Chapter 127

Yang Sheng and the others were stunned, utterly unable to grasp the situation. The demon tiger's aura was at least that of a third‑rank demon beast, comparable to a human fourth‑rank grand martial master, and yet Lu Fan struck it down, taking its life before they could even react—this was truly shocking and outrageous.

「These demon beasts show no reaction whatsoever; it seems they have been suppressed by that Kun python, losing their autonomy, allowing Young Fan to slaughter them at will! 」

Yang Sheng was the first to come to his senses; although he too found it unbelievable, when he connected Lu Fan's earlier words with the present scene, it made sense.

「Mm! You're right. The demon beasts within a hundred zhang will not resist, letting you hunt them freely. But you need to be quicker—this place is too quiet, as if something annoying is approaching! 」

In the blink of an eye, Lu Fan had already refined that crystal core beast soul; his outward aura showed little change, but the silver sigils suppressing the seal inside his body had diminished by a thread.

He didn't linger at all, leaping up and charging at another demon beast with a powerful aura. In this way, he easily slew another demon beast, seized its crystal core beast soul, and began to refine it.

Yang Sheng and the others came to their senses, overjoyed. It turned out the opportunity Lu Fan spoke of was exactly this boon; they could not wait any longer, imitating Lu Fan's example and began hunting demon beasts.

However, they were much slower, and they dared not pick the toughest ones, fearing the Kun python might not be able to suppress them—if the demon beast fought back to the death, they would truly be out of luck.

The slaughter continued in the forest, blood and qi surging outward. In an instant, all demon beasts within a few hundred zhang had been wiped out; the farther ones, however, had red eyes and were panting heavily, clearly on the verge of going berserk.

「Eh! How did you manage this? Why aren't these demon beasts resisting at all, letting you slaughter them? 」 A shadow shot from afar, shouting from several hundred zhang away, looking as if he'd seen a ghost. Yang Sheng and the others blinked, halted in unison, turned toward the sound—and saw a black‑clad youth whose aura was magnificent, flying in on his sword.

「A fourth‑rank grand martial master! Everyone, be careful! 」

Yang Sheng's face darkened; while he warned the others aloud, his gaze flicked to Lu Fan. A fourth‑rank grand martial master is not someone they can handle.

In martial cultivation, each realm is a world apart; even a slight gap is hard to cross. Moreover, this black‑clad youth, a grand martial master, dominates the field—aside from Lu Fan, who has just broken through to grand martial master as well, no one can stand against him.

Yet at this moment Lu Fan had his eyes tightly shut, sitting cross‑legged in meditation; silver light flickered over his body, and as the light and shadow shifted, his deathly pale face stood out starkly.

「Oh no, Young Fan is at a critical point in his cultivation and cannot be disturbed—let's all move together and block this person! 」

Yang Sheng shouted urgently, his words barely out before he drew his sword and stepped forward to stand before Lu Fan. The others also came to their senses, eyes cold, and took their places behind Yang Sheng.

Each of them gripped their weapons, eyes narrowed like tigers, forming a human barrier that shielded Lu Fan from behind.

The black‑clad youth flipped down, landing ten zhang away; he gave Yang Sheng and the others only a brief glance, then his gaze swept past them and fixed on Lu Fan.

Just that one look made his face change dramatically, and he exclaimed in shock, 「Such a thick concentration of dragon‑origin purple qi—this is absolutely impossible! 」

His gaze was icy, his expression solemn; he felt that Lu Fan, ten zhang away, possessed a dragon‑origin purple qi so overwhelming it defied belief—fully ten times his own.

「Could it be that he has a secret method to first refine the dragon‑origin purple qi? 」 He opened his mouth wide, only to be stunned by his own words.

「Hmph! Who are you? Our chief is cultivating here right now—get lost! 」

Yang Sheng gave a cold snort, pointed at the black‑clad youth and shouted. Despite the immense pressure from the youth's aura, he mustered his courage and spoke thus.

「Chief? Could he be Lu Fan? 」 The black‑clad youth's expression hardened, as if recalling something, and he asked Yang Sheng.

「Since you know our chief, why don't you scram? Even a martial venerable expert has fallen at his hands—you, a mere grand martial master, are you looking to die? 」

Someone behind Yang Sheng shouted, his words fiery and full of vigor.

The black‑clad youth furrowed his brows, his eyes wary, but upon seeing Lu Fan's deathly pale face and the astonishingly abundant dragon‑origin purple qi, a hint of ruthlessness and longing crept into his gaze.

「Chief Lu Fan's great name, Black Eagle has long admired. Today, seizing this opportunity, I humbly ask for your guidance! 」

He gave a feral smile; Lu Fan's condition seemed dire, and if he didn't seize the chance, he wouldn't be Black Eagle!

As his words fell, he flicked his long sword, sending out a vast sword light that condensed into a gigantic blade of light, which he brought down in a cleaving strike.

「Oh no! Let's all join forces to stop him! 」

Yang Sheng's face turned pale with dread; that light sword gave him an overwhelming sense of threat. If he faced it alone, he probably couldn't even block a single move, and he wouldn't even know how he'd die.

But now there was no retreat; they could only pool their strength and resist together.

Everyone struck out at once, their true qi surging and linking together, yet all of it rushed toward Yang Sheng, converging on him. Empowered by this force, Yang Sheng's aura surged, and his long sword swung back outward.

「Boom! 」

Although Black Eagle's strike was merely a light sword, its power exceeded Yang Sheng's physical blade by more than a notch—Qiu Sheng could not possibly block it.

Almost at the instant that boom rang out, Yang Sheng and the others all felt a huge force slam into them, stumbling backward.

Several of them first turned deathly pale, then flushed blood‑red as their qi and blood surged, and a spurt of blood vomited out.

Seeing this, Black Eagle curled his lip in disdain, too lazy even to launch a killing blow; he raised his sword, turned his gaze—and saw Lu Fan slowly opening his eyes, expressionless as he looked at him.

「You're awake? 」

Black Eagle's face sank; his previously surging aura withdrew and condensed into a single stream—this is how one acts when facing a mortal foe.

Lu Fan slowly rose to his feet, turned his head and glanced at Yang Sheng and the others. Although they were each vomiting blood and unable to stand, their breath remained steady, posing no immediate threat to their lives.

He gave a slight nod, focused his gaze on Black Eagle, took a brief look, and fixed his eyes on the longsword in the youth's hand.

「Who is Zhan Xiao to you? 」

Lu Fan had long seen Zhan Xiao's sidearm; although its style differed from the longsword this black‑clad youth wielded, its aura and the runes inscribed within were quite similar.

Black Eagle gave a grim smile, shook his longsword, and sneered, 「That good‑for‑nothing is the young master of my Zhan family, and apparently also your left and right hand. Don't rush—once I take you down, I'll go find him afterward! 」

Before his words had even finished, his figure surged forth, his longsword whipping as he thrust toward Lu Fan's chest.

「It's you who's in a hurry! Or should you first deal with that beast? I've got other things to attend to—I can't be bothered with you! 」

Lu Fan gave a faint smile, utterly ignoring Black Eagle who had lunged at him; he flashed forward, lunging at a demon beast some ten‑odd zhang away. With a sweep of his hand, he formed a seal, extracted the beast's vital magic core, sat down on the ground, and began to refine it as if no one else were present.

Black Eagle's thrust met only air; seeing Lu Fan's attitude, he felt slighted and flew into a rage. Just as he was about to erupt, a foul wind swept up from behind him, and a tremendous force exploded.

The Kun python's eyes were dull, filled only with blood‑lust; its bloody maw gaped open, and its overpowering demonic energy burst forth at once.

「Vile beast, you're asking for death! 」

Black Eagle's face stiffened, then he reacted, backhanding a sword thrust.

The sword qi arced like a rainbow, seizing the mind. This single strike was already his full power; were it not a thunderous blow unleashed after storing energy, it would truly have been extraordinary!

The Kun python let out a hiss, as if sensing the pressure, yet it did not retreat or dodge; opening its huge jaws, it swallowed the rainbow‑like sword qi whole in one gulp.

Black Eagle's face went pale with disbelief, but there was no time to think—the Kun python's massive skull and foul breath were already right behind him.

His battle‑hardened experience kicked in; unable to retract his sword in time, he swung it sideways, smashing it outward.

「Bang! 」

The sword qi slammed into the Kun python's skull, erupting with tremendous force that shoved and coiled Black Eagle's body, shooting him outward.

「To capture the bandits, first seize their leader—and you dare to be this careless in front of me? You're asking for death! 」

Heijiu stared coldly at Lu Fan, his steps stirring wind, swift as lightning; at this moment, however, he released the kun python, charging toward Lu Fan.

Yang Sheng and the others were now utterly stunned; while Lu Fan had been refining the demon core and beast soul just moments ago, wasting considerable time, they now had no chance to resist or even delay for a moment. With the black-clad youth's methods, even if Lu Fan were vastly powerful, he probably wouldn't have time to employ any technique.

Thinking of this, they couldn't help but feel a tinge of regret and dejection. It wasn't sympathy among peers, but rather pity for Lu Fan. To suffer such an unjust defeat at the hands of the black-clad youth is truly regrettable.

With a crisp "pa-la" sound, the demon core Lu Fan had been loosely gripping shattered abruptly, demonic essence swirling and flowing. The beast soul in his other hand likewise turned into a warm, moist mass of energy, twisting unpredictably yet tranquil and harmonious.

Lu Fan's eyes widened slightly; Heijiu's sword tip hovered just three feet from his nose, in the flash of lightning and fire, about to slash his neck.

"Thundercloud Lightning Strike, die!"

Heijiu shouted furiously, flicked his sword, and a blade of sword qi surged out, carving a mysterious arc.

At this moment, Lu Fan merely smiled faintly, clenched his big hand, and a seal technique shot out, instantly igniting the demonic essence.

Blazing flames surged upward.

"Fire Shield Condensed!"

He pinched a seal with one hand, and the twisting, burning flames instantly solidified into a firm shield before him.

With a crisp "dong" sound, the sword qi burst apart, turning into streams of blade-edged vortices that dissipated against the fire shield, yet posed no hindrance to Lu Fan whatsoever.

Heijiu seemed to have anticipated this, lunged forward with his three-foot sword, thrusting out directly. Vast true qi exploded, condensing half an inch of blade at the tip, compressing immense force into a tiny space; its momentum even rivaled the aura of a Kaiyuan Realm cultivator, without yielding in the slightest.

"Trivial trick!"

Lu Fan took it all in, merely smiling faintly without the slightest reaction. He tapped the fire shield before him with one hand, and a burst of power shot out, piercing straight through the shield.

At the same time, the condensed fire-fiend blaze on the shield poured out through the opening, instantly condensing into a fire sword.

"Clang!" rang out as the two swords collided, emitting a sharp, piercing ring. Heijiu felt a chill run down his spine, his teeth chattering.

"What? A mere phantom of condensed fire can block the might of my Soaring Cloud Sword—how is that possible?"

This scene unfolded plainly before his eyes, yet he himself could hardly believe it, staring dumbfounded.

The kun python arrived, reeking of blood, coiling as it came; its bloody eyes brimmed with ferocity and hatred—not only for Heijiu, but for Lu Fan as well.

The Five Elements Controlling Spirit Talisman seemed to have lost its effect; the kun python no longer obeyed Lu Fan's commands.

"Hn!" Lu Fan looked at the kun python, nodded, and praised: "You beast, you're quite fierce—I had worried that, in the rush, the Beast Control Spirit Array wouldn't be strong enough. Now it seems sufficient to boost your power, suppress the beasts, and summon a beast tide."