Chapter 1405: Mutual Scheming

Even while fleeing, the two brothers fought side-by-side, abandoning any sense of fair play and stabbing wildly. Poor Lu Ping, despite his cultivation, didn't even have time to retaliate and died a truly humiliating death.

The blazing hall was filled with broken tiles and rubble, but neither Xue Zongwu nor the Black Armored leader made a sound after the explosion. A loyal personal guard, carefully evading the encroaching white flames, searched everywhere for his master's whereabouts. He saw a figure emerge from the smoke ahead, similar to Xue Zongwu. Just as he was about to approach, the figure strode two steps closer, its light armor gleaming black in the firelight. This was not his master at all. In just two moves, his opponent seized him by the neck and snapped it with a crunch.

Illuminated by the firelight, the Black Armored man's shadow stretched long behind him, dancing on the ruins. At the exact moment the personal guard died, the Black Armored man's shadow suddenly stopped moving.

The hall was ablaze, with flames dancing in myriad forms. Yet He Lingchuan's shadow, trailing on the ground, appeared glued firmly in place, and his own movements had also completely frozen. Both his body and shadow were stiff, completely unable to move. The process was very short, lasting less than a breath and a half.

But the swirling smoke behind him suddenly stirred, and Xue Zongwu appeared out of thin air right there!

Ever since he fell into the hall, he had been lurking, waiting for an opportunity. But his opponent was also cunning and delayed showing himself. The surrounding area was thick with smoke and ablaze with fire, yet for the two of them, it was the perfect environment for concealment. Others couldn't withstand the scorching white flames and had to flee early, but these two had no such worries. Xue Zongwu was protected by his Squatting Shoulder Beast, and the Black Armored man simply didn't fear the intense flames! As for the bothersome thick smoke, both could ignore it for a short time.

It wasn't until the personal guard came searching that the Black Armored man couldn't resist killing him, but his own whereabouts were also seen through by Xue Zongwu.

Xue Zongwu had been waiting for this opportunity. He possessed a divine ability called "Catching Wind and Shadow," which could immobilize an opponent by fixing their shadow. This ability was exceptionally difficult to learn; he had practiced it for over ten years and could at most immobilize an opponent for about a breath. But for a master, that was enough.

He didn't use his Purple Gold Hammer to ambush He Lingchuan, but a long blade. The blade was slightly dark and matte, without the shimmering brilliance of an autumn stream, and it didn't even make a sound as it moved. Yet, a burning piece of wood falling from the air snapped into two halves before it even touched the blade. The dark blade flashed past the Black Armored man's back of the neck, appearing and retracting instantly, so fast it seemed it had never been there. But Xue Zongwu had indeed struck with it, and the sensation of cutting into flesh was very real. That opponent's armor looked incredibly sinister, so to be safe, a throat-slash was the most reliable method.

Had he succeeded? He had killed the "Great Emperor of the Nine Nethers," that meddlesome, mysterious Black Armored man who pretended to be a deity? The opponent's head was severed; his body swayed a few times and then collapsed with a thud. A small cluster of white flames snaked along a crack in the ground and relentlessly engulfed the body, burning it endlessly. The corpse didn't last long under the flames, turning black in no time.

"Great Emperor of the Nine Nethers?" Xue Zongwu spat on the ground. "Nothing special!" But he was genuinely relieved deep down. This strange person couldn't be killed without a scheme.

The Black Armored man's head rolled about a zhang away onto the ground. His mask had fallen off, and blood was gushing everywhere. He was still somewhat curious. He walked over and picked up the head, wanting to see the true face of this so-called "legend." The face was unexpectedly young, certainly no older than twenty. Xue Zongwu took one look and felt that this face seemed somewhat familiar. Where had he seen it before? Where?

As he was pondering, a sudden alarm went off in his mind: Danger! Then he heard the sound of a mechanism being activated. A sleeve-arrow pierced through the thick fog and flew from the side, swift, steady, accurate, and vicious. Immediately after, a blade emerged from the ruins, thrusting towards his waist and abdomen. If it hit him, Xue Zongwu would instantly become human shish kebab.

In this critical moment, he prioritized turning to block the blade. The sleeve-arrow was impossible to dodge, so he merely tilted his head to minimize damage. Protected by his primeval energy, these injuries were not fatal to him. He blocked with both hands, yet his opponent's strength still made his arms sink, and he barely managed to stand firm by exerting force in his waist and legs. As for the sleeve-arrow, it unceremoniously pierced a hole through the left side of his neck, entering and exiting. Blood gushed from his neck, but it wasn't a powerful stream; he had deliberately avoided the carotid artery. At the same time, a protective magic artifact on his body shattered with a 'pop'.

As soon as they engaged, Xue Zongwu also clearly saw who the attacker was: Another Black Armored man! The same height, the same armor, the same dragon-head mask—even the longblade seemed identical.

No, this was the "Great Emperor of the Nine Nethers." He had just beheaded a decoy.

Xue Zongwu didn't feel a chill. He himself had just used a clone technique, so what was strange about someone else mastering this divine ability? But his gaze towards the Black Armored man was particularly strange: "You, you are Yang..." He finally remembered where he had seen this person! By the great river, at the docks, this person was the leader of the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce, and the King had even ordered him to sell Crimson Valley horses to this man named He! What an absurd joke! How could this so-called Black Armored leader, claiming to act on behalf of heaven, be the leader of a chamber of commerce?! This person's motives were suspicious, and his intentions were damnable!

Xue Zongwu's voice was a bit hoarse; because his neck was injured and leaking air, he couldn't shout loudly. Before he finished speaking, with a muffled 'crack', the other half of the roof beam, burned through, collapsed and fell, covering what he said: "...You are the leader of the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce!"

The current environment inside the hall was utterly uninhabitable. The pervasive flames were bad enough, but the most terrifying thing was the thick, choking smoke billowing everywhere; breathing just a couple of mouthfuls could lead to unconsciousness. Several magic artifacts on Xue Zongwu's body activated, filtering out the toxicity of the smoke and dust. However, he could only rely on his internal breathing, as every breath made him forcibly suppress the urge to cough. With a hole in his neck, he had sealed the surrounding acupuncture points, but a forceful cough would certainly lead to spurting blood.

In such a harsh environment, both sides were fighting for their lives. Although Xue Zongwu was injured, the wound on his neck was not fatal, and he could still fight by circulating his internal breathing. As time passed, he felt his physical strength and true essence rapidly draining away, as if his neck wound were a bottomless pit. The most terrifying thing was that the spectral shadows that had originally hovered around He Lingchuan were no longer harmless; they revealed their ferocious faces and frantically lunged towards Xue Zongwu's wound! Upon reaching the wound, they desperately gnawed at his flesh and blood, and burrowed into his meridians, bringing him unparalleled agony. That pain was like having every nerve immersed in boiling water, making the veins on his forehead throb incessantly. Not only was Xue Zongwu fighting and unable to spare a hand, but even if he tried to block them, he found that these things couldn't be stopped! Primeval energy was ineffective against them. This was strange. It was common knowledge that primeval energy could dispel evil spirits, so why couldn't it dispel these spectral shadows?