Edited by RED

The Four Protectors standing above the city walls didn’t expect Luo Tianming and Xu Qi to take the initiative and charge at them. They were stunned for a moment, but they maintained their proud airs, standing on their familiar’s heads with their hands behind their backs, waiting for Luo Tianming and Xu Qi to come at them.

Xu Qi was worried that Luo Tianming would be unable to scale the high city walls, but he soon discovered that his worries were unfounded. A pair of flaming black wings suddenly appeared on Luo TIanming’s back, his speed increasing tremendously, and he turned into a black blur of flames as he shot towards Bu Duanpo, who was standing atop the Heavenly Divine Tiger.

The Heavenly Divine Tiger was worthy of being a Void realm monster, indeed. Right when Luo TIanming was about to come within its range, a red energy sphere equivalent to the humans’ Void realm cultivation level gathered by its mouth as it bared its fangs. However, it didn’t shoot towards Luo Tianming, but directly above its own head.

Immediately after, Bu Duanpo entered the red energy sphere.

Luo Tianming’s figure stopped abruptly in the air, his black flaming wings continued flapping to keep himself airborne. He was unsure what they were up to, and didn’t dare to approach carelessly.

“Watch out, young man! This is the energy from the Heavenly Divine Tiger’s inner core. Bu Duanpo is using its energy to baptize himself, allowing him to ignore any attacks for a short period of time!” Wen Xiang yelled out anxiously at Luo Tianming from the ground, after seeing what the Heavenly Divine Tiger did.

A sly smirk appeared on Luo Tianming’s face after hearing her words, thinking inwardly, You may be temporarily immune to attacks, but that frail cat of yours is another matter!

However, Luo Tianming didn’t fly right at the Heavenly Divine Tiger immediately. Instead, he continued flying straight towards Bu Duanpo. At this moment, the latter had walked out of the energy sphere, his body enveloped by a layer of crimson energy. Seeing Luo Tianming about to to attack him head-on, Bu Duanpo sent a look of contempt at Luo Tianming.

Bu Duanpo remain unmoving, standing on top of the Heavenly Divine Tiger. Luo Tianming flew up to Bu Duanpo, until they were only a step apart. He was unable to inch in any closer and struck out with several black flaming palms at Bu Duanpo. However, his attacks were all blocked by that layer of red energy around Bu Duanpo.

Luo Tianming took a step backwards and quickly formed a seal with his hand at chest level. Following which, a black flaming fist the size of a human was formed above his head.

“Go!” Luo Tianming shouted. The huge, black flaming fist quickly slammed onto Bu Duanpo’s energy barrier.

Not good! Bu Duanpo cursed inwardly. As Luo Tianming’s attack struck his energy barrier, Bu Duanpo discovered that Luo Tianming had suddenly changed his target, attacking his Heavenly Divine Tiger.

The Void realm familiar, Heavenly Divine Tiger was very sensitive to any threat. Before Luo Tianming reached his target, the monster swiped its sharp claws at Luo Tianming, stopping him from closing their distance any further. Luo Tianming had been thinking of ways to attack the Heavenly Divine Tiger, and failed to consider its strength. He didn’t think its claws would be so powerful, tearing a wide hole on his black robes, along with his flesh, and fresh blood flowed out from his wound.

Luo Tianming quickly backed off and touched his wound. The sly smirk on his face was no longer there as he thought, This Heavenly Divine Tiger is no ordinary beast! I can’t win! Luo Tianming glanced over to Xu Qi’s side, and saw that his situation wasn’t any better, with injuries on him and his clothes bloodied.

Moments ago, Xu Qi had attacked Bu Duanhun with all his hidden aces, but he still didn’t manage to inflict a single wound on him. Xu Qi managed to close in on his opponent after much difficulty and tried to use the Cursed Wraith Talisman. However, before he could execute the technique, Xu Qi was repelled by the Blood Savage Beast with a energy ball shot from its mouth. It had to be mentioned that the human and monster duo’s coordination was truly flawless.

Luo Tianming operated his black flaming wings and flew to Xu Qi’s side, chuckling, “Brat, it seems like we’ve struck against an iron wall. Should we retreat, since we can’t beat them?”

Xu Qi smiled bitterly at hearing this. He knew Luo Tianming was only joking, but their opponents had only made a few casual moves and drawn blood on them. From the way they were fighting, it seemed they weren’t being serious in the fight, either. Xu Qi’s evaluation of his opponents’ strength earlier looked to be in vain; they could kill him with ease!

“Xu Qi, are you still continuing with your futile resistance?” Bu Duanhun smiled.

“Geezer, what are you acting so smug for? If it weren’t for us brothers missing our meals, you’d be lying on the ground right now. Just wait here if you dare. We’ll go grab a meal and continue our fight later!” Luo Tianming said and pulled on Xu Qi, escaping.

Black lines filled Xu Qi’s forehead at hearing this. This guy is really intending on escaping? Missed his meal? What an awful excuse. With your cultivation level, it won’t even matter if you starved for three days straight. Though, it’s true that you have nothing holding you back from escaping. But the same can’t be said for me. At the most, the only one you care about is this fellow countryman.

“You can run, but I can’t. My family and my home is in this city,” Xu Qi whispered, looking at toward the city.

Luo Tianming let out a slight sigh, seeing Xu Qi was actually such a tenacious man. He brought his head closer to Xu Qi and asked, “Did you bring any treasures with you when you crossed over here?”

Xu Qi smiled and flipped his palm, bringing out the Rainlord sword. He threw it to Luo Tianming and said, “Take it; there’s only this sword treasure. This is a treasure left behind by some ancient expert. It can’t be found anywhere else in this world.”

A change occured in Luo Tianming’s gaze as he caught hold of the Rainlord sword. He extended his trembling hand and slowly grabbed its hilt, drawing the blade out. The Rainlord sword let out a cry as it was fully drawn out, its blade shining in blue light.

“Haha, what a fine sword; what a cheap sword!1” Luo Tianming chortled as he swung the Rainlord sword several times. However, Xu Qi managed to discern Luo Tianming’s double meaning in his words, lamenting inwardly that this guy was such a clown that he would even joke around in this situation.

Their opponents showed curious looks on their faces after seeing the Rainlord in Luo Tianming’s hands. With their judgment and knowledge, they could tell that this sword was definitely an unparalleled treasure!

“Xu Qi, hand that sword over to us, and we can agree to a request of yours. How about it?” Bu Duanhun offered.

“Oh, really? What if I asked you to assassinate your Sect Master?” Xu Qi smiled.

Bu Duanhun’s face sank at hearing this and said, “Hmph, you should have known what’s good for you! The sword will be ours after we take the two of you down, anyway!”

“A bunch of shameless geezers. Thinking of snatching my sword away?! You think this master here is so easily bullied? I’ll show you my true strength today!” Luo Tianming yelled, standing in front of Xu Qi, displaying courage comparable to a thousand men. Xu Qi, however, felt a little lacking in confidence.

“Back off a little. I’ll show you what this brother can do. Though, I’ll say this beforehand: I can’t work for free. If I come out of this alive, you have to gift this sword to me,” Luo Tianming said.

Xu Qi shook his head helplessly after hearing this. This guy is obviously a bandit! I was only lending the Rainlord to you, and now you’re seizing it by force! However, Xu Qi nodded in response. He was willing to gift the Rainlord sword to Luo Tianming.

Even so, Xu Qi didn’t back off. He stood by Luo Tianming’s side and brought out an ordinary steel sword with a flip of his palm, saying, “So you get to play the hero, while I’m the coward? We’re the closest to each other in this world. How could I let you fight alone? I never expected to get the Rainlord back once I passed it to you. Don’t even think of returning it, or you’ll know the meaning of pain.”

“Haha, I’m liking your temperament more and more! But, it’s not the time for you to go all out. Trust me; back off for now. You’ll get your time to shine later. Watch me display my might for now, taking on eight beasts at once,” Luo Tianming said, lumping the four cultivators in as beasts.

Xu Qi slowly erased the smile from his face upon hearing this, and flapped his wings, backing off.

Luo Tianming’s black flames slowly flared up on his body once more, and enveloped the Rainlord sword, too. He chanted some words, and a mysterious talismanic mark that Xu Qi felt familiar with slowly appeared in front of Luo Tianming.

Then, Luo Tianming formed a hand sign, and a fist-sized Tai Chi symbol slowly came into shape, rising up above Luo Tianming’s head as it spun.

“The Tai Chi symbol! What are you doing with that?!” Xu Qi asked curiously

“Hehe, just sit back and watch the show. This brother’s methods are very powerful; back off further away. I don’t want to hurt you,” Luo Tianming said with a smirk.

“Phoenix Flame Incantation! Come forth, Flame Phoenix!” Luo Tianming yelled as he continued swinging the Rainlord sword, forming the talismanic mark.

Bu Duanhun had been paying attention to what was happening. Upon realizing what Luo TIanming was doing, he cried out immediately, “Quick, stop him! He’s a Spiritualist, too! He’s summoning his familiar!”

Alas, a pitch-black hole appeared in front of Luo Tianming just as Bu Duanhun yelled out, and a crisp phoenix cry followed. A huge bird with two tails, its entire body enveloped in black flames, flew out from the black hole.

Naturally, Xu Qi recognized the thing Luo Tianming summoned at a glance, and exclaimed in shock, “A phoenix! Gods, you still had something like this!” Though, he was wondering to himself why was it black in color.

“Hehe, surprised, aren’t you? This brother here isn’t so easily pushed around. Now you know I was going easy on you last time, eh? Move aside; I have a move that’s even stronger to use!” Luo Tianming chuckled and turned to face Bu Duanhun’s group of eight humans and monsters.

“How dare you geezers bully me! Come at me together! Watch how I’m going to torture you!” Luo Tianming challenged, as the Black-flamed Phoenix let out a cry, spitting out a mass of black flames at the city gates.

Boom! a deafening impact rang out. The door that withstood the combined assault of the Twelve Constellation Guards and Four Nightwatchers was shattered by the casual attack of the phoenix.

“Cough cough. How is it, geezers? Aren’t I powerful? I’ll show you today how one takes on four by himself!” Luo Tianming yelled with slight coughs.

Xu Qi creased his brow at seeing this. Could he be injured from making use of the phoenix?

Luo Tianming continued manipulating the Dark Phoenix as he flapped his flaming wings, flying up the city walls. The Dark Phoenix shot out a ball of black flame at each of the four experts’ familiars, angering the monsters. In the world of monsters, it was extremely humiliating to back down from another’s challenge.

The Blood Savage Beast, Eastern Wolf, Heavenly Divine Tiger, and Spiritual Rock Beast leapt off the city wall simultaneously, pouncing toward the Dark Phoenix. At the same time, Luo Tianming conjured four gigantic flaming fists in front of himself and sent them flying at the four masters.

Hmph! Bu Duanpo let out a cold humph as he exchanged glances with the others. Luo Tianming and his Dark Phoenix were proving to be quite the formidable foe, and they no longer cared about their statuses2. Bu Duanpo and his gang leapt off of their familiars and struck out at Luo Tianming at the same time, leaving their familiars to deal with the Dark Phoenix. They didn’t think it could hold up against four Void realm monsters at once.

As expected, the Dark Phoenix soon fell into a bitter fight against the four Void realm monsters. The Eastern Wolf and the Heavenly Divine Tiger each bit down on a side of the Dark Phoenix’s wings. The phoenix fell to the ground, and the remaining familiars pounced at it, obviously intending to rip this phoenix apart.

On the other hand, the four gigantic flaming fists Luo Tianming struck out with were nullified by their intended targets with a palm strike each, and they surrounded Luo Tianming.

Luo Tianming smiled and yelled out, “Xu Qi, today I’ll show you what I’m capable of!” Xu Qi felt a little depressed inside upon hearing this and the Dark Phoenix suddenly let out a sorrowful screech.

Boom! The Dark Phoenix’s body suddenly burst open, instantly causing an explosion! The four Void realm familiars were struck by that unexpected shockwave, crying out painfully. They were sent flying backwards, and even the mighty Spiritual Rock Beast was slammed back against the city wall, leaving a huge hole in it.

Before Bu Duanhun’s gang could react to this sudden situation, they felt a dangerous sensation in their immediate surroundings.

“Not good! He’s going to detonate hi-”

Boom! Before Bu Duanhun could finish his sentence, Luo Tianming self-detonated in the middle of the group of experts without any forewarning!

The four were too near Luo Tianming to dodge in time, and were caught within the huge explosion. Each of them spat out mouthfuls of blood and were sent flying backwards. In the end, Bu Duanhun staggered over to the city wall and caught his balance, his entire body bloodied and his clothes in tatters. His comrades, however, all crashed heavily to the ground!

He shifted his gaze to check on Luo Tianming and his Dark Phoenix. They looked burnt as a charcoal, lying on the ground a short distance away.

Xu Qi was dumbstruck at the scene he had just witnessed. He had even neglected to raise his defense against the shockwave from Luo Tianming’s explosion, blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.

“Luo Tianming, you freaking rascal! Is this your so-called capabilities!?” Xu Qi screamed as tears welled up in his eyes.

1: Luo Tianming is making a pun here. The fine sword and cheap sword comment is pronounced exactly the same in Chinese, Hao3 Jian4.

2: It was considered shameful of them as a prestigious school to bully a weak clan with numbers, especially so since they are of a senior generation.