“Brother Wu, those people…”
“Don’t worry about them. Once we’re out of these snowy mountains, they won’t dare lay a finger on us.”
With that, Juxi quietly shifted his stance and angle, edging to the side.
…
Just then, the Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade, clad in silver armor, appeared before Yuanhui.
When he saw Juxi behind Yuanhui, he couldn’t help but sigh in delight.
“Didn’t expect an extra surprise. Looks like some brat’s talent might threaten my lord one day. Not bad, not bad. Boys! Today you’re beasts—kill to your heart’s content!”
The Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade was a brute born for battle—fierce and fearless, but not much for brains.
Seeing Juxi behind Yuanhui, he just assumed Juxi was the root of everything.
In his mind, the only one who could escape from the hands of the clan elders was this young man in front of him.
Aside from Yuanhui, he didn’t think much of that elder who’d climbed up on clan connections alone.
When Dugu Aotian heard that sky-shaking roar, his face changed at once.
If Juxi wasn’t injured, the two of them could wipe out this group together with ease.
But now Juxi was badly hurt, completely unable to fight—they could only retreat.
“Sigh, you’ve got your master’s dragon bone protecting you.
That kid’s just a real cultivator’s body, you can’t compare.”
Wuxian sighed a few times, but before he could finish, Yuanhui clenched his teeth and used that strange footwork.
His figure turned into a darting shadow, fleeing into the distance.
The Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade saw the bizarre steps and the astonishing speed, and his eyes lit up.
“Nice footwork. Looks like this freak isn’t just any freak.”
As he spoke, he leapt off the giant lion’s back.
A faint layer of violet Chi rose around him.
Virtual Realm technique—Gathering Qi Slash.
Whoosh.
In the blink of an eye, the Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade shot past Yuanhui and Juxi.
With a flash, he dropped down in front of them.
Boom!
Yuanhui hurled out a longsword formed of Chi, trying to blast the charging Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade away.
But the man only staggered back two steps and caught Yuanhui’s supposedly lethal strike.
“Don’t trade blows with him! Get out of here, now!”
“Don’t even think about running.”
The Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade moved like a ghost, blocking Yuanhui as he tried to change direction.
They had nowhere to escape.
Yuanhui had no choice but to stop, his expression grave.
The man in front of him was a warrior who’d stepped beyond the usual mid Boundless stage, reaching the late mid stage where Chi condensed into form.
Even without special movement techniques, his speed wasn’t much slower than Yuanhui’s current limit.
There was simply no way to run.
The man didn’t even bother drawing his weapon. He smiled with narrowed eyes at Yuanhui.
“Get on your knees and beg if you want. Otherwise, you all die here.”
Killing intent flooded his gaze.
So just because he was mid Boundless, he thought he held all their lives in his hand?
A hot surge rose straight into Yuanhui’s chest.
He was like a disturbed lion, bristling with killing intent.
“Well well, looks like you understand human speech. With that posture… what, a dog about to bite?”
The Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade burst out laughing, full of contempt.
Faced with a Realm-Dividing opponent, he normally settled it with a flick of his hand.
“Come on, let me see if you’re really as strong as the legends say.
The clan elders bragged about you like you were gods.
Ridiculous, that bunch of old trash rotting in the Elder Hall all day.
They’re a disgrace to Boundless experts.”
The scar on his face stayed still as stone.
He’d come here full of confidence, and while he mocked Yuanhui, he mocked his own clan’s elders just as much.
Their pursuers were almost on them.
Yuanhui handed the weak Juxi to Long Ling, who could still stay in a semi-corporeal state for now.
“Take Brother Ye and run. I’ll keep him busy!”
“Hahaha… keep me busy?”
The Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade narrowed his eyes and laughed when he heard Yuanhui’s words.
“Just you? I doubt you can last three moves against this general.”
But right then, Yuanhui charged at him like a man walking to his death.
The instant a mocking look showed on the man’s face, Yuanhui suddenly drew the Falling Star greatsword and swung it horizontally at his abdomen.
“Hmph. Overestimating yourself, kid. Pitiful.”
The Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade didn’t even bother lifting his blade.
He struck bare-handed, sword aura spilling from his palm.
A mid Boundless expert could control the flow of Chi in the air, melding his own condensed Chi into heaven and earth—several levels above Yuanhui’s crude method of turning Chi into a weapon.
Yuanhui poured every ounce of strength into the Falling Star greatsword.
The air hummed as the heavy blade tore through it; sword aura and Chi collided.
His blade met the Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade’s hand edge—
Crackle!
Sword energy exploded in all directions.
The snow on the ground and the trees within dozens of yards were blasted into gray dust.
The Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade was knocked back, his pupils contracting.
Impossible.
What kind of wicked technique did this kid have?
He’d only used less than thirty percent of his strength just now, yet they’d still clashed evenly.
That thirty percent of his power was already no weaker than any early Boundless expert.
“Interesting. Very interesting.” The Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade grinned ferociously.
“To have mid Boundless-level Chi output while you’re still in Realm-Dividing… you really are something.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Juxi, instead of fleeing, attacked from behind him.
Bang!
He’d been careless.
Juxi’s punch, laced with weather Chi, slammed straight into his back.
But this was a veteran general who’d fought on the front lines for years, not some rabble like the Liuyi Guard.
His subconscious had already circulated a layer of Chi, blocking Juxi’s heavy blow.
Thud!
He flipped three times in midair and landed solidly.
Yuanhui saw the spot Juxi hit—aside from a crack in the silver armor and a faint trace of blood, the man was barely hurt.
The Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade rolled his stiff neck and showed a ferocious grin.
“A mere Nine Hearts stage. Sure, your Chi matches us mid Boundless types, but you don’t even know how to gather it properly, and you still want to sneak attack?”
His killing intent burst out; now he was truly angry.
He’d only wanted to toy with this group, but ended up getting hurt.
It annoyed him.
Damn it.
Yuanhui’s heart sank.
The Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade was serious now.
He felt a huge vortex form around the man, dragging at him and Juxi as if to suck them in.
“Let me show you what a Boundless expert really is.”
The Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade threw his head back and laughed wildly.
He wasted no more words.
Chi in his hand flared with terrifying light, condensing into pure sword aura.
The killing intent was suffocating.
The terror of the Boundless Realm lay in grasping Chi itself, gathering the essence of heaven and earth as one’s own, riding the flow of Chi and wielding the world’s radiance for oneself.
Yuanhui stiffened, feeling like a candle in the wind, ready to be snuffed out at any moment.
Juxi trembled all over.
The fear came from the deepest human instinct.
The Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade was a man infinitely close to late Boundless.
His killing aura had been tempered on the battlefield; a single glance felt like being stared down by a wild beast.
“What are you spacing out for? Run!”
Yuanhui made his decision and roared at Juxi.
Juxi flinched hard, stunned for a moment.
He’d heard about the power of late Boundless before—from Grandpa Ling.
When he’d just now seized the chance to strike, he’d also sensed the man’s strength.
It was almost on par with the Chi Grandpa Ling had used when he killed those Nine Hearts men in black.
Facing such an unknown enemy now, Juxi only half understood what he was up against.
He hesitated for a heartbeat, then turned and fled into the distance as fast as he could.
The Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade only sneered.
With a light stroke of his finger through the air, two streams of sword energy shot out—
One at the fleeing Juxi, one toward Yuanhui.
Juxi twisted his body with a nimble flash and slipped past the strike.
At the same time, Yuanhui raised the greatsword in front of him, pouring all his barely-held-together protective Chi into the blade, and narrowly avoided the attack.
“You’re kidding me… you’re really a bunch of cockroaches that won’t die.”
The Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade frowned, but his men had already caught up, surrounding them in an instant.
“No more opening. We can only fight.”
Backed into this corner, Yuanhui’s face grew solemn.
Looked like it was do-or-die.
Crash!
Sword aura surged.
Chi around the Falling Star sword flared with dazzling light, the weapon like a blade of storm wind, terrifyingly fast.
But against the Boundless Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade, it was meaningless.
Clang!
The Hundred-Ghost Mad Blade swept out with his hand edge, smashing the charging Yuanhui away.
He was a little surprised, though.
“This heavy sword didn’t break?”
The Falling Star greatsword hadn’t fractured, not even left a single mark.
That actually amazed him.
Because the Falling Star sword had taken most of the blow, Yuanhui wasn’t killed or crippled on the spot.
“Tsk, tsk. I think I get it now.
That’s why the elders were willing to give you their seat.
You really aren’t like those rotten nobles.”
“Is that so? I’m flattered… ugh…”
Even so, Yuanhui felt his blood and Chi churning, his limbs going numb.
That one hit had rattled his soul.
“But you’re still way too weak.”
He admitted the man’s strength from the bottom of his heart, but was still inwardly shaken.
Hmph. He wasn’t scared of an Immortal Emperor—why would he fear some general?
He wasn’t going to die that easily.
He’d thought he could still put up a fight, but that idea now felt laughable.
If not for the Falling Star sword, that full-power strike would’ve cut him clean in half.
Struggling to his feet, Yuanhui suddenly heard Juxi’s scream from not far away.
His heart lurched.
“Not good!”
Juxi was covered in blood, hemmed in by four early Boundless cultivators and their men.
The remaining black-armored soldiers formed layer after layer of encirclement on the outside, an airtight wall of bodies.
Their spears gleamed cold, blocking any route of escape.
Bloodshot veins crawled across Yuanhui’s eyes.
The Falling Star greatsword flashed cold light in his hands, but he couldn’t break Juxi out in time.
Right then, Yuanhui felt his anger erupt, his blood surging wildly.
His heart suddenly began to pound harder and harder.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
