Chapter 119: Kill!

  【Don’t even think about it!】

  The Fengdu Guard had only caught the part about the martial cultivator wanting to buy time for An Jing to escape and did not know if that strange item had already been passed on. He panicked at once.

  Without hesitation, he raised the Spiritlight Gun in his hand and aimed at An Jing, who had already turned around and was sprinting away at full speed.

  But when he pulled the trigger, the Spiritlight Gun not only failed to fire but also emitted a puff of white smoke.

  —Broken?! Damn it, why now?!

  But this was no coincidence. At that very moment, every piece of equipment under the Fengdu Guards’ Luofu military-core control throughout the bck market malfunctioned at the same time!

  Realizing what had happened, An Jing ran even faster.

  【Trying to run?】

  The Fengdu Guard tried to step forward to chase him down, only to discover that his right leg inside the spirit armor—already struck multiple times—could no longer move. At that moment, the martial cultivator let out a furious roar and threw a powerful punch at the Fengdu Guard’s back, forcing him to turn and defend.

  They traded direct blows, but this time, it was the martial cultivator who was forced back.

  In terms of raw physical power, he and the Fengdu Guard were evenly matched. However, the Fengdu Guard cultivated the Longevity Withering-and-Blooming Fundamental Art from the 《Greenwood Longevity Scripture》, while he himself only practiced the heretical method “Scorching Rock Earth,” derived from the 《Nine Earths Codex》. In spiritual energy purity, he was far behind.

  Moreover, the Fengdu Guard had spirit armor for protection. If not for the interference and corrosive effects of the ghost cultivator’s trump card, that armor—once fully active—could have even contended briefly with a cultivator who had forged his Dao Foundation.

  In a one-on-one fight, the spirit armor’s power was somewhat contained. Had several Fengdu Guards linked up in formation, sharing their spiritual energy, he would have been unable to penetrate their protective radiance at all!

  One punch broke his stance, the second punch struck his shoulder bdes, the third punch shattered his defense, and the fourth blow nded on his head, nearly knocking the martial cultivator’s soul out of his body. His momentum broke; the Fengdu Guard grabbed him by the neck and smmed him onto the ground.

  With a loud crack, the ground split, yers of rock and soil rolling like waves. Huge chunks were dislodged, and half of the martial cultivator’s body was driven into the pit—his shoes even went flying.

  【Huff—】 The Fengdu Guard rose to his feet, taking a deep breath and feeling somewhat dizzy.

  He had internal injuries, and the ghost cultivator’s ‘Abyssal Bone Umbral Qi’ still lingered in his meridians. That bone-chilling ghostly qi disrupted his circution of spiritual energy, preventing him from quickly using his ‘Wither-Bloom Longevity Qi’ to heal his wounds and recover.

  Meanwhile, the martial cultivator’s ‘Scorching Rock Fme Qi,’ though not especially high-grade, still cshed directly with the Abyssal Bone Umbral Qi. With every blow, ice and fire surged together through the Fengdu Guard’s meridians, causing excruciating pain.

  But now was no time to rest. The ‘True Talisman’ remained in that filthy little brat’s hands… If he could retrieve it and earn the favor of his superiors, he could surely rise in station—perhaps leave that wretched swamp called the Xuanye City Surveilnce Bureau, discard this Soul-Devouring Nether Armor, and return to the group’s main headquarters!

  Now that he thought about it, that brat looked barely over ten years old! Damn it, to cultivate Geng Metal Baleful Qi that pure at such a young age—enough to impress even the Four Great Dao Academies. He absolutely could not allow such a genius to spring up from the wild!

  Buzz, buzz…

  A strange insect-like noise?

  The Fengdu Guard, concentrating on recovering his spiritual energy, raised his head, peering in confusion at the sound’s origin.

  He saw no mosquitoes or flies.

  What he did see was a drone.

  A self-destructing drone!

  Not far off, An Jing—wearing drone goggles—bared his teeth in a vicious grin as he guided the self-destructing drone at top speed toward the wound on the Fengdu Guard’s shoulder!

  Run? Ridiculous. Fleeing now would mean giving up. His best chance to kill a Fengdu Guard was right here, and he was going all in! It was the perfect opportunity to test the self-destructing drone’s power against a rge target!

  “We’ll blow up together!” he shouted, pressing the button.

  Then a brief pause… followed by a sudden eruption of fire and light!

  —BOOOOOMMMMM!!!!

  A terrifying explosion resounded through the cramped passage.

  Self-destructing drones from Crimson Bze Field were designed to handle savage beasts and evil creatures roaming the wild; their payload was extraordinarily rge. Normally, they were unusable in an urban setting where signals were suppressed, but the bck market was already sealed off. Moreover, the suppressive grand formation there had been damaged earlier in the fight between the bck market and the Fengdu Guards, effectively turning the pce into a “wilderness within the city.”

  Within the crimson bze, arcs of golden lightning suddenly danced. That brilliant lightning and the scarlet fmes surged and subsided, the Scarlet Fme Yang Thunder burning everything it struck. Horrific shrieks and roars, mingled with the stench of scorched flesh and metal, billowed out in massive clouds of bck smoke.

  The rapidly expanding wave of superheated air nearly blew An Jing—crouching in the corner—off his feet. However, he mustered a surge of Taibai Baleful Qi for protection, bracing himself against the searing heat as he looked around for the Fengdu Guard.

  That was when he saw a steel figure standing amid the smoldering fmes!

  The Fengdu Guard’s natural ‘Northern Yin Umbral Qi’ fred out, concentrating at the gap in his shoulder armor to form a barrier against the Scarlet Fme Yang Thunder. At the same time, his ‘Wither-Bloom Longevity Qi’ made those bck buds bloat and scab over, resisting the intense heat that would otherwise have roasted him alive.

  【You wretched fiend—】

  He looked up; with all his power diverted to shielding his wound, the outer yer of his ghost-face helmet had melted away. Seeing An Jing, the Fengdu Guard screeched and lunged forward: 【Die!】

  The extreme heat had melted the jammed joint at his right knee, enabling the Fengdu Guard to move again. Though seriously wounded, his ferocity still eclipsed that of even monstrous beasts and vicious ghosts!

  “You beast—”

  Yet An Jing wore an equally wild expression. Rallying the st of his Taibai Baleful Qi, he struck the wall hard. “Die!”

  With a crack, the wall’s internal supports—already ruined by the bck market’s battle with the Fengdu Guards and further weakened by An Jing’s scuffle—finally gave way. The ceiling caved in, sending massive chunks of rubble crashing down onto the Fengdu Guard!

  —He hadn’t positioned the martial cultivator by chance. This was precisely the “battle site” An Jing had chosen in advance!

  Unable to evade in time, the Fengdu Guard let out a wild roar, using his st burst of strength to lunge forward—but that effort sealed his fate. As he dove, the falling boulders and debris pinned his lower body, trapping him.

  If he had simply remained in pce, the Fengdu Armor, though damaged, might have kept him alive. But his desperate attempt to break free left his upper body wide open.

  And that was what sealed his fate.

  Because now, the wound on his shoulder was completely exposed.

  An Jing grabbed his sword case and his Frostfall Rifle, gripping a Magical Artifact in each hand.

  Employing regur firearms against cultivators was ughable. Even someone like An Jing—whose spiritual energy was hastily obtained and who was essentially still just at the Spirit Awakening level—could temporarily reinforce his body to endure bullets. How much more so for a cultivator at a higher stage of Qi Refining?

  Only Magical Artifacts—only Magical Artifacts!

  Boom! Boom!

  Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Aiming at the Fengdu Guard’s shoulder—where the flesh was ravaged yet those buds still writhed and regenerated—An Jing zeroed in on the heart and lung area and emptied his magazine.

  The spiritual energy furnace, fully charged while An Jing had been cultivating, now unleashed its full power. Meanwhile, the Frostfall Rifle ran on specialized rounds rather than a furnace. These two distinctly different Magical Artifacts unleashed their combined might.

  Boom! Bang! Bang!

  An Jing’s hands remained steady, his aim precise—everything felt like second nature.

  When all was said and done, what had he been in his past life? How could he be so adept at both martial arts and firearms? What sort of training did that martial hall of his even provide? All-out brawling? Could he also drive a giant truck or something?

  Questions flooded in and receded like the tide, leaving behind only a calm focus. Like a merciless machine, An Jing continued shooting, fmes flickering in his eyes.

  Reload, shoot, eliminate the enemy before him—this fierce determination gave him a strange sense of crity.

  Those buds were bsted apart, flesh flying everywhere, and amid the stench of burning gore came a strange whiff of greenery. More bck roots emerged from the Fengdu Guard’s body, only to be shredded by gunfire.

  The Fengdu Guard’s body was undoubtedly unnatural. Tapping one’s life force to command ghostly qi surely exacted a terrible price, but that was no concern of An Jing’s.

  All he had to do was keep shooting.

  Until the buds stopped wriggling, until the bck roots shuddered and fell, until the regrowing flesh finally withered…

  Until the Sword Spirit spoke.

  “He’s dead.”

  In a steady, reassuring tone, the Sword Spirit said, “You’ve won, An Jing. He’s dead.”

  (End of Chapter)