The Kill

A streak of sword light shot out from among the rocks. Yan Chihuo had taken several hits, but as his body twisted and turned in midair, he had shed most of their force, suffering only a few superficial wounds.

The old man had never expected Yan Chihuo to be so fierce—or so lucky. He hurriedly used Earth Shrinking Step, but the cave was narrow, and when he had dodged Yan Chihuo's previous attack, he had ended up in an even tighter corner. The technique's power was inevitably diminished. On open ground, he could have traveled dozens of yards in an instant and then used Falling Rock Art; Yan Chihuo would have been beaten to death on the spot, with no chance of getting close.

But here, in this cramped space, even if the old man dodged, he had little room to move. Yan Chihuo could fight him with a strategy that risked mutual destruction.

Unexpectedly, Yan Chihuo had anticipated his move. The instant the old man began to use Earth Shrinking Step, Yan Chihuo thrust his sword into the empty space. With a clang, the old man blocked the strike with his Green Jade Staff, but Earth Shrinking Step was broken as well.

Yan Chihuo knew this opportunity was rare. He absolutely could not give his opponent the slightest chance, or else, with just a few yards of space, Earth Shrinking Step would become far more powerful.

When he had just escaped the Falling Rock Art, the key had been his Spiritual Eye, which had found a gap among the falling rocks. But breaking his opponent's Earth Shrinking Step had been entirely a matter of judgment. The old man had fled straight toward the most spacious area in the cave.

Yan Chihuo swung his sword rapidly, sending streak after streak of Sword Qi flying. At that moment, all his years of experience as an assassin came into play. Every strike either risked mutual destruction, forcing the enemy to defend himself, or precisely blocked the opponent's path, leaving him unable to advance. Though Yan Chihuo was already wounded, he seemed not to notice at all.

In terms of cultivation and spells, he was naturally far inferior to his opponent. But when it came to adapting in battle and making accurate judgments, the old man was nowhere near his level. After all, as a cultivator, the old man usually relied on spells. When would he ever have needed to use such skills?

The old man grew more and more frustrated as they fought. Yan Chihuo could almost always predict his moves accurately, greatly weakening the force of his attacks. And in this confined space, he couldn't use Falling Rock Art at will, since both he and Yan Chihuo were within its range.

That alone was bad enough, but Yan Chihuo's strategy of mutual destruction was a real headache. It was easy to talk about risking mutual destruction, but far harder to do. To show no hesitation in the face of life and death—what kind of courage did that take?

What was more, Yan Chihuo had already made dozens of attacks, each one using the same strategy. Even someone unafraid of death would falter under such intense strain, and their swordplay would grow chaotic. Yet not one of Yan Chihuo's strikes had faltered, and his swordsmanship had not shown a single flaw. The old man cursed inwardly. Was this brat's nervous system forged from fine steel?

Just as the old man was considering whether to risk injury and break through Yan Chihuo's swordsmanship, he saw Yan Chihuo sweep his left hand. Five beams of light flared from his fingertips, forming a giant hand that seized the Green Jade Staff. At the same time, Yan Chihuo thrust with his right hand, aiming straight for the old man's head. This was a killing blow!

The old man gave an angry snort. Stone Armor appeared over his body as he lunged forward, wrenching the Green Jade Staff from the giant hand by sheer force. Yan Chihuo's sword struck his head.

Sparks flew everywhere, but the sword had failed to pierce the old man's Stone Armor. The old man was stunned as well. Stone Armor Art had formidable defensive power, but it shouldn't have been strong enough to withstand a full-strength strike from a cultivator of the same level.

A thought flashed through his mind: this man's Talisman Artifact was too weak. But then Yan Chihuo slammed into him, clearly trying to block his path by force. It seemed that, since the sword had failed to stop him, Yan Chihuo was willing to fight to the death.

The old man had finally won this opportunity. How could he let anything go wrong? He struck out with one palm, met Yan Chihuo's palm, then used the force to leap away, landing in the open space.

The old man burst into laughter. Though the clearing was less than ten yards across, Yan Chihuo could no longer use his strategy of mutual destruction. Sword Qi could never hurt him here. Yan Chihuo's sword had just failed to break through his Stone Armor Art, let alone his Sword Qi.

He dispelled Stone Armor Art and waved his Green Jade Staff. Countless rocks fell from the air once more. Yan Chihuo swung his sword to deflect and parry them, while a layer of Stone Armor appeared over his body. He was immediately thrown into a wretched state.

The old man felt a surge of delight. He waved his jade staff, but suddenly his expression changed. "You..." The skin exposed beyond his clothes—on his face, hands, neck, and elsewhere—had all turned black. He had clearly been poisoned. His body swayed twice before he collapsed to the ground. In moments, he had melted into a pool of black water.

Only then did Yan Chihuo let out a breath of relief. When the two had clashed just now, he had met the old man's palm and transferred the poison to him. Had the old man not dispelled Stone Armor Art, the poison would have taken longer to enter his body. But after he dispelled it, the poison entered his body and took effect almost instantly, killing him on the spot.

Yan Chihuo dropped to the ground and gasped for breath, drenched in sweat. Blood seeped from his wounds through his torn clothes. This was the first time in recent years he had found himself in such dire straits. On the surface, it had seemed as though he had been in control the whole time, but he knew all too well that if he had made even the slightest mistake in his judgment, he would be the one lying dead on the ground.

He picked up the Green Jade Staff and examined its Restrictions. As expected, they were similar to those on the Snake Scale he carried: combined Restrictions for Falling Rock, Stone Armor Art, and Earth Shrinking Step, but no Imprisoning Earth spell to trap enemies. If the old man had used Imprisoning Earth just then, even a tenfold more precise plan would have gotten Yan Chihuo killed. The Green Jade Staff had eighteen layers of Restrictions, but its Jade Crystal core was ordinary, far inferior to the Soul-Breaking Sword in his hand.

He still couldn't figure out how the old man had noticed him entering the cave. Perhaps cultivators at the Body Forging Late Stage had much sharper senses.

He stood up and walked over to the old man's corpse. He didn't want to rob the dead, but the old man had once been a Body Forging Late Stage cultivator, and he had treasures left by his elders. He must have been wealthy.

He searched the old man's body, but couldn't help feeling disappointed. There was nothing on him at all. He glanced at the Heavenly Evil Blood Demon, then cut off his head with one stroke of his sword. It wasn't that he was cruel; he needed to hand the head over to the sect as proof that he had killed the Heavenly Evil Blood Demon.

Then he untied the bulging bundle at the Heavenly Evil Blood Demon's waist, and his eyes immediately lit up. There were eight Jade Crystals in the bundle, along with a stack of banknotes worth at least a hundred thousand taels. But what caught Yan Chihuo's attention was a yellow Talisman and a Yellow Jade Blade.