Chapter 203
Li Yao’s words made vigilance arise in Lu Tieshan’s heart as he excited his energy to the limit. At this moment, he did not plan to dodge, on the contrary, he chose to close the distance between himself and Zhao Tianchong before fiercely colliding into him. At the same time, he ruthlessly launched a kicked, forcing back the right hand of Zhao Tianchong with which he planned to unsheathe the sword.
“Clang!”
Under Zhao Tianchong’s momentarily lapse, he actually failed to unsheathe the sword.
“Boom!”
Zhao Tianchong, who had been powerfully hit by Lu Tieshan, flew ten meters back in the blink of an eye and crashed into a huge piece of rock.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
There were still four swords aimed at Lu Tieshan. However, they didn’t strike the vital points. So, he still retained 90% of his battle force.
Almost at the same time, the two leaders, ignoring their injuries, straightened up their necks and shouted:
“Attack!”
“Attack!”
Long had the hundred or so experts of Iron Fist Club and Chaos Edge Hall secretly occupied a favorable terrain. In the meantime, they were also quietly observing their opponents, planning the best angle and positioning for an attack.
Followed by the shouts, the canyon, in the blink of an eye, turned into a tempestuous sea of spiritual energy. Resplendent and colorful beams of spiritual energy collided with each other, giving rise to shock waves upon impact, breaking the rocks into pieces, while the broken pieces of stone were crushed into nothing.
In a moment, sand and stone flew here, there, and everywhere, the entire area was filled with powerful gales as though a sandstorm had struck.
Amid the sandstorm, miserable screams, sounds of swords cutting down, and blasts of spiritual energy rang to no end. The scene continued for ten minutes before calming down gradually.
When the dust settled, the scene was too horrid to look at. Over a hundred people were lying amid the stones, many of whom had lost their consciousness from electric shocks. There were a few whose limbs were still twitching from the electric shocks. Their mouths were covered in foam as they wailed incessantly.
Finally, only nine shaky figures remained standing.
These nine were the members of Iron Fist Club and appeared to be seriously injured.
Glancing at the unconscious Zhao Tianchong underneath his foot, Lu Tieshan was filled with emotions.
Finally, among the top three of the Newcomer Rankings, he had defeated Li Yao and Zhao Tianchong, and became the final winner!
The price he paid was quite tragic. Just below his heart, he had been ruthlessly stabbed by Zhao Tianchong. The electric current flowing was just a hair-breadth away. If it flowed into his heart, he would have perished together with Zhao Tianchong.
“Dangerous, it was too dangerous!”
“Had Li Yao not reminded me at the critical moment, I probably would have been eliminated by Zhao Tianchong. Then, no one could tell who would have won!”
Lu Tieshan gasped for breath as he calmed his mind and asked the remaining eight members to converge on his position. He discovered that although everyone was heavily injured and their battle force sealed by the subsequent electric currents so that not even 30% remained, but their movement wasn’t hindered at all.
After a body search of Zhao Tianchong was done, the last two jade chips were soon found, which were subsequently checked using the crystal processor.
Sure enough, a jade chip finally bore countless profound and intricate glyphs. It was none other than the information stored by the institute prior to the match.
“Found it, this is the true jade chip!”
In the blink of an eye, the nine robust teenagers had an urge to burst into tears.
“It’s too early to get excited, we still have to cross the jungle and return to the Iron Fist Club’s base.
“Although Zhao Tianchong is eliminated, there are still many surviving members from both sides scattered around the jungle killing anyone in their sights out of confusion.
“And we still don’t know who has the upper hand.
“Therefore, we are simply not going to pay attention to them. We will quietly go around them, we’re going to remain concealed and make our way to the base!”
Having said that, Lu Tieshan pondered before taking a fake jade chip for himself while handing over the remaining two chips to two other companions.
“Ma Feixing, you’re the best when it comes to agility and speed. The real jade chip will be in your custody, once we encountered danger in the jungle, the rest of us will protect you, your mission is to go all out to reach the base camp!
“Now, let’s go!”
A row of nine people once again headed into the jungle, walking at the edge of the jungle, flanking the main battlefield.
En route, they were on tiptoes. They proceeded very carefully, they dared not make even an iota of noise.
By their estimate, since the beginning of the chaos in the jungle, Li Yao must have assassinated many core members of Iron Fist Club to ensure that a balance was maintained between both sides.
At present, in the chaotic battle happening in the jungle, maybe Chaos Edge Hall’s members were relatively greater in number.
Therefore, they did not dare to call for support.
If, out of a one in a million chance, they attracted the attention of Chaos Edge Hall’s remnant forces, they would just be making a fool of themselves in trying to do the smart thing.
Fortunately, luck seemed to be on their Iron Fist Club’s side. As they walked in a big circle, after flanking round half of the jungle, they had not encountered even a member of Chaos Edge Hall.
And of course, they also didn’t see any member of Iron Fist Club. From the very beginning, they were walking at the remote edges of the jungle which was full of swamps, vines, and mist, making their visibility range no more than three to five meters, after which everything seemed to be vague.
“After half an hour, we’ll be at the Iron Fist Club base, and that would mark our win!”
While cutting the vines blocking the way, Lu Tieshan turned his head to cheer the rest.
Followed by responses in low voices from the mist behind him.
Only God knows why but an extremely uncomfortable feeling welled up from Lu Tieshan’s heart.
It seemed as though a poisonous snake was wrapped around his collar, crawling down his spine.
Lu Tieshan suddenly halted his footsteps as he tightly clenched his fists to the point that blue veins bulged on the back of his fists.
One by one, from the vague mist, came his team members.
“One, two, three…six?
“Where are the other two?
“Yan Qi, Wan Zhixing!”
Everyone gawked at each other. The last member of the Iron Fist Club subconsciously retreated two steps and walked back into the mist; he thought he could go back and find his disappeared companions.
Following which, they felt as though a cool breeze brushed their faces; everyone’s heart was grabbed by a chill.
“Bang!”
From the fog, a sound of something heavy falling on the ground came.
Or perhaps, a person had fallen on the ground.
“Enemy attack!”
In the blink of an eye, the remaining six members felt a chill running down their spine as they quickly converged and entered a battle formation.
Their slightly vibrating, iron fists aimed at the fog in all directions.
Under the cover of the fog, the jungle seemed terrifyingly ominous. From among the branches in the surroundings, the occasional chirps of birds made the environment ever tenser.
Suddenly—
A black silhouette jumped out of the fog!
Three Iron Fist Club members roared as they stepped forward and punched hard towards the oncoming black silhouette.
However, when they found out that it was none other than their unconscious companion upon looking carefully, they forcefully pull back their hands, which in turn, made their movements completely out of order and subsequently opened a big gap.
One of them could not control his momentum and staggered.
“Whoosh!”
From behind the black silhouette, a second black silhouette jumped out, made his way through the gap between the three in a flash, and appeared before the remaining people.
“Crack! Crack! Crack!”
The body of the man burst with dazzling electric arcs as he tumbled down to the ground with a stunned look, where he lay, twitching.
In contrast, the remaining four had even more astounded looks painted on their faces.
The one who had appeared before them was none other than the guy who should have been long dead, Li Yao!
Li Yao seemed like a ghost who had crawled his way out of the underworld, as he quietly watched them.
Furthermore—
Not only did he have a scimitar in his hands, his elbow, knees, soles of his feet, all happened to have curved, protruding parts, all of which had gleaming blades fixed to them.
Every time he elbowed, kneed, or kicked, each hit would cause devastating damage.
From how he appeared, armed like a steel hedgehog, it clearly indicated that he in no way had encountered them by chance, but planned on killing them!
A rift seemed to have appeared in between Lu Tieshan’s organs, through which his heart fell into a bottomless abyss!
Lu Tieshan somehow mustered up his courage and stepped forward. On one side, he gave a signal behind his back, hinting for the companion who had the real jade chip to act if any opportunity presented itself, while on the other hand, he would stall for time as he asked in a loud voice, “Li Yao, how come you aren’t dead?!”
Li Yao smiled slightly as he reached to his abdomen and pressed a bit. Suddenly, his body burst forth with a blood color aura as a couple dozen lightning arcs escaped his body.
Despite the bloody aura and electric arcs, he didn’t appear to be in any kind of discomfort; to Lu Tieshan’s question, he replied, “I have crafted a very common device. I’m even embarrassed to call it a magical equipment as it doesn’t have any kind of ability whatsoever. All it can do is emit some bloody aura and electric arcs, which looks like a real one, giving others the impression that I am grievously injured, nothing more nothing less.”
Lu Tieshan was rendered speechless. His pair of eyes were almost on the verge of bleeding. Having been stunned for a long while, Lu Tieshan disappointedly said, “There is still something I don’t understand. How come you knew Zhao Tianchong would set an ambush at his base, and why did you warn me?”
Li Yao replied, “In the final analysis, it was because of your oversight. If we had thrown caution to the wind and set out to find your corpse, it would have been all right!”
Having paused a bit, he continued, “I was not completely sure Zhao Tianchong would set an ambush. However, since the main battlefield was going to be the canyon region, the Chaos Edge Hall was quite likely to become an important site of the fight. If it was me, setting some assassins in advance was quite normal indeed!”
“As for reminding you, it’s very simple actually! I don’t wish the Chaos Edge Hall to acquire the jade chip.”
“Only if Iron Fist Club had the jade chip, would they need to pass through the entire forest, only then would I have the opportunity to easily hunt you down.”
“Very good!”
Lu Tieshan burst into laughter. As Lu Tieshan clenched his fists and struck them against each other, an incomparably ruthless expression crept on his face, “Li Yao, you are really formidable. Everything has been playing out in the palm of your hand. All right, the jade chip is with Your Father, you want it, come and get it!”
“The jade chip is not on you but on that young fellow behind you who is ready to make trouble, his name is Ma Feixing, a 3rd level Refinement Stage expert. He specialized in Electro Steps. His speed is quite astounding. If you and I fight for a while, he really might get away with it.
“However, it’s useless anyway.”
Li Yao tapped the Demon Beast Detector and calmly said, “I had immersed the true jade chip in a specially prepared dark phosphorous solution, as a result of which it will emit UV lights which will be invisible to naked eye, but I have tweaked my Demon Beast Detector and added a UV Detecting Glyph.
“In my eyes, the true jade chip is like a firefly in a dark night. It is so bright and eye-catching that I can detect it from a couple dozen meters away.
“This is also the reason as to why I was able to lock onto you in this fog.”
Before his voice faded away, Li Yao’s figure, like a true ghost, disappeared and reappeared between the four before his figure rotated at high speed, turning into a storm!
“Ma Feixing, get going!”
Lu Tieshan burst into a shout, as his huge stature blocked Li Yao’s path completely.
However, much to everyone’s surprise, Li Yao fiercely threw the scimitar in his left hand which drew an incomparably strange arc and plunged right into Ma Feixing’s left leg.
Whereupon, Ma Feixing staggered and fell forward.
The next thing that followed happened in half a second.
Li Yao’s right hand flashed with a sharp gleam as it easily cut across Lu Tieshan’s neck.
At the same time, he jumped into the air, stepped on Lu Tieshan’s shoulder and crossed Lu Tieshan’s neck, like a hawk pouncing towards a rabbit, ruthlessly kneed the remaining two Iron Fist Club members right on their chests.
The fierce knee strikes, along with the momentum of the blades, made the two fly backwards while their chests burst forth with a lot of electric arcs.
Li Yao like a giant owl once again rose into the air and glided to the front of Ma Feixing. The moment he landed on the ground, his elbow cut through a majority of Ma Feixing’s neck arteries while his five fingers ran across Ma Feixing’s waist.
Clutching his throat, he glared at the electric sparks that gushed through the gap between his fingers as he gradually fell down.
The moment before his demise, his staring, round eyes saw Li Yao putting the jade chip in his bosom before quickly disappearing into the fog without even taking a glance at them; shooting towards the north.