Dou Techniques

The evening breeze seemed to freeze at that moment.

Blood Butcher stared fixedly at the massive black ruler in Xiao Yan's hand. For the first time, a flicker of suspicion and surprise crossed his dark red eyes.

He had seen this man at the Luo Pill Pavilion. Back then, the man had been sickly, without a trace of any substantial Spiritual Energy fluctuation in his body. Blood Butcher had even thought he could crush him to death with a single finger.

But now, the man standing before him was still thin and haggard, yet the presence emanating from him sent an inexplicable chill through Blood Butcher's heart.

It was as though something utterly terrifying had set its sights on him.

"Putting on a show!" Blood Butcher gritted his teeth and forcibly suppressed the chill. "Get him! Kill him!" he shouted.

The four Blood God Clan disciples behind him exchanged glances. Though they were unnerved as well, they dared not disobey Blood Butcher's orders. Gritting their teeth, they shot out at once, charging at Xiao Yan from four directions.

Dark red Blood Fiend Qi churned over their four long sabers. Their blades shone like blood, weaving a curtain of death in the evening glow.

All four were at the peak of the Spirit Wheel Realm, skilled fighters even among the younger generation of the Blood God Clan. Working together, they could force even an early-stage Divine Soul Realm expert to retreat for the moment.

Xiao Yan stood where he was, unmoving.

Only when the four bloodied sabers were less than a zhang from his body did he slowly raise the Heavy Xuan Ruler in his hand.

Inside him, the tenth of his Spiritual Energy that had just been assimilated circulated wildly under the guidance of the reverse scales, following routes at once familiar and strange.

They were the routes of the Flame Mantra.

Routes he had cultivated for decades, long since engraved into his bones.

And in the deepest reaches of that Spiritual Energy, the tiny spark of fire's origin, protected layer upon layer by three hundred and sixty reverse scales, glimmered faintly.

A wisp of pale golden flame climbed along his arm and onto the body of the Heavy Xuan Ruler.

"Flame Splitting..."

Xiao Yan spoke softly as the Heavy Xuan Ruler swept out horizontally.

"Wave Ruler."

Boom!

Pale golden flames surged abruptly from the ruler, turning into a crescent-shaped wave of fire. The flames piled up in layers, wave after wave, sweeping wildly outward from Xiao Yan like a rising tide!

The four Blood God Clan disciples were engulfed head-on by the towering waves of fire before the savage expressions had even faded from their faces.

There were no screams.

Not even a struggle.

The instant the four long sabers wreathed in Blood Fiend Qi touched the pale golden flames, they melted like wax. The four figures were swept away by the fire, sent flying backward to crash heavily onto the hillside more than ten zhang away. Their bodies were charred black, and they lay motionless.

The waves of fire slowly dissipated.

Xiao Yan still stood in the same place, the Heavy Xuan Ruler angled toward the ground. A wisp of pale golden flame still flickered gently on its surface.

A deathly silence fell over Sunset Glow Slope.

Blood Butcher stood on the steps, his expression changing from suspicion to shock, then to an almost dazed bewilderment.

One move.

Just one move.

Four peak Spirit Wheel Realm Blood God Clan disciples were... gone?

And what kind of move was that?

The color of those flames, the way the waves of fire had piled atop one another, their overwhelming power that could burn even Blood Fiend Qi away... He had lived on the Western Heaven Continent for over twenty years and seen countless Spiritual Arts and divine abilities, yet he had never seen even one remotely like it.

"You..." Blood Butcher's voice was somewhat hoarse. "What was that thing you used?"

Xiao Yan did not answer him.

That Flame Splitting Wave Ruler had looked effortless, but it had actually drained almost all of the tenth of his Spiritual Energy that had just been assimilated. Now, waves of sharp pain ran through his meridians, and his face was a few shades paler than before.

Yet his gaze remained calmly fixed on Blood Butcher.

"Your turn."

Blood Butcher's expression abruptly changed. Then a fierce glint blazed in his dark red eyes. He was, after all, a notoriously ruthless figure among the younger generation of the Blood God Clan. After his momentary shock, the savagery in his bones was fully roused.

"You think killing a few pieces of trash is enough to scare me?!"

With a furious shout, Blood Butcher slammed his hands together. The dark red Spiritual Energy inside him surged out wildly like a river of blood bursting its banks. Behind him, it formed a blood-colored apparition several zhang tall. Its face was savage, its fangs bared, and blood Qi churned around it. A nauseating stench of blood instantly enveloped the entire hilltop.

"Blood God Transformation!"

Enveloped by the blood-colored apparition, Blood Butcher's body began to swell rapidly. His skin turned dark red, and veins bulged like coiling dragons. His eyes were so red they looked ready to drip blood. The Spiritual Energy fluctuations around him surged dramatically, faintly reaching the threshold of the peak Divine Soul Realm!

This was a secret art of the Blood God Clan. At the cost of burning one's blood essence, it unleashed power far beyond one's own for a short time.

"Die!"

Blood Butcher stepped forward, shattering the steps beneath his foot. Like a bolt of blood-colored lightning, he reached Xiao Yan in an instant and raised his right palm high. A mass of Blood Fiend Qi, so dense it was almost black, spun wildly in its center.

Blood Fiend Palm!

He had put all his strength into this palm strike. Even the air was dyed blood-red wherever its wind passed. If even a peak Divine Soul Realm expert came into contact with a trace of that vicious Blood Fiend Qi, their meridians would rot, leaving them worse off than dead!

Inside the temple, A Heng let out a desperate scream. She wanted to close her eyes, yet kept them fixedly open, as though so long as she watched, Brother Xiao would be all right.

Xiao Yan lifted his head and looked at the bloody palm bearing down on him as though it could blot out the sky.

He did not dodge.

Nor did he use the Heavy Xuan Ruler again.

He merely raised his left hand, fingers together and palm facing upward, then slowly clenched it into a fist.

The instant he clenched it, there were no flames or any glow of Spiritual Energy on his fist. It looked like nothing more than an ordinary fist.

Yet in that instant, his body trembled faintly to a strange rhythm.

One tremor, two tremors, three tremors...

Eight tremors.

Eight surges of force stacked atop one another, all converging on his fist in that instant.

Eight Extremes Collapse.

This was one of the first Dou Techniques Xiao Yan had learned on the Dou Qi Continent. It did not rely on the amount of Dou Qi he possessed, only on the vibrations of his physical body and the accumulation of force. Even now, with the Spiritual Energy in his body almost exhausted, he could still use it.

Back in Wutan City, he had used this move to beat the clan disciples who mocked him until they could no longer hold their heads high. Now, in this unfamiliar land, it remained one of the things he trusted most.

Fist and palm collided with a thunderous crash in midair.

Bang!!

A muffled impact rang out like a clap of thunder over Sunset Glow Slope.

Blood Butcher's body, swollen to several times its size, went abruptly rigid. His eyes widened as he stared in disbelief at the small fist striking his palm. He felt eight distinct forces burrow wildly through his palm, one after another, into his arm, his shoulder, his chest, his dantian...

Crack, crack, crack...

The sound of bones breaking rang out in succession from within his body.

The blood-colored apparition enveloping him shattered with a crash the instant the eighth surge of force erupted.

Blood Butcher's body shrank rapidly, like a skin bag leaking air. He opened his mouth and spewed a great mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs. Sent flying backward, he smashed through the remaining half of the mountain god temple's door and slammed into the floor inside, rolling several times before finally coming to a stop.

He lay on the ground, coughing up mouthful after mouthful of blood. His eyes were fixed on the figure slowly walking in through the temple entrance. His lips trembled as he forced out a few words.

"You... that wasn't Spiritual Energy... what was it..."

"You're... you're from a Lower Plane..."

Xiao Yan ignored him and walked straight past him to the clay statue of the god. He crouched down and reached out to untie the hemp rope binding A Heng.

A Heng stared blankly at him, tears still on her face. The hemp rope had left bloody marks around her wrists, and she had yet to recover from what had just happened.

"It's all right now," Xiao Yan said softly, his voice so gentle that he seemed a different person from the one he had been moments ago.

A Heng's lips trembled a few times. Then, with a wail, she threw herself into his arms and burst into tears.

Xiao Yan patted her back, but his gaze fell on the old man beside them, who was still unconscious. He placed two fingers on the old man's wrist. After a moment, his brow eased slightly, and he took a medicinal pill from his Storage Ring and fed it to him.

Only after doing all this did he slowly stand up and turn to look at Blood Butcher, who lay on the ground still coughing up blood.

Blood Butcher shuddered when he met Xiao Yan's gaze. At last, a trace of genuine fear appeared in his dark red eyes.

"You... you can't kill me... I'm from the Blood God Clan... my grandfather is an elder of the Blood God Clan... if you kill me, the Blood God Clan will..."

Xiao Yan walked up to him and looked down at him.

"I won't kill you."

Blood Butcher froze.

Xiao Yan raised his foot and gently placed it on his lower abdomen.

That was where his dantian lay.

"I'll just make it so you can never lay a hand on anyone again."