The Dust Settled

As their fists clashed, Huyan Lü Yanlu felt a surge of true energy with completely opposite True Qi rush into his body. He had already exchanged several blows with Elder Lou, and his sharpness was diminished; he was no longer at his peak. At this moment, he could no longer withstand the attack and was forced back several steps.

We have help!

Knowing the situation was unfavorable, Huyan Lü was about to shout for help when the attacker said in rapid succession, "Foolish! What good will it do you to call for help? Tie us up and hand us over to your father, then your father will believe you and put you on the throne as the gang leader!"

Huyan Lü choked upon hearing this, his expression turning grave. He stopped calling for help, stared at the newcomer, and said coldly, "It's better than doing nothing."

"You're wrong. Doing nothing is the best choice for you right now. This attack happened on your estate, so you can't escape responsibility no matter what. If you confess the truth, your father will punish you for treason. If you pretend you didn't know, you still can't escape being accused of incompetence and dereliction of duty. Whatever you do is wrong, so the less you do, the fewer mistakes you make, and if you do nothing, you won't make any mistakes."

Huyan Lü's face was ashen. "It seems you've all planned this out, forcing me into a corner with only one path: either I follow you to the end, or I jump off the cliff... You underestimate me. What's the point of a crippled Thousand Ren Society? Without my father's leadership, the Thousand Ren Society is nothing more than a second-rate gang. Rather than let you profit, I'd rather perish together with you!"

"Talking to idiots is such a hassle. Get your rusty, moldy brain working and think carefully: is a dead Huyan Lie more advantageous to us, or a severely wounded Huyan Lie?"

Huyan Lü was taken aback, but quickly calmed down and thought it over. He was not stupid; on the contrary, he was very smart, otherwise he wouldn't deserve the title of genius. He quickly figured out the answer to the question: for the Black Earth Gang, the seriously injured Huyan Lie was indeed more valuable.

"So, from the very beginning, your ambush operation wasn't intended to kill my father?"

The girl scoffed, "Stop asking such pointless and ignorant questions. Your life is worthless, but my youth is extremely precious. Hurry up and think about what will happen if your father is Thousand Ren Society injured?"

Huyan Lü Yanlu was displeased, but he knew this wasn't the time to throw a tantrum, so he suppressed his emotions and pondered, "If my father is seriously injured, he will definitely have to step down to the sidelines to recover. At that time Thousand Ren Society need an acting leader, and this acting leader must be able to withstand pressure from within the country to prevent being replaced, while also withstanding external struggles. Under these circumstances, my elder brother is definitely not a suitable candidate..."

Even if your father knows you're involved in the ambush, for the sake of the bigger picture and the stability of the gang, he can only choose to turn a blind eye and push you into power. You can then seize this opportunity to gain control and win over the people.

Huyan Lü frowned and said, "But once my father recovers, he can easily take back power and oust me. After all, he is Spirit Transformation Grandmaster, and people can't possibly choose me over him."

The girl scolded, "You blockhead, you've wasted another minute of my time! Before your father's injuries are fully healed, can't you leave the gang and start your own business? It'll take your father at least two or three years to recover. Don't tell me you can't gather a group of reliable followers in that time. If you can't, I'll go find your brother right now. He's just as useless as you, but at least he doesn't have as much ambition and is easier to control."

Huyan Lü ignored the sarcastic remarks and suddenly realized, "That's right, once I choose to establish my own power base, the biggest conflict with my elder brother will be gone. Besides, I am still my father's son, and he can't possibly kill me. As long as I win over enough people, he will have no choice but to agree."

The girl said impatiently, "Alright, tell me, what are you going to do next?"

Huyan Lü looked at the other person with a complicated expression, unable to describe the feeling in his heart.

"I will send men to create chaos and prevent my father's men from rescuing him. You'd better hurry and avoid any mistakes."

Chapter 248 The Dust Settles

Above Huyan Manor, the winds and clouds shifted, the sky split in two, revealing strange phenomena. One side, purple lightning rose and swirled, condensing into a giant blade that could cleave the heavens; the other side, a fierce wind howled and rushed, converging into a High Antiquity beast.

The lightning blade slashed through the air and left an arc-shaped mark in the void that took a long time to disappear. The rushing lightning carried an aura of destruction, devouring the Primal Qi of heaven and earth within a ten-mile radius, creating a vacuum of Spiritual Qi.

If anyone else were to encounter this move, they would likely suffer a significant reduction in its power due to the inability to draw upon enough spiritual Primal Qi. However, Zhu Hao and Huyan Lie are longtime rivals, so they would certainly be prepared.

The Wenlin beast roared to the sky, causing the surrounding air to rotate rapidly around it. Due to the extremely reduced air pressure, the airflow was drawn into the bottom of the vortex from all directions within a thin layer of air tens of meters thick near the ground. It then transformed into a vortex that rotated upwards at high speed around the axis, becoming a tornado connecting heaven and earth. All the Primal Qi of heaven and earth within a radius of thirty miles was drawn in and absorbed by the beast, replenishing itself at a rate faster than it was consumed by lightning.

Both sides built up their momentum to the peak and clashed angrily, like two miniature nuclear bombs colliding. The immense force transformed into shockwaves that spread outwards, carrying purple lightning that scorched everything and gale-force winds that could cut through everything. Huyan Manor was instantly razed to the ground, with black scorch marks and smooth, flat cuts everywhere.

Two wounded figures fell from the sky. Huyan Lie suddenly twisted his body in mid-air, mustered his remaining strength and swung his sword. With lightning speed, the magnificent sword energy split the earth and shattered mountains, directly slashing towards his opponent.

Zhu Hao hurriedly suppressed his injuries, put his hands together, and tried to catch the blade energy with his bare hands. Unfortunately, he had just used his ultimate move and his body was empty. He did not have enough True Essence to resist it and was pushed hard by the huge blade energy, falling to the ground with a rumbling sound, raising a sandstorm.

"Cough cough cough... That old devil Huyan never believed me. He even held back a bit of his strength in our ultimate move."

Zhu Hao unleashed a palm strike to clear away the dust and haze. Looking up, he could no longer see Huyan Lie. Hu Yanlie's face was slightly pale, and there was a hideous knife wound on his left shoulder, with residual lightning energy and Blink of electricity.

In a clash of ultimate techniques, unless the two sides have vastly different cultivation levels or their attributes happen to be mutually exclusive, both will be injured; the only difference lies in the severity of the injury.

Huyan Lie did not believe Zhu Hao's promise to "only use one move," so he did not concentrate all his power on his ultimate move. Instead, he reserved two-tenths of his power to stop Zhu Hao's pursuit.

However, he was already injured and poisoned, and his condition was not good. Even if he fought with all his might, he would not be a match for Zhu Hao. Yet he still thought of holding back, so his injuries would only be more serious than Zhu Hao's.

"Your cleverness backfired, old ghost Huyan. In the end, your suspicious nature has brought you down."

In the grove, Huyan Lie hurriedly, using the trees as cover to conceal his tracks.

His body was covered in wounds, as if he had been cut into a thousand pieces, especially his lower abdomen, where a large gash had been cut open, almost revealing his intestines.

With the control Spirit Transformation cultivator has over their body, this injury could have been easily stopped. As long as a certain price was paid, such as reducing lifespan or damaging the Foundation, cell division could be accelerated, thus healing the wound quickly.

Unfortunately, in a clash between powerful individuals, the physical damage is secondary; the lingering intent of the attack is the real scourge that is difficult to eradicate. This intent can hinder the healing of wounds, and if it is not eradicated in time, it can even seep into the root of the problem, requiring three to five years to heal, and may even become a lifelong ailment.

In Western legends, weapons that can "make wounds unable to heal" are considered divine artifacts, but for Eastern martial artists, these are merely the most basic techniques.

Hu Yanlie, who was speeding Huyan Lie, suddenly sensed something, his expression changed slightly, and he raised his hand to unleash a magnificent blade of energy that slashed horizontally into the forest, cutting down countless large trees. Then, he twisted his body and fled in another direction with a trajectory that defied the laws of kinematics.

However, after running for half a minute, he had to stop, his face grim as he looked ahead and said, "You're really fast. I didn't expect that besides Zhu Hao, there would be someone else in the Black Earth Gang who could catch me."

"On my own, I certainly can't keep up with the pace of Spirit Transformation expert, but with the Profound Armor, it's a different story."

Beneath the heavy shade of the trees, a crimson figure slowly emerged—it was Si Ming, clad in the Vermilion Bird Machine.

"You've even resorted to using the Profound Armor; you've really gone to great lengths to kill me."

Currently, two countries in the Sea Continent possess the capability to manufacture Profound Armor: the Su State and the Nation of Valor.

Huyan Lie also had a set of exclusive Profound Armor, but unfortunately, for Spirit Transformation Grandmaster, the Profound Armor provided little help and sometimes even affected his mobility. In addition, it was inconvenient to carry, so he rarely used it. After all, not everyone could run around the world with a sword box containing Profound Armor like Yan Jinghong.

Currently, the vast majority of Profound Armor is heavy armor, and simplification is a major challenge. The fewer the structures, the weaker the functions. Yan Jinghong's simplified Heaven-Soaring Armor is extremely rare.

For people of this era, the Profound Armor was a crucial piece of military weaponry, much like tanks and armored vehicles on Earth. No one would be so bored as to drive a tank into the street.

Si Ming's purpose in this trip was not to kill, but to seriously injure his opponent. However, there was no need to tell the enemy about this. If the enemy found out and used this information against him, he would only be asking for trouble. The more he said, the more he would expose.

It's not wrong to talk back, but you should do it when you're at a disadvantage, inducing the other party to talk more, thus creating an opportunity for the "villain to die from talking too much."

Si Ming drew the Vermilion Flame Sword and poured his True Qi into it. The temperature of the sword rapidly increased, and it soon turned completely red, with a layer of flowing flames covering its surface.