Chapter 96: Life-and-Death Game (Part 1)

It was already late at night; Xie Lei stood in the courtyard, his gaze sweeping across the surroundings.

The courtyard he lived in was quite remote; besides his reclusive personality, more importantly, he was a person who had held many secrets from childhood to adulthood.

Deep in thought, daring to scheme!

Many secrets had been annihilated in the dust; his schemes had almost never failed once, and he believed this time would be the same.

He must have a way to pry open the mouth of that old dog, Xu Ruhu!

All was silent, with no strange sounds; Xie Lei walked slowly to the dry well, jumped inside, and slid down while bracing himself with both hands.

At the bottom of the well, Xie Lei skillfully crawled into the black hole, climbed a short distance, and then stood up!

He had dug this cavern himself back then; at that time, he was a few years younger than he was now, full of youthful restlessness!

Looking at the dim yellow light at the end of the tunnel not far away, Xie Lei walked over slowly and, without any hesitation, turned into the light and shadow.

The familiar cavern space still held a thick, bloody stench in the air.

Xu Ruhu was sitting there with his back against the earthen wall, his head lowered, his disheveled hair hanging down!

He seemed to be asleep...

Xie Lei walked forward a few steps and said, "Mr. Xu, I have good news for you; the city gates opened today. Although the inspections are strict, we can finally leave the city... I have thought of a way... to discuss it with you..."

As Xie Lei spoke, he discovered that Xu Ruhu was still lying there motionless...

"Mr. Xu?"

Xie Lei did not believe that if he spoke of leaving the city, Xu Ruhu would have no reaction!

Xie Lei's face turned cold; he suddenly had a bad premonition!

Xu Ruhu's dantian had been crippled, and he was severely injured; he couldn't have actually died in this cavern, could he?

Xie Lei stepped forward a few paces and crouched down; he wanted to push aside Xu Ruhu's hanging hair to check his breath...

Just as Xie Lei's hand was raised, Xu Ruhu's body suddenly trembled, and at the same time, his right hand, which had been hanging naturally by his side, suddenly shook its wrist and swung out; four points of cold light flashed simultaneously!

Four Poison Needles were fired abruptly, scattering horizontally toward the crouching Xie Lei!

Xie Lei was naturally a very cautious person, and he had always known of Xu Ruhu's craftiness and viciousness; if Xu Ruhu's dantian had not been destroyed, rendering him nearly a cripple, he would never have gotten so close to him!

But even so, Xie Lei's entire body's muscles had been in a state of tension!

When the four points of cold light suddenly appeared, his figure abruptly retreated violently, and the tips of his feet tapped the ground as he tried to dodge the flying needles!

But Duan Rong's figure moved almost at the same time as him, leaping up; he drew his Ox-Tail Saber from behind, and a clump of white, disheveled hair with bits of scalp drifted down along with Duan Rong's movement!

The Ox-Tail Saber in Duan Rong's hand slashed down overhead, sealing off the space for Xie Lei to jump up and dodge the Poison Needles!

All of this happened in the blink of an eye!

There was simply no time for Xie Lei to think; with almost instinctive muscle reaction, he suddenly rolled on the ground and stopped at the corner of the wall, kneeling on one knee while gripping his saber and glaring at Duan Rong...

Three Poison Needles missed!

But one Poison Needle still pierced into Xie Lei's neck!

The four Poison Needles fired by Duan Rong had scattered horizontally and were extremely difficult to dodge!

But just now, that roll on the ground by Xie Lei was truly stunning; he did not know if it was a hallucination, but in that instant, as a black shadow flickered, Duan Rong felt as if Xie Lei's body had suddenly and eerily shrunk by a circle.

But this could also have been his illusion; after all, it was only for a split second, and he hadn't even seen clearly before Xie Lei was already kneeling in the corner of the wall.

Xie Lei pulled out the needle stuck in his neck and threw it on the ground; he could guess that this needle must have been coated with poison. Otherwise, using this kind of hidden weapon would be no different from a mosquito bite!

Xie Lei stood up, drew his saber, and stood there, sizing up Duan Rong, who was standing in the center of the cavern, in the dim, weak oil lamp light...

Xie Lei suddenly found Duan Rong's face somewhat familiar; his eyes flashed, and he exclaimed in shock, "You are that childhood friend of Yang Zhen?"

"How did you find this place?"

Xie Lei truly could not understand how this person could have found this place in such a short time; he believed that he had left no traceable clues when he abducted Xu Ruhu from prison!

Duan Rong, however, had no intention of wasting words with Xie Lei; he moved with his Cloud Snake Step and swung his saber to slash at Xie Lei.

Xie Lei was actually not a person who liked to talk nonsense either; it was just that he had been too shocked just now!

Seeing Duan Rong's figure drifting over, he immediately swung his saber to meet him, and the two instantly fought into a tangle!

Fast saber, fast attack; the saber light was like water!

Duan Rong was strong in his agile movements, while Xie Lei was strong in his fierce saber momentum!

Xie Lei did not know what kind of saber technique he was practicing, but with the boost from Duan Rong's Cloud Snake Step, he still faintly suppressed him!

Duan Rong knew that the life-and-death game he had set up was already on the verge of success, and he absolutely could not give Xie Lei a chance to counterattack!

Duan Rong suddenly retreated a distance!

Xie Lei followed like a maggot on a tarsal bone, attacking fiercely!

But in the middle of opening up this distance, Duan Rong changed his saber technique and actually began using that Yellow Springs Saber Technique.

Duan Rong suddenly switched to the Yellow Springs Saber Technique; besides the fact that the Yellow Springs Saber Technique was quite good at defense, more importantly, he had already seen that a black spot the size of a copper coin had appeared on the spot where the needle had pierced Xie Lei's neck!

Duan Rong had seen with his own eyes how potent the poison on the Poison Needles was!

At this moment, as long as he stayed steady and didn't lose, dragging Xie Lei along, Xie Lei would undoubtedly be defeated once the poison spread!

Borrowing the defensive saber moves from the Yellow Springs Saber Technique, combined with the agility of the Cloud Snake Step, Duan Rong quickly stabilized the situation!

Xie Lei's saber momentum was fierce, attacking from three directions, strange and tricky, but Duan Rong remained unmoved amidst the cold light!

Xie Lei attacked in turns, yet still failed to break through Duan Rong's defensive stance!

He felt a slight urgency in his heart, and a layer of cold sweat had already beaded on his forehead; he could not see his own face, but if he were to look in a mirror, a faint black halo would already be appearing on his face!

The toxin had already surged up to his face through the artery in his neck!

And every few breaths, the blackness on his face grew faintly deeper!

Xie Lei had been attacking for a long time without success; his attacking saber momentum was actually gradually weakening, and Duan Rong noticed that his footsteps were already starting to become somewhat unsteady as he dodged and shifted!

Just at this moment, Xie Lei suddenly twisted his right foot; his saber momentum skewed, and his figure immediately became chaotic!

Duan Rong's eyes narrowed; seizing the opportunity, he attacked swiftly!

Xie Lei retreated again and again, barely defending himself, but his expression already held a hint of panic!

In his panic, Xie Lei's footsteps became disordered once more!

It was clear that Xie Lei was only half a foot away from the earthen wall behind him! If he retreated even a little further, he would collide with the earthen wall!

Duan Rong suddenly took a long, diagonal stride, his Blade Shadow moving with his body; with a pull and a thrust, he struck with incomparable speed from the side, aiming diagonally at Xie Lei's heart!

The angle of Duan Rong's blade was extremely tricky; it was thrusting toward the heart from the ribs beneath Xie Lei's left arm!

Xie Lei had nowhere left to retreat and nowhere left to dodge!

The blade thrust diagonally into the area of Xie Lei's chest!

But Duan Rong's expression changed abruptly, and his heart was greatly alarmed!

Because that was absolutely not the feeling of a blade piercing into a body!

Sure enough, a wicked smile suddenly appeared on Xie Lei's face, which was thick with black Qi! He looked like a man whose treacherous scheme had succeeded!

The moment the wicked smile bloomed on his face, he swung his blade in a horizontal slash toward Duan Rong at his side!

Duan Rong wanted to pull back his blade to block, but he suddenly discovered that his Ox-Tail Saber seemed to be clamped by something, and he was unable to pull it out for a moment!

Only then did Duan Rong suddenly catch a glimpse of the fact that the sleeve of Xie Lei's left arm had, at some unknown time, become empty, hanging emptily at his side!

But with the blade edge now upon him, the hairs all over his body suddenly stood on end; he pushed the movement technique and footwork of the Cloud Snake Step to their absolute limit, dodging past the edge of Xie Lei's blade in a near-miss that was perilous in the extreme!

Duan Rong had just escaped danger when Xie Lei flicked his sleeve, and a throwing dart suddenly shot out; with a flash of cold light, it went straight for Duan Rong's throat!

(End of this chapter)