Innate Ambush

A Geng Metal Finger at the minor mastery level was not merely astonishingly powerful.

Even its casting speed had improved by a great deal compared to before.

"And most importantly, I can control its release freely. Even after the spell has condensed and taken shape, I can disperse it in an instant."

Zhou Changwang still remembered how, when practicing Geng Metal Finger before, he had tried dispersing the spell after it formed to improve his skill proficiency without consuming spiritual power. Instead, the spell had slipped out of control and violently burst apart.

Now, the minor mastery Geng Metal Finger could freely take shape and dissipate.

It could be said that he had initially achieved his original goal.

It was just that the spiritual power consumed would not decrease.

After all, the moment a spell was cast, it had already harmonized with heaven and earth.

The spiritual power leaving his body returned to the heavens, and naturally could not be reclaimed.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, I won't waste words on thanks. Tonight, let's go to Crane Immortal Tower together. I'll treat you to a meal."

Xu Zhong looked at his now neat and spotless spirit field, his excitement impossible to conceal.

"That won't be necessary. I have something to do tonight. We can gather another time."

Zhou Changwang clasped his hands and said.

By then, the sky had already begun to darken.

If he went to dinner as well, night would surely have fallen completely.

And the outskirts of Phoenix-Cry Cove Market were no peaceful place. He did not dare wander about at night, because robbing cultivators could attack him at any moment.

Even if they were not robbing cultivators, any ordinary Rogue Cultivator who saw him alone might be tempted to knock him out with a club, transforming in an instant from a kindly neighbor into a robbing cultivator.

Here, weakness was the original sin.

By the time he entered the outskirts of the market, the sky had grown dim.

Zhou Changwang walked down familiar alleys. Seeing that he was nearly home, his steps gradually lightened.

Just then.

Zhou Changwang abruptly stopped, his body instantly retreating.

At the same time, a small throwing knife flashed like lightning and stabbed straight into the ground.

"Who's there?"

Zhou Changwang's eyelids twitched wildly. He immediately spotted a black-clad, black-masked figure rushing at him with a longsword in hand.

At the same time, another person appeared behind him, likewise dressed in black with their face covered by black cloth, wielding a curved saber. The figure seemed to stroll leisurely through the courtyard, yet moved like a phantom; in only a few steps, they had rushed before him, slashing diagonally with a saber stroke as elusive as an antelope's horn hanging from a tree.

The instant the saber swung out, a blade radiance like a silken ribbon had already reached him.

The two had revealed themselves without a word and attacked directly, swift and ruthless.

"Two people? Martial artists? Two Innate martial artists?"

Zhou Changwang was struck pale with shock.

He had never imagined that two Innate martial artists would lie in wait on his usual route and suddenly attack him.

Had he not become a cultivator, with the cultivation of the Second Layer of the Qi Refining Realm, his physique constantly nourished by spiritual power until it became extraordinary, and his five senses greatly enhanced—able to hear cicadas from a hundred meters away and discern the finest details within ten paces... he would never have detected this ambush. That first flying knife alone would likely have struck him.

Seeing the saber slash toward him, he had no time to think and hurriedly raised the spirit hoe in his hand, meeting the blade radiance head-on.

Clang!

Sparks flew in all directions.

Zhou Changwang's spirit hoe was violently knocked aside, and a notch appeared directly above its blade.

Though the spirit hoe in his hand looked unremarkable, it could be infused with spiritual power. Its material was naturally exceptional, and its hardness rivaled divine weapons in mortal eyes.

But these two were Martial Dao Innate experts among mortals, capable of projecting true qi beyond their bodies. The weapons in their hands were naturally divine weapons as well, which was why his spirit hoe had been struck into a chipped state.

If this continued, though, his spirit hoe would not withstand many more blows.

"Damn it."

Zhou Changwang cursed.

Then he saw a longsword thrust upward from below.

As sword light bloomed, sword radiance flickered and spat from within.

It was the first martial artist. By then, she had already rushed close and stabbed at him with this strike.

Zhou Changwang hurriedly rolled to the side in a miserable scramble, barely evading the sword.

As he rose, he did not hesitate in the slightest. Spiritual power roiled violently within him, and under the control of his mind, rune structures rapidly condensed one after another.

He knew that the two were martial artists. Their speed, strength, combat techniques... all far surpassed his own.

And what he could rely on at that moment—

Was only spells.

The sole offensive spell he had mastered: Geng Metal Finger.

"He's casting a spell! Interrupt him!"

A sharp female cry rang out. The sword-wielder lightly stepped against the wall, her body soaring like a swallow as she thrust her sword toward him.

"Don't worry."

The other person shouted low, taking several long strides and chasing after him as swiftly as a cicada in flight. The crescent-shaped curved saber in his hand chopped down viciously.

One wielded a saber, the other a sword; their coordination was seamless.

Dense Innate true qi poured madly into their saber and sword, causing both weapons to gleam faintly. Blade light and sword flashes danced as they slashed and thrust, perilous beyond measure.

Zhou Changwang's face turned pale. One hand swung the spirit hoe wildly to block, while his feet kept retreating beneath the tremendous force of the repeated impacts from saber chops and sword slashes.

At the same time, as spiritual power circulated within him, his mind remained steady, controlling that power as it condensed the spell.

It was only because his Geng Metal Finger had reached minor mastery, making him incomparably familiar with the spell and vastly increasing his ability to control spiritual power, that he could maintain the casting amidst such fierce combat.

"Not good, his spell is about to take shape."

"Didn't they say cultivators had to stand still to cast spells? How can he keep moving?

And why is it so fast?"

The two Innate martial artists were both startled.

"Windwave Slash!"

Seeing this, one of them immediately shouted low. Light blazed from the curved saber in his hand, and an incomparably swift long blade had already slashed down.

Zhou Changwang felt his hand suddenly grow light.

The spirit hoe he had been swinging madly was already cleaved in two.

"Gale Sword!"

On the other side, the sword-wielding martial artist also hurriedly swung her longsword, transforming it into a sky full of twinkling stars.

Buzz!

Yet at that very moment, Zhou Changwang's spell finally took shape.

Geng Metal Finger!

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately pointed forward.

A streak of golden light flashed and vanished in an instant.

Pfft!

In the next moment, a bloody hole appeared in the sword-wielder's head.

Only then did blood begin to gush from the hole.

She was dead.

The scattered sword radiance she had unleashed also weakened with her death before dissipating.

"Xi Feng..."

The other person cried out, his eyes instantly turning bloodshot as he raised his curved saber and hacked madly at Zhou Changwang.

But at that very moment, a strange spiritual light suddenly descended upon him, immediately slowing his originally lightning-fast speed considerably.

Zhou Changwang was overjoyed at the sight. Without bothering to discover who had suddenly come to his rescue, he hastily retreated from the man's attack range. As spiritual power surged through his body once more, he rapidly condensed the spell's runes.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths...

After three breaths, the spell took shape.

He pointed with one finger.

Though the black-clad man reacted in time and used the saber's blade to block, the Geng Metal Finger still pierced straight through the back of the saber without losing momentum, then bored through his head.