Chapter Eighty-Six: Crisis

Like a thunderclap, Luo Long’s body flashed forward in a blink and closed upon Ye Cheng and Nangong Xue. A cruel smile spread across his face as though he were already looking at corpses.

“Die!”

With a sinister laugh, Luo Long drew his green blade across the air before him. At once, a cyan saber light tens of yards wide materialized above Ye Cheng and the other.

The terrifying surge of vital energy pressure made both Ye Cheng and Nangong Xue feel as though an immense weight had fallen upon them, as if the saber light had sealed every inch around them so that there was nowhere to flee.

This was the crushing might of a higher realm: by relying on the control of heaven and earth’s vital energy, it formed a binding technique. Warriors in the Blood Qi Realm could hardly avoid being affected. After all, at that level one had not yet gained command over the vital energy of heaven and earth. They had not broken through the barrier of the body, and all they could depend on was the strength of their own blood qi.

“No!”

Ye Cheng struggled with all his might. In his heart burned a fierce unwillingness. In this life, he had lost his mother when he was young, and after his father Ye Shan vanished, he had endured in silence for decades the agony of being unable to cultivate. And now, at last, he had stepped onto the great path of cultivation, with the strength to protect the younger sister he longed to shield and to search for the father who had been missing for so many years. He had just seen the dawn of all this, only for it to be snuffed out. How could he accept it?

“Break for me!”

Ye Cheng desperately tried to stir the blood qi within him, but his injuries were too severe. Each attempt made his face even paler with pain. Yet he still refused to give up. He understood clearly that if that blade shadow struck them, both would surely die.

Nangong Xue could not help but be slightly stunned by Ye Cheng’s madness. Then she forcefully mobilized the last of her blood qi strength, pressing back the binding of heaven and earth’s vital energy. Previously, protected by Ye Cheng, she had suffered no real injury, so her strength had not been depleted much.

Nangong Xue was an exceedingly intelligent and decisive woman. She understood how urgent the situation was. Ye Cheng might be unable to break free of the restraint, and the black-blade Li Yang, though rushing over with all haste, was still a good distance away and could not save them in time. As long as she delayed Luo Long’s attack for a moment, Li Yang would be able to reach them.

After breaking free of the restraint, Nangong Xue suddenly spat out a mouthful of essence blood, spraying it into the bronze longsword in her hand. That mouthful of essence blood was the very marrow of her blood qi power; such a loss instantly drained the color from her face.

Hum hum—

After absorbing the essence blood, the bronze longsword emitted a continuous ringing hum. Countless profound runes flickered across its blade, as though awakening to life. The sword itself was already a top-grade spiritual weapon, and within it a sword spirit had begun to take shape, though it had not yet fully formed. Once the sword spirit matured, the blade would leave the rank of spiritual weapons and rise to the level of a spirit treasure, with power greatly increased.

But clearly this longsword still belonged to the category of spiritual weapons. Only Nangong Xue’s essence blood had forcibly roused the unformed sword spirit. Essence blood was the essence concentrated within a warrior’s blood, containing a vast power of blood qi. Yet to buy even a moment of time, she could only consume it in this way.

“Sword Dance Style.”

A clear cry rang from Nangong Xue’s lips, stained faintly with blood. Her delicate hand clenched the bronze longsword tightly, and her figure blurred. In an instant, several Nangong Xue shadows appeared, as though she had split into multiple bodies, all swinging their swords at once. Sword intent soared into the heavens as they met the descending blade shadow.

Clang—

As blade met sword, the massive saber light merely trembled faintly, while Nangong Xue’s exquisite figure seemed to suffer a heavy blow. She became a streak of tragic beauty, hurled downward by the terrifying blade shadow. Clearly, even her full-force strike had failed to block it for even a moment. The gap between them was simply too great, far beyond what a top-grade spiritual weapon whose sword spirit had been forcibly awakened could make up for.

...

“Break, break, break for me...”

Seeing Nangong Xue injured, Ye Cheng’s expression grew even more frenzied. He knew that just now, she could have escaped on her own, yet she had chosen to meet that attack head-on in order to save him. Thinking of this, Ye Cheng let out a wild howl and tried to draw out every ounce of power within his body. Though doing so caused blood to keep spilling from the corner of his mouth, he still did not stop.

“Brat, stop at once! Stop! At this rate your body will be ruined!”

In Ye Cheng’s mind, Elder Mu’s anxious voice suddenly rang out.

“Teacher?” Ye Cheng abruptly halted the forced circulation of his blood qi and hurriedly said, “Teacher, quickly lend me your strength.”

“No.”

Elder Mu refused. “Your body is damaged far too severely. If my power rushes into you now, your current body will be unable to bear it, and it may very well burst apart.”

“How can this be?” Ye Cheng cried anxiously as he watched the saber shadow rush closer and closer. His rhythm was thrown into chaos, and there were still many things he had yet to do. He did not want to die like this.

“Calm down,” Elder Mu snapped coldly. “Right now, your internal organs and meridians have all suffered damage to varying degrees. You can no longer mobilize your blood qi. But do not forget: you still have the flame belonging to your fire body. Its use is not limited to the circulation of meridians.”

“The flame?” Ye Cheng froze. “Can this flame be used to attack?” He truly could not understand how the crimson flame in his body, no larger than half a fist, could possibly withstand the terrifying blade shadow before him.

“At your current level, you still do not understand its subtlety. Let me help you control it,” Elder Mu said. The situation did not allow him time to explain further. “Open your mind. Leave the rest to me.”

Hearing this, Ye Cheng hurriedly nodded and relaxed his body completely. In that instant, Elder Mu’s divine sense entered him and successfully made contact with the miniature flame within his body.

Boom—

Under Elder Mu’s control, the crimson flame seemed to have been provoked. A tremendous suction force erupted, and countless fire elements from the air rushed into Ye Cheng’s body, then passed through him and poured into the spirit spear, causing it to tremble violently. The spear body blazed with terrifying flames.

“What is this?”

Seeing the countless fire elements gathering into the spirit spear in Ye Cheng’s hand, Luo Long’s eyes shook.

“This is the fire body.”

“Fire body...”

Even the black-blade Li Yang, racing over from afar, was struck dumb. He had never imagined that the other possessed such monstrous talent, actually having the constitution of an alchemist.

Under Elder Mu’s control, the spirit spear, wrapped in raging fire, transformed into a streak of meteor light and, in the stunned gaze of everyone present, fiercely smashed into the saber shadow dozens of yards wide.

Boom!