Chapter 335: Who Wants to Volunteer?
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
There was no way the three of them would attack without any reservations and weaken themselves till they collapsed. If something like that happened, they could foresee themselves turning on one another, ambushing their “comrades”.
The Nine Evil Paths had never been a single organization. There was much enmity among the various factions. Although they could join forces for the sake of benefits, once the job was done, merciless fall outs were not uncommon. It was the same for those from the Heterodox…
They would not sacrifice their lives for something like that. Since they had “comrades” and backup that would arrive soon, being a little more conservative was natural. Therefore, they would not counter Meng Qi’s attacks too seriously, because their main intent was to whittle away at his strength as well as find a chance to injure him…
However, if they were faced with a deadly and unavoidable blow, they would probably still be able to go all out if necessary. Numerous years of Jianghu experience and strength did not lie.
As Meng Qi stepped forward and shouted, these “terms and conditions” flashed through his mind. It was as if he could predict their movements based on it, directing his own battle.
He had to carefully control the degree of his actions–he could not drive any one of them so far into a corner that they had to fight back at full force. Unless, of course, he was sure that he would be able to kill them within one or two strokes. However, he also could not simply hope to escape or be on the defense. He would end up only ducking and with not enough of fighting with his everything, he could be easily dealt with by his opponents. They would gradually wear him down, inflicting huge damage over time or delaying the time.
This was something Meng Qi had already understood by the time he began to strike!
His survival in the match against three masters was dependent on his ability to strictly maintain such a degree.
In a battle of masters, covert fighting on a mental level was the most important!
The Flame-scorching Devilman, Green Cultivator and Soul-losing Flute’s mentalities seemed to be clearly reflected in Meng Qi’s mind…
As he raised his long saber, Meng Qi’s genuine Qi ran at its maximum. He secretly used the Hallucination Body Movements and crossed the distance between him and the Flame-scorching Devilman in a flash by following his Knife’s Momentum.
Just then, the mournful sound of a flute could be heard. Laden with a lingering sorrow, it directly entered one’s heart, sapping one of his will. It frustrated Meng Qi. He felt like his body was being fettered down by several weights and his movements were slowing.
The Green Cultivator who was known as the “Shadow Cold Palm” seemed to glide across the ground. He was as fast as Meng Qi at his best. His Lightness Skill Body Movements was truly outstanding, enabling him to overtake others even if they had had a headstart.
He raised his right hand and the white gas around him gathered and solidified into ice. His palm swung at the back of Meng Qi’s heart.
Snowflakes danced about. His genuine Qi was like a white ice snake, mightily shooting out with a cold and harsh attitude. It enveloped all the angles at which Meng Qi could duck in a terrifying display of its power.
Even though he was not going all out, that palm strike had almost the same force as that of Jiang Hengchuan. His realm was still there after all despite having lost much of his strength before!
The frosty feeling invaded Meng Qi’s body before the palm had even touched him. Meng Qi felt his blood and blood vessels freeze a little and his movements slowed even further.
“As expected, they really aren’t using their killer moves straight away…” Meng Qi remained totally calm. He paid no attention to the Green Cultivator behind him and activated his Eight Nine Mysteries and Golden Bell Shield. The dark gold glow enveloped his body as his muscles rippled and made his clothes go tight. He charged forward and swung his sword at the Flame-scorching Devilman.
When Meng Qi had appeared before him using his “Stealth skill”, the Flame-scorching Devilman had already struck with the crimson blade in his hands. With the flute music acting as shackles and slowing Meng Qi down, if he were still too slow to attack, then he would be a joke!
The thin blade swung down at an amazing speed. Its heat collided with the airflow and created fiery flames from his genuine Qi. If one was struck by the flames, the “fiery Qi” would enter his body and burn his meridians.
The way he swung his blade was exceedingly strange. It differed from the usual person’s stroke and felt very awkward, almost like he had reached the realm of Void Tactics. It was like an evil spirit itself striking, extremely petrifying.
Despite being dragged down by the flute’s shackles and the imminent strike from the Green Cultivator behind him, Meng Qi pushed on. His knife energy changed and the air became hazy, turning into the splendid Mortal World.
Meng Qi was going to go all out right from the beginning with his Exterior-level killer move!
Although it was not at full strength because of the flute music, the Flame-scorching Devilman was not Jiang Hengchuan. He could not rely on his realm to take it head on. One Heart Affecting Another caused his Roaring Flame Devil Saber to tremendously slow, to the point where it was just like a mother’s tender caress.
The expression on his face was maniacal. Power, women, money, scripts, precious weapons, property and the like all appeared before his eyes one by one. His blade shifted backward, as if he wanted to put all of them into his arms.
The flute suddenly played a coloratura note, snapping the Flame-scorching Devilman out of his trance. They had come prepared to deal with Meng Qi’s Ananda Oath-breaking Bladesmanship.
Heaven Inflicted Pain broke through the Flame-scorching Devilman’s Protective Upstanding Qi. The Flame-scorching Devilman’s self-restraint and the flute note woke him up. His blade trembled as he swung it aslant like a fire dragon and it clashed with Heaven Inflicted Pain.
“Clang!” Meng Qi did not conceal Heaven Inflicted Pain’s nature as a Precious Weapon and cleaved away the genuine Qi surrounding the Flame-scorching Devilman’s blade.
At the same time, the Green Cultivator’s palm had made contact with his back, at the position of his heart.
Meng Qi did not block it. He stabbed with the long sword in his left hand, its sword light pure and radiant but the air of death around it ghastly. He had not used Yama’s Invitation in a while.
He spat out a mouth of blood that was tinted dark green. The back of his shirt was damaged and the pale gold glow was full of cracks, but his long sword continued to move faster.
There was no return nor retreating!
Meng Qi relied on Eight Nine Mysteries, Golden Bell Shield and the Immortal Pressing Art to block the Green Cultivator’s palm attack and hold together his nearly frozen meridians. Then he borrowed some of his genuine Qi and transformed it into sword power, unusually scary.
The Flame-scorching Devilman who had just blocked out “Mortal Dust Fall” gritted his teeth in the face of Meng Qi’s fearsome sword. He fiercely shook his blade.
The void surrounding them suddenly lit up. It was a dark red, like a pile of matches had been struck with the Flame-scorching Devilman as their center.
Heaven-man Connection!
His thin knife traced the rise and fall of the flames and turned them into a roaring blaze. They seemed very realistic as they went for Meng Qi’s Meridian.
After a series of clanging sounds from the colliding blades rang out, the Flame-scorching Devilman seized his chance to move backward. He was unwilling to be engaged in intense combat with Meng Qi, who was fighting like a wild tiger. All he needed to do was to block his escape route.
With that strike from before, the Flame-scorching Devilman had used his Exterior-level killer move to ward off danger. Hence he did not want to continuously use these last minute resorts that would tire him out and drain his genuine Qi.
He had not trained his mental energy using techniques like the Transformation Strategy, the Immortal Pressing Art and Supernatural Power of Shaking Heaven and Hitting Earth. Thus, even though he was in a higher realm than Meng Qi, with his strength, he was probably only capable of around three Exterior-level moves.
Therefore, even though he knew that pushing himself to fight Meng Qi’s Exterior-level moves with his own would give the Green Cultivator a chance to kill the Killing Blade, he would not do it. Of course he would not! Meng Qi’s near-Exterior level killer moves would utterly exhaust him, and if he were not careful, he could very well end up dying with him!
It would also be great if did not have to use skills that devastated his Blood Essence. Making up for it was a real headache, so he would hit his limit with another Exterior-level killer move.
The Green Cultivator’s palm slammed into Meng Qi’s back. Absorbing the impact, Meng Qi borrowed it to push himself forward and forced the Flame-scorching Devilman away. Then he made use of the recoil from the blades colliding and flipped himself backward, moving like an illusion. He came face to face with the ghostly Green Cultivator.
“Toot!”
The flute suddenly produced a sharp note that shook Meng Qi up from within. It felt like he had been pierced by an invisible arrow. If the Concentration and Anti-poison Pill he had taken beforehand did not have a composure-steadying effect, he would probably already have been struck with vertigo and then taken another palm from the Green Cultivator.
He gritted his teeth as blood squeezed out from the corner of his eyes and he endured the damage to his Vital Spirit and mild vertigo. His right hand gripping the sword grew steadier and his long saber cleaved downwards on the Green Cultivator’s head. It absorbed all the surrounding airflow and vitality, making it feel like the space around them had contracted and that there was only that one sword between all of heaven and earth.
His Knife Momentum was dominating, extremely strong and fierce. The Green Cultivator did not dare to let his guard down. He interlocked his palms and attacked, seeming to release an icy blast that threatened to freeze Heaven Inflicted Pain in place.
He was still in the realm of Half-step Exterior Scenery and thus could barely manage to make out the flow of Meng Qi’s genuine Qi. Hence he did not underestimate his attack.
“Puff!”
The terrifying palm force slapped Heaven Inflicted Pain, but it was incredibly weak, like he had struck rotten wood.
How could it be!
The flow of his genuine Qi was actually fake?
The Green Cultivator turned pale with fright. Heaven Inflicted Pain that was trapped between his palms suddenly shot out like it had long been waiting for that chance. It made nine strokes in quick succession high above in the air, the layers of airflow piling up one on top of the other. Rumbling sounds shook the place like thunder streaking through clear skies. However, its target was not the Green Cultivator, but “Soul-losing Flute” Lin Biyu who was standing at the shrine’s entrance!
Meng Qi did not touch his Purple Thunder Force, but used the Knife Momentum from “Violent Thunder Shocking the Sky” to activate Heaven Inflicted Pain. Silvery lightning jumped all around and converged into Knife Qi that resembled a thunder dragon. It attacked from afar, destroying the void before it appeared in front of Lin Biyu in a flash.
The crackling sounds of thunder did not stop. A layer of the ground was charred black, and several pine trees at the side of the path cleanly snapped into two. Pine tree after pine tree was felled with tiny flashes of lightning and thunder winding around them.
The ground reacted to the Knife Qi and split apart to form deep fissures. The thunder dragon locked on to and hurtled towards Lin Biyu, rendering any form of escape impossible.
Whereas Meng Qi made use of the momentum to quickly act, close behind the Knife Qi. It was like he definitely had to kill Lin Biyu right there and then!
His current trajectory was highly peculiar. It seemed like he was moving in a roundabout way, being closer to the Flame-scorching Devilman than the Green Cultivator.
Lin Biyu had not expected the Killing Blade to be able to shake off her fetters and drive past the enemies before him to attack her like that. She was adept at the Sonorous Skill and poisons, but in the face of pure, strong thunder Knife Qi, she was helpless. In an attempt to escape, she unleashed her Body Movements but to no avail. The Knife Qi was right before her eyes in an instant.
“Toot!”
The sound came from the holes in the jade flute. It flew out and formed a wall of airflow before Lin Biyu, causing the Knife Qi to furiously tremble and appear on the verge of dropping.
“Pow!”
The thunder dragon had cut through the wall of gas.
Lin Biyu turned even paler than before. She took the chance to catch her breath as Blood Essence trickled out her mouth and stained the side of her flute crimson.
Seven short notes were produced, each stacking on top of the other such that they sounded like a single note. The genuine Qi transformed into a specific form. It was a bright, undulating red, resembling a fiery phoenix or mystical bird. It ferociously pounced onto Meng Qi’s Knife Qi.
“Boom!”
The Knife Qi exploded and the fiery red phoenix dissipated. With loud crackles, the remaining thunderbolts struck Lin Biyu, shattering her Protective Upstanding Qi. Many parts of her body became charred as she remained suspended in a state of numbness for the while.
“Damn it!” The Green Cultivator roared upon seeing Meng Qi pounce at the defenseless Lin Biyu. At full strength, he slammed his palms together. The surrounding coldness suddenly intensified. Snow was whipped about in the air, while a pool of muddy water on the ground directly froze over.
The force from his palms turned into two ice snakes that charged at Meng Qi’s neck. He was also using his last-resort technique, because he had to stop Meng Qi from killing Lin Biyu.
On the other side, the Flame-scorching Devilman who had been pushed away first was naturally the first one to try and stop him. He swung his thin blade down as it vibrated at high-speed, creating friction against the airflow and setting it ablaze. The Knife Qi it was projecting turned into an ember dragon that launched itself at the back of Meng Qi’s heart.
When attacking, he had subconsciously chosen an Exterior-level move to use. He decided to disregard his concerns since he was only using it to fend off Meng Qi for a bit, and the Green Cultivator was still around anyway!
“He really is reluctant to use his Exterior-level moves…” Meng Qi spun around all of a sudden. He did not aim for Lin Biyu, but headed for the Flame-scorching Devilman’s Knife Qi instead.
A ripping sound filled the air as a deep gash appeared on the right side of his body. It was so deep that the flesh and bones inside peeked out. The pale gold glow faded a bit more.
The Immortal Pressing Art was still running, so Meng Qi used the Knife Qi to turn around once more. Like a giant bird spreading its wings, Meng Qi pushed the Green Cultivator’s two ice snakes away and hurried over to Lin Biyu in the blink of an eye.
Sword light shone. Meng Qi leaped forward again and hid behind one of the shrine’s pillars.
“Snap!” The pillar was broken into half by the Green Cultivator and the Flame-scorching Devilman’s enraged attacks.
Blood spilled out from Lin Biyu’s mid-brows. A look of unwillingness and disbelief was frozen in her eyes as her legs went limp and she slowly dropped to the ground.
Right from the start, Meng Qi had already decided to kill the Soul-losing Flute first because she could attack and control the situation from a distance. Otherwise, he would be helpless. He would not be able to escape nor would he be able to defeat them–he would definitely die!
Meng Qi was quite the sight to behold. He held his saber in his right hand and his sword in his left, his clothes tattered and his muscles rippling. The pale gold glow was almost completely gone. Blood gushed out of his open wounds and trickled from the corners of his eyes. He roared,
“The first burial offering has been sacrificed!”
“In my current condition, if you want to kill me, I’ll still need another sacrifice!”
He stepped forward with a menacing aura. His ferocity exploded and his voice sounded like rumbling thunder as he cried,
“Who wants to volunteer?”