Chapter 199: The Six Drakes

Wind swept away the last clouds, and in an instant, mist and vapor were churned into a tangled mass by an invisible force.

Then it took shape as a colossal dragon made of clouds.

The dragon's head rested precisely beneath Li Rui's feet.

A flash of blade light appeared.

The long knife at his knee had somehow appeared in Li Rui's hand; in an instant, blade light wove a dense net before him, leaving not a single opening on his entire body.

"First line: The hidden dragon must not act. Emphasize counterattack after the opponent moves, defend to attack, wait for opportunity, balance defense and offense."

Li Rui pushed this barrier knife to its utmost.

It truly became a shield, guarding his entire body, making it impossible for any opponent to strike.

"The martial world says: Learn to be hit before you learn to hit others."

Learning to slash with a knife is easy—any young, strong laborer picks it up and knows how to swing it.

But how to use a knife for defense—

Many skilled knife users might not even know.

In the martial world, killing is not the key; surviving without being killed is the most important thing.

So Li Rui's first technique focuses not on offense, but on defense.

This strike is meant to perfect defense.

At this moment—

A loud shout rang out:

"Come!"

Gao Zhen's figure appeared in the dream the instant his voice faded, his familiar long sword spewing flames as it struck Li Rui.

Li Rui defended only.

In barely more than a dozen breaths, the two had exchanged dozens of strikes.

No matter how refined Gao Zhen's swordplay or how fierce his fire form, not a single blade could pierce Li Rui's net of steel.

"Success!"

Li Rui's lips curled slightly.

Self-created sword technique!

In an instant—

The sky-wide net of blades dissolved; the barrier knife parted mist and vapor, driving straight into Gao Zhen's exposed waist and abdomen.

Boom!

Gao Zhen vanished into a wisp of smoke.

This battle was far easier than that night in the mountains.

But Li Rui was not satisfied with merely killing Gao Zhen.

"Again!"

Creak.

The door opened at dawn, and the chilly wind left Li Rui wide awake.

Yes.

He had risen—more accurately, he had woken from his dream.

He had failed again in challenging Jiang Linxian.

It was the same familiar sword thrust, piercing his brow without the slightest resistance—too fast. Even using the first move of You Long Liu Zhan, "The Hidden Dragon Must Not Act," was useless.

It was absolute power domination.

Jiang Linxian's sword was simply too fast; sometimes speed is strength—he had no time to react before he was dead.

"Huh."

Li Rui slowly exhaled a heavy breath, fetched clean water to wash his face, then slowly grasped the dull barrier knife resting in the corner.

The blade's momentum surged.

This time, there were no exaggerated mist effects.

Yet the barrier knife, just as in the dream, became a phantom veil surrounding him, weaving a fine net of true qi ahead.

Practicing the knife in dreams and in reality still had differences.

Li Rui carefully sensed and silently deduced.

Until the sky faintly brightened, and Liang He and the others stepped out, he finally sheathed his blade.

The three saw Li Rui had already finished his practice and felt ashamed.

He lightly said to the three disciples:

"Young people sleep soundly."

This left them silent again.

After eating breakfast,

Li Rui strolled outside with his hands behind his back. As soon as he stepped out, he saw a crowd gathered outside Jiang Linxian's residence.

"Didn't Lord Jiang go out on patrol?"

"Why so many people at the gate?"

Curiosity stirred.

He joined the crowd and quickly spotted someone he knew.

"Brother Wei, what's going on?"

Wei Ming turned, saw Li Rui, and said: "Strange thing—Lord Jiang's residence was burgled."

"!!"

Li Rui grew even more interested.

Who was Jiang Linxian?

Without exaggeration, he was the strongest fighter in Anning Prefecture—who would dare break into Anning Guard, let alone steal from Jiang Linxian's own home?

Utterly audacious.

Wei Ming, enjoying the gossip, continued:

"They say a petty thief sneaked into Lord Jiang's residence last night. He had some skill—he slipped past the eyes of Huaqing Sect elders and actually entered Lord Jiang's room, but was wounded by the sword intent left behind, and escaped."

"Escaped?"

Li Rui raised an eyebrow.

If the thief had been killed, the story would have been complete.

But he escaped—now the matter became unusual.

Someone who treats Anning Guard like his own backyard isn't a petty thief—he's a phantom thief.

And someone who can withstand even a single sword intent from Jiang Linxian—across all Yunzhou, few such people exist.

He's a master!

"Has his identity been discovered?"

"His footwork is exceptional—Commandant Cao couldn't catch him, and left no trace."

Li Rui silently marveled.

"This is absurd."

Clearly, martial world experts shouldn't be underestimated.

"What did the thief steal?"

Wei Ming said: "He apparently didn't get anything—they've already sent fast riders to notify Lord Jiang."

Soon after, Ning Zhongtian and Lu Jun stepped out of Jiang's residence.

They waved impatiently at the soldiers gathered at the gate:

"Everyone, disperse. Everything is fine."

Seeing there was no drama, the crowd dispersed in small groups.

Wei Ming hurried over to Ning Zhongtian: "Chief Ning, tell us—what really happened?"

Seeing Wei Ming's eager expression, Ning Zhongtian chuckled in exasperation:

"Old Wei, one day curiosity will kill you."

But he spoke anyway: "As you saw—someone broke into the camp, was wounded by Lord Jiang's sword intent, and fled. He probably didn't have time to steal anything."

Wei Ming was disappointed.

That's it?

All thunder, no rain.

With the minor incident over, Li Rui headed straight to Benhu Qi.

=9+book_bar

In Qinghe, a small alley house.

A woman with a voluptuous figure and stunning beauty bit her lower lip, her face pale.

Her right hand trembled as she took a vial of spiritual fluid from a nearby cabinet.

Her lower lip turned faintly white from biting.

Hiss!

The spiritual fluid dripped onto the large wound on her waist and abdomen.

"Ah"

A pained moan echoed through the room; the wound sealed at a visible rate, and a flash of hatred passed through her eyes:

"Jiang Lin!"

The beautiful face of the Thousand-Faced Rakshasa, Liu Jiaoniang, twisted in fury.

"The immortal qi is in Anning Guard—if not in Jiang Lin's residence, then where else?"

As her injuries eased, she finally had time to consider the task assigned to her by the Blood Shadow Ancestor.

In thought,

Liu Jiaoniang muttered under her breath: "Gao Zhen, useless waste!"

Even if the man was dead, the immortal qi was too important to let outsiders learn of it.

Otherwise, the Ghost Ming Sect would become the enemy of all under heaven.

The only advantage might be that no one in the world had ever seen what immortal qi looked like, so Jiang Lin most likely had obtained it but could not recognize it, mistaking it for some unknown heavenly treasure.

"But if it's not in Jiang Lin's hands, then where is it?"

Liu Jiaoniang pulled from within her close-fitting nightclothes a stone the size of a thumb.

"The Ancestor said that if immortal qi appears within a hundred zhang of this stone, it will manifest an omen. Last night, the stone glowed—immortal qi was clearly within Anning Guard."

If Li Rui were here, he would recognize at a glance that the stone was the Immortal Seeker Stone.

Liu Jiaoniang was momentarily stumped.

Had Zhu Renhe not tipped her off in advance, she would never have dared to sneak into Anning Guard.

Jiang Lin's strength was far more terrifying than the world realized.

Indeed, Jiang Lin himself was a thousand li away, yet a single sword intent nearly slew her.

After this incident,

Anning Guard would surely strengthen its defenses.

Jiang Lin would deploy even more measures.

Sneaking in again was now impossible.

"The item must be found!"

Liu Jiaoniang's gaze hardened; the thought of failing her mission and facing the Blood Shadow Ancestor's punishment made her shiver.

Night fell.

A shadow appeared in the small courtyard.

Zhu Renhe looked at Liu Jiaoniang, pale and seated in the center of the yard, and smirked:

"Good. You're still alive."

This morning, after rising from the woman's body, he had seen Cao Wei hurrying off with men to return to Anning Guard.

He immediately suspected something had happened.

Later, through his informant inside Anning Guard, he learned of last night's events.

He waited until nightfall before approaching Liu Jiaoniang.

Liu Jiaoniang snorted: "Zhu—you're pleased to see me injured?"

Though both were of the Ghost Ming Sect,

their statuses differed.

Liu Jiaoniang, who had taken a sect elder as her master, was considered Inner Sect—a true member—while Zhu Renhe, like others, was called Outer Sect; their relationship was mostly one of cooperation.

Inner Sect naturally looked down on Outer Sect.

Zhu Renhe was not offended: "Why insist on going to Anning Guard? I merely wished to help."

Liu Jiaoniang sneered inwardly:

"Help?"

She didn't believe a single word: "The Ancestor's secret order doesn't require your concern, Master Zhu."

"How embarrassing."

Zhu Renhe stared at Liu Jiaoniang.

Finally, his hand stopped its motion.

"This woman is the best at pretending—if I can't kill her, she'll be a lasting threat."

When Gao Zhen, the Ten-Thousand Poisons Ghost, and the Four-Armed Demon Ghost had all gathered in Qinghe, he had sensed the Blood Shadow Ancestor was hiding something.

Now that Liu Jiaoniang had arrived, he was certain.

"So what exactly is it?"

Zhu Renhe was genuinely curious.

Liu Jiaoniang was at the peak of Sixth Rank; he was only at the early stage of Fifth Rank. In direct combat, ten Liu Jiaoniangs wouldn't be his match—but this woman excelled at agility and disguise.

She was extremely hard to kill.

Zhu Renhe glanced coolly at the "fragile" woman before him:

"I advise you to be careful. Even if you must die, don't drag me into it. We'd be better off never meeting again."

He was the second most important man in the Zhu family.

The Zhu family had a cooperative relationship with the Ghost Ming Sect.

He might show some courtesy to the sect's top figures.

The Twelve Blood Disciples?

He didn't care much. If he could use this to befriend the Blood Shadow Ancestor, fine; if not, he wouldn't force it.

Watching Zhu Renhe sweep his sleeve and turn to leave,

Liu Jiaoniang remained slumped against the soft couch for a long time, only revealing exhaustion once she confirmed he was gone.

Had she shown the slightest weakness just now, she would already be dead.

"Zhu—deserves to die!"

A flash of killing intent crossed her eyes, but she quickly turned to another question:

"Who took the immortal qi?"

(End of Chapter)