[V6C156 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
Qianye suddenly lifted the assassin and switched places with him, effectively blocking Lu Sha with the latter’s body.
The moment of this switch was so well-timed that Lu Sha had no choice but to halt his charge. The man felt his eyes go blurry as the two switched places, almost as though countless red threads had filled his vision. Afterward, his brother’s vitality faded rapidly and soon became indiscernible.
Qianye’s hand successfully latched onto the assassin’s throat and crushed his neck bones.
“You dare?!” Lu Sha’s eyes were bloodshot. He released an earth-shattering howl of anger as he pounced over to Qianye, throwing a punch straight at his chest.
At the same time, origin power gushed out of the ground all around Qianye and formed dozens of sharp, interweaving thorns, effectively creating a zone of death. Lu Sha’s domain, Inferno of Thorns, was a combination of both attack and restraint. Although it couldn’t deal a dazzling fatal blow, it was incomparably functional in battle.
Qianye moved back with great agility as the thorns broke out of the ground—he escaped the domain in just a few steps. Dozens of thorns brushed past Qianye, but none of them managed to strike him.
Lu Sha’s expression was serious. His brother who had carried out the assassination was holding an extremely rare armor-piercing weapon. It was impossible for Qianye not to be injured since even a heavy armor like Young Dragon had been pierced through, and he could also see that Qianye’s aura was gradually weakening. Even so, Qianye still managed to extricate himself from the Inferno of Thorns with great ease.
This caused Lu Sha to hesitate ever so slightly. He didn’t know whether he should set up another Inferno of Thorns because the attack was stationary after activation. The origin power would’ve been for naught if Qianye were to dodge it again.
Quite unexpectedly, Qianye didn’t flee after escaping from the domain, and neither did he draw his sword. Instead, he tossed out several grenades and produced an explosion between the two, temporarily preventing Lu Sha from moving out. Afterward, Qianye suddenly glanced back at the approaching Du Li with a spurious smile.
The latter had circled over to Qianye’s back the moment Lu Sha attacked, prepared to deal a fierce blow. He had never expected that Lu Sha’s domain wouldn’t even be able to hold Qianye down for a moment. Moreover, Qianye had sensed him approaching despite being in a precarious situation—it was as though he had eyes at the back of his head.
Qianye’s pair of obsidian eyes were akin to deep, bottomless darkness. Looking at them for prolonged periods would reveal countless undercurrents of danger within them. The key was that Qianye’s current expression was exactly the same as when he took down Du Li in the arena back then.
At that time, the latter had been utterly defeated. Moreover, he still had no idea how he had lost up until the very end. He had woken up from the countless nightmares plagued by those bottomless eyes. That battle had become a demon in his heart.
It was as though the past had reappeared before his eyes at this moment. Du Li froze up entirely and could do nothing but watch as a sword appeared in Qianye’s hands. The man woke up from his reverie only when the blade was raised up high, whereupon he let out a shrill scream and fled immediately!
Du Li’s horrible performance surprised Qianye. He was too lazy to determine whether Du Li was pretending to be weak or if he was too weak to stand a single blow. A blue glow appeared in Qianye’s eyes. Du Li, who had just started running, tripped violently and staggered forward.
Eye of Control!
This delay was sufficiently fatal with East Peak following suit from behind his back. Then, Qianye put away his blade and turned toward Lu Sha who had just walked out from the grenade explosion.
Du Li was still running frantically. He had covered hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye and had almost escaped everyone’s field of vision. He almost seemed to be oblivious about the big dent in his back armor. After taking several steps further, he spurted out a mouthful of blood containing pieces of shattered organs, swayed about, and then collapsed to the ground.
“Du Li!” Lu Sha was still one step too late despite crossing through the grenade explosion. He was glaring so hard that his eyes were almost torn apart. He drew his sword, moved toward Qianye in large strides, and slashed down.
A circular ripple appeared in the ground substance beneath their feet and spread out for dozens of meters as East Peak shot up to block Lu Sha’s blade.
Qianye took several steps back before East Peak shot up yet again and aimed at Lu Sha. The latter wasn’t feeling so great, either, after the forceful exchange just now—he had also taken several steps back before managing to stabilize himself. He could hardly hide the shock on his face.
Lu Sha had long since known that Qianye had only two origin vortices and was much inferior to himself. However, he had actually failed to gain an advantage in the direct, head-on collision just now.
Lu Sha’s eyes flared with killing intent as he pounced forward again without hesitation. This time, he attacked without holding back at all. Qianye was still young and had boundless potential, while he was sure to reach a bottleneck sooner or later. Now that the two parties had broken out in a life and death battle, he might not have another chance if he failed to make use of this opportunity.
East Peak turned about in Qianye’s palm, and the sword tip formed a crescent-shaped arc. The blade almost seemed weightless as he met Lu Sha in battle.
A storm kicked up with the two combatants at the center, sweeping over hundreds of meters in distance. The trees affected by the ripples swayed continuously, and even the sacs on the treetops were beginning to react. Apparently, the midgets and beasts therein were on the verge of breaking out.
Even though Qianye’s combat arts were nearing perfection at this point, he still felt the pressure on East Peak growing increasingly heavy. As expected of a true expert who had been famous for nearly twenty years, Lu Sha’s combat arts were simple and down-to-earth. There were very little variations, but his powerful blows would always come for the enemy’s weakest point. Moreover, he himself revealed very little openings.
Lu Sha’s combat techniques were tempered through countless life and death encounters. Every swing of his blade was as heavy as a sledgehammer. An opponent like this was truly difficult to handle—his origin power was abundant, his strength was ample, and his speed, agile. Although he wasn’t at the top in each attribute, he didn’t have any weaknesses, either.
Vast amounts of origin power crashed, swept, and exploded in this fierce battle, pushing the other people hundreds of meters away. There was simply no way for them to take part.
Kong Fangyuan was drenched in cold sweat despite being well-guarded by the loyal guards from his main branch. He had never imagined that Lu Sha was actually hiding his true strength.
Only now did he start to regret not listening to his clan uncle’s dissuasion. Hiring someone like Lu Sha was simply too dangerous. Even his entire squad at full power might not be the man’s match. If it wasn’t for the werewolf count chasing them down all the way without giving them time to breathe, this group might’ve turned the tables on them and become the masters instead.
Qianye also far exceeded his expectations. As expected of someone who had been offered the best terms in the Li family, he was able to fight so fiercely even after an ambush.
During the intense battle, Qianye and Lu Sha pulled away all of a sudden and faced each other from ten meters away.
Kong Fangyuan’s eyes twitched hard because there were thorns and brambles throughout the battlefield. It would seem Lu Sha had tried his utmost, while Qianye’s domain had never appeared since the very beginning. Judging from the situation, it looked like Lu Sha was being suppressed. However, Qianye didn’t care about the thorns in his hasty retreat.
Kong Fangyuan saw a sharp thorn tear through Qianye’s leg guard and leave a cut on his calf.
Kong Fangyuan knew very well how powerful Lu Sha’s thorns were. They had even cut through an arachne viscount’s legs during one of the previous battles, but it left only a small cut on Qianye. There wasn’t even any blood.
A fountain of blood poured out of the wound on Qianye’s back as they stood in confrontation, gushing several meters outward. The color of the blood contained a tinge of abnormal green to it.
Lu Sha finally smiled as he sneered, “It would seem my brother didn’t die for nothing. You’re indeed difficult to deal with, but you will go down today to accompany my brothers!”
“To kill them all over again?”
Lu Sha’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t control the damage anymore. I can exhaust you to death in another quarter hour. If you have any last words, say them quickly. Maybe I’ll help you if I’m in a good mood.”
Qianye replied indifferently, “Unfortunately, I’m not in the mood to listen to yours, though. Goodbye.”
Lu Sha had been guarded against a big move from Qianye. Startled upon seeing the latter throw East Peak to the ground and draw his twin handguns, he couldn’t help but say, “You think I’ll let you finish charging your gun?”
The two were but ten meters away—this was a distance he could cover in one sprint and also within the range of his domain and origin power. It was a situation least suited for firearms because most people wouldn’t even have the time to charge up.
Much of Qianye’s information had been dug up as he rose to fame. For instance, his rise to power on the Evernight Continent was as a long-range sniper. However, a sniper required distance to bring out his full power. That was also why Lu Sha was willing to completely offend the Kong family and finish Qianye off here.
Lu Sha realized something from how Qianye had sniped that werewolf count. Once this opportunity was missed, it would be fairly difficult to even find Qianye in this accursed environment. Even if they could chase him down, the damage caused by a super long range sniper was unbearable.
Lu Sha had no idea why Qianye would commit such a mistake, but he was never one to let go of the enemy’s foolishness. The origin vortices in Lu Sha’s body revolved at its highest speed as a deep, almost-tangible origin power rushed out from his arms.
A scarlet mist suffused with golden specks rose up around Qianye and turned increasingly brilliant. The glow filled everyone’s vision in the blink of an eye, preventing them from seeing anything else! At the same time, a pair of luminous wings spread out behind Qianye as he merged the two guns into one. A spot of light lit up at the muzzle, and it actually stifled both conflicting origin powers in the field for a split second.
The light scattered moments later, and everyone finally regained their sense of vision.
Lu Sha’s face was filled with horror as he looked down at the round hole on his chest. The defect was merely the size of a fist and went straight through his back. One could see the flesh and organs within his body, but there was nothing where his heart was supposed to be.
Those remaining organs were still moving, but there was no longer any life force in them. They were only maintaining their form and wiggling due to the inertia.
Gradually, these moving organs turned ashen white and broke down into a pile of powder in front of Lu Sha. The latter struggled briefly, but this caused a cloud of ashen mist to erupt from the hole—this dust was what remained of his heart.
Lu Sha looked up and stared intently at Qianye. “You… can’t escape. I’ll be waiting for you down there.”
Qianye put away the Twin Flowers and watched Lu Sha in silence.
The man hadn’t even finished speaking when he slowly fell down, never to move again. He hadn’t underestimated his enemy—with the power he had mustered at the very end, even a shot from a grade-seven gun, fired by someone at his level, would only be able to break his defenses at most.
Unfortunately, though, he was facing the Shot of Inception.
