Fire Chi Pearl

Fire Chi Pearl

"What a pity. It seemed there would be no peaceful resolution today..."

The middle-aged scholar sighed and shook his head, yet he made no visible move.

Qin Long, standing to the side, suddenly narrowed her eyes and said, "Careful, he has already made his move!"

Xiao Liang became alert, only to see a floorboard before him explode. A ghostly hand radiating savage, sinister energy burst from underground and clawed straight for his face like a swooping eagle!

"Not bad. Try my Heavenly Yang Demon-Subduing Hand!"

A trace of fire ignited in Xiao Liang's pupils. From his elbows down, threads of golden spiritual power wound around his arms, covering his palms and fingers.

Bang!!

Xiao Liang swung his arm down hard against the ghost hand. The two collided head-on, its nails stopping mere fractions of an inch from his eyeballs, unable to advance any further.

But then a ring-shaped blast of force erupted, exposing the difference in their cultivation.

"Hehe, I wondered how strong you were. Fourth Level of Qi Refining isn't enough. Why not call your companion over too?"

The middle-aged scholar secretly glanced at Qin Long, taunting Xiao Liang in a mocking tone, though he was actually deeply wary of being surrounded.

His instincts told him that the ornate longsword at that woman's waist carried a biting aura, and its spiritual fluctuations far surpassed those of an ordinary magic artifact.

"A provocation? Did you think I was some foolish boy who cared about saving face in front of a woman?"

"Still, you are lucky today. Your opponent really is only me. Don't worry—though you are at the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining, you will not waste much of my time."

Xiao Liang found this whetstone before him rather amusing. From their brief exchange just now, he had already formed a rough estimate of their respective strengths.

The middle-aged scholar was at the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining, two levels above Xiao Liang, but they were still within the same major realm: the Mid Qi Refining Stage.

Moreover, the technique the other man cultivated was likely extremely crude. The quality of his spiritual power was among the lowest grades for cultivators, and it would be difficult for him even to break through into Late Qi Refining.

Meanwhile, Xiao Liang had already switched to the true-inheritance-grade Golden Crow Sun-Refining Divine Art. The quality of his spiritual power actually surpassed his opponent's!

"What an arrogant brat!"

Though the middle-aged scholar had achieved his aim, the faint smile on Xiao Liang's face still made rage surge in his chest. His knees bent slightly before he sprang backward, widening the distance between them.

Yet the ghost hand from before advanced instead of retreating. It shifted through all manner of claw and palm techniques in midair, attacking Xiao Liang like a martial arts grandmaster and launching a storm of relentless assaults!

Bang! Bang! Bang!!

Xiao Liang also came from a martial family and had a solid foundation. He met attack with attack, countering without yielding an inch. Even when he was occasionally struck, he quickly dispelled the force.

Under the reinforcement of the Golden Crow Sun-Refining Divine Art's supremely hard and yang spiritual power, his pair of Heavenly Yang Demon-Subduing Hands seemed to gain a remarkable boost in strength.

After all, these were techniques passed down through the same lineage of Heavenly Sun Mountain.

Ghost hands were yin in nature, while the Heavenly Yang Demon-Subduing Hand seemed to counter them perfectly. With every clash, a thread of the black mist surrounding the ghost hand was scattered, and the balance of victory gradually tipped toward Xiao Liang.

"Heh!"

Yet the middle-aged scholar was not panicked at all. Instead, he revealed a cold smile.

Another ghost hand suddenly burst out from beneath him, charging through the ground toward Xiao Liang with savage force, crushing the floorboards along its path.

At this moment, Qin Long noticed that the broad sleeves of the middle-aged scholar were completely empty, fluttering wildly in the gale.

Those two pitch-black ghost hands were actually transformed from his own body.

What an evil technique!

"One ghost hand already leaves you struggling. What about two at once? Arrogant brat, in your next life, you should learn to watch yourself!"

The pair of ghost hands that had once been inside the middle-aged scholar's broad sleeves came from a demonic technique called the Soul-Severing Ghost-Refining Art. To cultivate it successfully, one had to sever one's own flesh and blood and fuse it with the vicious souls of fierce ghosts.

The price was immense, but so was its power. The ghost hands could not only act independently of the body, but also moved as freely as one's own limbs. They had no vital points and feared no attacks from an opponent.

Usually, the middle-aged scholar only needed to keep his distance before using the pair of ghost hands to toy with his enemies at will.

On the Divine Weapons Register of the Yan Kingdom's martial world, Ghost-Hand Scholar ranked seventh. His reputation even surpassed that of many Yan Kingdom rogue cultivators who roamed the jianghu.

As the second ghost hand attacked from the ground, the two hands struck from above and below, executing lethal moves of entirely different styles. Yet because both were controlled by one person, their coordination was flawless.

Rip!

Though Xiao Liang's expression remained calm, the pressure on him increased sharply. Faced with the ghost hands' bizarre attacks, he was soon unable to defend himself completely, and one of them tore a bloody gash across his shoulder.

Moments later, black blood began to seep from the wound, and half his body felt slightly numb.

The middle-aged scholar revealed a delighted expression. In the past, anyone struck by this move—even a cultivator—would suffer greatly.

Yet soon afterward, as Xiao Liang circulated the spiritual power of the Golden Crow Sun-Refining Divine Art to his shoulder, it was like melting ice and snow. The poisoned blood was swiftly burned away, and even the bleeding stopped.

Heavenly Sun Mountain was a righteous sect and likely dealt with demonic methods often. Perhaps this was what they called professional specialization—their spiritual power had extraordinarily high resistance to poison.

"I have to say, you crooked demonic cultivators always resort to such lowly tricks as poison. But before true power, all of it is useless!"

Xiao Liang rolled his shoulder, seeming to forget that he himself was also a demonic cultivator. Using Heavenly Sun Mountain's technique, his casual tone drove the mockery to its peak.

"You deserve to die!"

The middle-aged scholar's expression twisted viciously. Spiritual power surged throughout his body, and with a rattling sound, a rusted, blackened flexible sword shot from his waist like lightning and was caught firmly by one of the ghost hands.

The flexible sword then darted toward Xiao Liang's vital points at astonishing speed, like a venomous snake flicking out its tongue.

"Xiao Liang, be careful! He is starting to fight desperately. That sword is a magic artifact!"

Qin Long suppressed the urge to draw her sword, but she could not help warning him.

"Die beneath my Black Blood Sword!"

The middle-aged scholar sneered, but at the critical moment, he saw his opponent suddenly turn his back. Something seemed to appear in his hand.

Before he could see it clearly, Xiao Liang had already turned around again, holding a fiery red pearl in his palm. Within it, a strand of golden flame drifted about as though it possessed a spirit of its own.

Xiao Liang puffed out his cheeks and blew sharply at the pearl in his palm.

Boom!!!

A roaring golden flame dragon burst from the pearl. With a single bite, it swallowed the magic-artifact flexible sword and both black ghost hands, then erupted into a blazing hot gale that swept across dozens of yards!

Pfft!

The middle-aged scholar's face turned deathly pale. Then sweetness rose in his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. The aura around his entire body withered.

All he sensed was a horrifying, unimaginable heat, after which he completely lost his connection to the two ghost hands and the magic-artifact flexible sword.