“Yah —”
An aggressive horse that was ridden by a soldier galloped back to the military camp at the speed of light.
“Halt, or you’ll be executed right away!”
A squad leader at the entrance yelled out loud. He could not let anyone barge into the military camp like that no matter what happened, or he would be the one whose head would be chopped off.
The soldier instantly stopped his horse, but he fell down due to the strong force.
Upon seeing this, the squad leader furrowed his eyebrows as he somehow had a bad feeling about this.
He could tell at once that the soldier was actually adept in riding a horse, but he still fell off the horse in that manner. This could only mean that the soldier was in a confused state of mind and was flustered.
Something terrible must have happened to cause a man to be so panicked.
The squad leader’s face changed. He immediately recalled a frightening matter, so he asked with a shaky voice, “Wh-what happened? Is there a sign of a beast tide?”
“Sir, it’s not a beast tide,” the soldier who fell got up and answered quickly.
The squad leader secretly sighed a breath of relief and responded, “As long as it’s not a beast tide. Why are you making such a fuss then?”
“Sir, we found roughly ten corpses 10 kilometers away from the camp. They belong to our brothers in the military, and one of them is Squad Leader Lin Chao from the South Camp!” The soldier replied to him loudly.
“What?” The squad leader’s face took on a ghastly expression.
He was in charge of guarding the gate today, thus he naturally knew why Lin Chao had left the camp. Lin Chao was ordered by Commanding General Fang Yihai from the South Camp to escort Master Ou Yangming to the prefecture.
‘If Lin Chao’s corpse is found on the main path, what about Master Ou?’
The squad leader took a big stride forward to pull the soldier by his collar, then he questioned angrily, “Are you lying to me?”
“I’m also from the South Camp, and I was temporarily transferred to the Provision Camp. Earlier, I was escorting forages with my squad leader, but we found Squad Leader Lin’s corpse halfway through our journey, which is why I’ve returned to report this.” The soldier smiled bitterly, then added after a pause, “A military order is like a mountain, how would I have the guts to speak nonsense and to curse a high official?”
“Wait here!” The squad leader’s face twitched.
He quickly turned to run toward the South Camp, and shouted while he ran, “Quickly notify the West Camp’s commanding general and the Armament Camp, why are you still standing there!”
After 15 minutes, the entire South Camp and the West Camp were in an uproar. Two commanding generals fumed with anger as they rode their horses out the camp with their Guards.
On the other hand, Tian Boguang could not help but laugh when he received the news in the East Camp. Although the incident had nothing to do with him, he felt happy to see Chen Yifan suffer.
That being said, he was soon unable to celebrate in joy anymore.
This was because Ni Yunhong had hurried to his residence to reprimand him in his face, “Tian Boguang, does the attack on Ou Yangming have anything to do with you?”
Tian Boguang was the East Camp’s commanding general but was shockingly polite toward Ni Yunhong.
If anyone had called him to account like that – even Commanding General Deng Zhicai from the Middle Camp — he had the guts to rebuke.
However, when Tian Boguang noticed Ni Yunhong’s face that was red with anger, the slight dissatisfaction that he was initially feeling disappeared right away.
“Eldest Young Master, you’ve misunderstood, this has nothing to do with me at all!” Tian Boguang dared not hesitate and quickly swore that he spoke the truth.
“I hope it has nothing to do with you,” Ni Yunhong uttered after looking deeply at him. The look in his eyes was fierce and unusually aggressive. “If I find out who it is, the Ni family will make him pay in blood, kill nine generations in his family, and not even fowls and dogs will be spared!”
Tian Boguang was dumbfounded as he could not make sense of why Ni Yunhong was so furious. It did not seem like an act of pity.
“Elder Brother, this isn’t good! Old Craftsman passed out!” Ni Yinghong hurried over and called out to his brother anxiously.
Ni Yunhong’s face changed. “How is he now?”
“Old Craftsman is quite old now, and he spent a lot of thought on designing a divine weapon for Chen Yifan, so when he suddenly heard of Ou… His news…” Ni Yinghong replied hesitantly, then shook her head and said, “I’ve informed our family through Starlight Messenger Technique to ask them for a spiritual pill, but I don’t know how long he can hold on for.”
Tian Boguang gasped. ‘A spiritual pill, they’re actually going to use a spiritual pill?’
He finally realized that the siblings valued Ou Yangming much more than he had imagined.
On the other side, the two commanding generals who had arrived at the scene of the incident were infuriated.
Many orders were given, and the soldiers began to work.
‘Bring him back, dead or alive!’
‘Whatever it takes, find Ou Yangming!’
‘Whatever it takes, avenge our brothers’ deaths!’
Chapter 96 - Break Through To Yin Grade
Ou Yangming appeared behind a big tree after a flash of blood light.
His eyes glowed as he exhaled deeply. The battle against Zhang Yinli earlier had helped him acquire a deeper comprehension.
Power. The thing he needed most was power!
Nonetheless, due to the huge disparity between their cultivation bases, once Zhang Yinli adopted his essential Qi, Ou Yangming would be helpless, even if he found weak links in Zhang Yinli’s attacks.
It was true that 4 taels could be used to shift 500 kilograms[1] due to leverage, but one needed to have 4 taels of power to shift 500 kilograms of weight. If one did not even have that much power, one would only be crushed into powder by the heavy weight.
All of a sudden, Ou Yangming turned his head slightly, then leaped out at the speed of light. A giant wolf that was roaming in the forest suffered misfortune as a result.
The giant wolf’s size was equivalent to a boar’s, and it could rarely find a match when it fought alone in the forest. That said, when it encountered Ou Yangming and attacked his body with its claw, it could not penetrate his armor, which was at the peak of High Grade Rank Five. On the contrary, Ou Yangming stabbed its body easily with his saber. Though it was not a big wound, the Devouring attribute, which was instantly activated, caused the giant wolf to completely lose its ability to resist. The energy in its flesh and blood was used to replenish the Qi and blood consumed by Ou Yangming.
By now, the number of times Ou Yangming had used the Blood Flight Art was unknown.
Each time he used the art, his comprehension in it deepened, and he had better control over it as well.
In the beginning, if Ou Yangming had maintained his speed while using the Blood Flight Art, he would only be able to dodge two big trees before crashing into the next one.
Eventually, as Ou Yangming used the Blood Flight Art more frequently and kept in mind that the Substitution Gem was his backup, he could dodge over ten big trees and fly in S-shaped paths.
Since the improvement was obvious, he became more confident in achieving the target of defeating his enemy.
Ou Yangming recovered his Qi and blood after a brief moment, they almost overflowed again. He then stood still, to recall and ponder over the exchange of blows he had with Zhang Yinli.
Each attack from Zhang Yinli’s sword was plain, but they were always locked on Ou Yangming’s body. The tactic of relying on exceptionally mighty power to suppress an enemy was truly difficult to understand.
Before long, soft sounds were heard coming from behind Ou Yangming.
He sneered. “Sir Zhang, you’re so slow
.”
Zhang Yinli walked toward him slowly, his face was so dark it was terrifying. “Ou Yangming, if you’re a man, fight me properly. Is it very fun to go back and forth between fighting and fleeing?”
Ou Yangming could not help but laugh. “Okay, I won’t escape anymore if you promise me something. We’ll fight here until one of us dies.”
Zhang Yinli’s heart skipped a beat as he did not believe it, so he inhaled deeply and asked, “What is it?”
“As long as you cripple yourself of your cultivation base and lower your strength to an ordinary grade, I’ll fight you properly,” Ou Yangming answered with a smile.
‘I knew I couldn’t trust this cunning fella.’ Zhang Yinli cursed, and his face instantly darkened by another shade. Without continuing the conversation, he swayed his body and charged at Ou Yangming.
When he whipped his urumi, it looked like a hissing snake was attacking Ou Yangming’s throat.
Ou Yangming’s mental conception rose at that moment, and instantly found the attack’s flaw, or perhaps its weak point. Despite that, he thought about a problem just as he was about to swing his saber. If Ou Yangming continued to block, even if he hit the urumi’s weakest point, he still could not contend with Zhang Yinli in terms of power.
When a Yin Grade powerhouse’s essential Qi burst out, he was simply unqualified to fight against it. Therefore, there would only be one outcome at the end, which was to repeat the previous steps again. Ou Yangming would slowly be forced to a dead end, and would be pressured to escape through the Blood Flight once more.
He did not want to repeat the process anymore.
Ou Yangming suddenly turned his saber when he was struck with a thought. Instead of blocking, he actually made a slash at Zhang Yinli’s neck.
On the other hand, Zhang Yinli was aiming at Ou Yangming’s chest, but it was protected by Ou Yangming’s armor, hence he might not even be able to stab through it.
However, Ou Yangming was slashing at Zhang Yinli’s neck. If it was a successful attack, Zhang Yinli’s neck would definitely have a big red scar the size of a bowl’s rim. In the case where Zhang Yinli’s head was separated from his body, nobody knew if another head would grow.
Zhang Yinli obviously did not believe that another head would grow from his neck, thus his face changed as he lifted his urumi a little. The sword diverted from its set course to counter Ou Yangming’s military saber instead.
He could tell that while Ou Yangming’s attack seemed like it would cause them to perish together, in reality, even after his head had been chopped off, his sword might not even have penetrated Ou Yangming’s body.
Unless Zhang Yinli’s head was kicked by a donkey, he would never accept the outcome.
Nevertheless, the moment he changed his trick, Ou Yangming exhaled deeply.
‘As long as Zhang Yinli’s afraid, and he doesn’t have the guts to perish with me, I’ll be able to unleash my skills to their greatest extent,’ the young man wondered.
Ou Yangming shifted his body, and moved his military saber to attack from another angle before it clashed with the sword.
The turn was simply unpredictable, and Zhang Yinli suddenly realized that his arm would be slashed by the saber if he continued to stab his sword forward.
‘I mustn’t let that happen. Although my cultivation base isn’t low, I don’t have a death-proof body, after all, so if I try to resist a weapon using my body…’ Especially since Ou Yangming’s military saber’s light was violent and contained a strange aura, Zhang Yinli was even more afraid to resist the attack with his body.
Without any hesitation, his sword-light changed as he wanted to attack faster to avoid the saber.
That being said, Ou Yangming’s saber-light changed again as soon as Zhang Yinli changed direction. The saber-light was still aimed at Zhang Yinli’s arm.
After changing his sword’s path for a few dozen times, not only was Zhang Yinli unable to get free from the saber-light, but he was somehow stuck inside. It was as if he was restrained by an invisible rope, and was unable to free himself.
Owing to his unusually rich experience in battle, Zhang Yinli instantly knew that something was off. If he could not break away immediately, he would only be faced with endless attacks until he no longer had the ability to counterattack.
All of a sudden, Zhang Yinli stopped and charged at Ou Yangming irrationally. The sword-light in his hand swirled at the same time, and he attacked Ou Yangming’s throat regardless of the blade force.
Ou Yangming sighed softly. He slightly shifted his steps to evade the sword-light’s most intense area, then swung his saber to block the fierce sword.
Nonetheless, he moved backward as he lost his footing.
Zhang Yinli thanked his luck. Seeing as he had the upper hand, he continued charging forward and moved his body according to his sword. Just as Zhang Yinli dashed forward, a flash of blood light was seen, and Ou Yangming vanished once more.
Feeling stunned, Zhang Yinli stomped his foot and let out a deafening roar. His twisted and fearsome face looked extremely hideous.
‘I let that young fella escape again!’
He had a feeling that the more he let the young man escape, the harder it would be to go against him.
When Zhang Yinli recalled how he was almost trapped by the strange and mysterious blade technique earlier, he could not help but feel frightened.
‘Next time, next time, I must… Kill him!’
Zhang Yinli finally stopped having fantasies. He was certain that the Fire-absorbing Badge was with Ou Yangming. Even though he was not sure where it was hidden, he knew that there was a high chance to find it as long as he searched a few times based on Ou Yangming’s activities.
Of course, Zhang Yinli was only comforting himself. If the Fire-absorbing Badge could be found so easily, he would not need to rack his brains to come up with lies.
*****
A red light zoomed in the forest for an unknown period of time before Ou Yangming finally stopped.
It was worth noting that this time, his body was stable when he stopped. He had found his footing right away.
He was starting to have a better grasp of the Blood Flight Art. Apart from that, Ou Yangming was even more excited because after exchanging more blows with Zhang Yinli, and after slaughtering ferocious beasts to compensate for what he had lost from the Blood Flights, his essential Qi actually advanced so much that it was moving toward a higher level.
The grade above Force Grade was Yin Grade.
Ou Yangming could obviously not defend against Zhang Yinli, a Yang Grade powerhouse, when he was only in Force Grade. However, he would not be outdone if he was up against a Yin Grade martial artist.
If that was the case, what would happen if he entered Yin Grade?
Ou Yangming’s eyes lit up. He walked with light footsteps as he quickly killed two wild beasts to replenish his Qi and blood, then turned around to initiate an attack on Zhang Yinli for the first time.
“Ding, ding, ding…”
As the saber and the sword clashed multiple times, Ou Yangming was quickly depleted of energy. The moment he was about to be completely exhausted, he transformed into a blood light again to escape.
Following that, the same scenario took place after an hour. Ou Yangming was like an undefeatable cockroach; he kept pouncing out from the dark to attack Zhang Yinli without warning.
He had vision reinforcement, the integration of Heaven and man, the energy transformed from devoured flesh and blood, the ability to escape using the Blood Flight Art, as well as the sure-fire Substitution Gem.
At this moment, Ou Yangming tirelessly found ways to attack, causing Zhang Yinli to be in a state of extreme nervousness.
Nevertheless, Zhang Yinli’s willpower was far stronger than an ordinary person’s. No matter how ridiculous Ou Yangming’s performances were, he kept following behind resolutely.
This was a contest of determination, and Zhang Yinli believed that his patience and experience w
ould certainly lead him to the final victory.
In spite of that, he had no idea that after being in the dense forest for seven days, ou Yangming could not help but wield his saber again once he recovered his Qi and blood after yet another Blood Flight.
When his saber dance reached its most intense and fiercest moment, the essential Qi light in his dantian suddenly sunk.
Consequently, the enormous amount of Qi and blood energy was almost absorbed completely.
When everything became tranquil again, a soft Yin Qi was born deep in his dantian, and it flowed slowly to every corner in his body.
(1) Take note that 1 tael here is equivalent to 50 grams, but the unit isn’t converted in the text to retain its originality. It is a popular saying that means leverage that’s formed as a result of a lever
Chapter 97 - Take Revenge And Redress Hatred
Zhang Yinli paced slowly in the forest. His current appearance was totally different from when he first entered the forest.
There was a beard on his face, and he looked so unkempt that he was somewhat similar to a beggar. If Zhang Yinfan was here at the moment, he would definitely not recognize that the man was his dignified elder brother.
Nonetheless, even though Zhang Yinli had ended up in such a state, he had no intention to give up at all.
Those who were able to become powerhouses were not simple figures, and Zhang Yinli was no exception. Since he was not at his wit’s end yet, he was naturally not going to admit defeat.
He quietly counted his steps, and calculated the time since he was last attacked.
According to his past experiences, Ou Yangming should be lying in ambush ahead.
Zhang Yinli kept a straight face. Though his body seemed like it was not ready for a battle, he was actually well-prepared with a contingency.
While Ou Yangming’s several attacks had allowed him to improve his strength quickly, he had given Zhang Yinli a chance as well.
Zhang Yinli had been pondering each time for a way to force Ou Yangming to stay. After exchanging many blows, he finally had an idea.
He looked like he had already prepared a trap at the moment, and was waiting for his prey to take the bait.
Immortal Path to Heaven c1-725 Page 57
