Chapter 1032

At the critical moment, the ground beneath Hu Xiaotian's feet suddenly collapsed; there was no way up, but a way down. Liang Yinghao, who had long been hiding underground and employing guerrilla tactics, had already sensed that the situation was wrong. At the crucial moment when Hu Xiaotian faced attack from front and rear, he broke open the ground beneath Hu Xiaotian, and Hu Xiaotian's body fell into the earthen pit.

The Blade Demon had originally thought Hu Xiaotian had no escape, but he never expected such a sudden turn of events—Hu Xiaotian actually managed to escape from the pincer attack of the two.

Xiong Tianba suddenly lost sight of his target, staring blankly at the hole in the ground. He abruptly lifted his head and saw the Blade Demon swooping down from the FengHuoTai. He let out a fierce roar and actually swung his Great Iron Hammer to smash the Blade Demon in the chest.

Blade Demon FengXingyun knew nothing about this reckless black-skinned boy, and couldn't even tell which side Xiong Tianba belonged to. In his haste he raised his Eyebrow Knife to chop at the iron hammer, and his manipulation of sword qi had not yet reached the point of being effortless and spontaneous, especially at such close range.

The Eyebrow Knife and the Great Iron Hammer clashed head-on with a ringing sound, sparks flying. FengXingyun's Eyebrow Knife rebounded upward; had he not stepped back a pace, the blade's tip would nearly have wounded himself. Only then did FengXingyun properly regard the dark-skinned youth before him— in his memory he had never encountered an opponent with such formidable strength; this boy actually possessed innate divine strength.

Xiong Tianba stared dumbfounded at his own hammer; in the recent collision, the sharp Eyebrow Knife had gouged a deep groove into the Great Iron Hammer. He loved those hammers to the utmost— one could say his feeling for the hammer had merged into his blood. Seeing the hammer scarred, his heart ached intensely, which quickly turned into fury, and that fury turned into hatred for the Blade Demon FengXingyun; in a short time he even forgot about killing Hu Xiaotian. A pair of blood-red eyes fixed on the Blade Demon, his throat emitting a beast-like howl.

Blade Demon FengXingyun saw his gaze and also felt something was off; he raised his Eyebrow Knife and said in a low voice, "We are not enemies!" He mistakenly thought Xiong Tianba belonged to the Shajia people's camp.

Xiong Tianba gritted his teeth until they clicked, stepped forward with one foot, and swung his twin hammers like windmills, smashing down upon FengXingyun's head and face.

FengXingyun initially had no killing intent toward Xiong Tianba, but he never expected this fellow to be unreasonable. Right from the start he came at him with a desperate, all-out pace; in terms of martial skill and combat experience FengXingyun undoubtedly surpassed Xiong Tianba by a great deal, yet Xiong Tianba also had his strengths— he was naturally a fearless brute, and after his will was controlled by the soul-capturing master DuoJi he held nothing back, possessing heaven-shaking, earth-splitting innate divine strength, plus at this moment a frenzied, reckless vigor that recognized no kin. Even a master of FengXingyun's caliber would have to choose to avoid his sharp edge.

FengXingyun was forced back several steps by Xiong Tianba's round of frenzied attacks, secretly annoyed; he no longer cared who this fellow was, using agile footwork he suddenly circled to Xiong Tianba's rear. Raising his Eyebrow Knife, he viciously stabbed at Xiong Tianba's back heart.

Although Xiong Tianba's attack power was astonishing, in FengXingyun's eyes he was still nothing more than a brute. The blade pierced Xiong Tianba's back heart but could not penetrate his back armor; only then did FengXingyun realize that the outer armor Xiong Tianba wore was a rare treasure.

Relying on his Seven-Layer Phosphorus Fire Armor, Xiong Tianba blocked FengXingyun's deadly strike. He had already swiftly turned around, and one hammer came crashing down toward FengXingyun's head, shouting loudly, "Smash the head!"

FengXingyun had no choice but to retreat; once Xiong Tianba gained the upper hand he would give his opponent no chance to catch his breath, swinging his twin hammers with a howling wind, turning them into a sky-filling hammer shadow that greeted FengXingyun.

As FengXingyun kept retreating, the ground behind him suddenly burst open with a bang— Hu Xiaotian's body burst out of the hole, his Hidden Edge Sword stabbing straight at FengXingyun's back heart. The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind; poetic justice— just as he had sneakily attacked Hu Xiaotian, he never expected that in the blink of an eye he himself would fall into a front-and-rear pincer situation.

FengXingyun's body twisted unbelievably; his Eyebrow Knife traced a luminous arc, and the sword qi detached from the blade, shooting forth to collide with the invisible sword qi emitted by Hu Xiaotian in midair. A tremendous explosive bang rang out in the dark night, and with the point of impact as center, surging waves of qi surged wildly outward. Blade Demon FengXingyun barely managed, with all his strength, to block Hu Xiaotian's this sword; at that moment Xiong Tianba's Great Hammer arrived at his back. In the crisis, FengXingyun shifted his body leftward, but even so the hammer's edge grazed him. Though he was not struck in a vital spot, the Great Hammer's weight was such that a single sweep broke three ribs on his left side, leaving him feeling a tightness in his chest, pain so severe he nearly fainted.

Seeing FengXingyun's movement stall, Hu Xiaotian was overjoyed; he would not let slip this excellent opportunity to eliminate the Blade Demon, for if this man remained alive he would surely cause trouble later. Raising his Hidden Edge Sword, he slashed horizontally at FengXingyun's neck.

FengXingyun's expression darkened; he never imagined he would die in such a confused manner, caught in the pincer attack of two youths. Just as the sword edge was about to cut into his throat, a blackish great hammer struck the blade from the side with a clang— a huge roar that stunned Hu Xiaotian.

Yet Blade Demon FengXingyun woke up in the midst of that shock— it turned out Xiong Tianba, at the critical moment of life and death, had blocked Hu Xiaotian's great sword, saving the Blade Demon's life.

FengXingyun was utterly bewildered— just which side did this foolish boy belong to? He could not tell friend from foe; one moment he followed FengXingyun to attack Hu Xiaotian, the next he followed Hu Xiaotian to assassinate FengXingyun, and yet he did everything earnestly and diligently— could this fellow really be an idiot?

【20】

Dog-Dodging Eighteen Steps

The bear-child had not yet come to, but FengXingyun seized the moment to float outward two zhang, seeing Xiong Tianba raving like a madman as he wildly swung his Great Hammer at Hu Xiaotian. Still shaken, FengXingyun took two breaths; feeling his left rib injury tugged with each breath, sharp pains came repeatedly. He took a Red Elixir from his waist, chewed it, and a cool fluid slid down his throat; instantly the pain vanished. He raised his Eyebrow Knife, ready to launch another attack.

At that moment a low, hoarse chanting suddenly drifted from afar, somewhat like sutra recitation yet not quite; the sound seemed to possess a kind of magic, seeping thread by thread into the ears. Although it was noisy, he could not help wanting to listen. FengXingyun looked up and discovered the sound came from the Black-Clad People's Camp. Accompanying each chant came the clatter of a Golden Bowl, and the Blade Demon suddenly felt a flush and racing pulse— his heartbeat actually synced to the rhythm of the opposing side's strikes on the Golden Bowl.

Blade Demon FengXingyun silently cursed his misfortune; he forced his eyes shut, gritted his teeth and bit his tongue till it bled. The pain cleared his mind briefly; he covered his ears with both hands, not even bothering to see his Eyebrow Knife fall to the ground, and fled desperately into the distance.

Xiong Tianba had first been soul-confused by DuoJi, his mind set on killing Hu Xiaotian; consequently he was not disturbed by this sound. On the contrary, Hu Xiaotian hearing the voice was stunned for a moment. He had always guarded against the enemy's eye-based soul capture, never daring to meet their gaze, yet he never imagined that within the enemy's camp there actually existed another soul-capture master.

The hoarse voice grew louder and louder; Hu Xiaotian forcibly collected his spirit, enduring this strange clamor. The sounds of the Golden Bowl being struck came faster and faster, like needles incessantly pricking deep within his heart. The qi within his Dantian Qi Sea churned violently, like endless giant waves; he had to devote most of his energy to resisting the suddenly surging, tumultuous internal breath.

Xiong Tianba's assault, however, grew even more ferocious than before; Hu Xiaotian, in his subconscious, shifted through the Dog-Dodging Eighteen Steps, purely by instinct to dodge Xiong Tianba's frenzied attacks. The two hammers, tumbling and dancing, turned into a sky-filling hammer shadow, like a turbid sea surging heavenward, while Hu Xiaotian had become a lone boat tossed in that ocean, constantly in danger of capsizing.

DuoJi emerged from the other side on horseback, holding a Night Pearl aloft before his chest, illuminating his pair of ever-changing, unfathomable blue eyes. The hoarse chanting grew ever more urgent, and the strikes on the Golden Bowl became as dense as raindrops.

Hu Xiaotian's endurance was nearing its limit; his steps began to scatter, his heartbeat accelerated under the influence of the Golden Bowl's sound, and within his Dantian Qi Sea various kinds of true qi clashed and opposed each other, making him feel as if his dantian were about to burst, with true qi rioting through his meridians, as if every part of his body were about to be torn apart.

A melodious flute rose from within LiuJiaoCheng, like spring wind turning to rain, moistening Hu Xiaotian's heart-field; this wondrous melody instantly calmed his frantic, leaping heart, and even the dantian on the verge of blazing out had its fire doused by that spring rain—the flute's gentle, graceful notes, like an autumn maiden's whisper and the tender March breeze, though soft, easily quelled the noisy chanting.

Xiong Tianba's Great Iron Hammer was only one foot away from Hu Xiaotian's head; if Hu Xiaotian had stayed awake just a moment longer, his head would probably have to compete with the Great Iron Hammer in hardness. Hu Xiaotian stomped his feet hard on the ground, his body leapt into the air, and he performed the Art of Soaring, making a turning dive downward in midair.

DuoJi raised his head, his gaze fixed on Hu Xiaotian's face; before DuoJi even lifted his eyes, Hu Xiaotian had already locked onto his direction, swinging the Hidden Edge Sword in the air, he let out a roar from the depths of his heart, the Hidden Edge Sword sliced through the night sky, and an invisible sword qi broke free from the blade, chopping outward.

DuoJi was sitting on his horse when his body suddenly straightened; first he saw the Night Pearl in his hand fall to the ground, then his body folded backward and fell, his upper half collapsing onto the yellow earth, at that moment his mount let out a terrified whinny, dragging its lower half, still spurting blood, as it fled into the distance.

Another Three More have been uploaded, already appearing on the update list; diligent Lao Zhangyu is still worth voting for—dare to cast two hundred monthly tickets? Today I'll add another First Update! (To be continued~^~)