Spirit Realm

As one of the three great shadow guards, Gray Shadow had been put in a cruel environment by Shadow Tower and trained since young. It was only after he climbed out of a heap of corpses that he was taught all kinds of assassination techniques and allowed to cultivate the various high-level spirit arts in Shadow Tower.

The three shadow guards of Shadow Tower’s level in the martial way might not be all that impressive, but they were all top-class experts when it came to assassinations and ambushes.

To them, taking a life was as easy as eating and sleeping.

The reason Gray Shadow had been keeping watch at Armament Sect’s entrance for so long was to assassinate Tang Siqi. As for Qin Lie… he was just an unimportant character to be cooked along the way. In his eyes, someone who was only in the Natal Opening Realm was no different from lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

However, when “Shooting Divine Beam” had shot into Qin Lie’s heart from behind, not only did he not die instantly, Qin Lie was even able to turn immediately around. Now this was definitely something that would surprise Gray Shadow a little.

How could a martial practitioner who was only in the Natal Opening Realm with his guard down survive being shot by him at close range?

Something was wrong!

“Crak crak crak!”

An even layer of ice crystal covered Qin Lie’s entire body like scale armor. His eyes had turned into a bizarre silvery white, as he unleashed cold mist from his body.

“Frost Blade!”

A blade formed from solid ice appeared from Qin Lie’s right arm, connected to it. Its tip glittered with a cold light, and the cold energy shot out like a bolt.

It was like cold lightning that had pierced through the void.

“Bam!”

Sparks flew from Gray Shadow’s chest, and a trace of light flashed through those dark gray eyes as he suddenly cracked a grin.

Three small, emerald-colored snakes flew out of his sleeves. Each of them was only the width of a little finger and a meter long. Delicate snake-like patterns adorned their bodies.

The little emerald snakes swam through the air as if gliding in water. They agilely wiggled their way to Qin Lie’s side and abruptly attempted to bite his neck.

“Qin Bing!”

“Soft Bone Snake!”

Tang Siqi and another stranger’s voice rang from the streets. The moment they saw a conflict happening, the martial practitioners in the surrounding stalls looked unmoved and indifferent. It was as if they couldn’t see what was going on.

The only thing they did was try to protect their own stalls and attempt to retreat from the conflict.

There were fights every day at Free Trade Street due to conflicts over spirit materials. Blood being spilt and deaths occurred often enough that everyone had become numb to it a long time ago.

This place wasn’t sanctioned by Armament Sect in the first place, so Armament Sect did not put any security in this area.

Those who made up their minds to operate at Free Trade Street must also make up their minds to endure all consequences. Even if they died here, they couldn’t not blame anyone but themselves.

This was why Gray Shadow had chosen to attack at Free Trade Street.

“Ice Crystal Shield!”

Qin Lie had wanted to attack, but when he saw the three little snakes snarling at him, he quickly changed his skill from Frost Blade into Ice Crystal Shield. Then, he took a step backwards and protected his front with the ice shield.

“Pak! Pak! Pak!”

The three dark green Soft Bone Snakes bit at the ice shield, and the Ice Crystal Shield abruptly exploded into smithereens.

The shattered ice was like icy stars flying out in all directions with great force.

However, the martial practitioners at the stalls stayed fixed at their positions. They calmly lifted their hands, channeled their respective spirit arts, and blocked the bits of shattered ice that flew over.

Amazingly, no one was hurt by the shattered ice.

“Who are you? How dare you attack an Armament Sect inner sect disciple in Armament City?” Tang Siqi yelled harshly. Then, she defended herself. “Flame Silk!”

Six ribbons burning with purple flames suddenly flew out of her spatial ring. The purple burning flames were incredibly hot, causing many martial practitioners on the street to back away.

“Inner sect disciples! They’re actually inner sect disciples!”

It was only now that these martial practitioners of Free Trade Street noticed the furnace emblem on Qin Lie and Tang Siqi’s clothes and realized their identities.

But surprise was surprise. No one interfered or looked as if they had any intention of helping Qin Lie and Tang Siqi fight back against Gray Shadow.

In fact, many of these people were gloating. It would seem that they were very happy to see Qin Lie and Tang Siqi suffer a loss or be killed.

“Armament Sect relied on renting out all the large shops inside the city to gather their wealth. They had always wanted to clear out Free Trade Street and kill off any business that tried to go off on their own. Free Trade Street’s chaos and lawlessness was caused because Armament Sect had ignored them intentionally. They couldn’t wait for people to die everyday in Free Trade Street, so no one would visit here. Only then they would be satisfied.”

“Yeah, they hoped that Free Trade Street would decline so everyone would have to buy spirit materials from those stores.”

“If an inner sect disciple had died at Free Trade Street, then this will get really interesting, hehe.”

The martial practitioners on the street automatically made space for Gray Shadow and Qin Lie to fight. Meanwhile, they stood scattered at the side, watching and discussing with cold smiles.

“Whoosh whoosh whoosh!”

Six purple Flame Silks danced and flew. The sky above the streets glittered with purple fire, causing fear among the three Soft Bone Snakes. Amazingly, they could not break through to Qin Lie’s side.

“Nine Shuttle Stars!”

Nine shuttles that were like nine flying comets flew out of Tang Siqi’s pockets, dragging a beautiful light behind them.

“Cloud Shield!”

A thick earthen energy mixed with large clouds abruptly formed a solid light shield in front of Tang Siqi.

“Frost Bone Spear!”

A spear formed from five white bones howled like crying demons and chillingly charged at Gray Shadow.

“Nether Ghost Claw!”

A huge claw appeared again from Tang Siqi’s palm. Like the devil’s hand, it moved to grab Gray Shadow in midair as if it could rend the earth.

Qin Lie suddenly froze.

The many martial practitioners on the sides of the streets were also staring wide-eyed at the scene. Their eyes flowed with the light of utter shock.

“Profound Grade spirit artifact! It’s at least Grade Three!”

“This light shield is probably Grade Four!”

“That bone spear was at least Profound Grade Three!”

“Nether Ghost Claw. T-this is the claw of the Bloodthirsty Blade Demon from Nether Battlefield! Bloodthirsty Blade Demons are Rank Four spirit beasts, so this claw should be a Profound Grade Five spirit weapon!”

There were many people who could not hold it in and cried out. They were all shocked by Tang Siqi’s spirit artifacts that she had unleashed one after another.

Bolts of fiery light, shuttles, a spear, and a ghost claw that made a grabbing motion in midair all fell onto Gray Shadow. Gray Shadow was instantly drowned in a sea of light.

“Rrmmmb!”

Powerful, dazzling light followed by violent rumbles exploded from Gray Shadow’s position.

The light shadow faded. Gray Shadow’s gray clothes were blown to shreds. The dark brown spirit armor he wore had also cracked, and he was bleeding from many parts of his body.

Tang Siqi waved to Qin Lie while remaining hidden behind the Cloud Shield. She said mightily, “Come!”

Qin Lie very obediently went over and stuck close to her, hiding beneath the Cloud Shield in case Gray Shadow had more powerful attacks that he had not used yet.

A refreshing fragrance came from Tang Siqi’s voluptuous body and slipped into Qin Lie’s nose. He subconsciously looked at her.

Beneath the Cloud Shield, Tang Siqi appeared enraptured, and her beautiful face shone with dazzling brilliance. There was an unspeakable beauty in her.

Gripping her little fists, she excitedly exclaimed, “What a reckless fool! He dares to attack us inside Armament Sect? It looks like he doesn’t know how powerful his grandaunt here is!”

The shuttles and the bone spear scattered beside Gray Shadow, abruptly shuddered, and jumped back to mid-air yet again. Spirit energy boiled inside them, ready to form yet another round of attacks.

The Nether Ghost Claw above Gray Shadow’s head howled piercingly, looking as terrifying as a demon about to break through hell.

“I finally know why Blood Spear is so scary.”

“If those Blood Spear bastards were also equipped with a handful of spirit artifacts like those, then that is really quite scary.”

“Armament Sect really is Armament Sect.”

The crowd exclaimed.

Qin Lie was also shocked.

He did not know where Gray Shadow came from, but judging from that single hit that blasted into his body and nearly pierced through his internal organs, he immediately confirmed that the enemy was definitely a Manifestation Realm expert.

It was thanks to the fact that he had some success in forming his Heavenly Thunder Sacred Body so his body had become extremely tough that he wasn’t killed instantly.

He dared to confirm that if Yi Yuan was in his place, then he would instantly die with his internal organs exploding after being silently attacked once by this enemy, with the enemy leaving no trace of himself behind.

He would also die just as quietly.

Originally, the man had planned to silently kill him in and kill Tang Siqi before she could react as well with the same method.

Unfortunately, this man had incorrectly estimated the toughness of Qin Lie’s body and failed to kill him in complete silence.

Therefore, the perfect plan had been mercilessly torn apart by this accident.

“Your grandaunt here may not be good at fighting, but I have a ton of spirit artifacts. I’ll crush you to death with just spirit artifacts alone!” Tang Siqi exclaimed in high spirits. Hidden behind the Cloud Shield, her beautiful eyes glittered as she hooted and taunted while controlling the Nine Shuttle Stars, Frost Bone Spear, and Flame Silk remotely with her mind.

Every artificer was good at controlling spirit artifacts with their mind and, good at attacking and defending through the excellent control of their spirit artifacts.

This was because artificers must be able to accurately control their mind and consciousness and control the spirit energy inside each spirit line to achieve the most delicate balance when they were inscribing spirit diagrams. Only then could they perfectly inscribe a spirit diagram.

Under Tang Siqi’s control, the Nine Shuttle Stars, Frost Bone Spear, and Flame Silk surrounded Gray Shadow and indiscriminately bombarded him as if they had grown minds of their own. No matter how Gray Shadow dodged or defended, the three loose spirit artifacts were always able to find the trickiest of corners and break through Gray Shadow’s line of defense.

“I love forging artifacts, but I also love bullying people. You actually dare attack us? Do you really not know how the word death is written?” Tang Siqi chuckled, and while rubbing her spatial ring with one hand, she cried out arrogantly, “There are still so many spirit artifacts I haven’t brought out, you know. You must hold out a bit longer so these spirit artifacts of mine can see the light of day. Let’s test their effects and see if they’re as I imagined them. Yeah, please hold on okay!”

Gray Shadow was at the middle stage of the Manifestation Realm. His cultivation was one level higher than Tang Siqi, and he was skilled in art of assassination, but he really wasn’t used to such head-to-head combat.

Especially when he was facing someone who fought with countless spirit artifacts like Tang Siqi. It gave him an even bigger headache.

It was only now that he finally understood why the tower lord had deliberated to such an extent and spent so much effort to gain control of Armament Sect.

“Qin Bing, are you okay?” Tang Siqi suddenly remembered and turned around to look at Qin Lie, “You were the one who was attacked first. Are you injured at all?”

“My heart was injured, but it’s not a big problem.” Qin Lie answered.

“Oh, your heart…” Tang Siqi thought seriously for a moment. “That will be the Heart Protection Pill then. Okay, come, swallow this Heart Protection Pill and you will be able to stabilize your wound very soon.” She passed over a dark green pill. The pill was refined to the shape of a heart and looked incredibly beautiful and delicate.

Qin Lie did not bother to be modest and swallowed it immediately after accepting it. Then, he channeled his energy to dissolve the spirit pill.

After a dozen seconds or so, Qin Lie’s eyes lit up, and he said under Tang Siqi’s gaze, “I also understand why Blood Spear is so powerful now.”