The arrows used by the Black Armored Guard captains differed from ordinary arrows. They were made from the feathers of a second-tier magical beast, the Golden-Scaled Sparrow, with second-tier Magic Cores attached. They were special consumable arrows; each captain could only receive three per month, and they could not be accumulated.
Zhang Yuan infused the Golden-Scaled Sparrow arrow with his own Dou Qi and the power of the Three Dragon Thunder Gang Fire. Its might was self-evident. The instant it left the bowstring, it crossed dozens of yards and arrived before the female Da Dou Shi.
"Crackle~"
The female Da Dou Shi reacted with extreme speed. Without even turning around, she summoned blue-violet Dou Qi Armor, concentrating its defenses over her chest and blocking the arrow head-on.
Yet before this arrow, her Dou Qi Armor seemed as flimsy as paper. In the blink of an eye, a gap was worn through it. It could no longer hold, and she could only watch helplessly as the arrow pierced her body.
A wound through the chest was one thing. With her strength, she could still endure it, and if she took a high-grade pill, she might recover before long.
But the lightning and flame power on the arrow remained in her body. The flames devoured her Dou Qi to grow stronger while thunderous power raged through her, paralyzing her entire body and leaving her unable to move.
"Lan Juan!"
Sen Ma Rong, who had withstood the explosion and was about to continue fleeing, noticed the female Da Dou Shi's condition. His expression changed sharply.
He immediately abandoned his magical beast horse. After landing heavily and leaving behind a deep crater, his body shot like a cannonball onto Lan Juan's magical beast horse, where he caught her in his arms.
Lan Juan wanted to say something, but though her lips moved, she could not speak. She could only signal with her eyes, hoping Sen Ma Rong would understand.
The tacit understanding they had built through more than a decade of life-and-death struggles allowed Sen Ma Rong to understand Lan Juan's meaning. He reached his hand to a spot just below her lower abdomen, inserted two fingers into a slit, and curled them.
Lan Juan spat blood, yet a satisfied smile appeared on her face.
At that moment, Zhang Yuan casually tossed the longbow to a personal guard beside him. He then summoned his Dou Qi Armor and charged toward Sen Ma Rong. After one step, he left an afterimage in the air. When he appeared again, he was already ten feet behind Sen Ma Rong.
"Boom."
Thunder suddenly rumbled.
Mysterious Tier Low-Grade Dou Technique, Raging Thunder Strike.
Zhang Yuan sent his Dou Qi out of his body, transforming it into lightning power that gathered on his two fingers. He thrust directly at Sen Ma Rong's back without holding back in the slightest.
"Squelch!"
The sound of flesh being pierced rang out, and Zhang Yuan's pupils contracted.
At the critical moment, Lan Juan had hugged Sen Ma Rong and spun one hundred and eighty degrees, switching positions and using her own body to take his attack.
Not only that, a dark green force surged from Lan Juan's blood, attempting to invade Zhang Yuan's body through his fingers. It carried extremely potent corrosive and paralyzing properties.
"Pfft!"
Lan Juan spat out another mouthful of blood and completely lost her breath.
Sen Ma Rong had been briefly dazed by the thunderous sonic attack. Feeling scorching heat on his face, his eyes instantly turned blood-red. He immediately summoned his Dou Qi Armor and threw a punch directly at Zhang Yuan.
A dark green water sphere appeared out of thin air.
This was a Mysterious Tier Mid-grade Dou Technique, Mysterious Water Heavy Fist.
Though it was water, it contained the force of a thousand pounds. Even an ordinary Dou Master would be reduced to pulp if they took it head-on.
Zhang Yuan, however, remained calm. He used Divine Step Chasing Lightning and retreated several yards in an instant, avoiding Sen Ma Rong's attack while lowering his head to look at his fingers.
A drop of dark green blood was attempting to breach his body, carrying an exceptionally sinister power.
This was poison.
"What potent poison. Xiao Yi Xian should like it in the future."
Zhang Yuan's eyes lit up. He summoned the Three Dragon Thunder Gang Fire to envelop the dark green blood and began refining it.
"Heavenly Flames?!" Sen Ma Rong's expression turned exceptionally ugly.
Lan Juan possessed a unique Dou Technique that could fuse her Dou Crystal with the toxins in her body. Once fused, she could launch an attack using her blood as a medium. It was a technique meant to perish together with her enemy.
Even if a Dou Ling expert were carelessly tainted by this poisonous blood, they would suffer paralysis on the spot at best and weakened constitution for some time afterward; at worst, their cultivation would regress and they would suffer permanent damage.
Yet he had never expected Zhang Yuan to possess the legendary Heavenly Flames, the nemesis of all poisons. He was completely unafraid of such a mere third-tier toxin.
"Just wait, brat. I will definitely return to kill you."
After throwing out that threat, Sen Ma Rong released Dou Qi to envelop the magical beast horse.
"Neigh~" The magical beast horse let out a painful cry. A hint of green appeared in its eyes as it spread its legs and began to race wildly, moving so fast that even ordinary Dou Zhes could not catch its silhouette.
Zhang Yuan did not hurry after him. Instead, he took out a jade bottle from his Storage Ring, placed the refined poisonous blood inside, sealed it with the stopper, and carefully put it away.
Then, without haste, he used his movement technique. He first captured the Da Dou Shi who had been injured by Jia Lie Bi's self-destruction and was preparing to flee. After knocking him unconscious and crippling his cultivation, Zhang Yuan handed him to a personal guard before capturing several other Dou Masters.
Before Zhang Yuan, a peak Dou Master who could kill a Three-star Da Dou Shi across ranks and who was now a Five-Star Great Dou Shi, none of them could possibly escape.
After he dealt with them, the sounds of a fierce battle came from the mist not far away. He used his movement technique to rush over and happened to see a black-robed man condensing a long spear from Dou Qi, completely suppressing Sen Ma Rong.
The shockwaves from their clash blew the hat off the black-robed elder's head, revealing an aged face. It was Lin Zhengqing, the Wutan City Lord.
Not far from the two men, the magical beast horse was already dead, while Lan Juan's corpse lay on the ground.
"City Lord Lin, let me assist you."
Zhang Yuan drew the longsword at his waist, empowered it with Dou Qi, and charged forward.
A Five-Star Great Dou Shi capable of fighting above his rank, together with a seasoned Dou Ling, immediately put Sen Ma Rong in grave danger.
As the wounds on his body steadily increased, Sen Ma Rong's gaze turned vicious. The Dou Qi around him became violent as he roared, "Die!"
Lin Zhengqing's eyes narrowed. He tapped the ground and retreated, but did not forget to warn Zhang Yuan, "He's going to self-destruct."
Upon hearing that, Zhang Yuan advanced instead of retreating, slapping his palm toward Sen Ma Rong's dantian.
"Brat, come into the underworld with me." Sen Ma Rong revealed a bloodthirsty smile. "Taking a prodigy of the Jia Ma Empire with me before I die means this old man hasn't lost out."
Zhang Yuan's gaze flickered. "You're not from the Jia Ma Empire?"
"Hehehe." Sen Ma Rong merely laughed without speaking. He wanted Zhang Yuan to die a confused ghost.
But in the next instant, his pupils abruptly shrank and his expression turned astonished.
The moment Zhang Yuan's hand touched his dantian, he felt a force spread throughout his body, rendering him unable to move and cutting off his ability to sense his own Dou Crystal.
His self-destruction had become a joke.
"Heavenly Flames. It must be the Heavenly Flames!" Sen Ma Rong raged.
"Correct, but there is no reward."
Zhang Yuan withdrew his hand and gave a light pat.
Within Sen Ma Rong's dantian, a wisp of Three Dragon Thunder Gang Fire had wrapped around his mostly shattered Dou Crystal, growing stronger through devouring it and forming a suppressive force.
"City Lord Lin, you and Master Gu Ni arrived a little late." Zhang Yuan turned to Lin Zhengqing and smiled. "If you had been a few minutes later, this trip of yours would have been for nothing."
Lin Zhengqing walked to Zhang Yuan's side, the spear in his hand gradually dissipating. Amazement flashed in his eyes as he smiled somewhat helplessly. "It isn't that we arrived too slowly. You ended the battle too quickly. I never expected you to have hidden your strength."
Lin Zhengqing naturally did not believe Zhang Yuan had improved this much over the past few days. Instead, he believed Zhang Yuan had held back when he fought Jia Lie Bi.
Who could have imagined that a sixteen-year-old youth was actually a Five-Star Great Dou Shi, stronger even than the patriarchs of Wutan City's three great clans?
Zhang Yuan did not explain. He merely said, "I never expected Jia Lie Bi to come in person. I was just lucky."
He was not being modest, nor was he showing off. The battle had ended so quickly this time because luck truly was the main reason.
Who could have expected Jia Lie Bi, whom he had secretly sabotaged, to come personally?
(End of Chapter)
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