It had looked effortless, but in pursuing perfection, that single sword strike had nearly drained Song Yan dry.
He swayed, immediately sat down, and took out a pill to swallow before slowly regulating his breathing.
The commotion here was considerable, drawing sidelong looks from everyone present.
Jiang Xiao cursed inwardly, "Utterly useless!"
A trace of horror appeared in Li Qingfeng's eyes. His senior brother's sword control had truly stunned him.
In that moment of distraction, the Hanging Sword Mountain disciple nearly drove a sword through his belly.
"Huh?... This man wasn't under an illusion's control?"
If an illusion had been controlling this man, then now that his senior brother had sent Bai Yulu off to the Western Paradise, the illusion should have broken.
Li Qingfeng thought, Damn it, Senior Brother Song's skills are astonishing.
Fatty Li, oh, Fatty Li, you'd better show some real skill yourself!
Otherwise, people will look down on you!
He likewise stopped probing his opponent, and a white pill rose above his hand.
A close look would have revealed that the pill consisted of many grains of spirit rice stuck together.
He popped the spirit rice pill into his mouth, chewed it thoroughly, and swallowed.
"Hm?"
Song Yan slowly opened his eyes and looked at Li Qingfeng in some puzzlement.
"Junior Brother Li's spiritual power..."
His senses had not deceived him. Junior Brother Li, who was locked in combat with the Hanging Sword Mountain disciple, seemed to be gradually rising in spiritual power cultivation.
Several breaths passed. The might of Li Qingfeng's spiritual power had actually risen from the Qi Refining Realm Fourth Layer to the fifth layer, and was even climbing toward the Qi Refining Sixth Layer!
The kitchen knife in his hand suddenly wheeled around, circling beside him.
Li Qingfeng opened his eyes. The iron wok he had been using for defense slowly shrank and returned to his waist.
"Brother, this is so you can rest in peace after death..."
"Don't blame your little brother for using crude methods."
He gripped the kitchen knife and charged straight at the Hanging Sword Mountain disciple.
"?"
Song Yan stared, dumbfounded.
Li Qingfeng burst forward like a wild bull charging a battle line, his kitchen knife gleaming with a cold, gray-green light.
The Hanging Sword Mountain disciple instinctively raised his sword to block. Sword met kitchen knife, but something bizarre happened.
The kitchen knife abruptly slid sideways, its edge slicing diagonally down along the sword's spine with the precision of a butcher stripping flesh and sinew from an ox's bones.
Hiss.
With a sudden turn of his wrist, the kitchen knife swept upward, its edge just grazing the thinnest point of his opponent's body-protecting spiritual power.
The Hanging Sword Mountain disciple staggered back, but Li Qingfeng pressed his advantage mercilessly. Within a few breaths, he spun in to within three inches and slapped the back of his blade against the Shoulder Well acupoint on his opponent's left shoulder with a smack. The entire arm immediately hung limp.
The man instinctively controlled his flying sword, and spiritual light blazed.
Li Qingfeng formed a Dao hand seal, and his spiritual power actually condensed into fine serrations across the kitchen knife's surface.
As the Hanging Sword Mountain disciple formed a sword seal, that dull gray kitchen knife had already sliced in along the paths of his meridians, like Cook Ding dissecting an ox.
Sword Qi shredded Li Qingfeng's cuff.
Yet his kitchen knife roamed across his opponent's major acupoints, every strike precisely cutting open a crucial aperture through which spiritual power circulated.
The final stroke swept across the Qi Sea.
Spurt!
Still holding his sword aloft, the Hanging Sword Mountain disciple finally crashed to the ground.
Blood gushed from all over his body, like a human-shaped animal that had been butchered.
Song Yan's throat bobbed, and he could not help swallowing.
But soon, Li Qingfeng deflated like a punctured ball. His spiritual power rapidly drained away, and he collapsed to the ground. "Owww... this little fatty's worn out."
What a strange secret art...
Song Yan was also shaken by the precision and ruthlessness of that knife technique. Thinking it over carefully, he had no absolute confidence in winning a fight to the death against Junior Brother Li Qingfeng.
Still, this secret art probably had some restrictions.
Li Qingfeng lay sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath, his spiritual power somewhat unstable.
By now, Song Yan had recovered a little. "Junior Brother Li, I'll go get Junior Sister Gu out."
"All right!"
Li Qingfeng had to muster every ounce of strength just to shout those two words.
Song Yan hurried forward. The small portion of the blood cocoon Qin Ying had cut away was slowly writhing and repairing itself in an exceedingly bizarre fashion.
He sent out his flying sword, and Sword Qi surged.
Hiss, hiss.
In a few swift strokes, he severed and stripped away the bloody threads clinging to the blue-white spiritual light.
He then put away his flying sword, scooped Gu Qingqing into his arms, and bounded away from the two Foundation Establishment cultivators' battlefield.
He swept her with his Divine Sense, only to discover that he could not examine her injuries.
He could plainly see the girl in his arms, yet his Divine Sense found nothing at all.
This solid spiritual light was truly wondrous.
Having recovered a little strength, Li Qingfeng crawled and scrambled his way over to Song Yan.
"Senior Brother, should we go help Senior Sister Qin?"
"?"
"Are you out of your damn mind?"
Song Yan's face was full of question marks. This was his first time swearing in front of someone who was not from Shiliang Village.
"When immortals fight, we should count ourselves lucky if the two of us get out alive with all our pieces intact."
"Senior Sister Qin's strength is unfathomable. Taking down that mere devil cultivator is only a matter of time..."
Li Qingfeng hesitated, looking up at the sky, then back at Song Yan, before finally speaking. "But I keep feeling that Senior Sister Qin's presence... is getting weaker and weaker."
"Hm?"
Song Yan focused his gaze.
Above Peach Blossom Hollow, bloody mist churned.
Qin Ying hovered in midair, her robes snapping amid the bloody mist and icy winds. Frost Qi gathered at her fingertips, and dozens of ice spikes abruptly condensed, hurtling toward Jiang Xiao with a shriek as they tore through the air.
Her brows knotted deeply, and she lowered her gaze.
Along the edges of her arms, specks of something scarlet were gradually spreading over her skin.
Strangely, her protective spiritual Qi showed no reaction whatsoever.
"Fellow Daoist, now that you've entered my Blood Refining Grand Formation, however you wield your spiritual power, it's all wasted effort."
"Here, I am the master..."
Jiang Xiao raised a hand with a savage grin. A filthy wave of blood surged from the ancient well, transforming into a hideous ghost face in midair.
"Hahahahaha... sects and immortal mountains, my ass!"
His gaze was cruel and resolute. "Whoever can attain the Dao, whoever can live forever..."
"Only they deserve to be called an 'immortal'!!!"
The instant the ice spikes pierced the bloody wave, the dark red liquid abruptly boiled, swallowing all the ice and sending up foul-smelling white smoke.
The flying sword burning with black flame beside him suddenly trembled. A dazzling black light burst from its blade as it shot straight for Qin Ying's throat.
Clang!
A mirror barred the way before Qin Ying, radiating faint ripples of cold Qi.
Qin Ying could no longer conceal her condition and began panting softly. That scarlet, putrid substance had already crawled up onto her fair shoulders.
"You really do have quite a few treasures..."
"Good. Once I kill you, they'll all be mine..."
"What a pity I won't have the chance to properly savor that body of yours..."
Deep regret filled Jiang Xiao's eyes as he formed a strange Dao hand seal.
The blood-colored formation suddenly thundered. The villagers kneeling all around convulsed in unison, thin scarlet streams seeping from their seven orifices and slowly floating skyward to gather around Jiang Xiao. Bloody light blazed around him.
"Only within the Blood Refining Grand Formation do I have a chance to command this Immortal Sword..."
Jiang Xiao was utterly immersed in the pleasure of possessing power, seemingly reluctant to let it go.
Clang!
Qin Ying's pupils contracted sharply.
"So fast!"
Her protective spiritual mirror had only blocked the second strike, yet it was already on the verge of giving way.
The flying sword pressed to within mere inches of Qin Ying's face. She raised her eyes to see black demonic flame bearing down ferociously!
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