“Young Master, you should still be cautious, the two people from Tianren Auction House are very strong!”
Leng Mei didn’t share Ling Xiao’s composure, after all, she was only at the peak of Martial Vein Sixth Layer, not yet having broken through to Martial Master.
“Well, they are indeed strong, not far off from Li Xinghui, and there are two of them. In terms of combat experience, they probably surpass Li Xinghui.”
Ling Xiao analysed as he walked, “But it’s not a big deal.”
He had just successfully cultivated the first form of the Divine Prison King Fist and was itching to test it. Now that someone had come knocking, offering themselves as practice, why not take the opportunity?
“Leng Mei, don’t make a move later.”
Ling Xiao suddenly stopped and said.
“Young Master!”
“No need to say more, I want to test some new techniques. If you intervene, it won’t be accurate.”
“Fine, but if you’re in danger, Young Master, I’ll have to step in,” Leng Mei insisted.
“Do as you like!”
Ling Xiao wasn’t stubborn, if he were truly in danger, he’d naturally want help.
After settling the matter, Ling Xiao turned around and looked at two Martial Vein Seventh Layer late-stage Martial Masters attempting to hide nearby.
His green robes fluttered in the wind, like a sword immortal.
“You two don’t need to hide anymore. You’ve followed me this far, if you don’t make a move soon, I’ll be heading back to Baiyun Temple.”
Ling Xiao gazed at a patch of bushes, speaking calmly.
“Whoosh! Whoosh!”
Two figures darted out, flanking Ling Xiao from both sides to surround him.
Since they’d been spotted, there was no point in hiding.
The other trailing martial artists didn’t act, their plan was to let the snipe and clam fight, hoping to profit as the fisherman by observing the outcome of this battle before deciding.
Ling Xiao suddenly took a step forward.
The entire space abruptly turned chillingly cold.
This step seemed to alter the surrounding environment, the once lush, green world instantly becoming dark and damp, even carrying a faint scent of decay and death.
In their ears, it was as if ghostly wails and wolfish howls could be heard.
In their bodies, it felt as though spirits were toying with them.
The gazes of the martial artists hiding in the shadows turned fearful as they looked toward the scene.
The two Seventh Layer Martial Masters from Tianren Auction House paused briefly, their forms visibly trembling for a moment.
But they quickly seemed to break free from that predicament, transforming into two afterimages, like black arrows tearing through the air, shooting toward Ling Xiao.
“Divine Prison King Fist, Bull Head Crack!”
An icy voice emerged from Ling Xiao’s mouth.
He assumed a peculiar stance.
In that instant, the two afterimages froze, their bodies stiffening as if a terrifying cold wind had invaded them.
It was as though they were about to be consumed by this eerie chill.
A terrifying cold wind howled through the heavens and earth.
The two afterimages frantically employed various martial techniques in an attempt to protect themselves.
One waved both palms continuously.
The other’s long blade gleamed with cold light.
Ripples of true essence struggled in this space ravaged by the cold wind.
“Huff! Huff!”
“Huff! Huff!”
Heavy panting sounds arose.
In everyone’s eyes, Ling Xiao vanished.
In his place stood a colossal monster.
A bull-headed humanoid, wielding a massive axe.
Most terrifying was the aura of death constantly emanating from the monster’s body.
“Die!”
Heavy footsteps resounded on the ground.
The bull-headed monster, swinging its massive axe, advanced step by step toward the two Seventh Layer Martial Masters.
The slower its pace, the greater the panic in their hearts.
With each step it took, their hearts trembled.
Desperate resistance.
That might describe the situation of these two at this moment.
They frantically expelled true essence, fighting the terrifying cold wind, attempting to shatter this dark space.
But it was futile.
The bull-headed monster reached them, its massive axe crashing down between the two.
“Crack!”
“Crack!”
The two Martial Masters shattered, as if they were porcelain figures.
The Divine Prison King Fist!
Not only did it possess terrifying power, but it could also combine with soul force to induce hallucinations in enemies, trapping them and stripping them of resistance.
If Ling Xiao had mastered this technique when facing Li Xinghui, one move would likely have killed him.
Terrifying!
Even Ling Xiao found the Divine Prison King Fist fearsome.
The two Seventh Layer Martial Masters died just like that, without even landing a blow, perishing in the hallucinations they created.
In the shadows, the other trailing martial artists were shaken to their core, trembling uncontrollably, as if they had witnessed the most terrifying thing in their lives.
“Ghost!”
“A demon from hell!”
“Not human!”
Panicked screams echoed, and everyone fled, leaving only the two cold corpses, Ling Xiao, and Leng Mei.
“What a pity.”
After a long while, Ling Xiao sighed.
“What’s wrong, Young Master? Aren’t you satisfied with this power?”
Leng Mei asked, puzzled.
“I forgot something.”
Ling Xiao gave a wry smile, “I originally planned to combine the Ghost Ship Remnant Soul with the Divine Prison King Fist to test the effect, but I forgot.”
Leng Mei was speechless. She thought it was something serious, but her Young Master had truly treated two late-stage Seventh Layer Martial Masters as test subjects.
“Forget it, let’s head back. The side effects of the Divine Prison King Fist are too severe, both my arms are completely fractured.”
Ling Xiao shook his dangling arms, “It’s time to cultivate the Nine-Turn Golden Body Technique to its highest level.”
“Young Master, we haven’t searched the bodies yet.”
Leng Mei reminded him.
“No need to search. Dead men like them usually carry nothing valuable, probably not even storage rings.”
Ling Xiao shook his head.
Though he said this, for someone like Ling Xiao, who had once been a beggar, he was reluctant to let the bodies go to waste.
Unfortunately, as he suspected, the two had no storage rings, not even a money pouch.
“Hm? What’s this?”
Ling Xiao struck out with a palm, igniting a flame that burned the two bodies clean.
He had once cultivated the Scarlet Sun Technique, though it was too low-grade to use now, it was still fine for tasks like this.
Interestingly, after the bodies and even the bones were burned away, a dark, unremarkable iron piece remained intact.
“It looks like a sword!”
Leng Mei said.
“It’s clearly a one-foot-long iron piece, how is it a sword?”
Ling Xiao asked, somewhat confused.
“It’s said that in ancient times, a human swordsman used a one-foot-long iron piece as his sword.”
Leng Mei explained, “This swordsman killed with a single throat-slashing strike, so it didn’t matter what he used, the enemy’s divine weapons were meaningless against him.”
“That impressive!”
Ling Xiao had never heard of such a master.
“I heard it from a captain at Qianlong Camp, who seemed to be a descendant of that swordsman.”
“Good heavens, this killing intent, it could make someone collapse instantly!”
The moment Ling Xiao picked up the iron piece, he saw countless images of death. If his soul hadn’t been strong enough, he might have collapsed on the spot.
The item must have been wrapped in something that sealed its killing intent, but he had burned it away when destroying the bodies.
“I’ll keep it for now and study it later.”
With that, Ling Xiao placed the iron piece into his Mountain and River Martial Soul.
No matter how strong the killing intent, it couldn’t stir any trouble in the Mountain and River World.
