Chapter 1921: Great Reputation Not Undeserved

The two leaders had just clashed when their armies behind them collided as well, killing until men were thrown from horses and the world turned upside down!

Although the Luodian Grand Army numbered over thirty thousand, it was sliced to shreds by the enemy's war elephant formation and bewilderment arts; Qu Ruhai could only pull back barely a thousand men on short notice.

However, Luodian elite soldiers were different after all, and reinforcements still rushed to aid their lord from all directions.

After a few exchanges, the Luodian warriors around Qu Ruhai had also gathered to sixteen or seventeen hundred, not far off from the opposing side.

Yet the Black Armor Army not only failed to be pushed back by the Luodian charge, but stood firm against Yuan Force, even showing a faint tendency to press forward. Qu Ruhai, amid the bitter fighting, also grew irritable and distracted, because this meant the Luodian elite troops he prided himself on, with Yuan Force removed, might not actually match the Black Armor Army in real combat strength!

When legends of the Nine Nether Great Emperor and the Black Armor Army fluttered wildly across the Shanjin Plains, Qu Ruhai had still been somewhat dismissive, disbelieving they could defeat his hundred-battle veterans.

Only now, finally clashing head-on, did he know the great reputation was not undeserved.

He himself, fighting the Nine Nether Great Emperor, was also surrounded by peril at every turn.

This fellow's spear thrusts, though no longer as earth-shattering as the first strike, were either light and elusive, or vicious and tricky, or swift and fierce as a tiger, switching freely among the three; a single spear displayed a hundred variations, making him, the one receiving the moves, suffer so much he nearly vomited blood.

The black mist on the Nine Nether Great Emperor also drifted along the spear tip onto him; Qu Ruhai tried circulating true force or Yuan Force to block it, but it was useless — he could not drive it away at all!

These few strands of black mist seemed attracted, drifting backward along the shield. Qu Ruhai, in a battle gap, shook his hand several times, but these things were more terrifying than maggots in the bone — not only could they not be shaken off, they accelerated into his wounds!

Not only his shield-holding left arm, but even the wounds he had suffered campaigning in the Yao Kingdom, which had not yet healed, were actually invaded by this black mist.

The instant they burrowed into flesh, Qu Ruhai was in uncontrollable agony.

He was a tough man who licked blood from the blade's edge; seven years ago he encountered Kasha assassins, who opened two cuts and four holes on him with daggers, respectively under the ribs and on the palm — he did not even grunt, just frowned and snapped the assassin's neck.

But this pain was like placing every single cranial nerve on a true fire to roast; clearly causing no new external injury, yet making his whole body's muscles want to spasm along with it.

What battle technique is this, what special effect, that after Yuan Force mitigation it is still this fierce?

"This is karma! However many sins you have committed in this life, that much suffering you must endure!" The Nine Nether Great Emperor seemed to see through his thoughts, saying in a sinister, cold voice, "No one escapes karma's reckoning!"

His laughter seemed to come from the netherworld, icy cold to the bone.

"Nonsense! Could this really be a monster crawled out of the Yellow Springs?" Qu Ruhai felt a chill down his spine, yet his wounds burned with searing pain; he shook his head hard, flinging this absurd thought away, "Luodian has no grievance or enmity with you, why raise troops to invade?"

"You know perfectly well in your heart, just unwilling to accept it." The Nine Nether Great Emperor laughed loudly, "The weak try to reason; the strong do as they please! This is the iron law of the Shanjin Plains!"

The weak, unable to win, try to reason, thinking reason itself is a weapon.

Wrong; reason, like the fist, is also the strong's weapon.

How could Qu Ruhai not know? Just say why Luodian invaded the Yao Kingdom, why it previously crushed Kasha and Longye?

The Luodian of that year, and the current Nine Nether Great Emperor, use the exact same logic.

That is: the strong are kings!

In the span of just this dialogue, seizing the moment the Nine Nether Great Emperor retracted his spear, Qu Ruhai stabbed his spear tip into the ground, then flicked it upward, actually prying out two monsters from underground that looked like wolves yet also like orangutans, but with sharp, long snouts, lunging straight at the Black Piebald King's front and hind legs.

These were the parasitic spirits attached to his long spear, similar to the chang ghosts that serve tigers; temporarily given bodies kneaded from earth and rock, driven by the blood Qi nurtured by the long spear, exceptionally ferocious.

Caught off guard by these two things drilling out of the ground, the Black Piebald King reacted fast too, suddenly leaping backward; the two things snapped their jaws empty, their sharp teeth clicking *crack*, then pursued like shadows, specializing in attacking the Black Piebald King's lower body.

The Nine Nether Great Emperor's left shoulder moved; the metal crouching-shoulder beast originally lying on his shoulder armor suddenly opened its eyes, and in a flash slid down his arm to the ground.

Before it even landed, its body rapidly grew to leopard size, yet shaped like a suanni, with thick mane and curled hair, broad nose and large mouth, red light flashing in its eyes.

The two spear spirits had just charged up; seeing it block the Black Piebald King's front, they conveniently moved to deal with it together.

The crouching-shoulder beast opened its mouth and spat a mouthful of white fire, spraying the spear spirits full in the face.

These spear spirits were clearly composed of rock and earth, yet for some reason, touching the white fire they exploded, even more cleanly than firecrackers.

After spraying fire, the crouching-shoulder beast turned and fought the other spear spirit.

In the past, Xue Zongwu was killed by the Nine Nether Great Emperor; the crouching-shoulder beast "White Flame" on his armor also submitted to the Qianglong War Armor, only its color changed from silver-white to the dark black integrated with the armor, and it gained considerable benefits from the Qianglong War Armor's growth.

Only after the Black Piebald King carried the Nine Nether Great Emperor back, widening the distance between both sides, did Qu Ruhai finally get an opportunity; his right hand changed grip, treating the long spear as a javelin, and hurled it viciously at the Nine Nether Great Emperor!

This was his full-power strike; the spear tip even emitted a dark blue-green light.

No mistake, first, every, internal, capacity, in, one, look!

After leaving his hand, the long spear vanished, without even half a whisper of air being torn.

By the time it appeared again, it was less than three chi from the Nine Nether Great Emperor!

And it instantly split into two phantoms, then from two to four, from four to eight!

One long spear, eight phantom shadows, but every single shadow's power was real and tangible.

Qu Ruhai's spear and technique both came from an ancient great general; this "Myriad Flower Spear" — the higher the mastery, the more phantoms struck, the greater the power. Because it enters the void the moment it is launched, its path cannot be captured or intercepted, making it impossible to guard against. Qu Ruhai had used this move to string several powerful enemies into specimens.

Among these eight spears, two were also aimed at the Black Piebald King. Even if the Nine Nether Great Emperor could block with his shield, at most he could only protect himself; it would be hard to shield his mount.

Without this divine steed, the Nine Nether Great Emperor's mobility would be reduced by at least half.

Cold light flashed; the nearest spear tip had already reached before the Nine Nether Great Emperor's mask, the other five respectively targeting his whole body, purely playing the impossible-to-dodge, impossible-to-block game.

The Nine Nether Great Emperor did not use his shield, but backhandedly grabbed his own cloak and flung it forward to block!

This crimson-red cloak, like a fierce yet bleakly gorgeous blood flower blooming explosively in the dark night!

The moment it unfurled, its area suddenly multiplied several times over, instantly covering both man and horse completely.

All eight long spears stabbed into the cloak.

Qu Ruhai immediately heard a sharp, piercing howl, amplified a hundred times beyond the sound of a knife scraping glass, stabbing so hard the ears went numb.

But the cloak did not tear, intact and undamaged, not a single hole.

All eight spear phantoms vanished, only one long spear falling from the cloak.