A dirty strike

Chapter 42: A dirty strike (third update)

Meanwhile, on the other side!

Rustle!

What a chance! The instant Wang Yan saw the Lü Household cultivator knocked away, he clearly saw that only the man's shoulder had been clipped; he had not taken the full blow. And he was flying straight toward Wang Yan. An idea stirred in Wang Yan's mind. Spiritual light flashed in his hand, and the Fire Spirit Sword appeared in his grasp...

Thud! With a muffled crash, the Lü Household cultivator slammed straight into a large tree and bounced off...

Pfft! The Lü Household cultivator could not help spitting out a great mouthful of blood and was just about to get up.

Suddenly!

Whoosh! A figure flashed past, and a dark silhouette appeared behind him in an instant. He started in alarm, but before he could dodge!

Smack! A large hand suddenly reached out from behind the Lü Household cultivator and clamped over his mouth.

Then!

Slice! With a muffled sound so faint it was almost inaudible, a thread of red light swept across the Lü Household cultivator's throat. Blood instantly sprayed out. His body jolted violently and trembled before he crumpled to the ground without making a sound...

The attacker was none other than Wang Yan. Already gravely wounded, the Lü Household cultivator naturally never imagined someone was hiding behind him, ready to kill him in an instant...

And at that moment...

Bang! The Black Youth hurled his black rod into a tree, snapping it clean through...

The Black Youth roared in fury. Orange light suddenly flashed over his hands, then blazed around both fists as he turned and punched out at the two flying swords shooting toward him.

This fellow actually wanted to attack flying swords with his fists? Wasn't that courting death?

At that very instant!

Clang! Clang! Two metallic clashes rang out. At an utterly incredible angle, the Black Youth's fists actually struck the flats of the two oncoming flying swords... Both swords were blasted away...

Urgh! The Black Youth fared little better. Blood burst from his large hands, leaving them a mangled mess of flesh. His entire body flew back more than ten feet before he steadied himself, his expression turning ugly...

"Go!" The two Lü Household cultivators pointed at their deflected flying swords, then jabbed their fingers toward the Black Youth again and shouted in low voices.

Whoosh! Whoosh! The two flying swords shuddered in midair, then turned into two dazzling streaks shooting toward the Black Youth.

Just then!

"Hah!" The Black Youth's body jolted. Orange light flashed beneath his feet, and he turned and sprinted toward the woods. He was actually fleeing.

His plan all along had been to knock that cultivator away and escape in this direction. Naturally, he would not be foolish enough to clash head-on with two cultivators at major completion of the Cultivation Realm. He could not even spare a thought for his black metal rod. In a few strides, he was almost inside the woods...

"Damn it!"

"Third Brother, stop him!" The two pursuing Lü Household cultivators cursed angrily, and the middle-aged cultivator shouted. With their cultivation, their flying swords could only travel forty or fifty feet away, while the Black Youth had already fled seventy or eighty feet. Naturally, the swords could no longer reach him. The Lü Household cultivator who had been knocked away earlier was also in that direction and should still be alive, so they naturally called on him to block the escape... Shouting, they hurried after the Black Youth...

But.

The woods were utterly silent. There was no sign of movement from that Lü Household cultivator.

Rustle! The Black Youth plunged into the woods in an instant.

"Damn it!" The middle-aged cultivator and the other Lü Household cultivator cursed, instantly speeding up after the Black Youth. If he escaped deeper into the woods, he would be hard to find...

Still, wounded all over as the Black Youth was, escaping would not be so easy.

They were just about to catch up to his retreating figure as he plunged into the woods.

The two Lü Household cultivators arrived as well. Their speed was indeed much greater, and in the blink of an eye they had closed forty or fifty feet of the gap. Their hands moved through a series of spell gestures as they shouted in low voices, "Go!"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Two flying swords shot toward the Black Youth's back!

At that very instant!

Suddenly!

Whoosh! A dark figure flew out of the woods to one side, instantly dropping behind the Black Youth and blocking the paths of both flying swords.

"What?" The two Lü Household cultivators froze.

Thump! Thump! Amid a series of startling muffled impacts, the figure that had flown out was instantly sliced into several pieces by the flying swords. Blood mist sprayed everywhere, a powerful stench of blood spread in all directions, and scraps of flesh scattered...

"What was that?" The Lü Household cultivator started in alarm, never having expected such a turn. Looking closely, he happened to see the head flying away from that figure and cried out in horror, "Third Brother!"

At that very instant!

Rustle! Leaves suddenly rustled behind the two cultivators.

"Who's there?" Both Lü Household cultivators started, hurriedly turning to look and crying out in alarm, yet they saw nothing!

Because!

A hand had covered each man's eyes!

There stood!

Wang Yan, with one hand held in front of each cultivator's eyes!

"Go!" An astonishingly fierce roar suddenly rang out!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Terrifyingly scorching Red-Light Flame gushed from his palms. Each palm blasted out an enormous ball of red fire!

They slammed straight into the faces of the two Lü Household cultivators. Red-Light Flame instantly erupted in a violent explosion. Blood and flesh splattered everywhere, countless red tongues of fire surged and scattered in all directions, and the boundless, searing flames instantly blasted the nearby leaves to ash...

The two Lü Household cultivators did not even have time to scream. Their entire heads were blasted apart by the Red-Light Fireballs... Their bodies crashed heavily toward the ground...

Thud! Thud! Two tremendous muffled crashes sounded as they hit the ground, sending sand, stones, and dirt flying...

"Huh?" Wang Yan was also blasted backward. Crying out in surprise, he flew several dozen feet and was about to slam into a tree... He abruptly twisted his body, red light pulsing from his feet. With a thud, his feet struck the trunk. He spun around and dropped from the tree...

"Huh?" The Black Youth, who was fleeing at full speed, clearly noticed what had happened. He abruptly stopped and looked back, just in time to see the two Lü Household cultivators blasted backward with their heads blown apart. He hurriedly came to a halt, still shaken...

What was going on?

As it turned out!

After Wang Yan instantly killed the Lü Household cultivator wounded by the Black Youth, he had actually guessed the Black Youth's objective. Seeing that the Black Youth had even abandoned his black iron rod, he knew the young man must be close to his limit... He had originally planned to circle around from the other side, but the Black Youth came over quickly...

He threw the slain Black Youth out as a shield to block the two flying swords. Frankly, although Wang Yan was not the sort to leap to the defense of others, he rather admired this Black Youth, and he also deeply resented the Lü Household cultivators. He might be a soft persimmon, but that did not mean he was so easy to squeeze.

Luckily, it was the Black Youth. Had it been anyone else, Wang Yan would have waited until the Lü Household cultivators killed them before slowly dealing with the cultivators...

Of course.

It was also an excellent opportunity to strike in an instant.

Wang Yan had slipped behind them without a soul noticing. From directly behind the nearest Lü Household cultivator, he struck in midair, blasting two Red-Light Fireballs straight at the two men. Both Fireball Spells struck them squarely in the face. Even cultivators at major completion of the Cultivation Realm could not withstand fireballs striking their faces at such close range.

That was because Cultivation Realm cultivators could not project spiritual energy outward to form protective barriers. Naturally, they could not defend against spells and could only dodge or block them with magic artifacts and the like...

As for the result...

The two Lü Household cultivators fell straight to the ground, their faces entirely charred black and reduced to a bloody mess. One of them was still struggling to rise... Hideous rasps came from his throat, but in the end he failed to get up. His body stiffened, and he moved no more...

Wang Yan also landed on the ground, wisps of red spiritual energy flickering around his hands. This time, the flames had not directly burned his arms as they had before. Only his clothes were a little scorched...

After he had killed the young man and woman from the Ma Family, Card Fairy had told Wang Yan that his arms did not actually need to be injured. If he protected himself with his own magic power and spiritual energy, the spells he released would not hurt him. And since Wang Yan had that Card Immortal divine artifact absorbing magic power, his situation would actually be even better.

The Black Youth, who had run seventy or eighty feet away, naturally noticed what had happened behind him as well. His feet pounded along as he charged another hundred-odd feet, crashing headfirst into a large tree before finally stopping. He looked back and saw the two Lü Household cultivators lying on the ground...

"Huff! Huff! I'm saved!" The Black Youth gasped for breath, leaned against the large tree, and dropped onto his backside. He muttered, "Saved... ah...!"

"..." Seeing this, a trace of helplessness flashed through Wang Yan's eyes. Without saying anything, he walked over to the bodies of the two slain Lü Household cultivators and searched them, finding several Storage Bags. He also took a few things from their bodies, though there was nothing particularly good...

Then he walked over to where the dismembered Lü Household cultivator lay, found the flying swords released by the other two cultivators, and put them into a Storage Bag. Dusting off his backside, he turned to leave without paying the Black Youth any attention...

"Hey, hey! Brother!" The Black Youth froze at the sight, then hurriedly scrambled up and chased after Wang Yan, calling, "Why are you leaving?"

"What? Do you need something else?" Although Wang Yan had saved the Black Youth, he had no intention of getting too involved with him. The Black Youth was terribly naive, and becoming too close to him might bring Wang Yan plenty of trouble.

"Uh! Thank you for saving me! I haven't even thanked you yet, brother!" The Black Youth scratched the back of his head and spoke awkwardly, looking somewhat embarrassed.

"No need!" Wang Yan replied coldly. "I was only taking revenge!"

"You have a grudge against the Lü Household?"

"That's none of your business!"

"Uh! There's something I'd like to ask you to help me with, brother!" the Black Youth hurriedly said.