“I’ll do whatever it takes, whether you’ll step over my dead body or not,” Nie Renlong retorted gravely before he ended his sentence with an audible snort. “We had an agreement. A duel between the best champion of both sides. An agreement for a round of single combat to determine the outcome of this war and you renege on your word as soon as an outcome has been achieved? No. I am Nie Renlong, Grand Master and the Dragon of Arcusstone and I’ll never count myself among the likes of such ignoble and perfidious folk like you.”
The fierce rebuke felt like a slap across the faces of the champions and warriors who wanted to lay a hand on Li Mu.
“That was just a ruse. A diversionary tactic to stall for time while we bide our chance,” Scoffed the Champion of the Western Wilderness.”As if we can rest the outcome of such an important and crucial war on the shoulders of some unknown stranger. He might be defeated, but not the coalition. The Great Five coalition still stands!”
“Sophistry! Your Grand Master himself agreed to that!” Nie Renlong bellowed furiously.
“Times change, you old fool,” the Champion cackled coldly, “Onward, men! Show no mercy to this traitorous fool as well!”
Spurred by the Champion of the Western Wilderness, the entire coalition marched forward.
Nie Renlong summoned his powers, his face flushed with rage. Like a raging lion, he roared, “Anyone who wishes to deal with Li Zhiyuan, you better be ready to suffer my wrath and sample a taste of my Cloud Hammer technique!”
The air roiled like it was boiling at the waving of his palms as Nie Renlong’s very person exuded a deadly aura both strong and fiery. Swinging his arms menacingly like he was going to launch an attack, the advancing champions all thought they were going to be attacked when all of a sudden, Nie Renlong twisted around and slammed his fists into Li Mu who was just behind him before anyone could even react.
No one knew what to do. Everything had happened so fast and hardly anyone saw this coming.
Including Li Mu himself. w
The deadly force pummeled Li Mu off the ground — even Lu Chuan and a few of his acolytes were caught in the blast and were knocked off their feet as well.
That did not stop Nie Renlong from going on. He dove forward and rained a hail of punches, smashing his fists incessantly into Li Mu’s chest again and again in quick succession.
Then, using the momentum from the last punch he delivered, he launched himself backward and fleeted away to a safe distance somewhere fifty meters away like a wraith. He recollected his breath and held Li Mu in a transfixed glare while his shoulders shook as he suppressed a gleeful cackle like he had been keeping it hidden for years, or even decades; a venomous serpent that has finally revealed itself, its forked tongue protruding and retracting sporadically.
Everyone else, the Champion of the Western Wilderness included, held their ground. Stupefied by the sudden turn of events, none of them knew what to do as well but to just watch.
No one anticipated that the Grand Master of Arcusstone, who had been parading his intention to protect Li Zhiyuan, would choose such a moment to strike such a treacherous blow. His passionate, fierce, and even moving rebuke had everyone fooled, even Li Zhiyuan himself. The latter was so weak that he could barely defend himself and that allowed Nie Renlong the chance to land the full wrath of his Cloud Hammer on him.
“Heh heh heh heh heh…”
Nie Renlong laughed with triumph and glee eddying in his eyes.
“If only you knew, eh, Li Zhiyuan?”
He could barely stop his shoulders from shaking as he guffawed wickedly.
“Brother!” Lu Chuan rushed over at once, only to grimace with horror at Li Mu’s caved-in chest that looked just like a crater. Even the sight of blood filtering frenziedly out of his tunic was enough to make anyone’s knees go soft. Nie Renlong’s Cloud Hammer technique had practically mangled Li Mu’s body although the blows seemed to have not done any damage to his clothing.
Li Mu reached a hand to Lu Chuan to keep himself steady. He peered at Nie Renlong, “An ambush… You?”
“You’re just too dangerous, Li Zhiyuan,” Nie Renlong sneered, “How else would I be able to slay you?”
“I saved your life!” Li Mu groaned, glaring at him intently with fiery hatred.
“Which is why I choose to ambush you. That way, you could just go down to your grave and forget about all this misery. You should be thanking me. Think of what would happen if you fall into their hands,” he motioned to the champions and warriors all around them. “They would do all kinds of things to make you talk. Now think of what I’m doing for you. The least you could do is thank me for a clean death.”
“Despicable scum,” Lu Chuan growled, boiling with suppressed rage, “Shameless bastard.”
He was exceedingly short on vocabulary to fully describe Nie Renlong’s treachery.
For all the years of their friendship, Li Zhiyuan had been nothing but a good friend of Arcusstone and it had all been for naught.
“You’re not Nie Renlong,” Li Mu hissed weakly, “Who are you?”
“I am the Dragon of Arcusstone Nie Renlong. Who else would you think I am?”
“Treacherous rat…” Li Mu responded, “But is this enough to kill me?”
“Of course not. You are dangerous. Very, very dangerous. You could be injured and you could be trusting of me, and even in such a state, my attempt to kill you might still fail. That is why I’ve added a little touch of my own to the Cloud Hammer just to make sure…”
He lifted a hand and spread his fingers.
