Everything happened in a flash of lightning and sparks, too quickly for anyone present to react.
"Second Young Master!"
Deng Zhongzhi's eyes nearly split with rage, and he smashed the tea table beside him to pieces with a slap.
Too fast!
Even though he had secretly been on guard, he had never imagined that, in the time it took to salute with clasped hands, Tong Yi's left arm would be severed at the shoulder!
"Kill them!"
Deng Zhongzhi sprang out like a tiger, drawing his saber in midair and slashing down at Chen Heng. The twenty heavily armored soldiers also roared in unison and surged forward.
"Nothing more than this."
Chen Heng pointed, and the Thunderfire Thunderclap Bead shot out another bolt of lightning. It blasted Deng Zhongzhi several yards backward through the air and slammed him into the brick wall, leaving a human-shaped indentation a foot deep.
Had Deng Zhongzhi not been a veteran of countless battles, quick enough to wrap himself in a layer of embryonic breath when the lightning struck,
that single bolt would have shattered his flesh and bones on the spot.
"A talisman artifact? A mid-grade talisman artifact, at that!"
The blast left Deng Zhongzhi dizzy and deafened, his chest utterly numb. For a moment, he could not even tell whether his heart had stopped beating.
When he finally struggled back to his senses and saw the red-and-white bead hovering above Chen Heng's head, he cried out in horror.
He recognized that bead. It was the Mount Yang Daoist's Thunderfire Thunderclap Bead!
If that was the case,
then the Mount Yang Daoist had probably already...
"Second Young Master, he's only at embryonic breathing too! Don't be afraid! Bring out your talisman artifacts and fight him!"
His thoughts raced. Ignoring his injuries, Deng Zhongzhi shouted again and spun like a top, trying to engage Chen Heng in a running fight and buy Tong Yi a chance to catch his breath.
But before he could approach, a wind blade flew straight at his face, forcing him to drop and roll out of its way in disgrace.
"Master! I'll hold this fellow off for you!"
Tu Shan Ge's face was deathly pale. With a flick of both hands, he conjured blade after blade of wind with Divine Power, then charged forward with the tragic resolve of someone marching to his death.
By then, the fierce soldiers had also closed to within thirty feet.
Chen Heng paid them no mind. With a wave of his hand, the bead released a ring of fire that reduced them to a pool of blood and bones in an instant. Even their armor turned to iron charcoal.
"You... you..."
Tong Yi finally endured the pain and climbed off the floor. His gaze swept over his severed arm and the soldiers' corpses. Knowing this could no longer end peacefully, he hardened his heart and sent a streak of azure light stabbing toward Chen Heng's eyes.
The speck of azure light moved with incredible speed, reaching Chen Heng's face in an instant. But as it tried to advance farther, a layer of flowing air suddenly blocked it, as though it had struck metal.
Chen Heng smiled faintly. Without waiting for Tong Yi to recall the azure light, the bead fired several more bolts of lightning viciously toward him.
With a boom, the lightning exploded, swallowing Tong Yi's figure.
Lightning blazed, and bricks and stones flew everywhere, leaving a deep crater in the floor. Yet Chen Heng did not recall the bead. Instead, he drew up another stream of embryonic breath and poured it into the artifact.
Tong Yi had not been killed by the blast.
A faint ring of jade light surrounded him, absorbing every attack. He desperately spurred his embryonic breath again, sending the azure light shooting out once more.
They exchanged several more rounds like this.
But the longer Tong Yi fought, the more frightened he became.
Who knew how many life-and-death struggles this man had endured, how much experience in magical combat he had amassed? It was as though he had begun learning to fight in his mother's womb!
Before the azure-light talisman artifact he controlled could even approach, a bolt of lightning would invariably strike it down at precisely the right moment. The timing was flawless, the force neither a fraction too much nor a fraction too little, leaving Tong Yi agonizingly frustrated.
Moreover, he knew that even if his azure-light talisman artifact reached Chen Heng, it would not break through his Qi Armor Technique anytime soon.
Thus, after only a few attacks, Tong Yi could do nothing but activate his defensive talisman artifact and desperately protect himself.
Red-and-white lightning struck again and again, shaking Tong Yi until he looked increasingly haggard. Blood began trickling from the corners of his mouth.
"Aaaah!!!!"
Seeing another bolt of lightning fly toward him, Tong Yi let out a hoarse roar. He was about to summon all the embryonic breath in his body when his expression froze, then filled with profound horror and fear.
No! I've run out of embryonic breath...
The embryonic breathing realm was unlike qi refining. The embryonic breath within one's body was finite; every portion spent was a portion lost.
To flaunt his newly acquired Cloud-Piercing Flying Boat, Tong Yi had deliberately parked it ostentatiously in the air above Blazing Mountain. That alone had consumed a considerable amount of his embryonic breath.
At the time, however, he had believed qi refining was within reach, and he even had a chance to join the Five Radiances Sect to cultivate. He had therefore thought nothing of that small expenditure.
But with life and death hanging by a thread, that little bit of embryonic breath had become the key to victory or defeat...
The faint ring of jade light around Tong Yi dimmed. Another impact from the lightning shattered it at once, sending him flying like a torn sack.
By the time Tong Yi struggled to his feet again, a longsword already lay across his neck.
"Your Second Young Master has already surrendered. Do you still want to fight?"
Chen Heng barked coldly, turning his gaze toward Deng Zhongzhi, who had just killed Tu Shan Ge with a punch.
This man had survived countless battles, and his martial prowess had reached the transformation realm. Though Tu Shan Ge could summon various forces of heaven and earth with Divine Power, his Divine Path Golden Body had been destroyed, leaving his might decidedly limited.
Relying solely on mundane martial arts, Deng Zhongzhi had beaten Tu Shan Ge into utter defeat.
Had Tu Shan Ge not been a Divine Path Being, capable of using Divine Power to resurrect in the outside world so long as his true body remained alive within his Divine Domain,
the fox probably could not even have bought any time...
At Chen Heng's shout, Deng Zhongzhi trembled. The veins on his forehead writhed like little snakes, but in the end, he silently withdrew his saber.
Tu Shan Ge, who had once again reconstructed his body with Divine Power, also looked disgruntled. He silently ran over to Chen Heng and shrank behind him.
"You certainly are courageous and decisive. Had this youngster been willing to spare you a talisman artifact, today's outcome might still have been uncertain."
Chen Heng smiled, sword in hand.
"I followed the Pillar of the State Great General on campaigns north and south for so many years, suppressing bandits, quelling the ravages of war, and campaigning against Cinnabar Millet. I suffered a hundred wounds before finally attaining embryonic breathing. I never imagined I would fall to your hands today."
Deng Zhongzhi cast a conflicted glance at the soldiers' charred corpses and clasped his hands. "Since you have the Thunderfire Thunderclap Bead, I take it the Mount Yang Daoist is already dead?"
Chen Heng nodded.
"The Tong family actually had little friendship with the Mount Yang Daoist. This has truly been a misunderstanding."
To show his sincerity, Deng Zhongzhi hurled his saber far away, embedding it in the stone steps outside the hall.
He spread both hands and took a few steps forward, indicating that he meant no harm.
"The Second Young Master is rash by nature. By severing his arm, you have already punished him. I can authorize giving you all his talisman artifacts as the price of his life. How does that sound?"
Deng Zhongzhi narrowed his eyes, a faint threat lurking in his words:
"Once you set the Cloud-Piercing Flying Boat in motion, ordinary soldiers couldn't catch it even if they whipped their horses onward. It would be more than enough for you to leave the Rong Kingdom! You should know that the Second Young Master is the Tong family's thousand-mile colt. If anything happens to him, the Pillar of the State Great General will go mad, and the skies over the entire Rong Kingdom will change!"
Before Chen Heng could reply,
Tong Yi erupted. Ignoring the sword still laid across his neck, he shouted abuse:
"You want to give him my talisman artifacts? Dream on! Not a chance!"
Before you continue