"Seriously?" I muttered as I fell back. Pang Feng and Tong Xue also retreated at the sudden onslaught, more from instinct than intention.

"Dragonscale Mace!"

"Why the fuck are you shouting out the name of your Spirit Weapon?" I demanded, but as usual Liang Shao Yang ignored me as he swung his mace down on me. Using my footwork technique, I deftly evaded his strike and even managed to counterattack with a kick to the back of his head. However, being the genius that he was, Liang Shao Yang was able to respond on reflex, whirling around to crack my leg with his Dragonscale Mace.

"Whoa!"

I was able to withdraw my leg, just barely in time to avoid having the bones in it broken by the powerful Spirit Weapon. Hopping back unsteadily, I managed to spin around to avoid getting obliterated by Liang Shao Yang's strike, his mace smashing the ground where I was standing on a millisecond ago and carving a crater.

Bam!

Jumping back, I fell onto all fours, but glanced up to glare at him. The guy was certainly showing me no mercy.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

"Stop this!"

Tong Xue and Pang Feng moved in to help me, but Liang Shao Yang crushed the ground beneath him with his Dragonscale Mace.

"I have no business with you two. But if you want to die, you're welcome to join in!"

Boom!

"!!!"

"Ugh!"

Both my friends were blown away from the impact of the hit, the Dragonscale Mace glowing furiously as it annihilated its surroundings. Tong Xue flipped his body over and landed gracefully over a few dozen meters away, while Pang Feng withstood the blast with his Golden Indestructible Body Formula.

"Don't worry, you two!" I called out to them. "Leave this to me!"

"Like hell we will!" Pang Feng shouted, and lunged forward at the berserk Liang Shao Yang. He retrieved a golden gauntlet from his spatial device, equipping himself with it. For some reason, he reminded me of Zhu Jiao – the two of them were pretty similar, except that Pang Feng was a lot bigger and more solemn.

But they were both very good friends and loyal to a fault.

"Hmph. Trash."

Liang Shao Yang turned around and smashed his Dragonscale Mace against Pang Feng. With a bellow, Pang Feng countered with a Golden Indestructible Fist, his gauntlete colliding with the Dragonscale Mace with tremendous impact. The two gigantic waves of qi clashed against each other before erupting in an enormous explosion that sent the two tumbling apart.

"Ugh!"

"Kuh!"

Pang Feng crashed to the ground, blood spurting from his mouth. Even from just a glance, I could tell that he had suffered severe internal injuries. His arm lay at his side, useless and broken, his golden gauntlet shattered into bits. Blood dribbled from his mouth and he collapsed on the ground, barely conscious.

"Pang Feng!" I yelled.

"I got him!" Tong Xue called out as he jumped down, Spirit Pills at the ready. Applying first aid to the heavily injured Pang Feng, he glanced up and warned me. "It's not over yet, Fei Wu! Watch out! Liang Shao Yang is coming for you!"

I glanced at the psychopath. His Dragonscale Mace had shattered instantly from the impact, the silver, glittery scales floated around in pieces, remnants of the destroyed weapon.

The Dragonscale Mace was forged using the scales of a deep seawater Jade Dragon, and thus possessed its characteristic hardness and power. It was personally forged by the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect leader, Zi Shou De, and it was a Profound Level fourth ranked Spirit Weapon.

Such a famous Spirit Weapon that was well known even among the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect had been callously used and sacrificed by Liang Shao Yang just like that. And as if he wasn't affected by the loss of such a valuable treasure, Liang Shao Yang was already pulling another Spirit Weapon out of his bag, so to speak.

"It's your turn!"

Drawing a thin, elegant sword, Liang Shao Yang slashed at me. My eyes widened when dozens of shadowy beams lanced out of the exquisite blade, and evaded to the best of my ability using Heavenly Flow and Earthly Steps.

Bang!

The shadowy blasts dug deep furrows into the earth, blowing out chunks of concrete. At a distance, Tong Xue immediately swung his arm and disintegrated the debris with his qi before they could strike the poor, fallen Pang Feng.

Seeing the sorry state of my friend, I gritted my teeth.

"Pang Feng has nothing to do with this. You didn't have to attack him so viciously! Are you trying to kill him?"

"So what if I was?" Liang Shao Yang sneered. "He got in my way. Anyone who gets in my way, will die!"

I shook my head, baffled by his logic. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Hmph!" Liang Shao Yang snorted. "Are you really that stupid? I'm the future sect leader, the favored head inner sect disciple of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect, and heir to all the smithing and Spirit Engraving techniques. The Great Elders wouldn't care if I get rid of trash like you." he smiled darkly. "They might even be grateful."

This guy..there was just no saving him. Just how far gone was he?

"Even so, this is a matter between you and me. You didn't have to involve Pang Feng and Tong Xue!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha! Are you truly an idiot?" Liang Shao Yang roared with laughter. "It's not just you! Don't flatter yourself! You're only part of the problem! All of you Blood Blades have been getting in my way all this time. I'll eliminate all of you Blood Blades! And there's nothing you can do because I have the backing of the Great Elders!"

I doubted that was true, but even if the Great Elders and Sect Leader did not actually support his actions and would sanction him later for his misdeeds, they weren't here now. I couldn't wait for them to arrive. I had to deal with this situation right now if I wanted to survive.

Shing!

Another deadly shadowy blast burst out of Liang Shao Yang's sword and sliced toward my chest, forcing me to duck.

".."

While I disappeared and reappeared elsewhere, I glanced at the recording of my glasses, which snapped a picture of the sword Liang Shao Yang was presently wielding. If I wasn't mistaken, it was Shattered Light, a Profound Level fifth rank Spirit Weapon that was a masterpiece crafted by the Chief Great Elder, Luo Zhi Chang.

It was giving off an ethereal green glow, light to the point of being practically weightless, and possessed a flexible blade. Despite its light weight and thin shape, it was sharp and powerful enough to cut through both metal and stone as if they were mere paper.

"!!!"

Liang Shao Yang nimbly appeared behind me, slashing at me with a deadly strike that would have decapitated me if I hadn't ducked.

"Whoa!"

I fell back, and was forced to draw my own Spirit Armament. As expected of a Profound Level fifth rank Spirit Weapon, it was terrifying. Beside me, the ground shattered as a trail of destruction was left behind by the devastating qi that ravaged it. Without hesitation, Liang Shao Yang spun around to deliver another fatal thrust at my heart.

Clang!

Liang Shao Yang's eyes narrowed when his blade bounced off my Snow Aegis. Suddenly taken aback by the appearance of my shield, he found himself stumbling back when his strike was deflected, thanks to Newton's third law.

"!"

Righting himself, Liang Shao Yang glared at me spitefully, but he then calmed down and nodded in comprehension.

"Of course. As one of the Blood Blades, you would have access to high quality Spirit Armament too."

Ironically, he was wrong. Snow Aegis was forged by me, and perfected by Tang Qi Hong. It was not something I received from the Blood Blades or the sect..well, I guess Qi Hong's assistance counted as something from the sect, but not in the way Liang Shao Yang expected.

"Even so, it's no match for my Shattered Light!"

Liang Shao Yang slashed at me again, but I defended with my shield again, blocking the sword strike. Devastating qi washed over my Snow Aegis, but dissipated harmlessly against its six qi barriers. Noticing the ineffectiveness, Liang Shao Yang pursed his lips.

However, being a genius, he wasn't discouraged by his lack of success so far. He quickly switched his tactics and struck from another angle, making use of his speed.

It was as if the Shattered Light had been tailor-made for him. A fast, flexible sword that benefited from Liang Shao Yang's incredible speed, it snaked and thrust from unexpected angles, trying to find a weak spot in my shield. Or rather, knowing the overwhelming sturdiness of my Snow Aegis, Liang Shao Yang had given up on trying to penetrate through it on a frontal assault. As powerful and sharp as Shattered Light was, it was not durable enough to continue hammering away at a Spirit Armament specialized for defense.

Fortunately, I had the edge over him with my Heavenly Flow and Earthly Steps, which allowed me to, uh, stay one step ahead of him. Already sensing where he would come from, I moved my Snow Aegis accordingly, deflecting his strikes and blocking his Shattered Light no matter which direction he came from. Even though he was much faster than me, I was barely able to keep up. Keeping my senses peeled, I noted the pattern and trajectory of his attacks and shifted my Snow Aegis to the appropriate position to block him.

However, thanks to Liang Shao Yang's incredible speed, I had no chance to counterattack. It was taking every single ounce of effort and concetration just to keep up with the bastard. I was just a millisecond slower, Liang Shao Yang's blade would carve through the small opening between me and my Snow Aegis and pierce a vital point. I couldn't even afford to let my focus slip and detach my mobile beam turrets to fire on him, not unless I was willing to take a potentially fatal injury.

Maybe I would have no choice eventually, but I could tell from Liang Shao Yang that he was slowly tiring from the effort of maintaining his punishing speed. His face was growing pale and perspiration was beading across his brow, dripping off his cheek and splattering into the ground. He might have good stamina, but compared to me, who had been running fifty miles a day and building up my stamina ever since I entered Wu Ling Academy, he might as well be an amateur. In a battle of attrition, there were very few people in my generation who could come up top against me.

"You leave me no choice!" Liang Shao Yang growled after the umpteenth time he clashed against my shield, his strike rendered ineffective by the qi barriers shimmering above my Snow Aegs. If this was a normal xianxia story, I could probably tell you if this was the nine hundredth or something strike, but obviously I had better things to do than to keep count of how many exchanges we made. Like, staying alive, for example.

"Um, I'm not forcing you to do anything. How about you stop killing me?" Even as I suggested that, I didn't believe my own words. To be honest, I was provoking him. I mean, if he really stopped killing me, where was the fun in that? I wouldn't have the justification to kill him.

Unfortunately, at the moment, I wasn't able to kill him. Liang Shao Yang was clearly more skilled than I was. He was overwhelming me with his relentless attacks and high speed, his movements clearly honed from countless assassination missions and similar experiences.

Fortunately, he was not the only one who was forced to survive through a harsh battlefield. He was clearly getting exhausted, and I wouldn't hesitate to exploit that advantage and seize the opportunity to deliver a decisive counterattack.

However, no battle plan ever survived contact with the enemy.

Liang Shao Yang surprised me by suddenly disappearing. This was different from his high speed movements from before. He literally just disappeared.

"!!!"

However, Liang Shao Yang suddenly appeared right behind me, his Shattered Light arcing toward my back in a deadly strike!

Whirling around, I barely blocked that with my Snow Aegis. It was a good thing I could sense the flow of his qi, even though his presence seemed to vanish for a moment. No, rather than vanish, it seemed that he had melted into the ground.

"Tch!"

When he saw that his strike had failed, Liang Shao Yang clicked his tongue and he withdrew. To my astonishment, he actually sank into the shadows, melding with the darkness and disappearing from the physical world altogether.

"Careful!" Tong Xue shouted from the distance. "That's the Divine Shadow Sect's Shadowy Stealth technique! It allows the user to become one with the shadows and blend in with the darkness! It's what makes the sect so skilled at assassinations!"

"Their signature technique, huh?" I murmured with a nod. Even though I couldn't see Liang Shao Yang, my glasses whirring rapidly as they tried futilely to track my enemy, I could barely sense his qi moving through the shadows underneath me.

Clang!

Liang Shao Yang emerged from the shadows to strike at me again, his blade flashing like serpent, but once again his bared fangs harmlessly clattered against my Snow Aegis. Liang Shao Yang's eyes widened when he saw that I had blocked his assassination attempt for the second time.

Once was surprising enough, but it could be written off as a fluke. But now I had foiled his murderous attempt for the second time. Clearly, I wasn't just lucking out.

"You..how..?"

Even as he mumbled the question, Liang Shao Yang wasn't stupid enough to stand still and wait for the answer. He was already shrinking rapidly, disappearing into the shadows before I could retaliate. Damn it, and I thought I had a clear shot!

"Looks like I've no choice.."

For some reason, Liang Shao Yang was repeating that annoying statement. No, dude..you always have a choice. You're just choosing the stupid one. Not that I cared. I would like any excuse to stomp him..

Swish!

"Kuh!"

Blood splattered and I staggered back even as I tried to bring my Snow Aegis around to deflect a triumphant Liang Shao Yang's strike. Even though I was so sure that I had followed his movements, how did he..?

"Hah! I see! So that's how it is!"

Liang Shao Yang was smiling now as he disappeared into the shadows once again. I gripped my shoulder. Even though it was only a graze, as expected of a Profound Level fifth rank weapon..a slight touch was enough to cause such a horrendous injury.

"!!!"

I thought I detected Liang Shao Yang coming from the bottom, but he suddenly switched trajectory and came from my left side, almost cutting off my left arm. As it was, I just about saved my arm from being amputated, but blood erupted from a slit artery in my forearm and I cried out before grabbing it desperately to stem the bleeding.

"I knew it!"

Liang Shao Yang crowed as he kicked me before I could bring my shield down to block his foot, my Spirit Armament having been occupied with deflecting the Shattered Light from finishing its job a millisecond ago.

"Ugh!"

I doubled over and crashed several meters away, the wind knocked out of me and my vision momentarily turning into a red haze. Rolling to my feet, I raised my right hand and summoned my Snow Aegis back in front of me.

"Huff..huff.."

I quickly froze the wounds on my shoulder and forearm with ice, sealing the bleeding. It was only a stopgap measure, but it would do for now.

"The whole reason why you've been able to follow my movements up to now, even when I was using my Shadowy Stealth technique, was because you are somehow able to sense the flow of my qi. Am I right?"

As expected of a genius..Liang Shao Yang had quickly figured out my trick.

I gritted my teeth, but I didn't say anything. I didn't need to. Confident that he was right, Liang Shao Yang vanished into the shadows once again, only to reemerge behind me. I spun around to block his strike, but came up with nothing. Instead, Liang Shao Yang changed the direction of his attack at the last minute and his blade came through the gap in my left, almost puncturing a hole in my side if I didn't retreat on reflex.

"Argh!"

I clutched the red line on my stomach and quickly froze the wound again to stem the bleeding. Liang Shao Yang crackled as he swung his Shattered Light, throwing my blood off its sharp blade.

"But as a result, you become too depedent on tracking the flow of my qi and this renders you vulnerable to feints."

"Are you really a professional assassin?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "I was under the impression you would be more focused on attacking and killing instead of bragging and talking about your tactics."

Liang Shao Yang's face flushed, but he coldly snorted as he melted away into the shadows once again.

"It doesn't matter. Killing you will be as easy as swatting a fly."

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Ironically, he had no idea how hard it was to swat a fly, but that was beside the point. Liang Shao Yang clearly was confident that he could eliminate me easily, and even if I knew that he was feinting, what could I do?

A lot.

Liang Shao Yang burst out of the shadows once again, ready to deliver the killing blow. This time, I didn't move my Snow Aegis. His eyes narrowed, but he still went for his feint anyway, swinging his Shattered Light up to stab me.

I stepped to the side, so the blade missed my vitals completely. Even so, the elegant sword stabbed into my gut, and I almost blacked out from the excruciating pain. Gritting my teeth, I grabbed hold of a stunned Liang Shao Yang's arm before he could yank out his Shattered Light.

"Thanks for giving me your sword," I told him before I delivered a Shadow Kick right into his chest. Unleashing a blast of purified qi, I ignited a devastating explosion that smashed his ribcage and probably dealt severe internal injuries if he hadn't been wearing a Dragonscale Armor underneath his luxurious robes.

"Gah!"

Liang Shao Yang was sent flying backward, blood spurting from his mouth. My foot throbbed, probably from the tremendous impact of slamming against a Profound Level fourth rank Spirit Armor, but the purified qi had done enough damage to incapacitate my opponent briefly. I pulled out the Shattered Light and kept a firm hold on it while freezing my gut with my other hand, so as to stop the bleeding. A second later, I directed the six mobile turrets to detach from my Snow Aegis and had them hover above to fire upon Liang Shao Yang.

Thanks to his Dragonscale Armor, which was also woven from the same deep seawater Jade Dragon's scales as the Dragonscale Mace from earlier, and also forged by one of the Great Elders, Liang Shao Yang was not hurt as badly as he might have been if he wasn't wearing any protection. He merely got to his feet and grinned, despite the trickle of blood from his mouth.

"Hah! Was that your best shot? Even so, you've suffered a grievous injury in exchange for dealing light injuries to me!"

I didn't reply and instead charged my mobile qi beam turrets with my qi. Liang Shao Yang raised his head to stare at them, and instantly recognized them for what they were. He snorted coldly as he dusted himself.

"Really? You're trying to hit me with those things? Do you really think you can hurt me with those attacks? I'm a peak-level Pure Spirit Stage practitioner, you're just a mid-level Qi Fusion Stage practitioner at most."

"So?" I asked, and then unleashed the six qi beams at once.

Ka-boom!

I had the immense satisfaction of seeing Liang Shao Yang's stunned expression before he was enveloped in a devastating explosion.

Unsurprisingly enough, the Dragonscale Armor shattered instantly, unable to withstand the overwhelming firepower of my Snow Aegis's six mobile qi beam turrets. Liang Shao Yang staggered back, coughing out blood before he collapsed, his body fuming.

"What..what?!"

"Still alive, huh?" I frowned. Well, to be fair, he had that damned Profound Level fourth rank Dragonscale Armor protecting him, otherwise he would have been blown to bits from that attack. If anything, I was impressed that a concentrated barrage of fire from my mobile qi beam turrets was actually capable of obliterating such a high-quality Spirit Armor.

I silently thanked Tang Qi Hong for helping me complete Snow Aegis. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to defeat Liang Shao Yang. So the quality of one's Spirit Armaments and equipment did matter, especially if the difference between the two combatants wasn't that large!

"What the fuck was that?!" Liang Shao Yang was fighting to clamp down on his panic. He immediately melted into the shadows, but the one weakness of the skill was that there was a limited span of time where he could remain in the shadows. In less than five seconds, he emerged into the open again, but despite being a distance away, the qi beams from my mobile turrets lanced into him in less than a fraction of a second.

I mean, the beams were literally traveling at the speed of light.

Boom!

Liang Shao Yang, to his credit, had avoided the worst of the damage by escaping into the shadows again, but when he reemerged, he was clearly singed and scorched in places, coughing very badly.

Aware that he couldn't keep escaping like this for long, Liang Shao Yang quickly reached into his spatial ring when I fired upon his position again. This time, he used a Spirit Artifact to defend himself instead of fleeing into the shadows.

"Flame Lion Fireglass Barrier!"

I slapped my forehead in exasperation. "Why the hell are you shouting out the name of your Spirit Artifact again?"

Blue flames gushed out of Liang Shao Yang's spatial ring, the eerie inferno taking the form of a frenzied lion.

The fiery lion crouched in front of Liang Shao Yang and roared soundlessly, as if it was about to pounce. But it didn't.

Instead, layers of gauze-like barriers of blue light manifested upon Liang Shao Yang's body, firmly wrapping around him in a protective manner. I swear, he looked like a damned mummy, and I couldn't help but snort with laughter when I saw that ridiculous sight.

On the other hand, my amusement died out when my six qi beams struck the gauze-like barriers and dissipated harmlessly. Several of the barriers were burned away, but Liang Shao Yang quickly infused his Spirit Artifact with more qi to reform them.

Looking at me fearlessly, he coldly scoffed. "The Flame Lion Fireglass Barrier is a Profound Level fifth rank Spirit Artifact. Even if I don't do anything, you will not be able to break through the barrier, not with those pathetic weapons of yours!"

He drew another weapon from his spatial ring which was another sword.

"Be honored that I choose to slay you with this Dark Shadow Dagger of mine, a Profound Level fourth rank Spirit Weapon!"

What the fuck was wrong with him, spouting all these bullcrap about his Spirit Artifacts and their ranks? Like I cared about exactly what he intended to use to try and kill me!

Trying to suppress my irritation, I immediately drew another Spirit Weapon of my own. Liang Shao Yang melted into the shadows and struck at me, but I managed to deflect his feint with my Snow Aegis this time. While his dagger struck my shield, I drew my Azure Lotus Sword.

I was vaguely aware the murder weapon used to kill both Kao Wen and Gray Shadow was a dagger, and Liang Shao Yang was using that same dagger right now. Later, Elder Zhao would confirm that the traces of qi on the fatal wounds that both Kao Wen and Gray Shadow sustained belonged to this Dark Shadow Dagger, but that ancillary information was of no use to me at the moment.

Instead, I ducked down and plunged my Azure Lotus Sword into the ground, stabbing the concrete and unleashing my purified qi.

"Enhance Armament!" I shouted.

The entire area surrounding me instantly turned into ice. Even the shocked Liang Shao Yang was unable to disappear into the shadows in time, the entire space around his body freezing solid. The temperature of my surroundings plummeted, and for a moment it almost seemed as if winter had fallen over the space of a ten meter radius around me.

"You..!"

Even though he was caught by the ice and entombed, Liang Shao Yang was far from helpless. The blue flames of his Flame Lion Fireglass Barrier had protected his body from being turned into ice and damaged. Realizing that he was trapped nonetheless, Liang Shao Yang scowled.

"Well, we'll wait for the Elder Zhao and the rest of the Blood Blades to arrive, and then you can explain to Sect Leader what the hell you were doing, attacking us."

Exhausted and wounded, I slumped down on the frozen ground, nearly unable to move. Even though I wanted to kill Liang Shao Yang, I had just used my trump card and the bastard was still somehow alive. There was no way I could kill him, not when he was protected by the Flame Lion Fireglass Barrier.

As much as I hated it, I had no choice but to wait for Sect Leader to carry out justice on my behalf. Staring at the Dark Shadow Dagger and remembering the suspected murder weapon used in the killing of Senior Kao Wen and Gray Shadow, I nodded grimly, making sure to remember that additional charge.

"As if I'll let things go your way!"

Crack!

Even though some of the ice cracked as Liang Shao Yang fought his way out, the majority of the ice held firm. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to break the ice in time before Elder Zhao, the Blood Blades and Sect Leader arrived, Liang Shao Yang's expression turned ghastly.

"You forced me into this!" he yelled.

I buried my face in my palm. "For the last time, nobody forced you into anything. You're the one acting like a jerk and start killing and blaming everyone when things don't go your way! What kind fucking logic is that?!"

Liang Shao Yang ignored me and retrieved what looked like a spherical Spirit Artifact from his spatial ring. At first, I didn't recognize it, and then I suddenly recalled having seen it in a Chinese anime adaptation somewhere.

"Terminator Profound Bomb!" Liang Shao Yang declared as he held the crackling Spirit Weapon up. "This is a single-use Spirit Artifact, with enough destructive power to level the entire sect if I detonate it!" His eyes narrowed coldly as he ignited the extremely powerful bomb. "If I can't rule over this sect, then I will annihilate it with my very own hands!"