Slap!
Slap!
Slap!
The crisp sound of slaps rang out one after another, slow and steady!
Nalan Yanran's expression kept changing with each one!
Surprise, disbelief, embarrassment, anger, towering fury, icy coldness, embarrassment, then embarrassment laced with almost tangible killing intent!
"Stop!"
Ge Ye roared. His long hair stirred without a breeze, and his sword flew from its case in fury, striking at Lin Dong without a shred of mercy!
A personal disciple of the mighty Misty Cloud Sect!
Its future junior sect master!
The princess of the Nalan Family!
And someone dared humiliate her in broad daylight?
If word got out, how could the Misty Cloud Sect show its face in the Jia Ma Empire?
Lin Dong had to die!
"Yellow Springs Thick Earth!"
Though the Misty Cloud Sect primarily cultivated wind-attribute Dou Qi, that did not mean it lacked other lethal techniques. Ge Ye struck to kill!
"All right! I'll stop!"
At the sight, Lin Dong sneered and hurled Nalan Yanran from his arms toward Ge Ye. "Here, take her back!"
"Huh?!"
Ge Ye had not expected Lin Dong to be so crafty. He abruptly reined in his strength, shifted his blade aside, and reached out to catch Nalan Yanran.
"My turn!"
Lin Dong seized the opening to counterattack. His left arm transformed completely into a dragon claw as he lunged at Ge Ye. "Have a taste of what Third Brother can do!"
"Venom-Devouring Dragon Claw!"
As the fierce wind struck his face, Ge Ye barely managed to shield Nalan Yanran at his side. He ground his toes hard against the earth, and yellow-brown Dou Qi surged from his body like a tidal wave.
He swept his sword through a heavy flourish. A half-inch-thick barrier of Dou Qi wrapped around the blade as he slashed straight down at the Venom-Devouring Dragon Claw!
At the same time, Dou Qi raced through Ge Ye's chest and abdomen, forming a solid layer of earth-attribute Dou Qi Armor. Its surface gleamed with the dull luster of stone and metal-a Da Dou Shi's ultimate defensive safeguard!
"You brat, you have a death wish!"
Ge Ye bellowed as his blade crashed against the dragon claw.
Clang!
The piercing clash of metal sent dust flying in every direction!
Ge Ye felt a savage, almost primeval force slam into his wrist. His sword nearly flew from his grasp, and the dragon claw forced the blade to bend downward.
Shock rocked him. Before he could change his move, Lin Dong twisted the tips of his dragon claw and slid them along the sword's spine. Glowing with dark purple poison, the claw tips reached straight for his heart.
Riiip!
A shrill tearing sound abruptly rang out.
The next second!
Beneath the blue-black dragon claw, the seemingly impenetrable earth-attribute Dou Qi Armor tore like thin paper. Five deep claw marks ripped through it in an instant!
Potent venom mixed with baleful Qi began visibly corroding the Dou Qi Armor!
Ge Ye's chest tightened. More than half his protective Dou Qi instantly collapsed, and he staggered back two steps. He lowered his head to stare at the rapidly spreading poison over his chest, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"Impossible! You don't have any Dou Qi! How could you break through a Da Dou Shi's Dou Qi Armor?"
In all his decades of cultivation, this was the first time he had encountered a monster capable of tearing through Dou Qi defenses with physical strength alone.
Worse, the chilling venom on those claw tips was seeping through his armor toward his skin. An itchy numbness instantly spread through him.
"Nothing's impossible."
Lin Dong shook his dragon claw, a poisonous gleam flickering faintly at its tips. His tone carried an air of careless mockery. "Is that all the defense a Da Dou Shi from the Misty Cloud Sect can muster?"
Those words ignited Ge Ye's fury completely!
As an inner sect deacon of the Misty Cloud Sect, when had he ever suffered such humiliation?
He held nothing back. Yellow-brown Dou Qi rose to its peak around him, his long hair whipped wildly, and he raised his sword high!
Dense Dou Qi gathered at the sword's tip, forming a massive Dou Qi blade several feet long. Even the surrounding air warped slightly beneath its pressure.
"Yellow Springs Thick Earth Sword! Die!"
The all-out blow carried the full power of a Da Dou Shi as it cleaved downward. The force of its wind pressed shallow cracks into the ground.
The fighting spirit in Lin Dong's eyes sharpened. Every dragon scale on his left arm bristled. Without dodging, he drove his dragon claw straight at the massive sword!
"You're asking to die!"
Nalan Yanran snorted coldly. "Uncle Ge's Yellow Springs Thick Earth Sword is a Mysterious Tier Dou Technique with tremendous power. Not even someone at his level would dare take it head-on!"
Lin Dong paid none of that any mind. Just as his claw tips were about to collide with the massive Dou Qi sword!
His muscles and bones abruptly tightened, and his skin instantly took on an iron-blue metallic sheen. At the same time, he shouted inwardly, Iron Block!
And he was not finished yet!
Lin Dong fixed his eyes on Ge Ye. Air surged within his chest, and he opened his mouth to unleash a long roar that shook the mountains and wilderness.
Clang!
This was no ordinary human cry, but the combined roar of a dragon and a tiger!
It carried both the clear cry of an Azure Dragon piercing the clouds and the mighty roar of a fierce tiger descending the mountain!
The two waves of sound blended into visible ripples that slammed into Ge Ye's sea of consciousness.
Draconic might suppressed his soul, while the tiger's baleful force battered his mind. The dual sonic attack struck his soul directly!
Ge Ye's eyes instantly lost focus. His mind reeled, his ears rang like a surging tide, and the Dou Qi throughout his body faltered. The sword in his hand lost most of its power as well.
Boom!
At that very instant!
The dragon claw collided with the sword!
A shock wave exploded outward, hurling dust from the ground into the air.
Ge Ye felt as though his sword had struck ten-thousand-year-old dark iron!
The recoil surged along the blade and straight into his meridians!
Blood rose in his throat, and he nearly spat it out on the spot!
More terrifying still, the youth before him had not moved an inch. His dragon claw had actually clamped down on the massive Dou Qi sword. As his five fingers tightened, fine cracks spread across the blade!
Now!
Lin Dong's gaze sharpened. He drew in his dragon claw, curled it into a fist, and drove it into Ge Ye's chest with overwhelming force.
Thud!
After the heavy impact, Ge Ye flew backward like a kite with its string cut. He traced an arc through the air and crashed into an earthen slope several yards away, breaking two small trees before finally coming to a stop.
He lay prone on the ground, a small section of his chest caved in. Blackish-red blood kept spilling from the corners of his mouth. When he raised his head to look at Lin Dong, his eyes were full of terror and shock.
Nalan Yanran stood rooted to the spot, utterly dumbstruck.
She had never imagined that Ge Ye, a sect deacon with the cultivation of a Da Dou Shi, would last only a few exchanges against this youth before being beaten into such a state!
Her fingers tightened slightly around her broken sword. Her pretty face went deathly pale. Even her earlier towering fury had mostly faded, leaving only bone-deep shock.
Lin Dong slowly withdrew his dragon claw. The blue-black scales receded bit by bit, restoring his left arm to its original strange, blackish-purple appearance.
He walked slowly up to Ge Ye and said evenly, "Leave the marriage agreement and compensation, then you can go."
Ge Ye's face was ashen. After glancing at Nalan Yanran, however, he gritted his teeth and tossed out a pill. "The Xiao Clan's marriage agreement and Qi Gathering Powder as compensation. It's all here."
Lin Dong took the marriage agreement and scanned it quickly before turning to Nalan Yanran:
"My second brother isn't trash. If you look down on him because of his cultivation, you'll regret it someday!"
"Fortunes change with time!"
"Don't look down on a young man just because he's poor!"
At that point, Lin Dong paused. "If you refuse to accept this, I can agree on my second brother's behalf. Three years from now, atop the Misty Cloud Sect's mountain, he'll defeat you fair and square!"
Nalan Yanran said nothing.
Seeing that, Lin Dong did not linger. He turned and walked away.
"Wait!"
Nalan Yanran suddenly spoke, her voice as cold as ice!
Lin Dong turned back and met those beautiful eyes, clear as autumn waters.
"I want you!"
Nalan Yanran pointed a slender finger straight at Lin Dong.
"Huh?!"
Lin Dong blinked in confusion.
"I want you!"
Nalan Yanran's pretty face was frosty, and she clenched her teeth. Her voice was icy. "Three years from now, atop Misty Cloud Mountain, I want to fight you to the death!"
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