Sword Sect Outer Sect

Chapter 382 Visitors from Central Continent (Part 2)

"Sir, save me!"

Her skin began to turn black, and the red veins on her skin contracted violently.

The female cultivator stumbled and crawled toward Xu Kai.

"Go away."

He frowned, and with a wave of his right hand, his abundant spiritual power sent her already unstable body flying far away.

However, he was astonished to find that when his spiritual energy touched the flames, it also burst into flames.

He quickly and decisively severed his connection with that spiritual energy, thus avoiding the consequences of playing with fire.

Xu Kaixin stared with lingering fear at the female cultivator who was gradually losing her life in the flames, but a strange smile suddenly appeared on his lips.

The phantom was slowly dissipating, but the fat man's aura had not returned.

Without a doubt, forcibly killing a pseudo-Core Formation cultivator with the cultivation level of a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator was already the limit.

This strange secret technique couldn't possibly still have any power left.

In that case, wouldn't all the treasures on these three people belong to me?
The female cultivator was already lifeless, but the flames never stopped until she was completely reduced to ashes, at which point they gradually went out.

At the same time, Li Qingfeng's face turned deathly pale, and the golden-red lines on his face faded.

The yellow-clad phantom behind him gradually faded away and eventually disappeared.

At this moment, his vital energy was extremely weak.

As Xu Kai said, such secret techniques are bound to be short-lived.

The female cultivator's shrill screams abruptly ceased amidst the raging flames. Strangely, during the burning process, the spiritual energy and demonic energy dissipating from her body did not completely dissipate. Instead, under the burning of the flames, they condensed into two pills, one black and one white, the size of longan eyes.

The surface of the pill rippled and spontaneously flew slowly toward Li Qingfeng, whose aura was weak.

"Oh?"

A greedy glint flashed in Xu Kai's eyes. Although he didn't know exactly what the pill was, he could sense its extraordinary nature from its pure aura.

With a wave of his hand, spiritual energy surged and condensed into a phantom blue hand, which, though arriving later, intercepted the two pills in mid-air.

"It can actually refine a person's spiritual power and demonic energy with spiritual fire..."

Looking at the two pills slowly floating in his hand, Xu Kai couldn't help but marvel: "I have to say, you self-proclaimed righteous cultivators really know how to play dirty."

"puff."

Li Qingfeng, who was already on his deathbed, watched helplessly as Xu Kai took away the pill, and sighed inwardly.

Unable to suppress the surging blood and qi any longer, he collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, unable even to lift a finger.

His spiritual energy was completely depleted, and his meridians were empty. If he had been able to swallow those two pills, he could have recovered a little and then helped Senior Brother Li Yi. But now it seems that he will not have that opportunity.

His heart felt ice-cold.

Senior Brother Li Yi...

Qingfeng has done his best. This Xu fellow has many talisman treasures on him. My cultivation is low, and the Kitchen God's secret technique can probably only disable one of his talisman treasures. I can only kill the female cultivator.

It's up to you now...

Thinking of this, he closed his eyes in anguish.

A last, vague thought flashed through my mind uncontrollably.

If Lao Song were here too, he and Senior Brother Li might be able to...

With a casual flick of his left hand, Xu Kai conjured up another solid rope of spiritual energy, which quickly wrapped around Li Qingfeng's body, dragging him up from the ground like a dead fish and pulling him to his feet.

Li Qingfeng was powerless to resist and could only let out a painful groan.

"Junior Brother Qingfeng!"

Not far away, Li Yi had just propped himself up with his halberd. The charred wound on his chest from the thunder talisman was still emitting smoke, and intense pain was tearing at his body.

However, when he saw Li Qingfeng being grabbed by Xu Kai like a tattered sack, a surge of violent rage welled up in his heart.

Completely disregarding the turbulent blood and qi within his body and the almost depleted spiritual power, a strange crimson battle intent suddenly erupted.

The dark red lightning around him, which had been dim, blazed fiercely once again. This time, however, the blood color was extremely intense, giving off a sense of mutual destruction!

Li Yi, as if possessed, transformed into a blood-red meteor, charging towards Xu Kai with a fierce, suicidal aura.

Wherever the halberd passed, the ground was plowed with deep furrows by the scattered lightning.

"A dying struggle only adds to the amusement."

Xu Kai looked at Li Yi rushing towards him, but instead of showing any fear, his eyes gleamed with a morbid excitement.

What he enjoys most is destroying the will of such geniuses and trampling their pride underfoot.

In particular, Li Yi's strange aura of becoming stronger with each setback and each battle stirred a twisted jealousy in him.

This kind of genius must be nipped in the bud!

With a single squeeze of his hand, two talismans, one red and one blue, floating beside him shone brightly.

With the cultivation level of a pseudo-core cultivator, activating a talisman treasure would be a power that ordinary cultivators could not withstand, let alone two of them.

But then the crimson talisman released its red spiritual power once more, which quickly gathered and condensed into a large crimson seal.

The large seal grew taller in the wind and hung above Li Yi's head.

The blue talisman transformed into a surge of spiritual energy, rising layer upon layer in front of Li Yi, forming a water barrier that continuously dissipated his spiritual energy and qi.

That wasn't all. Xu Kai's movements changed again. He put the two pills into his Qiankun bag and then summoned three more thunder talismans.

The expression on Xu Kai's face faded, leaving him utterly indifferent.

Only when he kills these so-called geniuses can he feel the value of his existence.

At that moment, he felt as if he were a celestial being.

"Disappear under the lightning punishment."

Bang!
When the large red seal was placed over his head, Li Yi froze, almost falling to his knees.

This is a force that he cannot resist in his current state.

Xu Kai frowned, seemingly feeling it wasn't enough, and made a hand seal with his fingertips.

"Let me down!"

The red talisman suddenly unleashed a powerful aura, shattering the spiritual energy beneath its force.

Xu Kai knew that doing so would cause the talisman to be consumed rapidly and its spiritual power to be greatly depleted, but he couldn't care less about that now.

That wasn't the end of it. At that moment, a lightning talisman materialized, and three terrifying lightning pillars, each as thick as a water bucket, locked onto Li Yi and crashed down like divine punishment.

boom! boom! boom!
The deafening roar and blinding lightning instantly engulfed Li Yi's figure.

The lightning energy scattered and impacted, blasting the nearby ground into craters and sending debris flying.

As the lightning subsided, Li Yi's miserable figure was revealed.

He knelt on one knee, barely managing to stay upright by relying on the halberd he held, which was deeply embedded in the ground.

All his protective gear had long since been shattered, and fragments of his armor mixed with charred flesh revealed his stark white bones.

Blood mixed with fragments of internal organs kept spilling from the corner of his mouth.

Even so, the crimson battle intent on his body continued to burn, even more surging than before, as if it were about to set his entire being ablaze.

Still not dead?!

Xu Kai frowned upon seeing this.

"Tsk, they're pretty tough."

Xu Kai grinned maliciously, his eyes gleaming with malice.

He no longer used the power of the talisman. With a flick of his wrists, he summoned the cyan flying knife, which emitted a chilling cyan light. It was actually a high-grade spiritual weapon!
The cyan flying knife suddenly split into dozens of indistinguishable blade shadows, slashing towards Li Yi's vital points from all directions.

Li Yi roared, channeling his last remaining strength into his halberd, which swept out with the last of its crimson lightning, barely managing to deflect most of the cyan blade shadows.

However, the vast difference in spiritual power and the severe injuries to his body ultimately slowed his reaction by a fraction.

puff!

The cyan blade flashed, swift as lightning, and struck Li Yi's right arm!
Blood spurts out!
The thick, muscular right arm, along with the halberd, was thrown high into the air before crashing to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Ugh—!"

The pain of losing an arm is excruciating.

Li Yi let out a painful howl, his body trembled violently, and his left arm instinctively covered the blood-spurting wound on his right shoulder. He could no longer support himself and fell forward with a thud, crashing heavily onto the scorched earth, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Xu Kai strode forward, raised his foot, and mercilessly stomped on Li Yi's dantian, grinding it forcefully.

"Ho...ho..."

Li Yi gasped for breath, each breath aggravating the wounds all over his body, bringing excruciating pain.

Life force and spiritual energy seemed to drain away rapidly, and consciousness began to blur.

Strangely, however, his eyes still burned with an indomitable fighting spirit!

It was this pure fighting spirit that kept him from completely losing consciousness.

"How does it taste, you ant?" Xu Kai looked down at the dying man at his feet, his voice cold, but a cruel smile appeared on his lips.

"You're lucky."

His tone was condescending, as if an immortal were speaking to a mortal.

"Considering the hard-earned cultivation you've achieved, it would be a pity for you to die like this."

"If you kneel down and kowtow now, acknowledging me as your master and becoming my obedient dog, I will use a secret method to save your life, reattach your severed arm, and bestow upon you demonic powers."

"how?"

"Hah...cough..."

Blood continued to gush from Li Yi's severed arm, and blood kept spilling from his mouth, bringing out many fragments of his internal organs.

However, upon hearing Xu Kai's words, the corners of his mouth, stained with mud and blood, twitched slightly, as if he were smiling.

Xu Kai's expression froze, and he increased the force of his footwork.

Li Yi stared intently at Xu Kai, and with his last bit of strength, he raised his intact left hand and grabbed the foot that Xu Kai was stepping on.

Xu Kai had already been confident of victory and had withdrawn his spiritual power. Caught off guard, he instinctively tried to pull his foot back, only to find that even though he was severely injured, his opponent's strength was still astonishing!
Li Yi's voice was hoarse and weak, and blood kept gushing from his mouth, but his voice was resolute.

"I, Li Yi..."

"I'd rather be a hero among ghosts in the underworld..."

"I will never... live a life of dishonor!"

Xu Kai's tightly furrowed brows relaxed, but his eyes blazed with a fierce light, and he raised the cyan throwing knife he was controlling with his left hand once again!

"You're so stubborn! You're really courting death!"

brush--!
A flash of blue light passed by so quickly that Li Yi couldn't react.

"puff!"

Li Yi's left arm, which had grabbed Xu Kai's ankle, was also severed at the root!

The severed arm was blasted away and rolled several feet away.

The immense pain caused Li Yi's body to convulse violently.

"Since you're so eager to become a ghost, then I'll grant your wish!"

Xu Kai remained expressionless, but his killing intent had reached its peak.

The cyan blade flashed and stabbed fiercely towards Li Yi's unsuspecting chest.

Pfft——!
The blue light pierced through flesh and bones, shining from Li Yi's back and pinning him firmly to the ground.

Li Yi's body stiffened abruptly, the flame in his eyes flickered violently for a moment, and then slowly died out completely.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but only more blood gushed out, staining the ground beneath him red.

"A fool who doesn't know when to stop."

Xu Kai casually reached out to grab Li Yi's Qiankun bag.

However, he discovered that Li Yi's fighting spirit remained condensed and did not dissipate, causing his spiritual power to stagnate and preventing him from grasping it for a moment.

"A bedbug, even in death it's disgusting."

Xu Kai cursed.

Li Qingfeng, who was bound by spiritual power, was filled with grief as he watched this scene.

It's futile.

To be honest, he had already considered this outcome from the beginning.

So be it, Li Qingfeng's fate is also death.

Now, all we can do is hope that more people can escape alive.

Thinking of this, Li Qingfeng closed his eyes in pain and slightly raised his head.

"Junior Sister Cen..."

"If there is an afterlife..."

On the other side, Han Yuan was being drained of his strength by two Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators, and he was in a sorry state.

Every punch he threw was in vain.

Gradually, the speed decreased, and the force was no longer so fierce.

He naturally witnessed the battle between his two fellow disciples.

My heart has turned cold.

Senior Brother Li Yi, Qingfeng...

A tremendous sense of guilt and helplessness overwhelmed him like a tidal wave.

"If I were stronger... if I could outrun their escape techniques... perhaps..."

Han Yuan clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging deep into his palms, and blood dripped from between his fingers.

For the first time, the fighting spirit in his eyes dimmed uncontrollably in the face of this cruel scene.

"Could it be... that the path of body cultivation is truly useless?"

"In the face of true combat, they are ultimately just playthings to be toyed with and slaughtered, unable even to protect their fellow disciples or share the burden..."

His breathing weakened, and his defensive movements became slightly sluggish.

Seeing Xu Kai's great victory in the distance and Han Yuan's momentum falter, the two demonic cultivators knew their opportunity had arrived.

The two mobilized their spiritual power and summoned their magical artifacts, intending to kill Han Yuan in one fell swoop.

At this time.

Xu Kai, who was some distance away, had already taken Li Yi's Qiankun bag in his hand and was about to put it away.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a small dark shadow shooting straight at his face from an extremely strange angle!

"Ok?"

Xu Kai frowned, thinking it was some ignorant thing that had released a stray arrow or flying debris.

He didn't even bother to look at them properly, simply condensing a layer of protective spiritual energy in front of him.

However, the moment the dark figure came into contact with the protective aura, a faint glimmer of light seemed to flash across its surface.

Bang.

It burst forth with a solid spiritual light, which pierced through the protective spiritual energy without any hindrance!

too fast!
It was almost time for Xu Kai to react.

Snapped!
With a crisp sound, the thing was firmly stuck to Xu Kai's face.

It has a slightly hard texture and a hint of wood grain.

Xu Kai was completely stunned for a moment.

He was startled at first, instinctively thinking it was some kind of deadly hidden weapon or poison. His spiritual light suddenly surged, and the phantom of the talisman instantly appeared beside him!
But then he realized that there was nothing unusual about him.

The dark figure fell, but he caught it in his hand.

It is a peach pit.

"Tsk, tsk."

At some point, a strange cultivator in a dark blue robe squatted down beside Li Yi's corpse, marveling at it.

Xu Kai's pupils contracted, and he quickly retreated to the side, his heart filled with shock.

When did this person appear? Why was I completely unaware of it?

"Just a few days ago I was lamenting that I had no one to use my rare treasures and wanted a disciple with extraordinary talent. Could it be that I really did make my words come true?"

"This journey with the people of Junshan has been worthwhile."

The man raised his head, looked up at the sky, and mumbled a gesture of respect with his hands clasped.

"Thank you very much."

But then, as if no one else was around, he waved his hand, and a strange, pitch-black coffin appeared out of thin air beside him.

He casually released his spiritual power to seal the several wounds on Li Yi's body. Then, with both hands raised, he lifted Li Yi's broken body, along with his two severed arms and the halberd, and placed them into the coffin.

The coffin lid closed perfectly.

The black coffin then transformed into a streak of dark light, disappeared into the man's sleeve, and vanished.

Having done all this, the mysterious man in the dark blue Taoist robe seemed to have accomplished nothing more than a trivial task.

He calmly sat down and gazed into the direction of the forbidden area.

However, at this moment, Xu Kai was already feeling a chill in his heart.

Not only because he couldn't discern the person's background or origins, but also because he discovered that the one who had struck out the peach pit from his hand...

It seems to be someone else.

(End of this chapter)