Chapter 962: Gruelling Battle
Ji Tianqing stopped a beam of sword light that was sweeping toward Li Kuanglan. “Careful, this is a battlefield. Everything will be mine if you die.”
Li Kuanglan glared at Ji Tianqing. “It’s not that easy to take this young noble’s life!”
“Shameless! Your small frame will be done for if you take a square hit.”
The two bickered back and forth without giving away. The smell of gunpowder in the air actually surprised Luo Bingfeng.
Since the beginning of the battle, this was the first time the Tidehark city lord wasn’t at the center of all attention. So much so that he wasn’t quite used to this feeling. After a momentary daze, he remembered he had something left to do. His fingers spread out like a flower, firing out countless beams of sword energy toward Qianye. Apparently, he still considered Qianye the most threatening target. Even Song Zining was ranked behind him.
Qianye was afforded a much-needed respite just now, which allowed his stamina and blood energy to recover rapidly. He was already half-restored in just a short while. Although he was in an awkward and miserable state due to Luo Bingfeng’s sword energy, he was still able to hold out.
Luo Bingfeng was already quite shocked. Qianye hadn’t used any secret art apart from Spatial Flash—he was simply fast enough, strong enough, and watertight in his defenses. It was actually quite amazing that he could make someone of Luo Bingfeng’s level feel this way. His combat strength was way beyond that which was expected of his level.
At the very least, he would need to put in quite a bit of effort if he wanted to take Qianye down with just his sword energy. Having come to this conclusion, Luo Bingfeng formed a sword with his fingers once more and stabbed thrice in Qianye’s direction.
The three strikes were delivered at such uncanny speed that even people like Yan Ding felt their eyes blur for a moment. They simply couldn’t see how many times Luo Bingfeng had attacked, let alone block. Even people as strong as the elders from the Li family and imperial clan felt a chill down their spines. They simply wouldn’t have been able to block these strikes without prior evasive maneuvers. It would be too late once the city lord had launched the attack.
On the brink of life and death, Qianye simply had no time to think. He moved several meters out of instinct, evading two of the strikes, but the third shot into his abdomen and exited through his back.
The moment the sword radiance struck his body, a pair of luminous wings unfurled behind Qianye as he pointed a finger at Luo Bingfeng’s forehead.
Luo Bingfeng broke into a frown. He had no choice but to retreat, interrupting the sword radiance from expanding the wound. Only after the swift retreat did the city lord discover that Qianye wasn’t making a move at all. He had been tricked.
Despite that, the penetrating sword wound was extremely serious, and there was still a remnant glow around the wound tearing through Qianye’s flesh. As Luo Bingfeng saw it, this opponent was as good as dead.
The three sword strikes shocked the entire battlefield. All of the imperial experts fell into uniform silence, greatly intimidated by the attack. In the blink of an eye, everyone was thinking about how they would block this strike if it were to come for them. This filled their hearts with the terror of imminent death. Luo Bingfeng’s strikes were swift and powerful to the extreme. It could be said that anyone taking that blow would surely die. No matter how brave the warriors here were, how many of them dared to meet a sure-death situation?
During this lapse of silence, a certain figure rushed forward like a whirlwind, his spear weaving past the terrified crowd to arrive at Luo Bingfeng’s head.
This was a suicidal move, and Luo Bingfeng was no saint. With a wave of his hand, he summoned a beam of energy that shot toward Song Zining’s forehead.
The seventh young master did nothing to invade the incoming attack. His spear only increased in momentum, its tip lighting up with a dazzling radiance! The spear thrust was the most powerful attack he had ever executed in his life, and that glow at the tip was actually burning himself like a raging flame!
At this moment, no one knew what expression was hidden beneath that mask. What they could see was him courageously charging at Luo Bingfeng.
Despite that, the attack would only leave a small wound on Luo Bingfeng’s body. On the other hand, Song Zining’s forehead would be pierced through. Perhaps that was what he wanted, to land a thrust at all costs.
Luo Bingfeng sighed. “The inevitable early death of a hero. I’ll allow you to stab me, so that you can go in peace.”
The glow in his hand slowed down for a split second, allowing Song Zining’s spear to reach its target before the light pierced his brain.
However, a split second’s delay was enough for countless variables to kick in. Ji Tianqing suddenly appeared to his side and tugged on his arm with both hands, lifting it up forcibly. The deviation caused the radiance to slash upward, brushing past Song Zining’s head as it did so.
Afterward, a blue sword radiance erupted behind Ji Tianqing and slashed at Luo Bingfeng’s neck. This strike came at a clever moment, forcing the city lord to block the sword light instead of retaliating against Ji Tianqing. Even Luo Bingfeng couldn’t ignore the might of Cold Moon’s Embrace.
Li Kuanglan retreated with Ji Tianqing in tow, putting a fair distance between them and Luo Bingfeng. The cooperation between the two was perfect.
A light pfft was heard as Song Zining’s spear reached the end of its path, stabbing straight at Luo Bingfeng’s heart. However, countless flowing runes condensed into a barrier of light in front of the spearhead, effectively blocking its advance.
Song Zining erupted in a loud roar, and the radiance gestating at the speartip exploded into a plume of extremely pure origin flames. The blaze blasted away the barrier of light, but the force behind his spear attack came to an end as well.
Song Zining’s all-out attack had merely broken a layer of Luo Bingfeng’s defenses.
Luo Bingfeng was dazed for a split second after the loss of his defenses. Song Zining, on the other hand, immediately pulled dozens of meters back.
Luo Bingfeng looked up with a stern expression, his eyes filled with killing intent as he gazed at Song Zining. His fingertips were shrouded in arcs of electricity as he slowly raised his right hand. Before he had unleashed his attack, everything within a hundred meters began to float upward—even some of the closer imperial experts felt themselves swaying.
The spectators were shocked. Luo Bingfeng was clearly quite calm about Song Zining a while ago. How come he was filled with killing intent now? Yet, Song Zining’s expression was also hidden beneath the mask, so no one could guess what he was thinking.
Only a few people managed to see that Luo Bingfeng’s defense layer probably had something to do with the heavenly mystery. That spear strike just now had actually claimed victory in a different field.
Song Zining was about to retreat after seeing Luo Bingfeng’s imminent attack, but several runic chains appeared and duly bound him in place.
Shocked, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan attacked in unison, but the chains were unexpectedly sturdy. It refused to budge even after several attacks.
“Why are you all not helping?” Ji Tianqing shouted. All the experts from the imperial clan and aristocratic alliance were still frozen in hesitation. They understood that whoever the city lord locked onto at this moment would die. It was a worthwhile risk to offend Ji Tianqing in order to survive. Besides, there were so many people involved that the blame might not fall on any single person specifically.
“If you don’t come now, I’ll kill all of you on the spot!” Ji Tianqing was already screaming at this point. The imperial clan members exchanged glances and finally started to take action. The Li family elder flung away the two elders holding onto him and said furiously, “Your clans will face extermination if something happens to Young Noble Kuanglan!”
The experts’ attacks landed on the rune chain like falling stars, yet they could do nothing against it. Without any knowledge in the divination arts, their attacks were scarcely effective.
The sword energy on his fingers had just taken form when Luo Bingfeng staggered backward with a muffled groan. He glanced back to find that Qianye had returned to the air and collided with him. This slam couldn’t quite move him, either, but Qianye then grabbed onto Luo Bingfeng’s leg and tugged forcibly, finally dragging the city lord from his original position. The glow on the man’s fingertips grew brighter and then exploded. This extremely powerful attack had been interrupted before it could even launch.
Luo Bingfeng turned pale for a moment after having his attack interrupted. Apparently, he had suffered a fair bit.
He turned back and glanced down at Qianye who was hanging onto him. Seeing that the injury had healed a fair bit, he sneered, “The empire’s regenerative medicines had advanced so much? You come to throw your life away after getting a second lease on it, what idiocy.”
Luo Bingfeng shook Qianye away with a jolt of his right leg, kicking him in the chest as he did so! Despite how strong Qianye’s body was, a series of crackling sounds erupted from his thorax. Who knew how many ribs had been broken?
Despite that, Qianye still refused to let go. He grabbed tightly onto Luo Bingfeng’s leg, letting his entire body hang off of it.
Killing intent flashed across the city lord’s countenance. “If you want to die so much, I’ll help you!”
He was just about to raise his leg and deal the final blow when Qianye formed a gun with his finger and pointed at him. “You’re not invincible just yet!”
A giant pair of wings slowly unfurled before the city lord. The dazzling glare stabbed his eyes somewhat as a feather of light flew out and shot into his abdomen.
A feeling of danger filled every corner of Luo Bingfeng’s body, yet the feather of light was simply too close for him to do anything. He had no room to defend or evade before it entered his abdomen, so much so that he didn’t even have time to channel his origin power defenses.
Luo Bingfeng kicked Qianye away with a loud cry and looked down to check his abdomen. Everything was normal wherever he looked—there wasn’t even a wound. In his perception, however, a giant, invisible cavity had opened up inside his body, draining away vast amounts of his life force. Even someone of Luo Bingfeng’s strength was shocked to find waves of weakness washing over him.
Only after being struck by the Shot of Inception did Luo Bingfeng understand something: it wasn’t that the Wolf King was weak; the shot was simply too strong. Qianye had taken a great risk to latch onto his leg just to prevent him from evading the attack.
Luo Bingfeng glanced at the heavily injured Qianye. There was no killing intent in his eyes, only deep regret, as he muttered to himself, “If I become a heavenly monarch, you’d be the best opponent in the future, sigh!”
Luo Bingfeng reached into his robes and pulled out a transparent flexible sword. Erupting with a mysterious glint, the sword trembled in the wind and sprung into a straightened form.
Since the beginning of the fight, this was the first time Luo Bingfeng had brought out a weapon.
His expression was full of passion and respect as he caressed the blade. Apparently, the weapon held great meaning to him. The city lord planned to send Qianye on his way with this special blade.
This was a form of respect among experts.