Bai Tianyi unleashed the full might of his dao with the next attack. The grey energy sword that he had created from combining spiritual energy with the sword energy was a volatile c.o.c.ktail filled with strength, and when it erupted everyone found their eyes drawn to the seemingly humble grey energy.
His ma.s.sive sword blocked the spiritual energy blade controlled by the four-eyed person before it turned into a thousand smaller swords.
Every one of them started heading straight for the woman with four eyes, their speed so fast that they turned into a blur.
They ripped through the air, and their sharp edges cut through the defensive layers on the woman"s body like a hot knife through b.u.t.ter, but it was not enough as new layers sprang to life around her immediately after.
Xue Wei had regained full control over his body. His soul was aching slightly and remnant trace of blood could be seen on the corner of his lips.
The Seed of Mirage that he had grown, had sprouted; a second Xue Wei appeared out of the seed after it had absorbed enough ambient heaven-and-earth essence.
The second Xue Wei was instantly sent to aid Hei Gou, who was being pushed back constantly by his opponent. And although Lin Xiao was not in a great state either, he was doing better than Hei Gou.
Xue Wei took a moment to survey the battleground. Bai Tianyi had forced the four-eyed woman on the defense.
Seeing that Bai Tianyi was able to suppress the woman, Xue Wei felt relief in his heart, but that relief was quickly replaced when he saw that Bai Tianyi was no longer as energetic as he was before.
Using so much sword energy was a strain on his body and mind. The more he used, the weaker his body would become.
Seeing this, Xue Wei rushed at the woman with his transformed arms, ready to deal an attack.
Arcane Fist!
Shattering Mountain Palm!
One fist and one palm attack descended down on the woman"s energy s.h.i.+eld, one at a time. As soon as the Arcane Fist landed on the s.h.i.+eld, it ripped it apart, creating an opening that allowed Xue Wei to send in a Shattering Mountain Fist.
Just as his hand entered into the energy s.h.i.+eld, the scales on his arm felt as if they were being ripped off. Blood flowed down in steady streams, and wounds appeared on his arm under the scales because of the energy s.h.i.+eld’s pressure.
The Shattering Mountain Palm collided with the chest of the woman inside the s.h.i.+eld, and she was sent reeling backward from the impact. After retreating several steps she came to a standstill and steadied her body.
The blood in her body roiled, spilling out from her mouth and her nose. Her physical body was weak like the others; it was merely at the Heavenly Warrior rank. So while Xue Wei’s palm had barely connected with her, the power behind his attack had caused her serious injuries.
Seeing the woman injured like this, the two men on her side started relentlessly fighting back. Their attacks were much more ferocious than they had been before, they stopped caring about defending and focused fully on attacking, trading wound for wound.
Hei Gou had managed to breathe more easily after the Seed of Mirage had joined him, but now the situation suddenly turned against them again.
Lin Xiao was also being pushed back. His opponent had grasped his weak point, and although he did not have any spiritual energy attacks that focused solely on the soul, he had abilities that attacked body and soul at the same time, so Lin Xiao was being pushed back.
Xue Wei focused on the woman. He could not help his comrades if he could not get rid of the woman first.
She was one of the few four-eyed experts in the bandit group and her status amongst the bandits could not be low. From this thought, Xue Wei understood that she was worth a lot of merit points. His motivation soared!
Kick of the Forgotten Kings!
Before the woman could conjure her s.h.i.+eld again, Xue Wei had sent out a kick that sent her tumbling even further back.
Although it seemed as if Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi had the clear advantage in the fight, the truth was that they were both severely injured.
Bai Tianyi could not command any more sword energy, as it would have some serious after effects. On Xue Wei’s side, one of his hands was unusable.
The arm that had used Shattering Mountain Palm earlier had taken so much damage that he could barely lift it now. Although it was not broken, all the muscle, the flesh, and the meridians that had penetrated into the s.h.i.+eld had been severely damaged.
He had also received damage to his soul that would take a bit of time to heal. Although they were now seemingly in control of the situation, the price for this had been high.
"Finish it!" Bai Tianyi yelled, exhaustion evident in his voice. Xue Wei nodded his head. As soon as his Kick of the Forgotten Kings had caused her to tumble backwards, Xue Wei followed with Forbidden Rush before launching his final attack.
Inner Might: Qi Sword Style!
Windwolf Sword Slas.h.!.+
Following that, the Qi sword swung out with the full might of an Ordinary Knight.
Horror crept into the four eyes of the woman, mixed with disbelief. She had never thought that Xue Wei and his friends were capable of threatening them. It seemed that what they had learned was not the entire truth; spiritual energy was not everything that mattered in a fight of life and death.
Before she could even scream, her head was severed from the neck and fell down, drowned in the gra.s.s of the vast gra.s.sland.
Her body slumped to the ground. All traces of life had vanished.
When the two survivors saw the gruesome end to their companion, their eyes turned blood red.
They pushed even faster against the two opponents in front of them. "Tianyi, you stay out of the rest of the battle," Xue Wei ordered as he rushed towards Lin Xiao. He was not too worried for Hei Gou.
Hei Gou had been pressured badly, his body riddled with wounds, and his claws had dents everywhere, but he had still not transformed into his original shape, so he could still hold on.
If Hei Gou had transformed and still was being pushed back, then Xue Wei would have rushed to his side, but seeing him fighting like this made Xue Wei understand that he was testing his limits of his new mutation.
Lin Xiao was in a tough spot due to his limited protection against soul-based attacks. The Soul Guard he had spent some time training had already been broken through by the attacks of his opponent, and every attack he took caused him to sweat and be in severe pain.
Xue Wei was still wielding the Qi sword made from Inner Might. While Lin Xiao was his target, Xue Wei rushed close with Forbidden Rush and used an attack he had not used in a long time.
Sacrificial Stab!
Sacrificial Stab was one of the first abilities he had gotten from the Heritage ring. It was a superior skill that was described as a cheap killing attack. It sacrificed the soul of the target to an ancient G.o.d – as long as one drop of blood was drawn, the person would die. This energy was then given to the user as a boost in strength, but there was a recoil of equal measure once that strength runs out.
The sword came into contact with the body of the spiritual energy cultivator and drew a deep slash on his back. The moment he had gotten the slash, his eyes widened, and then he died.
Having executed the Sacrificial Stab and killed a target, Xue Wei felt how the energy in his body roiled. The Qi dragons were roaring in delight as they felt the boost in strength. Unfortunately, he had no one to let his energy out on, and soon the roaring Qi dragons went sluggish. The energy vanished and he was instead exhausted.
Xue Wei did not know if he believed in the whole thing about the ancient G.o.d, but he knew that the attack was overpowered and able to solve their current problems.
The Sacrificial Stab was a very effective ability, but it put a heavy strain on the user. Xue Wei only used it to kill his target as soon as possible, but his body felt feeble afterward.
"What did you do?!" Bai Tianyi complained in the background, causing the fatigued Xue Wei to walk over and sit down next to him.
"What do you mean?" he asked with fatigue on his face. "I killed him," he explained.
"Yeah, but he has no soul power. It is as if his soul just vanished the moment he died. That is such a waste. If I had absorbed his energy, I would have been fully restored."
"What do you mean?" Xue Wei asked curiously. "No soul power?"
"Yea, it was as if the soul was spirited away." Bai Tianyi said, unable to hide the slight annoyance in his voice.
"Uh, the only reason I can think of is that I used Sacrificial Stab," Xue Wei answered. "Sacrificial Stab kills a person and sacrifices the soul of the target to an ancient G.o.d according to the description of the ability."
"You sacrificed my soul?!" Bai Tianyi asked indignantly, almost yelling at him. So far, whenever they had killed someone, Bai Tianyi had absorbed the soul power that was released. He relied on this to get stronger, to a point where he saw all opponents" souls as his nutrient.
"Well, it was the fastest way to kill that I could think of," Xue Wei argued back, feeling a little wronged. How should he have known that the soul actually managed to vanish like that?
Xue Wei shook his head. He felt very weak at the moment. His entire body was drained of Qi, and the Qi dragons in his meridians had become spa.r.s.e, but at least the Azure Dragon Spirit in his dantian was nonstop replenis.h.i.+ng the lost amount.
Unfortunately, it was a long way away from him being fully energized and able to continue fighting.
While he was resting, Xue Wei watched the fight between Hei Gou and the other Primordial Beast.
Lin Xiao had gone over to help but had been stopped by Hei Gou. He had wanted to finish the battle on his own, and although he had several wounds on his body, he was far from being done.
The Primordial Beast saw that he was alone. He no longer held any faith in defeating all four of his opponents. He wanted to flee as soon as possible.
Instead of waiting, his body suddenly enlarged. He no longer was a human, having transformed into a large horse with hooves, a lion tail and a horn.
Its skin was red, like blood, and flames erupted from his hooves and mane.
This was a Nightmare Stallion! Even in Chang"an, this race was flouris.h.i.+ng, and the natural talent of the Nightmare Stallion was outstanding.
In Chang"an, one of the elders in the Council of Elders was a Nightmare Stallion, so everyone"s faces turned serious when they saw the appearance of this horse-like beast.
Hei Gou"s eyes also turned solemn, and decided to change his body"s shape as well. He suddenly sprouted wings on his back, his legs turned into the legs of a ma.s.sive dog, and his hands turned into paws, but his body and face did not change.
"He is quite daring," Bai Tianyi praised. "To face a Nightmare Stallion like this, I don"t know if I should call him reckless or brave. Let’s see if this is enough to stop that pony!"