Chapter 138

"Second brother!"

"Bastard, you bastard!"

Situ Long glared with bulging eyes, his eyes bloodshot and crimson.

"You cowardly rat who strikes from the shadows—if you have the guts, come down and fight us face to face."

The bearded swordswoman, furious to the point of exploding, watched Qin Shuo soar back into the sky, slaughtering the fleeing mountain bandits like butchering chickens and dogs, piercing each one through.

The unprecedented sense of powerlessness drove these several bandits who had roamed Mulin Prefecture to madness.

"Ah! Rat, you rat!"

Situ Long was nearly driven mad by rage, pushing off the ground as he sprinted wildly.

He ran like an enraged lion through the forest, his aura surging, his speed swift as thunder, kicking up a gale around him, actually closing the distance between them.

Although the Yuehua Wings allowed Qin Shuo to hover in midair, in a pure speed contest, he could not match the full-force sprint of a Refining Organs Realm expert.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

The bearded giant and the lanky youth also roared as they charged at Qin Shuo, their eyes filled with madness and fury, shouting all the way.

"Whoosh!"

Continuous high-intensity bow drawing left Qin Shuo's arms somewhat sore and numb.

The strong bows and heavy crossbows of the Great Li dynasty are measured in stone, with one stone equaling 120 catties.

Ordinary divine archers can draw bows of two or three stone; those with astonishing strength can manage no more than five stone.

Qin Shuo's black iron longbow, however, is a ten-stone bow—even in the Great Li army, it counts as a super strong bow, beyond the pull of ordinary martial artists.

Even Xue Chengkong, once famed as the "Double Absolute of Crimson Arrows," at his peak, could only fire consecutively nine times in a short span.

Beyond that number, his arm muscles could not endure, trembling and losing aim.

Qin Shuo, possessing the Four Symbols Power, found drawing the ten-stone bow effortless and easy.

However, his True Essence and Inner Qi were insufficient, relying solely on physical strength; after drawing continuously over thirty times, his arms were also somewhat overexerted.

Yet his aim remained steady.

Under the influence of the Heavenly Wolf Divine Sense, he hardly needed to aim.

Where the heart points, the arrow follows!

In speed, strength, and aim, there was no weakening whatsoever.

"Come down! If you have the guts, come down!" Situ Long roared on the ground.

Although he had leapt several times from the ground, trying to pounce and kill Qin Shuo, Qin Shuo evaded each with agile footwork.

Moreover, having learned from the prior lesson, he deliberately kept distance from the three bandit chieftains, prioritizing the shooting of other bandit lackeys.

Eliminate evil completely!

These big fish won't escape for a while, so naturally, we clear the small fish first.

"Huh?"

Suddenly, Qin Shuo's expression froze; his hand reaching for the quiver came up empty.

"He's out of arrows! Kill him!" Situ Long roared.

At this moment, he had only one thought: to drag that bastard down from the sky and chop him into minced meat.

Clang!

The bearded giant struck first, his leopard eyes wide open, roaring as his Nine-Ring Broadsword turned into a silver-white bolt, slashing furiously at Qin Shuo.

On the other side, the swallow-light youth seized the opportunity, launching from the treetops to soar above Qin Shuo's head.

He was upside down, palms like pushing mountains, his vast gangqi like a tidal wave pressing down, sealing Qin Shuo's retreat space.

Meanwhile, Situ Long, who had been gathering power, suddenly leapt up like a flood dragon soaring into the heavens, his Weilong Divine Palm unleashed fiercely, as if pushing the airflow of the entire space forward for an instant.

Weilong Divine Palm, unmatched in rigidity!

Situ Long, relying on this palm technique, had roamed Mulin Prefecture for years, causing even multiple Divine Catchers of the Divine Catcher Division to fall under his palm—his power is evident.

At this moment, under his full-force activation, the air currents surged like water, and for a moment, it seemed a flood dragon would burst forth from within, raging and violent.

Three-man encirclement!

One at Refining Organs, one at Condensing Truth Peak, one at Condensing Truth Great Accomplishment.

Such a lineup would even give the Flying Star General Pang Tong a headache.

As one of the three notorious bandits of Mulin Prefecture, if he lacked some hidden ace, how could he dare ambush and slay the Demon Suppression General of the Demon Suppression Division on the road?

But now, the target of the encirclement had shifted from Pang Tong to Qin Shuo.

Facing the encirclement of three great experts, Qin Shuo's face remained cold and indifferent, showing no flicker of emotion.

"Go down and fight!"

Seems like self-talk, yet also like a command to the three bandit chieftains.

Situ Long was about to speak mockingly, asking where else you could hide—

Suddenly, a mountain-like pressure descended abruptly from above his head.

Then, he felt as if he had slammed into an invisible mountain cliff, his upward momentum sharply reduced, instead being pressed downward by that invisible force.

The bearded swordswoman could not bear it—when the pressure appeared, he was struck as if by a heavy blow, crashing heavily to the ground.

Clang!

Almost at the instant Situ Long and the bearded swordswoman felt the pressure, a sword cry rang through the moonlit sky.

A chilling, terrifying killing intent, like moonlight, instantly enveloped the descending lanky youth.

"No!"

The lanky youth only felt his heart turn cold, his vital points everywhere as if simultaneously pressed by sharp blades, an unprecedented sense of crisis engulfing his heart, making his scalp instantly explode.

Pfft!

I only felt a chill on my neck.

The gaunt youth then realized he seemed to have lost control of his body.

Immediately afterward, he saw his headless corpse, no longer under his control, topple down from above him.

Then heaven and earth darkened, and all thoughts ceased to turn.

"What?"

Having witnessed that beheading strike just now, Situ Long's eyes were nearly bursting, his eyes about to drip blood.

At the same time, alarm bells rang loudly in his heart, and a great shock and horror surged from the depths of his being.

This youth, not only is his archery divine, hitting every mark, but his swordsmanship is also this terrifying, even surpassing his archery.

Just now, he clearly felt the aura of True Gang.

Although it still does not qualify as true True Gang, merely a faint embryonic form, it is still sufficiently terrifying.

Gang Qi is the mutual friction of True Essence Qi and Heaven-Earth Qi, forming a qi force more condensed than True Qi, with greater destructive and lethal power.

And True Gang is the qi force evoked when one's own True Qi merges with external Heaven-Earth Qi.

Used for defense, it is seamless and leakless; used for attack, it is fiercely unmatched; when imbued into blades and swords, it is invincible, nothing can withstand it.

This is the realm countless Refining Organs Realm masters painstakingly seek, and it is the necessary path to becoming a Grandmaster.

Who would have thought a youth who has just entered Condensing Truth, with True Essence as thin as paper, could actually condense an embryonic form of True Gang—how strange this is.

Thud!

The three landed almost simultaneously.

Under the weight of the Meta-Magnetic Earth Pearl, Situ Long, famed in the jianghu for his invincible external training, adjusted slightly and adapted.

But the Brawny Saberman only felt as if a great mountain pressed upon him, his five viscera and six bowels wracked with excruciating pain, and his True Essence circulation was obstructed as if by perilous rapids and massive stones, flowing unsmoothly.

In a short moment, he began bleeding from all seven orifices, his appearance miserable to the extreme.

However, he is ultimately a master at the peak of the Condensing Truth Realm; though his physique cannot match that of the original Xiaoyue Demon King, he can still rely on his abundant True Essence to stubbornly resist.

"Old Four, retreat!"

Situ Long also saw the Brawny Saberman's plight; he himself bore the pressure and charged forward, creating an opportunity for the Brawny Saberman to escape this strange pressure field.

Thud!

He low-roared as he stepped forward, his entire body's force rising from legs to hips, layer upon layer, the Gang Qi in his palm gathering, emitting a roar like a dragon's cry.

Crackle-pop~

Forcibly activating Gang Qi under pressure, his tendons and bones emitted a sound like linked cannon shots from friction.

Then, roaring, stepping forward, his arm thrust out like a great spear, as his fingers shifted between kneading and rubbing, the Gang Qi circulated and gathered, resembling a flood dragon coiling above his fist's tip.

Weilong Divine Palm, even in Yunzhou, is considered a renowned martial art.

Especially after Situ Long repeatedly used it to shatter Yunzhou's several major divine constables, this martial art became thoroughly famous throughout Mulin Prefecture, even Yunzhou City.

Decades of painstaking research and practice have already brought Situ Long's mastery of this martial art to the level of Furnace Fire Pure.

At this moment, a single palm strike gave Qin Shuo the illusion of a flood dragon overturning rivers and seas, about to flip the entire mountain range, crushing him with terrifying pressure.

"Hmph!"

Qin Shuo coldly snorted, relieving the pressure in his heart.

Only seen, he thrust out a fist, as if a heaven-supporting great peak pushed horizontally, carrying the Diamond Will to destroy all obstructions and obstacles.

This punch was Qin Shuo's sudden inspiration, using the Four Symbols Power to activate the Fang Family's Hanshan Fist, its power actually exceeding that of pure Longxiang Divine Ability by three tenths.

Bang!

As if the earth were struck by sudden thunder!

"Such power?!"

Situ Long's face skin trembled wildly, only feeling as if his palm struck a golden mountain and iron peak, his eyeballs nearly bursting out.

He boasted himself as invincible in external training beneath a Grandmaster, even matching the Longxiang Monk who had achieved Arhat Golden Body.

But at this moment of combat, the person before him had Inner Qi so thin as to be nearly nonexistent to him.

Yet this power was too terrifying, like a mountain flood and sea tsunami, instantly shattering his protective Gang Qi.

Bang!

An explosive sound came from his internal apertures!

His three hundred and sixty-five mystical apertures felt as if trampled hard by a wild elephant, nearly collapsing at the edge.

Roar!

Situ Long's eyes bulged out, finally unable to hold back a low roar, his feet leaving the ground, he was struck and flew backward.

Qin Shuo retreated step by step, each step leaving deep footprints on the ground.

In terms of strength, this Situ Long is naturally far inferior to Yue Shan of that day.

Yet this external training of his indeed has unique merits, able to withstand my blow head-on without his arm shattering, enough to be proud of.

Clang!

The sound of iron rings striking the blade rang out.

Qin Shuo had just retreated from the area covered by the Yuan Magnetic Field, when the Brawny Saberman, who had been watching covetously from outside, swung his saber to chop down.

As a veteran saber wielder who has long entered the peak of Condensing Truth, his saber Gang's condensation is in no way inferior to Situ Long's.

Relying on this saber technique, he once fought to a draw with a renowned Refining Organs Realm master of the jianghu, earning the title Brawny Saberman of Mulin Prefecture.

Bang!

Without hesitation, Qin Shuo likewise swung his saber to chop horizontally.

Three Returns to One!

Under the support of the Sirius remnant soul and the Vajra Divine Intent, Qin Shuo truly achieved the fusion of essence, qi, and spirit into one at this moment.

The icy, terrifying killing intent instantly enveloped the bearded burly man.

Clang!

A flash of cold light!

Heaven and earth seemed to fall into a momentary dimness!

In the bearded burly man's sight, the entire world seemed to have only that streak of blade light, like gold and silver threads, remaining!

Clatter!

The tempered longsword was split in two; that blade light was unstoppable, nothing could block it, its sharpness reaching the extreme!

After severing the Nine-Ring Broadsword, it easily broke through his protective gangqi and severed his head.

How could this be possible?

In this instant, the bearded burly man's heart surged with immense fear and shock!

Hiss!

In the next instant, his vision turned blood-red, then the world spun, and his head rolled off his body.

Thus, of the dozens of bandits, only Situ Long remained, severely wounded.

From beginning to now, it took no more than half a cup of tea's time.

Having dominated Mulin Prefecture for decades, to the point where even the Divine Catcher Division could do nothing about them, the Green Forest stronghold was nearly wiped out.