rooted in place, staring intently at Wu Pifu, who was stepping out from beneath the broken wall.
Then everyone saw a thread fall from the sky, hanging over the half-paper man's head, and a strange tone emanated from the half-paper man's mouth.
But the moment that tone sounded, the half-paper man's head exploded halfway, his mouth and throat nearly obliterated, and the thread above his head snapped.
In the next second, hundreds of threads fell from the sky, densely surrounding the entire graveyard.
A bizarre sensation began to permeate the air.
Everyone was bewildered, but a sense of fear naturally arose within them.
The half-paper man then pulled over a paper man and stuffed it deep into its throat.
As Wu Pifu stepped closer, its head restored to its original state, and the half-paper man spoke, "How strange, the old mother wants to speak with you personally, does that mean I cannot kill you now?"
At this point, Wu Pifu had already walked within two meters of the half-paper man, not adopting any stance, but slightly leaning forward, his feet slightly apart, and his hands reaching out like claws.
The half-paper man also extended its hands, still using the Furnace Mill Palm technique, one hand spiraling clockwise and the other counterclockwise, but both palms were aimed at Wu Pifu's arms.
However, as soon as those palms reached out, Wu Pifu's tiger claws had already landed on the half-paper man's palms, the speed astonishing.
Not to mention the half-paper man not reacting in time, even Lin Heier, watching from a distance, could not see Wu Pifu's movements clearly, as if his claws had always been resting on the half-paper man's palms.
Yet the half-paper man made no other moves, continuing to spiral its palms forward.
This was the marvel of the Furnace Mill Palm technique; once initiated, the accumulated power would grow increasingly stronger, until it broke through from dark energy to transformative energy, even reaching the peak of transformative energy in a single strike, almost impossible to interrupt midway.
If one attempted to forcibly disrupt the spiraling motion of the two palms, the result would be akin to Wu Pifu's tiger claws getting trapped, ultimately leaving him wide open to a devastating blow.
The half-paper man continued to rotate its palms, and then in the next second, it froze.
Its arms no longer had hands...
Where were its large hands?
Everyone saw that the half-paper man's arms were now handless, the empty arms still waving, but its hands had been captured by Wu Pifu's claws.
No one saw how Wu Pifu accomplished this; it was almost in the blink of an eye that he had removed the half-paper man's hands, yet his own hands were similarly injured, twisted into a mess, with the bones of his fingers protruding from the flesh.
"He's gone mad!" Lin Heier muttered with an extremely serious expression.
There is also madness in national martial arts, but most who succumb to madness die on the spot, as national martial arts itself relies on transporting one's own qi and blood to achieve explosive power.
Once madness occurs, the qi and blood go out of control, leading to paralysis at best, or death on the spot at worst.
However, in rare cases, the qi and blood can surge directly into the brain, resulting in a different kind of madness.
Such a martial artist will attack everything living around them, regardless of kinship or enmity.
Moreover, their strength, speed, and physique will surpass all limits, reaching an incredible state, but harming others also harms oneself.
In the end, they either exhaust their qi and blood to death in a frenzy or suffer fatal injuries while harming others, with almost no survivors.
Yamada and Xu Shilan naturally witnessed all of this, but their thoughts were more "scientific."
"Adrenaline syndrome!" Yamada said with a grim expression.
"Unconscious limit-breaking state?!" Xu Shilan added.
Though they spoke differently, both referred to the same phenomenon: a person losing consciousness for some reason while their body continues to move due to instinct.
At this point, the body would ignore its own protective limits, performing countless incredible feats, such as punching through thin steel plates, only for their own arms to turn to mush, or running at speeds of around two seconds for a hundred meters, tearing ligaments, muscles, and bones in the process.
Both had witnessed such occurrences firsthand, one on the battlefield and the other as an internal security personnel in a technology company.
At that moment, Wu Pifu moved his foot and in a flash appeared behind the half-paper man.
In the next instant, the half-paper man's arms and legs shattered simultaneously, its head twisted backward, and its paper body contorted and wrinkled.
The surrounding paper men rushed toward Wu Pifu, but they couldn't even touch his shadow.
In everyone's eyes, Wu Pifu exhibited a peculiar strobe effect; in the blink of an eye, he suddenly changed positions, the process invisible to all.
One paper man after another was torn apart by him, and his hands were reduced to mere bones, yet even with just bones, none of the paper men could withstand even a second before him.
Only the half-paper man's paper body seemed to possess extreme resilience, making it difficult to shred, and the half-paper man was rapidly healing at that moment.
In just a few seconds, Wu Pifu had torn apart at least twenty paper men, their fragments swirling around, transforming into chunks of flesh embedded with human faces.
Xu Shilan suddenly shouted, "Wu Pifu! Can you still hear me? Go break that round hole! Something is descending!!"
As hundreds of threads descended from the sky, surrounding the graveyard, everyone instinctively felt fear.
Goosebumps rose on their skin, and they all felt a bone-chilling cold, a supernatural chill that affected both body and spirit.
At this moment, the half-paper man had fully healed.
It roared, tearing apart the flying chunks of flesh, stuffing them into its mouth while lunging toward Wu Pifu.
But just as the half-paper man was about to pounce, Wu Pifu suddenly vanished from his spot.
When he reappeared, everyone saw him gripping a torch with his mangled claws, igniting the surrounding buildings one by one, while also pouring the remaining oil canister over himself.
Once all was done, he reappeared on the throwing device, using the torch to ignite the launch mechanism of the device, a vine that stretched from it.
The half-paper man had already devoured an unknown number of flesh chunks made from paper men, its body swelling to nearly three meters in height, and aside from its arms and legs, parts of its paper body had begun to flesh out.
Seeing Wu Pifu stepping onto the throwing device and igniting the surrounding buildings, the half-paper man roared and charged toward the nodes embedded in the surrounding structures.
However, just a few steps into its charge, Yamada lunged at its waist.
"Ah!"
The moment he made contact with the half-paper man's body, the part he touched began to freeze and decay, yet he was resolute, not letting go, and instead raised the torch to ignite both himself and the half-paper man.
The half-paper man dragged Yamada several meters forward.
As it ran, it raised one hand and swung down hard, like a whip cracking against Yamada's spine.
With a single blow, it sent Yamada tumbling backward, his entire spine bending at an unnatural angle.
At the same time, Xu Shilan had somehow raised an oil canister, and as Yamada was struck back, she threw the oil directly onto the half-paper man.
Seeing the oil thrown at it, the half-paper man actually grabbed the incapacitated Yamada and hurled him away, not only knocking the oil aside but also sending Yamada crashing into Xu Shilan, fracturing her sternum.
The two rolled into a corner, both unaware of their fates.
Just as the half-paper man turned to charge toward the throwing device again, it caught sight of a woman in red leaping into the air, reaching out to catch the thrown oil canister.
In that instant, as it turned, all the oil poured down from above, igniting the small flame that had just been lit by Yamada at its waist...
With a thunderous roar, flames engulfed the half-paper man.
Meanwhile, on the throwing device, Wu Pifu had severed the vine, and in the next second, he actually aimed the torch at himself, igniting himself into a fiery figure.
The device activated with a series of sharp cracks, and then Wu Pifu was lifted into the air, soaring high.
In this life-and-death moment, the unquenchable spiritual consciousness within Wu Pifu shone brightly, suppressing the surging darkness, void, and chaotic thoughts entirely.
Then, Wu Pifu, engulfed in flames, seemed to feel no pain at all; he simply steadied his arms, crossed his legs, focused his energy in his dantian, and directed his qi through the Ren and Du meridians...
Before him, a massive, twisted humanoid figure hung high in the air, with hundreds of threads descending from a round hole!!
(End of Chapter)