Chapter 727 I Came to Kill You Too
This chaotic scene was completely beyond the [Savage Army Demon Race's] scope of control. The red-bearded elder exchanged glances with his people before they immediately backed off further together, lest they get caught up in the fight between experts of this sort of grade.
In particular, Ye Qingyu's might and insanity ensured that, despite him fighting one-versus-two, Lu Li and Yang Wanqu ran out of breath in only a few moves. This kind of elegance and strength could only belong to a prominent character in the Alliance of Domains. However, the red-bearded elder and his companions simply could not discern Ye Qingyu's technical approach or the pedigree of his moves.
For some time, the [Savage Army Demon Race] contingent quietly fell back.
Fear had been growing in their hearts ever since they felt the power of the three experts clashing.
On the battlefield, Ye Qingyu's arrival had immediately lifted a great deal of pressure off the back of the imperiled Ge Ming.
Summoning his last bit of strength, the power of the water mist on his body soared, thereby suppressing his injuries and the unwanted force in his body temporarily. For a while, he seemed to return to the peak of his strength, and instantly shattered the moonlight splendors surrounding him. Upon breaking free of the battlefield, he flew toward the tiny formation which Shui Xiu was trapped in.
"He's trying to escape," the red-bearded elder responded quickly.
"Stop him!"
"DO NOT let him escape."
The people of the [Savage Army Demon Race] made haste.
The scene suddenly became ever more chaotic.
Just then, a strange change occurred once more!
At the instant when Ge Ming made contact with the bracelet on the little girl's wrist, an eye-piercing brilliance appeared and an invisible power began to surge. Luminous arcs, which were as transparent as autumn water curtains, radiated and instantly swept several kilometers across in all directions, nullifying all formations and energies. Subsequently, a gush of water mist soared high up in the air, its splendor completely submerging the figures of Ge Ming and the little girl.
The next moment, these two figures vanished on the spot.
Thereafter, nobody could detect the breaths of these two people.
"Dammit!" Lu Li raged to the point of madness.
Yang Wanqu, too, roared angrily in end. Thrusting his golden machete repeatedly, he badly wished he could chop Ye Qingyu into meat paste.
"Haha, I've got better things to do and won't play any longer. I shall spare the lives of you two mad dogs for today." With a flink of the ice knife in his hand, Ye Qingyu sent Yang Wanqu flying a hundred meters. At the same time, he used both hands to make a hole in the void, causing a small number of gleaming ice crystals to appear in his arms.
"Hahaha, the [Ice Hugging Kill]… suppress them!"
After casually fabricating a name for this move, a trail of ice crystals shot forth amid his maniacal laughter. It instantly turned into a majestic and lofty ice mountain of a thousand meters in height, and smashed toward Lu Li and Yang Wanqu with a thunderous boom.
"Break it."
"Kill!"
The two Heaven's pridelings howled angrily as they attacked.
Boom!
The ice mountain broke into pieces.
Ice shards flew in all directions.
However, Ye Qingyu's figure had already disappeared into the void.
It was all too sudden.
The situation had unexpectedly turned on its head.
Everything happened under the watchful eyes of the crowd.
It seemed to last for no more than a few breaths' time.
No auras associated with these three men could thereafter be felt anywhere within the 15th zone.
Below the tower.
Lu Li's rage-filled eyes also contained a trace of shock which had yet to diminish.
Using his divine sense, he was unable to detect the auras of Ge Ming and the mysterious expert anywhere within tens of kilometers of him.
"Dammit… who could that have been? The strength during that instant… this person is very strong, who could he…" Gnashing his teeth in anger, Lu Li recalled the magnificent and irresistible power he felt during the palm fight with the mysterious man. It was extremely odd and did not seem to be what an average Immortal Step realm expert could possess.
A character like this was certainly not an ordinary person or from some nameless group.
To one side, Yang Wanqu's expression was that of shock and disbelief.
As he slowly sheathed his golden machete, a near-tangible killing intent surged throughout his body, which was filled with anger he could not vent. He pensively stared in the direction which the figures had disappeared toward and hatefully remarked, "We've miscalculated this time. I never thought that a person whose strength is of such a terrifying stage would have Ge Ming's back…"
"From how I see it, this person may not be helping… During the fight, he said that he had also come to take Ge Ming's life in order to claim the bounty." A sinister expression flashed across Lu Li's eyes. "But, in any case, we would have succeeded in killing Ge Ming if not for him. We cannot simply let this matter go."
Yang Wanqu nodded his head somberly, saying, "That's right. He deserves to die a thousand deaths for ruining our plans. I've already taken note of his aura and moves. Hmph, the [Ice Hugging Kill]? It shouldn't be difficult to ask around regarding a skill like this… I'll definitely show him no mercy the next time we meet!"
The duo could barely contain their anger, causing the present members of the [Savage Army Demon Race] to shudder in fear.
Fortunately, the duo did not attack the contingent and instead turned into a blood-colored arc that disappeared into the distant sky.
After they left, the [Savage Army Demon Race's] elder and demon experts could finally let out a sigh of relief.
With a frosty expression on his face and a sense of loss in his eyes, the black-vesselled elder said, "I'd thought that the 14th-placed criminal on the wanted list, Ge Ming, would be easy to deal with and that his bounty was within reach, but who would have guessed that he'd made enemies among those large forces and sects and alerted so many people. This has cost us many of our brothers for nothing. What a wild goose chase it has all been."
The red-bearded elder was also somewhat dissatisfied, yet he felt helpless.
A place like the Black Demon Pool had always been a land of chaos and disorder, especially in its depths. Here, everything was decided based on strength, and thus one would get nothing but a set of broken and bloodied teeth if one could not measure up to one's opponent. The [Savage Army Demon Race] had only come here to try their luck because they had fortuitously captured the little girl and saw an opportunity to kill Ge Ming, but who knew their luck would be this bad.
"What should we do now? Should we go to a different zone and find him?" The scholarly-looking young demon expert also revealed a face of dissatisfaction before he looked at the red-bearded elder.
The two elders exchanged glances with each other.
"Let's put this matter aside for now… Along the way, I'd heard that the demon tide is bursting out at an extremely anomalous time, and there's a high chance that treasures of great value will appear. We might as well go try our luck since we're already here. Who knows, as they say, from misfortune comes bliss," the red-bearded elder replied, gritting his teeth.
"That's right, we cannot return completely empty-handed. We shall first go and take a look at the place where the demon tide will be bursting out from." Another elder issued an order as he reached his hand into the void and grabbed the air gently. The beast bone cage in the distance instantly turned into a finger-sized white bone and landed in his palm.
The [Savage Army Demon Race] contingent proceeded toward the depths of the Black Demon Pool.
After the time it took to burn an incense stick.
On a stretch of rubble, a formation in the recesses of the 15th zone had appeared.
This was an extremely secluded and desolate ridge situated several kilometers to the northwest of the 15th zone.
To the south of the ridge was what seemed to be a primeval forest where all sorts of bizarre yet beautiful black vegetation grew. These vegetation either reached into the clouds like a towering tree or crawled all over the ground like a python. Every kind of vegetation emitted an extremely strange aura that formed a natural stream of white mist evil qi. Counterbalancing the Black Demon qi all year round, the evil qi shrouded the entire ridge in dark gray obscurity and formed an all-natural protective barrier.
Dozens of brown stones of all shapes and sizes were untidily arranged on the slopes to the north of the ridge.
These stones had nothing apart from a few extremely faint and ancient cleave marks, and did not discharge any formation or spiritual energy.
From a distance, they collectively looked like a solitary, wordless grave which was situated in the deep dark wilderness where demon qi surged.
Among the stone formations.
Leaning on a stone which was a meter tall, a rather pale-faced Ge Ming was sitting quietly and correcting his breathing.
The Divine Sky Sect's [Thousand Swords Arrow] specialized in corroding an expert's consciousness power, while the Black Moon Divine Palace's [Heart Devouring Rune] would slowly devour all of a martial expert's physical body and yuan qi cultivation.
These two hidden weapons could rank among the top twenty assassination weapons in the myriad domains.
If struck by one of these two weapons, an average Immortal Step realm expert would inevitably suffer the pain of their foundation being bitten, and they would lose a hundred years' worth of cultivation overnight. In Ge Ming's case, he continued to fight and did not have time to dispel the toxin after being struck by a combination of the two weapons, and thus the toxic qi had already invaded his cardiopulmonary system. Had he retreated in time earlier and used the water mist qi to force back the toxic qi, he might have been able to recover within a year and a half.
However, he was engaged in a melee with Lu Li and Yang Wanqu, and had to forcefully operate and expend yuan qi for a long period of time. This allowed the toxic qi to corrode his meridians and vessels, rendering him unable to fight on.
Outside the stone formations.
A splendor flashed.
Ye Qingyu appeared.
Already back in his usual face, he emitted a pervasive consciousness power as soon as he landed on the ground, carefully observing all movement within a kilometers distance. He only felt at ease when he could confirm that Lu Li and Yang Wanqu had not caught up at least for the time being.
He revealed a faint smile at the corners of his lips as he looked at the stone forest.
With a quiet flash, he plunged in among the stone formations.
He quickly found the hiding place of Ge Ming and the little girl.
"Bro, thank you for lending a hand earlier." As if he already knew who the person who arrived was, Ge Ming's closed eyes simply quivered a bit and did not open.
Like a silver light curtain, Ye Qingyu's figure gently undulated several times before materializing. As he looked at the exhausted and resistance-less Ge Ming, he replied in a frosty voice, "Hoho, you don't have to thank me actually. Because… I came to kill you, too."
"Oh?" Ge Ming finally opened his eyes which revealed a hint of indifference, as though he had long predicted Ye Qingyu's motive. He then said with a slight firmness in his tone, "Well, I hadn't made any friends all these years, and thus knew that nobody would come and save me… Hoho, so, is Your Honor also here for the Alliance's bounty?"
Ye Qingyu gently nodded his head.
"That's just as well. My life was saved by you and will now be taken away by you, not much difference…" Sighing and arching his lips, Ge Ming revealed a weary smile and closed his eyes as if waiting for death.