Chapter 207: The Might of the Blood Sword
Chapter 207: Chapter 207: The Might of the Blood Sword
BOOM!
Li Ping formed a quick hand seal and uttered, "Go."
Instantly—
"SCREECH!"
A clear cry echoed through the air. The next moment, the Li Fire Ring violently accelerated, hurtling straight toward the three Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Li Ping’s plan was simple. The effects of the Blood Banner’s corrosive poison were more severe the lower a cultivator’s cultivation was.
Worried that Xiao Yunzhi might be killed, he hadn’t had time to release more of the poison, so the two Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators were only minimally affected.
Better to sever one finger than to injure all five!
Li Ping decided to first take out the three Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators with a surprise attack, then deal with the remaining two at the Late-stage of Foundation Establishment at his leisure.
"RUMBLE~"
Carrying terrifying might, the Li Fire Ring crashed with unstoppable force into a defensive Spiritual Artifact one of the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators had hastily produced. It shattered the Spiritual Artifact to pieces and, in the same motion, pulverized the cultivator into a mist of blood that instantly evaporated.
The Li Fire Ring then banked sharply and lunged toward another Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Seeing the situation suddenly turn against them, Kun Hu roared in alarm and subconsciously moved to command his Spirit Ruler Talisman Treasure to intercept the Li Fire Ring.
But before he could act, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine for no apparent reason.
He looked up to see that, at some point, a cultivator in black armor and a black faceplate had appeared. This figure held a greatbow as tall as a man and was now drawing it, the nocked arrow aimed squarely at him!
As the figure slowly drew the bowstring, a brilliant spiritual light erupted from the bow and arrow, accompanied by a great rumbling sound.
"Late-stage Foundation Establishment!" Kun Hu’s expression changed drastically as he felt the powerful Spiritual Pressure emanating from the figure.
"WHOOSH!"
The puppet released the string, and the arrow became a streak of dark light. It flew toward Kun Hu with terrifying power, looking as if it would blast him to smithereens!
Forgetting all about commanding his Spirit Ruler to block the Li Fire Ring, Kun Hu hastily retrieved a green shield and willed it to expand to several yards in height, forming a barrier before him.
Even after this, he didn’t feel safe. He grit his teeth, and the river formed by the Spirit Ruler Talisman Treasure roared back to him, forming a fluctuating curtain of light around his body.
BANG!
With a deafening crash, Kun Hu’s Tier Two Upper Grade shield shattered instantly. The arrow’s remaining power, carrying the shield fragments with it, slammed hard against the light curtain formed by the Spirit Ruler Talisman Treasure before finally dissipating.
Before Kun Hu could even catch his breath, he saw the black-armored cultivator pull another black-fletched arrow from his quiver...
The moment Li Ping burst out, killed one Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, and sent his puppet to tie up Kun Hu, Xiao Yunzhi immediately understood his intentions.
"SCREECH!"
The Flame Divine Bird let out a low cry and wheeled around, pouncing on the other Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator on the field. This prevented him from helping the other two Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.
A moment later—
BANG!
BANG!
With two more resounding bangs, the last two Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, already afflicted by the corrosive blood poison, were smashed to dust by the Li Fire Ring!
Li Ping was about to command the Li Fire Ring Talisman Treasure to join the puppet in attacking Kun Hu, but was stunned to see the treasure suddenly revert to its original Talisman form. Before he could react...
The Talisman he had paid a high price for fell, completely drained of spiritual energy. As it drifted toward the ground, it let out a HISS and spontaneously burst into flames. In an instant, it was reduced to ash, which a gust of wind scattered into nothingness.
Seeing this, Li Ping couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
’He knew this happened because the power sealed within the Li Fire Ring Talisman Treasure had been completely depleted after killing the three Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.’
’This was the problem with Talisman Treasures. Their power surpassed that of an Upper-Grade Spiritual Artifact, but their uses were limited.’
However, the Li Fire Ring wasn’t Li Ping’s only Talisman Treasure. When he first appeared, he had summoned both Jia Yi and Jia Er.
Originally, he had intended for each of the two puppets to engage one of the Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.
However, Xiao Yunzhi had taken the initiative to relieve some of the pressure, so only Jia Yi was needed to keep one of the Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators occupied with his bow. Jia Er, on the other hand, was free.
Li Ping acted decisively. He gave the Blood Sword Talisman Treasure he had obtained from Hua Hong to Jia Er and commanded it to inject Magical Power to activate the item.
However, the Blood Sword Talisman Treasure was an immensely powerful item, created by a Late-stage Core Formation Cultivator who had sealed their own Lifebound Magical Treasure. Activating it consumed a great deal of Magical Power, and in the short time that had passed, Jia Er still hadn’t managed to power it up.
He glanced over at the battle between Xiao Yunzhi and the triangle-faced Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator and saw that she had the upper hand.
Reassured, Li Ping slapped the Storage Bag at his waist. The Purple Gold Fork flew out, gleaming with golden light as it shot toward Kun Hu.
Kun Hu had been on guard for a long time, but the puppet never fired its second arrow. With all the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators who had entered the secret realm with him now dead, how could he not realize his opponent was just bluffing?
He was infuriated!
But anger was useless. Faced with the incoming Flying Fork, he had no choice but to command his Spirit Ruler Talisman Treasure to block it.
The moment they clashed, Kun Hu’s advantage was clear. His Magical Power was already more profound than Li Ping’s, and he was wielding a Talisman Treasure, whose might was far more terrifying than Li Ping’s Upper-Grade Spiritual Artifact. He easily suppressed the spiritual light of the Flying Fork, forcing it into a steady retreat.
But that was as far as he could go. The puppet remained at the side, its bow drawn, watching him like a tiger stalking its prey. Kun Hu had to reserve a significant portion of his focus to defend against that potential shot, and thus didn’t dare attack with his full power to kill Li Ping, a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.
On one side, Li Ping was waiting for Jia Er to activate the Blood Sword Talisman Treasure while Kun Hu was tied down.
On the other side, the triangle-faced Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator was completely overwhelmed by the Flame Divine Bird created by Xiao Yunzhi’s Secret Technique.
The first casualty was the Sharp-horned Demon Beast, which the Flame Divine Bird seized and tore to shreds. Next was the triangle-faced cultivator, who was forced into a desperate retreat, clearly on the verge of death.
From the moment Li Ping launched his surprise attack, the tide of battle had steadily turned in their favor. He was content to let things play out.
But Kun Hu was growing increasingly frantic. ’I can’t wait any longer! Once Xiao Yunzhi kills Juedu, they’ll team up against me. I’ll be dead for sure!’
At this thought, he abandoned his defense against the puppet’s arrow. He commanded the vast majority of the small rulers that had split from his Spirit Ruler Talisman Treasure to form a torrential river, crashing down on Li Ping. He left only a few behind to engage the Purple Gold Fork.
Li Ping naturally noticed this. As he released his Blood Transformation Shield to block the incoming spirit rulers, he simultaneously commanded Jia Yi to attack again without a moment’s hesitation!
"RUMBLE~"
With a heaven-shaking roar, the black streak of light tore through the void at terrifying speed, shooting straight for Kun Hu!
Kun Hu was prepared. A small, bronze-colored bell flew out of his Storage Bag. It swelled as it met the air, instantly growing to over ten feet tall and emitting a brilliant light that shielded him.
CLANG!
The puppet’s arrow struck the bronze bell. But how could the bell withstand such terrifying power? The point of impact was torn apart like paper. The remaining force of the blow, carrying fragments of the bell with it, slammed into the opposite side, shattering it completely. By then, the arrow’s power was finally all but spent.
A look of anguish flashed in Kun Hu’s eyes as he watched his bronze bell get destroyed.
Fortunately, after shattering the bronze bell, the attack’s power was mostly spent. With its might so greatly diminished, he was able to evade the rest of the attack with a simple sidestep.
Meanwhile, Li Ping was struggling to control his Blood Transformation Shield to fend off the small rulers assailing him from all sides.
The Blood Transformation Shield was a Top-Grade Spiritual Artifact, so it was in no danger of being damaged. However, each blocked attack sent a slight tremor through his Magical Power. He wouldn’t be able to last long if this kept up.
Jia Yi, meanwhile, had consumed too many of its internal Spirit Stones and could not fire another full-powered shot. It could only command a flying dagger to try and relieve some of the pressure on Li Ping.
"It’s out of Magical Power!"
Seeing this, Kun Hu instantly surmised Jia Yi’s condition.
Although he didn’t know Jia Yi was a puppet, he was certain that an attack as terrifying as the last one couldn’t be launched multiple times in quick succession, not even by a Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.
’While its Magical Power is spent, I’ll kill that Mid-stage Foundation Establishment brat first!’ With that thought, Kun Hu made his decision.
He had already noticed another black-armored figure sitting cross-legged not far from Li Ping and Jia Yi. He didn’t know what it was doing, but it gave him a vague sense of unease.
Confirming that Jia Yi couldn’t fire another arrow, Kun Hu pointed a finger. The hundreds of small rulers hummed, then shot toward Li Ping at an even greater speed, seeking to annihilate him.
But to Kun Hu’s surprise, Li Ping didn’t panic in the face of his all-out attack. Instead, he smiled.
’Why isn’t he panicking?’
’What did I miss?’
A dreadful look crossed Kun Hu’s face, but he had no time to think further.
From the cross-legged figure, a blood-red sword shadow dozens of feet long suddenly shot into the air. An astonishing, blood-soaked aura instantly permeated the air for thousands of yards around.
"That is..." Kun Hu felt a faint sense of familiarity with the Blood Sword.
But before he could recall where he had seen the Blood Sword before, a flash of crimson light filled his vision.
The next moment—
His vision suddenly flipped upside down as he plummeted from the sky. He saw a headless corpse, also falling. The corpse’s clothes looked strangely familiar.
’That looks like me... Where did my head go... My head...’
Kun Hu’s mind filled with confusion and terror before he swiftly lost all consciousness.
Meanwhile, the triangle-faced Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator fighting Xiao Yunzhi also saw nothing but a flash of crimson light.
Then, he was sliced vertically in half, from head to toe.
A smile touched Li Ping’s lips as he killed two Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators in quick succession.
With a small beckoning gesture, the Blood Sword instantly turned and shot back, reverting to its Talisman form and floating down into Li Ping’s waiting palm.
’The power of this little Blood Sword is even greater than I expected.’
’To take the heads of two Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators so easily... it’s truly worthy of a Talisman Treasure refined by a Late-stage Core Formation Cultivator.’
At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel secretly grateful for his own caution.
’If I had hesitated for even a moment during my fight with Hua Hong and let him activate the Blood Sword Talisman Treasure, I might have been in real danger.’
’After all, no matter how heaven-defying my Nourishing Life Skill Power is, it can’t save me if I’m sliced in two.’
’Never hold back trump cards when facing an enemy. You can’t be careless, not even against Low-tier Cultivators. A lion uses its full strength even when hunting a rabbit.’
’A Low-tier Cultivator with a rare treasure can still pose a threat to a High-tier Cultivator.’
’The only good enemy is a dead enemy!’
...
Numerous thoughts flashed through Li Ping’s mind as his gaze fell upon the Flame Divine Bird in the distance.