“Ridiculous!”
Zhongli Mo showed disdain on his face, but a sliver of gravity flashed in his eyes.
His ten fingers moved in rapid succession, fast as afterimages, manipulating the black iron chessboard.
In an instant, the many black and white pieces on the chessboard seemed to be infused with life, buzzing as they spun into the air.
Nineteen white pieces!
Thirty-one black pieces!
One by one, the chess pieces crisscrossed in the air, instantly condensing into a sword-shaped chess formation.
“Go!”
Zhongli Mo swept his large sleeve!
The sword-shaped chess formation shot forward violently!
Like a giant sword slashing from the sky, enveloped in a piercing white sonic boom, it crashed savagely toward Zeng Qiyuan!
Boom!
The chess formation and the phoenix head clashed violently!
A world-shaking explosion erupted, and the blast waves swept outward in all directions like a hurricane.
The commotion from this strike was so immense that it drew the sideways glances of several nearby Huajin Rank experts.
“Cough...”
Zeng Qiyuan stumbled to the ground, his mouth and teeth stained a deep crimson.
His right palm was completely mangled. From the upturned flesh, a poisonous gas of intertwined black and white rose, creeping up his wrist in a shocking sight.
“Damn it!”
“If I also had cultivation at the Essence Tempering stage, I would have definitely been able to take this chess formation of his!”
Zeng Qiyuan ground his teeth, filled with bitter resentment.
Just then—
“Do not panic, everyone!”
A fiery red figure approached from the distance. The newcomer had a domineering countenance, dressed in a crimson robe that rustled loudly in the wind as he charged into the fray like a ball of raging fire.
“Hahaha! Liu Huan, you've arrived at the perfect time. Quick, help me!”
Gu Dacheng laughed heartily!
The tempered iron spear in his hand blazed with even greater thunder and fire, the spear-glow surging with unmatched dominance.
“Apologies for being late!”
Almost simultaneously, another white figure drifted down.
The newcomer was a handsome youth in white robes. He landed soundlessly and spoke very little.
He lightly brushed his right hand against his waist, and a green steel blade reflecting a cold, autumn-water-like gleam appeared in his palm.
The moment he stabilized his stance, he lunged toward the nearest opponent, Liu Sanxian.
“Huo Yinglong!”
Liu Sanxian's face changed drastically. He whipped his head around and roared furiously:
“Brother!”
Ke Duhe forced Gu Dacheng back with a palm strike, then abruptly raised his withered left hand.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Dozens of cold stars suddenly flashed!
A storm of gold coin darts blanketed the newly arrived Liu Huan!
Forcing Liu Huan to roar repeatedly as he swung his sword in a frantic flurry of parries.
Ke Duhe's ash-gray eyes turned to look at the white-robed youth, and he murmured:
“One of the Seven Elegances of the Huo clan... He is indeed worthy...”
In his ears, Gu Dacheng's roar boomed like thunder:
“Old dog! Die!”
The spear's thunder and fire surged like a roaring fire dragon as it charged toward Ke Duhe once more.
Liu Huan also deflected all the darts and closed the distance.
He tightly gripped a broad-bladed greatsword with both hands. The blade was heavy and blunt, yet it exuded a domineering aura.
This was the heirloom technique of the Liu clan, the 『Overlord's Array-Breaking Sword』!
This swordplay was born specifically for charging through enemy lines.
It eschewed flashy tricks in favor of grand, sweeping movements.
Every slash carried the weight of ten thousand catties, unstoppable in its momentum.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Ke Duhe raised his skeletal hand once more!
Four or five types of hidden weapons rained down upon Gu Dacheng and Liu Huan like a swarm of locusts.
Meanwhile.
He must have vibrated his upper, middle, and lower dantians in unison!
A dense grey True Qi erupted from his pores, quickly gathering behind his spine before beginning to twist and condense frantically.
In the blink of an eye!
A pair of grey bat wings with a wingspan of forty to fifty feet suddenly unfurled behind him!
Bony spikes protruded, and the thin wings were like gauze, faintly exuding a sinister and bizarre aura.
A grim smile curled upon Ke Duhe's face.
The reason he dared to plot the assassination of the Prefectural Governor was precisely because of this trump card!
The secret technique of the Yue State's 『White Bone Holy Sect』...
『White Bone Soul-Ascending Incantation』!
If the caster's cultivation had reached the Great Perfection of the Huajin Rank, they could use this incantation to forcibly condense thirty percent of the power of the illusory “divine ability seed.”
Although its power could not compare to a true Gangjin Rank expert and its duration was a mere quarter of an hour.
To kill a few Huajin Rank experts and then make a clean getaway within this timeframe...
Was more than enough!
“This is...”
Liu Huan blocked with his broadsword, deflecting all the incoming hidden weapons. Looking up at the terrifying scene in the air, his pupils contracted as he cried out,
“A divine ability seed? Has he already advanced to the Gangjin Rank?!”
The moment these words were spoken, the faces of the six Huajin Rank experts present all twisted in horror.
Whoosh!
Before anyone could react!
The grey bat wings behind Ke Duhe flapped violently!
He instantly transformed into a grey blur imperceptible to the naked eye, closing in on Zeng Qiyuan in a split second.
A withered hand enveloped in grey Qi and carrying the aura of death reached out to grasp Zeng Qiyuan's neck!
“No!”
Zeng Qiyuan's eyes threatened to split as the expanding skeletal claw reflected in his pupils, his expression turning into one of pure terror.
Purple Qi swirled around his entire body as he pushed his palms forward with all his might, trying to force Ke Duhe back.
However...
It was completely futile!
Crack!
In the next instant!
The withered hand clamped around his neck.
Ke Duhe tightened his five fingers and yanked upward as if hoisting a chicken!
Crunch!
Amidst the tooth-gritting sound of tearing flesh and bone.
Zeng Qiyuan's head, along with his entire spine, was violently ripped straight out of his torso!
Instantly!
Blood gushed like a geyser, spraying like rain!
With just one move, the Huajin Rank expert of Bixia Villa, Zeng Qiyuan...
Perished!
The surroundings instantly plunged into a dead silence.
The cold wind, carrying the scent of blood, rushed into everyone's noses and mouths. A chill surged from the soles of their feet straight to their skulls.
Gu Dacheng, eyes filled with horror, was the first to snap out of it and roared hoarsely:
“Retreat!”
This shout woke everyone up like a clap of thunder.
Only then did the several Huajin Rank experts recover from their panic. Their True Qi erupted, and they instantly scattered in all directions.
“Want to run? Hahaha, too late!”
Liu Sanxian, having survived a desperate situation, was overjoyed.
Making a prompt decision, he abandoned Lai Zong, who was turning to flee, and frantically plucked his fingers across the Ghost Pipa. A sky of soundwaves tangled like a spiderweb toward the white-robed youth as he laughed viciously,
“One of the Seven Elegances, you shall stay here today!”
Nearby, Ke Duhe laughed hoarsely, his voice shaking the roof tiles.
His bat wings flapped again, and his figure flashed like a ghost to the side of Kan Qingluo, who was locked in a death grip by Hua Ying.
His withered palm, carrying ten thousand catties of grey Qi, slammed violently into Kan Qingluo's chest.
Bang!
Kan Qingluo felt as if she had been struck by lightning!
Her protective True Qi shattered instantly, and she spat out a mouthful of blood as she plunged headfirst from midair like a broken kite.
Boom!
Her body crashed through a wooden shack, sending a plume of dust and smoke billowing into the sky. Broken tiles and shattered wood flew in all directions, and no further sound came from within!
“Brother!”
Ke Duhe turned his head at the sound.
His chilling gaze fell upon Huo Yinglong's pale face. His lips slowly peeled back, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth:
“Do not fear, child. Do not fear, it will stop hurting very soon.”
His bat wings swept, and a grey light flashed!
Ke Duhe instantly appeared before Huo Yinglong. His withered claw reached out once more, aiming for Huo Yinglong's neck.
A rancid, deathly stench rushed over him, inducing nausea.
Only the lives of geniuses like the Four Prodigies and Seven Elegances can help the Young Master rebuild his prestige, and allow me to truly open the gates to the Gangjin Rank as soon as possible...
The thought flashed through his mind.
But right then, Ke Duhe's large hand suddenly froze, and his ash-grey pupils contracted violently!
Where was there any trace of fear on the face of the white-robed youth who had looked so panicked just a moment ago?
In his palm, a pigeon-egg-sized, completely crimson bead had appeared, faintly exuding a violent aura that made one's heart skip a beat.
The youth gritted his teeth and raised his hand, throwing the bead with all his might straight at Ke Duhe's face!
“『Thunderbolt Fiend-Slaying Lightning』!”
Ke Duhe's face changed drastically, and he let out a bizarre shriek!
The grey bat wings behind his back flapped violently as he tried to retreat in a hurry.
But the distance between them was simply too close!
The moment his body moved, two massive rumbles had already echoed through the air!
Boom! Boom!
The rolling thunder was like the wrathful lightning of the nine heavens striking the earth!
The thick black smoke billowed in the wind for a moment before gradually dispersing.
Ke Duhe coughed twice, specks of blood splattering from his lips.
The grey bat wings behind him, with their forty-to-fifty-foot span, had visibly faded in color. The edges of the thin wings looked as if they had been licked by tongues of flame, ragged and ruined.
“What a Seven Elegances, what a Huo Yinglong...”
Ke Duhe's bat wings vibrated, turning him into an afterimage as he blocked the white-robed youth, who had taken the opportunity to flee nearly two miles away. The intense killing intent on his face was completely unconcealed!
“To be this formidable at a mere early-stage Huajin Rank... You will surely be a great enemy of our sect in the future! Today, this old man will definitely kill you!”
The two 『Thunderbolt Fiend-Slaying Lightning』 beads just now had wounded him severely.
Now, driven by hatred, Ke Duhe struck out with all his might.
His withered claw, enveloped in grey Qi, came down upon the youth's head, determined to crush him to death.
Yet, there was not a trace of fear in Huo Yinglong's eyes.
He held his long sword horizontally before him. The blade reflected his handsome face as he declared calmly,
“Evil heretic, spare your breath! For us of the righteous path, death is but death!”
With that, his right hand shook, and his long sword suddenly thrust straight ahead!
The green blade pierced forward like a rainbow!
The grey light fell like a waterfall over his head!
Right at this critical juncture...
A purple-robed figure silently blocked the path in front of Huo Yinglong.
A layer of tiny, grain-sized white light particles seeped from the purple-robed man's body. Densely packed and continuous, they instantly wove a protective Gang barrier composed entirely of white light.
Before the grey light could even touch the Gang barrier, it was shattered into pieces by an invisible force, dispersing into nothingness.
Ke Duhe's figure abruptly froze in midair. His gaze trembled as he stared at the purple-robed man. His lips twitched for a long while before he finally squeezed a name from his throat.
“Gongsun... Bei!!”
His voice suddenly rose, carrying an unbelievable panic:
“You... You've returned from the Capital?!”
Gongsun Bei's face was as dark as water.
After slowly sweeping his gaze across the ruined battlefield and the headless corpse, he turned his head coldly and said:
“If you're not fleeing for your life, what are you waiting for?”
...
Boom!
Shen Xiuhan was currently on his way with his sword.
Suddenly, an earth-shattering explosion erupted in the distant midair.
Immediately following it, an old, hoarse roar, wrapped in unconcealed panic, echoed from afar:
“Go! Scatter and run!!”
Right after, Shen Xiuhan saw the eight pale-gold light spots in his vision shudder violently.
Then, like startled birds from a forest, they scattered frantically in all directions.
One of the light spots, by some stroke of coincidence...
Was rushing straight toward the dark alley he was in.
Shen Xiuhan paused in his tracks. A cold light flashed in his eyes as he slowly tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword.
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