Ambition Trapped in Hell

Jie Xiao appeared, and everyone in the clearing ceased fighting and turned to look!

Cao Huan narrowed his eyes to slits, his palms rubbing together incessantly. "This man's power is tightly condensed. I do not know whether he is friend or foe!"

Liu Yunshen's heart burned with anxiety, despair flooding his chest. Cao Huan alone is already difficult for me to defeat. If Jie Xiao joins him, this battle may have no turning point left! But I must hold the two of them back somehow and buy my brothers a chance to escape.

Jie Xiao slowly approached Liu Yunshen and said softly, "You save that half-dead man, and I will hold this bastard off for you! But the price is your life!"

"Deal!!" Without another thought, Liu Yunshen handed the rusty iron sword to Jie Xiao. Without looking back, he ran to Ouyang Qingcang's side and pressed both palms onto the vital points of his Ren and Du meridians. The boundless life force of Earth Vein Rooting flowed deep into his body. Ouyang Qingcang's breathing grew easier and easier. Realizing that the tearing agony in his wounds had vanished, he said, "Thank you, Junior..."

"Do not speak!!"

Holding Liu Yunshen's rusty iron sword, nameless fury rose in Jie Xiao's heart. He raised the sword and gathered force, the Endless Abyss Swallows the Sun Stance shocking everyone present!

"Could this be the Five Peaks Sword Force? Yet it does not quite seem like it!" Yan Chen was fighting Gong Liefeng and Cai Yuelin. Bone blades flew and thunder scattered in panic, yet even amid the fierce battle, he still had the spare attention to observe the situation!

Cao Huan's pupils contracted sharply, his tiger eyes opening wide. "I have neither grievance nor enmity with you, yet you use the Five Hells Heart-Eating Sword from the very start! What is the meaning of this!"

"Go ask the ghosts in the underworld!" Jie Xiao shouted into the air. A thirty-foot Sword Qi bristling with countless serrated teeth slowly descended!!

"I thought it was something remarkable. So it is merely an ignorant child at the first realm of Qi Refinement!" Cao Huan sneered savagely, wielding his giant wheel at the Sword Qi. Yet when the wheel entered within three feet of the Sword Qi, its power diminished tenfold!!!

"How is that possible!" Cao Huan turned pale with shock. The Sword Qi, like Mount Tai overturning, abruptly accelerated and crashed straight toward his head! Startled and enraged, Cao Huan exhausted one hundred and twenty percent of his pill power and even used a forbidden art. Countless streaks of blood radiance merged into the giant wheel, which collided with the inverted heavenly peak above him!

Boom! Boom!!

After two thunderous explosions, Cao Huan spat blood. Stretching out his great hand, he sent five carriages soaring forth!

"Your move can only bully the weak!" Jie Xiao sneered. The five lasso rings flew as fast as lightning, but upon entering within three feet of him, they inexplicably slowed to a turtle's crawl. The rusty iron sword lightly cut them apart with several strikes! The five carriages returned without success!

"Endless Wheel Calamity!" Cao Huan roared in shock and fury, countless enormous wheels rolling in every direction!

The giant wheels deliberately—or perhaps not—smashed toward Yan Chen! Yan Chen cursed loudly and dodged in terror! Cai Yuelin and Lei Zhaoye leaped into the air, their two swords joining as one as they stabbed fiercely at Yan Chen!

Another giant wheel actually rolled toward Liu Yunshen, who was treating Ouyang Qingcang! Cao Langao raised her sword to block it, only to be blasted more than thirty yards away. She spat blood, collapsed to the ground, and could not rise!

Jie Xiao was greatly alarmed. Becoming one with his sword, he swept it out. The wheel's rolling momentum grew slower and slower until countless streaks of Sword Qi blasted it to pieces. When he turned back to look at Cao Huan, Cao Huan had already transformed into a streak of golden light and fled!

After circulating his power for twelve breaths, Ouyang Qingcang's chest wound had healed by more than half. He exhaled a breath of turbid air. "I am fine now! I wonder about Junior Sister Cao..."

"I will save her!" Liu Yunshen picked up Cao Langao and once more transferred his power into her! Jie Xiao flew into a rage and raised his longsword. "Why are you so full of womanly compassion!"

Liu Yunshen closed his eyes and ignored him, concentrating on circulating his power. Before long, Cao Langao opened her eyes and awoke!

"Senior!" Liu Yunshen seized the rusty iron sword and pointed it at his own throat. Jie Xiao frowned. The sword tip lightly sliced his skin, and a drop of blood fell upon the blade! The iron sword trembled with a mournful cry! Countless auras rebounded upon Jie Xiao!

Jie Xiao sighed and threw the sword to the ground. "Come with me!"

"Brother Liu!"

Everyone turned their heads. Liu Yunshen had already picked up the iron sword and followed Jie Xiao away!

Lei Zhaoye said angrily, "We cannot let Brother Liu be alone!"

"I have returned!" Ouyang Qingcang drew his longsword!

"Four swords unite! Form the formation!"

Lei Zhaoye, Ouyang Qingcang, Gong Liefeng, Cai Yuelin, and Cao Langao gathered together. Four kinds of Sword Qi shot into the heavens, erupting into thirty-six feet of colored radiance! The radiance transformed into a sword and swept through the forest with invincible force!

"I will lead the formation first! Eight Winds Shatter Form!" Gong Liefeng stood amid the formation of four. His Sword Qi was like wind and storm; wherever it passed, great trees snapped and not a blade of grass remained!

"My life is over!" Yan Chen staggered back in terror. That fierce Sword Qi shattered his already-damaged left arm once more. Unable to dodge in time, Qin Xiong was blasted into dust by the vast Sword Qi amid agonized howls!

Sweat drenched Lei Zhaoye as he asked in a low voice, "How much pill power do you have left?"

"At most fifty percent!"

"We can only unleash one more sword!" Lei Zhaoye was greatly alarmed. Cai Yuelin said urgently, "I will lead the formation and blast him with the lightning sword!"

"The treacherous bastard is running!"

Yan Chen transformed into a streak of blood light. He had thought he had shaken off his pursuers, but the five behind him clung like maggots to the bone and caught up again in an instant! In shock and fury, he accelerated once more. Blood spilled from his mouth, and his insides felt as though they were burning. "You scraps! If I live through today, I will skin you, pull out your tendons, hack your corpses into ten thousand pieces, and feed them to dogs!"

"Brother Cai! Now is the chance!" As the five of Lei Zhaoye joined as one, their speed doubled at once!

Cai Yuelin gave a sharp shout, his Sword Qi turning into lightning as it shot a hundred feet forward!

"Ah!!!"

A long, miserable scream rang out. Yan Chen lost another leg, then rolled and crawled as he desperately leaped toward a distant village!

Lei Zhaoye, Cai Yuelin, Gong Liefeng, Ouyang Qingcang, and Cao Langao had only ten percent of their pill power remaining. The Four Swords Formation collapsed. "Chase!"

"Beasts! Beasts!" Yan Chen rushed into the village. Countless village women and children stared in terror at the horrifying blood-soaked man, who looked like a skeletal demon. Before the fear had even faded from their eyes, their flesh and blood turned into mist in an instant, becoming food for the demon's maw!

"Not enough! Far from enough! Even slaughtering this entire village would not make up one percent!" Yan Chen's face turned green. Ouyang Qingcang and Gong Liefeng had already surrounded him from the front, while Cao Langao, Lei Zhaoye, and Cai Yuelin stood behind him!

Then Liu Yunshen descended from the sky!

"Brother Liu, are you all right?"

Seizing the moment, Yan Chen took a little girl hostage!

A quarter of an hour earlier.

Liu Yunshen and Jie Xiao walked into the forest.

Without a word, Jie Xiao raised his palm and struck. "Fight me!"

"Senior, your pill power is sealed. I fear you are no match for me!" Liu Yunshen helplessly raised his sword, only for the other man's palm to slam into his shoulder!

"Young man, never underestimate any opponent before you. Weakness has never been an original sin!" Jie Xiao stared at Liu Yunshen, withdrew his palm, stepped back, drew a deep breath, and struck again!

Though the move was plain and unadorned, its trajectory was all the more elusive and unpredictable! Ripples seemed to shimmer through the space within three feet of his palms! Jie Xiao was like a fish in water, like a bird in the sky! Its profound mystery left Liu Yunshen speechless with shock!

He no longer dared to be careless. Drawing a deep breath, the surging true force within the little rivers of his meridians transformed in an instant into fierce Sword Qi! Seven orbs of light rose once more!

"Now that is more like it!" Jie Xiao nodded inwardly. With a Yellow Springs Shatters the Peaks Stance, he stirred up a hundred feet of flowing sand!

Liu Yunshen's feet sank into the ground. Rising, he stabbed out with his sword. Yet when he came within three feet of Jie Xiao, the seven starry orbs became dim and lusterless, swaying as though about to fall!

"What strange move is this!" Liu Yunshen was horrified. It was already too late to retreat. His double pupils opened, and he seemed to see a vast, obscure stream of Qi above Jie Xiao's head, reaching straight to heaven and earth!!

Jie Xiao shot out a sword finger. A fierce Sword Qi more than ten feet long was already before Liu Yunshen's face! Without thinking, Liu Yunshen closed his eyes and dodged aside, flicking his slanted sword upward! He too was like a fish in water, like an eagle skimming the earth!

After a soft "Huh," the two streams of Sword Qi collided. Both men retreated half a step!

"A prodigy!" Jie Xiao stared at the youth before him. At Liu Yunshen's brow, there was likewise a flickering strand of Qi connecting heaven and earth. Though it was far less than what Jie Xiao himself had comprehended, he has already obtained the key to the sect gate and the command token of the army. What he comprehends in the future will surely not be beneath mine!

"Senior, if you please!" Liu Yunshen retreated three steps and gathered force for a strike!

Jie Xiao sent out another sword. Liu Yunshen likewise held nothing back. Sword light overlapped, dazzling white brilliance erupting forth! No tremor of heaven and earth could be heard, yet within that white light lurked ten thousand strands of killing intent!

When the radiance faded, the two stood face-to-face, neither speaking.

The iron sword had extended by several inches and struck Jie Xiao's heart first!

"Why did you not bring down your sword!" Jie Xiao's brows stood on end!

"Senior..." Liu Yunshen withdrew his sword. Jie Xiao flew into a rage and slapped him across the face. "I asked you why you did not bring down your sword!"

"I owe Senior my life! Besides, Senior is not an evil man. I could not do it!"

With a great roar, Jie Xiao used his right hand to sever his own left arm! Liu Yunshen was horrified and stepped forward! Jie Xiao extended his right palm, hellfire blazing in his eyes. "I, Jie Xiao, have never owed anyone in my life!"

Watching the figure depart toward the Zhou Kingdom, and the still-hot crimson blood on the ground, Liu Yunshen felt hollow inside. After standing dazed for a long while, he suddenly startled. "Oh no, Yan Chen's cultivation is extraordinary! I should have gone back sooner!"

A bolt of lightning raced through the forest, and Liu Yunshen finally arrived at the critical moment!

Yan Chen wore a savage expression. Limping on one leg, he held a bone blade to the girl's neck. The girl wailed in terror, "I want Mother! Mother! Save me!!"

"Do not come closer! Come any closer, and I will stab her to death!" Sweat covered Yan Chen's face as he swept his gaze over the six people before him!

"I will distract him. Shall Junior Brother Cai still make the move?"

"Let me do it instead!"

Just as Liu Yunshen, Lei Zhaoye, and Cai Yuelin exchanged looks, a patrol of Qin Kingdom soldiers passed by the village!

Yan Chen was overjoyed and shouted loudly.

"Who is causing trouble here!"

A Qin commander pushed through the crowd, then roughly shoved aside Lei Zhaoye and the others!

Liu Yunshen was enraged, but Gong Liefeng, normally the most impulsive among them, stopped him. "Brother Liu, we must not come into conflict with the Qin army!"

Liu Yunshen was stunned beyond words. Looking toward Lei Zhaoye and the others, he saw troubled expressions on every face.

"Little girl, you are lucky! Hurry home and burn incense to Buddha!" Yan Chen pinched the girl's cheek, then sneered as he hopped behind the Qin army's formation.

The commander gave a fawning smile. "Are you a disciple of the Demon Sect?"

"Yan Chen! Heard of me?" Though standing on one leg, Yan Chen still raised his chin arrogantly!

"So you are the son of the Wonderful Sound Palace's master!" The Qin commander was delighted, his obsequious expression sickening to behold.

Liu Yunshen's fury would not subside. The arm holding the rusty iron sword trembled faintly, but an excited cry suddenly rang in his ears.

"Brother Liu! Is that Brother Liu!" Two figures hurried out from the Qin army.

Liu Yunshen looked toward the voices, then immediately ran to the front of the Qin formation. He tightly embraced the two men, trembling with excitement. "Big Dog Brother, Hu Two!!"