Chapter 215: Mastery of Spear Intent

Some fall for the trick, naturally, but others do not.

Those standing in place looked at the bearded man retreating, each sneering coldly.

Ahead came a clanging, clanging sound, followed by screams of agony.

Before long, that group withdrew.

At this moment, five more paper soldiers with shields and blades shattered, while eight of the martial artists who charged forward fell.

All were piercing wounds from long spears.

Paper soldiers carrying one-zhang-long paper spears remained very strong even with shield-and-blade soldiers blocking the front.

Others watching these paper figures found them merely troublesome.

But in An Xin's eyes, there was a continuous gleam of light.

These paper figures can form formations; if they were stronger, with two hundred or three hundred paper figures forming an army!

That single person would be a small army.

And an army with very little logistical pressure.

Our Tianyi Sect could learn from Li Lin without paying too high a price.

So... the two figures beneath the shadow-cloak before him, he must protect.

"Listen to me, everyone. My Tianyi Sect will protect the two beneath the shadow-cloak. As for the rest, handle it yourselves."

The bearded man snorted: "The exquisite jade box is in those two's hands. If you protect them, isn't that just a disguised way of seizing the jade box?"

An Xin frowned: "Even so, what of it? My Tianyi Sect will take responsibility for this matter."

"I fear you cannot bear it." The middle-aged bearded man looked at him grimly: "I heard you are merely the eldest senior brother, not the sect master. Do you not fear breaking your back speaking such words?"

"What I say is what my sect master would say." An Xin stated with great confidence.

These words naturally aroused much dissatisfaction among the surrounding people.

The bearded man snorted: "Others may fear your Tianyi Sect, but our Black Blade Gang does not."

An Xin smiled, looking at the other party.

Others drew closer and closer to the paper figures.

Although the previous attacks had failed, everyone could see the flaws in the paper figure army formation were growing larger.

An Xin saw these people approaching and was about to call on Ji Feng to help him, but he did not see that Ji Feng was also leading the Qingcheng Sect people forward.

Should he truly oppose all the martial artists here?

An Xin had to consider this question.

Was it worth it?

The Paper Figure Art is indeed powerful, but it requires talent; the Tianyi Sect may not have such talent.

My relationship with Li Lin is quite good, but my relationship with my fellow disciples in the sect is even better.

Is it appropriate to send my fellow disciples to die for Li Lin?

Such questions kept surfacing in his mind.

Finally, he stood firm and led his people back a few steps.

He was not saying he would not help, but rather waiting to see the situation.

If... those people fail to assault the paper figure army, he will act.

And at this very moment, another paper figure suddenly rose beside that 'blackish' mass.

This paper figure had a long snake tail, a remarkably beautiful face, yet possessed a sharp, fierce aura.

Lady Tree Immortal!

An Xin had investigated Li Lin's background and origins, so he knew clearly that this was the Taowu Zhenjun of Yulin County.

Although no one who investigated had ever seen Lady Tree Immortal, it was still possible to inquire and learn her general appearance.

A human body with a snake tail, and a beautiful woman at that—only Lady Tree Immortal fits.

As soon as Lady Tree Immortal emerged, everyone around retreated backward.

Because it was clearly visible that this paper figure was completely different from the others.

Different appearance, different aura.

Clearly of the 'leader' tier.

Lady Tree Immortal scanned the surroundings, then her long snake tail coiled, wrapping up the mother and child beneath the shadow-cloak, and she leaped backward directly, vanishing into the night sky like flight.

The crowd was stunned for a moment, then all reacted.

They actually escaped!

The bearded man roared: "Pursue!"

But at this very moment, the paper figure army suddenly changed; shield-and-blade soldiers in front, spear soldiers following, they rushed directly at this group of martial artists.

Screams of agony rang out one after another.

More than a dozen shield-and-blade soldiers plus thirty spear soldiers pushed straight through, stabbing many martial artists to death directly.

But this also provoked resistance from even more martial artists.

Among them, quite a few martial artists secretly slipped away from the side and then chased toward the direction where Lady Tree Immortal had vanished.

They thought that snake-demon paper figure must not be strong, otherwise it would not have thought only of taking the people away.

If they caught up, then everything would be theirs.

At this moment, the middle-aged bearded man waved his long blade, shaking a shield-and-blade soldier flying, then lunged forward and chopped it into pieces.

He paid no attention at all to the paper spears stabbing into his body.

After several clanging sounds, the paper spears all pierced his body, yet all snapped.

And on the bearded man's body, not even a white mark remained.

He charged into the pile of paper men, felled several paper spear soldiers in succession, then retreated to his original spot and let out a long breath.

Meanwhile, the person beside him stepped forward to take his place.

This middle-aged man was not particularly skilled in hard qigong; rather, his primordial breath was simply astonishing, and he had mastered the technique of Inner Gang protecting the body.

Watching him become impervious to blades and spears, one must realize it required consuming primordial energy.

After that burst of output, the primordial energy within his body was greatly depleted.

Although it was not entirely gone, it was still necessary to keep some primordial energy in reserve for emergencies.

Thanks to the middle-aged bearded man breaking the formation, the paper men army finally lost its formation; most importantly, there were no paper arrows left, otherwise they could have held out for a much longer time.

More than twenty martial artists rushed forward and chopped all the paper men into fragments.

The bearded man glanced at the night sky, about to charge forward, when he suddenly let out a stifled groan.

He screamed in agony, feeling his lower back hurt so much it had lost all sensation.

Li Lin, having struck successfully, was about to retreat.

But at that very moment, several white objects flew over, smashing around him and kicking up a cloud of white powder.

Immediately after, Li Lin's figure appeared before everyone's eyes.

At this, a thin, small old man smiled and said, "If we still couldn't think of a way to deal with you after you ambushed us so many times, we would be too stupid."

Li Lin brushed the dust off his clothes, then looked at the bearded man lying on the ground, barely breathing, and smiled, "You are indeed clever; even this managed to expose you."

In truth, Li Lin should have been in an invincible position.

But his repeated ambushes still revealed flaws.

There was no choice; to save Zhou Qingqing and her child, he had to ambush others repeatedly to slow them down.

But doing so would give others more opportunities.

Li Lin flicked his toe, lifting a paper spear one zhang long into his hand, simultaneously blocking the path before these martial artists.

He waved it casually, then planted the spear behind him and smiled, "Then... this road is blocked."

Truly elegant and handsome.

An Xin watched this scene and even smiled.

Afterwards, he said to his junior brothers, "Let's go; we shall return first."

The crowd was puzzled, but no one objected.

The eldest senior brother is the future sect master; if he says we return, then we return.

"Daring to stand alone before so many of us, you have a bold heart. Since you also use a spear, then my Iron-Dragon Spear shall meet you."

Having spoken, a man holding a spear leaped forward.

"Ah!"

A scream rang out; the man fell to his knees on the ground, looking at Li Lin ahead in disbelief.

"Spear... Spear Intent fully accomplished!"

Blood flowed from his heart, like a water column.

The place where the man knelt was two zhang away from Li Lin.

Yet the long spear in Li Lin's hand was only one zhang in length.

A chill surged into everyone's heart.

(End of this chapter)