Seven-Star Great Dou Master

Three silver needles shot through a gap in the medicine storehouse window, silently flying toward the deputy commander's back collar.

Their tips gleamed a dim blue. These were poison needles Xiao Yi Xian had tempered with venom from an Ice Toad Poison Python's poison glands.

The deputy commander's Dou Qi activated automatically, deflecting two of the three silver needles.

But the third needle struck precisely in the bloody groove that Bone-Melting Water had corroded into his face.

The deputy commander's voice abruptly faltered as the poison invaded his bloodstream directly through the wound. The left half of his face instantly lost all sensation.

That half-breath was all it took.

Lu Ze abruptly raised his right hand, the Emerald Water Sword carrying its last wisp of sword Qi.

He swept upward from below. The Grass Character Sword Art's translucent white gleam skimmed the deputy commander's chest, splitting his chest armor. Blood gushed out, turning into a pale red mist in the rain.

But the deputy commander did not fall.

A Five-Star Dou Master's physical strength far surpassed a Dou Zhe's. There was already little Dou Qi left to fuel the Grass Character Sword Art, and it could barely break through the deputy commander's armor.

The bones tempered by years of Dou Qi stopped the blade cold. It sank only a little way into his flesh, failing to deal a fatal wound.

The deputy commander let out a beastlike roar.

His left hand slammed toward the top of Lu Ze's head, the wind of his palm carrying Dou Qi and pressing down until Lu Ze's scalp tingled.

Forced to withdraw his sword and retreat, Lu Ze dragged the Emerald Water Sword across the deputy commander's chest, leaving a long, bloody gash.

Distance opened between them again. The deputy commander clutched his chest, blood constantly seeping between his fingers.

His left arm had gone completely numb, his mouth hung crooked, and the killing intent in his eye grew even fiercer.

"Bitch!"

He turned toward the medicine storehouse window, his voice slurred.

Behind the window, Xiao Yi Xian still held two silver needles.

Her face was pale, but the needle tips remained firmly trained on the deputy commander's sole remaining eye.

The deputy commander gritted his teeth. His Dou Qi gauze had already been broken, his left side was paralyzed, and his chest was still bleeding.

If that girl fired a few more needles, he might not be able to block them all, and although the boy before him had nearly exhausted his Dou Qi-

What if he pulled out another unexpected move? Wouldn't the losses outweigh the gains?

"Fine. Very fine."

The deputy commander slowly backed away, holding his broadsword across his chest.

"You think this is over? The commander is in town. He's sensed the Dou Qi fluctuations here. In half an incense stick at most..."

He never finished, because there was no need.

A suffocatingly immense pressure of Dou Qi came crashing over from the direction of Qingshan Town like a tangible mountain.

The curtain of rain was forcibly pressed flat beneath that pressure. Moisture in the air condensed into fine droplets of mist, suspended in midair.

Seven-Star Dou Shi Mu Li.

Lu Ze's back instantly went rigid. Even from half a street away, that pressure made his meridians groan beneath an unbearable burden.

The savage look of a man who had escaped death appeared on the deputy commander's face.

Clutching his chest, he staggered backward.

He vanished into an alley in the rainy night.

"The commander's here! Just wait for your deaths!"

His voice grew more distant until the rain finally swallowed it.

Lu Ze did not pursue him. He had neither the strength to chase him nor the speed to catch him.

He slowly turned toward the medicine storehouse window. Xiao Yi Xian had already pushed it open, still holding those two silver needles.

Their gazes met through the rainy night.

Xiao Yi Xian's lips moved without a sound, but Lu Ze understood what she meant.

She was saying, "Go!"

Xiao Yi Xian looked at Lu Ze, her gaze complicated.

"The well..."

Lu Ze shook his head. There was no escape.

The Seven-Star Dou Shi had already locked onto this area. In his current state, he would be caught before he could run a hundred zhang.

"Unless..."

His voice grew into a low, rapid murmur, and Xiao Yi Xian nodded from time to time.

Then he planted the Emerald Water Sword in the rubble before him, the cracks in its blade clearly visible in the rain.

Heavy footsteps approached along the distant street. With every step, the standing water on the ground shook into splashes half a foot high.

Lu Ze closed his eyes and slowly circulated his cultivation technique, trying, trying to squeeze one last wisp of Dou Qi from his parched meridians.

His Dou Qi was already exhausted. When Mu Li arrived, the Great Wilderness Imprisoning Heaven Finger he unleashed would inevitably be greatly diminished in power.

And once he used that finger strike, he would lose all ability to fight, unable even to stand steadily.

The footsteps stopped before the Myriad Medicine Pavilion's shattered entrance. A figure in a dark red brocade robe slowly emerged through the curtain of rain.

He carried a diamond-steel broadsword, its blade still bearing traces of the hidden box's explosion.

Mu Li's gaze swept over the corpses strewn across the ground, the shattered threshold, and Lu Ze standing in the center of the rear courtyard.

His face was expressionless, but veins bulged one by one on the back of the hand gripping his broadsword.

"The Fire Spirit Marrow," Mu Li's voice slowly rang out through the rainy night,

"where is it?"

Rain dripped down Mu Li's blade and struck the flagstones, instantly evaporating into white mist beneath his ocher Dou Qi.

The pressure of a Seven-Star Great Dou Master weighed heavily on every inch of air in the Wang Yao Residence's rear courtyard like tangible blocks of lead.

His imposing presence forced the standing water back in all directions, exposing a broad expanse of cracked flagstones.

Mu Li stood motionless, his broadsword hanging at his side. His gaze passed over Lu Ze and settled on the tightly shut wooden door of the medicine storehouse behind him.

"The Fire Spirit Marrow."

Mu Li repeated the words in an even voice, yet it shook the roof tiles into a rattling rustle.

Lu Ze's chest rose and fell, every breath carrying a faint trace of bloody froth. His parched meridians slowly writhed as Answer to the Beggar Under the Mulberry circulated, and [Drinking the Blood of the People] had quietly activated.

It tried to squeeze a thread of vitality from the lingering blood Qi nearby.

His right palm rested against the ground, a faint suction quietly drawing in the two puddles of bloody liquid the mercenaries had become.

"It's not on me."

Lu Ze's hoarse voice sounded fragmented amid the rain.

Mu Li lowered his eyelids slightly. He saw the somewhat darker puddle beneath Lu Ze's palm, as well as the trace of blood Qi gradually rising from his body.

"What Dou Technique is that? You really do have quite a few treasures on you."

Mu Li slowly raised his broadsword, pointing its tip straight between Lu Ze's brows.

"Within Qingshan Town's boundaries, you're the first to dare lay hands on my Wolf Head Mercenary Group's treasury."

The blade's radiance pulsed, and the air gave a shrill hiss.

Just as Mu Li was about to swing, one half of the medicine storehouse's wooden window creaked open. An extremely dense, pungent yellow smoke poured through the gap.

The smoke was highly corrosive. The instant it touched the surrounding rain, it hissed, turning the raindrops into tiny poisonous bubbles.

Xiao Yi Xian stood behind the window, holding a broken earthenware jar. A wet cloth soaked in medicinal liquid covered her face, leaving only her cool, clear eyes exposed.

Mu Li frowned and abruptly slashed forward with his broadsword. Ocher blade radiance formed a crescent-shaped wall of Qi.

It forcibly held the yellow smoke three zhang away, but the smoke was extremely thick and clinging. It spread to either side along the edges of the Qi wall, swiftly enveloping the entire rear courtyard.

Smoke immediately filled the air, obscuring their vision.