No Martial Honor

Tian Hao glanced at the two gazing deeply into each other's eyes in the lake, then charged toward the Demon Cult members surrounding his master, his master's wife, and their companion.

"Another one's coming! Watch out!"

The Demon Cult members holding the perimeter spotted Tian Hao and hurriedly shouted a warning. Several immediately charged at him.

Clang, clang, clang...

Sword light flashed, and the five charging men were cut down, dying gruesome deaths.

With the black iron greatsword in hand, he paid no heed to anyone below the Houtian Realm. He could simply switch into peerless mowing mode.

Of course, four of them had also landed their weapons on him, but with the Black Iron Armor protecting him, he could ignore them outright.

"He's wearing protective armor!"

The last man dodged the sweeping sword light and shouted.

"Let this old man test him!"

A burly man rushed over using his Lightness Skill, bringing his saber down with ferocious power and a faint rumble of wind and thunder.

"He's Tong Baixiong, an elder of the Demon Cult's Wind and Thunder Hall, a peak Houtian Realm expert! His Frenzied Thunder Saber Technique attacks with wild ferocity and broad, sweeping strokes. He also has a powerful palm technique."

Seeing Tian Hao face the newcomer, Ning Zhongze deflected an incoming arrow with her sword and called out a warning.

Although these men all wore black clothes and masks, their martial arts could not lie.

"Let me see just how wild and fierce your saber technique is!"

Fighting spirit surged within Tian Hao. He loved fighting opponents who relied on sheer, unyielding power.

Once again, the black iron greatsword trailing behind him slashed out with lightning speed. It was the Guan Family Fort's Martial Sage Dragging Saber Slash.

Clang!

A violent clash of metal rang out. Tong Baixiong's saber bounced back, and even the blade qi gathered along its edge was nearly blasted apart by the Embracing the Origin Inner Force.

But he was, after all, a veteran expert at the peak of the Houtian Realm. He circulated his true qi, halted his retreat, and unleashed a barrage of furious slashes with his Frenzied Thunder Saber Technique, raging like thunder and striking like lightning.

Tian Hao was no slouch either. He unleashed his Blacksmithing Sword Technique, even mixing in moves from his knockoff Wild Wind Hammer Technique, using the recoil from each collision to continuously accumulate and stack his strength.

Tong Baixiong truly lived up to his reputation as a veteran expert of many years. His formidable strength kept him firmly in the upper hand, and his attack speed alone was twice Tian Hao's.

Of every three slashes, two landed on Tian Hao.

What frustrated him, however, was that neither his blade qi nor the edge of his saber did a damn thing when they struck the brat.

They merely destroyed his outer clothes, revealing a drab gray suit of Scale Armor beneath, without leaving so much as a scratch.

And the brat was far too good at turtling up. His entire body was encased, even his head and face covered tightly, leaving only his eyes exposed. The backs of his hands were protected by scales too.

How was he supposed to fight a turtle shell like that?

"Goddammit, brat! How do your blows keep getting stronger?"

After another clash, Tong Baixiong temporarily withdrew from the fight and could not help shaking out his sore, numb hand.

There was something strange about this brat. The longer they fought, the stronger he became.

Although his speed was nowhere near Tong Baixiong's, his brute strength was astonishing, and that greatsword was both incredibly tough and incomparably sharp.

He glanced at the notches hacked into his beloved saber, his heart twitching with pain.

It was practically a saw now!

Besides that, the brat's force was peculiar, somewhat reminiscent of the Wudang Sect. It could upset his balance, nearly making him lose his footing.

Across from him, Tian Hao also took the opportunity to catch his breath, using his already scant internal force to ease the soreness in the muscles and bones of his arms.

Continuously unleashing bursts of inner force for so long placed considerable strain on him too.

"Brat, let's go again!"

Glancing at Yue Buqun and the other two, who were still surrounded and under attack, Tong Baixiong swung his saber at Tian Hao once more with the same ferocious power.

But after knocking aside the black iron greatsword in Tian Hao's hands, he suddenly abandoned his saber and struck down with his palm.

That suit of Scale Armor was absurdly tough. He had no confidence in cutting through it, but armor like that could only defend against sharp weapons. Other attacks were another matter.

Thump!

His palm slammed viciously into Tian Hao's chest, his face beneath the black cloth twisting with savage malice.

"That palm strike really hurt!"

At the same instant, Tian Hao abandoned his rebounding black iron greatsword and swiftly clamped both hands around Tong Baixiong's right wrist. His face beneath the Black Iron Armor was just as ferocious.

That palm strike had indeed hurt. Even with a black iron heart-guard mirror inside providing extra protection, his organs still spasmed with pain. But it was worth it.

He knew perfectly well that there was still a substantial gap between him and a top Houtian expert like Tong Baixiong. Winning quickly was almost impossible. His only option was to lure the snake out of its hole and make him expose an opening himself.

"This is bad!"

Tong Baixiong's expression changed as he realized he had fallen into a trap. He immediately unleashed his true qi to blast away the hands gripping his wrist, but failed to shake them off.

"You want to compete with me in strength? Don't you know my arms are as thick as my junior senior sister's thighs now, and my cup size is bigger than my master's wife's?"

Feeling the force and pain transmitted through his hands, Tian Hao grinned even more savagely.

Before Tong Baixiong could gather more true qi to break free, he abruptly exerted his strength.

Wild Wind Hammer Technique!

He roared inwardly to bolster his fighting spirit, endured the searing pain as true qi battered his palms, and used the man as his hammer and the earth as his iron, smashing him down in a frenzy.

At first, Tong Baixiong could still keep himself steady, but a prolonged defense was bound to fail. One mistake sent him crashing down hard enough to leave a human-shaped crater in the ground, and blood surged up his throat.

It did not end there. Tian Hao became the Green Giant, unleashing a Hulk-style barrage of mindless, no-explanation-needed fucking smashing. Before long, more than a dozen human-shaped craters dotted the ground around them, while Tong Baixiong spewed blood and suffered grievous injuries.

Just as he was about to keep slamming this Demon Cult big shot until his heart gave out, a flying needle struck precisely into the unarmored web of his hand. His right hand instantly went numb.

Tong Baixiong seized his chance. Enduring the agonizing pain inside him, he once again concentrated his true qi in his wrist and unleashed it, finally breaking free.

Not daring to linger, he hastily retreated.

Tian Hao pulled the steel needle from the web of his hand and glanced at Aunt Dongfang, who was still gazing deeply into Feng Qingyang's eyes in the lake. Without a word, he picked up his black iron greatsword and charged toward the encirclement.

Protected by his armor's invincible defenses, aided by the resistance to blows granted by his Horizontal Crab Iron Shirt, which was approaching major achievement, and armed with his incomparably sharp black iron greatsword, he swept aside everyone in his path and forced his way into the encirclement.

"Master, Mistress, are you all right?"

Using his armor to block most of the arrows as he spoke, Tian Hao surveyed the Demon Cult members around them and felt an urge to curse.

These Demon Cult fiends had no martial honor whatsoever. They were clearly a martial arts sect, yet they carried plenty of powerful crossbows. No wonder even Old Yue and his wife, wielding black iron longswords, had been trapped in a bitter struggle.

They had no martial honor at all!

Yet while he cursed the Demon Cult for having no martial honor, its members were cursing him for exactly the same thing.

He was clearly a martial artist, yet he strutted around in armor like a military general. Worse still, that armor's defensive power was ridiculously unreasonable.

Tong Baixiong's saber was already a rare, treasured weapon capable of slicing through iron like mud, yet it could barely leave a single scratch on that suit of armor.

Even his concentrated blade qi had done fuck all. There was no martial honor in this!

"Brat, give me your name! You've earned the right for this old man to remember it!"

Having recovered somewhat, Tong Baixiong barked the question, still shaken.

Had Cult Leader Dongfang not saved him just now, he would probably have capsized in a gutter.

"This great lord never changes his name, standing or sitting! I am Linghu Chong, chief disciple of the Mount Hua Sect!"

Tian Hao answered with righteous conviction, utterly unafraid of Tong Baixiong's revenge. He had given Linghu Chong's name, after all. What did that have to do with him, Tian Hao?

"You..."

Beside him, Linghu Chong nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood. He had never seen anyone so brazenly shameless!

"As expected of Mount Hua's chief disciple! This old man will remember you!"

Tong Baixiong spoke bitterly, knowing that they could not take down Yue Buqun and the others today.

Truly, one misplaced piece had cost him the entire game!