Page 234

Unfortunately, as the master of this land, Duke Xilin of Lanton, at this moment, had no feeling of comfort at all. Instead, he felt like a rat being roasted in a fiery inferno, with beads of sweat dripping down his forehead, his face fluctuating rapidly between red and white, a bizarre spectacle. The source of Duke Xilin's distress was the man sitting opposite him, casually sipping red wine, a smile on his face as he observed the duke's changing expressions.

On the floor of the hall lay more than a dozen dead guards. Outside the hall, over a hundred ducal soldiers stood with weapons in hand, watching the situation from afar but hesitating to charge in. The reason for these warriors' hesitation was the white dragon perched on the roof, exhaling plumes of white mist. For those considering rushing in, the large area of pink ice chips on the ground near the entrance, along with the remnants of a few bodies still recognizable as human, served as a warning.

Naturally, the one capable of intimidating the Duke of Lanton in the heart of the Duchy of Lanton was none other than Chen Xuanfeng.

"Don't be so tense, Duke Xilin," I said, taking another sip of the duke's fine wine, a gracious smile on my face as I tried to reassure the nervous human before me. "Let me clarify again, I'm not here to kill you. Though you've betrayed my trust and engaged in embezzlement over the years of our trade, though you knew of the danger in Fontainebleau but failed to report it, deliberately misleading us, and though you attempted to follow the invading army to pick up some easy gains, resulting in injuries to my beloved wife and the loss of my loyal subordinates—I truly bear no grudge. I have no intention of killing you for revenge, nor do I plan to flay you piece by piece or use your fat to light lamps. So, don't be afraid, there's no need to fear." Of course, my reassurances had little effect.

Before the reconstruction of Fontainebleau, there was once a smuggling den called the "City of Fallen" on its ruins. The nearest human country, the Duchy of Lanton, was the mastermind behind the nest. Later, I used Lanson, the third heir of Lanton, to draw away the city's troops, successfully reclaiming and rebuilding the ancient city. Using strategy, I defeated the armies led by Xilin, then the second heir, and his elder brother, Basten, the first heir, thoroughly consolidating my territory. Of course, the sudden heart failure of the previous Duke of Lanton, Xilin's father, had nothing to do with my Palm of Shattering Heart. Anyone claiming otherwise would be silenced by Lanton's secret police for spreading rumors.

Despite ascending to the position of Duke, Xilin remained hesitant about fully committing to economic treaties with the orc trade partners, and even played a covert role in attacks on Fontainebleau. This disappointed me greatly. Therefore, before the official dispatch of troops from Fontainebleau to attack the human world, I made a special trip to the Duchy of Lanton to give Duke Xilin a choice—become an ally and representative of the orcs, or face destruction.

However, what caused the newly appointed Duke Xilin to break out in a cold sweat wasn't exactly this choice. For someone of his character, promises and treaties held little weight. Even the founders of the seven human kingdoms often defied their promises. So, to correct the duke's behavior and ensure smoother future cooperation, I had no choice but to use a lesson using the Nine Yin Manual's "Ten Fatal Fingers of the Underworld."

The "Ten Fatal Fingers of the Underworld" is one of the advanced martial arts from the Fourteen Ultimate Techniques of the Nine Yin Manual. Each of the ten fingers wields a unique technique, collectively known as the "Three Souls and Seven Spirits," with power comparable to the "One-Finger Zen" of Duan, the former emperor of the South. When I was developing the prototype for the Saint Ice Thorn Aura, I borrowed the cold technique of the "Mysterious Yin Killing Spirit Finger," though the true credit belongs to the artifact "Tear of Gaia."

This martial art from the Nine Yin Manual, though marvelous, was initially set aside by me. The humans of this world are entirely different from those of my previous life. Although their meridians and acupoints bear some resemblance, the slightest deviation leads to a world of difference. Add to that the various races like orcs, elves, dwarves, merfolk, and mixed-blood demi-humans, each with different physiologies, and the acupoint-targeting techniques of my previous life became utterly useless here. However, just as the Nine Yin True Qi in my body can circulate automatically through the cultivation of the "Muscle-Bone Transformation Chapter," all living beings have meridians and acupoints that can be controlled; the key lies in understanding them. After obtaining the wisdom of the "Virtual Divine" from the "Sword God Realm," and comparing the body data of various races collected by the warrior saint Leimen over a hundred years, I finally mastered a method to judge and control not through individual acupoints but through the energy flow in the meridians. This allowed me to cross racial boundaries and begin exploring the "Ten Fatal Fingers of the Underworld." However, being new to this practice and still experimenting with its principles, mistakes were frequent, and careful experimentation was necessary. Thus, Duke Xilin became the pioneer in my quest for knowledge (or rather, a reluctant test subject). For instance, just now, after changing finger techniques over a hundred times and probing the duke's acupoints seven or eight times, I finally found a few methods to control the effects accurately, which was immensely satisfying.

When a person is overwhelmed by sensations of numbness, itchiness, pain, cold, and heat, yet unable to speak or move a finger, such punishment is beyond the endurance of an ordinary person. So, when I finally released Duke Xilin's acupoints, he had already collapsed to the ground, eyes rolled back. Although the "Ten Fatal Fingers of the Underworld" lacks the ability of the "One-Finger Zen" to break through the vital points, it has its own means of revival. With a few flicks of my fingers from a distance, the collapsed Duke Xilin immediately shot up like a shrimp, though his expression was far from comfortable.