Chapter 1412

Fleeing didn't delay killing; the brothers went up side-by-side, not talking about martial ethics, raising their hands and stabbing wildly. Poor Lu Ping, despite his cultivation, didn't even have time to fight back, dying extremely aggrieved.

The hall, soaring with flames, was full of broken tiles and ruins everywhere, but neither Xue Zongwu nor the black-armored leader made a sound after the explosion. There was still one loyal personal guard who carefully dodged the entanglement of the white fire, searching everywhere for his master's whereabouts.

He saw a figure in the smoke ahead that looked like Xue Zongwu and was about to approach, but that figure took two steps to his front, his light armor shining black in the firelight—this was not his master at all.

In just two rounds, he was grabbed by the neck by his opponent and snapped, breaking it.

Under the illumination of the fire, the black-armored man's shadow was dragged very long behind him, jumping on the ruins.

Just as the personal guard died, the black-armored man's shadow suddenly stopped moving.

The hall caught fire, and the tongues of fire were in various poses, but He Lingchuan's shadow on the ground was like being firmly stuck to the ground with glue, and his own movements were also completely frozen.

Both body and shadow were frozen, completely unable to move.

The process was also very short, lasting less than one and a half breaths.

But the rolling smoke behind him was suddenly disturbed, and Xue Zongwu appeared out of thin air here! He had been lurking since falling into the hall, waiting for an opportunity, but the opponent was also very cunning and refused to show up for a long time.

The surroundings were full of dust and flames, but for the two of them, it was the most suitable environment for concealment.

Others couldn't stand the scorching of the white fire and ran away early, but the two of them didn't have this trouble. Xue Zongwu was protected by the squatting beast, and the black-armored man didn't fear the raging flames at all! As for the annoying thick smoke, both could ignore it for a short time.

Until the personal guard came looking, and the black-armored man couldn't help but kill the personal guard, but his whereabouts were also seen through by Xue Zongwu.

Xue Zongwu had been waiting for this opportunity. He had a divine ability called "Catching Wind and Grasping Shadows," which could suppress the opponent by fixing their shadow.

This divine ability was exceptionally difficult to learn; he had practiced it for ten or so years, at most fixing an opponent for about one breath.

But for an expert, that was enough.

He didn't use purple-gold hammers for his sneak attack on He Lingchuan, but a long sword; the blade was slightly black and matte, without the brilliance of autumn water, and didn't even bring out the sound of wind, but a piece of burning short wood falling from mid-air hadn't even touched it before it broke in two.

This black blade swept past the black-armored man's back neck, appearing and retracting instantly, fast as if it had never existed.

But Xue Zongwu had indeed struck it out, and the feeling of slashing into flesh and blood was also very real. That armor on the opponent looked evil, so to be safe, he still chose to slit the throat.

Success?

He had killed the "Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds," the black-armored man who loved to meddle and play god? The opponent's head was shaved off, the body swayed a few times, and collapsed with a bang.

A small wisp of white fire slipped over along the ground crack, burning it endlessly.

This corpse wasn't fire-resistant either, and in two and a half strokes, it was black.

"Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds?" Xue Zongwu spat on the ground, "Nothing more than this!"

But he was truly relieved in his heart. This monster, he wouldn't have been able to kill him without a plan.

The black-armored man's head rolled to the ground one zhang away, the mask also fell off, and blood flowed all over the ground.

He still had two parts of curiosity, walking over to pick up the head, wanting to see the true face of this so-called "legend."

This face was unexpectedly young, not even twenty years old at most.

Xue Zongwu took one look and felt that this face was actually somewhat familiar?

Where had he seen it before, where?

He was thinking when a warning suddenly arose in his heart: Danger!

And then he heard the sound of a mechanism being pressed.

A sleeve arrow pierced through the thick fog and flew from the side, fast, steady, accurate, and ruthless.

Immediately after, a sword probed out from the ruins, stabbing at his waist and abdomen.

If this had hit, Xue Zongwu would have immediately turned into a human meat skewer.

At the critical moment, he prioritized turning back to block the sword; he couldn't dodge the sleeve arrow, so he had to tilt his head, trying to minimize the damage.

With Yuan power protecting his body, these injuries were not fatal to him.

He blocked with both hands, but the opponent's strength still made his arms sink, and he had to use strength from his waist and legs to barely stand firm.

As for that sleeve arrow, it unceremoniously pierced a hole in the left side of his neck, entering from the front and exiting from the back.

Neck blood immediately gushed out, but it didn't spray in a stream—he had deliberately avoided the carotid artery.

At the same time, a protective magic tool on his body, "pop," shattered.

As soon as they engaged, Xue Zongwu also saw clearly who the attacker was: another black-armored man!

Same height, same armor, same dragon-head mask, even the long sword looked like the same one.

No, this was the "Great Emperor of the Nine Netherworlds."

He had just beheaded a fake earlier.

Xue Zongwu didn't feel creepy; he had used a clone technique himself earlier, so what was strange about others being proficient in this divine ability? But he looked at the black-armored man with an exceptionally strange gaze: "You, you are Yang..."

He finally remembered where he had seen this person!

By the Great River, on the pier, this person was the leader of the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce, and the King had even asked him to sell Chigu horses to this He guy! What a joke, how could this so-called black-armored leader who acts on behalf of heaven be the leader of a chamber of commerce?! This person's motives were suspicious, and his heart was punishable! Xue Zongwu's voice was a bit broken because his neck was leaking air, so he couldn't shout loudly.

Before he could finish speaking, with a muffled crack, the other half of the beam was burned and collapsed, falling down and covering what he said:

"... You are the leader of the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce!"

Now the environment inside the hall couldn't accommodate any living things; not only were there raging flames everywhere, but the most terrifying thing was the choking thick smoke, which could cause people to faint after two more breaths.

Several magic tools on Xue Zongwu were activated, filtering out the toxicity of the smoke. But he could only use internal breath, because every breath he took had to endure the urge to cough.

There was a hole in his neck, and he sealed the surrounding acupoints, but coughing hard would definitely lead to blood spurting.

In such a harsh environment, both sides were fighting for their lives. Although Xue Zongwu was injured, it wasn't a fatal wound on his neck, and he could still fight by circulating his internal breath.

As time passed, he felt his physical strength and true power also draining rapidly, as if his neck were a bottomless pit.

The most terrifying thing was that the ghost shadows lingering around He Lingchuan were no longer harmless, revealing their ferocious faces and crazily pouncing on Xue Zongwu's wounds!

After touching the wounds, they desperately gnawed on the flesh and blood, drilling into the meridians, bringing him incomparable pain.

That kind of pain was like soaking every nerve in boiling water, making the veins on his temples jump non-stop.

Not to mention that Xue Zongwu was fighting and couldn't free his hands, even if he tried to block, he found that these things couldn't be blocked at all!

Yuan power was ineffective against them.

This was strange; it was common knowledge that Yuan power could break evil spirits, so why couldn't it break these ghost shadows?

(End of chapter)