40 Third Layer Earth Warrior (1/2)

The bandits felt the dangerous air surrounding Xue Wei, and many of them could not help but look at him as he slowly strolled towards them.

His sword was in his hand, hanging level to his body. When they looked at it, they saw that it shone with an azure light.

”You guys, go and stop that kid!” someone yelled out, and five ninth layer Ordinary Warriors stepped forward. They completely ignored everyone else and headed straight for Xue Wei.

Xue Wei did not seem to care. He was heading forward at the same pace as he had moved at before, but just as the first person appeared in front of Xue Wei, the young man thrust out the sword so fast that no one was able even to see the movement he made.

The man he was up against was a ninth layered Ordinary Warrior, but they were nothing more than ants in front of Xue Wei. When he used the Sacrificial Stab, they died instantly; the Qi sword pierced his heart fast and painlessly.

The bandit did not even know what happened before he was dead. Xue Wei dissipated the Qi sword, and with but a thought created a new sword in his palm. He turned towards the next one of the five experts.

He could feel a strange energy bursting into his body. The Sacrificial Stab was an old heritage skill from the monks and priests.

All priests and monks in the continent were of the same religion. They all revered the ancient god, a figure that had created the world and had transcended the limits of mortality. This religion was named after this god and the outsiders often referred to it as the Church of the Ancient God.

This religion was known to be very mysterious. No one knew much about what exactly went on behind the scenes of the temples, but one thing was certain, the monks and priests were not to be messed with, as they were one of the largest organisations on the entire continent.

The Ancient God had left behind different abilities and techniques as his heritage, all of them now owned by the monks and priests, and the Sacrificial Stab was one that the monks used quite frequently. As to how Xiao Lei had gotten his hands on it, no one knew, and Xue Wei did not care. He just felt the divine boon make its descent upon him and felt how he grew stronger and stronger.

He felt the Qi in his body roiling as the soul of the target dissipated into thin air. A red layer of energy shrouded Xue Wei's body, and he felt that his strength had almost grown by a quarter of his usual strength.

This strength made his body feel hot, the energy was slightly out of control at first, but it quickly settled down, allowing for Xue Wei to integrate it into his own strength.

”Well then, let us see if it truly stacks,” Xue Wei mumbled as he swung the Qi sword and slashed at a bandit that was wielding a pair of battle axes.

The first sword slash was blocked, but the attack was enough to push back the bandit and for marks to appear on the axes.

As soon as he was pushed back, another group rushed forward, but Xue Wei brandished his weapon and swung it twice, blocking the incoming attacks and returning them with some fast attacks. One of them was a Sacrificial Stab; it was so fast that the target had no chance to go against it, so he died on the spot, and his soul was sacrificed to the Ancient God, causing the red energy shrouding Xue Wei to increase in size. The energy that Xue Wei could control once more grew by an additional fourth of his original strength.

Suddenly, his strength had soared through the heavens. And together with his strength, his speed also reached another level. By using the Forbidden Rush movement technique, Xue Wei was now capable of becoming a shadow moving around on the battlefield as he pleased.

One Sacrificial Stab after another was unleashed, and every attack killed a target, continuing to increase Xue Wei's strength. The malicious red energy that had surrounded him grew in size and got deeper and deeper in color.

Xue Wei would be able to use approximately ten attacks of Azure Light Finger or Shattering Mountain Palm, but things were different with the Sacrificial Stab.

If he did not manage to sacrifice a soul to the Ancient God, it would instead become an attack that relied on Xue Wei's inner Qi to be activated. However, the moment a soul was sacrificed,it would be a free attack, allowing for Xue Wei to use it wantonly, not caring about the expense.

Xue Wei's strength and speed were continually growing, and soon he had more than doubled his strength. Behind him was a road of corpses, all of which had been killed by a simple stab through their hearts – none of them had had a chance to retaliate.

At the start, only a few of the bandits noticed what was going on, but as Xue Wei killed his way further and further into the group of bandits, more and more died to his sword. His strength kept soaring, making them all feel the pressure, so the Earth Warrior bandits started to aim for Xue Wei.

Xue Wei had expected this. He wanted to try and challenge his strength, see how far he could go. To do so, he had to challenge the next rank. Ordinary Warriors were not his opponent, not even without increasing his strength.

At the same time, he was also aware that it was not possible for him to stand against an Earth Warrior as things were now. There was simply too far a gap between the two ranks. As a result, his only option was to boost his strength and then fight to his heart's content.

The first Earth Warrior to notice him was a third layered Earth Warrior. He frowned as he saw the elusive movements of Xue Wei and suddenly a hint of greed appeared in his eyes.

He had a great beard adorning his rough and sunburned face; his body was dressed in the same black clothes as all the others; and his eyes were brown as the autumn leaves, while his black hair was cut short so as to not be in the way when fighting.

This Earth Warrior was many times stronger than the normal Xue Wei who had not boosted his strength by relying on the Sacrificial Stab.

Xue Wei could feel that the boost he had gotten would continue to sustain him for at least half an hour, but he was worried as to whether or not it was enough.

Had it been a first layered Earth Warrior, then Xue Wei would not have feared him with all the extra power he had gotten from the Sacrificial Stab, but things were different. This was a third layer Earth Warrior, and he was feeling slightly nervous. The palm that held his sword was starting to become sweaty.