Chapter 25

Blood spurted out at once.

Lu Ze knelt on one knee in the muddy water and flicked the blood from his blade.

[Killed an Eight-Star Dou Zhe. Plundered Dou Qi essence. Deduction Points +8.]

Before the remaining four mercenaries could react, Luo Ze rose again. Using the tree trunks for cover, he left afterimages in the rainy night.

Sword light flashed, and several more heads flew into the air.

[Killed Two-Star Dou Zhe ×4. Deduction Points +4. Current Deduction Points: 49.]

Lu Ze swiftly looted their belongings, then used their compass to find his bearings and hurried back toward Qingshan Town.

I wonder if anything has happened to Xiao Yi Xian, Lu Ze thought.

Crack. The faint sound of an earthenware jar breaking came from beneath the floorboards.

Three streams of dark yellow liquid shot through the gap beneath the threshold and splashed onto the flagstones, instantly releasing acrid white smoke.

The two mercenaries in front had only just stepped forward and did not even have time to shout a warning.

The armor covering them hissed, melting rapidly like lingering snow doused in hot oil.

Then masses of purplish-black blood blisters rose across their cheeks and necks, their flesh peeling away at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Their screams had barely left their mouths before the poisonous fumes pouring into their throats choked them into silent, rasping cries.

Both men convulsed and fell, dissolving into a pool of foul-smelling bloody liquid.

"Ambush! Fall back!"

The deputy commander reacted swiftly. His broadsword unleashed a semicircular arc of earthen-yellow blade light, forcibly cleaving a passage through the spreading poisonous mist.

But a few splashing drops of bone-melting water still landed on his left cheek and cuff.

A scorched smell rose, and a bloody groove deep enough to expose bone instantly burst open.

He grunted and retreated two steps, staring fixedly at the empty hall behind the counter.

"In the backyard! Blast the backyard flat!"

The deputy commander wiped the blood from his face, his features contorted with pain, and unleashed his Five-Star Dou Master Dou Qi without restraint.

Inside the medicine storehouse, Xiao Yi Xian carried a wooden bucket filled with asphalt fibers on her back.

She clutched a hemp rope connected to a fuse, her heart pounding as the dull roar of gathering Dou Qi came from outside the door.

In the Myriad Medicine Pavilion's backyard.

The deputy commander gripped his broad blade with both hands, his Five-Star Dou Master Dou Qi gauze robe swelling to its limit.

Earthen-yellow blade light condensed into a streak over ten feet long and slashed viciously toward the storehouse's wooden door, bearing the might to cleave everything apart.

Inside, Xiao Yi Xian's fingers had already drawn the hemp rope taut.

And just as the blade light was about to touch the doorframe-

Boom!

A huge hole suddenly burst through the roof above the Myriad Medicine Pavilion's second floor, sending tiles, timber, and fragments flying through the rain.

A figure in blue-green leaped down through the hole in the second floor.

In midair, Lu Ze curled his body as tightly as he could, using gravity to accelerate his fall. When he was still twenty feet above the ground-

His left hand jerked toward the flagstones below, and the powerful recoil from his knee strike accelerated him again in midair.

Like a falling meteor, he smashed viciously toward the deputy commander.

Gripping the Emerald Water Sword with both hands, Lu Ze forced all his five-star Dou Qi into the blade and cleaved down along the blade light's path.

[Grass Character Sword Art]

Two supremely sharp edges collided.

Screech! With a grating sound that set teeth on edge, the earthen-yellow blade light split in two and broke away to either side.

It carved two deep furrows through the backyard's enclosing wall.

Lu Ze's feet slammed onto the flagstones, instantly cracking the ground.

Using the rebound, he slid backward several dozen feet and planted himself firmly before the storehouse door.

The Emerald Water Sword pointed diagonally at his opponent, blood dripping from its tip.

His chest heaved violently and his face was pale, but his sword hand remained steady as a rock.

The aftershock of the Sword Qi sent the deputy commander flying backward, his broadsword scraping a long trail of sparks across the flagstones.

He steadied himself and stared fixedly at the youth who should have died in the underground river, veins bulging on the back of his sword hand.

The rain grew heavier. Before the ruined medicine shop, the two faced each other coldly across the scattered rubble.

Raindrops struck the stones, throwing up a fine mist.

The deputy commander stared at Lu Ze, his fingers tightening one by one around his sword until his knuckles creaked.

The bloody groove corroded into his left cheek by the bone-melting water still seeped yellow fluid. Rain washed over the wound, bringing waves of spasming pain.

"Your luck really is something!

"The deputy commander forced the words through his teeth.

Lu Ze did not answer. His chest heaved violently.

I can't drag this out!

The deputy commander was a Five-Star Dou Master.

His Dou Qi was several times greater than Lu Ze's. Once he recovered and turned this into a prolonged battle, Lu Ze would not last even ten exchanges.

The deputy commander had clearly seen this too and was in no hurry.

Without wasting words, he stamped down, shattering the flagstones.

Wrapped in an earthen-yellow Dou Qi gauze robe, he charged like an enraged rhinoceros.

His broadsword swept across, its edge cleaving the rain in two.

Lu Ze chose not to meet it head-on. He shifted his left foot half a step back and pressed his left palm toward the ground.

[Suction Palm]

A half-man-high chunk of rubble was pulled over, blocking the broadsword's path.

Bang!

The stone exploded into powder, but the broadsword continued unabated, its edge sweeping past Lu Ze's waist.

A foot-and-a-half-long tear opened in his blue-green brocade clothing, and a line of blood instantly rose on his skin.

Using the recoil from his palm strike, Lu Ze slid backward three palm-lengths, his back striking the storehouse wall.

The deputy commander gave him no time to breathe. A second slash followed immediately.

Several unstoppable slashes of blade light condensed into solid earthen-yellow blades of light and struck with the weight to crush everything. Gritting his teeth, Lu Ze raised the Emerald Water Sword horizontally to block.

Clang!

The clash of metal pierced the curtain of rain. Lu Ze's arms shook violently, the webs of his hands split, and blood ran down the sword's hilt.

A clear crack appeared in the Emerald Water Sword, spreading from its tip to the middle of the blade.

The Emerald Water Sword had already endured too much of the Grass Character Sword Art's power. Now, after taking a powerful blow from a Five-Star Dou Master, it could no longer bear the strain.

The slash drove Lu Ze to one knee, his kneecap smashing the flagstone beneath him.

"A Four-Star Dou Zhe... no, five-star..."

The deputy commander looked down at him from above.

He raised his broadsword again. "So what if you broke through?

"The gap between a Dou Zhe and a Dou Shi is no mere star or two!"

Seeing this, Lu Ze poured out more than half his Dou Qi, condensing it at his fingertips.

The secret of the Grass Character Sword Art was that a single grass seed could cleave the stars.

There was no need to fixate on the form of a sword, but doing this would force his fingers to bear the immense pressure of the Grass Character Sword Art.

Lu Ze's sudden strike caught him completely off guard! Its power was astonishing. The Sword Qi even tore through the air with a shrill whistle and struck the deputy commander squarely in the chest.

Bang! The Sword Qi actually tore the deputy commander's Dou Qi gauze robe apart!

He flew backward, his eyes filled with astonishment.

"Impossible!"

But the Five-Star Dou Master had abundant combat experience. He raised his broadsword again and charged, cracking the flagstones beneath his feet.

Lu Ze could no longer dodge. His left hand had just unleashed the Grass Character Sword Art and had yet to recover, and countless wounds covered his left arm.

The Dou Shi had already locked onto Lu Ze with his presence. There was no escape!

Just as the broadsword was about to cleave his skull apart-

"Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!"