After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 423: Chapter 422: The Interweaving of the Illusion Realm and Reality

How can people who died in an Illusion give off the stench of blood?

Hee Lingchuan didn’t need the reminder. He slid over and saw one of the Stone Gate Merchant Team’s attendants with his throat slit, while another had been stabbed in the chest.

The short cry had been his last.

The murderers were two Chiyan People.

While the victims were still dripping with fresh blood, before their last breath had completely faded, the assailants pressed a pearl into each wound.

The two attendants’ bodies visibly deflated, like emptied sacks or dried-out pickled vegetables.

Although the Illusion was present, this was in reality a desolate, wild mountain with sparse vegetation that offered no real cover. So, just as Hee Lingchuan saw the two Chiyan People committing murder, they also spotted him.

If they were going to kill two, killing four just made for two pairs. Without needing to say a word, the two gripped their bloodstained weapons and charged forward.

Hee Lingchuan raised a hand and fired a Sleeve Arrow at the man on the right, while he himself charged toward the enemy on the left.

The opponent was menacing, thinking Hee Lingchuan was serving himself up on a platter. Just as the blade was about to slice down on Hee Lingchuan’s head, he reached for his waist and revealed Floating Life.

This strike had long been coiled and ready. It reflected the moonlight for less than half a second before it was already back in its sheath.

With a single CLANG, the opponent, his weapon included, was cleaved in two.

By now, Hee Lingchuan had begun to explore the cultivation of Sword Momentum—the so-called Iaido School. When a Treasure Saber was kept in its sheath for a long time, the Saber Qi released in the instant it saw daylight was at its most ferocious. Mastering this could vanquish any foe.

The Wave Slash technique also had such a specialized move. The one Hee Lingchuan just used was the ”Startled Swan Slash.” Before the Hanhe Campaign, he had killed too few people and had struggled to grasp it.

On the battlefield, one’s Sword Technique had to be versatile, adapting to the time and situation. Mastering all of it was essential.

Meanwhile, Fushan Yue slowly pulled his Water-Splitting Needle from his enemy’s throat.

He had taken advantage of an opportunity; the man had turned his head to dodge Hee Lingchuan’s Sleeve Arrow, allowing Fushan Yue to close in and deliver a fatal thrust to the throat.

’An injured soldier must fight like an injured soldier—with cunning.’

He then glanced over at Hee Lingchuan and couldn’t help but grimace. The unlucky fool who’d been diagonally sliced in half had clearly been enhanced with Primordial Power, yet he still wasn’t a match for Hee Lingchuan in a single exchange.

This just went to show how vast the gap in their strength was.

Fushan Yue wiped the blood from his weapon on a corpse, then used the tip of his needle to flick two red pearls out of the dead attendants’ wounds.

These two pearls were the culprits that had sucked them dry.

”These are Blood Pearls, used for collecting the flesh-and-blood essence of prey,” Fushan Yue chuckled. ”No wonder.”

”No wonder what?” Hee Lingchuan crouched down and looted the two Chiyan People, taking everything that looked valuable.

These two had looked so full of themselves, but they turned out to be dirt-poor. Between them, they didn’t even have one hundred taels of silver’s worth of money or goods.

’Pah. Poor when they were alive, broke now that they’re dead.’

Watching his vicious and thorough corpse-looting, Fushan Yue knew this was truly not an upright man.

”They’re probably collecting the flesh-and-blood essence of the living to extend Fushan Ji’s life, delaying his death,” he said with a malicious grin. ”If that’s the case, a mere two people won’t be nearly enough. Your caravan has been targeted as fattened lambs, you know.”

Hee Lingchuan didn’t know these Ba used ”fattened lambs” to refer to ”edible living humans.” He shook his head. ”You underestimate Divine Art. How could the flesh-and-blood essence of a mere dozen, or even several dozen, people be enough to stop the worsening of Fushan Ji’s injuries?”

Otherwise, Wen Daolun, Zhong Shengguang, and even the Red General wouldn’t have been so helpless.

After Wen Xing was stabbed, he didn’t even last three double-hours.

Fushan Yue shrugged. ”Perhaps they have some other Secret Art?”

’The Grand Thousand Worlds are full of wonders. If Divine Arts exist, there must be ways to counter them, right?’

But it was an indisputable fact that the Stone Gate Merchant Team was in crisis. The Chiyan People couldn’t easily make a move in Tongluo County, but what wouldn’t they dare to do in a desolate, ruined city?

Hee Lingchuan found a whistle on one of the attendants’ bodies.

This whistle was for sounding an alarm. Once blown, everyone was to quickly return to Shi the Second’s side.

But before Hee Lingchuan could blow it, Fushan Yue held up a hand to stop him. ”Don’t! If you do, Shi the Second and Taozi will be in immediate danger!”

Shi the Second and the Little Witch Child were still in the abandoned armory, and right across from them was Uncle Da!

Uncle Da felt he held the power of life and death, so he might not have acted against them yet. But as soon as the alarm whistle sounded, he would probably lash out and attack.

To catch the bandits, first catch the king. As long as they took down Shi the Second, the entire merchant team would surely fall into chaos.

Hee Lingchuan realized he was right, so he put the whistle away and hurried back.

The two of them had rushed just over twenty paces when Hee Lingchuan suddenly said, ”Careful, Uncle Da is heading this way.”

Fushan Yue instantly tensed.

He had suffered at the hands of Hee Lingchuan’s remote surveillance ability a few times and knew his warnings were never for nothing. ”You slow down,” he said.

Fushan Yue himself rolled to the side, landing perfectly behind a tree as thick as a large bowl.

Anywhere else, this would be considered a small tree, but in this valley, it was a giant among dwarves. Even so, its shadow was too thin and narrow to hide a person.

And yet, with that one roll, Fushan Yue managed to hide himself completely within the tree’s shadow.

Hee Lingchuan took a couple of extra looks. There was no one behind the tree, and no one on the ground.

’Some kind of Escape Technique?’

’If I had passed by here without knowing, I probably wouldn’t have noticed him.’

’If this guy didn’t have a few life-saving tricks up his sleeve, how could he have so casually dealt with the vicious pursuit of Uncle Da and the Chiyan People?’

Hee Lingchuan evened his breathing and relaxed his muscles. Otherwise, his tense state would likely be detected by an enemy preparing an ambush.

However, he soon saw the figure of a tiger appear directly ahead:

Uncle Da had arrived.

He was galloping at full speed, all four legs pumping.

”...” ’He can’t even be bothered to pretend he’s setting up an ambush?’ Hee Lingchuan was a little dumbfounded.

However, the area was wide and sparsely vegetated, and the ridiculously bright moonlight left no place for any living creature to hide. Perhaps Uncle Da didn’t want to waste the effort.

The thirty-zhang distance was nothing more than a couple of bounds for it. Suddenly, Hee Lingchuan felt a great wind rush toward him.

The saying ”wind follows the tiger” was absolutely true.

The great tiger’s form even left an afterimage in the air. In terms of speed, the tiger pair Hee Lingchuan had encountered on the Three-Heart Plateau weren’t even worthy of being its stepping stones.

Even though Hee Lingchuan had never once stood up in the ruins, and his seated posture was lazier than anyone else’s, Uncle Da had still used his Spiritual Sense to determine that this man’s threat level far exceeded that of the other humans in the merchant team. That was why he’d come to deal with him personally.

’So its idea of ”catching the king to catch the bandits” wasn’t targeting Shi the Second, but me.’

’Is this what they call overestimating the enemy strategically while underestimating them tactically?’ Hee Lingchuan didn’t know what to think, but Uncle Da had no intention of exchanging words. With a final bound from its sprint, it pounced and swiped with its claws.

This was accompanied by a low roar.

A tiger’s roar naturally shakes the soul. Most tigers enhance this innate talent after cultivating a Demon Body, and Uncle Da was no exception. This low roar swept out in a fan-shaped area in front of it, sending weeds and dirt flying. The powerful sound waves directly attacked the prey’s mind and heart, causing an opponent’s heart to contract violently, leading to dizziness, ringing ears, a rigid body, weak limbs, and sharp chest pain. It could even rupture an ordinary creature’s brain.

On its way here, it had already killed a man. It hadn’t even used its claws; the man had been killed by its roar alone, collapsing with blood streaming from all seven orifices.

Those who have never personally heard a tiger’s roar can never comprehend the bone-deep terror and trembling that comes from the soul.

However, Hee Lingchuan had long anticipated this. He had killed his fair share of tigers, leopards, and lions over the years, and they all liked to let out a roar before attacking. So, before Uncle Da even opened its mouth, he thrust the Soul-Catching Shield forward and entered the ”Stubborn” state.

This Divine Technique was originally meant for stealth, sealing all the user’s acupoints and blocking their aura.

In other words, a Hee Lingchuan in this state was no different from a stubborn rock. No matter how powerful Uncle Da’s roar was, it couldn’t enter his ears, nor could it affect his heart, lungs, or brain.

And what little physical force the sound waves generated was blocked by the shield.

Hee Lingchuan had observed Elder Liang of the Cloud-Piercing Pavilion and was very curious about the Silence Technique he cultivated. He had inquired about it in Panlong City and was told that the first one or two sound waves released after a long build-up were the most destructive, with the subsequent ones weakening quickly. He figured it would be much the same for this tiger.

Uncle Da’s opening roar had no effect, so it went straight for its claws, swiping a paw at his temple.

An ordinary tiger’s swipe packed over a ton of force. Uncle Da’s was triple that, enough to easily smash a person’s head into a rotten watermelon. Attached to its paws were five curved Steel Nails, each over two inches long. In addition to flaying flesh and scraping bone, they also offered disembowelment services.

Hee Lingchuan raised his shield to meet the attack. After blocking just two strikes, he felt his arms tremble. It was far more strenuous than fending off Meng Shan, and he was secretly shocked by the Tiger Demon’s power.

Uncle Da attacked a dozen more times from both sides, but every strike was blocked by the shield, producing piercing screeches.

But Hee Lingchuan was also forced back step after step. Even when the monster stood on its hind legs to attack, they still provided powerful propulsion.

Uncle Da’s attacks were astonishingly fast, too quick for an ordinary Martial Artist’s eyes to follow. If Hee Lingchuan missed even a single block, he could be pounced on and have his windpipe torn out...

Of course, the Floating Life Blade wasn’t idle either, but Uncle Da’s perception of danger was too strong; it never clashed directly with the Divine Weapon.

It sounded easy, but for Hee Lingchuan, facing this great tiger head-on was like confronting a raging tempest. The beast’s attacks were relentless and seemingly endless. He was outmatched both in momentum and frequency of attack.

This thing was truly ferocious; otherwise, Fushan Yue wouldn’t have been beaten half to death by it.

Then, Uncle Da grew impatient. It flexed its claws, trying to hook the shield away.

This shield was the second form of the Soul-Catching Mirror, and it had a built-in physical rebound damage of about ten percent. Since Uncle Da’s dozen-plus swipes had all been blocked, it had taken that rebound damage every single time. Even for a creature with a tough hide, the accumulated damage was becoming extremely uncomfortable.

It was as if it had used all its strength to slap itself hard across the face.

’Why is it so much trouble to kill one person?’

But at that very moment, the Floating Life Blade tilted. The moonlight reflecting off it at this angle grew twice as bright and focused into a single beam that shone right into the tiger’s eyes.

Blinding! Uncle Da instinctively turned its head aside.

Not only that, but the beam of light, like a laser, shot straight toward the illusory walls of Thousand Star City.

At this moment, King Yuan had reached the end of his rope. The guards around him fell one by one, while more and more enemies scaled the city walls.

Above and below the walls, enemies were everywhere. The blood of his own generals and soldiers had already run dry.

The last defending soldier on the wall was mauled to death by a Jackal Demon, his blood spraying three feet into the air, as if putting a final, grim period on this long and hopeless struggle.

King Yuan let out a long sigh. Just as he was about to draw his sword to end his own life, the light from Floating Life arrived, shining directly on his face.

The intense reflection actually made him pause for a moment. He turned his head and looked toward Hee Lingchuan’s position!