"Eagle Claw!"
Qiuleng was a calm person but was not known for being submissive. Despite being surrounded by enemies, he was still constantly thinking of ways to turn the tables on them.
He recognized Lin Huang, who was the favourite disciple of Five Ghosts Sect"s Sect Head, and the head of all disciples. His power and position would be equal to Lin Leiyue"s. Even though he has heard of Lin Huang breaking through the 6th Gate, but when it came to experience, there was no way Lin Huang could surpa.s.s him!
If he could retaliate in one move, he might even win the battle!
By then, Qiuleng"s Eagle Claw Technique was at full force, it was as if he was an eagle circling high above, and black-coloured eagle claws came cras.h.i.+ng down like a thunderstorm. The two disciples by Lin Huang"s side let out a scream, and instantly flew backwards from the attacks.
"Alright! Everyone stop!"
Lin Huang burst into laughter. His right hand turned pale and flexible, as if it had no bones inside and is drained of all blood, and made the next move. "Five Yin Hand!"
"Bang!"
Qiuleng"s Eagle Claw and Lin Huang"s Five Yin Hand came in contact. There was a change in Qiuleng"s expression, and he flew back instantaneously.
Lin Huang"s feet s.h.i.+fted at lightning speed and floated towards him like a ghost. "Leaving? How about seeking permission from my Ghost Shadow Steps first!"
His footsteps became unpredictable, and suddenly he was right by Qiuleng"s side, with fingers black as ink. "Ghost Claw!"
"Splat!"
Lin Huang"s reached out with fingernails like jade pieces emitting a hint of evil. With a twist of his hand, both of Qiuleng"s hands retracted back quickly as if he got bitten by a snake. Before he knew it, there was a mark on his chest.
"Puff!"
Qiuleng"s facial expression s.h.i.+fted again, as he spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted on the ground. His face slowly turned black, and the 5 punctures on his chest spouted out blood as black as ink.
Within the mere exchange of a few moves, Spirit Returning Sect"s last hope was defeated!
After witnessing the difference between both compet.i.tors, Leiyue was lost for words, as if her heart was hanging over a cliff.
"Cold Iron Eagle Yu Qiuleng? Is that all there is? How is your Eagle Claw compared to my Ghost Claw?"
Lin Huang"s laughter was filled with disdain, and his eyes swept the room coldly. "Apart from Lin Leiyue, everyone else who is irrelevant is to be killed with no exceptions!"
"This Lin Huang seems to have concealed his flaws quite well…"
A thought flashed by Fang Yuan"s mind as he saw this scene. "This martial art seems to be of higher level than what was displayed before… Being ruthless and evil, and only one step away from Shock Door, what a character. In due time, it is not impossible that he could become extraordinary, unfortunately…"
Regardless of right or wrong, he could not possibly just offer up his head to someone who wanted to "kill all with no exceptions".
There was also Yu Qiuleng.
"Initially I was thinking of finding an opportunity to teach you all a lesson, but judging from the situation, if this drags on, this person might just die from his injuries… Save me some trouble, may peace be with you!"
Even up till then, Fang Yuan still had the mood to think of irrelevant things. He took a big step forward, pushed both his hands out, and the few Five Ghosts Sect disciples who were charging towards him flew backwards.
"Eh?"
Lin Huang seemed a bit taken aback. "An inner force expert? You aren"t from Spirit Returning Sect?"
"Hmm… Not really, but it seems like you still won"t let me go!"
Fang Yuan shrugged his shoulders. "Where is Elder Han?"
"Obviously that Old Hag Han is under the control of our sect"s experts, no need to count on him to save you all!"
Lin Huang looked at Fang Yuan"s young face signifying his tender age, and felt a wave of anger surge through his chest. He licked his lips and said, "With your talent, you have definitely surpa.s.sed Lin Leiyue. I didn"t expect Qinghe County to harbour such a young talent! What a pity that you can"t live past today…".
"Oh really? Unfortunately, I am always one to disappoint!"
When Fang Yuan heard that, he tried his best to stifle his laughter.
Leiyue looked at these two about to battle, her fists tightly clenched, and her eyes filled with worry. "Fang Yuan may be an expert in inner power martial arts, but he just advanced to his current level. Lin Huang is far more experienced than him, not to mention that he has Five Ghosts Sect"s support when it comes to divine power and techniques. Fang Yuan is but a mere commoner, so what good techniques could he have? Even Elder Yu lost! There really isn"t much hope…"
She clearly knew that even if there was Lin Huang as the only opponent, based on the huge difference in their powers of Inner Force and Power, he could defeat all of them one by one. Thus, escaping was definitely not an option.
A group attack? There were far more Five Ghosts Sect"s disciples on the other side than there are us, with even bigger weapons like bows and arrows!
Thus, their only hope would be Lin Huang being defeated and captured during a solo fight.
It"s just… Was that even possible?
Lin Leiyue looked at Fang Yuan"s back silhouette, her heart filled with mixed feelings and emotions, with a tinge of antic.i.p.ation that couldn"t be explained.
"Young Master, just kill them on the spot. Is there really a need for you to be directly involved?"
A man dressed in black beside Lin Huang waved his hand, and more than ten Five Ghosts Sect disciples appeared with bows and arrows. A sense of danger washed through Lin Leiyue"s heart.
"That would be unnecessary, this is our fight, no one is to interfere!"
Lin Huang shook his head, as he looked at Fang Yuan with a glimmer in his eyes.
This was not his arrogance talking. It was apparent that when martial arts were being competed with inner force, even if they were unable to handle the archers, they could still retreat back into the woods. They could use both offensive and defensive strategies. If they started fighting like guerrillas, they might even be able to kill a few of them, and that would be rather troublesome.
Especially if all the arrows were fired at the same time and all the low-level disciples were killed, the opponent would have less to worry about and could escape immediately, sabotaging the mission.
The only chance would be using Lin Leiyue"s disciples as bait, forcing Fang Yuan to engage in a battle with him.
Lin Huang had confidence in his own skills, even Yu Qiuleng lost to him in combat, how much threat would a 6th Gate martial artist, that had only recently advanced, be?
"Alright, you may begin!"
Fang Yuan stood in the arena, his spiritual energy however was continuously focused on his surroundings.
By now, the yin poison had already entered Yu Qiuleng"s bones, and he had reached the point of no return. He waved his hand, inviting Lin Huang to make the first move.
"You should know that I"m one to bear grudges!"
Initially Lin Huang was not keen on talking, and wanted to change the topic of conversation to stall for time. All it took was one look for him to know that even the G.o.ds were unable to save Yu Qiuleng now.
Fang Yuan was far from ready to let this incident go, considering how Lin Huang just had ill intentions towards them.
But right now, his actions and appearance indicated that he did not consider Lin Huang as a threat at all!
This blatant act of "disregarding" immediately angered Lin Huang.
Considering himself as the best, this behavior was completely unacceptable.
"You"re dead meat!"
Protruding veins appeared on Lin Huang"s forehead, even his usually pale skin reddened due to his anger. He floated forward like a ghost and thundered, "Five Yin Hand!".
"Swoos.h.!.+"
Fang Yuan glanced at him from aside, and flicked his right hand.
"Swoos.h.!.+"
Amidst the flow of air and friction, the cry of a hunting eagle was heard.
Lin Leiyue closed her eyes, it was as if she saw a handsome spiritual bird, with both wings extended, gliding down gracefully with its sharp claws out!
An Eagle Claw executed with both its shape and spirit!
Compared to this Eagle Claw, Yu Qiuleng"s version was just child"s play!
"Crack!"
A loud bone-breaking sound was heard.
With a loud cry, Fang Yuan held onto Lin Huang"s right arm and twisted it into an unnatural position, and he promptly fell to the ground and pa.s.sed out immediately.
Defeated in just one move!
Master Lin Huang, the treasured disciple of Five Ghosts Sect"s master, an expert in Inner Power, the champion of Lieyang County"s teenage martial artists, defeated in just one move?
With such a stark difference between the two battles, both the Spirit Returning Sect and the disciples of Five Ghosts Sect were lost for words, left in disbelief.
"Fang Yuan… became this powerful?"
Lin Leiyue let out a sigh, and she felt as though the shadow he left in her heart had enlarged yet again. It was as if there was a huge storm cloud weighing her down, and it kept growing.
"Young Master… lost?!"
"Quick! Save Young Master!"
All the Five Ghosts Sect disciples were at a loss.
Seizing the opportunity, Fang Yuan lunged at the archers. Like a tiger leaping into a herd of sheep, with a few casual swings of his hand, the archers flew out one by one, and pa.s.sed out on the floor.
"Nice!"
As much as there was bitterness in her heart, Leiyue was elated by watching how the tables had turned. "Catch them all, especially that young master!"
"This isn"t good, Young Master… Elder Yu… is dead!"
A Spirit Returning Sect disciple was about to help Yu Qiuleng up, however upon seeing his complexion and checking his breath, the disciple"s expression changed drastically and he started screaming maniacally.
"What?"
Lin Leiyue"s body stumbled backwards.
This ambush cost them an elder, so even if they did catch Lin Huang, it was very probable that they would be punished when they got back.
However, it was right then that something unexpected happened!
Amongst the Five Ghosts Sect disciples, a dark shadow lunged out at lightning speed towards Fang Yuan. With a wave of his hand, several Frozen Stars appeared instantaneously.
"Zip!"
The concealed weapons broke through the air, and there was a huge amount of power focused onto the concealed weapons. It was obvious that an inner force expert had launched it.
There was another elder hiding among the Five Ghosts Sect disciples!
Facing this kind of situations, even if the Spirit Returning Sect elders were to come forward, as long as it was not Elder Yan, Elder Han or s.h.i.+ Yutong, that person was bound to lose.
It was just bad luck for the other party to go against Fang Yuan!
Fang Yuan"s magical energy had already reached level 3", and with enough attentiveness, no one nearby would be able to conceal their actions from him!
"Haha… I"ve been waiting for you for a long time!"
With a loud laugh and no time to spare, he folded up his sleeves and caught the concealed weapons and tossed them out fiercely.
This might sound simple, but without precise control of the body"s inner force, it would be nearly impossible to execute that move.
The Five Ghosts Sect elder who appeared was obviously a lot better than Lin Huang.
"You should be lying on the ground too!"
Fang Yuan however was indifferent. After taking away the concealed weapons, he lunged at the black shadow with a claw.
Grade 7 Eagle Claw Iron Skin Technique, with Black Sand Palm!
"Bam!"
The surrounding trees were shaking, countless leaves and branches came showering down.
A gush of blood spurted out, but it was not from Fang Yuan, but from the body of the Five Ghosts Sect elder who suddenly appeared!
"You… broke through the Shock Door, and are at the peak of the 7th Gate!"
With a trembling voice, he exclaimed. The dark shadow fell to the ground, exposing an elderly face, with blood flowing out of his nostrils and mouth.
"What? The 7th Gate?"
Lin Leiyue covered her lips, all thoughts of her fighting for power with Fang Yuan instantly flew out of the window.
After all, the Shock Door could only be attempted when the martial artist"s magical energy had peaked, there were no shortcuts for it.
Even the most talented martial artists had to train for a few years, maybe even more than a decade! It was not rare to see people training their whole lives, but still unable to break through the gate.
But Fang Yuan broke through it in such a short period of time?
By now he had not even reached his 20s. With such talent, he could really be considered a demon!