Chapter 97: Life-and-Death Game (Part II)

Duan Rong had just dodged that saber strike, his movement technique already pushed to the limit; at this moment, his posture was spent, his feet slightly off the ground, and that throwing dart was launched suddenly at point-blank range!

The timing was calculated with absolute precision!

It could be called a guaranteed death blow!

Duan Rong's right hand, hanging by his trouser leg, flicked; in the dim light of the oil lamp, a cluster of faint Plum Blossom Afterimages seemed to bloom by his side!

A Poison Needle, with a 'ding' sound, struck that throwing dart!

Xie Lei's Thousand-Hand Arhat was only at the Entry Level, and Duan Rong had already long since devoured and digested an Entry Level Thousand-Hand Arhat!

Within his hidden weapon techniques, he had also integrated the Plum Blossom Needle technique!

This Plum Blossom Needle technique was created by a hidden weapon expert a hundred years ago, and the Plum Blossom Afterimage within the Plum Blossom Needle technique was an extremely brilliant hidden weapon technique!

Furthermore, the Plum Blossom Needle technique that Duan Rong had devoured and digested was at the Proficiency level.

At this moment, between life and death, Duan Rong suddenly gained an insight!

His original method of integration had been to use the Thousand-Hand Arhat as the main body and incorporate some techniques from the Plum Blossom Needle technique; after all, in his view, the Thousand-Hand Arhat was the true hidden weapon technique, while the Plum Blossom Needle technique was merely a form of acupuncture!

But at that very moment, Duan Rong had used the Plum Blossom Needle technique as the main body to fire that needle!

With the help of the Thousand-Hand Arhat as a stepping stone, plus the tempering between life and death, he instantly grasped the true Plum Blossom Needle!

It was not an acupuncture technique, but a truly profound hidden weapon technique!

It was like a soul-reaping ghost shadow, silent and traceless, taking lives in the darkness!

Duan Rong's Plum Blossom Needle struck the blade of the throwing dart; the blade turned slightly and, almost grazing Duan Rong's neck, shot into the earthen wall behind him!

Duan Rong steadied his posture, his expression still filled with lingering fear; he reached out and touched his neck, where a trace of chill from the dart's passage still remained!

Duan Rong had circled the gates of hell; just in that instant, his back had been soaked through with cold sweat!

Xie Lei leaned against the earthen wall, looking at Duan Rong with a trace of regret in his eyes; he removed the Ox-Tail Saber that Duan Rong had left in his chest and threw it to the ground with a 'clatter'!

Duan Rong's expression was slightly surprised; Xie Lei's left sleeve, which had been empty during the life-and-death struggle just now, now had his left hand hanging there perfectly fine.

"What the hell? What kind of evil art is this!"

Seeing that Duan Rong had lost his weapon and was standing there empty-handed, Xie Lei intended to hold his saber and attack again!

But as his body moved, he suddenly fell to the ground with a 'thump'!

His unsteady footsteps earlier had been a ruse to trick Duan Rong, but his fall now was because his vision had instantly gone dark!

Unaware himself, his face was already suffused with a deep, dark green!

Xie Lei reached up to touch his neck and actually pulled away a handful of flesh and skin oozing with black, purulent blood!

He looked at Duan Rong with hatred, only to see Duan Rong's figure suddenly flicker, his right hand flicking twice in rapid succession, two clusters of afterimages blooming like plum blossoms!

A cold light flashed, and two Poison Needles exploded into his eyeballs!

Xie Lei had Internal Breath protecting his body, so the Plum Blossom Needles, infused with Internal Breath, did not burst his eyeballs!

But his eyes were already dim; with the needles shot in, his vision went black instantly, and the already dimly lit underground chamber became a pitch-black room where one could not see their own fingers!

Seeing that the Poison Needles had succeeded, Duan Rong wanted to fire again!

But he suddenly saw the fallen Xie Lei's body tremble a few times, and it suddenly transformed into a round, ball-like mass of flesh, moving at extreme speed, flickering and shadowy, crashing against the four walls of the underground chamber!

Duan Rong was greatly alarmed and immediately retreated!

Duan Rong retreated to the entrance of the tunnel and looked into the underground chamber from the shadows!

The scene before him was truly too sinister! Duan Rong could not help but gasp in cold air!

The ball of flesh that Xie Lei had turned into was still bouncing around the cramped underground chamber like a marble!

The ball of flesh suddenly slammed into the earthen wall, causing the cracked soil layer to fall down in a flurry!

After the ball of flesh had been colliding for several breaths, it suddenly spread out in mid-air, looking just like a flower suddenly opening.

Xie Lei's body unfolded and fell to the ground, splayed out!

Duan Rong stood at the tunnel entrance, seeing Xie Lei lying there, motionless!

Duan Rong's eyes flickered; he walked in slowly, his gaze never leaving Xie Lei's motionless body on the ground in the center!

Duan Rong walked along the wall to the corner and picked up his Ox-Tail Saber!

Standing in the corner, Duan Rong suddenly raised his hand and threw; the Ox-Tail Saber in his hand flew through the air!

The saber pierced into Xie Lei's face!

Thick blood mixed with black threads gushed out, but Xie Lei lay there without the slightest movement!

Duan Rong took a deep breath and sat down on the ground with a thud!

He was drenched in sweat—half was cold sweat, and half was the heat radiating from the frantic consumption of his Internal Breath and strength.

Duan Rong recovered some of his strength, swallowed a few times, and then managed to stand up!

He walked to Xie Lei's side and carefully searched his entire body from top to bottom!

There was a stack of silver banknotes; Duan Rong didn't even look at the denomination and set them aside!

Duan Rong also untied a pouch from Xie Lei's waist, which contained several throwing darts!

He had laid out such a massive trap and risked his own life, not for this bit of silver!

Duan Rong felt around carefully and finally pulled a layer of something out from the inner pocket of Xie Lei's undergarments!

It was a yellowish, folded object, seemingly a very thin piece of human skin!

Duan Rong unfolded it to find it was the size of two palms, covered densely with writing!

Duan Rong looked at the first few sentences by the dim light, and his heart was instantly shaken!

"It's the Womb Treasury Sutra! I've got it!"

Duan Rong set the human skin aside and immediately stripped off the clothes, shoes, and socks of Xu Ruhu that he had been wearing; with a flash of his figure, he stood in the diagonally opposite corner!

That was exactly where the shadow cast by the dim light fell!

In the corner, Duan Rong began to dig, and soon he retrieved the clothes, boots, mask, and headscarf he had buried beneath the soil!

Duan Rong dug too fast and accidentally unearthed half of the head of the corpse of Xu Ruhu buried nearby...

It was just that his head was bald and covered in a layer of loose soil; his scalp had actually been peeled off...

Duan Rong quickly put on his clothes, donned his mask and headscarf, and stuffed the human-skin Secret Manual and a stack of silver banknotes from the corner into his inner garment pocket.

Duan Rong patted the inner pocket of his garment through the fabric, only then feeling slightly at ease!

At this moment, Duan Rong walked over, pulled the Ox-Tail Saber from Xie Lei's face, circulated his Internal Breath, and with a shake of the blade, blood droplets flew off; Duan Rong returned the saber to its scabbard!

At this time, Duan Rong's gaze flickered as he looked at the blade by the wall; it was a standard-issue Obstacle Saber for a Constable!

Duan Rong walked over, gripped that blade in his hand, and silently recited: "Spirit Reader!"

Artifact: Obstacle Saber

Spirit Artifact Tier: First Tier

Devour Requirement: Host Mental Power Level 1 (Satisfied)

Devour Effect: Reckless Bull Saber Technique Proficiency

"Reckless Bull Saber Technique, this saber technique's attacks are very fierce!"

Duan Rong's eyes flashed; the saber technique Xie Lei used just now was indeed fiercely offensive!

However, the devour effect of this Obstacle Saber's Spirit Tool was only a single proficiency-level saber technique!

Xie Lei clearly possessed some kind of evil art as well!

Duan Rong glanced at the pouch of throwing darts by his feet!

These throwing darts and the evil art should both have been Xie Lei's trump cards; he almost never revealed them in front of others!

"However..."

Duan Rong suddenly glanced at Xie Lei's chest; when he searched the body, he had felt a Longevity Lock there.

Duan Rong walked to the front of Xie Lei, bent down to grab the bronze Longevity Lock hanging on his chest, and silently recited: "Spirit Reader!"

Artifact: Longevity Lock

Spirit Artifact Tier: First Tier

Devour Requirement: Host Mental Power Level 1 (Satisfied)

Devour Effect: Bone Shrinking Technique Proficiency

(End of chapter)