Chapter 61: Single Horseman Carves Through the Formation!

The cold moon hung high, the river wind whistling fierce.

A bloodstained white robe streaked across the boundless black water like a flying fire-meteor, the three-foot green-edged blade drawing a thread of cold light beneath the silver moon!

Taptaptap…

On the endless river surface, ripples dotted the water, pointing toward the blood-colored mist at the far edge of vision—seen from afar, it was like an arrow advancing without retreat, shooting straight at the red behemoth that chose its prey to devour.

The tower-ship flickering between light and dark within the mist—was the blood-colored lone eye of the behemoth gazing upon Jianghe!

Xie Jinhuan's white robe fluttered with the wind, his gaze fixed on the blood mist drifting over the river surface. As the distance closed, his left hand flicked open the bottle cap:

"If the pill works, what are my odds of winning?"

Ye Hongshang floated at his side carrying a red umbrella, raising an eyebrow:

"If you're afraid of dying, why are you still going?"

"The tough talk I've put out there, I can't just treat it like farting. Besides, I don't even know what I've been through these past three years—running into an opponent I can't kill on the spot is more unbearable than losing silver."

"Heh~"

Ye Hongshang looked toward the sky-covering red mist in the distance, carefully considering:

"Don't worry. If the pill truly works, as long as you don't do anything stupid, you can hold out until the Wu Zu in the city arrive."

"Even if my power doubles, I still don't have a chance to turn the tables on that old bastard?!"

"You do, but it's very dangerous. If you can keep a shred of reason, still try to drag it out—don't charge in headfirst."

Seeing an opening, Xie Jinhuan tipped the pill from the bottle straight into his mouth, then tossed it aside with a light flick:

"My will is firm as bedrock. In a moment I'll show you what it means to have a heart like still water and play the edges to the limit."

Plunk~

The medicine bottle dropped into the river, and his figure suddenly accelerated!

Boom—

Xie Jinhuan sprinted at full speed across the river surface. Between great gulps of breath, he could feel a warm current surging up from within his lungs, and then his blood and qi sea seemed to be set ablaze—wildness and bloodlust instantly flooding his mind!

The very first thought flashing through his head was to find someone to fight, or to fight through the whole night…

"Haa…"

Veins gradually bulged on his forehead, true qi rampaged through the four limbs and hundred bones, and his body seemed to suddenly break through some kind of bottleneck.

Then the boiling true qi gathered toward the qi sea, condensing like fog.

Xie Jinhuan had already been at the peak of Rank 4, with no room for improvement at all. Not to mention doubling his power—even a slight rise could let him enter Rank 3. This was the capital that let him dare to turn back and make a killing strike!

After kicking out that final decisive blow, a sensation of clear ears and bright eyes arrived, his perception range expanding several times over. He even abruptly grasped 'inner sight,' as if he could faintly see the true qi surging within his body.

Blood and even marrow were being squeezed dry, transforming into surging qi force, filling and condensing into the fog-like qi sea.

Boundlessly surging power instantly flooded his whole body, but it also gradually scrambled his mind.

Xie Jinhuan's eyes turned a deep red, and a revolving lantern actually began flashing through his mind.

The contents of the revolving lantern were not the uneventful sixteen years in Jingcheng, but entirely unfamiliar scenes:

Building after unfamiliar building, turning before his eyes into ruin after pile of unfamiliar ruin…

Face after unfamiliar face, turning before his eyes into corpse after unfamiliar corpse…

Xie Jinhuan didn't know what place that was, or who those people were, but he knew it was what he had experienced these past few years.

He tried to trace it back to the source, but the sky-covering red mist was already right before his eyes!

…

Within the blood mist.

He Can stood on the deck, five cloaked puppets behind him. Through layer upon layer of fog, he closely watched the rumbling rush of sound rapidly closing in.

Rumble rumble—

Du Qingyi crouched on the rooftop, both arms drawing two red mist-serpents. Discovering the sky-covering blade-light bearing straight down, his eyes were like those facing a great enemy:

"What the hell is coming?!"

"Not sure…"

The river-lake bandits guarding various parts of the ship, seeing the unknown dire beast charging straight in from the river surface, all gripped their weapons tight and instinctively retreated backward.

And in the next instant!

From the cold river beneath the moon came a thunderous roar:

"Haa—!"

Xie Jinhuan's feet struck the black water, his whole body gliding across the river surface. Halfway through, his legs split apart, the Zheng Lun Sword angled back behind him.

Whoosh~

The boundless blood mist and flying water, drawn by qi force, gathered at once toward the three-foot green-edged blade!

But the water and mist had moved only a few feet before the green-edged sword, with the force of splitting mountains and severing seas, cleaved forward in a single stroke!

Boom—

The blood mist covering the area around the giant tower-ship was, under the ravages of terrifying sword qi, split clean in two from the middle!

The originally calm river water, as if struck by a mad dragon plummeting straight from the nine heavens, instantly gouged out a giant trough spreading forward.

Crash crash crash…

Boundless great waves scattered to both sides, and the overbearing qi force crushed forward—the tower-ship's railings and windows instantly shattered to pieces!

Boom—

He Can's eyes were horrified. He had thought it was the sword-mad Li Jing who came to kill, but when a white robe smashed through the fog and arrived bearing boundless sword qi, he realized it was actually Xie Jinhuan, who had only just escaped not long ago!

Compared with his earlier calm and ease, Xie Jinhuan now had clearly become a different person. Veins bulged on his forehead and hands, his eyes carried terrifying edge and madness, and his formerly breezy words had become foul-mouthed beyond compare:

"F**king dead f*ggot, you dare to dirty this lord's eyes!"

The clear, perfectly pronounced Daqian elegant diction clearly left everyone on the ship dumbfounded for a moment.

He Can, controlling five puppets to block his path, asked in a daze:

"Has he gone mad? What drug did you give him?!"

Du Qingyi saw Xie Jinhuan, like a mad dog, leap onto the ship's tower with terrifying explosive force, charging straight at him; his face changed instantly as he frantically dodged:

"I don't know! Stop him quickly!"

Boom—

Before the words had fully left his mouth, Xie Jinhuan had smashed through the eaves of the ship's tower and reached the dome, rushing the red-robed demon with the momentum of a wild thunderbolt!

Seeing this, He Can rushed to reinforce the ship's tower, but he was never Xie Jinhuan's match to begin with; how could he catch up now? Seeing Xie Jinhuan seemed to have lost his mind, he immediately spun his ghost umbrella:

Whoosh—

In an instant, the area above the ship's tower was filled with eerie ghostly qi!

But at that very same moment, brilliant lightning erupted from the roof ridge!

Xie Jinhuan pressed his body forward, like a ghost in the smoke, dodging the flying hidden weapons and poison insects; his right hand dragged a blinding streak of lightning, and in a mere instant, he had pressed right up close.

Du Qingyi had nowhere to dodge; his cold eyes revealed a bone-piercing terror, and he immediately raised both hands, letting out a piercing scream:

"Ahhh—!"

The sound waves scattered the surrounding blood mist; even the unstoppable Xie Jinhuan stumbled, and then a sky-covering tide of dark red poison mist pressed down from above, instantly swallowing him whole.

Du Qingyi practiced the Gu Poison Sect's arts; his blood poison was extremely fierce, and if one accidentally fell victim to it, half a quarter-hour would be enough to turn a person into a pool of thick liquid.

Ye Hongshang had been supervising the battle the whole time; seeing Xie Jinhuan recklessly charge into the poison mist, an indescribable anger rose in her heart:

"You call this kiting?"

She even wanted to log in on the spot to take over and fight for him!

But what she hadn't expected was that just as the towering poison mist pressed down, a muffled wind howl came from within the fog:

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

After Du Qingyi's strike, before he could follow up, he discovered that although Xie Jinhuan had been swallowed by the poison mist, he had not fallen; instead, he held his left hand in a sword finger, vertical before his body.

And violent true qi also overflowed from his entire body; it did not scatter into heaven and earth, but instead spun wildly around his body!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

Martial artists' true qi was originally invisible and formless, but as it was wrapped up by the blood mist, both of them and the pursuing bandits saw a crimson mist dragon appear on Xie Jinhuan!

The mist dragon spun rapidly around his body, wildly sweeping up the surrounding blood mist; Xie Jinhuan, within it, was not affected in the slightest, and even had the leisure to brag:

"This move is called 'Wandering Dragon Coiling the Mountain,' one of the Eight Forms of the Lustful Dragon. For such a powerful move, I have seven more!"

"Body-protecting Gao Qi?!"

Du Qingyi had never heard of 'Wandering Dragon Coiling the Mountain,' but the body-protecting Gao Qi found in top-tier martial arts techniques was as thunderous in his ears.

Like Mu Yunling's 'Mystic Yang Dominating Body Art' or Wei Wu Yi's 'Dragon Breath Formless,' body-protecting Gao Qi could repel ten thousand methods!

But this divine skill tested one's control over one's own true qi to an extreme degree; theoretically, even upon entering Rank 3, it would be unlikely to learn it.

But the move Xie Jinhuan used now was clearly body-protecting Gao Qi; the only difference was that while the mist dragon looked cool, it could not protect the entire body, leaving a huge flaw.

"Attack together!"

Seeing the situation was wrong, Du Qingyi shouted urgently, and He Can had already blown his bone flute.

Boom, boom, boom—

The five puppets nearby almost simultaneously leaped forward, and more than ten bandits also rushed in from all directions!

But although Xie Jinhuan seemed like a madman, the details of his combat were exquisite to the extreme; seeing the dozen people encircling him, he swept his left hand to his side, like raising a spear to thrust straight.

Bang—

The dark red blood mist, wrapped in qi force, immediately spat outward; leaving his body, it exploded, turning into a sky-covering wave of mist that pressed down on the bandits rushing from behind.

Several bandits didn't even have time to dodge before they were swallowed by the blood mist, immediately covering their eyes and letting out a mournful wail:

"Ahhh—!"

While striking, Xie Jinhuan's body had already pressed forward; although it seemed he was charging the five puppets, after flying just three steps, his left palm, carrying terrifying immense force, slammed down onto the roof ridge below!

Thud!

A shockwave spread from beneath his palm, lifting the black tiles around him!

Du Qingyi, who had been following behind the puppets looking for an opening, hadn't even reacted before the severe tremor came from the roof ridge where he had landed.

Because he had just stepped down, his entire body was actually forcibly launched upward by the ship's tower's main beam, rising more than half a zhang off the ground!

At the same time, with an almost unimaginable speed of surprise attack, Xie Jinhuan drew a semi-circle on the roof, holding his green sword to bypass the encircling puppets, and then leaped forward explosively!

Swish—

Under the moon, a flash of sword light!

He Can struggled to control the five puppets to hold him back, but he could barely even see the person clearly before the white robes, carrying a point of cold brilliance, slashed diagonally across the sky and flashed past above the roof ridge.

"Ahhh—!"

The moment Du Qingyi was shaken up, he let out a shrill angry shout.

But the sound had just emerged when it abruptly stopped!

Then the field of vision began to spin wildly; in mid-air, he actually saw a headless body clad in colorful clothes!

Blood light shot up to the sky!

After one sword strike, Xie Jinhuan landed; his body did not pause for a moment, and he rushed at full speed toward the edge of the ship's tower!

"Doo—!"

The mysterious flute sound abruptly stopped.

He Can's face instantly turned deathly pale; without hesitation, he fled outward.

But how could a ghost witch, unable to control the little ghosts, outrun a martial artist charging at full speed?

Almost at the same moment he turned, the white robes holding a sharp blade had landed and slid forward, sweeping horizontally with a single sword.

Whoosh—

A sharp sword, carrying boundless sharpness, slashed horizontally across the waist and back, instantly exploding into blinding sparks and revealing the armor beneath, which was covered in black scales.

The high-quality armor plates were shattered almost instantly; amidst the splashing blood, He Can's spine nearly snapped. Unable even to scream, he was smashed into the ship's main hall.

At the very moment the sword edge swung out, a lump over a zhang in diameter bulged on the roof below.

Then the tile framework exploded. The blood qi and mist, already driven to their extreme, erupted like a volcano, smashing through the dome and shooting toward the sky!

Boom—

Xie Jinhuan, positioned directly above, was instantly blasted by the fierce qi into mid-air, crashing onto the other end of the roof.

Thud...

But after rolling once upon landing, Xie Jinhuan's figure already sprang up. Though his white robe was torn, the arrogance in his eyes remained undiminished:

"Old Wang Ba, you've finally poked your head out!"

Whoosh—

Tai Shu Dan burst from the broken hole, landing on the roof ridge. Now that his spellcasting had been interrupted again, there was basically no time left to refine the Hua Yao Dan anew; inevitably, his face turned iron-green and his eyes burned with fury:

"Yellow-mouthed brat, do you think that by interrupting this old man's ritual, these people have become useless?"

As he spoke, Tai Shu Dan propped his vine staff with one hand and raised his left hand.

Whoosh~

The sea of blood qi spewing from the hall was rapidly sucked into his left hand under the tearing force of the qi, while the blood-fiendish energy surged skyward at that very moment!

Nourished by the blood qi, the veins on Tai Shu Dan's withered hands swelled and bulged; his originally gray-white hair even turned into black silk before one's very eyes, and his skin gradually developed blackish-blue keratin!

Ye Hong Shang sensed something was wrong and urgently reminded him in his ear:

"He sacrificed five or six hundred people; he can reach the peak of Rank 3. Finish this quickly!"

But Xie Jinhuan's eyes cooled, and he replied with extreme dominance:

"Are you teaching me what to do? Speak another word and I'll make you cry!"

"Heh? You truly possess a resilient mind; even now you remember to kill men and rape women..."

(End of this chapter)