Chapter 122: Bronze Man Wearing Treasure Armor

The cold moon hung silent, autumn wind rustling.

Ye Shirong's bloodshot eyes glared fiercely at the shadow before the hall; with merely a slight twitch of his right arm, his forearm snapped straight again, and even the purple bruises and bloodstains from the impact visibly faded.

Xie Jinhuan had already witnessed the demon Daoist's recovery power; if one wave couldn't kill him, he'd have to be beaten until his qi and blood were exhausted. Seeing this, he was not surprised, simply raising his left hand and beckoning!

Boom—

A strong wind suddenly rose in the courtyard!

Ye Shirong was thoroughly enraged, driving his entire qi and blood to the peak. His thick, corded legs stomped heavily in place, and his whole body leaped forward like a raging bullfrog, leaving a trail of blood mist. His hands were like ghostly claws:

"Haaah—"

The demon Daoist's physique far surpassed other schools; such a terrifying burst of power was something an ordinary person simply couldn't react to.

But Xie Jinhuan was clearly no ordinary person. Facing the sudden attack, he pulled his right foot back and raised the Tiangang Mace, his left hand gliding naturally along the mace's shaft. Invisible qi energy converged on the thirty-six segments of the mace, the sound of gathering qi audible to the naked ear!

Hiss~

Boundless sharpness shot up into the sky!

Ye Shirong faced the sharpness head-on, like a cannonball diving toward a loaded heavy cannon. Sensing something was wrong, he immediately leaped aside.

At that very moment, Xie Jinhuan's entire qi energy compressed to its limit; he thrust the single mace forward, his body following the mace's path!

Boom—

The sky-piercing qi energy, carrying flying sand and blood mist, instantly transformed into a tornado. In the blink of an eye, it pierced through the entire courtyard and struck the dodging demon shadow!

Ye Shirong knew Xie Jinhuan had strong Martial Path foundations, but he truly hadn't expected a Martial Path cultivator at early-stage Rank 3 to possess such terrifying explosive power.

But Ye Shirong had already entered mid-stage Rank 3. Normally, he could grapple with a Rank 2 Martial Path cultivator. Facing a killing move aimed directly at his heart, he immediately unleashed 'One Force Overcomes Ten Skills'. His thick demon arm swept horizontally, grabbing for the invincible Tiangang Mace, while his body simultaneously spun with fluid grace, delivering a 'Heart-Stomping Heavy Kick' straight to his chest and abdomen!

Boom!

The Tiangang Mace, like an armor-piercing heavy shell, exploded with gathered qi the instant it was caught by the demon claw!

Half of Ye Shirong's palm was torn apart directly. Although it failed to stop the Tiangang Mace's charge, it forcibly deflected the attack's trajectory!

Meanwhile, the spinning heavy kick saw his thick right leg, like a spring stretched to its limit, suddenly triggered. His right foot shot out, instantly shattering the shoes and socks on his foot, moving so fast that Xie Jinhuan could barely see it.

Boom—

Such an unreasonable 'Rabbit Kicking an Eagle', if it struck the heart directly, would have shattered Han Jingchuan's lungs and heart, killing him on the spot, even if he wore soft armor.

But to Ye Shirong's utter surprise, the powerful, heavy kick struck the heart directly. Xie Jinhuan's brocade robe instantly tore into four pieces, yet his body, like 'Panlong Horizontal Ridge', dug firmly into the earth. His chest, like a solid iron block, supported the soft armor, forcing the Ice Scale Armor to remain unindented by even a fraction, dispersing the impact force across his entire upper body.

Crash—

Although the force was too great for Xie Jinhuan to hold his ground, sending him sliding backward more than two zhang and carving two long grooves in the ground, his posture barely wavered. He even casually pulled the Tiangang Mace back!

Clatter...

After the strike, both sides' movements came to an abrupt halt.

Ye Shirong's right hand was torn open, flesh and muscle exposed, yet it was healing rapidly. Gazing at Xie Jinhuan's sliding figure, his eyes were filled with shock.

Xie Jinhuan, wearing sleeveless soft armor, his chest and abdomen curves clearly displayed, stopped and stood firm. He casually flicked the blood off the Tiangang Mace and brushed the dust from his chest:

"Is that all? Didn't you eat enough at the state banquet just now?"

"Haaah..."

Ye Shirong's entire body steamed with blood qi, appearing wild and bloodthirsty, but deep down he was clearly trapped in the confusion of "a tiger wanting to eat the sky, yet having no place to begin."

Nangong Ye, watching the battle from afar, saw this scene. The admiration in his eyes for the knight transformed into awe for his Martial Path foundation.

The demon Daoist's body cultivation school pursues extreme physical strength. Their attack methods are like those of a demonic beast; every part of the body is a weapon.

According to common sense, whether wearing soft armor or hard armor, one can only resist piercing attacks from sharp weapons, making it difficult to fully protect against blunt force shockwaves.

But Xie Jinhuan's move 'Panlong Horizontal Ridge' is a specialized killing technique designed specifically against inner sect Martial Path cultivators. It instantly blocks all qi meridians throughout the body, leaving no opening, while simultaneously acting as a buffer to protect the internal organs, specifically defending against internal qi shockwaves.

Originally, this move feared sharp weapons, but with the Grade 1 Ice Scale Armor personally forged by Xu Hunli, it becomes 'A Bronze Man Wearing a Treasure Armor'. Both inside and out, it is an Iron Wang Ba. As long as the soft armor isn't smashed, the body cannot be harmed.

Combined, these two amount to physical immunity. For Ye Shirong to kill, he would have to attack the limbs or the head!

But in a battle between experts, hitting the head is no easy task. Not to mention Xie Jinhuan wields a heavy mace against bare hands. No matter how hard Ye Shirong's bones are, they are not harder than a weapon; one touch and they would break.

Ye Shirong clearly realized that Xie Jinhuan's shameless configuration made killing him, a demon Daoist body cultivator, far easier than killing Tai Shu Dan.

This place is within Jingcheng. If the commotion of the fight spreads, patrol Immortal Officials could arrive at any moment. Seeing he couldn't chew through this, Ye Shirong immediately abandoned the idea of killing. His body leaped violently toward the courtyard wall, and halfway there, black mist burst from his entire body!

Boom~

The black mist is the Mingshen Sect's unique technique 'Xuanming Crow Transformation', though the martial world usually calls it 'Cuttlefish Fart'. It puts the physique into an overload state for maximum escape, seals all aura with corpse smoke, and adds ghostly shadows to interfere with vision.

Since the demon Daoist's explosive power is already stronger than other schools, once this method creates distance, it is basically impossible to catch up.

But just as Ye Shirong's body recoiled backward, a sound suddenly rang out from behind:

Hiss~

Boom!

The peerless tornado rose again!

Ye Shirong gritted his teeth and sprinted forward at full speed, forcibly breaking out of the thrusting range of that terrifying mace.

But Xie Jinhuan knew he couldn't catch up; he was simply using the ultimate move as a displacement technique.

By the time the heavy mace reached the end of its strength, Xie Jinhuan's figure had already caught up close. Landing, his feet slid apart, and he pointed the single mace backward, his body like a broken bow!

Haaah—

In an instant, invisible qi energy sucked in everything around!

Even the flying sand and black mist in the sky moved an inch or two toward the Tiangang Mace.

Then, the sharpness that crushed everything before him shot up into the sky!

?!

Ye Shirong sensed the earth-shattering, city-destroying terrifying pressure. His face changed instantly. Knowing his back couldn't withstand this strike, he could only spin while sprinting and sweep a claw with full force toward the rear.

Whoosh—

Boom!

At that very moment, the heavy mace came down to cleave his head!

The silver mace, wrapped in towering sand and dust, looked from the sky like a yellow dragon plummeting to the world and smashing into the great mansion!

Invisible qi force crushed everything before it; the tiles and bricks of the surrounding corridors shattered into four pieces, and even the ground was ground out into a groove, instantly spreading to Ye Shirong's feet!

Ye Shirong hooked a claw backward; the strong wind it raised was like a wind-breaking wing, splitting the falling wild dragon in two. The human figure stood behind the mad tide, and from afar it looked as if a single claw had broken through a surging torrent!

Ye Shirong's reaction could not be called slow, and his foundation was certainly not weak, but trying to hook backward with bare hands to meet Xie Jinhuan's full-force frontal explosion was simply impossible to catch!

In just an instant, Ye Shirong's entire right arm along with his shoulder was smashed by the Tiangang mace; the mournful claw wind was also drowned by the falling yellow dragon, and the whole person flew backward, drawing a line of black blood!

As Xie Jinhuan's strike landed, he retracted the Tiangang Mace, and his left hand swept naturally across the mace's shaft!

Hiss~

Boom—

Move after move, linked in succession!

The Tiangang mace shattered wherever it pointed; Ye Shirong, bare-handed, found it hard to break through the defense. Even with a half-demon body, he was powerless to block such a brutal combo. Seeing there was no way to dodge, he could only raise his left hand to grab hard!

Boom—

The Tiangang mace was like a flying shuttle; in an instant it scraped past Ye Shirong's palm, pierced his left upper arm, and directly smashed the bowl-mouth-thick arm in half!

As they brushed past each other, Xie Jinhuan's figure spun, and with a reverse hand delivered a wild dragon tail sweep!

Crack—

Ye Shirong's figure barely touched the ground when the heavy mace, with heavy, grounded force, already landed on his knees. His legs did not break, but instantly bent inward; the whole person threw himself to the ground, letting out a heart-rending:

"Ah—!"

But Xie Jinhuan, having broken Ye Shirong's four limbs, still felt it was not safe enough. When he halted, he raised the Tiangang mace high, like a divine man beating a drum:

Thump—

Thump—

Thump—

Three dull sounds of bones cracking and the ground sinking!

Ye Shirong had already lost the ability to move. Under the heavy blows, his thigh bones and lumbar spine were smashed apart by force; almost in the blink of an eye, all movement ceased, and blood gushed from his mouth and nose like a spring!

Shh-shh-shh~

The flying sand and fallen leaves stirred up by the qi force slowly descended through the air.

The courtyard, already turned into broken walls and ruins, also returned to calm as Xie Jinhuan withdrew his hand.

Xie Jinhuan casually flicked away the bloodwater from the iron mace and looked down at Ye Shirong, who was almost turned to rotten flesh:

"Martial arts are the hard work of water dripping through stone. If one seeks only physical strength and disregards technique, even with the power of nine dragons upon the body, a real fight is nothing more than a brute swinging a hammer. You did not say you were half a grade higher than me, pressing me down by one grade; I would still kill you. Now it seems Tai Shu Dan, this three-surname traitor, is the more formidable one."

"Cough, cough..."

Blood gushed from Ye Shirong's mouth and nose like a spring; the hatred in his eyes did not diminish at all, but he could no longer struggle. A large gush of bloodwater surged from his mouth and nose. He gathered qi to try to restore his physical injuries, but there were no living people around to serve as 'blood bags.' With his body shattered like this, relying solely on his own essence blood made rapid recovery nearly impossible, let alone with Xie Jinhuan guarding right in front.

Thump~

Xie Jinhuan propped the Tiangang mace with one hand and squatted beside Ye Shirong:

"Who is the person behind you? What exactly happened with the haunting at the temporary palace three years ago?

"Confess honestly, and I will give you a quick death. Otherwise, if you fall into the hands of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, you will still have to confess, and only suffer the pain of flesh and skin for nothing."

"Cough, cough..."

Ye Shirong kept coughing up bloodwater. Realizing it was impossible to turn the tables, he did not answer the cold questioning but instead revealed a ferocious smile:

"I was born in obscurity and gained wealth and rank through merit in following the dragon. I cannot forget the grace of being known and appreciated."

"The person behind is not the Emperor. Do you still want to induce me to commit regicide?"

"Hehe~ Cough..."

Seeing Ye Shirong would not speak, Xie Jinhuan did not waste words. He returned inside, picked up the imperial-bestowed treasure sword he had drawn, and came back to the front:

"Lord Ye is an elder in the capital; his reputation is not low. Even if he has taken the path of demons, he still counts as a man of iron bones and integrity.

"Such a person, castrated and hung on the street for public display, should be able to have his name spread across all regions of Great Qian..."

"Cough...?!"

Ye Shirong's ferocious smile froze; he clearly did not expect Xie Jinhuan to utter such vicious words. Nevertheless, he said:

"You, a righteous knight of the orthodox path, might be capable of such an act; but I, a demon Dao bandit, when the person dies the lamp goes out—would I care about being abandoned in the marketplace and insulted?"

"Who said I want you dead? Being displayed alive is what counts as public display."

Xie Jinhuan raised the sword edge, pressed it against Ye Shirong's face, and with a light lift of his wrist sliced off a piece of flesh.

Chak-chak-chak...

"Ugh—!"

Ye Shirong's face twisted into a ferocious grimace; bloodwater seeped from between his teeth. His gaze seemed to want to swallow the human figure right before his eyes alive and raw, yet with all four limbs and the lumbar spine broken, he was powerless.

"You should be hoping the Immortal Officials arrive soon. If you fall into their hands, they will use forbidden drugs to confuse the soul and interrogate; it won't be this painful. I am different; I follow the traditional school, am more conservative, and insist on ancient methods of torture..."

"Woo-oo..."

While Xie Jinhuan was speaking, from among the distant buildings, the sound of the mystic flute suddenly arose.

The sound was very low, almost able to be covered by the wind, yet it passed through countless buildings and reached this place.

Ye Shirong, whose eyes had been full of hatred, upon hearing the distant flute sound, suddenly showed a few traces of relief on his ferocious expression. Looking at Xie Jinhuan, he spoke hoarsely with bloodwater in his mouth:

"How I die is not for you to decide! I will wait for you below... Ah—!"

Before he could finish speaking, he let out a shriek like a vengeful ghost wailing.

Then, veins on his forehead suddenly bulged; his skin quickly turned blue-purple; bloodwater gushed from his eyes, ears, and nostrils; his face resembled a vengeful ghost!

Seeing this scene, Xie Jinhuan frowned, raised his sword, stood up, and looked toward the distance:

"What is that?"

Ye Hongshang stood at his side, briefly scanning:

"This man has been subjected to a jiangtou. Someone far away has awakened the spirit insect to silence him."

Xie Jinhuan could hear the voice, but the distance was surely no less than two li—he could not possibly reach it in time to stop it—so he turned to Ye Shirong:

"Can you interrupt it?"

"This is a 'dead hand' to prevent leaks. The spirit insect has already been awakened. Even if Lu Wu Zhen arrived, he could at best preserve a wisp of residual soul. It's too late."

In the span of a few exchanges, Ye Shirong's skin turned completely blue-purple, his vitality draining rapidly, his grotesque eyes losing all luster.

Seeing this, Xie Jinhuan frowned tightly, drew his sword, and sprinted toward the source of the voice—but before he had even left the courtyard, two sounds erupted from the northeastern night sky:

Boom—

Amid the thunderous roar, bricks and stones flew everywhere; Lei Guang slashed through the night, illuminating vast stretches of the outer city in blinding white!

But the commotion lasted only an instant, then abruptly ceased.

Xie Jinhuan paused slightly, assuming that reinforcements from the Immortal Official had discovered a hidden spellcaster; he did not immediately rush over, but turned back to the study and took some ill-gotten gains from a hidden compartment behind the paintings and calligraphy.

After all, you can't fight a wild beast for nothing—since he didn't get the information, at least he should get some pocket money…

……

——

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(End of Chapter)