The scraps drifted to the ground. The puppets drew back. Xi Guanxi stepped forward, then hesitated. No blood?
Green threads lashed out at Xi Guanxis back. He leaped forward, then flicked a finger. A pair of puppets rushed toward Jin Xian. Snarling, she sprouted fangs and claws. Startling power erupted from her, temporarily forcing the puppets back. Using the gap, she launched at one of the puppets.
Fourth stage? Since when? Xi Guanxi gaped. He furrowed his brows. Even in life, Fang Hua wasnt
The hair on the back of his neck prickled, and cold burst through his body as an overwhelming sense of danger pounded through him. He jumped back instinctively.
Huis sword slamd to the ground, point-first, piercing the ground where Xi Guanxi had been standing seconds ago. Hui landed a second later and darted at Xi Guanxi, hand held out, a fire talisman burning brightly.
Xi Guanxi slapped his hand back. The fire talisman exploded away from him, sending a fire tabby rushing out over the field. He gestured, and his puppets pivoted on their heels and rushed in at Hui from behind.
Zhubi! Now! Hui shouted.
Zhubi leaped off Huis neck and grew to his full size in the ti it took to blink. He lashed out with his long, whiplike body and threw the puppets flying.
Xi Guanxi grimaced and gestured again. The puppets froze in midair and zood back toward him, yanked from their backs where the string connected.
Even as he yanked, Hui stepped in. His other hand, the one without the talisman, jabbed the black dagger at Xi Guanxis gut.
Xi Guanxis eyes widened. Even compared to when Hui had dropped down from above earlier, the danger he sensed now was much more imminent. Almost invisible, a low black aura swirled around the daggers blade, emanating a cold aura of death. He leaped back again.
Jin Xian! Hui shouted.
She threw a hand out. A globule of black blood flew over the shoulder of the two puppets she fought and slamd into Xi Guanxis back, pushing him forward. Hui thrust at the sa ti. The dagger slamd into Xi Guanxis stomach.
All this takes so ti to describe, but it all happened in a tiny mont of ti. From the ti Hui dropped on his sword to the mont he stabbed Xi Guanxi, only a breath of ti had passed.
Black death qi poured into Xi Guanxi, tainting his qi passages. It raced through him, roaring through his body. Xi Guanxi jumped back, pushing Hui back at the sa ti. Hui went flying. Bones snapped. His muscles bruised. The force of the blow made him spit up a mouthful of blood, and then he smashed into the ground. Another mouthful of blood erged from his mouth. He rolled over the stony ground, bouncing and bumping. As he rolled, he slamd the dagger into the rock and slowed himself to a halt. Even so, a full ter stretched from where he cut into the stone to where he finally stopped.
Hui coughed. He struggled to draw a breath, his chest ruined, fully caved in. Trembling hands drew a pair of Viscera Pills from his storage ring, and he instantly swallowed them. Slowly, his bones cracked and snapped back into place. He rested there, bent over, for another few seconds. Spitting another mouthful of bad blood, he finally climbed to his feet.
He gazed at Xi Guanxi, eyes cold. Elder Brother, I naturally respect my elders and betters. However Im afraid I have no respect for you.
Xi Guanxi staggered back. He clutched the wound in his stomach. His eyes flickered between green and black as he struggled against the death qi in the wound. All at once, he threw his hand down toward himself, hand shaped like a blade. Decisively, he slashed almost a quarter of his abdon away. White bone shone where his spine poked through his flesh. His ribs appeared above, lungs laboring away. The green began to flicker stronger than the black, fighting it back.
Throwing his head back, he roared. Green light blasted from his core. Black death qi leaked out of his pores, shoved out by the qi.
Hui raised his eyebrows, curious. So theres more than one way to handle death qi contamination! If one has a lot of qi, then they can use their excess qi to slough off the qi tainted by death qi before it can spread. Its sothing like washing a droplet of dye just dropped into a bucket of water out of it by pouring out water. It wont work if the dye spreads enough, and you have to waste a lot of water to accomplish it, but it works. A very brute-force thod of combatting death qi.
He nodded to himself. Of course. Naturally, a demonic sect would have ways to combat death qi! After all, they work alongside corpse cultivators, death cultivators, and other dark cultivators who focus on death qi-based arts. It makes sense.
Huis eyes flashed. He gestured, clawing upward. But this Hui is ready. A cowardahem! A well-prepared cultivator like myself never bets it all on one attack!
Xi Guanxis eyes widened, then flickered again. The black appeared more often, climbing into the green. He gasped, glaring at Hui. How
Hui grinned. Have you ever heard of qi seeds? I used the sa principle they use to hide their qi, an extre suppression, to hide tiny drops of deactivated death qi in my stab. The tiny drops circulate faster than actual death qi, because they dont need to corrupt or fight your qi to move through your qi passages. You did wash so of them out, but
Hui shrugged, almost apologetic. Im sorry, Elder Brother. You will die here.
I die? No! Xi Guanxis eyes blazed with green light, temporarily blocking out the death qi. The flaring qi spread the death qi infected deep in his body faster as his qi passages moved faster, but the final rush of power could not be stopped by the relatively slow spread of the death qi.
Hui leaped back, startled. He flicked his hand, summoning Zhubi to his side; as Zhubi flew back, he diminished to his usual size. Even as fast as Hui could move, the sense of danger did not diminish. How powerful is this attack?
Burning his longevity, his qi, even the full power of his cultivation base, burning everything down to power, Xi Guanxi threw out his hands over him. His shadow snake withered rapidly, drying up to nothing. Green power began to congeal over his head, rushing together into a massive ball of green light. His body withered, and a powerful aura of death emanated out from him. Still he poured power into the ball.
A shiver crawled up Huis spine. If thats the attack it looks like
The ball changed shape, turning into a massive green skull. Across the battlefield, Bai Xue and Liu Baozhai parted and rushed back, each individually fleeing the skull. Sweat rolled down Bai Xues back. Dont tell is he planning to take us all out with him?
If you harm a mber of the Xi clan you will be repaid with death! Xi Guanxi roared.
Dammit, this is why I dont kill! Dont kill, Hui! Dont kill! Hui shouted to himself, enraged at his past actions. Argh! There had to be another way. Another way! So way to get out of that evil puppeteers grasp without dying or becoming a puppet! I dont want enmity. I dont need vengeance. This poor, small cultivator has made a mistake!
A hand pierced through Xi Guanxis chest, stabbing through his heart. He looked down. Black blood roared through his body, extinguishing his qi, fanning the death qi.
No! Xi Guanxi scread. He threw his hands out. The skull began to fall.
As it fell, it withered, changing from green to black. The withered skull emanated less power, instead releasing a cold, rotten aura of death. The skull scread, as if it itself was unwilling to die, but even so, it couldnt battle the combined attack of the black blood and the death qi. It trembled, then turned into ashes, which drifted harmlessly to the floor. All around Xi Guanxi, the ten puppets drooped to the ground, life extinguishing alongside their puppeteer.
Xi Guanxi toppled to the ground. Behind him stood Jin Xian, her hand thrust out, claws dripping with Xi Guanxis red blood and her own black blood. Her eyes glowed black, a fierce, horrid black.
Hui shivered. He took a step back.
Jin Xian narrowed her eyes. You say anyone who kills a mber of the Xi clan must die? What is the Fang clan, then, in your eyes? Naught but bugs?
She lowered her hand slowly. Your brother killed , in essence, the mont he made a puppet. Now, I have returned the favor. Anyone who kills a mber of the Fang clan will die, by our own hands!
Hui panted. He stared, disbelieving. Jin Xian no. Fang Hua. You were awake the whole ti?
Dark eyes stared at Hui. Fang Hua scoffed. Perhaps.
Nervous, Hui took another step back. Dont you
He bit his tongue halfway through, forcibly quieting himself. Dont you owe a debt of gratitudewas I seriously about to say that? No, no, no, Hui, hold your tongue! Im almost out of talismans and injured. Now is not the ti to proc a second battle!
Her eyes narrowed at him. After a second, she bowed stiffly. Please continue to cultivate this body. Until the next ti I awaken, I will serve quietly by your side as Jin Xian.
Hui blinked. Keep you by my side? No, absolutely not! You have a will, youre conscious, wont you hate ? I should send her far away, sowhere
But but my precious body-replacent corpse! My puppet- and black blood-technique-using cultivated corpse! No! I cant give it up!
Think about it, Hui. Fang Hua has no reason to hate you. No grudge to hold against you. You didnt kill her, nor harm her. In fact, I even cultivated her into a death cultivator! In so ways, thats like bringing her back to life! Im in a certain way of looking at it, Im her savior! Resolve flickered in Huis eyes, and he clenched his fist. No. I can do it. Keep her by my side, justjust make sure I treat her well!
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