Chapter 1194: Two Against One

This set of sleeve arrows used top-grade materials, and was the fifth revised version from Songyang Prefecture, simultaneously possessing armor-piercing, explosive, and secondary propulsion capabilities, yet when striking the Luo Sheng armor it actually failed to break through. After the arrowhead shattered, it still contained a steel needle capable of secondary propulsion.

This steel needle could pierce the bronze armor of the ghost ape, yet still failed to penetrate the Luo Sheng armor!

However, being pushed by the force of the sleeve arrow, the black shadow retreated two steps, and He Lingchuan seized the opportunity to leap up.

At this moment, the ghost ape threw out four fists simultaneously, shattering the ice crystals on its body, and immediately followed with a staff thrust directly at the target.

The black shadow tilted its head, and another four or five ice cones were thrown over, only this time they were light blue.

The ghost ape's staff moved, still intending to block, but He Lingchuan shouted in advance: "Long jump!"

The ghost ape's instinct was faster than its thought, hearing the command it directly leapt five zhang away.

The blue ice cones struck the spot where it had originally stood.

Only a few 'sou' sounds were heard, the ice cones suddenly exploded upon touching the ground, transforming into layered, radiating ice crystal clusters.

This thing was not only blue and beautiful to look at, but also radiated killing intent, for each crystal cluster was over four chi in length, their tips comparable to sharp swords!

Most terrifying of all was that they took root and spread upon landing, dense as sea urchins on a coral reef, leaving no place for others to stand. If the ghost ape remained in place, its legs would likely be pierced through.

After merely two breaths, all the ice clusters on the ground exploded simultaneously! The ice clusters shattered and shot indiscriminately in all directions, more vicious than pear blossom needles in a storm.

Two nearby small trees were instantly turned into sieves.

He Lingchuan raised his large shield forward, and the ice arrows all struck the shield.

The ghost ape, mid-air and unable to dodge, was struck in the back and thighs by over a dozen arrows. Fortunately, it wore bronze armor, so the ice arrows could not pierce the armor, only two lodging in the knee joints, causing it to howl in pain.

He Lingchuan could give advance warning because the eye-spider had throughout observed the battle between the black-armored commander and the Yao army. The black-armored commander had used these tactics before.

Especially the ability to vanish in place, which allowed the black-armored commander to appear and disappear mysteriously among enemy troops; otherwise, how could it maneuver freely on the narrow mountain path? He Lingchuan had observed for a long time and deduced it was related to the falling snow powder, thus he had the ghost ape promptly leave the snow-covered area.

That ice cluster burst technique had previously been used in the crowded Yao army, and could be said to hit every time. Even though the Yao soldiers had elemental energy protecting their bodies, many were still wounded or maimed.

Fortunately, they used human lives and flesh to first test the moves for He Lingchuan, otherwise this battle might have suffered an initial setback.

Due to this explosion, ice mist filled the small grove, visibility nearly zero.

The ghost ape had just landed and not yet straightened up when the black-armored commander swooped onto its knee, using it to springboard. The movement was light as a flea, its full battle armor seemingly weightless.

This big monkey was annoying, so it decided to eliminate it first, so as to focus on He Lingchuan.

The ghost ape swung down a palm, but it was far less agile than the black-armored commander. The ape's palm had not yet touched the knee when the enemy had already sprang to the front of its neck!

Fast, too fast! At takeoff, the black-armored commander had its hands crossed before its eyes, then upon nearing the ghost ape's neck it suddenly flung outward.

On the outer sides of both arms, a folding knife sprang out violently, the blade edges covered with fine teeth like saw ridges; this splitting strike was like tailoring shears cutting fabric, the ghost ape's neck though thick, if truly caught by it, its head would likely be severed on the spot! With a 'swish', the folding knives closed.

Given its size and sharpness, the sound of this splitting strike would hardly be audible.

But the blade edge was empty, the black-armored commander felt no satisfaction from cleaving the enemy's head—

In the blink of an eye, the ghost ape, over one zhang tall, shrank back to a small monkey one chi high.

Before the black-armored commander could retract its folding knives, the little monkey turned back into the ghost ape, raised both hands high, and brought down a staff strike upon its head.

This move was learned from Qiu Hu, the staff swung with great speed and force, drawing a residual image in midair.

The black-armored commander, mid-air and unable to evade, raised both hands and hastily condensed an ice shield, forcibly blocking this heavy blow.

With a 'boom', a tremendous sound, the earth suddenly shook.

The black-armored commander heavily struck the ground, dust flying, the sandy ground was dented one and a half chi deep.

The ice shield, one chi thick, was shattered into pieces.

This staff strike would have originally hit the black-armored commander squarely on the forehead, but he blocked it with both arms.

The ghost ape's full-force strike, even He Lingchuan did not wish to meet head-on.

This is what is meant by one force reducing ten.

Even with the ice shield cushioning, the black-armored commander's left arm was still broken, bent into a strange angle.

But he flipped up and stood, grabbing his left arm with his right hand, with a 'crack' he set it back.

In less than two breaths, the left arm had healed, moving the wrist restored it to original.

Such regenerative ability made even the ghost ape stare wide-eyed.

If the arm bone were broken, it would need to rest for a quarter hour after drinking Dong Rui's specially made red potion before it could heal.

This was already impressive, but I hadn't expected the Luo Sheng armor to be even more unreasonable.

The ghost ape having landed a blow, was about to continue pressing the advantage with several more staff strikes to drive the opponent into the ground, when unexpectedly two things leapt from the thicket behind, whistling straight at its nape, again too fast for the naked eye to discern.

These two things were the size of fruit bats, compared to the ghost ape naturally very small. They had spider bodies with scorpion tails, like a stitched-together monster, but covered in no fur, their grayish-white bodies were inconspicuous against the backdrop of falling snow mist.

Those eight legs could run and jump, astonishingly fast, the front two like surgical scalpels in sharpness, usually lifted off the ground when walking, now they directly aimed for the ghost ape's nape.

Fortunately, the ghost ape had eyes at the back of its head, not intending to let this small creature perform a craniotomy on it, so it clenched its rear fists left and right, trying to grasp them in its hands.

It was sharp-eyed and quick-handed, indeed it seized one, and immediately afterward cried out in pain.

These two things, their blade feet bending, just stabbed into the seams of its hand armor, directly piercing into the ghost ape's palm.

It was also thick-skinned and tough, ordinary blades and spears could not leave a white mark on it, but being stabbed by the small creature it felt heart-piercing pain, nearly making it let go.

Yet, on one hand it was under Dong Rui's control, and it clearly knew that releasing it would bring endless trouble, so it gritted through the pain in both hands and exerted more force, directly crushing them! 'Pop-squelch', the small creatures exploded, but without flesh and blood flying, instead turning into a sheet of light gray scale armor.

This was merely an auxiliary manifestation of the Luo Sheng armor, just like the crouching beast on the Red General's battle armor. It had seen the ghost ape's astonishing strength, but limited by its lack of agility due to size, thus the manifested creature was not bulky, but rather small and nimble, very targeted.

The other small creature, seeing the ghost ape reach out to grab it, suddenly opened its eardrums on its belly, like unfolding a parachute, being violently pulled backward by the strong wind.

The ghost ape's grasp came up empty, it had no choice but to lean back and spit out a mouthful of green fire at it.

The creature, having been smoked from grayish-white to pitch-black, then with a 'pop' returned to its scale form.

At this time the black-armored commander was busy restoring its broken arm, temporarily unable to free a hand to attack.

The ghost ape still had two hands free in front, combat emphasizing forward lean and backward recoil, the next two staff strikes were fast and fierce, the black-armored commander, holding its arms, dodged and maneuvered without delay, also showing no sign of internal injury, as if the person previously smashed into the ground by the monkey was not him.

Snow powder drifted through the forest.

The black-armored commander had just retreated two steps when a shadow suddenly appeared behind it, the blade dragging falling snow powder, going to wipe its neck.

He Lingchuan had prepared for a long time, this assassination strike came soundlessly and tracelessly.

But as soon as the snow powder moved, the black-armored leader sensed it and vanished from his spot in an instant.

Within his snow powder domain, others find it hard to ambush him.

Thus the blade swept past, cutting nothing but air.

The black-armored leader instead appeared out of thin air behind the sneak attacker, his arm blade folding back and tracing a half-circle in midair, the sharp edge piercing He Lingchuan's front chest! The blade bore barbs, and as it was pulled out, blood sprayed everywhere.

He Lingchuan stabbed backward with his backhand, but was blocked by the leader's other arm blade.

Immediately afterward, he turned his head westward, a red light flashing in his eyes.

Outside the snow powder, a figure flickered past, crossing a distance of two zhang in an instant and rushing straight to the black-armored leader's side.

Like a shadow following form!

Yet the black-armored leader had already shoved the "He Lingchuan" before him toward the oncoming ghost ape, his arm blade suddenly snapping out, extending to five feet, perfectly slicing the newly arrived figure.

This person was the true He Lingchuan.

He had previously stood outside the snow powder's range, projecting a decoy to draw the black-armored leader's attention, then used Shadow-Following Form to close in for a sneak attack.

Who would have thought the black-armored leader would detect his position in just one second, preparing in advance?

The soul-capturing mirror in his bosom cried out: "It can sense your position—so precise!"

He Lingchuan silently cursed.

Since he combined his doppelgänger technique with Shadow-Following Form, this was the first time his effort had come to nothing.

Moreover, a soft whip-like thing shot up from the ground, joining the folding blade in encircling him.

The chain was still there, extending from beneath the black-armored leader's shoulder guard, capable of flexible attacks, like a third hand growing from his back.

Under the combined assault of the ghost ape and He Lingchuan, the black-armored leader not only had the strength to counterattack but was extraordinarily fierce.

He Lingchuan finally engaged him head-on.

How to put it? This thing's power is no less than his, and relying on this set of strange weapons, it grows fiercer the longer the fight goes on.

No wonder he's a figure who's killed several opponents in a row in the Yao Army.

Ding-ding a few times, within three short breaths, they exchanged over ten moves. Black vapor rose from the black-armored leader's entire body, his power actually rising another level! He Lingchuan clashed with him several times, his tiger's mouth faintly aching, as if he were back on the arena stage fighting Meng Shan.

This thing had just finished a battle with the Yao Army, returned to this ruin, and instead of being exhausted, it immediately gained strength? The Luo Sheng Armor truly lives up to its name.

He Lingchuan swept his divine sense around—still snow mist everywhere, visibility under a few feet, and Fu Liushan had not yet arrived.

The black-armored leader swept again with a folding-draw blade. This strange weapon actually consists of a folding blade and a drawing blade: if the folding blade is blocked by an opponent, the drawing blade can pop out in two stages, making its trajectory hard to predict and easily doubling its attack range, even allowing it to bypass frontal strikes and hit the enemy from behind.

Yet as the drawing blade just popped out, He Lingchuan's Floating Life Blade suddenly caught on its serrations, and he twisted hard.

His power surged, and the black-armored leader was completely thrown off balance by him.

"Yuan Li?"

The black-armored leader rarely sounded surprised. From his gaze, he saw the opponent's body actually emitting a dark red glow!

(End of Chapter)