Chapter 1714: Pit and Kill
Pit and Kill
The burly man saw his black-clad companion emerging from the barrier, trailing just a step behind the other twin. He stopped hiding his intentions and bellowed, “Ten breaths! Hand over your green runes or don’t blame us for being heartless!”
Even as the second twin emerged, the burly man didn’t care. He launched a flurry of attacks like a violent gale. The twin he was already hounding had no time to recover her spiritual power; she was already standing on the edge of death.
But just as the burly man’s shout echoed, a sudden change erupted on the other side of the field.
…
As Li Yan dodged and wove, the seductive woman closed in on his back. Li Yan seemed to sense the danger. He spun around, his eyes turning bloodshot.
“Die!” he roared.
He swung a golden axe in a wide arc toward the woman’s head. It was a mid-grade artifact he had looted from some forgotten foe. The woman sneered and raised a hand to block.
Ting!
The jade bracelet she had retracted collided with the axe blade. A burst of gold and green light erupted from the impact. Despite the discrepancy in size, the woman simply twisted her arm, her expression relaxed. The fragile-looking bracelet was unscathed, while the massive golden axe was sent flying.
“With such meager ability, you think you can enter Huangqi Valley?” the woman mocked, her voice light and full of disdain.
The boy’s cultivation was too ordinary—likely someone who had only recently stabilized their realm. If not for his movement technique, she could have crushed him with one hand. Yet, she didn’t grow careless. She kept her guard up, knowing that only a captured or dead enemy was a safe one.
As the axe was repelled, Li Yan coughed up a spray of blood. He stumbled forward, a look of desperate ruthlessness in his eyes. He lunged toward the nearby barrier—his only perceived escape route.
The woman accelerated, passing through the dissipating golden-green light. She pointed a finger at Li Yan’s back. Just as he was about to dive into the barrier, a cloud of red silk appeared before him, intended to entangle him. Li Yan was moving too fast to stop; it looked as if he was lunging right into the trap.
“No!” Li Yan cried out, his face turning pale. The red veil was the same one he had dodged before; he hadn’t expected it to appear in his path.
“Seize!” the woman commanded, her eyes brimming with contempt. The boy was truly a one-trick pony. He had delayed the inevitable for a while, but he had finally fallen into her pincer trap.
But then, she saw the ‘panicked’ young man in green turn his head and give her a bizarre, knowing smile.
‘What?’
Before she could react, her world began to spin.
‘What is happening…’
Her concentration broke, and the red veil faltered. She saw the ‘black-skinned’ boy slip past the veil with a simple sidestep. As she passed through the remnants of the golden-green light from their previous clash, her body went limp. Before she could process the reason, she fell into unconsciousness.
Li Yan flickered to her side before she hit the ground. His hand, wrapped in spiritual power, swept past her waist. The green rune she held was snatched away. The moment the rune left her hand, her body vanished in a flash of light, expelled from the formation.
Li Yan glanced at the red veil floating aimlessly in the air. He didn’t take it; he simply turned and shot toward the other battle. He hadn’t killed the woman, and he wouldn’t take her artifacts. He didn’t want to draw too much attention or create a blood feud, as he didn’t view these people as true threats.
The space within the formation was only a hundred li. Li Yan arrived at the other fray in an instant. The black-clad man had just emerged from the barrier, and the twin sister who had just come out was fighting desperately to help her sister. They only noticed Li Yan when he was right on top of them.
“What?”
The burly man was the strongest, but he had been focused entirely on the mid-stage twin. He wanted to finish her before she could recover, so he had ignored the other battle, assuming the outcome was certain. Seeing Li Yan appear behind him, his heart skipped a beat. His Divine Sense swept the field—his female companion was gone, leaving only spatial ripples behind.
“Why have you fellow Daoists suddenly turned on each other?” Li Yan’s voice rang out as he approached.
He didn’t hold back. As he reached the gold-robed man, he delivered a crushing blow. The gold-robed man paled; it wasn’t that Li Yan was too fast, but the space was too confined. Li Yan had reached them in a heart-beat. The man had been hounding the mid-stage twin, and the burly man was lunging with a trident.
Because Li Yan had appeared behind them, the burly man’s attack faltered. Simultaneously, the twin sister who had just emerged struck at the gold-robed man’s back, targeting the weaker link.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye. Only the late-stage burly man reacted in time—at least, in the way Li Yan allowed him to.
The gold-robed man felt a lethal threat from both his side and his back. He panicked. He had sensed the twin emerging from the barrier and had intended to counter her, but the attack from the side was too sudden. He hadn’t expected his female companion to lose.
Li Yan swung his axe once more before retreating rapidly. The man swung his nine-section whip to intercept the axe.
Ting!
Sparks flew. The axe was repelled again, seemingly unable to match the man’s power. Yet, the clash caused the gold-robed man to stumble.
In that fraction of a second, the twin sister seized the opening. She saw that the gold-robed man’s momentum was broken. She brought her slender, jade-like palm down onto his shoulder.
A faint light shimmered on the edge of her palm, but it was instantly swallowed by a burst of golden-yellow Earth-attribute light.
“Agh!”
The gold-robed man let out a blood-curdling scream. His protective light shattered, and his arm was severed at the shoulder. A fountain of blood sprayed into the air.
Before the scream could finish, Li Yan, who was retreating, felt a slight jolt in his heart. His eyes narrowed. In that instant, the attack from the initial-stage twin had been incredibly sharp—a sharpness that flashed and vanished. Her aura had been weak and unstable, yet she had produced an attack that felt entirely different.
Only because Li Yan’s Divine Sense was so powerful did he catch that fleeting anomaly. It was truly surprising.
In his plan, his interference was only meant to distract the gold-robed man so the twins could defend themselves. He hadn’t intended to use much force; he hadn’t even imbued the axe with poison this time. He expected the man to be forced into a defensive posture against the twin’s attack. Yet, the twin’s strike had been so powerful that it tore through a mid-stage cultivator’s defense in one go.
‘Her Earth-attribute power is immense, but… how did she condense it so quickly?’
Before the thought could finish, the gold-robed man’s scream cut off as he vanished from the formation. The twin sister snatched the falling arm, retrieved the green rune, and tossed the limb aside with a fluid, practiced motion. She then turned a wary gaze on Li Yan, as if expecting him to steal the rune.
The expulsion of the woman and the gold-robed man had happened in the space of a breath. Even the burly man hadn’t had time to help his companion. He was an experienced combatant, and the moment Li Yan appeared, he had swung his staff. But the mid-stage twin had blocked him with perfect timing. She hadn’t looked back, but she had sensed the interference. She trusted her sister’s instincts and blocked the burly man, only realizing who had helped them once the clash was over.
“Kid, I’ll kill you!” the burly man roared, charging at Li Yan.
The black-clad man had also emerged from the barrier. He had been a step behind the twin and was still recovering his Qi, leading to a slight delay in his movements.
“Hmph, you think you’re the only ones allowed to strike? Ladies, I just helped you once. They still have a companion left!” Li Yan shouted as he retreated. He maneuvered himself behind the twin sister, using her as a shield.
The twins were stunned. This young man should be very strong—after all, he had eliminated the seductive woman in no time. Yet, he was calling for help and hiding behind them without a shred of ‘heroic’ dignity.
Boom!
The twins worked together to block the burly man’s furious strike. Their bodies glowed with an intense golden-yellow light. They were pushed back, but the burly man was also forced back two steps before he could steady himself.
“Top-grade defensive artifacts!” the burly man spat, his eyes narrowing. Individually, these women weren’t his match, but their abnormal defense was a massive headache.
The sisters moved in two arcs, standing side-by-side once more, their chests heaving with exertion. Li Yan flickered to their side. The twins exchanged a look.
‘His movement technique is strange.’
‘He must specialize in speed.’
Their thoughts resonated. They turned their focus back to the burly man and the black-clad man who had joined him. The black-clad man’s face was dark enough to drip ink; he had only been a step late, yet two of his companions were gone.
“You two, step aside. I will not trouble you further!” the burly man growled, his voice thick with suppressed rage. He looked at the twins, but his eyes were locked onto Li Yan.