The Dominant Hand

With a single strike of Python Coils Around the Body, Hu Mang sliced off one of his opponent's arms. Almost without pause, he turned and charged at him again, the savage ferocity on his face all but impossible to conceal.

"We're in trouble!"

"Quick, form the array!"

"Save Zhang Ping first!"

The four had known one another before entering Demon-Subduing City and had worked together for a long time. As a result, they had jointly studied a combined technique, the Lesser Four Symbols Array Method.

Once the Lesser Four Symbols Array was formed, its four sides responded to one another. It possessed such wondrous effects as binding spirits and locking souls, trapping enemies in a cage, cowing their minds with its pressure, and confounding their sense of direction.

The number of cultivators reduced to lumps of meat in this Lesser Four Symbols Array had already reached double digits.

To break the array, one had to destroy one of its array points before the others finished setting it up.

That was why Hu Mang had fought so ferociously. His real target had not been the beautiful woman, but the foremost member of the array, who had rushed desperately to save her.

In an instant, a flying thunder talisman, a scarlet fang sword, a black light sphere, a soul-hooking chain... at least six or seven Law Artifacts flew up at once and struck at Hu Mang.

These people had robbed homes and plundered so many times that they were dripping with wealth. Their treasures all contained hidden spiritual radiance and were anything but ordinary.

They were at least Spirit Artifact grade.

With all these Law Artifacts striking at Hu Mang at once, even if his body was somewhat stronger than that of an ordinary cultivator, he would surely be beaten into a paste.

Hu Mang immediately abandoned his spear attack, abruptly transforming it into a net of lightning. Innate divine lightning crackled and exploded as layers of lightning spiraled around him, weaving a vast snare of thunder.

This move was Layered Rocks Sever the Peak, from the Xie Household's ultimate spear art, the Layered Peaks Spirit-Suppressing Spear.

Although his opponents all wielded high-grade Spirit Artifacts of no low rank, a mere glancing sweep from this net of spear shadows and lightning made their spiritual nature shudder and waver, sending them flying backward.

Back in the Xie Household, Mama Hu's status had been the very picture of standing below one person and above ten thousand—the household head's beloved fox, the Aristocratic Clan's immortal pet. The Xie Household's secret and true inheritances had all been teaching materials for her to learn her characters.

And as Mama Hu's precious son, Hu Mang had naturally received every true inheritance of that ancient Aristocratic Clan.

In the arts of spear and sword, Mama Hu had passed her four strongest sets on to Hu Mang: the Twenty-Four Swords of Linchuan, the Black Robe Cold Emblem Sword Scripture, the Cold River Severed Goose Spear Instruction, and the Layered Peaks Spirit-Suppressing Spear.

To be honest, the Xie Household's strongest art had actually been the sword, not the spear.

The Twenty-Four Swords of Linchuan fused with the Cloud Billows Pure Mystery Instruction, borrowing the clouds and mists of heaven and earth to create a hazy rain of swords.

The Black Robe Cold Emblem Sword Scripture, meanwhile, matched the Black Robe Concealed Jade Scripture. Within, it nurtured a sword bone and purified inner demons; without, it wielded the sword of a gentleman and swept the imperial court clean.

The son Mama Hu had once hoped to raise had probably been modeled on a youthful Xie Xianyu, the sort of graceful gentleman who cut a fine figure.

Unfortunately, Hu Mang had grown up crooked—or rather, he had thrown back to his ancestors.

Though his swordsmanship had not reached even thirty percent mastery, his spear arts had long since surpassed their source, as blue outshone the indigo from which it came. They had cast off the shackles of form and entered into their true essence.

Those two spear arts had actually been developed years ago by Xie Xianyu and a group of imperial generals, who worked them out together specifically to teach officers and soldiers for the northern campaign.

Thus, once his spear attack unfolded in full, its fierce and tragic presence, resolved never to return until Loulan was broken, immediately suppressed everyone present.

After sweeping aside the Law Artifacts, Hu Mang continued charging at Zhang Ping almost without pause. All their attempts to hem him in had bought Zhang Ping less than three breaths to adjust.

Zhang Ping could no longer spare a thought for anything else. Every hair on his body stood on end, and he felt as though a fierce python had wrapped itself around him, squeezing him ever tighter, leaving him unable to break free in the slightest.

He hurriedly formed Hand Seals with his other hand. The copper coin sword automatically entered a defensive state, each coin swelling to the size of a millstone to protect his body. At the same time, his only remaining hand reached into his Storage Bag, surely searching for some defensive measure.

The smell of blood, the sound of surging waves, and the undisguised, pure Yao Qi.

In the end, they all came together as the immortal weapon Shattering Thunder stabbed fiercely into his opponent's net of copper coins. Explosions rang out one after another, scattering sparks and metal.

The copper coin sword proved worthy of being a product of the Divine Dynasty, just like Shattering Thunder. As the Innate Thunder Patterns and Yao-suppressing runes lit up, white smoke rose with a sizzle from Hu Mang's hands as they gripped the spear. Red hairs sprouted from the backs of his hands, only to be scorched.

The spear tip likewise pressed inch by inch against his opponent's copper coin suppression array, thrusting toward his throat.

The Law Artifacts of the three behind him came at him once again. At this rate, Hu Mang would most likely be beaten to pieces by the other Law Artifacts before he could run his opponent through.

Amid the danger, Hu Mang's murky yellow eyes narrowed in an instant. The bearded Zhang Ping facing him immediately sensed trouble.

Another Dragon-Suppressing Stake came stomping down, and for a moment the earth shook and the mountains trembled.

Almost on instinct, Zhang Ping formed a Method Formula, using the array to protect his entire body. He would never again let himself be cowed by his opponent's presence as he had just been, only to lose another arm.

He had only one arm left!

Hu Mang's eyes narrowed deeply once more. This time, even the corners of his eyes creased, making him look more dangerous still.

The chance is here!

In a life-or-death crisis, there was often only one chance!

He did not know how cultivators in this world fought, but he had a wealth of experience in life-or-death arena battles.

Timing, rhythm, and... the dominant hand!

Every cultivator had a hand they favored for forming Method Formulas.

Moreover, years upon years of casting habits could even cause differences in the frequency and efficiency with which their two hands released spiritual power.

Once they switched hands, the circulation through their entire body's meridians, blood vessels, and even their lower Dantian would undergo an automatic period of adjustment.

And adjustment meant exposing an opening!

In that instant between life and death, Hu Mang made a move that left everyone present's eyes nearly popping out. He loosened his grip and cleanly abandoned the divine spear in his hands, then stepped forward, turned, and swept out in a hooking motion!

His hand transformed directly into a claw. That fox claw, shaped somewhat like a hook yet not quite one, materialized once again and plunged straight into his opponent's copper coin array from an oblique angle.

It was the equivalent of sticking a hand into a meat grinder, and should have ended with Hu Mang's arm ground into a paste.

Yet when Zhang Ping caught sight of it from the corner of his eye, his expression changed dramatically. Between the two layers of defense formed by the copper coin array and his own spiritual power shield, a gap had appeared!

The gap had not appeared out of nowhere. It had opened when Zhang Ping concentrated his Law Power on the copper coin sword to resist the Shattering Thunder spear head-on.

It was an opening inevitably exposed by switching the hand he favored for Method Formulas.

To put it plainly, he was covering his head while leaving his backside exposed. After all, once spiritual power was left uncontrolled, it would naturally converge madly wherever a Method Formula directed it.

Especially when he was using his non-dominant hand, covering his entire body was even more impossible.

Thus, Hu Mang's left claw swept across his opponent's throat with hardly the slightest resistance, leaving an erupting mist of blood.

The copper coin array, still operating on instinct, instead became a barrier blocking the Law Artifacts from behind.

Zhang Ping died where he stood, his eyes wide.

Hu Mang summoned it with a reverse motion of his hand. The immortal weapon Shattering Thunder, which had fallen to the ground, began to hum. The next instant, thunder exploded, and it turned into a bolt of lightning that flew into his palm.

Immortal weapons could not be refined.

Or rather, none of the treasures handed down from the "upper realm" could be refined like Law Treasures.

Thus, to use one, besides having a Cultivation Method with a compatible attribute, what mattered more was the affinity between the person and the weapon.

And clearly, the immortal weapon Shattering Thunder took quite a liking to Hu Mang.

Hu Mang caught it with a reverse grip and scattered a spray of spear shadows, enveloping the three who had just charged at him. It was as though thick pythons were coiling and thrashing at them from every direction.

Good thing you're a demon-subduing immortal weapon. If you were a Yao-subduing immortal weapon, we really wouldn't be a match.

As Hu Mang kept the three enveloped, the thought suddenly occurred to him.

The bearded man, the strongest of them, had been killed, and the three who remained could not form their array. Their ultimate fate was nothing more than to be entangled and killed by him one by one.

After a while, another two lives had fallen at his hands.

The last one saw that things were going badly, turned, slapped on an Armored Horse Talisman, and fled. Hu Mang was just about to give chase when he frowned.

His Law Power was empty.

The Law Power of the "Qi-channel enhancement version" of the Universal Qi Refining Instruction was already comparable in strength to that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator, and Hu Mang had deliberately used it sparingly.

But the immortal weapon Shattering Thunder still consumed a little more than he had expected.

Xu Gu fled blindly.

Not only was he not grief-stricken over his companions' deaths, he instead cursed inwardly, wondering how another freakishly powerful "Divine Dynasty Remnant" had appeared.

He too was a veteran Rogue Cultivator in Demon-Subduing City.

Naturally, he knew there were two kinds of people in the city one could not afford to provoke.

One was, naturally, those old unorthodox ghosts. Those old hands of the unorthodox paths, whose three flowers and five Qi had yet to reach completion, did not amount to much in the eyes of true experts of the righteous and demonic paths.

But here in the Thunder Commandery Domain, where anyone whose three flowers and five Qi reached completion would be struck dead by a lightning tribulation, they were naturally the very strongest.

Besides those old unorthodox ghosts, there was another kind of person. They too had originally been Rogue Cultivators, and their cultivation had even been lower than that of the others.

But through a fortuitous opportunity or a compatible disposition, they had gained the recognition of a "Divine Dynasty relic," and at once become dangerous figures whose powers were unfathomable and who feared no taboo.

Still, whether they were the elusive old unorthodox ghosts or those "Remnants" confined to fixed areas, neither were people Xu Gu and his companions could afford to provoke.

And in Xu Gu's eyes, Hu Mang, who wielded that divine spear capable of unleashing terrifying thunder and piercing anything, was naturally a newly emerged "Remnant."

There was no great shame in being defeated by such a person.

The important thing now was to hurry back to the Thunder God's Shrine. Fighting with techniques was forbidden inside, so as long as he entered the shrine, he could preserve his life.

Moreover, after all their various explorations, these Rogue Cultivators had discovered something unusual.

"Divine Dynasty Remnants" never entered the Thunder God's Shrine, so as long as he escaped inside, his safety was assured.

However, a plum blossom flying sword shot out from a secluded corner, blocking his escape route.

"It's you, Zhou Yu!!" Xu Gu's eyes widened as he stared at the man slowly emerging from the alley.

"You were the one who brought that 'Divine Dynasty Remnant' here. You told him the weakness of our array!"

In an instant, everything became clear to Xu Gu.

Without a word, Zhou Yu guided his sword with a sword formula and attacked him.