Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy

  When information about the death of Silver Back was transmitted back through the primordial spirit contract, the corresponding penalty was also sent back to his master.

  In an instant, Elder Chi Hou [1] felt as if he was burning in a city of fire. His primordial spirit fiercely trembled, as if it was about to melt on the spot… This was the penalty of the contract. While he enjoyed the convenience and benefit as the master of the spirit pet, he also must bear the responsibility to protect his spirit pet.

  A moment of carelessness caused him to suffer the feeling of losing his right hand. When Silver Back died, its resentment went back along with the contract, giving an excruciating pain that he might as well die.

  As if it was just a fleeting moment, and also as if it was a long time, Chi Hou’s whole body trembled in the face of the contract penalty. Yet on his face, in addition to pain, there was also a ferocious grim.

  Those two bastards must die in the most painful and cruel way! When they died, their bones must turn to ashes, their primordial spirits must be captured and be put in a furnace to suffer an eternity of pain! How dare they kill Silver Back… No matter how much background they have behind them, they can’t stop my revenge!

  Elder Chi Hou clenched his jaws. His anger has already reached the boiling point. However, on the other hand, underneath that fury, his Flaming Image Heart Method was exceptionally calm, causing him to not lose his sanity. Instead, he could analyze the situation soberly.

  This time, it was their own side who was in the wrong indeed. Initially, he only thought that the opponents were, at most, elite disciples of Yue Family of the Celestial Water Lake, therefore, he casually let Silver Back face them. Unfortunately, this error in judgment led to the death of Silver Back!

  Just now, he glimpsed that Wang Lu’s sword qi defense had withstood his Fire Thunder Shout method, as well as Liu Li’s flying sword’s all-conquering sharp intention that went wherever she wish. He knew that these two were definitely not cultivators that Yue Family of Celestial Water Lake could produce. It was likely that they were successor disciples of a great sect. The so-called Yue Family of Celestial Water Lake… either these two were that family’s "lucky bastards" who, through some miracles, were accepted by a big sect, or simply a cover to shield their real identity.

  In such a place as Cloud Region, while the identity of talented disciple from big sect brought great convenience, it was also accompanied by considerable risk—anyone knew that talented disciple was priceless. Even without the heavy treasures from their sect that were in their possession, these gifted disciples’ best quality spirit roots alone were enough to turn them into a walking humanoid supplement pill—many demonic or evil followers likes to collect these gifted disciples.

  Since he had recognized that the enemy was not of a common origin, Chi Hou cast away his underestimation of them. Yet, he also knew that this fight could not be rushed.

  Usually, this kind of great sect’s disciples would be equipped by a life-saving prop by their Master, like a fleeing talisman and so on, enabling them to swiftly escape. Or like a golden bell shield which would give them absolute defense, or they were simply being followed by their sect Elder’s primordial spirit incarnation.

  However, in any case, if it were not the last resort, they would not dish out the card. Once they dished out the card, they might be able to successfully get through the immediate difficulty, but it would also end their experiential learning down the mountain. What Chi Hou wanted to do was to make the opponent not use the card until it was too late.

  As for the method to accomplish that, the best way was to use the "boil the frog in warm water" tactic—drag the opponent into a prolonged fight, deliberately exposing the flaw so that the opponent would think they could win, and then…


  Thinking to this, Chi Hou slightly restrained his magical power. Despite having his strength declined after losing Silver Back, would two Foundation Establishment cultivators be a match for a Jindan? After all, he hasn’t seen the manner in which Silver Back was defeated; in his calculation, if he didn’t restrain his magical power, perhaps in just three to five moves, he would be able to push the opponent into a desperate situation.

  Then two dazzling fiery red sword lights interrupted his thoughts.

  In Chi Hou surprised eyes, he saw Liu Li rapidly approaching him. It was hard for him to believe that a mere Foundation Establishment young girl actually dared to take the initiative to attack him, and it was even more difficult for him to believe that this Foundation Establishment girl actually could wield out such a sharp sword intent!

  The sword edge has yet to arrive, but the irresistible brilliant sword intent had already pierced through Chi Hou’s defensive magical power and touched his primordial spirit. To Chi Hou whose primordial spirit was far more powerful than the opponent, he actually felt a sudden unbearable pain!

  Chi Hou promptly sacrificed out a beast skull painted with scarlet stripes. The light from the skull’s eyes were brightly reflected on his naked upper body, of which emerged out blood stripes. The malevolent and ferocious aura of this ancient ferocious beast skull along with the war stripes entered Chi Hou’s body. Suddenly, his skeleton began to elongate as his muscles swelled, turning him into a half beast half human monster, roaring with fierce killing intent.

  "Oh, beast transformation of Beast Master School? Xian’Er, full output."

  Seeing this change, Wang Lu promptly sent out his instruction. Without hesitation, Liu Li immediately released all the remaining ten flying swords from her sleeves, which then assembled together around the two swords in her hands and multiplied her attack power by several times. Those pair of innocent and naive eyes then turned as indifferent as ice—the Brilliant Sword Heart had been activated to the fullest.

  As for Wang Lu, he put his hand around Liu Li’s waist while his other hand wielded his sword. The thick sword carried out sword power like it was an impregnable shield.

  A moment later, the collision occurred. Liu Li’s two swords clashed head on against Chi Hou’s bare chest. Under the glistening sweat, his bronze skin appeared like metal. A sharp piercing sound surged up as strings of sparks appeared where the two fiery swords clashed with the skin, leaving behind two scorched marks, yet unable to really break open the skin and injure the muscle.

  The defensive ability of a Jindan Stage cultivator was without a doubt. Liu Li’s always-successful Brilliant Sword Heart was even unable to penetrate the outer layer defense of his body. Even her sword intent, pointed by her primordial spirit, was canceled out by his boiling fighting intent.

  At the same time, Liu Li felt her surrounding had turned completely dark. A frightening shadow fell from the sky, which was the several times enlarged version of the beast skull. Its two rows of sharp teeth fiercely bit her down.

  However, Liu Li seemed unfazed with this imminent death. With a shake of her wrist, she let loose of her fiery swords and subsequently grabbed the septa golden swords and swung them at the opponent again. Her action was as smooth as flowing water, yet the speed of the two swords was comparable to a clap of thunder, which was incomparably fast.

  Two successive explosive sound was heard as Liu Li’s two septa golden swords clashed with the opponent, and the two rows of teeth of the giant skull were finally closed. Beads of blood finally oozed out of Chi Hou’s chest. However, in order to counter attack with that giant skull, he had to open his two powerful arm wide which could not be closed in any case.

  Wang Lu went all out to defend Liu Li so that she could open up an opening. Though small, it was enough for the young girl to swirl her waist and, borrowing from the stored up force, the flickering rays of lightning of the two flying swords once again attacked the opponent; its power has once again risen to another level!

  Chi Hou’s countenance finally changed. Liu Li’s unbroken successive attack was without interval to circulate qi, and each sword strike was more powerful than the previous, so much that they seemed to be endless. Though there were one and a half stage gap between him and her, if this went on, he was afraid in the next two swords strike, his fundamentals would be injured! His original plan was to use the boiling frog in warm water trick, lulling the opponent little by little, and jumping on them when the opportunity presented itself so that they didn’t have the opportunity to resist, but who would’ve thought that in just two or three moves, there were already signs that he was about to lose!?

  On the other side, perhaps that ancient fierce skeleton beast no longer has the same might as thousands of years ago, but its biting power should be able to cut through gold and break the jade, yet the flesh of a mere Foundation Establishment was actually hard enough to withstand it? The reason for this was simple. With his hands and sword, the seven feet area around Wang Lu was impregnable!

  After the third strike, blood began to flow from the corner of Wang Lu’s mouth. A trace of unnatural redness had also appeared on Liu Li’s face.

  "Senior Brother, level-eight Jindan -5, three more swords attack and I can defeat him."

  After the third sword strike, Liu Li’s crystal-clear icy cold eyes revealed her instinct to judge. Wang Lu nodded and then breathed in a mouthful of qi to suppress his continuously trembling jade mansion.

  Chi Hou was really out of form right now. Wang Lu’s preemptive strike to kill Silver Back by instructing Liu Li to do it not only severed the chance for Chi Hou to combine with his spirit pet, but also destroyed the spirit beast contract, making Chi Hou suffer a backfire and thus greatly reduced his strength. He could not display the real power of a Jindan Stage cultivator, otherwise, if he managed to unite with his spirit beast, even with his power greatly reduced, it would not be as low as -5.

  "Boy, you push too far!"

  As a dignified Jindan Stage cultivator, how could Chi Hou just stay idle and let himself be killed? A more ominous light flashed through his eyes as he roared, "White Teeth, come out!"

  Wang Lu also roared, "Quan Zouhua!"

  Knowing early on that Chi Hou’s card wasn’t only that beast transformation, Wang Lu never let the stupid dog take part in the fight. Only when he heard Chi Hou’s roar did he also pull out his card.

  The stupid dog bark. Its nose slightly shook, and then it rushed to someplace.

  Seeing his card was being targeted, Chi Hou only let out a cruel sneer. The next moment, his stature bulged another three feet up. Now, even his cheek emerged out painted-like red war stripes. His entire body’s imposing momentum doubled! It was as if there was a stream of power pouring into his body.

  "Damn, Immortal Mode!?" As the Spirit Sword Sect’s best student, in a single glance, Wang Lu had recognized this method of Chi Hou. This Jindan Stage Elder really couldn’t be compared with common Jindan cultivator. Besides Silver Back, he still has another spirit pet, he just didn’t carry it. While they were fighting, that spirit pet hid in a distance. However, once summoned, it immediately launched a secret technique of the Beast Master School to gather the surrounding spiritual energy in large quantity, transforming them into pure magical power and sending them to Chi Hou. Thus, he was provided with unending stream of power, which increased his strength dramatically!

  In Wang Lu’s eyes, this gathering and transforming surrounding spiritual energy into magical power and transporting them was exactly the Immortal Mode.

  There was no need for Liu Li’s sword strike to test how much powerful this Immortal Mode really was because Wang Lu had already guessed it. He immediately reached Liu Li’s shoulder and roared, "Withdraw!"

  The girl heard this roar when she was halfway through the fourth turn around, which caused her action to slow down. Seeing this, Chi Hou roared with laughter.

  Want to run? Too late!

  At this time, unknowingly, the skull of the ancient beast has been enlarged by several times, which formed a huge cage that covered the whole sky, trapping the three people in it. Restricted by this skull, Chi Hou wasn't afraid that the opponent would be able to escape. Even if Liu Li went all out to strike it, she would need to strike at least several times before she could destroy it. Moreover, how could Chi Hou just stay quiet when the opponent wants to break the skull?

  However, the next moment, in Chi Hou’s surprised eyes, rather than retreating, Liu Li abruptly accelerated her fourth turn around. The two fiery swords in her hands went straight towards him, bringing with them an unprecedented intense sword intent, which was unstoppable!

  Damn it! It’s a trap!

  As soon as that thought surfaced through his mind, the fiery sword had already badly damaged Chi Hou’s throat. The magical power of fire element on the sword and the incomparably sharp sword intent poured out from the tip of the sword. The might of this sword was already firmly reached the Jindan Stage level.

  The next moment, Chi Hou retreated several steps. His complexion greatly changed and his throated was blackened… However, very quickly, new flesh came tumbling out from the wound, showing that Chi Hou’s injury wasn’t too severe.

  The defensive ability of Chi Hou’s Immortal Mode has far surpassed his previous state; no matter how strong Liu Li’s Brilliant Sword was, it could not escape from the restriction of her high-level Foundation Establishment Stage. Thus, facing a Jindan cultivator, she would always has a weakness.

  After he coughed out a few mouthful of blood, Chi Hou also saw that several corners of his Jade Mansion have already been damaged. Inwardly, he was secretly surprised: How many high-level Foundation Establishment cultivators in the whole Nine Regions could have such a powerful attacking power? The opposite party must have concealed her real cultivation base, otherwise, it was absolutely impossible for her striking power to be this incisive. However, it all ended here.

  For the opponent to win, they must first reverse his Immortal Mode, which would lower his attack and defense. And to reverse his Immortal Mode, they needed to kill his spirit pet White Teeth… Wang Lu’s mottled dog that he sent to do that might have a very good origin, but at present, its strength was not that strong, far from being White Teeth’s opponent.

  At this time, White Teeth might’ve captured Wang Lu’s mottled dog. He just needed to defeat the opponents before him, and this fight could be declared as victory for him! What’s more, Immortal Mode of a Jindan Stage cultivator occupied an overwhelming advantage in the face of mere middle-level and high-level Foundation Establishment little cultivators. At this time, looking at Wang Lu and Liu Li, Chi Hou seemed to be looking at his spoils of war… especially Liu Li. His eyes involuntarily locked on her body.

  However, at this time, a shrill barking sound of a dog filled with fear and panic came from a distant. Chi Hou’s complexion immediately changed as he instantly recognized White Teeth’s voice.

  What the hell! What kind of dog is that mottled dog that even White Teeth couldn’t take it!? It should be known that the strength of White Teeth might be even stronger than Silver Back. If not for his personal dislike of dogs, his main pet would’ve been White Teeth!

  The next moment, a burst of laughter filled the air. Chi Hou’s face turned even uglier because his question has already been answered.

  "Hahaha, what a good big fat black dog! Tonight, I want to eat to my heart’s content!"

  Zen Master Dog Meat, you son of a b*tch!

  The moment his anger flared out, a mouthful of blood gushed out of Chi Hou’s mouth.

  White Teeth has been killed!

  …


  Note:

  [1] (meaning Red Marquis)