This celestial master cultivates both physical and magical arts; why did you provoke him?

One dark and windy night.

Xia En was sleeping.

To be precise, it was on the third night after he had resolved the matter with Su Wanqing that he had a rare good night's sleep.

There were no evil spirits to disturb them, no customers came to their door, and even the female ghost Cuihua was quietly squatting in the corner and dozing off. The entire Qinghe Residence was as quiet as an empty building.

Then a loud bang jolted him out of bed.

It wasn't an earthquake, it wasn't thunder, something just hit the roof of Qingheju.

With a loud "boom," the whole building shook, tiles fell down, and dust covered his face.

Xia En opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling.

There's a hole in the ceiling.

The hole wasn't big, about the size of a washbasin, but it was big enough for him to see the sky outside.

And that thing squatting on the roof.

The thing was about the size of a cow, completely black, with thick limbs and a row of bone spurs on its back.

Its head resembled both a wolf and a mastiff, with sticky drool dripping from its mouth, and it was looking down through the hole.

Four blood-red eyes stared intently at Xia En.

Xia En looked at it, and it looked at Xia En.

There was a three-second silence.

Then the thing opened its mouth, its voice hoarse like sandpaper grinding against sheet metal:

"The key...is with you..."

Xia En looked down at the black jade talisman under his pillow.

"Could you guys use a different line? The last one said the same thing."

The thing paused for a moment, clearly not expecting this human to react this way.

Then it got angry.

It stuck its paw into the hole and slapped it down.

The claw was as big as a palm-leaf fan, with nails like curved knives, and it slapped straight at Xia En's face with a gust of bloody wind.

Xia En didn't dodge.

He lay on the bed, extending his right hand with his five fingers spread wide!

He caught the slap right in the face.

"Bang!"

The enormous impact caused the entire bed to collapse, the bed frame to shatter, and cotton wadding to fly everywhere.

But Shane didn't budge. His right hand gripped the thing's claws like an iron clamp, his five fingers digging deep into its flesh.

The creature let out a scream and tried desperately to pull its claws back, but the hand was so strong that it couldn't break free at all.

"He's quite strong."

Shane said, her tone as calm as if she were commenting on the weather, "But you broke my bed."

He sat up, his left hand clenched into a fist.

He punched the thing's claw.

"Snap—!"

The sound of bones shattering was clear and piercing.

The creature's claws were blasted off, black blood gushing from the broken ends. It screamed and rolled off the roof, landing with a thud in the yard.

Xia En stood up, patted the bits of wood and cotton off his clothes, walked barefoot to the window, and looked out.

The thing fell to the ground in the middle of the yard, sprawled out, with one claw broken and black blood flowing all over the ground.

But it wasn't dead yet, and struggled to get up.

Cuihua floated in the corner of the yard, trembling as she looked at the thing.

Fang Zijian rushed out of the next room, his hair disheveled and looking completely bewildered.

"What's wrong? What happened?!"

"We have guests."

Shane said, "Stay here and don't come out."

He pushed open the window and jumped from the second floor.

Their bare feet landed on the blue brick floor without making a sound.

When the thing saw him, a flicker of fear flashed in its blood-red eyes.

It struggled to its feet, its three good legs supporting its body, while its broken leg dangled on the ground, dripping black blood.

"You...you are not an ordinary Taoist priest..."

"I've said it many times."

Xia En cracked his knuckles. "I am a Taoist priest. But Taoist priests also know martial arts."

The thing let out a low growl, opened its mouth wide, and spewed out a thick cloud of black gas.

The black mist seemed to come alive, condensing into countless serpentine shapes in the air, rushing towards Xia En.

Xia En didn't dodge.

He took a deep breath, stepped back half a step with his right foot, and lowered his body slightly.

Then he threw a punch.

This punch had no fancy moves or magical enhancements.

It's pure power!!

The power originates from the feet, travels through the waist and hips, reaches the shoulders, and finally explodes from the fist.

But the power of that punch was outrageously great.

Wherever the fist passed, the air was compressed into a shockwave visible to the naked eye.

The serpentine black energy that had condensed was torn to pieces by the shockwave and dissipated into the air.

The shockwave did not weaken at all; it continued forward, striking the thing directly.

"boom--!!!"

The thing was like it had been hit by a speeding train; its entire body flew backward, crashing through the wall of Qingheju, then through another wall across the alley, and finally embedding itself in a third wall.

Bricks and stones flew everywhere, and dust billowed.

The entire alley was trembling.

Fang Zijian was leaning over the second-floor window, his mouth agape enough to fit an egg.

Cuihua floated in the courtyard, her jaw almost dropping to the ground.

In the distance, the neighbors, awakened by the noise, opened their windows and looked out, grumbling and cursing.

Then they saw the wall that had been smashed through, the black monster embedded in the wall, and the young man standing in the middle of the yard, barefoot and wearing pajamas.

The curses instantly turned into screams.

Xia En ignored the screams.

He walked over through the broken bricks and came to the thing.

The thing was embedded in the wall, covered in blood, with countless broken bones.

He walked over through the broken bricks and came to the thing.

The thing was embedded in the wall, covered in blood, with countless broken bones.

It struggled to move, but its body was no longer under its control.

Xia En crouched down and looked at it.

"Who sent you?"

The thing stared at him with its blood-red eyes, and let out a hoarse laugh.

"You...can't kill me...we...there are countless..."

"The last one said the same thing."

"Then it died," Shane said.

The thing stopped laughing.

"You...you killed the Black Serpent?"

"The Black Snake? That big guy who crawled out of the crack in the ground?"

After thinking for a moment, Xia En said, "Yes, I killed him."

A flicker of genuine fear flashed in the creature's eyes.

"Impossible... Lord Black Serpent... how could he be... by a human..."

"I blasted it to smithereens."

Xia En interrupted it, "If you don't believe me, I can demonstrate it for you."

He raised his right hand, and lightning crackled in his palm.

The thing trembled as it looked at the bolt of lightning.

"Wait, wait a minute!!!"

How could Xia En possibly wait?

"Palm Thunder".

"boom--!!!"

A bolt of lightning exploded in the alley, its bright flash illuminating half the sky.

Before it could even scream, it turned into a pool of black water.

Xia En stood up and dusted off his hands.

Then he turned around and looked at a figure standing at the entrance of the alley.

Shen Ye.

He was wearing a black hoodie, the hood pulled low, standing in the shadows at the alley entrance.

The silvery-white eye glowed faintly in the darkness, like a cold, icy star.

He stared at the pool of black water, then at Xia En, and remained silent for a long time.

"That punch you just threw..."

He spoke first, "What's your name?"

Xia En thought for a moment:

"No name."

"No name?"

"Just one punch."

Shane said, "A punch thrown with all my might."

Shen Ye looked at him with a complicated expression.

"You, a Taoist priest, don't draw talismans, chant incantations, or use ritual implements; you just use your fists to fight evil spirits?"

"What? Is it not allowed?!"

Xia En looked down at his fist.

A speck of dark blood stained the joints, gleaming faintly in the moonlight.

"Trinkets are drawn, incantations are chanted, and ritual implements are used."

He said, "But if fists can solve the problem, I prefer to use my fists."

He paused, then added:

"As a Taoist priest, I prefer to let my fists and feet do the talking."

Shen Ye fell silent.

He looked at the young man in front of him!

Barefoot, wearing pajamas, with messy hair, he had just punched an evil creature dozens of meters away, then blasted it to dust with a bolt of lightning.

Is this person really a Taoist master?

"What kind of monster are you?"

He couldn't help but ask.

Xia En glanced at him and suddenly smiled.

"I am just an ordinary Taoist priest."

He turned around and walked back to Qingheju.

"Come in, what kind of behavior is it to stand outside?"

Shen Ye hesitated for a moment, then followed him inside.