Tainted Blood

by Tinalynge

Fortunately, Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi had a hidden arsenal of aces they could bring forth if they were in the need of doing so. Even then, they both understood that this was a serious battle.

  “Tianyi, you cover me from a distance and I will close in on her, using my physical strength to finish off the battle,” Xue Wei said.

  As soon as he spoke, he transformed his legs. While it was impossible to see as he was wearing boots, his legs and feet were now covered by azure scales, the muscles in his legs swelled and his speed soared. When transformed, he could achieve the greatest speed available to him.

  They were almost at the group and the first to break away was Hei Gou. He flapped his wings a few times and accelerated, after which he shot like an arrow at the Primordial Beast.

  This Primordial Beast looked like any other human in Yan Dalu. His figure was lean, but one could see powerful muscles underneath the clothes. He only had two eyes, but both of them were currently narrowed and focused on the incoming Hei Gou.

  “Idiot,” he snickered as he took out a broadsword so large that it could cover himself behind it. Looking at this sword, Xue Wei’s one eyebrow rose in surprise. Could such a lean man really wield this weapon?

  It turned out that he could. The sword came crashing down, cutting off Hei Gou’s advance and causing him to stall in the air in front of the three of them.

  “Crap,” Xue Wei called out. Because Hei Gou had advanced faster than the others, he had arrived first, and now he was alone to face the combined attack of three experts that were at the very least Earth Knights.

  Forbidden Rush!

  Azure Light Finger!

  Seed of Mirage!

  Xue Wei activated three abilities at the same time. First, he activated Forbidden Rush as he rushed towards Hei Gou to help him out of the attack. Secondly, he sent an Azure Light Finger beam towards the woman to stall for time, and lastly, he did not forget to plant a seed of mirage.

  Although the seed of mirage needed quite a bit of Qi, it was able to increase his fighting power and add some confusion in the battle. It would be able to randomly throw attacks at the three opponents, causing them to maybe be caught off guard, or trouble them one way or another.

  Lin Xiao and Bai Tianyi did not waste time either. Lin Xiao wielded a staff and charged at his target, the three-eyed soul cultivator. He hoped to close in on him fast so that he could execute the man, but unfortunately he ran into an invisible wall of spiritual energy that blocked his advance.

  It was a rather disgraceful sight. Lin Xiao had had the staff at his side and was heading forward in fast strides, but then he slammed straight into the barrier.

  He had run straight into the barrier and ended up dizzy from the impact. If he had hit the barrier with his staff, it would have been easy to demolish the spiritual energy wall, but he had not done so, leaving him vulnerable to the enemy.

  The dizziness lasted only a mere moment before he crushed the barrier with his staff. After then he continued to slash in front of him to ensure that if another wall or barrier was placed, then he could destroy it before he walked into it.

  Bai Tianyi had also arrived. He had flown on his spiritual energy sword and now dove straight into the battle. Spiritual energy alongside sword energy poured out of his body with no reservation.

  Merging together, the two energies became a strange greyish color. The fight between the two sides slowly escalated. Hei Gou was using his claws to try and defend himself against the heavy broadsword of the Primordial Beast, but he was at a disadvantage.

  Every time he swiped out, he was blocked by the side of the sword, and when the sword came crashing down upon him, his hands would tremble as the sheer size and weight were too overwhelming and not easy to block with his sharp but delicate claws.

  Xue Wei had managed to get close to the four-eyed woman, but he found that getting close did not necessarily mean victory.

  The woman had learned a defensive ability where spiritual energy swirled around her body in a spiraling cone. Every time he managed to hack up the cone, new spiritual energy would pour out and fill in the blanks in the protective layer.

  Xue Wei had transformed his arms to that of an azure dragon. Azure scales could be seen all over his hands, and his nails had turned into claws. These claws were ripping at the spiritual energy, but to no avail. It was simply impossible to make a dent in her protection.

  “Keep going!” Bai Tianyi called from behind. “She ought to run out of spiritual energy at some point. A skill like this must be quite a strain on her reserves, so just keep making her use her energy!”

  Xue Wei nodded his head and did so, but the words of Bai Tianyi also reminded the woman that she could not defend indefinitely and instead she started diverting some of her attention to Bai Tianyi.

  Spiritual energy materialized right in front of Xue Wei, but before he had the time to stop it, it appeared like thousands of small needles, all of which shot at Bai Tianyi.

  These needles should not be underestimated. They contained the power of a strong soul. If they entered Bai Tianyi’s soul and injured him, he might lose his physical shape once more.

  With this in mind, Xue Wei’s body moved before he had time to think it through. With a stomp on the ground, he retreated at a speed much faster than he had ever moved before, and then he turned around, spreading his arms and blocking all the needles that otherwise would have hit Bai Tianyi.

  The acute pain started spreading all over his body. Half of these needles dug into his meridians, where they started causing havoc, but fortunately they were quickly swallowed by the azure qi dragons that roamed his meridians.

  The other half headed straight for his soul. Xue Wei’s soul had the shape of a golden dragon. The moment the needles reached his soul palace—the place where the soul rested—he felt his eyes blackening for a moment. A battle raged on in his mind, the golden dragon roaring as it faced off against the needles. Two of them struck its body, and the pain Xue Wei felt from these two needles was enough to make him tremble with fear.

  A small trail of blood had started trickling down the corner of his mouth, but Xue Wei just lifted his hand and wiped it away.

  He had been rendered immobile for only a short moment, but being motionless and losing control of one’s body for even a short moment in a fight was crucial.

  The four-eyed woman was not going to wait for Xue Wei to regain his composure. As soon as she had sent out the many needles, she already started her next ability, which was a large blade that came crashing down upon Xue Wei in an attempt to eliminate him right away.

  But Xue Wei was not fighting alone. Bai Tianyi’s face had turned pale when he saw Xue Wei block the attack from him, but he knew that when one attack was launched, another would follow.

  So he too summoned his spiritual energy alongside his sword energy, merged them together, and suddenly a massive sword made of pure energy hovered in the air above him.

  When the large blade from the four-eyed woman came crashing down, Bai Tainyi waved his hand and his own sword swept out to block it.

  Although Bai Tianyi was weaker in terms of raw strength, one has to remember that he was a sword spirit. His understanding of the sword was much better than the woman’s, and his sword also contained sword energy, an energy that originated from the illusive daos that were ever present but so hard to comprehend.

  The moment the two swords collided, a deafening boom resounded out. A shockwave caused the dazed Xue Wei to be pushed back as he was the closest to the impact.

  Bai Tianyi’s eyes displayed a bit of madness after he blocked the attack from the four-eyed woman, but blocking was not enough for him!

  Chapter 46 - Nightmare Stallion

  Bai Tianyi unleashed the full might of his dao with the next attack. The grey energy sword that he had created from combining spiritual energy with the sword energy was a volatile cocktail filled with strength, and when it erupted everyone found their eyes drawn to the seemingly humble grey energy.

  His massi
ve sword blocked the spiritual energy blade controlled by the four-eyed person before it turned into a thousand smaller swords.

  Every one of them started heading straight for the woman with four eyes, their speed so fast that they turned into a blur.

  They ripped through the air, and their sharp edges cut through the defensive layers on the woman’s body like a hot knife through butter, but it was not enough as new layers sprang to life around her immediately after.

  Xue Wei had regained full control over his body. His soul was aching slightly and remnant trace of blood could be seen on the corner of his lips.

  The Seed of Mirage that he had grown, had sprouted; a second Xue Wei appeared out of the seed after it had absorbed enough ambient heaven-and-earth essence.

  The second Xue Wei was instantly sent to aid Hei Gou, who was being pushed back constantly by his opponent. And although Lin Xiao was not in a great state either, he was doing better than Hei Gou.

  Xue Wei took a moment to survey the battleground. Bai Tianyi had forced the four-eyed woman on the defense.

  Seeing that Bai Tianyi was able to suppress the woman, Xue Wei felt relief in his heart, but that relief was quickly replaced when he saw that Bai Tianyi was no longer as energetic as he was before.

  Using so much sword energy was a strain on his body and mind. The more he used, the weaker his body would become.

  Seeing this, Xue Wei rushed at the woman with his transformed arms, ready to deal an attack.

  Arcane Fist!

  Shattering Mountain Palm!

  One fist and one palm attack descended down on the woman’s energy shield, one at a time. As soon as the Arcane Fist landed on the shield, it ripped it apart, creating an opening that allowed Xue Wei to send in a Shattering Mountain Fist.

  Just as his hand entered into the energy shield, the scales on his arm felt as if they were being ripped off. Blood flowed down in steady streams, and wounds appeared on his arm under the scales because of the energy shield’s pressure.

  The Shattering Mountain Palm collided with the chest of the woman inside the shield, and she was sent reeling backward from the impact. After retreating several steps she came to a standstill and steadied her body.

  The blood in her body roiled, spilling out from her mouth and her nose. Her physical body was weak like the others; it was merely at the Heavenly Warrior rank. So while Xue Wei’s palm had barely connected with her, the power behind his attack had caused her serious injuries.

  Seeing the woman injured like this, the two men on her side started relentlessly fighting back. Their attacks were much more ferocious than they had been before, they stopped caring about defending and focused fully on attacking, trading wound for wound.

  Hei Gou had managed to breathe more easily after the Seed of Mirage had joined him, but now the situation suddenly turned against them again.

  Lin Xiao was also being pushed back. His opponent had grasped his weak point, and although he did not have any spiritual energy attacks that focused solely on the soul, he had abilities that attacked body and soul at the same time, so Lin Xiao was being pushed back.

  Xue Wei focused on the woman. He could not help his comrades if he could not get rid of the woman first.

  She was one of the few four-eyed experts in the bandit group and her status amongst the bandits could not be low. From this thought, Xue Wei understood that she was worth a lot of merit points. His motivation soared!

  Kick of the Forgotten Kings!

  Before the woman could conjure her shield again, Xue Wei had sent out a kick that sent her tumbling even further back.

  Although it seemed as if Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi had the clear advantage in the fight, the truth was that they were both severely injured.

  Bai Tianyi could not command any more sword energy, as it would have some serious after effects. On Xue Wei’s side, one of his hands was unusable.

  The arm that had used Shattering Mountain Palm earlier had taken so much damage that he could barely lift it now. Although it was not broken, all the muscle, the flesh, and the meridians that had penetrated into the shield had been severely damaged.

  He had also received damage to his soul that would take a bit of time to heal. Although they were now seemingly in control of the situation, the price for this had been high.

  “Finish it!” Bai Tianyi yelled, exhaustion evident in his voice. Xue Wei nodded his head. As soon as his Kick of the Forgotten Kings had caused her to tumble backwards, Xue Wei followed with Forbidden Rush before launching his final attack.

  Inner Might: Qi Sword Style!

  Windwolf Sword Slash!

  Following that, the Qi sword swung out with the full might of an Ordinary Knight.

  Disbelief and horror crept into all four of the woman’s eyes. She had never thought that Xue Wei and his friends were capable of threatening them. It seemed that what they had learned was not the entire truth; spiritual energy was not everything that mattered in a fight of life and death.

  Before she could even scream, her head was severed from the neck and fell down, drowned in the grass of the vast grassland.

  Her body slumped to the ground. All traces of life had vanished.

  When the two survivors saw the gruesome end to their companion, their eyes turned blood red.

  They pushed even faster against the two opponents in front of them. “Tianyi, you stay out of the rest of the battle,” Xue Wei ordered as he rushed towards Lin Xiao. He was not too worried for Hei Gou.

  Hei Gou had been pressured badly, his body riddled with wounds, and his claws had dents everywhere, but he had still not transformed into his original shape, so he could still hold on.

  If Hei Gou had transformed and still was being pushed back, then Xue Wei would have rushed to his side, but seeing him fighting like this made Xue Wei understand that he was testing his limits of his new mutation.

  Lin Xiao was in a tough spot due to his limited protection against soul-based attacks. The Soul Guard he had spent some time training had already been broken through by the attacks of his opponent, and every attack he took caused him to sweat and be in severe pain.

  Xue Wei was still wielding the Qi sword made from Inner Might. While Lin Xiao was his target, Xue Wei rushed close with Forbidden Rush and used an attack he had not used in a long time.

  Sacrificial Stab!

  Sacrificial Stab was one of the first abilities he had gotten from the Heritage ring. It was a superior skill that was described as a cheap killing attack. It sacrificed the soul of the target to an ancient god—as long as one drop of blood was drawn, the person would die. This energy was then given to the user as a boost in strength, but there was a recoil of equal measure once that strength runs out.

  The sword came into contact with the body of the spiritual energy cultivator and drew a deep slash on his back. The moment he had gotten the slash, his eyes widened, and then he died.

  Having executed the Sacrificial Stab and killed a target, Xue Wei felt how the energy in his body roiled. The Qi dragons were roaring in delight as they felt the boost in strength. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to make a difference against the remaining enemy, and soon the roaring Qi dragons went sluggish. The energy vanished and he was instead exhausted.

  Xue Wei did not know if he believed in the whole thing about the ancient god, but he knew that the attack was quite powerful and able to solve their current problems.

  The Sacrificial Stab was a very effective ability, but it put a heavy strain on the user. Xue Wei only used it to kill his target as soon as possible, but his body felt feeble afterward.

  “What did you do?!” Bai Tianyi complained in the background, causing the fatigued Xue Wei to walk over and sit down next to him.

  “What do you mean?” he asked with fatigue on his face. “I killed him,” he explained.

  “Yeah, but he has no soul power. It is as if his soul just vanished the moment he died. That is such a waste. If I had absorbed his energy, I would have been fully restored.”

/>   “What do you mean?” Xue Wei asked curiously. “No soul power?”

  “Yea, it was as if the soul was spirited away.” Bai Tianyi said, unable to hide the slight annoyance in his voice.

  “Uh, the only reason I can think of is that I used Sacrificial Stab,” Xue Wei answered. “Sacrificial Stab kills a person and sacrifices the soul of the target to an ancient god according to the description of the ability.”

  “You sacrificed my soul?!” Bai Tianyi asked indignantly, almost yelling at him. So far, whenever they had killed someone, Bai Tianyi had absorbed the soul power that was released. He relied on this to get stronger, to a point where he saw all opponents’ souls as his nutrient.

  “Well, it was the fastest way to kill that I could think of,” Xue Wei argued back, feeling a little wronged. How should he have known that the soul actually managed to vanish like that?