Chapter 154: The Overbearing Long Jinyi

The world stood still!

Among the two men and one horse, in their six wide-open eyes, there was only that dark handprint about to slam down onto their foreheads. Their bodies were already too sluggish to make the slightest movement.

In this very instant, the two men and the horse felt a bone-chilling cold throughout their entire bodies.

Right at that moment, coming from their flank, nine golden sword qi beams shot through the air, striking with pinpoint accuracy at the nine giant handprints. The sharpness contained within them was terrifyingly extreme, cutting through the void and leaving nine bizarre black scars in their wake.

Bang, bang, bang—

Nine explosive detonations echoed a split second later, accompanied by Xue Fenglou's miserable scream, as a geyser of blood splashed into the air!

Nine shockwaves erupted outward, blasting Fang Junmei, Luanshi Daolang, and Lightning backward simultaneously under the immense force.

Though blood leaked from the corners of their mouths and their internal organs throbbed with agonizing pain, they had narrowly escaped a mortal catastrophe.

The two men and one horse crashed heavily onto the ground, landing right behind Long Jinyi.

And Long Jinyi had already risen to his feet at some point, holding a dark-gleaming broadsword with both hands and leaning it against the ground like a towering, pitch-black mountain. His silver-white cloak fluttered wildly in the wind.

On his resolute and rugged face, there was not a trace of expression. His eyes gazed with supreme coldness at Xue Fenglou, whose palm had been pierced straight through by his sword. With deep, tiger-like eyes, he made no further move to attack.

At this moment, Xue Fenglou had already flashed high into the sky. All eight of his shadow clones had vanished, leaving only his true body behind. Clutching his bleeding palm, he stared at Long Jinyi with a gloomy and highly guarded expression.

"Long Jinyi, I have no grudges or enmity with you. Why help these three attack me? Could it be that you are in league with them?"

Xue Fenglou's expression was exceptionally unsightly as he continued, "I remember that kid is from the Taoyuan Sword Sect. Could it be that you still harbor lingering attachments to the Taoyuan Sword Sect?"

Hearing this, Long Jinyi let out a cold snort and proclaimed proudly, "I am now a cultivator of the demonic path, owing allegiance to no rules. I do as I please, and I kill whoever I want. Since when is it your place to question me!"

Heroic, domineering, and utterly uninhibited!

Though it didn't sound like anything an orthodox figure would say, the soaring, indomitable spirit radiating from his very bones made Fang Junmei, Luanshi Daolang, and Lightning—lying flat on the ground—feel a surge of boiling hot blood in their veins. They felt that only a person of this caliber was truly worthy of standing at the very pinnacle.

At this moment, the light in Fang Junmei's eyes dimmed.

Had it not been for Long Jinyi's intervention, he, his companion, and the horse would have been slain by Xue Fenglou. Their previous unyielding pride had become an absolute joke.

A feeling of unspeakable humiliation surged into his heart. Without a doubt, this was the first time in his life he had ever experienced such a sensation.

……

Xue Fenglou was also a person of extreme arrogance. Being looked down upon like this by Long Jinyi caused fierce, murderous glints to flash endlessly in his eyes.

Yet Long Jinyi barked sternly, "Hand over the door-opening treasure you obtained, and then get lost as far away as you can."

Being cultivators of the same late Dao-Embryo stage, Long Jinyi ordered Xue Fenglou around as if he were shouting at a dog. Upon hearing these words, Xue Fenglou's face instantly flushed crimson, and he let out a beast-like howl of rage.

"Since you want it so badly, what harm is there in giving it to you?"

With an angry roar, Xue Fenglou flicked his hand across his waist and produced a mass of emerald-green light. Looking closely, it turned out to be a jade seal identical in size and shape to the golden jade seal resting in Lightning's belly, differing only in color. The aura it emitted was likewise that of a supreme magical treasure.

A gleam of realization lit up the eyes of the onlookers, confirming that this magical treasure was indeed one of the five door-opening treasures. By extension, the other three treasures must also be jade seals of varying colors, and Xue Fenglou appeared to have already successfully refined it.

Whoosh!

After taking out the treasure, Xue Fenglou flicked his hand and tossed it upward. The green jade seal soared into the air, silently projecting the illusion of a vast green jungle world around the seal itself. It expanded infinitely, continuously growing like a massive, eerie green cloud as it pressed down toward Long Jinyi.

Fang Junmei, his companion, and the horse not far away were likewise caught within its domain of coverage.

Terrifying power surged from the green jade seal, and sharp sonic booms suddenly rent the void.

Rend—

Explosive sounds rang out, and blood splattered!

Fang Junmei and Luanshi Daolang were low in cultivation, and their bodies nearly ruptured the moment the green jade seal pressed down.

Lightning, being a demonic beast, naturally possessed a formidable physical body and fared slightly better, though it was still gritting its teeth in strain.

The two men and the horse desperately wanted to dodge aside, only to find that they were completely paralyzed and unable to move even an inch.

Long Jinyi was only at the late Dao-Embryo stage; facing a supreme magical treasure, he was equally incapable of dodging. However, he was not entirely devoid of countermeasures.

"I have one too!"

Following a cold snort, without even blinking, Long Jinyi swiftly produced an object and met the green jade seal crashing down from the sky head-on!

It was a fiery-red jade seal. The entire seal appeared to be in a constant state of burning, with flames flashing across its surface.

Once hurled outward, an endless sea of fire surged into existence, rolling waves of blistering heat rising in its wake!

Boom!

Before their eyes could fully keep up, a colossal explosion erupted deafeningly.

The two supreme magical treasures of identical quality yet opposing attributes collided, bursting into a sky full of shattered flames and green light-shadows.

Surging shockwaves rolled outward!

The figures of the four men and one horse were blasted backward almost in the very next instant.

……

This collision felt like the cataclysmic explosion of two worlds colliding, instantly blinding them and rendering them temporarily incapable of seeing anything at all!

Fortunately, their spiritual awareness was still usable.

Fang Junmei, scorched by the flames and looking even more miserable, still projected his spiritual awareness to observe the scene. He saw that Long Jinyi's armor was shattered and blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, while Xue Fenglou's robes were likewise torn to shreds and stained with blood.

The gazes of both men had dimmed considerably, as if expending that single blow had drained vast amounts of their dharma power and divine soul energy.

It was easy to understand; supreme magical treasures were simply not something cultivators at their level could casually wield at will.

Whoosh—

Recalling the fiery-red jade seal, Long Jinyi gave chase directly after Xue Fenglou, smashing down with the fiery-red seal once more!

"Long Jinyi, have you lost your mind? Once your divine soul and dharma power are exhausted, what will you and I use to fight off the others? The fellows in those two places are definitely no ordinary people, and there might even be your old rival Gu Xiejin among them!"

Xue Fenglou looked on as if he were on the verge of a mental breakdown.

He often considered himself sufficiently sinister and vicious, but upon encountering a madman like Long Jinyi who completely disregarded the consequences, he realized he was still a normal person.

"Whatever Long Jinyi has set his sights on, I must obtain!"

Long Jinyi's domineering attitude remained unchanged. Like a frenzied black dragon, he roared sternly, "Today, either you hand over the jade seal, or you die!"

His voice rolled like thunder, echoing across the sky.

Hearing this, Xue Fenglou's expression twisted into one uglier than crying, and he had no choice but to deploy the green jade seal once again to defend himself.

For cultivators of their tier, only a supreme magical treasure could counter a supreme magical treasure. Moreover, regardless of which jade seal it was, neither was likely an ordinary supreme magical treasure.

Trapped under the inexplicable suppression force and unable to dodge, Long Jinyi had unleashed the fiery-red jade seal, leaving Xue Fenglou with no option but to use the emerald-green jade seal to counter it. It was as simple as that!

Boom, boom—

Rumbling sounds erupted anew, blowing the sky to pieces and causing the void to tremble and shake violently.

Fang Junmei and Luanshi Daolang watched with glowing eyes and trembling hearts, realizing for the first time that the battles they had fought all the way here were nothing more than children's games.

"If the three of you aren't dead yet, stand up, get ready to move, and make sure you kill him."

The voice abruptly resounded within the sea of consciousness of the two men and the horse.

Long Jinyi might have seemed mad, but as it turned out, he was clearer-headed than anyone, and he certainly wasn't arrogant enough to think he could effortlessly kill Xue Fenglou alone.

The same cultivation realm, the same ultimate trump cards—this was the current reality.

Neither of them had any unrevealed methods in their hands that could surpass these two supreme magical treasures, so the ultimate outcome was bound to be mutual injury and the complete exhaustion of their divine souls and dharma power.

Hearing this, the pupils of the two men and the horse constricted. Fang Junmei and Luanshi Daolang glanced at the white horse Lightning, gripping the blades and swords in their hands all the more tightly.

……

The sounds of head-on clashes continued without pause.

The sixth strike!

The seventh strike!

The divine souls and dharma powers of both Long Jinyi and Xue Fenglou were rapidly depleting, and their complexions grew paler by the layer.

Several times after the collisions, Xue Fenglou tried to flee into the distance, but the next moment Long Jinyi would relentlessly entangle him, smashing down with the fiery-red jade seal. The suppressing force within it not only prevented him from dodging but forced him to counter with the emerald-green jade seal—what else could he do? If he didn't counter-attack, he would be smashed to death.

He couldn't escape, the fights ended in a stalemate, and his dharma power and divine soul were rapidly burning away.

The crucial point was that Long Jinyi could go mad and ignore the consequences—after all, he had three helpers—whereas Xue Fenglou was not such a person, nor did he have any helpers. Depression filled his heart to the point where he nearly wanted to cry.

You don't play games like this!

Boom—

Following another massive explosion, Long Jinyi sensed that he no longer had the strength to drive the fiery-red jade seal, and surmised that his opponent must be in the exact same state.

"Attack!"

Long Jinyi let out a great shout. After recalling the fiery-red jade seal, he drew his dark treasured sword, channeled the tiny shred of remaining dharma power, and unleashed yet another barrage of sword qi.

Swish!

On this side, Lightning charged out first.

That terrifying, space-crossing momentum turned Xue Fenglou's face pale with shock, and he turned tail and fled toward the edge of the horizon. Yet how much dharma power and divine soul could possibly remain within his body?

Lightning was blindingly fast, soon overtaking him and cutting off his path ahead, kicking out with a hoof straight toward his head!

Xue Fenglou's reaction was also swift; his body jerked violently sideways, miraculously dodging the blow. Having evaded it, he once again executed his shadow-transforming technique, splitting into nine illusions that fled in different directions.

Lightning was dumbfounded once again!

Fang Junmei had already activated his Three-Breath Divine Stone, his eyes sharp as lightning, and clearly saw that only one of the figures was reaching toward his waist, while the others were not.

"Lightning, the one on the far left!"

He transmitted the thought via mind connection.

Upon hearing this, Lightning flashed like lightning and gave chase to the one on the far left. Arriving at its back, it delivered another kick!

Boom!

With a heavy thud, this kick finally landed squarely!

Xue Fenglou had just drawn out a bottle-like object and hadn't even had time to execute his technique before he was sent reeling in utter dizziness. Had it not been for a protective light barrier shielding his body outside, his head surely would have been kicked to pieces.

Seizing the hit, Lightning prepared to kick wildly in a frenzy, but a split second later, it fled far away in sheer terror. It saw Xue Fenglou flick his hand, causing dark, rolling wolf-smoke to billow up around his body, actually forming a protective layer. Without needing to look, one could tell it was bound to be another highly toxic substance.

Whoosh—

Having released the poison, Xue Fenglou attempted to flee once more. Regrettably, having only darted ten-odd zhang away, Fang Junmei and the other two had already caught up.

The boundless light of blades and swords struck into the dark wolf-smoke, and a dying scream finally rang out. Xue Fenglou's physical body was shredded into a pile of minced meat by the combined attacks of the three.

A sky full of bloody mist drifted and scattered downward.

The senior brother of this generation of the Myriad Maniac Mountains had fallen in battle!