Outside the mottled, magnificent black city walls, yellow sand flew into the air, sweeping in all directions like a sudden storm. Within the tempest, dozens of longswords whistled, their azure light flaring as they shot toward Lin Huang.
The sweeping storm resembled a giant beast baring its bloody maw, ready to swallow Lin Huang whole at any moment. The ten shining longswords were even more terrifying, making his entire body tense up and his breathing involuntarily stop.
On the magnificent city walls of the Blood Triangle, many people witnessed this scene with a mix of nonchalance and shock.
Nonchalance, because such events happened at least dozens of times a day in the Blood Triangle. Shock, because it was actually a Celestial Element Realm Martial Artist hunting down a Human Element Boy.
And just moments ago, it seemed another Celestial Element Realm Martial Artist had perished here.
Watching the frantically fleeing black-robed youth with dozens of longswords trailing behind him, the majority of the people on the city wall held a playful attitude. They had absolutely no intention of intervening.
In the Blood Triangle, there were three major taboos!
The first was underestimating others.
The second was being a busybody.
The third was being merciful.
If one couldn’t remember these points, it would be difficult for anyone to survive past three days in the Blood Triangle.
Therefore, the people on the city gate tower had long grown accustomed to ignoring life and death, fully comprehending what it meant to treat human lives like grass. If they didn’t see a couple of people die in a day, they would actually feel uncomfortable.
"What a miserable kid, actually being hunted by a Celestial Element Realm Martial Artist."
"It’s already a miracle that he’s survived this long and dodged three swords. But even with his bizarre Body Technique, he’ll eventually run out of energy."
"How about... we make a bet? Which sword will finally kill him?"
"The fifth!"
"The seventh!"
"He’ll kick the bucket on the very next one!"
While a heated discussion took place on the city gate tower, Lin Huang was drenched in sweat. His face was intensely pale, and just as the Martial Artists on the tower had said, he was beginning to run out of strength.
If not for the fact that cultivating Three Thousand Miles required the assistance of an extreme Body Technique, Lin Huang absolutely would not have been able to dodge those three longswords.
Right now, there were still seven longswords trailing behind him. He was still two miles away from the Blood Triangle, but looking up, he could already see the ancient, hundred-foot-tall city gate tower.
SWISH!
Another sword brushed past Lin Huang’s shoulder, leaving a bloody, bone-deep gash on his body.
Six swords remained behind him!
"I have to risk it all!"
Mid-sprint, Lin Huang gritted his teeth fiercely and abruptly spun around to face the lightning-fast longswords.
The blades shot forward, flashing with spots of cold light and brimming with a sharp, oppressive aura.
Lin Huang raised his hand, and a streak of light gleamed on his Storage Ring. Immediately, a pitch-black figure burst out from it and stood defensively in front of him.
The Array Puppet reappeared.
CLANG CLANG CLANG!
The moment the Array Puppet blocked Lin Huang, three longswords crashed into it, producing a ringing sound of clashing metal. A series of sparks even erupted across the Array Puppet’s body.
Lin Huang violently coughed up a mouthful of blood. Even though the Array Puppet had blocked the fatal damage for him, the powerful impact still rippled through his entire body.
With his current strength, he simply could not withstand it.
The only fortunate thing was that by borrowing the impact of the three longswords, Lin Huang forcefully slid backward for over three hundred meters.
In the distance, the man closely following the longswords slightly furrowed his brows. An ordinary Earth Element Martial Artist wouldn’t be able to evade such an attack, yet Lin Huang, a mere Human Element Martial Artist, had dodged them one after another.
The bamboo hat-wearing man casually waved his hand again, controlling three longswords to thrust forward from three different directions.
One from directly in front.
One from above.
And one appearing from behind!
The three sharp swords stabbed toward him from three different angles. Their terrifying auras formed a lacerating cage, trapping Lin Huang inside and constricting him step by step.
At this critical juncture, Lin Huang actually grew much calmer.
He could still struggle one more time. If he made a mistake now, he could only resign himself to fate.
Immediately, Lin Huang raised the Array Puppet with both hands to block the longsword dropping from above. His somewhat frail figure shifted bizarrely in mid-air, and then... he puffed out his chest.
It was as if he were welcoming the longswords’ arrival.
SWISH SWISH!
The setting sun was as crimson as blood. The dust kicked up by the barren sands shrouded the void, exuding a frantic aura. Beneath the towering, ancient city gate tower, two swords pierced Lin Huang’s skin and sank into his body.
Accompanied by the sound of flesh tearing like fabric, Lin Huang’s body was thrown high into the air.
Then, at a terrifying speed, he was actually flung right into the Blood Triangle.
The reason was none other than the sword piercing his back passing cleanly through his body, while the longsword thrusting from the front was forcefully wedged between his bones. By utilizing the massive impact of the longswords, Lin Huang launched himself directly into the Blood Triangle!
"Old bastard!"
While flying backward into the Blood Triangle, the corners of Lin Huang’s blood-soaked mouth cracked open into a chilling smile. Staring at the bamboo hat-wearing man in the distance, he laughed uproariously.
"As expected of Lin Changtian’s spawn!"
Seeing this amid the yellow sandstorm, the man in the bamboo hat slightly frowned. He hadn’t expected Lin Huang to enter the Blood Triangle in such a manner.
However, he was not flustered. Failing to kill Lin Huang didn’t seem to be a major issue to him.
The Martial Artists on the city gate tower who had originally been watching the show were now thoroughly dumbfounded. Only after a long while did they exclaim in awe, "So that actually works too!"
Anyone who could survive in the Blood Triangle had extremely rich combat experience. Yet, when they carefully recalled Lin Huang’s actions just now, they still felt a sense of terror.
By merely adjusting his posture in mid-air, he avoided the fatal damage from the longsword at his back, allowing it to easily pass through his flesh. Simultaneously, he let the sword in front lodge perfectly into his bone crevices, using its force to retreat far away.
It looked simple, yet it was extraordinarily difficult.
To achieve this, let alone needing to precisely calculate the landing point of every sword, the sheer difficulty of a Human Element Realm cultivator maneuvering in mid-air was already unimaginable.
For him to pull this off, his combat experience had to be either unfathomably rich or have reached an outright terrifying level.
As the Martial Artists watched Lin Huang escape into the Blood Triangle, their expressions couldn’t help but turn extremely solemn. Countless questions filled their minds. This boy was only sixteen or seventeen years old; how did he manage to do that?
"Do you think you can escape death just like this?"
Just as Lin Huang was preparing to breathe a long sigh of relief, the bamboo hat-wearing man stepped into the Blood Triangle. Even if it meant violating the agreement between the Blood Triangle and the Four Great Sects, he was determined to annihilate Lin Huang right here.
Lin Huang’s expression changed drastically. He abruptly drew the Demon-Suppressing Blade, and the Martial Technique, Godslaying One Slash, began to condense!
But right at this moment, a violent gale suddenly appeared in front of Lin Huang, forming a sturdy barrier. At the same time, a shout full of majesty suddenly rang out:
"Hann, this Blood Triangle is not a place you should step foot in!"
The expression of the man in the bamboo hat shifted slightly. Feeling a compelling force surging like a tide, his footsteps into the Blood Triangle paused. He raised his head to stare quietly at the person behind Lin Huang, an inexplicable smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He simply said indifferently, "...We will meet again!"
Afterward, the man fluttered away, vanishing from the Blood Triangle like a light breeze.
The Martial Artists on the city gate tower looked at the departing man, then turned back to look at the person who had appeared behind Lin Huang. Their expressions all changed. "To think it’s him!"
Before Lin Huang even had the chance to see who had saved him, his face suddenly turned pale, and he fainted directly onto the ground.
In the East Spirit Realm, atop Wuya Peak!
When Lin Huang passed out in the Blood Triangle, the atmosphere on Wuya Peak also became exceptionally heavy, even reaching an extreme level of terror.
"COUGH COUGH!"
At the mountain’s summit, Jia Wanjing covered his mouth with his hand, his face turning alternately green and pale. The sound of his coughing was carried away by the wind at the top of the cliff.
In front of Jia Wanjing, dozens of pitch-black figures had appeared. Every single one of them had their bodies wrapped in black robes and wore ferocious masks, revealing only profound, dark eyes that stared indifferently at the middle-aged man who currently looked like a sick cat.
These ten people seemed to ooze a gloomy aura from their very bones.
"You are already at a dead end; do you still want to struggle? Tell us the whereabouts of the Ancient Scroll of Mountains and Rivers, and we can let you die peacefully. Otherwise... you might only be fit to become a puppet!"
The man in black standing in the center spoke. His gaze toward Jia Wanjing held a trace of disdain and pity.
"The Ancient Scroll of Mountains and Rivers is in Xuanyuan Tibing’s hands. If you have the capability, go and snatch it. I just don’t know if you have the guts," Jia Wanjing laughed mockingly between coughs. His thin figure stood on the summit like a candle in the wind, ready to extinguish at any moment.
"Hmph, if it truly were in his hands, we would naturally go and take it. But a wily hare has three burrows. You have been a Merchant for over twenty years; with your cunning and treacherous nature, I’m afraid that Xuanyuan Tibing is nothing but a Blinding Technique," the man in black snorted coldly. "I hope you can see reality clearly. Your daughter and son-in-law are still in the Human World. If you refuse to tell us the whereabouts of the Ancient Scroll of Mountains and Rivers, do you want the Jia family line to end with you?"
"Aren’t you afraid the strong wind on this cliff will blow your tongue away!" Facing the threat from the man in black, Jia Wanjing paid no heed whatsoever. He raised his pale, completely bloodless face and said with absolute indifference, "For the sake of finding the Ancient Scroll of Mountains and Rivers to release the things in the Yin Yang Valley, you lot have been advancing wave upon wave for over two hundred years. But what is the result? In the end, you are still living in the shadows, not even daring to show your faces in front of an old friend!"
As soon as Jia Wanjing’s words fell, a few figures among the group of men in black across from him slightly swayed. Clearly, they hadn’t expected that Jia Wanjing, having dominated the business world for many years, had long developed a photographic memory. He merely needed to look at a person’s eyes to know who they were.
"Tsk, tsk, to think you actually have some understanding of the Yin Yang Valley. We really underestimated you. In that case, you definitely cannot be allowed to live!" The leading man in black sneered, his heart already brimming with killing intent.
"What does life or death matter? I just laugh at you people. To become stronger, you don’t hesitate to sell out your own dignity and willingly act as someone else’s dogs. Yet, you don’t realize that from beginning to end, you’ve just been daydreaming." The sickliness on Jia Wanjing’s face grew more apparent, but he continued to mock them with words as sharp as knives. "From Xuanyuan Wuxiang two hundred and fifty years ago, to Chen Ruoxu later on, Xiao Yishan one hundred years ago, followed closely by Chu Yuntu, and Lin Changtian sixteen years ago! Every time you were on the verge of success, someone would step forward to shatter your plans. Even if you make a comeback now, the outcome won’t change in the slightest."
"You sure know a lot. Then tell me, who is left to stop our advance this time?" the man in black laughed in anger.
"This time... there is the Human World Myth, Xuanyuan Tibing! And there are the Thirteen Kills of the Character Ren!" Jia Wanjing coldly snorted.
"Xuanyuan Tibing? Hehe, no matter how strong he is, he’s merely a Martial Artist. Once the Yin Yang Valley emerges, how will he be able to stop our grand torrent?" the man in black said sinisterly. "And those Thirteen Kills of the Character Ren are nothing but thirteen cowardly turtles hiding in their shells!"
"Whether they are or not is a matter for your companions to worry about. As for you lot, you can stay here and keep me company. Exchanging my death for your worthless lives can be considered the very first money-losing deal I’ve made in my entire life!" Jia Wanjing said with an apathetic expression.
At this moment, he was no longer coughing!
Under the biting cold wind, this sick cat who resembled a candle in the wind was aging at a visible rate, crisscrossing wrinkles appearing on his pale face.
His figure became increasingly hunched.
His head of black hair turned as white as frost in less than ten breaths of time. It fluttered lightly in the cold wind, seemingly carrying a trace of loneliness and grief-stricken indignation.
And what he obtained in exchange for burning his lifespan was a power that surpassed Jia Wanjing’s former peak!
Beneath the freezing night sky, Jia Wanjing, dressed in Merchant attire, let out a resentful, roaring bellow. Following that, the aura surrounding his body surged into the heavens, exactly like a brilliant rainbow piercing the sun...