“Keen Metal Talisman.” Wan Hao pasted the talisman on his blade and condensed a three feet long astral blade, cleaving his way forth. If Li Qingshan was thinking of taking a strike from him again and still survive, well, that would be impossible.
Meanwhile, hall master Wu simply pasted his talisman on his chest. His body glowed into a golden shape just like the Black Wind Camp’s Xiong Xiangwu. It was also a “Diamond Talisman,” but the color was much brighter. He charged forward straight on and violently struck with a heavy fist.
Feng Zhang merely stopped his steps and returned the wind-st.i.tching blade to its sheathe, watching Li Qingshan as if he were watching a dead man. Don’t mention Li Qingshan, even he would certainly walk on the road to his death if he fell into such a siege.
It wouldn’t have been easy for Li Qingshan to deal with even one of them. He stamped a heavy foot down, and the ground sank down into a great pit. The shockwaves of the “Bull Demon Hoof Stamp” went through every direction. The figures of the four first-grade masters all stiffened for an instant.
But he certainly didn’t dare to use this opportunity to attack. He used all his strength and jumped into the air together with Little An instead.
Everyone looked upward, different expressions on their faces. Li Qingshan might still have had a lifeline left if he’d charged straight on, but he was cutting off his own survival by jumping into the air. A man had nowhere to dodge and nowhere to take support from while in the air. The moment he fell down would be the moment of his death.
Just when Li Qingshan had reached the apex and was about to fall back down, he suddenly unfolded the [Cursive Sword Script]. On it lit up a leftward oblique stroke, a downward concave stroke, a horizontal stroke, a vertical stroke, and a hook stroke. Li Qingshan had already been holding the [Cursive Sword Script] secretly in his hands and poured all of his true qi inside long before being encircled by the three enemies.
His true qi had risen continuously after obtaining the Cursive Sword Script. And today he’d not only drunk the Bodhi brew, he’d also swallowed the whole spirit ginseng down. He’d even swallowed the Sudden Qi Fierce Body Pill on top of that; the true qi inside his body had reached an unprecedented degree, allowing him to bring out an unprecedented might from the spiritual device.
Feng Zhang’s eyes brightened the instant the [Cursive Sword Script] opened. “Middle rank spiritual device! No, it’s an upper rank spiritual device, hurry up and run!” But he wasn’t alarmed, he was wild with joy instead. Even being fired from the Eagle Wolf Guard would be worth it if he could obtain it.
Li Qingshan mobilized his entire focus to try and control this upper rank spiritual device. There was no telling if his determination played a role or if all of it was fundamentally due to the spiritual device itself, but it automatically latched onto those several hostile auras.
An oblique stroke, a concave stroke, a vertical stroke, a horizontal stroke, a hook stroke, they each separately flew toward Feng Zhang and the other four.
Those first-grade masters of the martial world had keen perception and had sensed an extremely fearful killing intent the moment Li Qingshan had unfolded the [Cursive Sword Script] without needing Feng Zhang’s reminder at all. They reacted instinctively.
Wan Hao waved his blade toward the sky, defending himself by attacking. He exquisitely sealed off the direction the killing intent struck from. But any technique was useless in front of absolute power. A “vertical stroke” fell straight down and disintegrated the astral blade inch by inch, including the body of the blade. It pierced through the top of his head in an instant. He froze, and his whole person fell to the ground with a rumble.
Hall master Wu blocked with his two arms, using an “Iron Locks Across the River1” move. With the Diamond Talisman protecting his body on top of that, he’d formed strongest of defenses. But against all expectations, a hook hooked his head away.
Two first-grade masters using their trump cards had been instantly killed in one hit, exhibiting the fearfulness of an upper rank spiritual device.
Lu Tingrui floated away and escaped with all her might thanks to her outstanding movement techniques. Chu Xin had been standing the furthest from the beginning, and his reflexes were also the quickest. His round and plump figure instantly rolled to the side.
A concave stroke and a horizontal stroke slipped past. Two traces of blood light suddenly appeared. Two persons fell on the ground with miserable cries, leaving a foot and a hand behind, suffering heavy injuries.
As to the fiercest and brightest oblique stroke, it flew toward Feng Zhang’s direction.
Feng Zhang immediately lowered his waist and separately pasted two spiritual talismans on his blade and his body in quick succession.
The wind-st.i.tching blade released an astral blade five feet long, and a golden bell solidified around his body to protect it. If one said the Diamond Talisman could still be used to kill the enemy, then the Golden Bell Talisman was entirely made to safeguard the body.
As a second level qi refining master who also came from the Eagle Wolf Guard, he had even more valuables on him than those first-grade masters added together. But he’d deliberately held out on using them and let those first-grade masters risk their lives. It would have been best if they could all die at the same time; he wouldn’t have needed to give them their promised spiritual pills then. There was no way not to call his thoughts venomous.
He’d immediately lost all his reservations when he saw the upper rank spiritual weapon in Li Qingshan’s hands however.
Spiritual light raged forth in the s.p.a.ce of an instant, bedazzling the eyes. Even the thick snow cover in front of the mountain temple was entirely swept off clean.
The blade shattered, the bell broke, but the man didn’t die.
The scene Li Qingshan was most worried of had happened. There was only a handle left out of the wind-st.i.tching blade in Feng Zhang’s hand, his clothes had been shredded into a mess, countless small fine wounds were left on him, but his face carried a proud smile as he watched Li Qingshan still in mid-air.
Li Qingshan’s heart sank to the bottom of the abyss. A stern hiss broke through the air behind him.
Lu Tingrui waved a storm of metal with her one hand left, her eyes bloodshot.
Li Qingshan pushed little An away from his side and barely blocked it with his weapon. The true qi had been sucked away from his body until not a shred was left however, and the side effects from the Sudden Qi Fierce Body Pill also broke out at the same time. His entire body felt as if it was about to crack.
Little An stretched out a hand in vain, helplessly watching as he was sent flying out by the tide of metal. Countless concealed weapons instantly struck his body as he crashed through the temple’s roof and fell onto the bonfire.
The bust of the mountain G.o.d rolled to one side, its face carrying an evil scorched grin with it, as if mocking Li Qingshan for overestimating himself.
Little An directly rushed toward the temple after landing. A thin sword stabbed obliquely. Lu Tingrui stood on one foot, her face full of rancor: “I’ll kill you monster!”
Feng Zhang didn’t chase after Li Qingshan. He took out another spiritual talisman and shot it inside the temple.
A great flame burst in the temple. It was already close to ruins to begin with and it collapsed in a flash. The light of the fire soared to the sky, visible from ten miles away.
Feng Zhang felt there were too many mysteries on Li Qingshan and feared Li Qingshan still had a killing move left. He had no desire to take any risk and directly used a talisman to patch his blade. An upper spiritual device wouldn’t be destroyed in such a fire anyway. He only had to take it from Li Qingshan’s ashes when the time was ripe.
The fire raged. The fire inside Little An’s eye sockets blazed like blood as he crazily pounced toward Lu Tingrui, as if trying to take her down at the cost of his life.
Lu Tingrui flashed out of the way. She saw Little An charge straight toward the mountain temple, trying to s.n.a.t.c.h Li Qingshan away from within the sea of fire. She couldn’t help muttering to herself, “Monster!”
Chu Xin struck once again. Hidden weapons. .h.i.t his body with clinks and clangs. Little An’s stature staggered then fell on the ground, but immediately climbed back up.
Feng Zhang sneered and waved his sleeves. His true qi gushed madly forth and slapped Little An, sending him flying out. Feng Zhang stood in front of the great fire like a lofty mountain, separating him from Li Qingshan.
He shouted in a low voice, “Why aren’t you two idiots hurrying to kill it. Don’t let it escape.” But inside he was searching for a way to kill and silence them. He could definitely not let anyone become aware of the upper rank spiritual device.
Lu Tingrui and Chu Xin hesitated instead when they heard Feng Zhang’s words. They didn’t know whether they ought to fight or flee. They’d originally accepted Feng Zhang’s transaction because they had been confident they wouldn’t need to fear Feng Zhang reneging on his promises with the five of them joining together. Anyway he wasn’t an Eagle Wolf guard anymore. Even if he wasn’t afraid, would each and every member of his family be an innate master?
1. Dragon Li already used this technique back in chapter 34. Please refer back to its notes if you’re interested in where this name comes from.