Chapter 199

The wind swept away the clouds, and in an instant, the mist was churned into a ball by an invisible force.

Then it transformed into a giant dragon made of clouds.

The dragon's head was right beneath Li Rui's feet.

Blade light flashed suddenly.

The long blade at his knees had appeared in Li Rui's hand before anyone knew it; in an instant, the blade light wove a dense web of blades in front of him, leaving not a single flaw on his entire body.

"First nine, Hidden Dragon Do Not Use, the focus is on striking only after the enemy has struck, using defense as offense, waiting for the opportunity to act, combining both offense and defense."

A barrier blade was used to its absolute limit by Li Rui.

It truly acted like a barrier, protecting his whole person and leaving no opening for anyone to attack.

"There is a saying in the Jianghu: learn to be beaten before you learn to beat others."

Practicing the blade, learning to hack is easy; the moment any young, strong laborer picks up a blade, they already know how.

But to talk about how to use a blade for defense.

I'm afraid many blade experts might not necessarily know.

Walking the Jianghu, killing people is not the key; not being killed by others is the most important thing about walking the Jianghu.

Therefore, Li Rui's first move does not focus on offense, only on defense.

This blade move is meant to take defense to the extreme.

At this moment—

A loud shout was heard:

"Come!"

Gao Zhen's figure appeared in the dream almost the instant the voice fell, and a familiar long sword, accompanied by spitting tongues of fire, killed towards Li Rui.

Li Rui only defended.

In just over ten breaths of time, the two had already exchanged dozens of moves.

No matter how exquisite Gao Zhen's sword technique was or how fierce the fire form was, they could not penetrate Li Rui's blade web by even a fraction.

"It's done!"

The corners of Li Rui's mouth lifted slightly.

Self-created blade technique!

In an instant.

The sky-filling blade web suddenly dissipated, and a barrier blade parted the clouds, stabbing straight into Gao Zhen's exposed waist and abdomen.

Bang!

Gao Zhen turned into a cloud of smoke and disappeared.

This battle was much easier than the one in the mountain forest that night.

Li Rui, however, was not satisfied with just killing one Gao Zhen.

"Come again!"

Creak.

The bedroom door was pushed open just as the hour of Chen arrived, and the slightly cold wind blew away any trace of sleepiness from Li Rui.

Yes.

He had gotten up; to be precise, he had been startled awake from his dream.

The challenge to Jiang Linxian had failed again.

It was still that familiar sword strike, piercing his brow without the slightest obstruction; it was simply too fast, and even using the first form of the Six Slashes of the Roaming Dragon, Hidden Dragon Do Not Use, it was useless.

That was absolute crushing power.

Jiang Linxian's sword was simply too fast; sometimes speed is strength, and he had already died before he could even react.

"Hoo."

Li Rui slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, fetched some clear water to wash his face, and then his right hand slowly gripped the dull barrier blade resting in the corner of the wall.

Blade momentum rose instantly.

This time, there were no exaggerated cloud special effects.

But the barrier blade, just like in the dream, turned into a phantom that shrouded his body, and he wove a dense blade web in front of him with true qi.

Practicing the blade in a dream and practicing it in reality were, after all, somewhat different.

Li Rui felt it carefully, silently deducing in his heart.

It wasn't until the sky grew bright and Liang He and the others pushed the door open and walked out that he put away the blade in his hand.

When the three saw Li Rui's posture, realizing he had already finished practicing the blade, they were immediately filled with shame.

He said lightly to the three disciples:

"Young people sleep so soundly."

This left the three of them speechless again.

After finishing their meal.

Li Rui walked out with his hands behind his back; just as he stepped out, he saw a group of people gathered outside Jiang Linxian's residence.

"Didn't Lord Jiang go out for an inspection?"

"Why are there so many people at the door?"

Curiosity arose in him.

He also joined the crowd and soon found an acquaintance.

"Brother Wei, what happened?"

Wei Ming turned his head, and seeing it was Li Rui, said: "A strange thing, Lord Jiang's residence was actually robbed."

"!!"

Li Rui became even more interested.

Who is Jiang Linxian?

Without any exaggeration, he is the number one combatant in Anning Prefecture; which blind thief would dare to come to the Anning Guard, and steal things from Jiang Linxian's residence at that?

It was simply daring to the point of heaven-defying.

Wei Ming also said while eating a melon:

"I heard that a little thief snuck into Lord Jiang's residence last night; he actually had some skills, managing to evade the eyes and ears of the Huaqing Sect elders, and really got into Lord Jiang's room, but was injured by the sword intent left behind by Lord Jiang and escaped."

"Escaped?"

Li Rui raised an eyebrow.

If the little thief had been killed, the story would be complete.

But since he escaped, the matter became very unusual.

A person who could treat the Anning Guard like their own backyard and come and go as they pleased could no longer be called a little thief, but a master thief.

And being able to take a strand of Jiang Linxian's sword intent—looking across the entire Yunzhou, there aren't many such people.

He is an expert!

"Has the thief's identity been discovered?"

"That person's light-body technique was excellent; even Lord Cao couldn't catch up, and no clues were left behind."

Li Rui marveled secretly in his heart.

"This matter is absurd."

It seems one still cannot underestimate the experts of the Jianghu.

"Did the thief steal anything?"

Wei Ming said: "They shouldn't have succeeded yet; I heard that a fast horse has already been sent to notify Lord Jiang."

Not long after. Ning Zhongtian and Lu Jun walked out of the Jiang residence.

They waved their hands impatiently at the soldiers gathered at the door:

"Everyone disperse, everything is fine."

Seeing there was nothing left to watch, the crowd dispersed in groups of three or five.

Wei Ming took the opportunity to trot up to Ning Zhongtian: "Boss Ning, tell me quickly, what exactly is the situation?"

Seeing Wei Ming's impatient look, Ning Zhongtian couldn't help but laugh in frustration:

"Old Wei, aren't you afraid that one day you'll be killed by your own curiosity?"

But he still opened his mouth and said: "It's just what you saw; someone broke into the military camp, was injured by Lord Jiang's sword intent, and ran away; they probably didn't have time to make a move."

Wei Ming was immediately disappointed.

Just this?

Loud thunder, small raindrops.

With the small episode over, Li Rui went straight to the Galloping Tiger Cavalry.

=9+Book_Bar

In a small alley residence in Qinghe.

A woman with a seductive figure and an absolutely beautiful face bit her lower lip lightly, her complexion somewhat pale.

Her right hand trembled as she took a bottle of spiritual liquid from the cabinet beside her.

Her lower lip was bitten until it turned vaguely white.

Hiss!

The spiritual liquid dripped onto the large patch of flesh and blood on her waist and abdomen.

"Ah."

A painful moan sounded in the room, and the wound scabbed over at a speed visible to the naked eye; a flash of hatred crossed her eyes:

"Jiang Linxian!"

The seductive face of the Thousand-Faced Rakshasa Liu Jiaoniang twisted.

"The Immortal Qi is in the Anning Guard; if it's not in Jiang Linxian's residence, where else could it be?"

As her injuries eased, she finally had time to think about the mission the Blood Shadow Xueying Laozu had given her.

While pondering.

Liu Jiaoniang cursed lowly: "That trash Gao Zhen!"

It would be one thing if he died, but the Immortal Qi is of great importance and must never be known by outsiders.

Otherwise, the Ghost Ming Sect would become the enemy of the world.

The only advantage might be that no one in the world has ever seen what Immortal Qi looks like, so Jiang Linxian probably obtained the Immortal Qi but didn't recognize it, thinking it was just some unknown heavenly treasure.

"But if it's not in Jiang Linxian's hands, where could it be?"

Liu Jiaoniang took a thumb-sized stone from her night-traveling clothes close to her body.

"The Xueying Laozu said that if Immortal Qi appears within a hundred feet of this stone, there will be an anomaly; the stone glowed last night, so the Immortal Qi is clearly in the Anning Guard."

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

Liu Jiaoniang was in a dilemma for a moment.

If Zhuang Renhe hadn't leaked the news to her in advance, she wouldn't have even dared to sneak into the Anning Guard.

Jiang Linxian's strength was far more terrifying than what the world had seen.

And the facts were indeed so; Jiang Linxian was thousands of miles away, yet a strand of his sword intent had almost killed her.

After this incident.

The Anning Guard would definitely strengthen its defenses.

Jiang Linxian would also set up more measures.

Sneaking in again would be impossible.

"The item must be found!"

Liu Jiaoniang's eyes were determined; thinking of the methods the Blood Shadow Xueying Laozu would use if she failed the mission, she couldn't help but shiver.

Night fell.

An extra figure appeared in the small residence's courtyard.

Zhuang Renhe looked at Liu Jiaoniang, who was sitting in the center of the courtyard with a pale face, and a mocking curl appeared on his lips:

"Very good, you actually didn't die."

He had climbed out of a woman's bed this morning and saw Cao Wei rushing to bring people back to the Anning Guard.

He had guessed that something had happened.

Later, through his informants in the Anning Guard, he learned about what happened last night.

He waited until nightfall before seeking out Liu Jiaoniang.

Liu Jiaoniang snorted coldly: "Zhuang, are you very satisfied to see me injured?"

Although both were members of the Ghost Ming Sect.

There was actually a difference in their status.

People like Liu Jiaoniang, who took an elder within the sect as a master, were called the Inner Sect and were 'their own people,' while those like Zhuang Renhe were called the Outer Sect; the two sides were actually more of a cooperative relationship.

The Inner Sect naturally looked down on the Outer Sect.

Zhuang Renhe was not annoyed: "Why are you so insistent on going to the Anning Guard? I just wanted to help, purely."

Liu Jiaoniang sneered in her heart:

"Help?"

She wouldn't believe a single word of such nonsense: "The secret order given by the Xueying Laozu is not something for you to worry about, Lord Zhuang."

"That's a pity."

Zhuang Renhe looked at Liu Jiaoniang.

In the end, the movement in his hand stopped.

"This woman is the best at pretending; if I can't kill her, there will be endless trouble."

When Gao Zhen, the Ten Thousand Poison Ghost, and the Four-Armed Demon Ghost gathered in Qinghe before, he realized that the Blood Shadow Xueying Laozu seemed to be hiding something.

Liu Jiaoniang's arrival made him even more certain.

"So, what exactly is the item?"

Zhuang Renhe was truly very curious.

Liu Jiaoniang was at the peak of the Sixth Rank, and he was at the early stage of the Fifth Rank; if they fought head-on, ten Liu Jiaoniangs would not be his match, but this woman was best at light-body techniques and disguise.

It was really hard to kill her.

Zhuang Renhe glanced lightly at the "frail" woman in front of him:

"I advise you to be careful; even if you are going to die, don't drag me into it. It's better if we don't meet again in the future."

He was the number two figure of the Zhuang family.

The Zhuang family and the Ghost Ming Sect had a cooperative relationship.

He might still be somewhat polite to the big shots of the Ghost Ming Sect.

The Twelve Blood Disciples?

He really didn't take them to heart; it would be best if he could use them to befriend the Blood Shadow Xueying Laozu, but if he couldn't climb that high, he wouldn't force it.

Watching Zhuang Renhe flick his sleeves and turn to leave.

Liu Jiaoniang maintained her posture of leaning on the soft couch for a long time, and only after confirming Zhuang Renhe had left did she reveal a trace of exhaustion.

If she had shown any flaw just now, she would be a dead person by now.

"That Zhuang, he really deserves to die!"

Killing intent flashed in her eyes, but she soon pondered another question:

"Who exactly took the Immortal Qi?"

(End of chapter)