Chapter 332: Escape (1/2)

“No!” Xue Long rejected Shi Hui’s offer neatly with one word.

Shi Hui’s face grew grim as he said, “Brother Xue, I bet you understand perfectly well that our strengths are equally matched. If things get ugly, you won’t be able to protect him anyway, so why would you do such a thing? What’s in it for you if you go to battle against me just to protect this swanking little punk?”

He turned to nod towards the four men standing beside him. After receiving Shi Hui’s signal, the four of them, who used to be guest elders of the Blood Skull, began moving towards Nie Tian stealthily.

“Someone asked me to take care of Hua Tian for a few days.” With these words, Xue Long rose to his feet, and a sword wreathed in a frosty aura suddenly appeared in his hand.

Holding the sword, he looked deeply at Shi Hui as he said, “Hua Tian is under my protection. If any of you dares to touch him, I won’t let you off easily!”

“Now that you’ve refused to give me face, don’t blame me for my manners!” Shi Hui exclaimed.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

One after another, numerous clusters of flames shot out of Shi Hui’s palms and the cuffs of his sleeves.

At the same time, Shi Hui took out a whip made of snake bones.

The moment the Snake Bone Whip appeared, blazing flames shot out from within it, turning it into a giant, burning python.

Shi Hui seemed to be holding the tail of the giant, burning python. With a gentle swing of the Snake Bone Whip, Shi Hui immediately unleashed raging flames into his surroundings, turning the area around him into a sea of fire.

“Leave Xue Long to me. You four go capture Hua Tian alive!” The moment the Snake Bone Whip appeared, Shi Hui seemed to have dropped all scruples, as if he knew that it had come to the point where the veneer of mutual respect between them was already gone.

“Don’t mind me, Hua Tian!” Xue Long called out, his face as grim as lake water. “Leave whenever you find an opportunity!”

He knew that Nie Tian had mastered many secret magics, and he was skilled in certain escape magics. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to escape from the numerous Hunters’ blockade and pursuit repeatedly.

Shi Hui threw his head back and laughed broadly. “Hahaha! Who are you kidding, Xue Long? If an insignificant Heaven stage Qi warrior can manage to escape from the four of them, I’ll write my name backwards!” (see note 1)

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

As he spoke, the Snake Bone Whip shivered violently before swooping directly towards Xue Long.

The torrential flames that had been hovering around Shi Hui followed the movement of the Snake Bone Whip as they rapidly engulfed Xue Long.

Simultaneously, the four middle Greater Heaven stage cultivators charged towards Nie Tian with evil smiles on their faces.

SHEW!

An incomparably sharp sword made of spiritual power shot straight up into the sky from within the sea of raging flames where Xue Long was standing.

It split into numerous smaller swords, and like sputtering, shattered pieces of swords, they pierced towards the four men in an attempt to intercept their attacks towards Nie Tian.

Shi Hui let out a cold laugh and said, “Your opponent is me!”

All of a sudden, numerous sparkling magical symbols appeared within the torrential flames.

They were like transparent, crimson crystals, within which were branded the profound truths of fire.

Each of them seemed to have their own awareness as they targeted the fragmented spiritual power swords Xue Long had unleashed with great accuracy.

BOOM! BOOM!

The moment the magical symbols clashed with the light swords, they both exploded, sending dazzling, bright light into their surroundings.

Shi Hui and Xue Long snorted almost simultaneously as they engaged in fierce battle with each other.

Nie Tian turned his head to take a look at them, and discovered that light swords and blazing flames were flashing across in the area where they fought. A giant, burning python was slithering in midair as it continued to nibble away at the light swords unleashed by Xue Long.

It seemed that Xue Long and Shi Hui were indeed equally matched in strength. It would probably take a long time for a winner to surface.

The fact that they were equally strong was none other than the reason why, even though they disliked each other, they had exercised restraint when Shi Hui was still a guest elder of the Blood Skull.

They hadn’t done any business or started a feud with each other back when they were both in the Blood Skull.

It was only until now that the two of them confronted each other for the first time, since Shi Hui had left the Blood Skull and Xue Long insisted on protecting Nie Tian.

“Hey brat, you’d better not fight back and immediately submit to us so that we don’t kill you by accident.” One of the four men, whose name was Qiu Yang, tilted his head as he approached Nie Tian. Without any warning, he suddenly reached out to grab Nie Tian’s neck.

Numerous pitch-black strings that were as fine as hairs suddenly shot out from within his palm and flew lightly towards Nie Tian’s neck.

The other three were standing to Nie Tian’s sides and back respectively, where they cooperated with Qiu Yang and formed a joint-attack formation.

Seeing that Qiu Yang had make a move, they didn’t rush into action. Instead, they observed with cold looks in their eyes, as if they wanted to see how powerful this young man, who had the lowest cultivation base among all of the Blood Skull’s guest elders, really was.

“Come and kill me then, if you think you can.” Already wreathed in his chaotic magnetic field, Nie Tian’s expression was as calm as ever, as if he hadn’t realized what he was facing.

FIZZ! FIZZ!

The pitch-black strings Qiu Yang had unleashed, which were as fine as hairs, finally entered Nie Tian’s chaotic magnetic field.