Chapter 57: Sword in the Umbrella

After Xing Guolong spat out his first mouthful, he could no longer hold back; he vomited two more mouthfuls in rapid succession, then lay there, eyes wide, staring into the profound darkness of the infinite heights above. With only exhalation and no inhalation, after three hissing breaths, he lay completely still.

Xing Guolong died in a muddled way—until the very end, he never figured out how he had died.

Lao Ba took a few steps forward; at the moment of the explosion, he felt as if a huge hand had suddenly shoved him violently from behind.

With the strength of a Seventh-Rank Wu Xiu, he could not even stabilize his body, flying forward and crashing heavily two zhang away.

While still airborne, Lao Ba felt as though a mosquito had bitten his back, then another bite, then another...

In the end, he lost count, because Lao Ba's back of the head had been struck a heavy blow!

A fragment of the Sword Pill had happened to strike the back of his head.

It pierced through his scalp and embedded itself in his skull.

The "Copper Skin and Iron Bones" of a Seventh-Rank Wu Xiu were indeed formidable. But even if you truly forged a suit of armor out of bronze, stood there as a target, and let the Divine Machine Camp fire blooming shells from their crafted cannons at you, see if such armor could hold?

After the Sword Pill merged with the properties of the gunpowder core, its power far surpassed that of ordinary blooming shells.

However, the vital energy of a Seventh-Rank Wu Xiu was extremely vigorous, with a life force more than double that of other cultivators of the same rank.

Lao Ba lay on the ground; moments later, he struggled to sit up, reached back with his hand, and found seven or eight tiny wounds, bulging and oozing blood.

Lao Ba wanted to close his skin membranes, but at this moment, he felt he lacked the strength.

Xu Yuan hid behind the umbrella; although he had retreated more than twenty zhang, he still took a precaution.

As expected, this explosion was extremely terrifying; at such a distance, more than ten Sword Pill fragments still struck the umbrella surface with a series of pats.

The shockwave of the explosion surged forward, and Xu Yuan and the umbrella swayed several times before stabilizing.

After the explosion passed, Xu Yuan remained in a crouching posture, hiding himself behind the umbrella, and pushed the umbrella forward steadily for ten zhang, leaving only six or seven zhang between him and Lao Ba.

At this moment, Lao Ba sat up.

After a brief pause, Xu Yuan continued to advance five zhang, leaving less than two zhang between him and Lao Ba.

Lao Ba grinned, raised his hand, and feigned preparing to unleash another "Wu Mi".

But after gathering his strength several times, each time the strength he had just summoned would leak out of his body along with the fresh blood from the wounds on his back; he could not gather enough power to unleash a "Void Force Reception".

The moment Lao Ba moved to strike, Xu Yuan knew that all his various methods were useless against a Seventh-Rank Wu Xiu.

Only the properties of the core offered a chance to turn the tables unexpectedly!

So Xu Yuan, disregarding the loss of the Sword Pill, directly infused nearly half of the core's properties into it.

It was not that he did not want to infuse more, but that the Sword Pill's upper limit of capacity was exactly this much.

Any more would cause it to lose control and explode immediately.

Thus, although Xu Yuan appeared to have made comprehensive preparations before the battle, he did not hold the Three-Eyed Gun in his hand; instead, he quietly tucked it at his waist, ready to draw at any moment, but covered it with his robe lapel.

These people must have investigated him; it was highly likely they knew his stepmother was a "Former Artisan".

Xu Yuan concealed every "New Artisan" item on his person, simply to avoid even the slightest possibility of arousing Xing Guolong's suspicion.

From behind the umbrella, Xu Yuan extended a Three-Eyed Fire Gun!

The Three-Eyed Fire Gun could kill a Spirit Cultivator like Old Qian, but it could not penetrate the "Copper Skin and Iron Bones" of a Seventh-Rank Wu Xiu.

However, the current Lao Ba had multiple wounds all over his body, suffered a severe blow to the back of his head, could not stand, and could not unleash "Wu Mi"; Xu Yuan felt he could not withstand three shots from him.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Xu Yuan emptied the gun at Lao Ba.

Lao Ba remained unharmed!

The three bullets flew off to who knows where!

Xu Yuan immediately sensed something was wrong, instantly retreated rapidly, while simultaneously using his Skin Core to protect his vital points, trying to shrink his body behind the umbrella as much as possible.

A mighty, heavy force suddenly struck the umbrella ferociously.

Xu Yuan was blasted directly away, rolling twice on the ground; hearing Lao Ba's loud laughter in his ears, his heart was filled with shock:

At such close range, it was impossible for all three shots to miss.

If even one shot had hit, even if Lao Ba could still withstand it now, there would at least have been some reaction, but now there was absolutely none.

Xu Yuan quickly pondered the reason behind this; Lao Ba had already stood up, his wounds still bleeding, his injury seemingly healing, but at a slower pace than before.

Xu Yuan quickly increased the distance between himself and Lao Ba.

But the moment he moved, he discovered Lao Ba was already standing before him, sneering as he delivered another punch.

Thud!

This punch struck the umbrella surface, blasting Xu Yuan away again.

A flash of inspiration struck Xu Yuan's mind, and he understood: his father had once mentioned a very rare Dharma Cultivator to him: the "Violation" Dharma!

A "Dharma" that violates all common sense of the world.

Xu Yuan had the "Soaring Cloud" and "Riding Wind" calligraphy sheets pasted to his legs; although Lao Ba was a Seventh-Rank Wu Xiu, Xu Yuan had actually verified during the initial combat that Lao Ba's speed was inferior to his own.

Yet, although he was clearly increasing the distance between himself and Lao Ba, he had inexplicably been approached twice.

The "Violation" Dharma had altered his "direction".

Front became back, up became down, left became right.

"The three shots I just fired at Lao Ba... actually hit behind me!" Xu Yuan thought silently, yet still did not fully understand: "Since this 'Violation' Dharma can reverse common sense, why not directly reverse our 'life' to 'death'?

Why still require their people to enter and kill me?

Lao Ba was injured, yet they did not directly turn 'injury' into 'no injury'."

Xu Yuan gradually figured it out: the Dharma Cultivator wielding the "Violation" Dharma had not yet reached that level of power.

His "Violation" Dharma could reverse certain aspects of common sense, but he could not do whatever he wanted solely by virtue of the "Violation" Dharma.

Even the reversal of his own "positional common sense" was only forcibly imposed upon himself after he had killed one and severely injured another.

"If these two had truly clashed, the Law Cultivator would have reversed my sense of direction, and I would already be a corpse—this proves what? It proves this is already the Law Cultivator's true limit."

The price of "violating" the Law is enormous; once approaching the limit, even a Law Cultivator likely cannot survive.

Xu Yuan finally understood completely: "He does not wish to die either, and believed that two Seventh-Rank cultivators entering to kill me was a sure thing, so he did not unleash his limit."

"In that case..." Xu Yuan began to scheme rapidly in his mind.

Old Eight pursued, his face twisted into a grimace.

Xu Yuan's face showed a look of panic and confusion as he dragged the umbrella, fleeing backward in a wretched manner.

Just as expected, he crashed straight into Old Eight again. Old Eight sneered, swatted the umbrella aside with a palm like a fan, and punched a fist toward Xu Yuan's chest!

Thud!

This punch landed solidly.

Xu Yuan spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. Clearly Old Eight was right in front, yet the blood did not spray onto his face, but fell behind Xu Yuan himself—Xu Yuan had completely confirmed his deduction!

Old Eight felt something was not quite right; a mere Eighth-Rank Rank Dan Xiu, having taken his punch, should have collapsed immediately. Could it be that after his severe injury, his strength had decayed to such a degree?

However, Wu Xiu generally do not wish to think too much; if one punch is not enough, then deliver another!

Just as Old Eight raised his fist, he saw Xu Yuan suddenly pull out the umbrella handle, revealing a thin sword hidden inside.

Xu Yuan thrust backward with his reverse hand toward his own rear.

Sss!

The thin sword impossibly pierced into Old Eight's left eye!

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(End of this chapter)