A muffled 

pu

 sounded.

Zhen Kuai’s clothes covering his shoulders completely exploded. The black metal arrow dug fiercely into his shoulder. Under his body’s crazy resistance of soul force, it couldn’t go any further into his body, only entering a finger length of distance.

However, the rapid transfer of soul force to fend off this arrow’s impact made his entire body become exceptionally sore.

Under a low cry of pain, after taking half a step back, he coughed out a mouthful of blood.

The moment Zhen Kuai coughed out a mouthful of blood, Zhantai Qiantang also coughed out a mouthful of blood.

Zhen Kuai’s blood was red, but Zhantai Qiantang’s was thick black like ink.

As a mouthful of black blood was coughed out, Zhantai Qiantang’s devil transformed body became a bit smaller, the entirely red chains in his hands no longer scarlet red like before.

Devil Transformation was only a method used to completely stimulate a cultivator’s potential. Zhantai Qiantang knew that his time limit in using Demonic Transformation was already up. His following period of extreme weakness already arrived, but Lin Xi’s arrows and Zhen Kuai’s blood instead gave him great confidence.

The feeling of weakness arrived, but Zhantai Qiantang’s eyes instead became even brighter.

In this instant, he turned around. He poured all of his remaining strength into the chains in his hands.

The chains whose red color was originally starting to fade suddenly flickered with red radiance. The surface of the chains and the area connected to the longsword even released a layer of true flames.

These extremely long chains no longer looked soft, but instead became perfectly straight, making these chains and the connected longsword instantly turn into an extremely long spear!

The official path raged with crazy flames.

A sword snapped!

A shield was penetrated!

A zither cracked!

The instant this long spear took form again, the longsword that served as the speartip already continuously cut through the soul weapons of three cultivators, passing through their bodies. These three cultivators’ bodies were directly skewered.

The longsword that served as the speartip directly stabbed towards Zhen Kuai at the very end!

Zhen Kuai’s right shoulder was injured. However, at this moment, he still hacked out, accurately hitting this longsword that carried hell-like flames and terrifying heat.

An explosive 

hong

 sounded.

Zhen Kuai’s body seemed like it was struck by a bomb, something that didn’t exist in the world. He flew outwards, directly landing more than ten feet away. When he was smashed flying, he coughed out another mouthful of blood. The long blade in his hands couldn’t be gripped anymore, falling out of his hand.

Under this strike, the flames around Zhantai Qiantang and the chains turned into countless scattered sparks. It was as if a huge burst of fireworks suddenly bloomed.

When the fireworks scattered outwards, Zhantai Qiantang who was seized by extreme weakness from an overtaxing of soul force began to inconceivably shrink, returning to his original appearance.

He was no longer that devil king who walked out from hell, but rather an extremely weak sick person. His skin was abnormally pale, all of his pores excreted tar-like thick black viscous sweat that covered his entire body.

He was already powerless to take action again, to the extent where he didn’t even have the strength to pull out his chains and longsword from the corpses of those three cultivators, unable to turn around and leave.

…

Zhen Kuai landed on the ground.

A larger half of his clothes were also burned up by Zhantai Qiantang’s final strike, his hair also completely burned away. In terms of outer appearance, he wasn’t much different from Zhantai Qiantang.

However, he was still standing steadily after all.

His soul force still hadn’t been completely exhausted yet.

Even now, the Yunqin army in the back still didn’t display any activity. He knew that right now, it was only a battle between him and that hidden archer.

…

Everyone’s eyes gathered towards the mound next to the official path.

Even though Zhantai Qiantang was already only twenty steps or so from the edge of the official path, everyone could tell that he already reached his limit. If that archer wanted to save him, then he had to show himself.

Lin Xi walked out precisely at this time.

Everyone immediately saw this hidden powerful archer’s figure.

In everyone’s eyes, this powerful archer was dressed in an oversized cotton gown, his face and even hair bound under black cloth. Forget about the appearance of his face, even his build and figure were impossible to deduce.

Zhen Kuai looked at Lin Xi who walked out, his eyes stopping over his hands.

What immediately made his breathing momentarily stop was that he saw that apart from Lin Xi’s hands being a bit pale, there weren’t any signs of injuries from excessive soul force use.

The moment he froze momentarily, Lin Xi already began to accelerate.

It was as if there were two powerful air blowers that were added to his feet, pushing his body out. With only two steps, more than twenty steps of distance were crossed, arriving at Zhantai Qiangtang’s side.

“We’re leaving!”

Lin Xi rushed up to Zhantai Qiantang’s side, only saying this by his ears. Then, his hand already landed on the chains on Zhantai Qiantang’s hands.

Zhantai Qiantang’s shackles and longsword were removed from the three cultivators’ corpses, flying back, instantly making several rings around Zhantai Qiantang’s body.

Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Xi carried Zhantai Qiantang on his back, starting to run with everything he had.

Zhen Kuai released a light cough, coughing out more blood. Then, he began to move, chasing after them.

Lin Xi’s steps were like those of a crazy speeding horse. Meanwhile, the arms of Zhen Kuai who followed behind him spread out horizontally, his backbone shaking. A wave of energy continuously shot out from his arms, as if a crane was flying past while close to the ground.

In just a dozen or so breaths of time, Lin Xi and Zhen Kuai passed over the official path mound, disappearing from the eyes of these Yunqin people.

Zhen Kuai’s cultivation was far above Lin Xi’s. In terms of pure speed, he was naturally faster than Lin Xi who was carrying someone. However, for him, the further he was from Yunqin’s army, the safer it would be. Moreover, even though he found it hard to imagine how Lin Xi could continuously shoot so many arrows, his arms not even suffering much damage as a result, he was sure that Lin Xi only had State Knight level cultivation.

In his opinion, Lin Xi shouldn’t have much soul force left either.

That was why he wasn’t in a rush to exert force to intercept Lin Xi, only following closely behind Lin Xi, leaving this official path where a great battle had just taken place.

During this chase and escape, Lin Xi and Zhen Kuai rushed out close to ten li with speed even faster than speeding horses.

Even if they were cultivators, while crazily running like this, their breathing noises were still intense. Steam rose from their bodies, as if they were wrapped within white-colored mist.

Zhen Kuai originally already suffered internal injuries. After continuous crazy running, he only felt as if the taste in his mouth was becoming more and more astringent. A bloody aura spread, the bottom of his heart feeling as if there were more than ten cats clawing at that area, indescribably uncomfortable.

Suddenly, a small river appeared ahead, what lay on the other side was a farmland. In the distance, there was a small village, looking like an ink painting on this winter day.

Lin Xi’s legs locked together, his figure suddenly stopping by the riverside.

When he saw this scene, Zhen Kuai’s expression revealed a bit of joy. He felt like Lin Xi’s soul force had dried up, perhaps he was about to carry out the final confrontation.

However, right at this moment when joy had just flashed past his eyes, he revealed shock and disbelief.

He saw Lin Xi’s body lower slightly, and then his legs exerted even greater force, jumping towards the other side of the river.

Lin Xi who carried Zhantai Qiangtang on his back landed steadily in the slightly damp underbrush on the other side, leaving behind two deep footprints. Then, he exerted more force, running crazily with even greater speed than before.

Under extreme shock and disbelief, Zhen Kuai could no longer be stingy with his soul force. Two large chunks of muscle on his back continuously wriggled. His arms spread, and then his entire figure seemed to have truly become a flying swan. With a 

splash

 noise, his toe tips pressed gently against the calm river surface, producing a burst of splashes. In just a dozen or so breaths, he already arrived behind Lin Xi.

Right now, Zhen Kuai already didn’t have a blade in his hands. However, when he arrived behind Lin Xi, his left palm rose up like a blade without any hesitation, descending towards Zhantai Qiantang and Lin Xi.

Hua la!

The air released cracking noises. Zhen Kuai’s hand blade’s speed was not beneath that of his previous blade strikes.

However, the instant Zhen Kuai’s hand blade hacked out, an extremely dangerous aura suddenly emerged from his heart.

In his perception, a sword tip appeared in front of his palm. Moreover, it was a sword tip that already had soul force infused, now starting to flow with silver radiance.

According to normal reasoning, this was something completely impossible, because the other party’s perception and reaction speeds definitely couldn’t be above his, let alone the fact that he was the one who took the initiative. However, from the moment he saw that the other party’s hands didn’t have any damage, everything already seemed to be beyond normal reasoning.

That was why in this instant, he released a muffled groan. His foot stopped, forcefully making his figure move backwards a bit, trying to buy a bit of time so he could change the trajectory of his hand blade, not strike straight into that sword tip.

However, as if the other party knew what he was thinking, the sword tip moved slightly, instead  once again appearing in front of his palm blade with incomparable accuracy.

Zhen Kuai couldn’t make any more adjustments, he no longer had any leeway for choice. Under a heart penetrating chilliness, his palm faced this sharp blade. All of the power in his body was exhausted at this moment, focused between his palm and fingers.

Hong!

A blast of light erupted between him and Lin Xi.

A tremendous explosion of power that was impossible for Lin Xi to withstand suffused this world.

Lin Xi fell on his back.

The instant this wave of tremendous power erupted, he took the initiative to fall backwards, already letting go of the longsword in his hands.

That was why in Zhen Kuai’s perception, the longsword that would instantly penetrate his palm already lacked the slightest power, it was only a dead object that was already starting to naturally fall.

The instant this power erupted, since Lin Xi and Zhantai Qiantang already fell to the point where there was less than a foot between their bodies and the ground, both of them already avoided most of Zhen Kuai’s strength.

At this time, Lin Xi’s soul force rushed out from his body without holding back in the slightest, surging forward.

Under two waves of power, Lin Xi and Zhantai Qiantang’s bodies were like skateboards, sliding outwards.

Lin Xi released a light groan, some wisps of blood rushing out from his mouth under the black cloth mask.

…

Zhen Kuai’s hands fell powerlessly, sitting down on the ground.

After the tremendous noise just now, this world became completely quiet, quiet to the point where wind sounds could be heard, quiet to the point where the sounds of blood flowing out from his arms could be heard.

When Lin Xi’s sliding body stopped, he steadily stood up.

During this peacefulness, Zhantai Qiantang’s eyes were filled with amazement and admiration as he looked at Lin Xi.

The reason why Zhantai Mang chose him as a student, moreover decided to pass on the position of the imperial throne onto him wasn’t only because of Zhantai Qiantang’s intellect and character, but also because Zhantai Qiantang was a cultivator whose cultivation aptitude was something even Li Ku acknowledged. After Li Ku met Zhantai Qiantang, he declared that Zhantai Qiantang was the second individual in Great Mang who had a chance of reaching the Sacred Master level above Sacred Expert.

As for who the first one was, Li Ku naturally viewed that to be himself.

However, even someone like Zhantai Qiantang, someone who was acknowledged by Li Ku, a cultivator whose potential in all of Great Mang was only beneath his own, could not figure out how Lin Xi defeated Zhen Kuai so easily and so thoroughly.

He looked at Lin Xi, suddenly smelling that there was a bit of bloodiness in Lin Xi’s breathing, making him even more shocked. He didn’t ask who Lin Xi was, instead unable to help but quietly say, “You had only recently recovered from your serious injuries?”

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