Chapter 118: Battle!

  The bck humanoid shoulder armor shattered, revealing the flesh underneath. However, that flesh was not the ordinary crimson of most people; instead, it was bck as ink, covered in twisted, writhing roots and tender sprouts.

  Those roots and sprouts grew swiftly, intertwining in a tangled mass that kept regenerating.

  They looked eerie and terrifying, yet an incredibly dense Greenwood Vitality spread in all directions. Who would have expected that, although this Fengdu Guard’s armor-type Spiritual Artifacts stemmed from the Northern Yin lineage—enabling him to command gloom and channel the Umbral Sea—the fundamental cultivation method of its wielder turned out to be the Greenwood Longevity Withering-and-Blooming Technique?

  It was clearly a secret technique that intricately interwove life and death with profound mysteries. At this moment, however, all that power turned into raw physical force, crashing toward An Jing in a single punch!

  Boom!

  The Fengdu Guard had not completely neutralized the aftereffects of the ghost cultivator’s infiltration. Though his punch felt a bit stiff, its speed and force were like a cannon shell. A violent gust erupted, blowing all the dust in the tunnel away.

  With his high-level Qi Refining cultivation plus the power of spirit armor, catching someone like An Jing—who at best had just entered Qi Refining—should have been as easy as pinching a tiny bug. The Fengdu Guard never imagined his attack might miss.

  But in the very next instant, An Jing kicked the martial cultivator out of harm’s way and suddenly burst forth with speed far exceeding that of an early-stage Qi Refining cultivator. He pnted one foot on the ground and dashed away at incredible velocity.

  His punch hit empty air and smmed into the ground instead. The earth trembled, sending rock and rubble flying as cracks spread in every direction.

  Had that blow connected, even an armored vehicle would have been punched clean through.

  【Hmm?】

  The Fengdu Guard was taken aback. An Jing, who had ingested Qi Boosting Pills and employed a Swiftstride Talisman, had already mustered his Taibai Baleful Qi. He sprinted along the wall at high speed before vaulting into the air!

  Even before saving the martial cultivator, An Jing had anticipated the possible outcomes and made his preparations.

  The Qi Boosting Pills he had consumed were now fully dissolved in his stomach. This type of pill, which sacrificed lifespan for a brief surge in vital essence and Internal Energy, was extremely potent. With a muffled bang, bzing vital essence surged through An Jing’s body. His boiling spiritual energy and Internal Energy traced crimson lines across his face, making him want to roar.

  However, he cmped his mouth shut, focusing his Internal Energy to gather even more destructive force. If he could once shatter an ironwood puppet with a single blow by channeling his spiritual energy, now he felt he could bst it to pieces entirely!

  Coupled with the enhanced speed and reflexes from the Swiftstride Talisman, An Jing had pushed himself to the limit!

  Soaring into the air, the muscles in his arms and back tensed and then erupted with power. In a single breath, he unleashed two streams of Taibai Baleful Qi, merging the Sickly Qi Sword with the bzing blood essence in his body. Both fists struck the most vulnerable part of the Fengdu Armor—its knees.

  A massive crash echoed through the passage as his fists—now gleaming with a white metallic luster—collided with the armor.

  Bang!

  In the next moment, the Fengdu Guard lifted his foot and delivered a fierce kick, sending An Jing flying!

  How could Fengdu Armor be anything but extraordinarily resilient? It wouldn’t be easily destroyed by the fists of a mere Qi Refining practitioner. Even though An Jing’s spiritual energy was unusually pure and cutting, and augmented by Qi Boosting Pills, weakening the armor’s structure remained nearly impossible.

  If An Jing hadn’t instantly channeled spiritual energy to guard himself—along with the protection of his bulletproof rain cloak and a jade pendant—he would likely have suffered multiple broken ribs midair.

  Although he escaped serious harm for now, his jade pendant was shattered from the strain and couldn’t be used again anytime soon.

  From the very beginning, An Jing had never aimed to finish it all with one strike.

  【You brat! Ugh…】

  After kicking An Jing away and watching him roll to cushion the impact, the Fengdu Guard—still slowed by the ghost cultivator’s corruption—started to pursue. But two powerful bsts suddenly went off beneath his feet, causing him to stagger. To his shock, he found he could not lift his legs!

  An Jing’s assault wasn’t entirely in vain. Though the spirit armor’s exterior remained intact, its internal mechanisms were warped, jamming the joints. Moreover, the Sickly Qi Sword’s energy had seeped in, slightly paralyzing the Fengdu Guard’s legs and hindering his movement.

  Additionally, the two Defensive Thunder Pearls An Jing had casually dropped at the Guard’s feet were surprisingly potent, causing further damage to the armor’s joints!

  【Petty tricks!】

  Even so, this Fengdu Guard was a seasoned soldier. If he couldn’t catch his target alive and whole, he would be content to capture him in pieces.

  The Fengdu Guard promptly drew a Spiritlight Gun from his waist. As soon as he locked onto An Jing, he pointed its muzzle at his target.

  No matter how fast the target moved, it was impossible to outrun a dead-aim shot. He pulled the trigger at lightning speed, unleashing beams of spirit light toward An Jing’s right leg while An Jing was rolling aside and trying to stand.

  However, An Jing was not alone. The moment the Fengdu Guard locked onto him, his Sword Spirit promptly commanded, “Jump left!”

  At that same instant, a chill ran down An Jing’s spine. The Swiftstride Talisman boosted his alertness and reflexes, so the second he heard the instruction, he leaped left without hesitation.

  Buzz! As he shifted his body, searing white spirit light grazed past his leg, leaving a fiery red ssh across his bulletproof rain cloak.

  Had it struck his flesh, it would likely have turned his leg to ash immediately. He was mere inches from being crippled, just like that martial cultivator!

  His eyes locked onto the Fengdu Guard, leaving no room for fear or hesitation—An Jing was fully focused on survival.

  In this life-or-death struggle, as he poured everything into the fight, his mind grew exceptionally sharp and quick.

  —The aftereffects of the ghost cultivator’s corruption are severe. His spirit armor’s effectiveness is impaired, and his soul link disrupted. This Fengdu Guard’s reactions and movement are more than slightly impaired. His shoulder injury also reduces his strength and technique, which is why that earlier punch didn’t extend the tendrils he used on the ghost cultivator.

  —Close in! I can’t dodge all of his shots forever!

  That realization fshed through An Jing’s mind. As soon as he nded, he ducked and charged the Fengdu Guard again.

  He knew that evading one shot wouldn’t ensure his survival, since the Spiritlight Gun could fire repeatedly.

  Still, the Fengdu Guard never expected that someone like An Jing could predict and dodge his initial shot. He was momentarily unprepared to fire again, and by the time he recovered and channeled spiritual energy for another pull of the trigger, a critical instant had slipped away.

  That single moment marked the line between life and death.

  “Right!”

  The Sword Spirit’s voice sounded again. Its reaction speed and ability to sense the flow of spiritual energy were far beyond anyone else here, making the shot trajectories easy to foresee. An Jing instantly used his spiritual energy and darted right, avoiding the six beams of spirit light the Fengdu Guard fired in a rapid burst.

  【?!】

  Those six beams of spirit light, unched in two staggered triangur volleys, should have covered every possible angle of An Jing’s dodge. The Fengdu Guard never expected a cultivator with such a weak spiritual energy signature to evade his rapid-fire attack.

  Even so, he knew that nothing was truly impossible in this vast world. No matter how unbelievable, if someone could dodge a bullet, then so be it. His job wasn’t to be astonished—it was to keep shooting—

  But his expression abruptly changed. He spun toward his neglected left fnk.

  Thud! Thud! Thud!

  Thud!

  A series of rapid, heavy footfalls thundered out, accompanied by the smell of coal and rusted iron. A figure lunged from the darkness, unleashing a tidal wave of spiritual energy that surged toward the Fengdu Guard, leaving him no time to evade!

  The Earth Turbid Ember Qi unleashed through burning one’s life force raged outward. Under the immense pressure of this strike, even the air erupted in shockwaves.

  The martial cultivator reemerged, his face bright red. Somehow, he was back at peak condition, and the nether poison was entirely cleared from his body. With his single arm, he threw a punch that detonated like packs of dynamite, sending shockwaves roaring forth.

  This blow was easily ten or a hundred times stronger than anything An Jing could deliver, and it shattered the Fengdu Guard’s knee armor on impact. Leveraging the recoil, the martial cultivator flipped away, dodging the raging counterattack of spirit light.

  “Go, now!”

  He shouted back at An Jing, “I’ve given the strange item to you—take it back to the wilderness!”

  (End of Chapter)

  aeterism