Chapter 168 - 167: Why Are You the Only One Left Standing
Chapter 168: Chapter 167: Why Are You the Only One Left Standing
WHEEE! WHEEE! WHEEE!
An ear-piercing shriek echoed through the mountain hollow. Within a thirty-foot radius of the two black-robed Elders, only Pang Weifeng remained standing. Anyone else who drew even slightly closer found their legs giving way before they collapsed, unconscious.
CLANG!
Pang Weifeng held his breath and focused, guarding his mind. As if oblivious to the blade’s shriek, he swung his saber down at the two men before him.
But the combination of the Tier Two blood blade and its bizarre techniques still left his spirit shaken after the strike. His Qi and Blood roiled, and a trickle of crimson seeped from his nose.
It seemed he had suffered an internal injury.
But the two black-robed Elders facing him were in even worse shape.
After receiving Pang Weifeng’s mighty blow, they were thrown back several dozen feet before they could stop themselves. The piercing shriek also vanished for a moment.
The immense force of that single strike had shredded their clothes to rags. Their faces were ashen, and blood trickled from their mouths and noses.
It was clear they had suffered a significant loss in that exchange.
"Heh."
The two of them immediately regulated their breathing. Though their eyes held a hint of caution, their smiles were still nonchalant. "As expected of a former blacksmith. That was quite a powerful strike, Sect Leader Pang!"
"But that alone is far from enough!"
"How many more times can you muster that kind of strength?"
"Why don’t we find out?" Pang Weifeng took a moment to regulate his own breathing, suppressing the coppery taste of blood in his throat, then stepped forward to press the attack again.
’I have to end this quickly.’
He hadn’t expected these two Blood Slaughter Sect Elders to have reached the Blood Coagulation stage.
But after trading blows, Pang Weifeng realized it wasn’t a major issue.
Their condensed foundation was weak and thin, far less substantial than his own. Even fighting two-on-one wasn’t a huge problem.
It was just that, as practitioners of the Demon Path, they wielded strange blood blades with techniques that could disrupt the mind.
’If they have other tricks up their sleeves and this drags on, the outcome of this battle will become uncertain...’
Glancing at the fierce battles raging all around, Pang Weifeng knew he had to kill these two quickly.
Otherwise, if this got drawn out, things would get out of hand.
But the two black-robed Elders detected his intention.
"Hold him off for a moment."
"Right."
One of them just gave a meaningful glance, and the other leaped toward Pang Weifeng to intercept him.
As his red blade swung down, the piercing shriek once again enveloped Pang Weifeng, halting his attack.
Meanwhile, the one who gave the signal took the opportunity to leap over to the corpse of a fallen gray-robed elder.
He bent down, his five fingers forming a claw as he plunged them into the corpse’s chest, right where the heart was, meeting no resistance.
Soon, his entire hand was buried inside the body.
The warmth and aura of life instantly coiled around his palm.
Then, he clenched his fist violently.
SQUELCH!
Inside the corpse, the still-warm heart burst on the spot.
The Original Blood Pearl inside the black-robed Elder’s body began to spin frantically, absorbing the vibrant life force flowing from his hand.
The Blood Absorption Demon Skill!
Another one of the Blood Slaughter Sect’s ultimate techniques.
Under the effects of this Demon Path skill, the corpse began to shrivel at a visible rate, while the black-robed Elder’s pale, injured face instantly flushed with a healthy red.
"Your turn!"
His injuries completely healed, the black-robed Elder tossed the desiccated corpse aside. With a sharp cry, he swapped places with the other black-robed Elder and charged at Pang Weifeng.
"Dammit!"
Pang Weifeng couldn’t help but curse. He was about to pursue with a quick slash to stop the black-robed Elder who was trying to get away.
But an extremely fast blade strike shot toward his side, blocking his attack.
Frustrated, Pang Weifeng had no choice but to abandon the chase and engage the now-healed black-robed Elder.
He glanced around out of the corner of his eye and saw that there was no shortage of corpses nearby. ’This is bad.’
’If they keep recovering their injuries like this and taking turns, even a man of steel would be ground to dust.’
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Pang Weifeng’s saber techniques grew more powerful and heavy-handed. He had to use all his strength to kill one of them first; the other would then be easy to defeat.
But the two black-robed Elders were as slippery as eels, refusing to get tied down with him for even a moment.
The two of them constantly swapped places, absorbing from the fresh corpses nearby to heal their injuries before continuing their fight with Pang Weifeng.
After five such exchanges, signs of fatigue finally appeared on Pang Weifeng’s face. His expression no longer held its earlier calm.
...
"To think the Blood Slaughter Sect possesses such a miraculous skill!"
A crowd had gathered at the exit of the Blood Slaughter Sect’s secret realm.
Most were unaffiliated martial artists who had entered the secret realm and now wanted to leave but were afraid of being caught in the crossfire.
The other part of the crowd consisted of Blood Slaughter Sect members.
The two groups huddled within the area of the secret realm’s entrance, watching the spectacle in the mountain hollow, not daring to move a muscle for fear of being inadvertently harmed.
The Blood Slaughter Sect disciples didn’t know who was fighting their Elders, but they couldn’t be bothered to care and had no intention of going to help.
They simply turned back into the secret realm, deciding to wait for things to calm down before emerging again.
The unaffiliated martial artists, however, could only remain at the exit of the secret realm, looking for a chance to leave.
Yet among this crowd, one person stood atop a large boulder, watching the deadly battle in the hollow without a trace of fear, clicking his tongue in amazement.
This person, of course, was Wu Chen, who had traveled day and night to get here.
He watched the area where Pang Weifeng was, observing the two black-robed Elders continuously healing their injuries, and his eyes grew brighter and brighter.
’What a great Demon Skill! I absolutely must practice it!’
Wu Chen’s gaze shifted back to Pang Weifeng. The man’s aura was now clearly much weaker.
’Looks like Sect Leader Pang has used up at least half of his Qi Power. He should be taking a pill soon.’
’Regardless, it’s time for me to make my move!’
Wu Chen had taken in the entire scene in the hollow. He knew that if those two black-robed Elders didn’t have this healing technique, it wouldn’t be a major problem for the four sects to annihilate the Blood Slaughter Sect. Even if they failed to destroy it completely, the sect would still need three to five years to recover.
But there are no ’ifs’ in this world.
THUD!
Wu Chen leaped off the large boulder and headed in Pang Weifeng’s direction.
His movements naturally caught the attention of the group of unaffiliated martial artists at the secret realm’s entrance, who wanted to leave but didn’t dare.
Seeing Wu Chen fearlessly walk toward the hollow where the fight was raging, a stir went through the crowd of martial artists:
"Let’s go! Some fool is leading the way! Quick, follow that idiot!"
"Hurry! We won’t find another guy like this if we wait!"
"Our escape depends entirely on this fool!"
"..."
Whispers erupted from the crowd. At least forty or fifty martial artists fell in behind Wu Chen, hoping to use him to draw fire so they could escape.
’After all, no one had dared to move for hours. Now that someone is leading the charge, what could he be but a fool?’
As Wu Chen began to quicken his pace, the group of martial artists trailing behind him also sped up.
No matter what, they wouldn’t let this golden opportunity to leave the Blood Slaughter Sect’s territory slip away.
WHEEE! WHEEE! WHEEE!—
But what the martial artists found strange was that, for some reason, as they followed this man, the shrill wails from ahead grew increasingly piercing.
At first, they didn’t notice it, but after another forty or fifty feet, their heads grew dizzy, their vision darkened, and they felt signs of fainting.
The person at the very front finally realized something was wrong and shouted:
"Something’s wrong! Fall back! We can’t follow this fool!"
"This idiot is going the wrong way! He’s running straight toward the two Blood Slaughter Sect Elders!"
"Get out of here, or we’re all dead!"
"..."
The group of martial artists tried to flee, but the black-robed Elder, having just finished absorbing a corpse to recover, had no intention of letting them escape.
"Stay!"
His crimson blade swung down again. The piercing shriek spread out, instantly knocking the martial artists unconscious.
Looking at the ground littered with martial artists, he nodded in satisfaction.
’With all these bodies, I can hold out for at least another hour.’
’At this rate, wearing down the Refining Valley Sect Leader to death shouldn’t be a problem.’
But...
The Elder looked at the figure at the very front—the one who should have been the first to fall, yet hadn’t. The one who was still standing perfectly fine.
A sliver of doubt rose in his heart.
’Why haven’t you fallen?’