Era of Mist

Chapter 275: Chapter 274: Life and Death in the Rain

”You—!” The man in the suit struggled to grab the Black Warrior’s shoulder, his expression suddenly twisting into a savage mask. Thick, blue veins bulged from beneath his collar, crawling up his neck and across his face in the blink of an eye. He squeezed harder, his knuckles turning white, as if trying to muster one last counterattack. His strength was surprisingly greater than that of a healthy adult male.

But in the next instant, the Black Warrior gripped his blade with both hands. With a sickening squelch, he jerked the sword upward, slicing from the man’s abdomen straight through his chest and splitting his heart in two. Then, he ripped the blade free.

SPURT—Blood sprayed through the air. The man in the suit collapsed, his eyes vacant. The veins on his face vanished as quickly as they had appeared. He was utterly and completely dead.

With a flick of his blade to shake off the blood, the Black Warrior strode to the doorway. He looked down at the hopeless battle below, his gaze filled with both pity and unwavering resolve.

”Even in a desperate struggle, one must press on without hesitation. The life of a samurai is meant to wither as purely as a wild cherry blossom.” CRACK. The Black Warrior twisted his neck, and the dark light in his eyes intensified.

”But before that withering—”

Amidst a crackling sound, a terrifying, oppressive aura erupted from the Black Warrior.

With a gun in his left hand and a sword in his right, the Black Warrior roared and lunged forward.

”—it must also bloom like a wild cherry blossom!”

A brilliant flash of steel descended from above. In an instant, the blade plunged precisely into the juncture of a man’s neck and shoulder, burying itself completely in his torso.

With a piercing scream, the Daxing thug was stabbed to death, completely unable to fight back. The Black Warrior withdrew his blade as blood surged, already raising the pistol in his left hand.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

A terrifying volley of rapid fire erupted from the muzzle. With unbelievable accuracy, the Black Warrior inflicted massive casualties in an instant.

”I am not dead yet!” the Black Warrior roared. ”Sons of Dahua, follow me to a glorious death!”

The New Rangyi still in the fight immediately roared in response.

”To a glorious death!”

”To a glorious death!”

”To a glorious death!”

The Black Warrior’s arrival was a massive boost to the New Rangyi’s morale. Though he was a leader who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, at this moment, his stand made him the pillar of support for the surviving members.

The surviving New Rangyi charged out with reckless abandon, launching a counter-assault against the Daxing forces. The battle instantly devolved back into a fierce gridlock.

The Black Warrior cut and fired as he carved a path through the enemy, charging left and right. Bullets hammered against his body, his pitch-black armor cracking and warping in a shower of sparks. Yet the Black Warrior only staggered slightly, as if the force of the impacts was negligible, and the deadly glint of his blade never faltered for an instant.

THWIP. THWIP. THWIP. The blade flashed. Three men clutched their throats and knelt, crimson ripples quickly spreading in the puddles at their feet.

The black silhouette surged forward, his aura dark and powerful, his target the leader in the rear: Wang Dafu. He was soul-shakingly terrifying, killing with every step. BANG! BANG! BANG! He fired his pistol in a rapid volley. Though the range was too great for a direct hit, the bullets whizzed past, sowing considerable panic among Wang Dafu’s men.

”Brother Fa, fall back! Fall back now!”

”That guy’s a monster! He’s not human!”

Wang Dafu’s bodyguards panicked, huddling around him and trying to pull him back. More men drew their guns to return fire, but the Black Warrior was incredibly agile and blindingly fast. He moved as if he had limitless stamina, using strength that defied human limits to rapidly accelerate and stop short, carving an unpredictable path. Countless men fell to his sword, its edge now dyed a deep crimson.

For a moment, the Black Warrior seemed unstoppable.

”Get up there! Hold the line!”

As a former intellectual, even Wang Dafu was starting to panic.

But at this very moment, the Daxing thugs once again proved how unreliable street gangsters are. They were fine for blustering their way through a winning fight, but as soon as they faced a truly tough opponent, they cowered. This, in turn, only made it easier for the Black Warrior to carve his way through them.

”Motherfucker!”

Only Ah D, hot-tempered and fearless, charged out. He held a rifle he’d picked up and fired at the Black Warrior. RAT-A-TAT-TAT! Ah D’s appearance managed to slow the Black Warrior’s advance. But Ah D didn’t really know how to use a rifle. The Black Warrior sidestepped his bullets with ease, then raised his own pistol. With a sharp CRACK, he shot the body of Ah D’s rifle, shattering it.

Ah D froze, not yet comprehending what had happened, as the Black Warrior raised his pistol again and took aim at his forehead.

Just then, BANG! A burst of sparks erupted from the gun in the Black Warrior’s hand. The weapon shattered. The Black Warrior looked up to see Shi Tiexin standing beside Mai Ba on the factory’s highest steel catwalk, three stories up.

Mai Ba had been untied and was laid out flat on the catwalk.

Shi Tiexin stared down at the Black Warrior, who was now only five meters from Ah D—close enough to cut him down in a single lunge. ’What are the odds?’ he thought. ’Can I shoot him dead before he kills Ah D?’ He took a deep breath and then roared, ”Didn’t you want a duel with me?!”

CLANG. Shi Tiexin threw down the USP in his hand, then pushed off with his feet and leaped.

With a loud CLANG, he landed on the second-story catwalk to break his fall, then immediately vaulted off again. Shi Tiexin’s heavy frame hit the ground with a mighty THUD, sending out a ring of water as he landed firmly on his feet.

He straightened up and stared at his enemy. They stood twenty meters apart.

”Now, I’m here!” Shi Tiexin spread his empty hands, then with a loud RRIP, he tore off his ruined body armor, revealing the powerful physique beneath.

He was drenched in blood. The downpour washed the filth away, revealing a torso that was covered in wounds but still powerfully built and imposing.

”Come!” THUD. Shi Tiexin pounded his chest with his right forearm, issuing a challenge in the most primal way possible. ”Fight me to the death!”

The Black Warrior glanced at the hastily retreating Wang Dafu, then at the nearby Ah D. He suddenly burst into laughter and turned to face Shi Tiexin head-on.

”Excellent! This is the only place for warriors like us!”

CLANG. CLANG. The plates of his armor fell to the ground, revealing bluish-black skin that was also bathed in blood. The Black Warrior had shed his armor, leaving only the Celestial Dog Mask, which remained perfectly in place on his face.

CRACK. Shi Tiexin clenched his fists, his killing intent palpable. VMMMM. The Black Warrior gripped his sword with both hands, raising it high above his head into a high guard stance. His presence was sharp and overwhelming.

Shi Tiexin stared at the Black Warrior.

The Black Warrior stared at Shi Tiexin.

In the next instant, they both roared and charged.

The torrential rain poured down, never ceasing for a second.

Their feet splashed through the deep puddles, sending up sprays of water.

From Shi Tiexin’s false core, threads of heat bloomed like a flower, spreading rapidly to his limbs and bones. They surged up to his face, into the very flesh around his eyes. The mind-force swirling in his brain went into overdrive, racing along his neural pathways and causing the world before him to suddenly slow down.

The falling raindrops, the approaching blade—he saw it all with perfect clarity, just as he had when he was empowered in the Wenxin Secret Realm.

Similarly, thick, bluish-black tendons began to bulge across the Black Warrior’s body, spreading from his chest to cover him completely. A dark, profound, and terrifying power billowed from him. His hair fanned out to the sides, refusing to be plastered down by the heavy rain. The black light in his eyes seemed to overflow from behind his Celestial Dog Mask.