Chapter 169 - 165: Slaying the Marauder Leader
After Uncle Qu gave chase, the hillside fell silent.
Li Yuan maintained his Spiritual Power output, sitting cross-legged beside the Array’s Spiritual Power inlet. The scent of the Spirit Essence Fruit continued to spread in all directions, and the Array operated smoothly.
A wind blew in from the northwest, rustling the leaves of the bushes.
Suddenly, his Aura Imprint reacted.
Profound, heavy, and intensely oppressive.
Qi Refining Ninth Level.
It was the exact same aura he had memorized in front of the shop.
Li Yuan opened his eyes.
The aura approached from the northeast. Its speed was not slow, yet it made no effort at concealment. It was as if the person knew the Array was active and that someone was on the hillside, but simply didn’t care.
’Luring the tiger from the mountain.’
First, they sent a decoy to lure Uncle Qu away, then the real one came from another direction.
Li Yuan stood up and withdrew the Spiritual Power he was channeling into the Array.
The Array’s glow dimmed, and the scent of the Spirit Essence Fruit rapidly dissipated.
’It’s pointless now.’
The enemy had already arrived. Keeping the Array active would only reveal his position.
Li Yuan faced northeast and retreated to a protruding rock at the top of the slope. The rock was about half a man’s height; with his back to it, he at least wouldn’t have to worry about attacks from behind.
The aura grew closer and closer.
From three hundred yards to two hundred, and from two hundred to one hundred.
A figure emerged from the low bushes to the northeast.
It wasn’t the face of the middle-aged Cultivator from the shop, nor was it the narrow face with high cheekbones from just a moment ago.
This time, it was a completely unfamiliar face.
He looked to be in his forties, with coarse features, a broad jaw, and a prominent brow.
He wore dark brown leather armor, a short dagger tucked at his waist, and carried a worn iron sword in his hand.
But an aura can’t lie.
His Aura Imprint recognized it. It was that Qi Refining Ninth Level aura, a perfect match.
The man stopped fifty yards away. His gaze swept over the remnants of the Array on the hilltop before landing on Li Yuan.
He sized him up for a couple of breaths.
"Just you?"
His voice was deep, tinged with impatience.
Li Yuan didn’t speak.
The man glanced around again. After confirming no one else was present, the corner of his mouth twitched into a smirk.
He held the iron sword horizontally before him. Spiritual Power flowed across the blade, suffusing it with a dark cyan glow, as he strode up the slope.
His pace wasn’t fast, but the ground trembled slightly with each step. The Spiritual Power of a Qi Refining Ninth Level cultivator emanated from his body, an oppressive presence that could be clearly felt even from fifty yards away.
Li Yuan raised his right hand, palm facing forward.
’Fireball Technique.’
Spiritual Power surged from his Dantian, rushed through the meridians into his right arm, and gathered in his palm.
Fire Element Conversion completed the change in the Spiritual Power’s attribute in an instant, with almost no loss.
Rapid Fire Casting accelerated the Magic’s formation. The process from gathering Spiritual Power to forming the spell took only half the normal time.
A fist-sized Fireball coalesced in his palm. The effect of Spiritual Power Condensation made its density far greater than that of his peers.
Flame Marrow Body boosted the power of his Fire Element Magic by another twenty percent.
The Fireball shot from his hand.
The Precision trait locked onto the target, and the Fireball flew in a straight line toward the man’s chest.
The man’s brow furrowed, and he swept his iron sword horizontally.
The dark cyan Spiritual Light on the blade collided with the Fireball.
BOOM.
The Fireball exploded, sending a searing shockwave expanding in all directions. The leaves of the low bushes instantly curled and blackened in the heat.
The man was pushed back half a step by the blast.
He glanced down at the hand holding the sword. The web between his thumb and index finger was slightly red, and a sharp, burning pain stung his palm.
His expression changed.
"Qi Refining Eighth Level?"
He had assumed the one left on the hillside was some Qi Refining Sixth Level small fry he could deal with easily. He never expected a Qi Refining Eighth Level Cultivator.
’Besides, a Fireball Technique from a Qi Refining Eighth Level shouldn’t be this powerful.’
Li Yuan didn’t give him time to think.
A second Fireball immediately followed.
This one wasn’t aimed at his chest. It was offset by half a foot, heading for the man’s sword hand.
The man twisted sideways to dodge. The Fireball grazed the outside of his right arm and exploded in the bushes behind him.
A third shot.
Li Yuan raised his left hand at the same time. ’Fire Arrow Skill.’
A finger-thick Fire Arrow shot from his left palm, its speed nearly double that of the Fireball.
The Fire Arrow’s target wasn’t the man’s body, but the spot where his feet would land after dodging the Fireball.
The Precision trait came into play at this moment. The Fire Arrow’s trajectory pointed exactly toward the direction of the man’s shifting center of gravity as he dodged.
The man had just dodged the Fireball and hadn’t even found his footing when the Fire Arrow was already upon him.
He raised his iron sword vertically to block.
The Fire Arrow struck the blade, exploding in a shower of sparks. The impact wasn’t strong, but the intense heat from the arrow’s explosion left a dark red scorch mark on the sword.
The man finally stabilized his footing and charged forward abruptly.
He needed to get in close.
For a Qi Refining Ninth Level Cultivator, choosing to engage in close combat was the correct decision. He had already been at a disadvantage at range; the power and precision of the Fireball Technique had both exceeded his expectations.
He was fast. The fifty-yard distance closed to less than ten yards in the span of a few breaths.
He swung his iron sword in a diagonal slash. The dark cyan Spiritual Light extended more than a foot from the blade’s edge as it chopped toward Li Yuan’s left shoulder.
Li Yuan took a step to his right.
The sword light sliced past the outside of his left shoulder, creating a sharp whistling sound as it cut through the air.
’Closer.’
The man’s iron sword immediately followed with a horizontal sweep from left to right, aimed at Li Yuan’s waist.
Li Yuan took a step back, then saw the man opposite him unleash a Golden Blade.
The Golden Blade was cast hastily and lacked power.
Li Yuan raised his left arm, meeting the Golden Blade with his forearm.
CLANG.
The sound of metal striking metal.
The man’s pupils contracted violently.
Scale Armor Protection had significantly boosted the defense of his skin’s surface.
Iron Film Protection formed a second layer of defense beneath his skin, simultaneously reinforcing the toughness of his meridians.
Thanks to long-term tempering from Evil Qi Body Tempering and Evil Qi Affinity, his muscle fiber density was far beyond that of a normal person.
Two perfected mortal-level Cultivation Techniques also provided a boost.
The Golden Blade cut into his skin but couldn’t slice through the flesh beneath.
Li Yuan’s right fist had already arrived.
His fist, wreathed in Spiritual Power, smashed toward the man’s ribs.
Spiritual Power Condensation made the punch’s density far greater than that of his peers, while Jade Elephant’s Bearing expanded his body’s load capacity, allowing him to pour more Spiritual Power into his fist in an instant without worrying about his meridians and muscles failing.
The man didn’t have time to retract his sword to block. He leaned back and twisted away, dodging the direct impact of the fist.
But the wind from the punch still grazed his ribs.
A muffled thud.
The man’s body shuddered, and he slid back two steps.
His ribs weren’t broken, but it hurt. A dent had formed in his leather armor where the force of the punch had grazed it.
The man gritted his teeth and brought his iron sword back in front of him, pouring Spiritual Power into it to the absolute limit. The dark cyan glow on the blade flared, extending from one foot to nearly three.
’He’s going all out.’
The sword light chopped down, its speed thirty percent faster than before. All of his Qi Refining Ninth Level Spiritual Power was focused into this single strike, compressing the air around the blade until it hummed and vibrated.
Li Yuan didn’t meet it head-on.
’Divine Movement Step.’
His figure shifted two yards to the right. The sword light crashed down where he had been standing, striking the rock and shearing off a large chunk of its edge.
Shards of rock flew everywhere.
As Li Yuan shifted, he had already charged the next Fireball in his right palm.
The distance was only three yards.
At this range, the Precision trait was practically a lock-on.
The Fireball left his hand.
The man had just finished his slash. He hadn’t yet recovered from the sword’s momentum, and his center of gravity was shifted to the left.
The Fireball slammed squarely into his chest.
BOOM.
More violent than any of the previous shots.
At a distance of three yards, the Fireball had almost no travel time; it was in his palm one instant and on the man’s chest the next. The density from Spiritual Power Condensation, the power boost from Flame Marrow Body, and the reduced loss from Fire Element Conversion—all were stacked into this single shot.
The man’s leather armor exploded at the point of impact, leaving a bowl-sized hole. Searing Spiritual Power poured through the opening, burning his meridians and internal organs alike.
The man let out a muffled grunt and was thrown backward, rolling twice on the ground before coming to a stop.
His iron sword flew from his grasp, landing three paces away.
He struggled to get up, pushing himself up with his hands, but blood gushed from the wound in his chest, mixed with the stench of burnt flesh. Spiritual Power leaked from his ruptured meridians, and his Qi Refining Ninth Level aura rapidly diminished.
Li Yuan walked over.
The man lifted his head. Bloody foam seeped from the corner of his mouth, his eyes filled with a mixture of indignation and confusion.
He opened his mouth as if to say something.
Li Yuan didn’t wait for him to finish.
’Fire Arrow Skill.’
A Fire Arrow shot from his palm, piercing the man’s throat.
The aura dissipated completely.
Li Yuan stood in place and glanced down at his left forearm.
The wound from the Golden Blade wasn’t deep, and the bleeding had already stopped. The two traits, Qi Blood Self-Generation and Blood Qi Surge, were working on the injury in tandem. The tissue at the wound’s edge was healing at a visible rate.
Li Yuan assessed the Spiritual Power within his body. The consumption had been minimal.
Spiritual Power Refinement made his Spiritual Power last longer, and his fine control over it reduced consumption. These factors, combined with his fully cleared meridians and the Spiritual Essence Expansion trait, meant his total Spiritual Power reserves were thirty to forty percent greater than others at his level.
Li Yuan looked into the distance. The hillside was quiet once more.