Battle at Meihua Pool (3)

The Pill Cultivator thrust both hands fiercely toward Xu Yuan. A fist-sized Gold Pellet shrieked through the air, turning into a silver streak that shot straight at Xu Yuan's face.

Xu Yuan gritted his teeth and furrowed his brow, his face filled with a do-or-die resolve. Seemingly knowing he could not dodge, he hurled out his own Gold Pellet with all his strength.

After firing the Gold Pellet, Xu Yuan ducked low, twisted his body, and shot toward a huge boulder nearby with a whoosh.

The Pill Cultivator chuckled to himself. So he wanted to block it and buy himself time to escape.

What a pity. This time, you were wrong. You are doomed to perish!

In an instant, the two Pill Cultivators' Gold Pellets collided between them.

Crack!

The Pill Cultivator's Gold Pellet burst apart, instantly transforming into a short sword! The sword had no hilt and was only a foot long, with blades at both ends!

Once a Pill Cultivator reached the Seventh Stream, they could "shape" the Gold Pellets they had refined!

Though he had not yet reached the Seventh Stream, he had already touched its threshold and could barely manage shaping. It was merely sluggish to control, so he could only use it as an unexpected killing move and could not deploy it often.

Almost at the same time, Xu Yuan's Gold Pellet also burst open.

Xu Yuan's Gold Pellet was only the size of a longan. Whether in weight or quality, it was far inferior to his own.

They had clashed several times before. This time, he had used his full strength; it was only natural for that tiny pellet to be shattered.

But immediately afterward, with a boom, Xu Yuan's Gold Pellet did not shatter—it exploded!

A massive cloud of smoke erupted where it had been!

The explosion was terrifyingly powerful. The blast wave instantly slammed into the Pill Cultivator's face, blowing his hair and beard straight back.

The Pill Cultivator was baffled. How could this be?

This feeling... was just like the explosive shells used in the Crafted Cannons our order custom-made for the Divine Machine Camp of the Northern Capital!

The sudden massive explosion sent the Pill Cultivator's Gold Pellet, already transformed into a short sword, flying away with a whoosh. It plunged at an angle into the earth several yards away.

It had buried itself deeply in the soil, leaving behind only a small, flat, narrow hole.

The Pill Cultivator snorted. Even if you have such a strange trick, all you did was startle me. Aren't you still headed for certain death?

He was about to draw out the Gold Pellet short sword and sever Xu Yuan's neck.

But as soon as he moved his hands, waves of sharp pain surged through his chest and abdomen!

He lowered his head and saw seven or eight densely packed wounds across his chest and stomach, blood pouring from them!

"W-what... is this..."

When he looked up again, he saw Xu Yuan hiding behind that huge boulder, its surface covered in tiny pits!

The boulder was a full yard farther from the blast than he was.

Even the boulder had ended up like this. He was not a Martial Cultivator; his body was surely not tougher than stone.

"That brat... so that was it..."

He roughly understood, but no longer had the strength to do anything. His legs gave way, and with a thud, he fell backward onto the ground. Blood gushed from seven or eight wounds, and the Pill Cultivator died with bitter resentment.

Xu Yuan had infused the "trait" of his gunpowder Inner Pill into that Gold Pellet.

Though the Gold Pellet was small, Xu Yuan had condensed it from a great quantity of metal ore. After being infused with the gunpowder trait, it was even more powerful than a Crafted Cannon's explosive shell.

After the Gold Pellet exploded, every tiny fragment flew so fast that there was no time to react.

Xu Yuan emerged from behind the boulder, secretly delighted by the strength of the gunpowder Inner Pill's trait.

Unfortunately, his gunpowder Inner Pill was too small. He could only unleash that kind of power three times; now, only two uses remained.

Xu Yuan looked up. By the pool, the Sister Flowers, Saint Aunt, and the maid were still locked in a fierce battle.

Saint Aunt turned her wrist, flipping the Two-Headed Snake Bell around. When she shook it again, it gave off an eerie clang, clang, clang.

The ringing from the previous end had cleared the mind, but the ringing from this end immediately made Xu Yuan feel his soul grow heavy and muddled. He staggered, nearly falling.

The Water Ghost Sister Flowers were affected even more severely. Their bodies swayed like candles in the wind, and their forms faded somewhat, as though their souls might be blown out at any moment.

Saint Aunt was overjoyed. After enduring for so long, her strike had finally worked!

She raised the Divine Mechanism Crossbow in her other hand and fired two arrows in rapid succession with two twangs.

The crossbow bolts, glowing with golden light, shot toward the Water Ghost Sister Flowers.

Too dazed and weak to dodge, they cried out miserably as both were struck, then fell into the pool with a splash.

Saint Aunt chased after them. The Divine Mechanism Crossbow in her hand had already been replaced by a red gauze lampshade, which she brought down over the Water Ghost Sister Flowers' heads.

"Capturing these two water ghosts will be perfect—they can be refined into ghost soldiers for you..." Saint Aunt was speaking to the maid when the maid suddenly sensed something. Her face changed drastically. "Saint Aunt, retreat! These two aren't Shade Souls..."

But it was already too late. With a splash, two yellow figures shot up from the pool, each holding a golden crossbow bolt between its pointed fox jaws.

Waves of water crashed down from all directions. Saint Aunt instantly felt agonizing pain across her body and hurriedly pressed a spot on her arm. With a bang, thousands upon thousands of ox-hair needles shot from concealed cylinders on both shoulders!

A fox's cry rang out, and the two yellow figures withdrew into the pool.

From behind, the maid grabbed Saint Aunt's belt and swiftly dragged her back several yards.

Saint Aunt looked down to see that the clothes over her chest had been torn apart. Several deep claw marks had been left across her snow-white skin, flesh turned up, blood pouring out without stop!

"These two beasts!" Saint Aunt flew into a rage, and her blood surged again at once. Even more blood poured from her wounds.

At the same time, Saint Aunt felt a wave of dizziness and vertigo. Only by leaning on the maidservant did she manage to steady herself again.

The maidservant gnashed her teeth. "Those two beasts' claws are poisoned!"

She swiftly took out several pills and fed them to Saint Aunt. At the same time, the shadow beneath her feet writhed, several Yin soldiers concealed within it.

Sure enough, a faint yellow blur suddenly shot out from the grass nearby. Several Yin soldiers lunged out of the shadow and tangled with the yellow blur.

After several shrill fox cries, the yellow blur found itself unable to gain any advantage and, with a whoosh, darted back into the grass.

Just as the Yin soldiers were about to give chase, someone suddenly rose from the grass. Opening his mouth, he sent a fire dragon roaring forth, sweeping one Yin soldier into its coils. The Yin soldier let out a shrill ghostly howl and was instantly burned away without a trace!

At some point, Xu Yuan had quietly crept over and hidden in the grass as well.

The maidservant looked at the youth with a complicated gaze, a hundred flavors churning in her heart.

She could not help but think: if she had not overlooked things that night, if she had inspected Saint Aunt's Sedan Chair and found this fellow, they would not have suffered such grievous losses today.

But who could have imagined that a lowly menial from the backyard of an inn in some backwater village could actually drive both her and Saint Aunt into a desperate corner?

A menial—wasn't that something any little nobody could order around at will?

Why couldn't you just go die? Why did you have to resist so fiercely?

It was already too late for regret. Supporting Saint Aunt, the maidservant suddenly turned, her gaze landing on the last two men.

They were Zhao Yong's final two companions, the "delicacies" the Pill Cultivator had specifically left for Saint Aunt.

The moment the battle began, they had hidden at the very back.

Naturally, Saint Aunt and the others had never expected them to be of any use.

The maidservant abruptly looked over, startling the two men into jolting, because her gaze was too cold and eerie—like... a pair of ghost eyes!

Please vote with your monthly tickets!