Faced with a life-or-death crisis, Li Weiyi dared not hold anything back. He draped the ghost banner over himself, put on the silver-thread gloves, and gripped the Yellow Dragon Sword.
At a time like this, who cared about exposing dharma artifacts? Only by surviving this ordeal would there be a tomorrow.
After a brief thought, he covered his face as well.
Li Ling stood up, peered outside, and said in a low voice, "The two in the street and the back courtyard will definitely breach the room together in a moment. Our only chance of survival is if I catch them off guard and wound them in the very first clash.
"If the first strike doesn't work, find your own chance to run! I only ask that once you escape with your life, you tell my brother everything that happened tonight, exactly as it was. As strong as they are, my brother could crush them with one hand."
Li Weiyi suddenly felt a strange sensation that their lives were tied together. Some of his resentment toward her dissipated, allowing him to calmly evaluate the credibility of her earlier words. Perhaps friendship and emotion between people truly could only be built quickly when facing life and death together.
Yet after pondering for a moment, Li Weiyi still felt it was most likely that she had barged in here just to drag him down with her as a scapegoat.
"What are you two whispering about? Little girl, so you came to Immortal Burial Town in the dead of night because you were hiding a secret lover here," Yan Qingqing's voice drifted in from outside.
"As expected of a dog-type mutant—your nose is sharp enough to sniff out even the scent of a man. Auntie, just how well do you know men?" Li Ling glanced at Li Weiyi, as if saying, *See, I told you so; you can't fool her nose.*
*This girl is not only calculating, but her tongue is sharp as poison, contrasting wildly with her sweet, obedient appearance,* Li Weiyi thought to himself.
Yan Qingqing trembled with rage. "Get ready to strike!"
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
She first hurled three torches into the abandoned house, illuminating the darkness.
Fortunately, the abandoned house was virtually empty, leaving only dirt walls and roof tiles with nothing flammable. Otherwise, if it caught fire, Li Ling's plan to surprise and wound the enemy would have been completely ruined.
Yan Qingqing and Xing Wanxing dashed into the room one after another, nearly at the same instant.
*Swish!*
Seven radiant traces shot from Li Ling's glabella, twisting and undulating with sharp, fiery power that sliced through the air in the room.
Seizing the opportunity, Li Weiyi burst through the window with a bang.
*Swish! Swish...*
The Earth Wolf King's Army dharma-martial cultivators waiting outside were fully prepared. Before he could even hit the ground, five or six arrows were already flying his way.
Li Weiyi whipped the broad ghost banner draped over his body, sweeping all the arrows into his grasp before hurling them back. Muffled grunts and screams echoed in the darkness as two men crashed to the ground.
Before he could charge out of the back courtyard, two four-spring masters stepped forward together to intercept him.
One was a tiger-type mutant standing over three meters tall, hands transformed into razor-sharp tiger claws and thick eyebrows meeting his hairline. His palm strike was immense, churning up gale-force winds that filled the entire courtyard.
The other wielded a semicircular battle-axe as large as a wicker basket.
The axe weighed three hundred jin. Cleaving down with tremendous force, it cut off Li Weiyi's escape route.
Battle-hardened and seasoned by countless fights, they possessed extraordinary combat awareness and skill. At close quarters, they would dare join forces to take on even a mind master like Li Ling.
With no way to evade, Li Weiyi first clashed palms with the tiger-type mutant expert, sending him staggering back to smash through the courtyard wall.
Next, he met the axe-wielding four-spring master blow for blow with his sword, knocking the heavy battle-axe flying from the man's grip and tearing the webs of his hands until blood gushed freely.
*Good thing they're only two two-spring dharma-martial cultivators.*
Li Weiyi felt secretly fortunate as he kicked the disarmed four-spring master away. The sound of cracking ribs rang from the man's chest as he spewed mouthfuls of blood.
Charging past the collapsed courtyard wall, Li Weiyi slashed his sword and sent the four-spring tiger-type mutant flying with a single strike.
*Mutants of the second spring really do have stronger defense; I failed to cut him in two with a single strike. When I was at the second spring, I was no match for this!*
Before this, Li Weiyi had only fought two one-spring mutants when rescuing Zhao Zhizhuo. Facing two two-spring dharma-martial cultivators at once this time put immense pressure on him, and he dared not hold back at all.
Having very little combat experience, he could only judge his opponents' cultivation based on his own standards.
Seven or eight more dharma-martial cultivators from the Earth Wolf King's Army charged head-on, each fierce and completely fearless of death.
Aware of his own low cultivation, Li Weiyi channeled his dharma power into the Yellow Dragon Sword and went all out. In an instant, sword light and blood sprayed everywhere, and screams and wails pierced the night.
Behind him, a thunderous boom erupted.
Unable to withstand the fierce clash of the three top powerhouses, the abandoned house collapsed, throwing up a dense cloud of dust.
Li Ling, Yan Qingqing, and Xing Wanxing leaped from the rubble. Seeing the seven or eight corpses of the dharma-martial cultivators slain by Li Weiyi, all three were deeply shocked.
One had to know that those men were at least two-spring dharma-martial cultivators, and there were even four-spring experts among them.
Li Weiyi shot a flurried glance back and saw that all three were wounded. Among them, the short, stout Xing Wanxing had suffered the worst injuries; several shocking gashes had been carved into his body by the light traces.
Li Ling was hardly better off. Her face was as pale as white stone, the light traces at her glabella noticeably dimmed, and her waist and abdomen were bleeding continuously where Yan Qingqing's soft sword had pierced her.
Mind masters were at a severe disadvantage in close-quarters combat.
"No wonder you get to be the secret lover of the Cangling Tribe patriarch's granddaughter—turns out you're not just a useless pretty boy. Let me test your depth!"
Like a toad, Xing Wanxing leaped three or four zhang, thrusting a palm down toward Li Weiyi.
Ahead of his palm, a broad wall of qi took shape.
Compared to this, the tiger-type mutant's earlier palm force was worlds apart.
Li Weiyi was pouring Golden Crow blood onto the scripture belt, preparing to flee, when he suddenly felt as though heaven and earth were collapsing. A terrifying force surged toward him like toppling mountains and overturning seas, threatening to crush him to pieces.
"Heaven-Overturning Palm Print."
He mobilized the three springs in his body with all his might.
In particular, drawn by this palm technique, the spring orifice in his right palm erupted wildly in an instant, surging to its absolute peak of activity.
Radiance flared brilliantly from the silver-thread gloves.
He struck out with a palm. The palm wind was condensed to the extreme, as though a colossal seal were genuinely stamping down.
*Bang!*
He was simply no match. Li Weiyi was blasted backward, knocking down a dirt wall upon impact.
Xing Wanxing was in bad shape as well. He felt Li Weiyi's power drilling into his body, leaving his left arm cold and numb. After touching down, he stumbled back three steps in succession.
*Swish!*
Bursting from the collapsed dirt wall, enveloped in the bloody glow of the scripture belt, Li Weiyi bolted like lightning toward the eastern market of Immortal Burial Town.
The east market bordered the Sui River, as well as the Dragon-Slaying Pass waterfall.
If all else failed, he could jump down the waterfall, risking death to find a path to life.
*A six-spring dharma-martial cultivator truly is terrifying. Even a casual strike from him isn't something I can withstand. But why wasn't I injured? Is he hurt so badly that his battle strength plummeted? Or did he underestimate me and hold back?*
Li Weiyi figured Xing Wanxing's palm just now was at most comparable to a four-spring dharma-martial cultivator's. Naturally, with the boost from the silver wire gloves dharma artifact, he had been able to withstand it.
"Turns out you're this powerful! I knew it—a Nether Lamp Wayfinder's perception of fortune and misfortune is never wrong."
Li Ling skimmed across the rooftops, pursuing Li Weiyi relentlessly.
"Stop following me! We part ways here!"
Li Weiyi groaned inwardly. With his cultivation of three opened springs, killing those one-spring and two-spring Earth Wolf King soldiers was one thing, but pursuing behind them were Shi Jiuzhai's disciples—one with six springs opened, the other with seven!
If either of them got serious, they could squash him with a single finger.
"It's a dharma artifact. He's fast!"
Pursuing along the rooftops, Xing Wanxing fixed his eyes on the blood-red glow enveloping Li Weiyi. Sensing that his own speed was insufficient to catch the man, he rallied all the dharma power in his body and hurled the foot-long dagger in his hand.
The dharma power of six springs imparted extreme speed to the dagger.
"Watch out!" Li Ling cried in warning.
Too late—the dagger had already reached the center of Li Weiyi's back.
In the next moment, a scene that made the jaws of the three behind him drop unfolded.
Li Weiyi, who had been fleeing at top speed, spun around like lightning. His hand blurred into phantoms, and he miraculously caught the flying dagger by its hilt, snatching it into his grasp.
As he turned to resume running, he hurled the dagger right back at Xing Wanxing.
Terrified, Xing Wanxing dodged frantically and tumbled from the rooftop. The fabric of his trousers at the thigh was sliced open by the blade, leaving a long rip and a chilly breeze against his skin.
It hadn't taken his life, but it had nearly taken his manhood.
When had Xing Wanxing ever witnessed such supernatural weapon-seizing mastery? Cold sweat poured down his forehead. Just how high was this man's cultivation?
Yet... why was he running?
Li Ling was equally stunned by Li Weiyi's move and complained, "You shouldn't have hidden your strength! If we had joined forces earlier, we might have killed them all!"
What Li Weiyi had executed was Spirit Treasure Seizure from the Chan Sect's Twelve Loose Hands.
In his view, it was only thanks to the boost to his movement speed from the scripture belt that he had managed to seize the weapon. Otherwise, a mortal with three springs opened snatching the weapon of a six-spring powerhouse? What kind of fantasy tale would that be?
Li Weiyi felt that dharma artifacts were truly too useful, allowing mortal dharma-martial cultivators to unleash combat power far beyond their realm. No wonder Zhao Zhizhuo had been so cautious when speaking of dharma artifacts.
The scripture belt was definitely of a higher grade than the silver-thread gloves.
Yan Qingqing stared down at the mysterious man cloaked in the black banner with his face tightly covered. His cultivation seemed unfathomable, and he was very likely even harder to deal with than Li Ling.
More importantly, this mysterious man also knew their secret. He had to be silenced.
She took out a pinch of stone monkey flying needles, gathered dharma power between her fingers, and with a sweeping flourish of her perfumed sleeve, sent nearly a hundred needle hairs shooting silently toward Li Weiyi.
Li Weiyi sensed the danger. With no time to dodge, he had no choice but to prop up the ghost banner draped over his body and pour dharma power into it.
*Whoosh!*
Dense black nether mist gushed from the ghost banner. Every single incoming stone monkey flying needle dropped to the ground.
Chapter 37