Chapter 164: CH. 164 | Battle Against Black Aura Man
"HAHAHA!"
"I can’t believe your foolish alliance is still sending people to this place!" the man mocked.
Li Qingxue couldn’t hold back her anger. She stepped forward and shouted at him, while Lin Tian remained completely silent.
"We know what you’re planning! We won’t let the Yuanmo Sect rise again!"
Li Qingxue formed a series of hand seals. A massive blue rune, shaped like a giant gate, appeared behind her.
She thrust both hands forward, unleashing a roaring torrent that surged toward the black-robed man.
The man sneered. He formed his own hand seals, summoning a black rune before his face.
A gigantic black mirror materialized, effortlessly blocking Li Qingxue’s overwhelming torrent.
Lin Tian remained silent, carefully observing their battle. His attention wasn’t on the fight itself, but on the black-robed cultivator facing Li Qingxue.
With his cultivation eyes, Lin Tian examined the man’s cultivation realm. The qi radiating from him wasn’t stronger than either Li Qingxue’s or Lin Tian’s.
In fact, it was weaker.
Even so...
Something about the black-robed man felt wrong.
His strength kept increasing, as though another source of power was continuously reinforcing him.
Li Qingxue’s eyes widened when her torrent failed to shatter the black mirror. She glanced at Lin Tian.
"Are you going to help me?" she asked firmly.
Lin Tian remained silent. His gaze stayed fixed on the enemy.
Raising one hand to chest level, he condensed white spiritual qi into a needle resembling a hairpin. Hidden within it was a simple array designed to identify the flow of a cultivator’s qi.
In the next instant, Lin Tian disappeared. He reappeared behind the black-robed man.
The man reacted immediately. Turning around, he swung his black sword backward.
Lin Tian was already there.
His reflexes are incredible.
He knew I’d attack from behind.
Lin Tian met the black sword with his own qi sword. The collision unleashed a violent explosion of qi.
But something shocked him.
His qi sword shattered almost instantly, breaking into countless fragments. Lin Tian was blasted backward, coughing up blood.
Something’s wrong.
His free hand immediately formed another hand seal.
A white rune appeared behind him, releasing two enormous white dragons that lunged toward the black sword.
The sword carried overwhelming momentum. Its terrifying power wasn’t coming from the black-robed man’s own qi.
The two white dragons wrapped around the sword, barely managing to halt its advance.
Watching the exchange, Li Qingxue immediately realized Lin Tian was planning something.
"So you can block my torrent..."
"But let’s see how you deal with an Azure Dragon!"
She formed another hand seal. A blue rune appeared behind her before releasing a colossal azure dragon that crashed into the black mirror.
The two techniques collided violently.
Explosive shockwaves rippled across the battlefield. As the black-robed man focused on resisting Li Qingxue’s attack, Lin Tian seized the opening.
He flicked the array needle forward. It shot through the air at incredible speed.
STAB!
The white needle pierced the mysterious man’s body. He let out a painful grunt before exploding with qi.
The blast shattered both Li Qingxue’s and Lin Tian’s attacks.
The two of them were hurled backward, coughing up blood.
The raging torrent vanished. The azure dragon also dissipated. Even Lin Tian’s white dragons disappeared.
The man’s aura surged dramatically.
It instantly rose to the same level as both Li Qingxue and Lin Tian. Lin Tian narrowed his eyes.
The array needle is already inside him.
Now all that’s left is activating the array.
"Qi Identification Array... activate!" Lin Tian shouted.
Several white array runes suddenly appeared across the mysterious man’s body. His expression changed instantly as he glared at Lin Tian.
"You?!"
"You planted an array inside my body?!" he roared.
"I’ll make you regret this, bastard!"
The mysterious man raised one hand to chest level. Dark qi erupted from his body as a gigantic black skull materialized behind him.
The moment he thrust his hand forward, the skull opened its jaws and unleashed thousands of black skulls toward Lin Tian.
Lin Tian refused to lose focus.
He activated the water-element defensive technique Li Qingxue had taught him, surprising her.
"Ocean Mirror Barrier... activated!"
Mirrors of flowing water appeared before and around his body. They spun continuously, shielding him from every direction.
Even so, the relentless swarm of black skulls showed no sign of stopping.
While maintaining the barrier, Lin Tian’s eyes glowed with brilliant white light.
His gaze locked onto the mysterious man. He could clearly see streams of spiritual qi flowing into the man’s body from every direction.
As he carefully followed the flow, he finally discovered the truth. The man’s strength came from the crimson runes embedded inside every corpse puppet.
His power comes from the corpse puppets.
Lin Tian turned toward them. None of the corpse puppets were moving. They simply stood motionless.
Li Qingxue hadn’t noticed. Her full attention remained fixed on the enemy before her.
I know what to do now.
"Qingxue!" Lin Tian shouted.
"Destroy the corpse puppets!"
"Use this sword to pierce them!"
He threw his sword toward Li Qingxue.
The blade had already been infused with a white array capable of destroying the crimson runes inside each corpse puppet.
"What about you?" Li Qingxue asked.
"I’ll hold him off," Lin Tian replied firmly.
He erupted with qi, annihilating the incoming swarm of black skulls. The gigantic black skull behind the mysterious man shattered.
The man staggered backward in pain before bursting into shrill laughter.
"HAHAHA!"
"Even if you stab them, they’ll just get back up!" he shouted.
Lin Tian raised one hand, dispersing the thick cloud of smoke surrounding him.
The two men locked eyes.
"You’ll never defeat me!" the mysterious man declared.
He formed another hand seal. A black rune appeared behind him before releasing a gigantic black serpent toward Lin Tian.
Lin Tian showed no fear. He answered with his own technique.
Thousands of qi swords burst from the white rune behind him and shot toward the black serpent.
As the two techniques clashed, the mysterious man suddenly coughed up blood.
His body trembled violently. He quickly turned around.
Li Qingxue had just driven Lin Tian’s sword into one of the corpse puppets.
"YOU?!"
"How dare you take your eyes off me while we’re fighting?!" Lin Tian shouted.
He compressed thousands of qi swords into a single gigantic white sword. Then he launched it straight at the black serpent.
The violent collision shook the battlefield.
The mysterious man desperately poured more spiritual qi into his technique, struggling to keep the black serpent intact.
But his concentration faltered every time Li Qingxue drove Lin Tian’s sword into another corpse puppet.
Lin Tian’s plan was working.
Each corpse puppet crumbled into dust the moment it was destroyed, cutting off the flow of qi feeding the mysterious man.
His strength was weakening. Not by much. Li Qingxue needed to destroy many more of them.
"You think destroying them is enough to kill me?!"
"Of course not!"
"I’ll show you my true power!"
"HYAAAAHH!"