Chapter 203 - 126: Mansion Master
SHIING!
A soft sound, and blood flew high.
Shi Pingzhang’s face instantly paled. He looked up to see his own arm flying through the air.
He scanned his surroundings, but there was no sign of Jiang Ran.
He had no time to spare for the pain of his severed arm; he held his breath and focused his senses, searching for any trace of Jiang Ran.
First, the Cloud Sea Wave Array itself was shrouded in a thick fog that blotted out the sky.
Second, Jiang Ran’s Hidden Shadow Enchanting God Step was an ultimate technique from the Search Divine Sect.
It excelled at concealing one’s aura and traces, allowing its user to move in complete silence.
If Jiang Ran’s Inner Energy had been insufficient, or his mastery of the Cultivation Technique shallow, it wouldn’t have been difficult for Shi Pingzhang to find him...
But Jiang Ran’s Inner Energy happened to be incredibly profound, almost unbelievably so.
Even if Shi Pingzhang possessed world-shattering power, finding Jiang Ran right now was nothing but a fool’s dream.
In that instant, even a renowned Heart Demon like Shi Pingzhang couldn’t help but feel a sense of helplessness.
"Are you looking for me?"
Jiang Ran’s voice suddenly came from behind him.
Startled, Shi Pingzhang spun around, and at that very moment, a flash of sword light aimed straight for his neck.
It sought to run him through the neck.
He was no ordinary man, after all. His turning to the voice had been a deliberate ploy, intended to trick Jiang Ran into attacking from his rear.
He just hadn’t expected that the one who attacked was not Jiang Ran, but a disciple of the five sects.
He instantly reached out and grabbed the longsword, only to find it was extremely pliable in his grasp, like a gentle stream of water. The tip of the blade, however, danced like a Spiritual Snake, striking for his throat.
"Insignificant tricks! You dare show them off in front of an expert!?"
Shi Pingzhang roared in anger. The murderous inner energy from his Book of Inhumanity surged, and with a loud BANG...
The attacker’s Inner Strength was not weak. When the two forces collided, a muffled grunt echoed from the mist, and Shi Pingzhang’s body couldn’t help but tremble slightly.
Before he could regain his footing, seven or eight longswords shot out from the mist in quick succession.
Shi Pingzhang sneered continuously, using his one hand to parry and strike, neutralizing the deadly moves coming from within the Array.
After knocking several people back, he saw a longsword aimed straight at his heart. This person’s Swordsmanship was clumsy, as if they were a complete novice; even their grip was different from the others.
Shi Pingzhang glanced at the attacker and, with a flick of his sleeve, dismissed them completely.
Indeed, just as expected, the flick of his sleeve sent the longsword flying out of the attacker’s hand.
Shi Pingzhang drew back his sleeve and reached out, intending to grab this unqualified fraud from the five sword sects and beat them to death.
But suddenly, a thought struck him...
’This is wrong! Why would the five great sword sects send someone who can’t even wield a sword properly to kill me?’
By the time the thought occurred to him, it was too late.
He looked up again to see a streak of golden light plummeting toward him.
"Despicable!!!"
This time, Shi Pingzhang was truly furious.
Jiang Ran’s martial arts were obviously superb, but Shi Pingzhang believed that if their techniques hadn’t directly countered one another, he would have been easy to handle.
But now, in a one-on-one fight, he was not confident he could win.
Who could have thought that in a situation like this, the man would still disguise himself as a member of the five sword sects to launch a sneak attack?
’He’s utterly shameless!’
The thought had barely flashed through his mind when blood sprayed again. Half a palm, along with several fingers, had been lopped off by the saber.
He had already lost an arm, and now he had lost half a hand as well.
To say his martial prowess was greatly diminished would be an understatement—it was practically crippled!
But Jiang Ran, having succeeded with his strike, did not retreat into hiding. He flew out, unleashing the Nine Shocking God Sabers in a continuous barrage.
Each slash came from an unbelievable angle, striking at Shi Pingzhang where he least expected it.
Shi Pingzhang was thrown completely on the defensive. In just three to five exchanges, he was already covered in blood.
He was unable to escape the saber’s edge and could only take the blows passively.
Yet the more he was beaten, the calmer the old man’s mind became.
’Jiang Ran isn’t going for the kill,’ he thought. ’He must want to keep me alive for some other purpose.’
’As long as I don’t die, even if I take a few more slashes, there might be a chance to escape with my life.’
Suddenly, his gaze sharpened. He took a long, deep breath, and the hand that had been severed in half slammed down violently.
"Heaven and Earth are not humane; they treat the ten thousand things as straw dogs!"
This phrase doesn’t actually mean that Heaven and Earth are unkind and view people as no more than pigs or dogs.
Rather, it means that Heaven and Earth have no selfish intent, viewing all living things as equal.
But to Shi Pingzhang, this equality meant that he could channel his killing intent into his Dao—that all things were equally ripe for slaughter!
The palm strike he now unleashed was an ultimate technique from the Book of Inhumanity called the ’Heaven and Earth Killing Art.’
From the very beginning of the fight until now, it could be said that Shi Pingzhang had been on the receiving end of a beating.
Jiang Ran used the Jiaowei zither as bait to lure Shi Pingzhang into a secret room, where he cut off one of his fingers.
Then, after Shi Pingzhang fled, he fell into the Cloud Sea Wave Array.
He was besieged by the five sword sects, and then tormented by Jiang Ran.
At this moment, he was heavily injured, and his inner energy was far weaker than before.
And yet, this descending palm strike was infused with all of his remaining Inner Strength.
In an instant, a gale of Gang Qi erupted from the ground with a roar, sweeping in all directions.
The Cloud Sea Wave Array used Inner Energy to power the formation, which was laid out according to the positions of the stars to generate endless variations.
When Shi Pingzhang’s Heaven and Earth Killing Intent manifested as an invisible gale of Gang Qi, the ’sea of clouds’ generated by the Liuyun Sword Sect disciples’ Gang Qi was instantly swept away.
Jiang Ran’s saber seemed to be caught in a turbulent vortex, preventing it from striking down.
This was because this slash was not the ’second saber,’ a move he had comprehended himself, separate from the Nine Shocking God Sabers.
It was one of the original nine techniques.
Having finally encountered an opponent like Shi Pingzhang, he couldn’t miss the chance to practice.