Arrow Shoots the Immortal Master

After collecting the wolf hides and claws, Lu Lin quickly slipped back into the forest and "dealt with" the scattered Red Flame Wolves one by one. Only then did he regroup with Ma Cheng and come to the wolf king's corpse.

The Red Flame Wolf King's fur was especially precious. The two worked together, their movements exceptionally cautious, afraid they might damage the pelt.

It took them quite some effort before they finally peeled off the complete wolf hide, then carefully cut away all the intact sharp claws.

"Junior Brother Lu, now that the materials have all been gathered, stay here and keep watch. I need to go back and protect the immortal master," Ma Cheng said.

"Don't worry, Senior Brother Ma," Lu Lin replied with a smile.

This was exactly what he wanted.

Ma Cheng's figure flashed, then vanished into the forest.

After confirming the other man had gone far away, Lu Lin immediately got to work. He carefully cut a small opening in the wolf king's chest cavity and took out a piece of crimson meat from within.

He deliberately kept the incision extremely small to keep anyone from noticing anything unusual.

With a slight shift of his mind, the chunk of meat in his hand rapidly lost its luster and turned to ash. On the Martial Dao Melting Furnace, his cultivation time suddenly increased by twenty years.

As expected of the wolf king... Lu Lin praised inwardly.

Though it was not on par with a Foundation Establishment treasure, gaining twenty years of bitter cultivation in one go was already exceedingly rare.

After that, like a spirit cat, he wove soundlessly through the forest, found the wolf corpses Ma Cheng had processed, and dug out the red meat chunks inside them one by one to exchange them for cultivation time.

Once every Red Flame Wolf corpse had been "visited," Lu Lin looked at the Martial Dao Melting Furnace again:

Cultivation time: sixty-two years and two months.

All the Red Flame Wolves this time had increased his cultivation time by a total of forty-two years and four months.

Satisfied, he returned to the pile of wolf hides and waited quietly.

"Enemy attack...!"

A moment later, an enraged shout suddenly came from the north.

Immediately afterward, a streak of sword light flashed, and the cry came to an abrupt halt.

"That was Tang Qiguang's voice!" Lu Lin's expression changed sharply.

Tang Qiguang was also one of Luo Siqing's twelve guards, with ninth-level Body Tempering cultivation.

Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Lin immediately used Spirit Cat Step. His figure, like a ghost, brought up trail after trail of afterimages as he swept rapidly north.

After running for some distance, his pupils suddenly contracted.

In midair, a black-clad masked man was stepping on a blood-colored flying sword, rushing at extreme speed toward the mountain hollow.

His target went without saying. It was Luo Siqing!

From far away, the black-clad man had already seen Luo Siqing sitting quietly, and icy killing intent flashed through his eyes.

"Go!"

He gave a light shout, and another blood-colored flying sword flew out from his storage pouch. The flying sword grew as it met the wind, dragging out a long tail of light as it shot straight at Luo Siqing!

At this moment, Luo Siqing was putting all her strength into breaking through to the ninth level of Qi Refining. She had no way to dodge at all.

At the moment when a thousand catties hung by a single hair, a streak of arrow-light tore through the sky, crossing a thousand meters in an instant and striking the blood-colored flying sword with perfect precision!

Dong!

A tremendous boom exploded in midair. The blood-colored flying sword shook violently, its light dimming, and it nearly fell to the ground.

The black-clad man's eyes narrowed. He hastily formed hand seals and withdrew the flying sword, suspending it above his head.

But before he could catch his breath, another arrow, wrapped in scarlet light, came tearing through the air, aiming straight for his temple!

This arrow was unimaginably fast. The thousand-meter distance vanished in the blink of an eye, and it let out a terrifying whistle. The fierce killing intent stabbed the black-clad man's skin painfully, making his hair stand on end and his breath catch.

Danger! Extreme danger!

He gave a low roar and frantically poured spiritual power into the blood-colored flying sword. The flying sword hummed, then slashed fiercely to the right, striking the arrow-light with perfect precision.

There was another dong, and the arrow-light was knocked aside, shooting into the mountain forest below.

"Damn it! Luo Siqing actually has such a powerful expert under her?!" The black-clad man was both shocked and furious.

The one who had attacked just now was naturally Lu Lin.

He had only used sixty percent of his strength with those two arrows.

Luo Siqing could not die yet.

If she died, all her exclusive guards would have to be buried with her.

Lu Lin had no desire to be buried with her.

But he also could not expose his full strength. If he attacked with everything he had, he was confident enough to shoot the black-clad man dead.

But if that happened, he would expose far too much strength. All twelve exclusive guards would draw Luo Siqing's suspicion, and as the newcomer carrying out his first mission, he would undoubtedly become the prime target of that suspicion.

He only needed to hold the enemy back and keep Luo Siqing alive.

His sixty percent strength, though already far beyond the tenth level of Body Tempering, had not directly clashed with anyone else. Who could determine the arrows' true power? And who could say whose hand they had come from?

As long as the black-clad man did not die, everything could be discussed.

After firing two arrows, Lu Lin bounded away like a nimble cat, landing on the branch of another great tree, then immediately leaping toward a third... constantly changing position.

"Courting death!" Forced into such a sorry state by a first-rank martial artist, the man in black burned with rage. He let out a low shout, spiritual energy surging as his hands rapidly formed seals, and the blood-colored flying sword above his head blazed brilliantly, turning into a startling streak of light that shot straight toward Lu Lin's position!

As it closed in, the flying sword suddenly hummed sharply and chopped downward with vicious force!

A blood-colored sword beam dozens of meters long tore through the air, its might terrifying beyond measure. Wherever the sword light passed, a huge tree so thick several people could not wrap their arms around it was split cleanly in two!

"What a sharp sword beam, what terrifying destructive power..." A hundred meters away, Lu Lin's expression turned grave.

This man in black was far stronger than Yu An, that inner sect disciple from before.

After striking out with one sword, the man in black recalled the flying sword and formed seals again, intending to continue his assault on Luo Siqing.

But at that moment, Lu Lin shot another arrow over, aiming straight for the back of the man in black's head!

Over these past two months, whenever he had free time, Lu Lin had often practiced archery.

With his current martial attainments, his precise control over his muscles and bones, and his extraordinary eyesight, practicing ordinary archery naturally progressed a thousand li in a single day.

After two months, he had already reached the point where every shot hit its mark and no arrow was loosed in vain.

The scarlet glow at the arrowhead had condensed as though tangible, striking fear into the heart. The man in black did not dare be careless, and could only swing his sword again to knock the arrow aside.

After Lu Lin delayed him several times, Fang Hong, Lan Zhu, and the other nearby guards had also arrived in the vicinity. None of them revealed themselves. Instead, they hid among the trees, bent their bows, nocked arrows, and fired Spirit-Breaking Arrows with all their strength.

Five Spirit-Breaking Arrows shot at the man in black from five different directions.

Three of them came from three experts at the tenth level of Body Tempering. The arrows split the air, letting out terrifying whistles, making the man in black's face turn extremely dark.

"Black Baleful Protection!"

The man in black rapidly formed seals, and a black light screen appeared around his body.

At the same time, he slapped his storage pouch and summoned a snow-white, crystal-clear skull.

The skull grew as soon as it met the wind, becoming several meters large, spinning around him with a whirling motion.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

A series of booming explosions rang out as three arrows struck the skull and were all bounced away.

The other two arrows hit the black light screen, making it tremble violently as ripples spread across it. Fang Hong's arrow in particular was the most powerful; the light screen caved inward, on the verge of cracking, and was nearly pierced through!

"Spirit-Breaking Arrows!" The man in black's gaze sharpened. He hurriedly controlled the skull to shift sideways and ram into the arrow shaft, only then knocking the arrow flying.

He was just about to build up power and attack Luo Siqing again, but Lu Lin's arrow had arrived once more!

The timing of this arrow was grasped perfectly. It came at the exact instant when the man in black moved the skull to knock away Fang Hong's arrow, aiming straight for his back!

"Damn it..." the man in black roared inwardly.

Among all the arrows, the one he dreaded most was this one.

To outsiders, it looked no different from the other arrows. Only he could clearly feel the difference within it, a sense of threat that made his heart palpitate and his hair stand on end.

If he ignored it, this arrow would be enough to threaten his life! Relying on Black Baleful Protection alone definitely would not block it.

Left with no choice, he could only turn the blood-colored flying sword around again and chop backward, barely blocking the arrow.

"To think there's an expert hidden under Luo Siqing whose strength surpasses the tenth level of Body Tempering... I must deal with this person first before I can kill Luo Siqing."

A cold light flashed in the man in black's eyes. He immediately changed targets, turned around, and charged swiftly toward Lu Lin's position!