Might Be a Bit of a Waste of Hidden Weapons

The figure in green who appeared at the entrance of the Land God Temple was naturally Jiang Dali, who had followed the intelligence here.

He was also highly experienced in the ways of the martial world.

When he came within ten li of the target location, he stopped riding and avoided contact with anyone, deliberately taking side paths as he approached the Land God Temple.

Thus, no matter how vigilant the target was, he could not have heard hoofbeats in advance or sensed that he was being tracked.

At this moment, Jiang Dali's gaze fixed on the disheveled beggar holding a wooden carving as though he were eyeing prey. He smiled faintly. "Liu Yegui."

The instant those three words left his mouth, Liu Yegui's hand trembled.

Yet just as his wrist moved, Jiang Dali was faster. His body spun, and a streak of cold light flew out with the turn, transforming into a dark-blue hidden weapon like a shooting star that instantly struck the wooden carving Liu Yegui had just flung.

With a snap, the carving fell to the ground.

But Liu Yegui had already retreated explosively with the momentum. Before the other two beggars could react, he flickered in a flash, and three streaks of sword light suddenly shot from his filthy, tattered sleeves, instantly striking the two beggars in the forehead and plunging deep inside.

The two died at once.

Liu Yegui's attack had been decisive, vicious, and somewhat inexplicable.

Yet from beginning to end, Jiang Dali had not pursued even a single step.

In his eyes, the instant the willow-leaf blade struck the wooden carving and Liu Yegui sprang back like a hare leaping and a falcon swooping, the carving suddenly began to smoke before exploding apart. Hidden weapons like fine needles shot wildly in all directions.

Some struck the doorway with considerable force, but they posed no threat to him in his Iron Cloth Skill state.

But if he had immediately given chase just now...

Or if he had not taken the wooden carving Liu Yegui threw seriously and allowed it to come close, then at such close range, he would likely have been turned into a sieve by the hidden weapons.

At this moment, aside from throwing one blade, Jiang Dali had made no move. Beneath the veil of his conical hat, his face wore a cold smile, as though he were calmly watching a fine show.

Liu Yegui, who had killed the two beggars in an instant, suddenly stopped moving as well. Keeping his side turned toward Jiang Dali in a guarded stance, his hands drifted up and down from time to time as he stared warily at Jiang Dali and said coldly, "I have already left Green Robe Pavilion and withdrawn from the martial world. Why do you still hound me without mercy, determined to kill me all the way to the end? Haven't my contributions to Green Robe Pavilion over these years been enough?"

Jiang Dali smiled faintly. "Withdraw from the martial world? Easier said than done. The mortal world is a tide, men are water; one can only sigh—how many in the martial world ever return?

"Liu Yegui, we're all adults. Don't joke like that.

"If you truly withdrew from the martial world, why did you create more bloodshed just now?"

Liu Yegui snarled furiously, "Bastard! Do you take me for a fool? I hid my tracks with the utmost care. I was even willing to become a beggar, sleeping rough and begging for food every day. Yet you still tracked me here. Other than someone around me exposing me, who else could it have been?

"Green Robe Pavilion's informants are spread across the world. Today, I have truly seen it for myself. I never thought they would now be used to deal with me."

Liu Yegui gave a miserable laugh and roared. Cold light flickered from within his sleeves. "Come, then! Come kill me! Can you kill me?"

Jiang Dali said evenly, "The one who exposed you was yourself.

"You claim to have withdrawn from the martial world, yet you carry your Three Shadows Sword with you at all times, never letting it leave your side. You've fallen into being a beggar, yet every day you cling to wood and carve it. Nothing you play looks convincing—how could you not give yourself away?

"And now, you want to lure me inside to kill me, but you must have already laid many traps in the temple.

"If I charge in to kill you, I fall into your trap. Am I right?"

Liu Yegui's expression turned exceedingly ugly. So enraged that he laughed instead, he said, "Since you don't dare come in, then get lost. If you fail your mission, you won't die. But if you insist on completing it, you might die. Aren't you afraid of death?"

Jiang Dali replied calmly, "I'm afraid of death, but I won't die. On the contrary, you are absolutely going to die."

He tapped the ground with his foot, and his body suddenly shot backward like a wild goose.

Almost at the same time, he flicked his arm. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

The air split with shrill whistles.

Liu Yegui was startled.

More than a dozen oil packets were flung by Jiang Dali across the entire Land God Temple. They burst apart, spraying oil in every direction.

At nearly the same time, more than a dozen fire pellets that ignited upon being opened flew out as black dots, striking the places splashed with oil.

Boom—

In an instant, oil met fire and burst into flame. More than a dozen fires rose throughout the Land God Temple, setting it ablaze and forcibly driving the other man out.

"Bastard! You're courting death!"

Liu Yegui roared unwillingly, wishing he could tear Jiang Dali into ten thousand pieces. With a sudden shout, he burst from the Land God Temple. Cold gleams flashed repeatedly from his sleeves as he charged at Jiang Dali, man and sword as one.

With a ringing sword cry, three streaks of sword light sprang up from the ground, false and true intermingling as they shrouded Jiang Dali's vital points around the chest. Still as a maiden, swift as a startled hare!

"So this is the Three Shadows Sword?"

Jiang Dali's expression remained unchanged. He deliberately slowed his retreat before coming to a stop. The color of his skin rapidly shifted toward blue-gold, while the muscles in his arms and palms abruptly swelled, brimming with a surging sense of power.

"Die!"

Seeing that Jiang Dali actually did not dodge, Liu Yegui was overjoyed.

Three slashes flashed like bursts of silver light, striking Jiang Dali's strong, fierce body.

Clang—

The sword struck his clothing and produced a terrifying clash of metal, as though it had hit a wall of bronze and iron. Yet it sank half an inch into him, becoming sluggish as if caught in steel bars and iron chains.

"What?!" Liu Yegui's expression changed drastically as he moved to retreat.

But a massive hand, its back covered in chain-like bulging veins, came down like a fan toward the crown of his head with crushing force.

As the palm struck out, a gale rushed into his face, suffocating him. It carried the overwhelming menace of splitting mountains and shattering stones.

"Roar!"

Liu Yegui was horrified. In his haste, he had no time to pull free his sluggish sword and hurriedly raised a palm to meet the attack, pouring all his strength into this strike as well.

With an explosive bang.

A shockwave burst forth from where their palms met.

Crack! It sounded as though the bones in his arm had broken. Liu Yegui screamed, his body seeming to shrink by a fraction as the immense force forced his knees to buckle. He hurriedly crouched and sprang backward, fleeing in a wretched scramble.

Yet at the instant he fled—

Jiang Dali struck another palm into the air, his hand posed as if worshipping Buddha. Force surged in every direction, his inner qi pouring out wildly.

Vajra Bow!

The most famous air-splitting palm strike of the Great Vajra Palm!

At the brink of life and death, Liu Yegui let out a wild roar, suddenly turning and launching another swift palm strike to meet it.

With a thunderous boom, fierce winds swept across the ground. Liu Yegui's body shuddered violently as he staggered back seven or eight steps, two streaks of blood seeping from the corners of his mouth. With a savage roar, he took out another wooden carving and hurled it viciously to the ground. "Let's die together!"

Jiang Dali frowned slightly, and his thick, powerful right hand suddenly drew his saber.

Clang!

A flash of golden light!

The blazing golden saber radiance almost instantly collided with the rain-like burst of silver needle hidden weapons, producing a dense series of crisp metallic tremors.

In the next moment, the golden light flared brilliantly. The curtain of saber light was like a wall, and the clanging rang out as densely as a shower of pearls.

When the golden light dispersed, Jiang Dali stood with his saber pointed at the ground, frowning at the five silver needles embedded nearly half a finger deep in his solid blue-gold body.

"What brand of hidden weapon is this? It's even poisoned."

Threads of numbness and weakness spread from the wounds. Clearly, the silver needles carried a paralytic toxin.

"You...!"

Liu Yegui, who had already been riddled with holes by his own hidden weapons, stared at Jiang Dali in disbelief. Blood slowly seeped into his eyes before he finally breathed his last.

Jiang Dali watched with lingering fear. "This direct, brutal way of fighting may be clean and decisive, but it's dangerous too. If Liu Yegui had put in a little more strength, I might have—"

He glanced at his remaining Qi and Blood, and his eyelids twitched slightly.

As a Great BOSS with the constitution of a blood tank—

He possessed a massive 5,200 points of Qi and Blood.

Yet just now, a full 800 points had been knocked off, and his Qi and Blood was still slowly declining.

"If he'd put in a little more strength, I might actually have been hurt.

"Hiss—though it does hurt a little now."

Jiang Dali bared his teeth as he pulled out the short sword lodged near his right shoulder and the iron needles in his body, losing around another 100 points of Qi and Blood in the process.

Still, when he looked at Liu Yegui, who had been shot into a sieve and lay in an utterly miserable state, he felt much better.

A glass cannon was still a glass cannon.

He could even kill himself with his own hidden weapons.

How tragic.

Using this thing to kill me might be a bit of a waste of hidden weapons...

(Everyone keeps telling me to update faster, but I want to say that men can't be that fast. This chapter has 400 extra words—wow, what a huge amount. Satisfied now that I updated early?)

Thanks to all the readers who sent tips today. Also, yesterday I got featured on the homepage, and the results were very good—I ranked second across the entire site among the standalone recommendations. Why specify standalone? Because two books had additional promotions; if those are counted too, then I ranked fourth. Competing against every category, the fact that a Wuxia novel like mine could reach this position already proves this book's quality. Let's keep it up—please vote and support me more, brothers. Thanks.