Chapter 104. Awakened?
Panic surged through Wang Tao’s heart. Just as he was about to charge toward the islet, he saw that the few chief guards had already been forced back by the Bai Family warriors working together. Staggering, they fell back onto the shore, and he imdiately relaxed.
The commotion caused by the Thunderbolt Pearl’s explosion had been far too great. By now, it had drawn the attention of nearly everyone by the lakeside.
Xie Yun exchanged another palm strike with the red-robed man, then used the montum to leap backward.
He happened to see that the place where Yang Caiyu had been standing was now empty, with nothing left but scorched earth and bloodstains. Then he saw Wang Tao standing there alone, and his expression changed at once.
“Wang Tao, did you kill Yang Caiyu?!”
The Thunderbolt Pearl had left Wang Tao in a thoroughly miserable state, and he was already in a foul mood. Hearing that, he let out a cold laugh. “She only has herself to bla. She tried to be clever and ended up ruining herself by pulling out a Thunderbolt Pearl to seek death.”
“With the power of that thing, and with her standing that close, she’s probably already been blown to ashes without even a corpse left!”
Xie Yun’s pupils contracted sharply, shock and fury surging through him.
Yang Caiyu might have been arrogant, but her talent was excellent, and Chief Overseer Yang Cang valued her greatly.
Otherwise, he would not have forced through all objections back then just to place her in the position of chief guard over the dicinal fields for training.
“I think you’ve truly gone mad...”
Xie Yun stared at him coldly. “By provoking a seven-ridian martial artist like this, you probably won’t even be able to close your eyes in sleep from now on!”
“Heh, I’ll be waiting for Yang Cang to co to the Bai Family looking for .”
Wang Tao sneered back. “But, Old Ghost Xie, you’d better worry about yourself first!”
Before his words had even fallen, he moved. Together with the red-robed man, who had just forced Xie Yun back a step, he ford a pincer attack, striking from left and right at the sa ti.
Xie Yun had already been no match for the other man alone. Now that there was an additional six-ridian opponent, the pressure on him beca mountain-like.
He could only rely on footwork to keep dodging and weaving, fighting almost entirely on the defensive as he barely held on. Blood was already seeping from the corner of his mouth again.
...
anwhile, elsewhere.
Ti rewound slightly.
Xu Yuan appeared to be running for his life without ever looking back, but in truth, he had been using the corner of his eye the whole ti to keep track of the movent behind him.
The thunderous sound of the explosion, Wang Tao’s furious curses, the chief guards’ attempt to awaken the Purple Gold Eel... he caught all of it clearly.
His mind rapidly replayed what the chief guard of the Second Field had said earlier:
“Although the Purple Gold Eel often falls into slumber, it is violent by nature and most fond of the scent of blood. If enough blood and vital essence can be drawn into the lake, it may be possible to wake it.”
But Wang Tao and the others were guarding against that possibility with utmost vigilance. Pulling it off quietly would be extrely difficult.
Just as Xu Yuan was thinking it over, a furious shout suddenly rang out behind him:
“You little bastard, you ran fast enough, but let’s see where you think you’re going now!”
Xu Yuan’s steps slowed slightly as he turned sideways to glance back.
A Bai Family five-ridian martial artist had already closed to within three zhang. He was thin and wiry, with tiny mung-bean eyes, and in his hands was a pair of black iron spikes gleaming with a cold light.
Earlier, Wang Tao had flicked him a look, ordering him to stop Xu Yuan.
This man was called Sun Wu. Though his appearance was unremarkable, he was known for swift movent techniques. The mont Xu Yuan’s speed slackened even slightly, he had finally caught up.
“Die!”
Sun Wu flicked his twin spikes, which split into two vicious flashes of cold light, one aid at the throat and the other at the heart. His moves were ruthless and tricky.
Seeing that Xu Yuan was still young, he was confident that even if he could not kill him in one blow, he could at least cripple him badly.
Xu Yuan’s brows lifted faintly, and an idea imdiately ford in his mind.
His Wandering Dragon Step suddenly changed. He narrowly avoided the deadly edge of the twin spikes, but deliberately swayed as though caught off guard, then retreated swiftly toward the front-right.
Seeing this, Sun Wu felt delighted. With a low roar, he shouted, “Where do you think you’re going?!”
He imdiately leaped after him.
Once he gained the advantage, he pressed it relentlessly. His twin spikes danced like the wind, every move aid at Xu Yuan’s vital points, forcing Xu Yuan into a panicked-looking retreat.
Yet though Xu Yuan appeared to be at a disadvantage, his gaze remained calm. His footwork looked disorderly, but hidden within it was a pattern. Bit by bit, he lured his opponent closer to the lakeshore near the islet.
After failing to finish him off for so long, Sun Wu gradually grew irritated.
This brat was too slippery. Every ti victory seed within reach, Xu Yuan sohow managed to escape at the very last instant, like an eel slipping through his fingers.
“Damn it, let’s see how much longer you can keep dodging!”
He cursed angrily, his offensive growing even fiercer as he tried to exhaust Xu Yuan’s strength with an endless barrage of rapid attacks.
Xu Yuan’s eyes swept quickly across the surroundings. He confird that only a few scattered skirmishes were taking place in the distance, and very few people were paying attention to this relatively secluded corner.
And from here to the water at the edge of the islet, it was less than ten zhang.
The ti had co.
A cold light flashed in his eyes, and the aura he had been barely maintaining suddenly changed.
His Wandering Dragon Step was no longer chaotic. Instead, it beca elusive and unpredictable. With a flicker of movent, he easily evaded Sun Wu’s supposedly certain twin-spike strike aid at both ears.
At the sa ti, the force he had been concealing erupted in full.
His counterattack was as fast as thunder. Gusts from his fists shot forth like white ribbons three feet long, and with force surging through them, he actually t Sun Wu’s twin spikes head-on in a direct clash!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sound of tal striking tal exploded outward. Sun Wu’s arms went slightly numb, and his heart was even more shaken. How had this brat’s strength suddenly beco so much greater?
And his skin—why was it so tough? It felt almost like leather.
Xu Yuan seized the mont when Sun Wu’s focus wavered. He deliberately exposed an opening and took a kick to the shoulder head-on. Borrowing the force, he spun sharply, his left hand clamping onto Sun Wu’s right wrist like a steel vice while his right fist rained down like a storm!
Bang! Bang!
Several punches landed in succession, all crashing into Sun Wu’s chest and abdon.
Sun Wu felt as though his internal organs had been hamred by a great mallet. The sound of ribs breaking was clear in his ears. Under the agony, his force scattered, and the twin spikes fell to the ground with a clatter.
Xu Yuan showed no rcy. His final punch crashed heavily into Sun Wu’s brow.
“Aaah—!”
Sun Wu let out a shrill scream as his entire body flew backward like a torn sack. Bones snapped in multiple places, and he collapsed limply onto the ground, unable to move again.
...
anwhile, at the main battlefield on the lakeshore.
Wang Tao had just found an opening and slamd a vicious palm strike into Xie Yun’s shoulder, sending him flying back in a spray of blood.
At that exact mont, Sun Wu’s scream tore through the mist.
Wang Tao snapped his head around.
On the embanknt not far from the islet, he saw a young chief guard lifting the blood-soaked, limp-as-mud Sun Wu with one hand. Then, with a shake of his arm, he hurled him brutally toward the lake outside the islet.
“Stop!!”
At the sight, Wang Tao’s eyes nearly split apart as he roared in fury.
But he was already too late.
Sun Wu’s body traced an arc through the air before splashing into the lake with a heavy plop. Blood spread instantly, staining a broad patch of the water scarlet, a horrifying sight beneath the veil of mist.
The red-robed man saw it and flew into such a rage that his hair seed to stand on end. He bellowed, “You little bastard, I’ll take your life!”
He actually abandoned Xie Yun on the spot, turning into a streak of bloody lightning as he charged straight at Xu Yuan!
But Xu Yuan had already reacted the mont the man turned. He drove his Wandering Dragon Step to the limit, his blood and qi roaring through his body as he fled desperately toward the distant forest.
After chasing for more than ten zhang, the red-robed man was inwardly startled. Was this brat part rabbit? How could he be that fast?
Yet just as he had reached the middle of his pursuit—
Rumble...
The ground began to tremble without warning.
It was as though so enormous creature had turned over beneath the lakebed. Pebbles on the shore began to jump and rattle, while the muddy, fishy sll that had already been strong abruptly intensified. Mixed within it was a violent aura that made the heart quail.
A faint, indistinct hiss seed to rise from the depths of the lake’s center, low and rolling like muffled thunder.
Wang Tao’s face instantly turned deathly pale, and he cried out in a trembling voice:
“This is bad... the Purple Gold Eel has awakened!”
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