321 Soul-dissociating Syndrome

"Young Master Su, did you find anything? Who's the murderer?" Huang Huafeng, Xiao Liang, Sha Wanhao and the others chased Meng Qi for his deduction upon seeing him take a step back.

Duan Rui's eyes were all the more filled with expectation. He hoped that Meng Qi would be able to prove him innocent.

Meng Qi replied in a low voice, "It was indeed Duan Rui."

"What..." Duan Rui gasped in shock. The disappointment and anger on his face were evident. Even was the Killing Blade, known for his chivalry, also wrongly accusing him?

"You traitor!" Huang Huafeng could not hold himself back any longer. His fists were like dragons emerging from their caves as they launched at Duan Rui. "Life for life,pay for my father's death!"

"For our Master!" Xiao Liang and several Elders raised their fists as well.

Duan Rui was aggrieved. The childish stubbornness on Duan Rui's face contorted into an expression nearly insane,

"It's wrongful! You framed me!"

He stepped forward, pulling with his left palm and horizontally pushing with his right--the Elite-gathering Gang's "Five Beasts' Claws". It had a strong power with it, creating huge gusts of wind. A simple pull and push caused several masters on the six or seven acupores level to stagger and revealed a lot of spaces, as if the tangible had been transformed into the intangible.

"You framed me!" Duan Rui hollered. He continued to advance forward like a ferocious tiger.

Although they were common and ordinary moves, when he performed, it gave a sense of being just right and returning back to the basics. It was exquisite and powerful. He drove seven or eight experts from the Elite-gathering Gang into a corner with it.

There were few Eight or Nine Acupores Masters in the Elite-gathering Gang. Thus, facing such a terrifying Duan Rui, they could only team up to fight back and call for help, hoping that their seniors or young heroes would step in.

Sha Wanhao was a little stunned at the scene. Duan Rui had only been in the Elite-gathering Gang for two years. Before that, he had just been a beggar with a bit of talent in martial arts. However, he was now already at the realm of Four Acupores, and his fighting prowess could even challenge the stronger Eight Acupores!

Apart from Meng Qi and Qi Zhengyan, the rest of the legends and arresters were all shocked to the core. They had previously heard that Duan Rui beated the Elite-gathering Gang all by himself, but had thought that was a distorted truth from relaying misinformation and laughed it off as a joke. Although the Elite-gathering Gang had started three generations ago, their disciples were becoming more and more mediocre. No more masters had been cultivated by them. However, they still had a huge group of Six and Seven Acupores even though they did not have any Eight or Nine Acupores masters. Who knew the rumors were actually true! That Duan Rui who had only been practicing martial arts for two or three years was already so fearsome!

Six Fan School's Arrester Wang was a dutiful man. He immediately got up and performed the footwork for the Eight Diagrams to push Duan Rui back. He did not dare to be careless before Duan Rui who was displaying his strength, since he had not surpassed Eight Acupores.

It seemed as if Duan Rui had eyes on the back of his head, for he kicked with his leg and sent Purple Gold Crown flying backward at the momwnt when arrester Wang was near. The wind sounded heavy and the force it carried was very pure. He was like a master who had trained for tens of years in the art of kicking.

Arrester Wang swung his palm aslant at Duan Rui's ankles. The two of them made contact, and he suddenly stumbled three steps back, as though he had just been struck by lightning. His face turned from black to white.

Noticing that something was wrong, the legends Sha Wanhao, Lin Baozhi and Dou Wutong rushed in to attack together.

Lin Baozhi was the strongest among the three of them since had already opened his Nine Acupores. He was more conscious of his status, and chose to fall behind the rest by a step.

"You framed me!" Duan Rui ground his teeth and stacked one palm formation on top of the other in one go. Huang Huafeng and the others were barely able to defend themselves. Then they spun around on the spot and flipped into the air, kicking both feet out in turn. The crackling sounded like thunderbolts.

Normally, those who were not on the Exterior level or did not have any special skills were weaker in strength. They were thus required to have both feet on the ground whenever they were fighting. Once they lost that grounding, their attacks would become flimsy and others could easily turn it against them. After all, it was difficult to change moves and turn mid-attack. However, Duan Rui had performed that series of moves using both his legs like he had been practicing them for several years. There were very few flaws in them, and it seemed like he could make use of the opponents' blocks to swiftly change his moves anytime. No wonder he was an expert in the art of kicking.

Dou Wutong equipped a pair of judgment brushes and Sha Wanhao's sword art was almost magical, striking and turning. All of their attacks were concentrated at Duan Rui's legs.

With two claps, Duan Rui had kicked the judgment brushes and sword body. He gained the power from it to kick higher and higher, leaping onto the pillar and preparing to jump out of the hall. It seemed that he was no reckless fool either and did not want to be surrounded and attacked.

After blocking Duan Rui's attack, Dou Wutong and Sha Wanhao each took a step back. The color on their faces changed quite a bit and returned to normal, but by then it was too late to chase him down.

Lin Baozhi had been a step behind the rest. Upon seeing this, he leaped up as well and launched himself at Duan Rui, who was on the pillar. The scene looked like a large eagle swooping down on a small rabbit.

Right then, Duan Rui suddenly used Thousand Pounds Falling and dropped to the floor in an instant. He bolted for the door. He had been deceiving them just now, and had managed to trick the strongest Lin Baozhi, granting him a good chance to escape!

However, his gaze suddenly froze. "Killing Blade" Su Meng stood before him, dressed in all black. It was almost as if he had already known that Duan Rui would try to escape through the door!

Meng Qi's sword and knife were both on his back. His two hands hung low at his sides, not holding any weapons. He was just calmly standing there waiting for Duan Rui to arrive, like a powerful devil preventing him from making it out alive.

"I'll go all out!" Meng Qi was known to be strong, so Duan Rui did not dare to underestimate him. He gritted his teeth and punched his right fist forward with all his might.

This punch was unusually heavy. The gusts of wind from the force disappeared as if they had also been crushed by it.

A single finger stuck out from Meng Qi's hand, the tip furiously trembling. With one finger, he had covered the concept of change. The residual shadows of his display were still lingering as reality and illusions intersected and overlapped. It was difficult to tell apart, and if one could not tell them apart, then he would not stand a chance against this move.

Duan Rui was not bad, being able to turn the tangible into the intangible. But in the end he was still inexperienced and failed to perceive the move's secret. Meng Qi's finger flicked the surface of his fist, and he instantly felt numbness overcome him before his entire arm become swollen and painful.

However, he did not give up. Seizing the opportunity that his fist and Meng Qi's finger were in contact, he projected genuine Qi outwards.

Meng Qi felt that Duan Rui was impossibly strong. He could rival Meng Qi himself when he had been on the Four Acupores level learning Eight Nine Mysteries. Yet the surprising thing was that beneath Duan Rui's pure inner force were wisps of strange, sinister genuine Qi. They tried to enter Meng Qi's body and destroy his meridians and organs to create all sorts of handicaps.

It seemed that Arrester Wang, Sha Wanhao and Dou Wutong had all been afflicted by it!

Meng Qi was neither shocked nor angry. He dispersed the genuine Qi, transforming life to death. At the same time, the insidious genuine Qi was removed as well. Then he transformed death to life, and genuine Qi became abundant once more. It surged out and gushed into Duan Rui's body, sealing his major acupore points while he was unable to defend for the moment.

Meng Qi spread open his four remaining fingers and wrapped his hand around Duan Rui's fist, capturing him. He had barely exerted any effort throughout the entire exchange. Sha Wanhao, Huang Huafeng, and the others who were watching could only gaze at one another in blank dismay. They had pulled all stops to capture Duan Rui but to no avail, while "Killing Blade" Su Meng had done it with a single finger. Duan Rui was not even worth him using his blade!

How could the difference in strength be so huge?

They were all in their enlightenment periods, and he was said to be only on a seven or eight acupores level. How was he so powerful?

All of a sudden, they were filled with a sort of upsetness at being weaker then Meng Qi. Previously, when "Killing Blade" Su Meng had defeated the Black Butterfly, they had not witnessed it themselves, and thus at best, had felt that he deserved his reputation. However, now that they had seen him in action, they could not stop their inner exasperation and sadness at being so weak!

Meng Qi had yet to notice the change in their eyes. He stood there with his brows slightly furrowed, thinking about his own issues.

He did not finish his statement earlier on purpose so he could agitate Duan Rui into attacking and assess his kung fu from there.

Thinking of Duan Rui's ability to make use of discarded things, perhaps he had really practiced the first scroll of the Muscle-bone Strengthening Scripture. That was the scripture that Meng Qi and his Junior Brother had discovered their Senior Brother Zhen Chang stealing back then. It was one of the kung fu scripts that had been accidentally kicked off the back mountain's cliff.

Then what about the sinister genuine Qi?

The Muscle-bone Strengthening Scripture could improve one's body potentials and increase one's level of kung fu by being trained to change the tangible into the intangible. It was not a skill that allowed one to form his genuine Qi. Unless Duan Rui had been learning a kind of demonic art to begin with, and it had been improved through the Muscle-bone Strengthening Scripture?

Had this demonic art been taught by his so-called adoptive father?

Was this related to Duan Rui's "split-personality"?

Was his adoptive father really deranged, or was he just faking it?

Meng Qi suppressed all his various questions. He looked at Duan Rui's indignant eyes and Huang Huafeng's urge to rush forward to take revenge. He said in a serious voice, "The culprit is Duan Rui, but it is also not Duan Rui."

"Huh?" Even Duan Rui himself was confused.

Meng Qi explained, "I suspect Duan Rui has Soul-dissociating Syndrome, or what is known as having two spirits in one body in legends. The one who killed your leader is the other soul hidden inside Duan Rui."

There were cases of Soul-dissociating Syndrome and having two spirits in one body in that world, so Meng Qi did not have to explain any further. Arrester Wang, Sha Wanhao and the others would naturally understand what he was saying.

"Really?" Huang Huafeng's expression was complicated. "But even if he has a Soul-dissociating Syndrome, he still has to pay for the life he took!"

"What Soul-dissociating Syndrome?" Duan Rui was still absolutely baffled.

Meng Qi thought about it for a moment and then said, "That means there's an evil spirit hiding inside your body. It occasionally takes over your body and makes you do things you wouldn't normally be willing to do. And by the time you regain consciousness, you wouldn't remember anything you'd done at all. Think about it, have you ever had such experiences where the things around you just inexplicably changed?"

Duan Rui's case was not as severe. If the two souls could converse with each other and communicate on their own, that would mean he was in the late stage of the illness, as Gu Xiaosang was.

Duan Rui's face dramatically changed. Only after keeping silent for a while did he reply, "Yes. Previously when I was a beggar, everytime someone bullied me, I'd always find their dead bodies nearby the next day..."

"Master Su, Master Su, please save me! I don't want to be controlled by an evil spirit!" He begged in desperation.

No one interrupted, apart from Huang Huafeng who hurriedly interjected, "Young Master Su, he has to pay for his crime! Our father cannot die just like this!"

Duan Rui turned back to look at Huang Huafeng. "Fifth Senior Brother, regardless of whether I was being controlled by the evil spirit, this was all my fault. I'll take responsibility for it. Once the evil spirit has been removed and I have returned to normal, you can do whatever you want to me. I'll willing to accept all of them."

Duan Rui had a more simple mindset. He did not want to die with the evil spirit because he was afraid that he would still be haunted by it in his next life.

Huang Huafeng, Xiao Liang and the others were quite as they deliberated the issue. It felt good to take revenge. But given his strength, it seemed to be more valuable to their sect if they made Duan Rui do something else to make up for his crime...

"We'll talk about this after you've removed that evil spirit. If failed, we'll kill you along with it," Huang Huafeng spat through gritted teeth. "Oh, and we'd have to get a doctor to confirm whether you really have a Soul-dissociating Syndrome."

They could not just let "Killing Blade" Su Meng get away with saying anything he wanted, could they?

Arrester Wang stepped forward. "Young Master Su, with an 'evil spirit' on him, Duan Rui will be erratic and dangerous. We can't let him freely roam. He has to be put in jail. If you would like to help curing him, you may go to the prison cells."

"Sure." How would Meng Qi know how to cure the Soul-dissociating Syndrome? All he cared about was finding a quiet place to interrogate Duan Rui to find out if he was practicing the Muscle-bone Strengthening Scripture and where his demonic art came from.

Duan Rui was in a trance. He had no objections to arrester Wang's suggestion.