Chapter 1026: Crushing

Hum!

Xu Gang, "stitched" back together by Siniang, charged directly at the wolf pack controlled by Elder Hu.

Elder Hu's fingertips trembled faintly.

One could also see the fingers of Siniang's left hand tapping out a rhythm.

Very soon, after destroying two of the red wolves, Xu Gang's body was torn apart again.

Just as Elder Hu prepared to send the remaining wolves lunging at Siniang... the Xu Gang who had clearly been ripped to pieces for a second time stood up yet again.

There were simply too many stitched places covering him now.

When he rose, his aura had fallen to only Fifth Grade.

"Alas."

Siniang sighed.

She gave one light wave of her hand.

Xu Gang, who had only just risen again, collapsed.

Elder Hu was shaken by this method of stitching corpses together.

But he still understood perfectly well what he needed to do.

The remaining red wolves were just about to gather strength and spring forward when... the two wolves Xu Gang had broken earlier stood up too.

A smile appeared at Siniang's lips.

She had clearly found another new set of toys.

Elder Hu could only order his own red wolves to tear into the red wolves that had once belonged to him.

These mechanism beasts were not weak.

With Elder Hu forcibly pouring borrowed power into them, each possessed something close to peak Fourth Grade strength.

And because they were mechanisms, they fought without fear of death.

Could they carry even more power?

In theory, yes.

The problem was that mechanisms capable of individually bearing Second Grade power were far too rare.

One by one, Elder Hu smashed down the mechanism beasts Siniang had turned against him.

Yet every machine his own side lost was immediately stitched back together by silver threads and added to Siniang's ranks.

Two people who had both mastered "puppetry" played against one another across the distance and enjoyed themselves enormously.

At last... the final two red wolves tore open each other's bodies and collapsed.

This portion of the battlefield fell silent.

On the surface, it looked like a draw.

But one had to remember that this entire pack of mechanism beasts represented Elder Hu's life's work and had been extraordinarily difficult to refine.

Siniang... had started with one corpse already lying on the ground.

"I truly never knew that over this past century, another mechanism master had appeared in the jianghu and reached such astonishing heights."

As Elder Hu sighed with admiration, he took out another puppet and placed it before himself.

Unsurprisingly... this should have been his strongest puppet.

It was a child with red lips and white teeth.

Siniang showed no particular reaction to the praise.

"I stitched up too many stinking men and eventually figured out a few tricks. Nothing but a little diversion I use to pass the time. Not worth mentioning."

As she spoke...

Siniang thrust both hands forward.

It seemed as though she caught hold of something invisible and borrowed its strength.

Her body shot into the air.

The child puppet in Elder Hu's hands opened its eyes.

Elder Hu slapped one palm down.

Second Grade power poured directly into it.

The method was extremely similar to the Sword Saint borrowing strength through Longyuan.

First, both were bonded artifacts.

Second, both were hard enough and possessed enough carrying capacity to withstand the power.

The child puppet lunged at Siniang.

Thunder crackled between its hands and feet.

Siniang arranged twelve barriers woven from threads beneath herself.

Every one of them shattered beneath the puppet in a single instant.

Siniang immediately dropped.

The child puppet pursued her without pause.

Elder Hu smiled and stroked his long beard.

Bang!

The puppet forced Siniang back down onto the ground.

Then... threads surged from the earth and overturned the entire area.

The Great Marsh was full of bog and mire.

For a moment, rotting mud flew everywhere and obscured all sight.

"You cannot hide! This is the work I am proudest of in this life. Once it has locked onto your qi and I unleash it, this boy of mine will hunt you without rest until one of you dies!"

When the mud finally rained back down, the ground looked as though it had been plowed from end to end.

Everything had been buried.

But the next instant... the child puppet burst out from beneath the mud with Siniang trapped in its arms.

Its hands and legs clamped viciously around her body, leaving her unable to struggle.

Elder Hu clapped his hands.

"Go well."

The puppet exerted force.

Its limbs stabbed into Siniang.

Her body began twisting.

Folding.

The sight resembled a living human being forcibly crammed into a box far too small to contain one.

Very soon, however... the smile froze on Elder Hu's face.

The other mechanism master truly had been stuffed inside.

But where was the blood?

Why was no blood spilling out?

Suddenly... the Siniang held in the puppet's arms... split open.

Bundles of thread spilled out.

It was not a real person at all.

It was a false body embroidered from thread!

"How... how is that possible?"

"You really put on far too much of a show."

Siniang's voice sounded behind Elder Hu.

The old man turned with difficulty.

He had no idea when this terrifying woman had appeared behind him.

"I told you. The mechanism arts you speak of are only a little trick I play with when I'm bored. You... really don't know how to fight."

A fight... was about deciding life and death.

It meant using any method available.

It did not mean both sides laying out their formations properly and holding some formal contest of mechanism arts.

Killing him... was not difficult.

The prerequisite was simply that the two sides' strength needed to stand on the same level.

Once that foundation existed... what truly mattered was awareness and experience.

One simple puppet.

One even simpler flank.

And the ending of this former great mechanism master of Jin... had already been decided.

Elder Hu retreated rapidly, trying to create distance while calling his child puppet back at top speed.

Yet while retreating... he saw a single silver thread pulled taut from the chest of his robes.

The thread's other end... rested between Siniang's fingertips.

An immense sense of danger swept through Elder Hu.

Yet instinct still drove him backward.

And then... he watched his clothing come apart.

Layer by layer, it disassembled itself before his eyes.

Next... his skin and flesh came apart.

The innermost "garment" every human being had worn from the instant of birth... was stripped from his body.

In the end... only a skeleton remained.

Separated from skin and flesh... it dropped into the mire below.

The child puppet raced back.

It stopped beside Elder Hu's bones and became utterly motionless.

Siniang walked over with a smile.

She picked the child up.

Her threads rapidly entered it.

Once her strength recovered to a sufficient level, Siniang's threads were almost living things.

That allowed them to achieve effects incomprehensible to ordinary people.

For example... however complicated a mechanism might look from the outside... once threads spread through every piece of its internal structure... it became child's play.

Siniang's gaze then fell upon the two black-robed women standing farther away.

She did not know that these two women had once planned to make trouble at the Prince Residence.

But that did not affect what came next.

The two women looked at one another.

This...

What retreat were they still supposed to block?

Almost without hesitation, they separated and fled in opposite directions.

Siniang activated the child puppet in her hand.

It pursued the woman who was a Qi Refiner.

Siniang herself turned... and quickly caught up to the female Martial Artist.

Seeing that she could not outrun Siniang, the Martial Artist had no choice but to halt.

Her waist twisted.

She threw a punch directly at Siniang.

Siniang casually waved one hand.

Threads wrapped around the woman's fist.

Then began cutting.

Siniang continued walking past her.

The woman's thigh.

Her abdomen.

Her chest.

Her neck.

One section after another... separated.

After finishing, Siniang did not even glance at the pile of severed flesh on the ground.

She turned and walked back.

At that moment, the child puppet returned to her side spattered with blood.

Siniang walked in front.

The puppet followed obediently behind.

"This child is much more obedient than my own son."

...

Blood.

Blood.

Blood!

A'Ming could hear it.

All the blood around him... was impatiently welcoming his arrival.

Waiting for his favor!

And he... would never disappoint these adorable "believers."

A'Ming charged directly at the centipede.

Strictly speaking, Lady Yun was not a Martial Artist.

So she instinctively rejected any close-quarters fight.

Especially now... after this man had inexplicably leapt from Fourth Grade straight into an aura of Second Grade.

The centipede swept its body sideways.

A'Ming was too fast.

He went around it instantly.

Lady Yun immediately struck a hand seal into the centipede.

A hollow opened in the middle of its body.

Another mouth appeared.

Two bladed jaws lashed outward toward A'Ming.

Pfft!

Pfft!

The two jaws pierced straight through A'Ming's body.

Then they began contracting.

They intended to drag him into the centipede's second mouth and swallow him.

Two huge holes had been punched through A'Ming's chest.

His torso was practically held together by strips of meat and bone.

Yet there was not the slightest panic on his face.

The Blind Man often mocked A'Ming by saying vampires usually possessed that sort of constitution... meaning that precisely because they were so difficult to kill, they often became particularly fond of the process and sensation of having their bodies "tormented."

Perhaps... that was where they found their pleasure.

Watching an opponent destroy their bodies with everything he had... only to discover he still could not kill them.

Sometimes they might even deliberately give an opponent the opportunity.

It was like people eating noodles with raw garlic.

Without it, something about the flavor simply felt wrong.

As A'Ming was about to be dragged into the centipede's second mouth... he smiled and chanted:

"Forbidden Blood Art—Withering!"

The bladed jaws piercing and holding A'Ming turned to stone in an instant.

The petrification continued spreading.

It climbed along the jaws and covered the centipede's mouth.

"ROAR!"

The centipede screamed.

Lady Yun had no choice but to form another seal.

Half of the centipede's body tore away.

Only by sacrificing it did she preserve the upper half from being petrified entirely.

A'Ming remained standing where he was.

The jaws embedded in him gradually crumbled into dust and scattered.

The two enormous holes in his chest remained glaringly visible.

A literal through-draft could have blown straight through him.

A'Ming opened one palm.

The long severed section of centipede began bleeding.

One red thread after another gathered and flowed toward him.

A'Ming opened his mouth.

The blood poured inside.

As he drank deeply... scabs formed over the two wounds in his chest.

Then the scabs fell away at astonishing speed... revealing perfect skin beneath.

A'Ming wiped the corner of his mouth.

His face was filled with intoxication.

One thing was obvious.

He was nowhere near satisfied.

Not even remotely.

The next instant...

A'Ming's body suddenly "collapsed" into a swarm of bats.

They surged forward.

Lady Yun immediately abandoned the centipede.

The beast, now left with only half a body, went mad and charged directly into the bats.

The bats rapidly covered it... and began frantically drinking its blood.

Lady Yun gripped the ring finger of her right hand with her left.

Snap!

She broke it.

Boom!

The half-centipede instantly became a blazing fireball and exploded.

The swarm of bats feeding upon it were burned to ash along with it.

Yet... very soon... as the flames gradually faded... a figure slowly walked out.

A'Ming tilted his head.

He glanced at the ashes on the ground.

Then... he looked toward Lady Yun.

Its blood was gone.

So... he would drink hers instead.

This time A'Ming charged directly at Lady Yun.

Having lost her bonded demon beast, Lady Yun slammed one palm into the ground.

Black marks spread outward.

In an instant, they became swarms of black venomous scorpions rushing at A'Ming.

A'Ming ignored them.

He kept coming.

One scorpion.

Two.

Three...

Countless scorpions covered A'Ming in the blink of an eye.

They began tearing and biting.

Still... they could not stop his advance.

Then a thread of blood appeared at Lady Yun's lips.

Every poisonous scorpion clinging to A'Ming injected all of its venom into him at once.

Gurgle...

Gurgle...

Black bubbles immediately boiled across A'Ming's body.

His figure trembled violently.

Then, with a bang...

A'Ming collapsed into a pool of black blood that splashed across the ground.

Lady Yun slowly straightened.

Looking at the blood dripping and creeping toward her feet... she finally released a long breath.

Truthfully... from the moment this man suddenly jumped from Fourth Grade to Second Grade until now... everything had taken place in barely the blink of an eye.

They had exchanged only a handful of moves.

Yet this opponent... had left Lady Yun's back covered in cold sweat.

Most human fear came from the unknown.

A'Ming's methods and behavior... had exceeded the limits of her understanding.

Fortunately... he was dead.

Tap!

A crisp sound came from below.

Lady Yun lowered her head.

A hand had reached out from the pool of blood and closed around her ankle.

Then... a head slowly rose from the blood.

Another hand "grew" out of the pool and grasped her other ankle.

Lady Yun stood there.

She did not move.

Whether Qi Refiner, shaman, or beast tamer... all three paths became extraordinarily vulnerable once an enemy closed the distance.

Even though Lady Yun had reached great heights in all three... she could not change that fact.

The moment A'Ming's hands closed around her... she knew she had no road left.

A'Ming's hands began "climbing" upward from her ankles.

He used this Second Grade beast tamer as if she were a ladder.

The pool of blood at Lady Yun's feet resembled a mirror leading into another world... slowly transmitting the rest of A'Ming's body through.

At last... one of A'Ming's arms wrapped around Lady Yun's neck.

His other hand... rested against her cheek.

He was not molesting her.

Strictly speaking... many of the other Demon Kings had found partners.

A'Ming had not.

The reason was simple.

A'Ming was not particularly interested in women.

Even when the woman presently held in his arms had once been an imperial consort of Chu.

But when it came to wine... who in the world would insist on dividing a cup of wine into male and female?

Lady Yun's lips trembled.

"What... exactly are you?"

"Shh..."

A'Ming made a gesture for silence.

"Be quiet while the wine breathes."

"Whatever that Regent Prince of Yan gives you, we can give you... twice as much."

A'Ming shook his head helplessly.

He reached out and brushed the hair away from Lady Yun's neck.

Then... two fangs slowly emerged.

"We have better things here. Things more worthy of what experts like us require and pursue..."

"Shh... quiet."

"You absolutely possess the qualifications to join us. We can..."

Lady Yun turned her head and looked at A'Ming.

Unfortunately... that movement caused the fangs A'Ming had intended to ease elegantly and gently into her neck... to miss.

So... one of A'Ming's hands moved from Lady Yun's neck to the top of her head.

The other settled on her shoulder.

To some degree, that loosened her restraint.

Lady Yun instinctively assumed he had finally been tempted.

She hurriedly asked:

"What do you think?"

"Ah!"

Lady Yun screamed.

It was a very sharp scream.

And a very short one.

Because...

A'Ming had ripped Lady Yun's head off with his bare hands.

"I told you to be quiet. Why wouldn't you listen?"

A'Ming held the head in one hand.

Yet no spray of gore followed.

Every drop of blood gathered into a small fountain that rose from the severed neck with an elegance, even a rhythm, almost beautiful enough to be ceremonial.

A'Ming tilted his face.

Leaned closer.

Opened his mouth.

And began to drink.

When every last drop of blood inside the body had been drained...

A'Ming licked his lips.

As expected.

The blood of an expert would always be the finest vintage.

Somewhat satisfied, he stepped back.

Then casually... placed Lady Yun's head back upon her neck.

Whether by accident or deliberately... he put it on backward.

At that moment... the two remaining Xu brothers, who had been confronting Liang Cheng, immediately abandoned the standoff and fled toward the formation.

Liang Cheng did not move.

A'Ming appeared beside him.

He complained:

"Lazy bastard."

Liang Cheng turned his head toward A'Ming.

"We can swap."

"Heh."

A'Ming looked forward.

Then softly chanted:

"Forbidden Blood Art... Binding."

At the entrance to the formation, blood began seeping from the ground.

Clearly, A'Ming had planted a small "fence" there long ago.

How could the bottles in his own wine cabinet simply grow legs and escape?

A red mist rose.

It covered the entrance.

One arm after another reached from within the mist and seized the two Xu brothers.

A'Ming pointed forward... then drew his hand back.

Xu Huai and Xu Hai were forcibly dragged away from the formation.

"Left or right?" A'Ming asked.

"Whatever."

When the blood mist pulled the two brothers before A'Ming and Liang Cheng... the zombie and vampire both revealed their fangs.

Truly a pair of brothers in spirit.

Each selected one.

Then bit directly into his neck.

Very soon... two shriveled corpses were tossed aside.

A'Ming took several steps forward.

At the same moment... inside the formation, the group who had earlier hurried over to watch the excitement almost simultaneously took two steps backward.

A'Ming scraped the trace of blood from his lips with one finger.

He put it into his mouth.

Sucked once.

"Tsk."

Liang Cheng began retreating.

He turned.

Walked back toward Master.

At that moment, Fan Li approached too, his body covered in pits and dents.

He muttered:

"Got impulsive..."

Then...

Liang Cheng and Fan Li knelt before Master once more.

The Blind Man knelt too.

Zheng Fan raised Wuya.

His arm... trembled slightly.

Yes.

At this moment...

Master's body was unbelievably stiff.

When other people raised their realm, strength, speed, bloodline, and every other aspect rose with it.

Zheng Fan had done the opposite.

Through trickery... everything existed solely for the realm itself.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Third Grade Zheng Fan combined with his own Third Grade son... producing this barely-Second-Grade monster... would probably lose an actual fight to an ordinary adult man with no Grade whatsoever.

He could barely lift the saber.

Fight?

Fight his ass.

But... those were all details.

And when the scene appeared through the water screen above the raised platform in Dongming Stockade... this slow motion instead gave the entire thing a solemn, majestic sense of ritual.

Wuya... slowly touched each of the three kneeling men's shoulders.

One after another.

By the time it was finished...

Zheng Fan felt the world spin.

His lips and facial muscles began twitching uncontrollably.

Yet he could not dissolve the fusion with the Demon Child either.

His body lost balance and fell backward.

The saber slipped downward from his hand.

Fortunately, the Blind Man was meticulous.

He crooked one finger.

Several saddles they had pulled over earlier stacked themselves into a chair exactly behind Master.

Zheng Fan landed upon it.

At the same time... as Wuya dropped vertically, the Blind Man caught it with mental power and redirected it point-first into the earth.

That happened to place the hilt beneath Master's hands after he slumped down... giving them something to rest upon.

And because the muscles of Master's face were spasming... the Blind Man smoothly flipped up the hood attached to the back of Master's clothes.

It concealed most of his face.

Zheng Fan had brought no army and ridden no Pixiu on this journey.

Naturally, he wore no python robe.

Only ordinary clothes.

These clothes belonged to the traditional style of Beifeng Commandery in Yan: leather for protection against the elements, with a hood attached at the back to shield the wearer from wind and sand.

...

"Are they insane? Insane? Completely insane?!"

Even Huang Lang... who had remained cautious throughout... was beginning to collapse.

Inside Dongming Stockade... the Third Grade experts no longer dared go outside.

Some of the existences capable of opening Second Grade were hesitating now too.

Because outside... two Second Grade experts had just died.

And within the image before them... the Regent Prince of Great Yan... sat down with impossible calm.

Both hands rested over the hilt of his saber.

The corners of his mouth, the only part of his face not hidden by the hood, twitched from time to time... seeming to reveal pure contempt and disdain.

Precisely because the Regent Prince was invincible on the battlefield... the people inside the Gate had racked their brains trying to drag him away from the battlefield and into the jianghu.

Who could have imagined... that when he came... it would be one Third Grade Prince... with six Fourth Grade subordinates... and one Fourth Grade spirit.

And now... not only had the Prince fused with that spirit and entered Second Grade... five Second Grade experts stood beside him.

And... one Fourth Grade dwarf.

[End of Chapter 1026]