C14 (1/2)

Li Yan was jumping around in the forest, the Qi on his body formed a dense barrier around him, and wherever he went, the branches that obstructed his path would instantly be crushed into fine powder by the Authentic Qi. Without slowing down, he rushed towards a stronghold in the distance.

This youth had already chased him for more than four hours, but he still did not have any intention of giving up. He already had no other choice, and could only place his hopes on the Black Wind Stronghold, which was gradually becoming clearer and clearer, the headquarters of the Black Mountain bandits, as well as Hong Ling's life and death enemy, Zhang Yan's base of operations.

During this period of four hours, Hong Ling had already adjusted his body during his chase, bringing the Authentic Qi and soul energy in his body back to their peak condition bit by bit. He knew that what he was going to face next, was a battle where his life and death was uncertain.

From the moment Li Yan fled in the opposite direction from the Tianhuang City, Hong Ling had already guessed his goal. He wanted to borrow a blade to kill someone, but Hong Ling was not sure who the blade he wanted to borrow belonged to at the start.

Now, looking at the banner of the Black Mountain Thief, Hong Ling could finally confirm that it was Zhang Yan. Since he had already found the nest of the Black Mountain Thief, he would no longer show mercy.

He had just been allowing Li Yan to escape. Of course, some of the reasons were because he had exhausted too many of his Authentic Qi and some were also because he wanted to uncover Li Yan's secret. Now, he knew that the person Li Yan was relying on was the Black Mountain Thief, Zhang Yan.

At this moment, the young man suddenly exerted strength under his feet and the Qi around his body exploded. With a ”hong” sound, he had already flown far away and quickly approached Li Yan.

At this time, he was still two kilometers away from Zhang Yan's stronghold. He knew that he would definitely not be able to reach the stronghold before the youth caught up to him, so he helplessly stopped.

”Young man, leave some leeway for all things. We will meet again in the future!” Li Yan coldly said. Although he didn't have much hope, he still had some confidence.

Hmph, Hong Ling snorted, leave something alone? If not for the fact that he had already advanced to the early stage of Essence Refinement into Qi, he would most likely be dead by now. Now that he had seized the initiative, Li Yan actually shamelessly boasted that he wanted him to stay as a person.

He had said all the truths in the world, so why should he suffer the injustice for no reason at all? Li Yan's life was his life. Was his life not worth anything? With just a simple phrase, he wanted to write off everything. Hong Ling was not that magnanimous yet.

”Captain Li, no need to waste your breath. Today, you and I will either die or I will die!”

Hong Ling hated people like Li Yan. They definitely knew that when Black Mountain bandit Zhang Yan committed crimes in the past, they were willing to do anything and encourage them to become stronger, but if they could fulfill their duty, then the disaster in Hidden Dragon Village could be avoided. Unfortunately, their hearts were already covered in lard.

”So you're saying that there's no room for manoeuvre in today's matter?” Li Yan's face was gloomy, the Authentic Qi on his body was ignited.

The hundred refined pattern steel sword in his hand hummed incessantly, a layer of faint white flames ignited on the sword blade, he roared out, and the sword in Li Yan's hand whistled, activating many sword beams that sealed off Hong Ling's retreat path.

”Flame Mantra!”

The fiery sword beam that was originally floating in the air instantly poured into the Fine Steel Sword in Li Yan's hand. The already violent flames on the long sword instantly increased by three times.

He ruthlessly slashed out with his sword. Before Hong Ling could regain his senses, the arc of sword qi that was burning with raging flames had already quickly arrived at his body, as if it wanted to cut his waist.

Fast, it was simply too fast, even though Hong Ling had been prepared for it, this unexpected sword strike was actually useless against him, he was no longer able to dodge this attack, he could only take it head on.

With a wave of the long blade in his hand, Hong Ling's Authentic Qi rushed straight into the blade and swept it forward.

Boom! The flaming sword qi directly smashed onto the blade and instantly destroyed Hong Ling's long blade, turning it into countless of pieces. The flames did not slow down at all, and actually rushed straight towards the youth's chest.

Hong Ling's gaze turned cold, he knew that he had met with big trouble, and in his chest, a thread of dragon qi instantly entered into the Reverse Scale, immediately, both of his hands grew countless of fine scales, the young man's hands flowed with Qi, and fiercely pushed at the flames that were still gushing towards him.

Chi chi chi chi. Hong Ling felt that his hands were almost burnt red, but he managed to block the flaming sword qi. Luckily he managed to summon the dark golden Dragon Scale at the critical moment, otherwise his hands would have been severely injured.

”Martial Skill!”

Hong Ling stared at the burning sword in Li Yan's hand. He never thought that Li Yan would actually learn a martial skill.

Cultivators who had learned martial arts would have a huge impact on their fighting strength. Cultivators who had learned martial arts would have their fighting strength increase by a whole level. Moreover, martial arts had levels. The higher the rank of the martial arts, the greater the increase in the cultivator's fighting strength.

”Good eyesight, you can tell that I'm using a martial skill with a single glance. Honestly speaking, compared to those useless brats from Tianhuang City who only know how to eat and drink everyday, you are much stronger!”

Li Yan's eyes were filled with pride. It was not easy for him to pay a large price in exchange for this Yellow Rank martial skill. After a long and arduous training, he finally managed to refine it.

Martial skills were also divided into different levels. From high to low, they were divided into four levels, the Sky, Earth, Profound, and Yellow. Each level was also subdivided into four levels: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Top.

The < Flame Breaking Technique > that Li Yan had used was only an elementary yellow-rank martial skill, but it was enough for him to defeat the vast majority of cultivators at the same level without a martial skill.

Things had suddenly become very troublesome. Looking at the proud face of Li Yan, then looking back at how he had taken down his Dragon Scale and his slightly reddened hands, Hong Ling's heart sank.

This Li Yan had been hiding his strength too well. He had actually allowed his subordinate to die without revealing that he had a low grade Yellow Rank martial skill, 'Flame Bursting Spell'. It was clear that he was far more scheming than Lin Ming.