Who Would Claim the Prize?

"Bone Shifting Technique?"

Li Yun remembered the arrow stuck in Leng Yifeng's chest. No wonder it hadn't pierced through.

So this guy had used the Bone Shifting Technique to forcibly move his bones and shield his vitals.

Li Yun tried to struggle to his feet, but stumbled and fell again.

Only then did he belatedly realize that both his arms were completely numb and lifeless.

He couldn't feel a thing.

Gritting his teeth, he abruptly turned over and lay facedown, then braced his knees against the ground and pushed himself upright.

He staggered forward, trying to escape.

Leng Yifeng hadn't expected the Bone Shifting Technique he'd learned for the sake of his "flower-plucking" ambitions—the one that could alter his appearance—to save his life.

He swallowed a Blood Burst Pill to stop his injuries from worsening, then prepared to finish off Li Yun.

Seeing that his opponent was still struggling desperately, he couldn't help but speak:

"Honestly, if you hadn't ruined my plans and even left me in this state,

I really would have wanted to recommend you to my master.

There aren't many like you in the entire Blood Blade Sect.

What a pity to lose such a promising talent.

But don't worry. I'll make it quick."

As he spoke, Leng Yifeng limped after him.

But one of his legs had been pierced through, and he'd lost so much blood that he moved even slower than Li Yun.

One fled, the other pursued.

Li Yun's steps were unsteady, but his legs weren't crippled.

The distance between them actually grew wider and wider.

Seeing Li Yun pull farther and farther away, Leng Yifeng abruptly stopped. There was no point in chasing him in vain.

His gaze fell on the Bull Bow that Li Yun had dropped when he was sent flying. Limping, he made his way over.

"If I can't catch the brat, I'll use his bow to shoot him dead!"

Hearing no more movement behind him, Li Yun didn't stop. He only let the momentum of his turn carry him into a quick glance over his shoulder.

At once, his heart began to race.

Because—

Leng Yifeng had bent down and snatched up the Bull Bow. Then he reached for the corpse of a long-dead guard and forcibly pulled out an arrow.

His fingers hooked the bowstring. The bow arched into a gibbous moon, the arrowhead gleamed coldly, and he fixed his aim squarely on Li Yun.

Whoosh—

The arrow's sharp whistle suddenly burst beside Li Yun's ear.

He had no time to think. He twisted sharply at the waist and rolled to the side.

The arrow grazed his heel and struck the ground, its tip digging deep into the earth and spraying dirt everywhere.

"Haha!"

Supporting himself on his injured leg, Leng Yifeng bent over with laughter.

The movement tugged at the wounds in his chest and thigh, and cold sweat sprang across his forehead. Still, he laughed with abandon, his eyes full of mockery:

"Tell me, brat, are you stupid?

You could've shared those three tender beauties with me, then joined the Blood Blade Sect. You'd have had the good life from then on. What could be better?"

He shook his head as he laughed, his regret so feigned it was laughable:

"Instead, you had to go against the tide, ruin my plans, and cripple both your arms. Now you're fleeing like a stray dog.

What an idiot~"

Leng Yifeng clicked his tongue in feigned pity, but his hands never stopped moving.

He drew another arrow, preparing to shoot Li Yun dead.

He set the arrow against the Bull Bow, hooked his fingers around the string, and slowly pulled it back.

The arrowhead gleamed with a cold light as he aimed at Li Yun. His fingers gradually loosened.

Whoosh—

Just as he was about to put an end to this farce and kill Li Yun with an arrow...

The sinister grin on Leng Yifeng's face hadn't even fully formed before his lips froze in place.

The ruthlessness in his eyes instantly gave way to deep confusion.

Far away, Li Yun had somehow produced a bow and arrow out of thin air.

Lying on the ground, he used his legs to brace the bow open, bit down on the string, and shot an arrow.

It knocked the arrow Leng Yifeng had fired off course.

Only when Li Yun braced the bow with his legs again, conjured another arrow out of thin air, nocked it, drew, and aimed at him did Leng Yifeng finally come back to his senses.

Had he been running all this time just to put some distance between them?

Where had he gotten a bow and arrows?

Had they appeared out of thin air?

Li Yun certainly wasn't going to answer Leng Yifeng's questions.

Things had come to this.

It was either his death or his opponent's.

There was no point in keeping his storage space a secret anymore.

After all, once a man was dead, everything was over.

When he'd been punched flying, Li Yun had already been thinking about how to turn the tables.

His only chance was to put some distance between them and shoot his opponent dead.

The two of them were only twenty or thirty paces apart, but that was enough!

Bracing the bow, biting the string, taking aim, then opening his mouth—it all happened in one smooth motion.

One arrow after another.

Furious and startled, Leng Yifeng instinctively tried to grab the dead guard beside him and use the corpse as a shield.

But as soon as he put weight on his injured leg, a stabbing pain shot through him. He staggered, his movements a full beat too slow.

Li Yun had already anticipated this. He aimed his arrows at the openings as Leng Yifeng tried to dodge, giving him no chance at all.

Thwack!

The first arrow pierced his shoulder blade, stopping him from fighting back.

The second sank into his other leg, stopping him from escaping.

The third grazed his throat, stopping him from begging for mercy.

Leng Yifeng had nowhere left to dodge. In the end, he couldn't escape being shot to death.

He'd learned his lesson the first time.

This time, Li Yun didn't stop for even a moment. He kept going until Leng Yifeng was bristling with arrows, like a hedgehog riddled with darts.

Only then did he stop shooting.

Li Yun's mouth was full of the coppery taste of blood. Completely drained, he collapsed on the ground and panted heavily.

He cursed inwardly:

"Go on, try using the Bone Shifting Technique to shield your vitals again!"

He lay there for a full quarter of an hour.

The numbness in his limbs gradually faded, replaced by stabbing pain.

Only after recovering a little did Li Yun slowly walk over.

This time, he didn't proceed with excessive caution.

Leng Yifeng had been turned into a sieve, and he'd nearly bled dry. If he could still play dead and launch a counterattack, then Li Yun would just have to accept that he'd been unlucky.

A well-worn deerskin pouch lay beside Leng Yifeng's corpse, drawing Li Yun's attention.

Earlier, Leng Yifeng had repeatedly pulled out pills and poisonous powder from the pouch. He'd clearly been keeping plenty of trump cards inside.

With his hands only just regaining a little feeling, Li Yun took an arrow in each and carefully opened the pouch.

Its contents were plain to see:

Three thin, yellowed booklets, several palm-sized porcelain bottles, a plaque made of something that looked like iron but wasn't, as well as a few banknotes and some loose silver.

The bottles had no labels, but the booklets had titles.

Blood Blade Technique.

Bone Shifting Technique.

Introduction to Poisons.

The banknotes added up to five hundred taels, and the loose silver totaled twenty.

The plaque was dark red all over. "Blood Blade Sect" was written on the back, and "Leng Yifeng" on the front.

Afraid the items in the pouch might be contaminated with poisonous powder, Li Yun tore off a piece of cloth and laid it over his palm.

He wrapped each item up and put them into his storage space.

Under a nearby tree branch, Leng Yifeng's long saber was stuck at an angle in the muddy ground.

The saber was a little over a meter long, with seventy or eighty centimeters of that taken up by the blade.

The blade curved gently like the new moon at its rise. At its widest, it was no more than three fingers across, and it was so thin it was almost translucent.

Rippling, cloudlike patterns ran along the blade, like waves folding over one another.

Li Yun wrapped the hilt in coarse cloth as well and put the saber away.

After roughly tidying up the scene, he turned toward the three people collapsed not far away.

Yu Qingqing was still unconscious.

Nearby, Huang Shengnan and Lin Biling both had dazed expressions.

...Their faces flushed an unnatural red.

...Torn to shreds.

Li Yun raised an eyebrow. This kind of scene...