What kind of Demon Skill is this?
Watching as Qi Yun's figure dissolved into wisps of Clear Wind and vanished without a trace, then feeling the fiery sting from the wound on his cheek, Tang Shun was utterly horrified. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
'This little bastard… He has a backer, too?'
'Otherwise, how could a mere Qi Refining First Layer cultivator master two such miraculous forms of Magic at the same time?'
The icy chill suppressed the gloom and agitation that had plagued him for days, and his rational mind took over again. Tang Shun's eyes darted nervously as he spoke at once.
"I never thought, Brother Qi, that you had hidden your strength so well."
"I, Tang Shun, admit defeat this time. I don't want the item anymore."
"I can even swear an oath to never mention this matter again."
"As long as you spare my life, Brother Qi, you can name any condition. I won't haggle."
Facing a Qi Yun who could become intangible and wielded that bizarre Sword Qi, Tang Shun knew he stood no chance of winning. He surrendered without hesitation.
Pride and dignity were worthless in the face of life and death.
Surrendering to save his own skin was his only path to survival now.
"Heh heh heh… Brother Tang, you're certainly adaptable. However, I personally witnessed you luring your former companions to their deaths."
"A dagger hidden behind a smile. The memory is still fresh."
Tang Shun's face tightened at Qi Yun's words. He asked in a low voice, "Brother Qi, what do you mean by that? Are you trying to serve justice for those people?"
'Buddy, if you're so righteous, why did you join the Demon Sect? You should hurry up and leave the darkness for the light.'
'Besides, what the hell do those people have to do with you?'
"Of course not."
Having reverted from his Clear Wind form, Qi Yun stood quietly to the side, calmly watching the fiend who had once nearly killed him as a sword sacrifice.
"What I mean is, since you're so good at playing the nice guy to trick and kill your own sect-mates, Brother Tang…"
"…then naturally, after you get away, you can treat today's oath like dogshit and turn right around to stab me in the back!"
"So tonight, you really have to die here."
At these words, the expression on Tang Shun's face slowly grew cold. He knew this would not end peacefully tonight.
'If that's how it is, then we'll see who dies first!'
After a moment of silence, Tang Shun abruptly raised his head, a savage light exploding in his eyes. He rapidly chanted a Spell, and the two streaks of scarlet, blood-like Red Night Sword Qi in his palms began to condense and expand manically, emitting a heart-stoppingly ferocious aura!
He violently swung his arms out to his sides with all his might!
Two scarlet Sword Qi, each several feet long, shot out like blood pythons, tearing through the air with a piercing shriek in a wide, sweeping arc.
Everywhere they passed, trees as thick as a bowl were snapped in two, sending branches and leaves flying.
And this was only the beginning.
He recklessly channeled all his remaining True Qi to his hands, condensing more Sword Qi for an indiscriminate, wide-area bombardment.
He was trying to use this blanket attack to either force his intangible enemy out of hiding or… get a lucky hit.
The desperate struggle of a cornered beast!
The moment Qi Yun saw Tang Shun's expression turn grim, he had already retreated several dozen meters, hiding behind an ancient tree so large it would take three people to wrap their arms around it.
Someone like Tang Shun would never surrender without a fight. In his final moments, he would surely throw all caution to the wind.
Not rushing to counterattack, Qi Yun was like the most patient of hunters, calmly watching Tang Shun's desperate resistance, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Sword Qi flew in every direction, leaving the forest a wreck.
After several rounds of frantic attacks, Tang Shun's aura clearly weakened. His chest heaved violently, and his face was pale from True Qi exhaustion.
A vicious glint flashed in his eyes. He abruptly halted his Sword Momentum and shot off like an arrow from a bow, ignoring the sharp pain in his left foot as he made a desperate dash in one direction.
Flee!
He had to get away!
However, Qi Yun had been watching him the whole time. With a single thought, a sharp Sword Qi instantly condensed. It shrieked through the void and sliced with pinpoint accuracy across Tang Shun's ankle.
Blood sprayed out like a fountain!
With a muffled groan, Tang Shun gritted his teeth and collapsed. A horrific wound was visible on his left ankle, so deep that it exposed the bone and had nearly severed his heel.
White tendons and stark white bone were exposed to the air. Blood gushed out, instantly staining the soil and fallen leaves beneath him red.
His Achilles tendon had been severed…
SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH—
Giving Tang Shun no chance to breathe or struggle, three more Sword Qi sliced through the air.
Tang Shun fought through the intense pain, trying to roll away, but his earlier wide-area Sword Qi attacks had consumed too much of his True Qi and stamina.
Now, with his left foot grievously injured, his movements were restricted. He couldn't dodge even if he wanted to.
PFFT! PFFT! PFFT!
Three sprays of blood erupted. Tang Shun's face went pale. With no strength left to struggle, he collapsed to the ground, able only to move his shoulders to weakly crawl forward.
THUMP!
A boot, its sole flecked with mud, planted itself firmly on his back.
Tang Shun's body went rigid. A wretched smile played on his lips.
This scene… it was so familiar.
In a daze, Tang Shun seemed to hear the voice of Zhou Ling, the man he himself had brutally murdered.
"Your brow is dark and clouded, your eyes are shot through with red, and an ill-omened aura hangs upon your face. You are destined for a bloody calamity…"
"Fuck… Was that bastard's mouth consecrated or something…?"
SLSH—
The Sword Qi sliced across his throat. A torrent of warm blood gushed from the wound, instantly staining a large patch of earth. The light in Tang Shun's eyes, full of resentment and despair, completely faded…
Finally, he was dead.
Looking down at Tang Shun's gradually cooling body, Qi Yun slowly exhaled a breath of Muddy Qi.
Ever since he had successfully cultivated Basic Sword Qi and upgraded it through the Magic Technique Panel,
he had been looking for an opportunity to eliminate the threat that was Tang Shun.
After all, judging from Tang Shun's behavior, the contents of the Storage Pouch had to be absurdly valuable.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so relentlessly obsessed with getting it back.
That was why, if he didn't eliminate Tang Shun,
the madman would surely have reported him at the Holy Sect Mountain Gate, consequences be damned!
Someone like Shen Fan, who had a powerful background, might have been fine.
But as a commoner with no backing, he would certainly attract the attention of that Great Cultivator.
This was the Demon Sect; there was a ninety-nine percent chance they had techniques like Soul Search to probe memories. If it came to that, he wouldn't be able to talk his way out of it, no matter what he said.
He had been looking for an opportunity the entire journey, but unfortunately, Tang Shun was extremely vigilant, and with others always around, the right moment never came.
It wasn't until they entered Anping County, after the Black-clothed Cultivator told them about the Holy Sect Marketplace, that a perfect plan instantly took shape in his mind.
Tang Shun was sinister and cunning. He would surely figure that the person who stole his Storage Pouch might take this opportunity to sell off the stolen goods at the Holy Sect Marketplace.
So, he deliberately revealed his location for Tang Shun to find, luring him out of the city to set up this ambush.
And with that, he had finally removed the sword of Damocles hanging over his head.
Glancing at Tang Shun's corpse, Qi Yun thought for a moment, then bent down, grabbed one of the man's still-warm ankles, and began dragging the body deeper into the dark, gloomy forest.
He wasn't skilled at disposing of bodies and erasing all traces.
But the "little animals" in the mountains would probably be happy to help.
...