Attacked by one spatial rift, four Ethereal Swords, and numerous spatial light blades, the skinny, ghoul-like Li Langfeng was limited to a small space.
Every time he moved his body, he risked being cut.
Meanwhile, the gravitational field where he was standing had undergone an upheaval and the ground was shaking unceasingly, making it very hard for him to move about.
Observing from afar, Nie Tian could see that as Li Langfeng moved about to avoid Pei Qiqi’s attacks, more and more bloody wounds appeared on his arms and waist.
“You dare to come back!” Being attacked by Shi Qing and Pei Qiqi at the same time, Li Langfeng was truly enraged. Blood dripped down his garments as he fixed his fierce eyes on Pei Qiqi and roared, “Do you really think I fear your master so much that I’ll never dare to kill you?”
CHING!
The crisp sound of a bell once again rang out. Simultaneously, surging waves of a psychic attack rushed towards Pei Qiqi’s mind.
Focused on using various profound spatial magics, Pei Qiqi let out a muffled groan as blood dripped down the corner of her sparkling, red lips.
“Go!” The fleshy spirit beast skull that had been given flesh unleashed ghostly, green lightning bolts into its surroundings as it charged towards Pei Qiqi, its devilish eyes fixed on Pei Qiqi the entire time.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Two Ethereal Swords suddenly disappeared from Li Langfeng’s side and appeared next to the spirit beast skull in a split second.
CLANK! CLANK!
Upon contact, the two Ethereal Swords spun as they bounced off the surface of the skull. Meanwhile, sparks were created where they made contact, as if the skull was made of rolled steel.
On the contrary, Pei Qiqi coughed up a mouthful of blood, as if the skull had dealt a heavy blow to her, causing her to stagger a few steps backwards.
As she trudged backwards, a trail of deep footprints were created in the ground, and her ample chest was painted red by her blood.
“Go to hell!” Shi Qing shouted as he cast the spell he was the most skilled with: Earth Protrusions.
Sharp stone protrusions suddenly rose from the trembling earth and pierced Li Langfeng’s feet, causing them to bleed ceaselessly.
One after another, numerous stone protrusions pierced out of the ground where Li Langfeng was standing.
Since he hadn’t entered the Worldly realm, he wasn’t capable of soaring in the air yet. Furthermore, he was confined to a rather limited space by the spatial rifts, Ethereal Swords, and spatial light blades.
Therefore, when numerous stone protrusions stuck out of the ground, he was forced to face attacks coming from both the ground and the air. With one wrong step, he would have his legs pierced through.
However, when he was focused on avoiding the stone protrusions, he wouldn’t be able to fend off Pei Qiqi’s airborne attacks at the same time.
Before long, more wounds were cut open on Li Langfeng from his arms to feet.
With every step he took, blood flowed out of those wounds and dripped down his garments, painting the ground red.
At this point, nothing but rage could be seen in Li Langfeng’s eyes as he blurted, “You’re seeking death!”
Like poisonous snakes, thousands of threads of ghostly green light swooped towards Shi Qing and Pei Qiqi, carrying a disgusting, foul smell.
To Nie Tian’s surprise, even though Li Langfeng was losing his senses, he was bent on keeping Nie Tian alive.
Not a single ray of of toxic light or smoke shot towards Nie Tian.
PUFF! PUFF! PUFF!
Both Pei Qiqi and Shi Qing formed light shields to ward off the incoming attacks.
However, Nie Tian could tell with a brief observation that the two of them were barely hanging on, as they were forced to step backwards under the strong impacts caused by the rays of raging green energy.
Every time they trudged backwards, Nie Tian could hear subtle, bone-breaking sounds coming from within them.
Even though the two of them had exerted all their resources and dealt serious blows to Li Langfeng, Li Langfeng had returned the favor by inflicting even more severe damage on them.
As a peak Greater Heaven stage Qi warrior who was on the verge of breaking into the Worldly realm, Li Langfeng’s strength and his grotesque poison magics were indeed formidable.
SHEW!
Seeing that Shi Qing and Pei Qiqi were on the verge of collapsing, Nie Tian once again charged towards Li Langfeng.
“Clear a path for me!” Nie Tian yelled as he dashed towards Li Langfeng.
Trudging backwards, Pei Qiqi and Shi Qing both heard Nie Tian’s words and, without any hesitation, summoned their remaining strength to assist him.
Just as Nie Tian was about to reach Li Langfeng, all the stone protrusions, light blades, and spatial rifts simultaneously moved to the side.
Without meeting any obstructions, Nie Tian rapidly arrived in front of Li Langfeng.
“Do you have a death wish as well?” Looking Nie Tian in the eyes, Li Langfeng grinned and splayed his hand, the fleshed spirit beast skull flying into his palm in the next moment,
Without any delay, he lunged towards Nie Tian and smashed the skull towards Nie Tian with great force.
However, as soon as he entered Nie Tian’s chaotic magnetic field, a shocked look appeared in his eyes, and he immediately let out bloodcurdling screams.
Completely enveloped by Nie Tian’s chaotic magnetic field, his badly-mangled body and even the wiggling threads of green light in his split wounds began to twist.
It wasn’t long before his skin was ripped open and his body started to bloat, as if he could explode at any moment.
Even still, he bore the pain and rammed the skull in his hand into Nie Tian’s incoming fist.
BOOM!
The moment Nie Tian’s Rage Punch, which he had summoned with eighty percent of his strength, met Li Langfeng’s spirit beast skull, Li Langfeng was sent flying backwards, along with his skull.
The same went for Nie Tian, as he was also sent flying out of the area filled with stone protrusions and spatial light blades.
As he sailed through the air in a perfect arc, he found out that bones in his hand had been smashed, and a violent force had been infused into his flesh and blood through the contact.
He could keenly feel that wherever the force spread, his meridians were ruptured, and fissures were even created in his bones.
From the look of it, both he and Li Langfeng had sustained serious injuries after the violent clash.
BOOM!
Nie Tian crashed heavily onto the ground. Feeling powerless all over, he could tell that the force Li Langfeng had left in him was rampaging within him, damaging his meridians and bones.
Li Langfeng, on the other hand, wasn’t in a better situation than him.
Originally, Li Langfeng had been commanding strands of green light and smoke to attack Pei Qiqi and Shi Qing. Even though the two had spared no effort to defend themselves, they had sustained measurable injuries.
However, after suffering this most recent heavy blow, Li Langfeng couldn’t even maintain control over the power he had sent after them.
As the destructive light and smoke dissipated into thin air, Pei Qiqi and Shi Qing collapsed to the ground, completely worn out.
Nie Tian had landed fairly close to Pei Qiqi. He examined her with his Heaven Eye, and discovered that not only had she used up her spiritual power, but she was injured so badly that she could barely move.
Although Shi Qing was at the Greater Heaven stage, he was also in sore straits. However, he was able to move about at least.
Then, Nie Tian commanded his Heaven Eyes to examine Li Langfeng.
Bones fractured, flesh torn open, Li Langfeng was lying on his back with his belly facing the heavens, like a dying toad.
All of a sudden, a thin layer of green light enveloped his body.
Via the Heaven Eyes, Nie Tian discovered that a mysterious energy was surging inside of him.
Frenzied killing intent could be seen in Li Langfeng’s eyes, as if he was only lying there to heal and recover.
From the look of it, it wouldn’t be long before he was ready to fight again.
“This man is indeed terrifyingly strong!” Nie Tian was shocked to his core when he found that Li Langfeng was recovering at a high speed.
In contrast, Pei Qiqi and Shi Qing had already exhausted all their measures and strength. Nie Tian himself was still suffering from the corrosion of Li Langfeng’s attack. There hadn’t been a single second that passed without him feeling the stabbing pain.
Standing several hundred meters from each other, Nie Tian and Shi Qing exchanged a glance.
“He’s still alive!” With these words, Nie Tian deactivated his chaotic magnetic field and put on his jade bracelet instead to protect himself from the toxic spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth as he dashed towards Pei Qiqi, who hadn’t been able to stand up.
Under her astounded gaze, Nie Tian helped her up, hefted her onto his back, and ran out of the mountain valley.
Upon seeing Nie Tian’s actions and the green light shield attached to Li Langfeng’s body, Shi Qing immediately realized that Li Langfeng was merely in recovery, and would soon be able to fight again.
Therefore, without the slightest hesitation, he drew upon his only remaining strength and charged out of the valley after Nie Tian.
After all, neither he nor Nie Tian were confident that they would be able to break Li Langfeng’s protective light shield and kill him.
In this situation, running away was undoubtedly the wisest decision.
As soon as Nie Tian made it out of the valley, carrying Pei Qiqi on his back, Shi Qing caught up to him.
“Let’s split up and hope for the best.” With a grim expression on his face, Shi Qing took a deep breath and charged towards the direction that the Blood Skull members had left in, hoping to join forces with Gu Yu and the others.
Seeing that Shi Qing had sped off, Nie Tian could only go in the opposite direction.
At least by doing that, after having fully recovered, Li Langfeng would have to choose to chase after one of them, and thus the chances of the other’s survival would rise significantly.
Although it was unlikely that Shi Qing would encounter his own forces within a short time, it would happen eventually, given Li Langfeng was stalled long enough.
By that time, Shi Qing would probably survive this calamity.
On the other hand, the path Nie Tian had chosen would lead him to a secluded part of the mountain range where it would be unlikely for him to run into anyone, much less any Blood Skull members.
The reason he had chosen this path was because it was filled with active spatial rifts.
Once Pei Qiqi was able to restore her battle prowess, the substantial amount of spatial rifts in the area would greatly increase their chances of surviving.