First-Year Internship—And You Went to Site 749 to Contain Monsters?!
Chapter 132: This Time It's a Vertical Slash—Using a Divine Palace Cultivator of Qi to Perform Art

......

Walking into the estate, Lu Ding was thinking, how can I get close enough to release a slash, without having to talk to Kou Huaiyi.

Thinking back and forth.

He suddenly heard a Kou family servant shout,

"Honored guests have arrived!!!"

The banquet hall doors swung open.

Inside, Kou Huaiyi sat upright, with Kou Jinglan seated beside him, along with other Kou family elders.

Seeing Kou Jinglan foaming blood from the mouth in Bai Hemen’s hands,

Kou Jinglan’s rage surged instantly.

Next to him, Kou Huaiyi crushed the expensive teacup in his hand.

Seeing this,

Lu Ding thought: Got it!!

"You're putting on quite a show. Since you don't want your son, then sit tight—whatever you do, don’t get up."

Lu Ding turned to leave.

Kou Huaiyi, who had been planning to intimidate them with a show of force, was momentarily stunned.

Wait.

Two juniors—how dare they be this arrogant!!?

He was a Si Ming Realm cultivator sitting, and they were standing—wasn’t that how it’s supposed to be?

Among Cultivators of Qi, strength has always ruled. This made perfect sense.

How could they just turn and walk away?

Kou Huaiyi couldn’t stay seated anymore. Seeing Kou Jingshen’s serious injuries, he got up and leapt forward.

Distance closed.

He reached out and said, “Hold on!”

The wind whistled past. Just as Kou Huaiyi was less than two meters from Lu Ding—

Lu Ding suddenly turned, palm raised.

The slash he had been charging for so long erupted in an instant.

Lu Ding was pushed backward.

In that moment, the world dimmed, all light drained away—an inexplicable sharpness sliced through everything nearby.

Even Kou Huaiyi, with his Si Ming Realm cultivation, couldn’t withstand the blow.

Back when Lu Ding was still in the Linghai Realm, he’d used this move to seriously injure Shi Gandang, a man famous for his defense, and later struck down Ye Chengfeng with it too.

Now he was in the Divine Palace Realm.

You're a Si Ming who didn’t prepare at all—what makes you think you can block a slash charged to its peak?

The earth split. Grass and trees obliterated.

The massive estate was cleaved in two.

That’s right!

This time, Lu Ding’s slash came down vertically.

A horizontal slash covers a wide range but has its limitations—easy to miss the kill.

But a vertical slash—while it doesn’t cover as much ground,

can slice you clean from skull to groin.

One cut, two halves.

The world fell silent.

Kou Huaiyi landed and steadied himself, standing less than a meter from Lu Ding.

He adjusted his collar, smoothed his beard, keeping up his aura of a powerhouse.

But all the spiritual energy had dissipated from his body.

He blurted out, “A charged slash... I get it now. You’re Lu Ding from Yunhai 749—I didn’t expect you’d already reached the Divine Palace Realm. Can you answer me one question?”

Lu Ding looked at the crimson line slowly appearing down the center of Kou Huaiyi’s brow.

Smiling, not the slightest intention to respond.

Crack... crunch...

Blood oozed out.

Kou Huaiyi stepped forward with his right leg, pulling his right side ahead. His left side stayed behind with no support and immediately collapsed to the ground.

Balancing on one leg, blood gushed out as his flesh pulsed with every breath.

Raising his hand, he said, “You... why won’t you... answer me...”

Lu Ding stared coldly at him the whole time, thinking to himself: Because I already know all your trump cards.

Watching the body begin to tilt forward,

Lu Ding lifted his leg and whipped it around.

Half of Kou Huaiyi’s body was sent flying, crashing into the banquet hall and knocking over the stunned Kou Jinglan.

Lu Ding’s aura flared, dark clouds instantly gathered above, and the surroundings were engulfed in darkness.

Red light flickered within, forming the glowing outline of a pair of eyes that burst open.

“The rest of you trash!! Come!!!!”

“Big Brother!!!”

Kou Huaiyi’s second brother, Kou Huaishan, cried out in anguish, and his Divine Palace Realm Ninth Layer aura surged.

He shattered the banquet hall ceiling with a boom.

Spiritual energy converged.

“You despicable sneak attacker—I’ll kill you!!!”

Kou Huaishan formed a hand seal, spun around. His clothes burst open at the back, revealing a strange tattoo.

With spiritual energy flooding in, the tattoo lines lit up.

Misty lotus smoke spread in all directions.

A deity-like figure wielding a golden mace emerged from the white fog.

With one swing of the mace,

the ground cracked open.

From the spreading black mist, pale arms reached up in clusters, clawing at everything in their path—dirt, ground, anything in reach was pulled under.

Lu Ding leapt aside, turning to glance at Bai Hemen.

Just in time to see him toss the battered Kou Jingshen into the open ground crack.

“You killed him yourself, by the way.”

“Jingshen!!!!”

Kou Huaishan shouted in grief.

The next second, Bai Hemen moved. He knew his role—he’d deal with the small fry, the big fish were Lu Ding’s.

So now, he went to clean up the weaklings.

Watching him charge at the remaining Kou family members,

Kou Huaishan yelled, “You dare!!!!”

The armored deity raised its golden mace and swung, and the thick blackness descended upon Bai Hemen.

Though the attack was aimed at Bai Hemen,

Kou Huaishan’s eyes never once left Lu Ding.

Seeing him flash and vanish, Kou Huaishan’s heart surged with killing intent—you finally took the bait!!!

The spell in his hand shifted.

【Human Skin Trap】

Pfft.

The human skin on Kou Huaishan’s back instantly tore open, blood gushed out as the golden-armored deity exploded violently.

From the blood-soaked remains, a massive flower made of human hands slowly bloomed, closing in on the spot where it predicted Lu Ding would flash to.

Kou Huaishan coughed up a mouthful of blood, eyes bulging as he watched Lu Ding about to fall into the trap of human-hand petals.

Hope surged in his heart—until he saw Lu Ding form a flower-shaped hand seal, and gesture at him.

“You got happy too soon.”

The next moment.

The world went still.

The surrounding scene rapidly changed—from the halved Kou Family's Rich Garden, to a sea of endless grassy waves, blue sky, white clouds, breeze, meadow.

Grass rolled like waves, the wind blew gently, and clusters of flowers bloomed.

Kou Huaishan stood within.

All over his body, flower buds began to sprout. The agony came not only from the flesh—but the soul.

The buds burst open, petals scattered across the sky.

The earth rumbled, a flowering tree shot into the heavens, and multicolored petals formed a flower coffin that enveloped him.

Lu Ding walked step by step through the air, the sea of grass rolling beneath his feet.

He studied the flower coffin.

“Just because you scream louder, doesn’t mean you’re stronger.”

He raised his hand, snapped his fingers, and welcomed the rain of petals cascading down.

Boom.

A muffled explosion from the blooming flowers sent petals flying everywhere. As they drifted down,

time slowed. Lu Ding turned his head—

the frame froze. He saw his own profile reflected on each falling petal, and as the light passed through,

his face was replaced.

It became Kou Huaishan’s terrified expression.

Petal after petal, each held a different emotion frozen in time—rage, fear, worry, dread, sorrow, peace...

Until finally, inside the flower coffin, Kou Huaishan’s flesh burst apart, inch by inch, and turned into petals.

The falling petals resembled a hand-drawn animation, replaying Kou Huaishan’s journey into death within the coffin.

That final calm—was acceptance.

The unbearable pain birthed from the buds brought one last moment of brilliance before death. This—was ultimate art.

Lu Ding walked alone through the petal rain.

In this artwork painted with life as its pigment and the world as its canvas, he was the solitary artist—

gracefully performing the passing of life.