Chapter 439: Beheading the General [V5C146 – A Distance Within Reach]
Luther’s expression was extremely solemn as he slowly drew his sword. The vertical eye at his forehead swiveled for a bit as black mist curled up around him, taking the form of a winged fish with sinister spikes all over its body—that was the Jeruson clan’s innate totem.
He focused his gaze on Qianye and said slowly, “You’re an opponent worthy of me taking seriously. State your family name!”
But Qianye wasn’t going to waste words. His eyes turned azure upon activation of his eye ability—a sharp pain wracked Luther’s origin furnace, causing him to tremble momentarily. Grasping this opening, East Peak slashed down in the form of a distant Nirvanic Rend. Qianye produced one killing move after another and denied Luther any opportunity to catch his breath.
Luther’s expression transformed once again. As he grasped his left hand in the air, the totem behind him spat out a stream of black mist which quickly condensed into a dazzling hexagonal shield seemingly made of black crystal.
The crystal shield and Nirvanic Rend were both destroyed with a loud boom. The resultant shockwaves sent the nearby dark race warriors into disarray, and the weaker ones, flying. No one was left standing within thirty meters around Qianye and Luther.
The two combatants were both shocked. This was the first time since learning Nirvanic Rend that Qianye had failed to land a slash.
Meanwhile, Luther was even more amazed. This Sable Bulwark was his family’s peerless secret technique capable of blocking all attacks at the same level. It was this art that allowed Luther’s Jeruson clan a place among the many experts of the demonkin race. Now, however, his Sable Bulwark was actually shattered by a single strike—this proved he was far from capable of stopping that strike with his own combat strength.
On the battlefield, myriad changes could occur in the blink of an eye. How could there be any time to hesitate? Despite the astonishment, Qianye had seen through Luther’s darkness origin power flow with his True Sight. He immediately took a step forward and slashed down with all his might, instinctively choosing to use brute force.
The shrill whistle as East Peak swung out shook Luther’s heart. This hiss was different from the thunderous sound produced by the addition of simple origin power to the attack—it was born of the strike’s excessive force and speed.
Luther couldn’t think of a better method to fend off this attack. He conjured the Sable Bulwark once more with a loud cry and managed to block East Peak at the last moment. Fine cracks appeared on the shield amidst cracking sounds, but fortunately, it didn’t shatter this time. Luther had just managed to breathe when two more heavy blows landed on the shield; it was as though two mountain peaks had smashed into it.
Luther’s left arm turned numb. He had no choice but to place his sword behind the shield and only managed to endure the series of blows by using both hands.
Qianye was also at a loss. He hadn’t imagined Luther would manage to block three consecutive strikes so easily.
But what of it? Roaring, he swung East Peak continuously in a mad flurry of slashes. He would go for the openings when there was any or simply bash the shield when there wasn’t!
Luther couldn’t use any technique at all under the rumbling barrage and could only rely on the Sable Bulwark to resist. He was being smashed left and right into a state of utter misery. The shield shattered, formed, and then shattered again—this went on countless times. He would’ve been slashed countless times were it not for his secret technique having reached the great success realm, allowing him to reform the shield in a flash.
In Luther’s eyes, Qianye’s moves were full of openings and lacked any sort of skill or aesthetic. If only he were free to move, he could bring out at least three or four secret techniques that could heavily injure the other party. However, Qianye simply wouldn’t listen to reason at all. The demonkin viscount possessed a noble bloodline and knew many a secret technique. But he couldn’t even catch a single breath, let alone retaliate.
Luther prayed that Qianye would exhaust himself or his subordinates would rush over and deal a heavy blow to him. But the surroundings had been cleared away by Qianye’s Life Plunder, and the origin power radiating from their clash could easily injure anyone below the champion rank. Who would dare approach?
Qianye suddenly paused his torrential blows and raised East Peak over his head, followed immediately by three consecutive heavy blows.
“Crack!” The Sable Bulwark immediately shattered, causing Luther to cry out inwardly in distress. He could no longer care about his numb, aching body as he formed yet another Sable Bulwark.
But the shield had just taken form when Luther felt a chill behind him and lost control of the origin power throughout his body. He discovered a spear tip through the corner of his eyes as it pierced right through his chest!
Incomparably berserk daybreak origin power stampeded through this body in the blink of an eye. The vertical eye on Luther’s forehead shot out dazzling light as excessively dense darkness origin power gushed out from the wound on his chest. It took the form of a sinister winged fish that opened its maw and let out a mournful scream.
However, raging flames ignited from the spear tip at this moment. The blazing streams tangled around Luther’s darkness origin power at lightning speed, resulting in miniature origin storms.
“Song Seven…” Luther hadn’t even finished his words when East Peak arrived like a dragonfly skipping across the water surface and sent his head flying into the air.
Luther’s headless body fell down to reveal a spear made of an unknown material that was neither metal nor jade. Just as Luther was struggling to block Qianye’s frantic attacks, Song Zining had grasped the opportunity to hurl his spear across hundreds of meters. The weapon pierced the demonkin’s vital origin power convergence point—the origin furnace.
The dark race warriors were left in a daze, but the scene became incomparably chaotic immediately afterward. Some of the soldiers, mostly those from Luther’s main unit, resorted to launching suicidal attacks without a care for their lives. With their general dead, it was impossible for them to live after returning. Hence, they would rather let loose and die in battle. Meanwhile, the cannon fodder and the allied squads from the other races had no idea what to do, and some of them had even begun to scatter. The entire battlefield had turned into a huge boiling pot.
Meanwhile, Luther’s murderer stood leaning on his sword, but not a single soldier dared approach him. In addition to him killing his way into the main army alone, that Life Plunder of his had robbed everyone of their galls. Although Qianye was completely surrounded, no one was willing to step forth and throw away their lives. Even the survivors among Luther’s aides chose to charge toward Blackflow City in a bid to drag a couple more humans down with them.
“Qianye, save me!”
Qianye was alarmed as Song Zining’s sharp cry arrived from a distance. He glanced over and saw Song Zining unarmed, surrounded, and in a rather miserable state. That heroic posture from just now as he charged straight into the enemy’s central army was nowhere to be found.
There was another petite figure around Song Zining. She was fairly ruthless despite her frail appearance—two blades danced around her like flowing light as she cut down one dark race warrior after another. In critical moments, even Song Zining had to move out of her way to evade her daggers.
Sword raised and roaring loudly, Qianye had charged out thirty meters at first, slapping away everyone in his path with a swing of his sword. But his eyes twitched after seeing Song Zining’s sorry figure dodging here and there. Qianye thus sheathed East Peak and stood there to watch the scenery instead of going forward.
“Qianye, you bastard! I put myself in peril to save you! Y-You, do you even count as a brother?!” An exasperated Song Zining cursed while stomping his foot. Feeling that his voice was too soft, he simply took off his mask later on and began shouting loudly.
Qianye yawned as he glanced left and right as though he were looking for a place to rest. Despite his harmless expression, the dark race soldiers would scatter frantically wherever his gaze fell, lest they catch his attention.
Song Zining immediately became spirited and started blaming Qianye, “Just look at you, pretending to be all innocent and virtuous!”
Several blades rushed toward the back of Song Zining’s head the moment he stopped dodging. He was rather furious at being disturbed while berating Qianye. A sword miraculously appeared in his grasp following a backward wave of his hand. The blade drew a series of afterimages amidst a hail of countless dancing leaves, immediately killing everyone behind him. His actions were as light as a feather and involved neither smoke nor flames.
The eyes of the twin-blade girl immediately lit up. Now, this was the Song Seventh Young Master everyone knew—even a slaughter was performed with such poetic grace.
Song Zining was startled after that sword strike because he knew he had exposed himself. No matter how thick his face was, he couldn’t help but burn up slightly under Qianye’s bright, limpid gaze.
The two glanced at each other for a moment before breaking into laughter. They walked over with quick steps and hugged each other.
Song Zining released his hand and sized Qianye up from head to toe. “Where in the world did you run off to? You didn’t return after such a long time. I even thought you were done in.”
“I was that close to being finished off.” Qianye laughed.
“Who under the Iron Curtain is capable of that? Now, you’re able to kill a famous demonkin viscount without even batting an eye. That’s no ordinary level of ferocity!” Song Zining’s expression was doubtful.
Qianye laughed wryly. “How can it be that effortless? That demonkin isn’t easy to deal with.” Without Song Zining’s spear, Qianye would have to pay a steep price even if he won in the end.
The conversation hadn’t even ended when Qianye’s blood and qi surged abruptly. Unable to suppress it any longer, he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. How could he be entirely unharmed while suppressing Luther with that frantic assault?
Song Zining didn’t show the slightest concern after seeing Qianye cough blood. On the contrary, he laughed cheerfully with an expression of schadenfreude. “Who told you to show off like that. Now you’re coughing blood, aren’t you? Haha, I know you have more blood down there. Don’t hold back now. Cough it all out!”
After hearing such words, Qianye couldn’t help but glare angrily at Song Zining. His blood and qi had already begun calming down, but the agitation almost caused him to spray out another mouthful.
Song Zining chuckled with his mouth covered and secretly spat out two mouthfuls of fresh blood onto his handkerchief. The square cloth then vanished into his sleeve with a flick of his fingers. On the surface, the Song Seventh Young Master was just as spirited and outstanding as before. It was just that his countenance, as elegant as the spring water, had taken on a slight shade of scarlet.
Qianye snorted, and his eyes narrowed. He reached out and slapped Song Zining behind the back and repeated the latter’s words ad verbatim, “Don’t hold back now. Cough it all out!”
This palm strike had just the right amount of force behind it. Song Zining could no longer hold back his injuries and spat out a stream of dark purple blood. This caused his face to turn pale, but he felt much more at ease and his aura gradually strengthened.
Song Zining stared fixedly at Qianye and said while gnashing his teeth, “Where’s that mouthful of blood? Stop hiding. Out with it!”
Qianye shrugged and replied with a radiant smile, “There’s no more!”
“Impossible!” Song Zining cried out with an incredulous expression. “Even a stately champion like this young master coughed up three mouthfuls of blood. Who’s going to believe that a mere rank-nine soldier only coughed up a single mouthful of blood after charging into the main army and killing Luther? You’ll go through hell if you plan on keeping up appearances. Cough it out quickly or you’ll worsen your internal injuries!”
“There’s really none.”
“Seriously?” Song Zining was still skeptical.
“Really.”
The strength of Qianye’s physique, as well as his recovery rate, had far surpassed Song Zining’s expectations. Although the origin power recoil from attacking Luther had caused some serious injuries, he had already recovered a bit during this short period. A mouthful of stagnant blood was the limit.
Song Zining was glancing at Qianye from different angles as though he were searching for that mouthful of blood. At this moment, the twin-blade girl cried out loudly from afar, “You two, save me!”
Qianye was startled as he glanced over to see the girl completely surrounded by enemies and bathed in blood. He thus strode forth in a bid to rescue her.
Unexpectedly, Song Zining pulled Qianye back and said indifferently, “Don’t bother, she…”