Chapter 42: The Pursuit

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" The blade wind whistled, the blade light flickered, and on the walls of Meng Yifan's house, blade marks appeared from time to time.

The few people in the room all felt the biting cold wind; on their exposed skin, such as their arms and cheeks, they could clearly sense the force radiating from the blade technique Wang Lei was executing, cutting their skin until it stung.

The blade technique Wang Lei was currently executing was the Yellow Grade High Rank martial art "Gale Blade Technique," a blade technique created by a martial arts expert who, after observing the roaring of a hurricane, felt inspired.

Its characteristic was the speed of the strikes, each blade faster than the last, and the sound of the wind it stirred up grew increasingly intense; when executed to the end, the speed of the strikes was comparable to a gust of wind, making it impossible to guard against.

Seeing that he was about to be unable to hold out, Meng Yifan suddenly seemed to realize something; he lifted his leg and took half a step to the left, and Wang Lei's blade, which was slashing toward his chest, brushed past him, almost grazing his chest.

The Ghost Head Blade in Wang Lei's hand slashed horizontally, intending to cut Meng Yifan in half at the waist, but who would have thought that Meng Yifan would pull his waist back, like a tumbler, and with his toes touching the ground and his body swaying, he just barely dodged Wang Lei's Ghost Head Blade.

Wang Lei swung his long blade in an arc, Force Cleaving Mount Hua, and Meng Yifan shifted his body to the side, the Ghost Head Broadsword once again brushing past Meng Yifan's face.

For the following few strikes, Wang Lei once again increased the speed of his blade, but every strike failed to touch the corner of Meng Yifan's clothes, always landing in the air, which made him so frustrated he wanted to vomit blood.

"Eh!" Wang Lei was startled in his heart; the few dodges Meng Yifan had just performed were like an antelope hanging its horns—wondrous and indescribable—as if he had predicted the angle of his strikes and, with the smallest range of motion and the least amount of effort, had just barely dodged his subsequent attacks.

"Is this that Lingbo Microsteps lightness skill? He actually managed to enter the threshold in just a few hours; this is truly unbelievable."

When Wang Lei first learned the Yellow Grade High Rank Gale Blade Technique, he had studied it himself for three months and was unable to enter the threshold; in the end, he spent a large sum of money to invite a martial arts expert to guide him, and only after another month of bitter practice did he barely enter the threshold.

He had asked some other Martial Artists who also practiced the Gale Blade Technique and knew that his own speed of practice was already considered to be at a relatively fast level.

At this very moment, Wang Lei felt some regret for taking this job; he had not expected that the unremarkable-looking Meng Yifan would be a one-in-ten-thousand martial arts genius. If he had known earlier that Meng Yifan's talent was so high, Wang Lei would definitely have tried every means to make friends with him, so that when Meng Yifan became successful in the future, he could also obtain endless benefits.

Unfortunately, they were already enemies now, and he absolutely could not give Meng Yifan time to grow.

"A martial arts genius? Haha, a martial arts genius after death is nothing more than a corpse."

Wang Lei once again increased the speed of his blade technique; the one hundred and eight moves of the Gale Blade Technique had already reached the final few, and the speed was getting faster and faster, to the point where the Ghost Head Blade in his hand could no longer be seen with the naked eye.

However, Meng Yifan's Lingbo Microsteps were also becoming more and more exquisite; no matter how fast Wang Lei's blade technique was, he was always able to dodge Wang Lei's Ghost Head Blade at the last moment with the smallest range of motion.

What made Wang Lei even angrier was that amidst his violent blade technique, Meng Yifan seemed to be gaining a deeper understanding of Lingbo Microsteps, his mouth involuntarily curling into a smile, looking as if he were enjoying it.

Wang Lei was desperately executing the Gale Blade Technique, seemingly becoming Meng Yifan's sparring partner, helping him quickly comprehend Lingbo Microsteps.

"Damn it, I'm attacking with all my might, yet you're smiling over there; isn't this too disrespectful to me? Screw your grandfather." The more Wang Lei fought, the more alarmed he became, and he was thoroughly enraged.

"It seems I have to use my ultimate move." Wang Lei gritted his teeth and once again channeled True Qi into the Ghost Head Blade; the Ghost Head Blade vibrated violently again, and the sound of Ghost Crying Wolf Howling suddenly emerged, enveloping Meng Yifan.

"This move again?" Meng Yifan had seen Meng Dayong suffer from this move and had long been guarding against Wang Lei using it again.

Before the battle with Wang Lei, he had quietly stuffed two cotton balls into his ears, and during the battle, he had also used True Qi to seal his ears, so after the sound of Ghost Crying Wolf Howling enveloped Meng Yifan, the sound could barely break through the double protection of the True Qi and the cotton, causing him any interference.

At this moment, Meng Yifan had a flash of inspiration and pretended to be affected by the sound of Ghost Crying Wolf Howling, standing frozen on the spot.

While Wang Lei was executing Ghost Crying Wolf Howling, he was also reaching the final few moves of the Gale Blade Technique; seeing Meng Yifan's pained expression and his frozen state, Wang Lei was ecstatic, stepped forward, and with the Ghost Head Blade carrying the sound of Ghost Crying Wolf Howling, he prepared to chop off Meng Yifan's head.

"So what if you're a martial arts genius? Today, I, your father, am going to kill a genius." The Mountain Opening Blade in Wang Lei's hand was about to strike Meng Yifan's neck.

But suddenly, Meng Yifan's body twisted like a spinning top, dodging this fatal strike, and then the Stabbing Blade in his hand struck toward Wang Lei's carotid artery as fast as lightning.

The distance between the two was too close; seeing Meng Yifan's Stabbing Blade, Wang Lei was given a huge fright and wanted to dodge backward, but Meng Yifan was like a maggot on a tarsal bone. As Wang Lei retreated, he fully activated his Lingbo Microsteps lightness skill to rush forward, his speed faster than Wang Lei's, making it impossible for Wang Lei to shake off this move.

At the critical moment, Wang Lei executed the Iron Cloth Shirt technique, and a layer of iron-gray True Qi condensed once again over his bronze-colored skin.

Since he couldn't dodge, he would resist Meng Yifan's move head-on; he was a Skin-Tempering Realm Martial Artist, his skin defense was already very formidable, and with the addition of the Iron Cloth Shirt technique, Meng Yifan's Stabbing Blade could not cause him fatal damage at all.

"Clang!" Meng Yifan's Stabbing Blade struck Wang Lei's neck, but it was like stabbing into an iron plate; even though Meng Yifan exploded with all his Manyuujin True Qi, it only pushed the Stabbing Blade in by half a centimeter, barely opening an insignificant little wound on Wang Lei's neck.

"Haha, is this all the strength you have? It's not even as painful as a mosquito bite." Wang Lei laughed out loud, but not long after, his expression changed, and he said in a flustered manner: "Your Stabbing Blade is poisoned?"

Meng Yifan smiled: "You can coat your Dagger with poison, so of course this young master can coat my Stabbing Blade with poison too."

Wang Lei felt a powerful toxin spreading rapidly from the wound on his neck toward his body; in just these few breaths of time, his hands had become somewhat numb, which made him turn pale with fright, knowing he could not stay here.

"Retreat!" Wang Lei shouted, and then, executing the Iron Cloth Shirt, he ran wildly toward the outside.

Meng Yifan knew his attack power was too low and that using the Stabbing Blade could not cause fatal damage to Wang Lei, but he was not anxious; instead, he shouldered the Elm Cannon placed in the corner of the wall, then executed the Lingbo Microsteps lightness skill and chased after Wang Lei.

Seeing that things were going badly, Shouhou also wanted to run, but Meng Dayong blocked the doorway, and with his Mountain Opening Blade waving, Shouhou was unable to escape at all.

As soon as Wang Lei climbed over the courtyard wall, he saw Meng Yifan running out carrying a three-meter-long elm trunk, which surprised him; he didn't know why Meng Yifan was chasing him with an elm trunk, but even with his heels, he knew that the elm trunk was probably some kind of great lethal weapon. It looked a bit like a Cannon, but could an elm tree be used to make a Cannon?