111: Chapter 108 A Unique Touch of Emotion, Hidden Strength

"I don't care! Get out here! Get out!"

Bang!

Nakamura roared hysterically, firing a shot into the clearing at random.

Hidden behind a tree trunk, Li Changsheng breathed slowly, suppressing his anger while quickly calming his fear of firearms.

How powerful were firearms?

Li Changsheng couldn't say for sure, but those war dramas where people could jump around after being shot several times were pure nonsense.

It wasn't impossible for some ancestors of that era to perform beyond normal limits when their willpower exploded, but it was never as exaggerated as in the dramas.

Furthermore, modern firearms were incomparable to those of the past. Past bullets were constant and pursued stability; nowadays, bullets would tumble and spin upon entering the human body.

Even with a pistol that didn't seem very lethal, a hit to the limbs carried a twenty percent chance of death and a fifty percent chance of the arm or leg being completely ruined.

If a vital area was hit, the mortality rate was as high as ninety percent because the bullet would act like a propeller inside the body, causing secondary trauma.

It was because he knew these things that he felt fear.

But now, that fear was almost entirely suppressed, replaced by a sense of determination.

In the next moment, he stepped out from behind the tree—

—

Feeling a sharp pain in his neck, Nakamura's eyes widened. The wrist that had been holding the gun was completely twisted; from the irregular protrusion of the skin, the bone was broken.

As the force gradually intensified, his legs slowly left the ground.

"Tell me, who exactly are you? Why are you targeting me?"

Li Changsheng's eyes were bloodshot. He coughed as he spoke; having been shot in the abdomen, every word pulled at his muscles, causing immense pain.

It hurt!

He hadn't expected a gunshot wound to be this painful—a piercing, heart-wrenching pain. Those war dramas where people could still slaughter enemies after being shot were indeed lies.

But all of this was worth it!

At least Grandma was still alive, he was still alive, and the man before him was now crippled.

At this moment, Nakamura's heart was filled with despair and even a touch of terror.

This man from the Xia Country was like a ghost.

When the man first appeared, everything seemed normal, and Nakamura had prepared to fire.

However, in the next instant, the man's eyes turned as red as blood. Then, like the Shadow Warriors from the legends of his homeland, he rapidly used the tree trunks on both sides for leverage. In just a breath or two, he was right in front of him, and before Nakamura could react, he had lost all ability to resist.

Nakamura had fired three or four shots, but only one hit, and even then, the man had used his speed to force the bullet away from his vitals.

"Cough... You... Are you... a Shadow Warrior... or... a Tengu... Why can you fly...?"

"Fly?"

Li Changsheng was stunned. He had indeed just used the explosive power of his steps and vibrations to propel himself; the force was evident from the wood chips flying off the tree trunks. The burst of speed was the fastest Li Changsheng had ever achieved.

It did look like low-altitude flight, bearing a resemblance to the Lightness Skill from Wuxia novels.

Hmm?!

Wait, have I realized Hidden Power?

Recalling the strength he had exerted just now, driven by his rage and the explosion of his Liver Fire, it was indeed far beyond anything he had done before.

It was unusual. Previously, he could never have achieved a speed that could be called a Lightness Skill.

He glanced back, and his eyes widened slightly.

He saw that several large trees behind him now looked as if they had been blasted at close range by a double-barreled shotgun.

The damage even extended to the center of the trunks, as if a cannonball had punched through most of them. The surface of the gashes was covered in dense marks that looked like needle pricks, along with a bit of moisture.

This was clearly the 'striking like spraying needles' of Hidden Power. What was sprayed was not just Hidden Power, but also the moisture and sweat produced by the body during intense movement.

It was sweat and water being sprayed, but the force was like steel needles. When struck out, it was no different from a high-powered shotgun; it could blast a large hole through a steel plate.

The tops of the trees were now swaying violently in the breeze, occasionally letting out a harsh creaking sound. Clearly, it wouldn't be long before these trees snapped completely.

"You're Japanese, aren't you?"

He looked at the man again. Judging by his phrasing just now, he couldn't be wrong.

"Hehe... *****"

The man let out a cold laugh and then rambled a long string of words in his native tongue.

"Ugh!"

With a slight increase in pressure, the intense pain forced the man to fall silent instantly.

"Speak a language I understand!" Li Changsheng's voice was cold.

"I... I won't say anything, but..."

"Then don't speak at all."

Crack!~

Hearing this, Li Changsheng crushed the man's neck without hesitation. Nakamura's eyes bulged, and his head slumped down powerlessly.

Thud!

Tossing the body aside, Li Changsheng hurriedly began to untie the old lady's restraints.

However, as he freed her and his mind gradually calmed, he began to feel a bit panicked.

How was he supposed to explain this?

Would Grandma be frightened?

Grandma had just witnessed the entire process of him killing someone.

Because he respected and cared for her so much, Li Changsheng was very nervous, even at a loss for what to do.

Grandma tried to stand up, but because she had been sitting on the ground for too long, her legs were numb, and she slumped back down.

Seeing this, Li Changsheng quickly supported her.

"Grandma, you..."

"Don't say another word. I've seen more than enough in my time. As long as you're okay, that's all that matters. I saw plenty of these Japs in the old days; if you killed him, you killed him."

"Changsheng, we need to get to the hospital right away!"

Compared to the killing, Grandma didn't care at all. She just looked at Li Changsheng's wound, her eyes filling with tears.

"Grandma, it's fine, it's nothing. Look, it's not even bleeding anymore."

Li Changsheng actually showed her, and indeed, it had stopped bleeding.

Now that his various Health-preserving Qigong were at Minor Achievement and his Eight Brocades was just one step away from the Meridian Guidance Realm,

and having stepped into Hidden Power, Li Changsheng's control over his muscles, meridians, and joints had improved by a massive margin. Controlling the muscles around the wound was nothing to him.

If he had practiced Hard Qigong, this effect would be even more pronounced.

Unfortunately, Li Changsheng had never come into contact with orthodox Hard Qigong.

But this only stopped the external bleeding; there was certainly significant internal trauma that required hospital treatment.

He opened the panel to take a look.

[stamina: 7.5]

[energy: 11]

[Lifespan: 3 years and 350 days.]

Seeing that aside from some loss of stamina, nothing else had decreased, Li Changsheng breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed that the gunshot wound had a short-term impact on his physical condition.

Wait, that's not right.

How did his energy increase so much!

He remembered his energy had stayed around 8 for a long time, but this time it had jumped to 11, even crossing the threshold of 10?

"Did the Breakthrough into Hidden Power cause my energy to undergo a transformation?"

If he remembered correctly, energy represented Vital Energy, consciousness, and emotion.

A Breakthrough in Hidden Power represented a Breakthrough in consciousness or emotion.

In a normal person, this value would surely drop back down as their emotions subsided.

But Li Changsheng was different. The System's solidification allowed him to know exactly how to flip that switch.

It meant he had truly found that sensation unique to himself within Hidden Power—that switch!

"Visible Power uses muscle and bone to strike, while Hidden Power uses the heart. The two cannot be compared. Hidden Power should not be used lightly; when used, it must either kill the enemy in one blow or not be used at all. To use it is to kill, otherwise, it is a pointless drain on one's energy!"

Li Changsheng muttered to himself as the tension in his heart gradually relaxed.

Waves of exhaustion swept over his body, especially mental fatigue, making his eyes flutter and his face turn pale as cold sweat broke out all over him.

This was not just the exhaustion after using Hidden Power, but also the pain from the bullet wound in his abdomen.

Moving his body slightly was not a problem, but the mental fatigue made it hard for Li Changsheng to muster any strength right now.

"In my urgency, I took four steps, which is equivalent to releasing Hidden Power four times in a row. No wonder I feel like this..."

Neither the Daoist Priest nor Zhang Youdao dared to use Hidden Power lightly; it was clear how astronomical the drain on the body was.

Li Changsheng hadn't quite believed it before, but now he truly did.