The kill
Mu Lin raised his head and looked at the young man opposite him who was holding a black sword. The contempt in his heart completely disappeared.
His movements just now, from catching the sword head-on to launching a sneak attack from the side, and then forcing him to retreat, were perfectly coordinated. They didn't seem like a group of rogue cultivators who had just gathered together; they seemed more like a team that often fought together.
Moreover, that black sword was indeed strange; his Crimson Fire Snake Scale Armor couldn't withstand it, which meant that the opponent's weapon was at least Legend Rank, or even higher.
The fact that Legend Rank weapon could fall into the hands of a Black Gold Rank Five-Star and be used so skillfully is itself suspicious.
Mu Lin held his sword horizontally in front of him, temporarily bandaging the wound on his left hand, but he knew that dragging it out would be disadvantageous for him.
The two opponents, one engaging him head-on and the other launching a sneak attack from the side, were coordinating their attacks more and more smoothly. His injured left hand was affecting the stability of his sword grip, and the Crimson Fire Snake's scales were countered by the black sword. He needed to change his fighting style.
"I underestimated you two." Mu Lin stared at Shen Fei and muttered to himself.
He spoke these words very calmly, without the sarcastic tone he used before; it sounded like he was seriously evaluating his opponent.
After speaking, he took a step back with his right foot, lowered his center of gravity, and held the Long Sword upright in front of him. The crimson spiritual light on the sword began to flow faster and faster. From the tip of the sword to the hilt, the spiritual light became brighter and denser. Finally, the entire sword was wrapped in a thick layer of crimson flames, and the air around the blade was baked and slightly distorted.
He's getting serious.
Shen Fei ignored Mu Lin's words, and with a sudden push of his feet, he slid forward, skimming along the stone chamber floor.
The Ink Cloud Sword lay horizontally beside him, its dark light membrane, after being infused with the Dark Law, becoming as deep and unyielding as a pool of thick ink.
He neither slowed down nor probed, charging straight at Mu Lin.
He kicked the pebbles on the stone chamber floor, sending them flying backward. He kept his body extremely low, with the tip of his sword pointing forward, his whole body like a black shadow gliding along the ground.
Having just suffered a loss with his left hand, Mu Lin instinctively didn't want to use his body to take the black sword head-on again when he saw Shen Fei charging towards him again.
His left hand still can't clench tightly. Although the bleeding from the cut between his middle and index fingers has stopped, the stiffness from the severed tendon is still there, and any movement of his fingers pulls on the wound and causes it to ache.
He gritted his teeth, held his Long Sword horizontally in his right hand, and slammed his left palm against the blade. Crimson Spiritual Power from his Dantian flowed through his Meridians and condensed into a net of fire in front of him.
The fire net was made of dozens of fine fire threads interwoven together, each wrapped in crimson high-temperature Spiritual Power. The meshes connected and enveloped Shen Fei's face.
The fire net appeared extremely quickly; from the moment he struck the sword to the moment it took the fire net to take shape, it was only a blink of an eye. The temperature baked the air in the stone chamber to a scorching heat, and even the surface of the stone slabs underfoot cracked and scorched. Fine rock dust on the ceiling of the stone chamber was baked down by the heat wave.
Shen Fei did not slow down. On the contrary, he quickened his pace, the Ink Cloud Sword pointing forward, his body leaning forward, about to crash headfirst into the net of fire.
Just as the fire was about to touch his face, a bluish-white lightning bolt swept across his head. Xiao Ning'er Wind-Thunder Wings fully unfolded, with lightning crackling and exploding at the edges of her wings. She slashed down from above, getting ahead of Shen Fei, and gripped the Thunder Spear with both hands. The tip of the spear was compressed from dense lightning into a blinding white dot.
She poured all her Soul Force into the spear, Thunder Spear's body swelled from two feet to three feet. The lightning on its surface was no longer scattered, but flowed tightly along the spear body, like a layer of solid plasma.
With a flick of her wrists, she slashed the Thunder Spear directly at the center of the fire net. The moment the spear tip touched the fire net, lightning exploded, and a blinding bluish-white crack spread from the center of the fire net to both sides.
With a flick of her wrist, Xiao Ning'er pulled down along the crack, splitting the fire net in two. The fire spread out to the left and right, and scorching sparks splashed onto the stone wall, leaving a charred mark.
Mu Lin's expression changed.
He hadn't expected that this woman with the Black Gold Rank 3-Star could cleave his fire net with a single spear thrust. The fire net was formed from the Spiritual Power of the Crimson Fire Snake, and its temperature was so high that ordinary weapons would melt upon contact. However, the layer of lightning on the surface of the Thunder Spear was too dense and solid, and it forcefully severed the fire line.
Before he could think any further, Shen Fei's Ink Cloud sword was already in front of him, the tip less than half a foot from his throat.
Mu Lin kicked his right foot back sharply, pulling back as he drew out all the remaining Soul Force from his Dantian. He clasped his hands together in front of his chest, and crimson Spiritual Power was frantically compressed and swirled in his palms, condensing into a fireball the size of a fist.
That fireball was the condensation of all his Soul Force. Its surface was no longer scattered flames, but a dense, crimson shell, with dark red light surging inside. The air around the fireball was distorted and deformed by the heat, and even the edges of his own sleeves were scorched and rolled up.
He held the fireball in both hands and pushed it towards Shen Fei's descending Ink Cloud.
Ink Cloud's sword struck the center of the fireball, the compressed Dark Law within the sword colliding with the fireball's crimson Spiritual Power. There was a brief moment of stillness, followed by a deafening explosion from the point of impact, as if a bomb had been planted inside the stone chamber.
The shockwave rippled outwards from between the two, causing large chunks of rock to crumble from the stone walls, shattering the stone slabs on the ground, and filling the stone chamber with smoke and dust that stung the eyes.
Shen Fei felt an overwhelming force surge back from the sword, flowing down his right arm and into his chest, causing the bones in his entire right arm, from his wrist to his shoulder, to creak and groan.
He was thrown backward by the shock, his back slamming into the rock wall at the entrance of the stone chamber, creating a shallow crater, and rubble fell down with a clatter.
When he fell to the ground, his right arm hit the ground first, his sleeve was shattered, and the skin from his forearm to his palm was covered with burns and blisters. Blood seeped from the cracked flesh, dripping down his fingers and spreading a small dark red stain on the broken stone slab.
He lay on the ground, panting for a couple of breaths. His chest ached, and each breath tasted of rust. He slowly stood up, supporting himself with his left hand, his right arm hanging at his side, his fingers still trembling uncontrollably.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his left hand, his gaze piercing through the smoke and dust in the stone chamber to the opposite side. Mu Lin was also lying on the ground, his back slammed against the back wall of the stone chamber, the crimson Long Sword slipping from his hand and falling a few feet away.
His right hand was still in the position of pushing the fireball, but his entire arm was mangled and bloody, with the skin and flesh torn open, and in some places the bone was visible.
His chest was still heaving, he was breathing heavily, and bloody foam kept coming out of his mouth. He tried to stand up, using his left hand to support himself on the ground and lifting his body slightly, but his arm went weak and he fell back down. He tried twice but couldn't get up.