First Clash

"Something's wrong, someone's coming!"

Gu Laoliu, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them. The others did not dare be careless and each took up a guard.

"Five miles out, four of them, charging this way!" Niu Gui'er said in a low voice.

Kang Dabao had clearly seen neither of them use any means, yet Niu Gui'er and Gu Laoliu were somehow able to report what was happening.

"Five hundred Spirit Stones a head! Each of you can rely on your own abilities!" Bai Bian picked up his sword and suddenly charged out.

Niu Gui'er and Gu Laoliu followed without hesitation. Kang Dabao and Second Sister Song exchanged a glance and followed them out as well.

It was hard to say who was the prey at this point. If they remained where they were, they risked having the enemy rush right into their faces.

"I wondered who it was. So it's old Bai! We brothers will take your head first today, then go and wash your Bai Household Stockade in blood."

The towering man leading their opponents had a pair of dazzling golden eyes. He casually stretched out his long arms and let out a long laugh.

Standing atop a white bone sword, he lunged straight at Bai Bian. Bai Bian's face turned icy as the exceptionally sharp longsword in his hand shot out.

He had made a name for himself in his youth and had already become one of the few late-stage cultivators in the surrounding area while he was still in his twenties.

With the Bai Household's ancestral Swordsmanship, he had earned a resounding reputation and was a renowned Foundation Establishment seed of his day.

Even now, old and nearing the end of his life, how could a man of his pride tolerate such insolence from a junior?

The man did not slow at the sight. He tapped the white bone sword beneath his feet, and it turned into a streak of black light that shot toward Bai Bian's flying sword.

In an instant, the flying sword and the white bone sword collided heavily. A loud clang of metal rang out, and both swords quickly withdrew.

Bai Bian's face flushed red, and the man let out a muffled grunt. Their first exchange had ended in an even match.

Bai Bian thought to himself that things were bad. He had not expected the Eldest of the Liu Household to have progressed so quickly.

"So you've grown this old! If I'd known this was all you had left, why would we four brothers have bothered waiting so long for you to die of old age? Bai Household Stockade should have been gone long ago!"

The Eldest of the Liu Household kept smiling as he caught the white bone sword flying back to him. He shouted over his shoulder, "Hurry up and get over here to kill them! Once we're done, we'll go have some fun at Bai Household Stockade."

"Coming, big brother!"

"The young women in Bai Household Stockade must be much better than the ones here!"

"Haha, chop up everyone shorter than a cartwheel, coat them in flour and fry them to eat!"

Three more figures sprang out of the woods behind him.

"What an Evil Cultivator!" Niu Gui'er gave a cold snort. Wrapped in a swarm of little ghosts, he went to meet the second cultivator, a pale-faced man with a long beard who was riding the wind toward them.

"Second Liu, my good little darlings are hungry, and they've taken a fancy to your flesh!"

"Haha, Niu Gui'er, you've got the nerve to call your grandpa an Evil Cultivator? Come, come, let your grandpa see who eats who!" Second Liu replied with a laugh.

He then put two fingers together like a sword and cut off his long beard at the roots. A look of madness filled his face as he charged toward Niu Gui'er's ghost swarm.

"First, have a bite of your grandpa's flying wheel to fill your bellies." He tossed the flying wheel in his hand, cutting the ghost child in the lead in two.

The flying wheel then changed direction, aiming between Niu Gui'er's eyes, intending to cut him evenly in half.

Niu Gui'er's expression did not change. He used his renowned Netherworld Hand, deathly Qi spreading over his bare palms and turning them as black as molten iron.

Clearly, he had already cultivated this Desolate Rank, Supreme Grade Technique Method to minor accomplishment. No wonder even someone as arrogant as Bai Bian held him in high regard.

Bang! Niu Gui'er knocked the flying wheel away with his left hand, the center of his palm turning slightly pale. He strode forward, moving even faster than the wheel he had knocked back.

The vicious man stretched out his right hand and struck at Second Liu's chest. Second Liu hurriedly retreated more than ten zhang, pivoting his whole body on the tip of his foot to narrowly dodge the blow.

A great tree became Liu Lao'er’s substitute in death. Niu Gui'er’s palm struck its trunk without a sound.

The enormous tree, whose lush green foliage had once blotted out the sun, visibly withered. In just a few breaths, it was lifeless from leaf to root.

"Die!" Niu Gui'er's momentum grew fiercer still, and he struck again with the back of his hand.

A cold sweat broke out on Second Liu. He felt that his footwork had never been as exquisite as it was today.

He narrowly dodged another lethal blow. He could not help thinking that this fake Daoist's methods were vicious indeed; inside and out, he was more like an Evil Cultivator than Second Liu himself.

Suddenly, a sharp pain struck him. A ghost child had slipped in, and using all the strength in its two chubby arms, it drove a short spear through the hollow of his left shoulder.

In pain, Second Liu controlled his flying wheel and struck in anger, dispersing the ghost child.

To his surprise, the dozens of ghost children behind it continued to swarm forward, some stabbing with swords and spears, others tearing at him with sharp teeth. For a time, the little ghosts left Second Liu in a sorry state.

Niu Gui'er's two iron palms, gleaming with dark light, found another opening and struck. Second Liu fought desperately for his life and dodged once more.

After only a short exchange with Niu Gui'er, this notorious Evil Cultivator was already firmly on the losing end.

Seeing his elder brother in danger, Third Liu stepped forward to help, only for Gu Laoliu to block him on the way.

Gu Laoliu gently waved the Hundred Ghost Banner in his hand three times. In moments, black Qi filled the area, and dozens of armored evil ghosts shrieked as they rushed out, their piercing cries disturbing the mind.

Third Liu frowned slightly and brushed the Storage Bag at his waist. A green folding fan appeared in his hand. With a shout, he snapped it open, and its surface instantly grew to the size of a millstone.

Third Liu moved his fingers slightly, and the folding fan hovered in the air and swept fiercely forward. A violent wind rose, instantly dispersing most of Gu Laoliu's black Qi and weakening the ghosts' momentum.

Gu Laoliu's expression grew grave, and he gently waved the small banner in his hand again. The evil ghosts took five-foot-long black spikes gleaming with dark light from the baskets on their backs and fired three volleys, covering half the sky.

Third Liu's expression changed drastically. The folding fan hovering in the air swept several times, blowing away most of the black spikes. The remaining dozen or so lost some momentum but still shot straight for the vital points all over his body.

At that moment, Fourth Liu, who had been a step behind, suddenly moved in front of Third Liu with a Golden Armor Round Shield. The dozen or so black spikes struck it together with a clatter, but their efforts came to nothing, and they all fell to the ground.

"Brat, you're courting death!" Gu Laoliu cursed in a low voice. He spat a mouthful of Essence Blood onto the small banner, and once the fabric had absorbed it all, black light blazed forth.

Gu Laoliu waved the banner wildly without stopping, and the evil ghosts clamored along with it.

All of them shrieked loudly and brandished their weapons. Their scale armor glowed red as they charged in formation, crashing like a black dagger into Fourth Liu's Golden Armor Round Shield.

Sizzle! The evil ghost at the front raised itself, and its scale armor struck the Golden Armor Round Shield. As though hot water had been poured into a red-hot iron pan, a great cloud of white smoke rose in an instant.

Fourth Liu stood behind the Golden Armor Round Shield like a stone pillar in water, gritting his teeth as he struggled against the torrent rushing toward him!

Third Liu saw this and had only just begun forming a spiritual hand seal, the folding fan hovering in midair about to move again, when his ears twitched slightly. His expression suddenly changed, and he yanked Fourth Liu in front of him hard, pulling him into a roll to the side.

Thud. Kang Dabao saw his Mountain-Splitting Hammer graze the Liu brothers and smash into the ground where they had just been standing. He thought it a pity.

He had not expected Fourth Liu to abandon the Golden Armor Round Shield, a rather precious defensive Law Artifact, in an instant and without hesitation.

The understanding these brothers had developed over years of fighting side by side was truly frightening.

Had he been facing ordinary Evil Cultivators, Sect Leader Kang would have gained something from that attack one way or another.

But with the round shield Law Artifact no longer protecting them, the Liu brothers ultimately found themselves trapped in the evil ghosts' battle formation.

Gu Laoliu's face darkened further. Holding nothing back, he waved the small banner in his hand at a furious speed.

Third Liu had already summoned his folding fan back in front of him and was fanning incessantly, while Fourth Liu forcibly suppressed the backlash from abandoning his Law Artifact and summoned a flying sword Law Artifact, kiting the evil ghosts as he fought. Even so, ghosts kept breaking through the fierce wind to engage them in close combat.

Gu Laoliu had made all these evil ghosts by first torturing strong mortal men to death through endlessly cruel means.

He had then extracted their souls, selected those whose souls were solid, tempered them with Yin fire for dozens of days, and finally placed them in Gu Laoliu's simplified version of the Hundred Ghost Banner to nurture.

All of them wore black scale armor and feared neither axe nor battleaxe. They had no reason left as they fought with no regard for their lives, and among them were a few evil ghosts refined from cultivators' souls, leading the charge.

On the outside, Kang Dabao repeatedly summoned the Mountain-Splitting Hammer to smash at Third Liu's folding fan Law Artifact, leaving several hair-fine cracks in its green wood ribs.

At this rate, Third Liu and Fourth Liu were certain to lose.

"Vile wench!" At that moment, Liu Lao'er, who was fighting fiercely with Niu Gui'er, spat out an arrow of blood that splashed onto one of Niu Gui'er's big-headed ghost children.

It scalded the child so badly that great clouds of white smoke rose from its body, and more than half its ghostly form immediately melted away.

The child opened its mouth wide in pain, half its round black face reduced to mangled flesh.

Bloody tears were clearly streaming from its eyes, yet it could not make the slightest sound. It was exceedingly eerie.

A short dagger was buried to the hilt in Liu Lao'er's side, having pierced him right through. It was Second Sister Song's Law Artifact, the Venomous Bee Stinger.

Enduring the pain, he dodged another Law Artifact shaped like a hairpin that Second Sister Song shot at him, only to be nearly struck by Niu Gui'er's Netherworld Hand.

He hastily summoned the flying wheel Law Artifact in his hand and let out a loud shout. Spiritual light flashed brilliantly over the wheel, and the white glare made Niu Gui'er's eyes ache. Realizing something was wrong, he flew back.

With a bang, the flying wheel exploded, and its fragments tore apart half the little ghosts Niu Gui'er had raised.

The rest were all injured, each opening a great bloody maw to howl silently in pain.

Even Second Sister Song was caught off guard, and a fragment of the flying wheel tore through her robes.

A gruesome bloody gash appeared on the white porcelain-like skin of her lower abdomen. The injury was severe, and the movement of her internal organs was faintly visible. Second Sister Song fell to the ground, her face twisted in pain.

Liu Lao'er was in even worse shape. His body was like a broken bucket, great streams of blood pouring from all over him. With no will to fight on, he turned and fled.

"Haha, don't be afraid, Second Sister! Stop your bleeding first! Liu Lao'er, don't run! Watch Grandpa Niu take your head!"

Niu Gui'er showed no distress over the damage to his little ghosts. Laughing, he pursued Liu Lao'er as he fled into the dense forest.

Kang Dabao saw that Second Sister Song's injury was not serious, Liu Lao'er had almost no fighting strength left, the outcome of the battle between the Eldest of the Liu Household and Bai Bian was still unclear, and Third Liu and Fourth Liu had grown even more frenzied.

He thought the overall situation was settled, and the taut string within him finally relaxed a little.

He thought that he and Second Sister Song had both been hiding in the shadows to ambush their enemies, yet Second Sister Song, a female cultivator, had been the one to land a hit. Feeling a little embarrassed, he brought the Mountain-Splitting Hammer down even harder.

"Fellow Daoists, do not let a single one escape! If we achieve a complete victory, I, Bai, promise that not only will I take none of the spoils this time, but the White Sand Bai Household will also owe you all a favor!"

Bai Bian was, after all, a Late Qi Refinement cultivator of many years. Though a vicious man like the Eldest of the Liu Household was in his prime, he was still somewhat less seasoned than Bai Bian.

The white bone sword's sharp offensive was gradually suppressed by Bai Bian's flying sword. Though his Qi and Blood had already weakened, Bai Bian fought with growing valor. When the Eldest of the Liu Household exposed a slight opening, Bai Bian seized it and sliced off his left ear with a stroke of his sword.

A great deal of blood smeared half of the Eldest of the Liu Household's face and soaked his shoulder.

This only roused his vicious nature. Though Bai Bian had the upper hand, the outcome still seemed uncertain.

How could Kang Dabao and the others hold back in a life-and-death struggle against Evil Cultivators like the Liu brothers? With life and death at stake, there was no room for carelessness.

Second Sister Song used emergency measures to stop her bleeding for the time being, then rose to her feet. Pale-faced, she controlled a hairpin Law Artifact and stayed beside Gu Laoliu to protect and assist him.

After another half a cup of tea's time in stalemate, the white bone sword of the Eldest of the Liu Household began to falter, and most of Third Liu's green wood folding fan had been smashed apart by Kang Dabao's Mountain-Splitting Hammer.

Fourth Liu was in an even more miserable state. He had suffered several wounds, and the evil ghosts had hacked away great chunks of flesh with their swords and axes. He was in grave danger.

Before long, a miserable scream suddenly came from the dense forest. Kang Dabao was overjoyed, thinking victory was in their grasp.

He swallowed several spirit-restoring pills he usually could not bear to use, gathered what little spiritual power he had left, and launched a relentless attack on the green wood folding fan.

After seven or eight blows, the green wood folding fan finally gave way and shattered completely with a creak.

Just as Kang Dabao was about to smash the pale-faced Third Liu into a pulp with his hammer, another scream came from behind him.

Thanks to the two esteemed readers, Walking on the Road to the Championship FaizLiang and Reader (such a long string of numbers that you probably can't remember it yourself), for your recommendation votes.

Haha, it's my first time publishing a story, and I can hardly resist checking the author dashboard ten times an hour.

Esteemed readers, if you have the time, please leave comments pointing out the shortcomings too. Thank you, everyone.