Chapter 76

"Heh heh, this kid probably still has plenty of good things on him. I have no objections to you only wanting this magic treasure; just don't regret it later."

Zhao Tiepao responded to the attacking Guitou while cautiously approaching the battlefield.

Seeing how dismissive the two were in their words, Song Qingming felt a surge of anger, but he did not act rashly, doing his best to steady his mindset and not let them easily provoke him.

Having just blocked the attack from Guitou's black gourd and not yet having time to put away his Black Gold Shield, Song Qingming felt a cold glint strike from behind.

Seeing that it was too late to turn the Black Gold Shield to his back, Song Qingming hurriedly channeled his spiritual power, releasing a yellow protective aura to guard his rear.

The protective aura had just formed when a cyan dagger appeared behind Song Qingming; his aura only blocked it for a moment before being easily pierced through by the dagger.

Fortunately, Song Qingming used that split second to tilt his body slightly and retreat to the side, dodging the direct attack of the cyan dagger.

The person using the cyan dagger to ambush him was none other than Zhao Tiepao. Taking advantage of Guitou's frontal distraction, this fellow had carefully crept behind Song Qingming and launched a sneak attack with a dagger, nearly severely wounding him in one blow.

Although Song Qingming had dodged the strike, he was still grazed on the shoulder. Fortunately, the Great Elder had once crafted a piece of soft armor for him using the hide of an Iron-Mouthed Pig he had obtained, and thanks to this protective garment, Zhao Tiepao's strike did not cause him any real harm.

One of these two attracted his attention while the other waited for his defenses to weaken to launch a sneak attack. Their practiced coordination no longer required verbal communication. The verbal taunts from earlier were likely intended to goad him into attacking and revealing a flaw.

The dagger magic treasure Zhao Tiepao had just used, while not of a high grade, seemed to have some stealth functions; it was silent when attacking and truly a magic treasure well-suited for ambushes. It had nearly caused Song Qingming to suffer a great loss just now.

After retreating from the range of their attacks, Song Qingming felt a lingering fear; he had truly underestimated these two fellows with their wicked grins.

Seeing that his strike had failed to achieve its goal, Zhao Tiepao looked quite surprised. After exchanging a glance with Guitou in the distance, the two did not give Song Qingming a chance to catch his breath and attacked together again.

This time, Guitou did not choose to use the gourd magic treasure, but instead switched to a long saber wreathed in green energy, charging viciously at Song Qingming alongside Zhao Tiepao.

However, the power of this magic treasure of Guitou's was not as great as the gourd he had used earlier; it appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary mid-grade magic treasure. Even Zhao Tiepao's dagger magic treasure was not strong in frontal combat, and their successive attacks were easily blocked by the Black Gold Shield in Song Qingming's hand.

After a dozen rounds, the battlefield suddenly fell into a stalemate; Zhao Tiepao and his companion were unable to break through the defense of the Black Gold Shield in Song Qingming's hand.

Song Qingming poured all his energy into defense, wanting to rely on the abundant spiritual power in his body to wear them down. Since these two had chased him for so long, their own spiritual power should be running low; the longer he could drag this out, the greater his chances of winning.

Seeing that Song Qingming only defended and did not attack, Zhao Tiepao saw through his intentions and, during a lull in the fighting, quickly signaled to Guitou.

After receiving the message, Guitou gripped his great saber and soared into the sky, increasing the spiritual power injected into the green blade before hacking down at Song Qingming once more.

Song Qingming raised the Black Gold Shield, intending to take the blow.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Tiepao on the other side suddenly threw a small silver iron block at the Black Gold Shield. When the silver block touched the shield, it caused no damage, but instead stuck firmly to the magic treasure.

Seeing the silver block attached to the Black Gold Shield, Zhao Tiepao was secretly delighted and laughed wildly, saying, "Kid, you've fallen for it!"

As soon as the silver block stuck to the Black Gold Shield, Song Qingming immediately felt his connection to the shield severed. The shield, which had been radiating light just a moment ago, quickly dimmed and turned into a palm-sized black iron plate, falling to the ground.

The sudden failure of the Black Gold Shield caught Song Qingming off guard, and he could only use the White Jade Sword in his hand to barely meet Guitou's powerful strike.

With a loud "Bang!", Song Qingming was forced back more than ten steps by Guitou's saber.

Before he could recover, Zhao Tiepao chuckled and, wielding the cyan dagger, killed his way to Song Qingming's front.

At such close range, without the protection of the Black Gold Shield, in Zhao Tiepao's eyes, Song Qingming was already a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

Unexpectedly, just as he approached Song Qingming, he discovered that Song Qingming, who should have been wearing a look of despair, was instead giving him a strange smile.

"This kid, could it be he still has a trump card?"

Before Zhao Tiepao could figure out this question, a purple light suddenly lit up between the two, and a golden bronze umbrella appeared in Song Qingming's hand. The umbrella spun rapidly, instantly blocking the cyan dagger Zhao Tiepao had thrust out.

"Damn, he actually has another defensive magic treasure! This kid is truly a big fish."

Seeing Song Qingming bring out yet another defensive magic treasure, Zhao Tiepao could only put away the cyan dagger with deep unwillingness, wanting to temporarily withdraw from the battlefield.

Unexpectedly, several thin golden needles shot out from the center of the golden bronze umbrella in Song Qingming's hand, instantly piercing into Zhao Tiepao's eyes.

"Ah!"

Zhao Tiepao let out a miserable scream, covering one of his eyes with his hand. Although he had instinctively tilted his head to avoid some of the golden needles shot from the bronze umbrella, two had still accurately pierced into his eyes, causing him such pain that he sat down on the ground.

Hearing Zhao Tiepao's scream, Guitou, who was to the side, was also stunned and hurriedly picked up the Black Gold Shield Song Qingming had dropped on the ground, rushing over to support Zhao Tiepao.

Unexpectedly, a giant white tiger suddenly appeared in front of Guitou. A flash of lightning appeared in the giant tiger's mouth, and it spat out a ball of thunder-fire, quickly interrupting Guitou's advance. It was the Thunder Tiger puppet beast that Song Qingming had not long ago refined.

After having the puppet beast entangle Guitou, Song Qingming seized the time and, wielding the White Jade Sword, quickly killed his way toward the still-screaming Zhao Tiepao.

With blood constantly gushing from one of his eyes, Zhao Tiepao's vision was blurred, and he could not confront Song Qingming head-on, so he could only instinctively cast a few defensive spirit talismans to temporarily block Song Qingming's attack.

The sudden loss of an eye had also cost Zhao Tiepao much of his combat power; at this moment, he could only pin his hopes on Guitou arriving quickly to support him.

However, facing the sharp attacks of the Thunder Tiger puppet beast, although Guitou was also very anxious, he could not break free in the short term.

After his few spirit talismans were exhausted, Zhao Tiepao looked at him with despair, wanting to pull away and flee, but Song Qingming did not give him that chance at all. The White Jade Sword spun at high speed, and in a flash, it sliced off Zhao Tiepao's head.

(End of chapter)