“Joli!” Karol cried out in a hoarse voice.
The deputy general lay unmoving on the ground, clearly dead. Blood continued to gush from the wound on his throat.
This was enough proof that the brave deputy general who was skilled and experienced in battles had his throat slashed with a single strike.
A single strike!
The three remaining Roulian deputy generals stared at Mingshi Yin with flames of fury dancing in their eyes.
The members of the Evil Sky Pavilion who had been worried earlier were relieved when they saw this.
“That was amazing, Fourth Senior Brother!” Little Yuan’er clapped her hands.
Conch chimed in, “I thought Fourth Senior Brother was going to die… That was scary.”
Mingshi Yin. “???”
‘That sounded wrong. I think she has been influenced by Ninth Junior Sister.’
Pan Litian said, “Actually, I knew Mingshi Yin would most likely win from the start.”
Leng Luo said, “The waves behind drive the ones before. We’re getting old! The younger generation will one day surpass us for sure.”
This time, the duo did not argue. It was a rare moment for them to reach a consensus.
Lu Zhou stroked his beard calmly. He looked at Mingshi Yin’s back. ‘Just how much of his actual strength did this rascal hide?’
The technique moments ago seemed simple, but it was extremely dangerous… With Mingshi Yin’s personality, he would never bet with such a skill. He would have died if he had been slightly careless. In other words, Mingshi Yin was very confident. It was likely that he had already reached the Seven-leaf stage.
Lu Zhou nodded in satisfaction. Mingshi Yin had been the disciple he liked the least when he first transmigrated over. However, he found Mingshi Yin growing more and more to his liking now.
1,000 merit points were credited to Lu Zhou.
Mingshi Yin looked at the remaining three deputy generals. He said in an unconcerned tone, “I said next. What are you waiting for?”
“Requesting permission to engage in battle!”
“Requesting permission to engage in battle!”
“Requesting permission to engage in battle!”
The remaining three deputy generals cupped their fists and spoke in unison.
Karol studied Mingshi Yin before he said, “Stand down.”
“General?”
“I said, stand down!”
The three of them sighed heavily and retreated, clearly unwilling.
Karol brought his steed forward. He looked at Joli’s corpse on the ground indifferently and said, “Take him back. Bury him with Rouli’s greatest ceremony.”
“Understood!”
“Wait.” Mingshi Yin raised a hand.
“You’re going to stop us?” Karol was puzzled.
“No, no, no…” Mingshi Yin waved his hands. “There’s no need to drag him away right now. I meant you should wait. With that, you’ll only have to make a single trip, regardless of the number of corpses.”
Karol frowned slightly. His instincts told him that this person was much more difficult to deal with compared to Si Wuya. Perhaps, he had grown accustomed to Si Wuya’s various tricks after dealing with Si Wuya for so long, he felt a sense of foreboding now that he had to deal with someone new. However, he did not wear his heart on his sleeve. Instead, he said, “You?”
“Oh, no… A piece of trash like me isn’t capable of pulling that off…” Mingshi Yin pointed behind him with his thumb. He was pointing at Lu Zhou.
Karol looked behind him and shouted, “Even if Old Villain Ji were here, he wouldn’t be so bold as to act so recklessly!” He pushed away from his steed and leaped into the air. He wasted no time in unleashing a burst of energy.
Boom!
When he landed, the airwave rolled out in a radiant circle.
Mingshi Yin, clearly unimpressed, said, “That’s a wonderful entry… I mean, it’s flashy, but ultimately, useless…”
“Since you chose to have a generals’ duel, we’ll duel like this. We can each cut our losses like this. If I lose… Rouli loses. If I win, Great Yan will submit. Do you dare to make the wager?” Karol placed his hands on his back as he looked at Mingshi Yin.
Mingshi Yin’s gaze turned fierce. He was confident he would be able to take down the four deputy generals. However, the main general was no pushover. Since the dawn of the lotus-severing era, no one had seen Karol make a move. This meant that nobody knew what Karol’s cultivation base was. In the end, he shamelessly replied, “I don’t.”
“…”
How vexing! Flames of fury rose in Karol’s heart. However, he maintained a general’s appearance, keeping his calm and arrogant front.
Mingshi Yin said, “Did you catch your head in a door or something? My master’s behind me. Why should I wager with you? If I agree to it, I’d be a fool. You’re looking down on my intelligence. I feel that… you don’t have the right to fight with me.” After saying this, he turned around and left.
“…”
“You’re making this unnecessarily complicated!” Karol struck.
Naturally, the other deputy generals wished that Karol would make his move as well. That way, they would not have to wait anymore. There were already Eight-leaf cultivators lying in wait outside the Divine Capital. There was only one Old Villain Ji… No matter how they went about it, Rouli would benefit from this situation!
Boom!
Karol stomped his foot on the ground and leaped into the air to strike Mingshi Yin. He pushed both palms forward, launching an oval energy seal.
Mingshi Yin leaped into the air. At the same time, he launched several palm seals in the air. However, the oval energy seal seemed to be locked onto him. It adjusted its direction immediately and continued shooting toward him.
Mingshi Yin descended. He raised his arms, forming a thick energy seal to defend himself.
Bam!
Mingshi Yin slid backward. His palm seals struck Karol’s protective energy seal as well.
Karol took a step backward. He said, “No wonder you’re so confident… Since you can withstand this strike of mine, you must have a Seven-leaf cultivation base.”
“Wow, I’m exposed! Alright… I’ll give up on hiding then!” Mingshi Yin advanced instead of retreating. He stepped forward and held his Separation Hook in a backhand grip as he sped toward his opponent.
Karol scoffed. “You have a death wish.” He spread his arms. An oval energy seal zone surrounded him immediately.
When Mingshi Yin was almost upon Karol…
Whoosh!
Mingshi Yin disappeared out of sight. In the next second, he appeared behind Karol’s energy seal; his Separation Hook was gleaming coldly in his hand!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Mingshi Yin moved at top speed. Only a flurry of dazzling movements could be seen as he struck relentlessly at the layer of energy.
Karol glanced at Mingshi Yin and scoffed. “Is that all?”
“I’m sorry, but you’ve underestimated your opponent!”
Whizz!
A Seven-leaf avatar appeared!
Boom!
The Separation Hook shone with a blinding light at this moment. Compared to this, all his previous moves seemed superficial. The Separation Hook instantly sliced through Karol’s protective energy like a hot knife through butter and moved down on Karol’s back.
Bam!
Karol’s rich combat experience was apparent at this moment. He suddenly punched to the side.
This punch landed on Mingshi Yin’s avatar.
Both of them slid backward half a step.
Karol turned to the side, avoiding the strike from Mingshi Yin’s hook.
However, Mingshi Yin was not a weakling. His Separation Hook moved with great agility. It changed directions immediately and cut sideways.
Bam!
Karol staggered back.
Mingshi Yin moved backward as well. However, he was dropping.
“What a sturdy body.” Mingshi Yin did not expect his heaven-grade weapon, the Separation Hook, was incapable of slicing Karol’s body!
Karol looked down at the mark on his body. Soon enough, the pale mark faded away. However, there was now an opening on his armor. Technically, he was at a disadvantage after this exchange.
Pan Litian praised, “I didn’t expect Mister Fourth to have such skills! I’ve truly underestimated him.”
Leng Luo. “…”
‘Since when did he start referring to Mingshi Yin as Mister Fourth?’
Karol looked down in the air. “I admire you… Alas, you must die.” Then, he dove. His gaze showed that he was serious now.
It seemed likely that Mingshi Yin would suffer a great blow.
However, everyone had been greatly surprised by Mingshi. They wanted to see just how much of his strength he had concealed.
Lu Zhou shared the same thought as well. He stroked his beard as he watched Karol dove toward Mingshi Yin.
Mingshi Yin summoned his avatar again.
A Seven-leaf Golden Lotus avatar rose into the air. Bluewood grew under it.
“Bluewood Heart Technique!”
“Spring Upon a Thousand Vines!”
This was Bluewood Heart Technique’s grand technique.
In the past, Mingshi Yin had to be in a forest to increase his strength. However, Spring Upon a Thousand Vines could boost his strength without him having to be in a forest.
Lu Zhou did not expect Mingshi Yin to have mastered Spring Upon a Thousand Vines. Based on the way Mingshi Yin used the technique, it was likely that Mingshi Yin had mastered it some time ago.
Mingshi Yi swung his Separation Hook up.
At that moment, everyone felt that the Seven-leaf Mingshi Yin could kill the Eight-leaf Karol.
Awoooo!
Karol’s avatar appeared! There was no lotus.
Karol merged with his avatar.
Bam!
After merging with the wolf king avatar, the silhouette of a wolf king shrouded Karol.
“Is that a new Roulian method of using the avatar?!” Si Wuya wondered out loud when he saw this. “No wonder Rouli wasn’t attacking Liang Province before this. So, you’ve recultivated long ago!”
Bam!
Karol raised his hand and pressed down.
Before this, avatars were thought to be rigid, like statues that could fly. At most, it could be used as a battering ram. However, now, it could pull off many unbelievable moves.
The wolf king avatar was like a wild beast! It brought its claws down again!
Bam!
It struck Mingshi Yin’s avatar.
Mingshi Yin dropped down half a meter!
After three claw strikes, Mingshi Yin frowned.
Karol had the upper hand here. He hovered in the air with his fists raised, effectively raising the wolf king avatar’s paws as well! Then, he brought his fists down at the same time!
Mingshi Yin suddenly turned upside down! His avatar turned as well. The Golden Lotus was now facing up!
Boom!
The claws struck the Golden Lotus! Mingshi Yin managed to withstand the attack. He quickly retracted his avatar and descended. He fell into the bluewood pile.
Karol looked down at the bluewood pile. He said incredulously, “So tenacious?” His gaze became fierce as he dove toward the bluewood pile.
Crash!
At this moment, Mingshi Yin emerged from the bluewood pile noisily with the Separation Hook in his hand. He slashed at Karol. The miniature Seven-leaf avatar in his sleeve moved up as well.
Karol shouted, “Did you forget that I have lotus leaves as well?”
“Oh, no!” Mingshi Yin stopped his attack. His avatar expanded!
The wolf king tossed eight golden leaves into the air toward Mingshi Yin.
Bam!
When the first leaf hit Mingshi Yin’s avatar, he grunted as his blood essence surged.
“You’re powerful, but alas, it’s not enough.” Karol pushed his palms out. His avatar left his body. He charged toward Mingshi Yin with the remaining seven leaves. He wanted to take Mingshi Yin out with a single strike.
At the final moment, Lu Zhou tapped the ground with his feet and flew out!
“Pavilion master?”
“Did I miss the chance to perform?”
“How can we let the pavilion master do the hard work?”
Lu Zhou immediately activated his grand technique and appeared behind Mingshi Yin. He raised a palm.
The Fiend Monk’s Hand Seal!
Bam!
The hand seal caught the wolf king!
Karol frowned. He looked at the old man who suddenly appeared and said gruffly, “If you’re really Old Villain Ji, I’d like to experience the strength of a Nine-leaf cultivator here! If you’re not… I’m sorry, but today will be the day of your death!”
Karol flew forward.
“You’re formidable, general!”
The Roulians were riled up. They were excited.
Lu Zhou’s deep-set eyes watch as Karol sped toward him. He struck again with his Fiend’s Monk Hand Seal.
Boom!
The wolf king flew up. The higher the wolf king was, the greater its momentum as it dove.
‘Could it be… that the human cultivator has forgotten this?’ Karol scoffed. “Is that all?” He felt that the Fiend Monk’s Hand Seal merely contained the power of a Six-leaf cultivator. After his avatar was freed, his sense and perception of power were more precise.
Karol sped into the wolf king avatar.
Lu Zhou calmly said, “I was just waiting for you to get in.”
“Hm?” Karol merged with his wolf king avatar again.
At this moment, Lu Zhou struck with his palm. Unlike the Fiend Monk’s Hand Seal from before, this time, it was a blue palm seal!
Heaven Writing’s extraordinary power!
Everyone born into the world had a name and race. They would eat, drink, experience happiness and sadness.
Originating from nothing, and from it, comes everything. Living in samsara and learning from it.
The power of past lives.
He struck upward! This palm seal was the Daoist Great Blitz Treasure Seal! It was a simple palm seal. It was neat and thorough.
Boom!
It struck the wolf king avatar.
The avatar and Karol were sent flying by the palm seal.
‘Do you think this is the end?’
Karol dropped with his avatar!
Lu Zhou raised his palm again! He launched another Great Blitz Treasure Seal.
As the seal rose, it resembled the scene where he propped up the island with a single hand in Penglai Island.
The palm seal traveled at top speed. It landed on Karol and sent him flying up again!
The others were awestruck!
What was happening? Was this old man truly a Nine-leaf cultivator? General Karol was powerless to fight back?
When Karol fell again, Lu Zhou raised his hand and launched the third palm strike!
Great Blitz Treasure Seal!
This scene resembled a person hitting a ping pong ball where the ball’s movements were slow as it rose and fell.
After three palm strikes, Karol was no longer stubborn. He chose another spot to land.
The Roulians looked on in fear. Why was General Karol so insistent on descending?
Lu Zhou knew the answer. He moved swiftly. The fourth palm strike! “Did I allow you to land?”
The others were stunned.
“…”
Boom!
The fourth palm strike hit its target.
This time, Karol spat out a mouthful of blood.
