He was giving it his all, but the distance between him and Wu Yuan only grew wider.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Dust billowed across the earth. In less than ten seconds, the distance between Wu Yuan and Jin Rensu had shortened to a mere 500 meters. Within another second, they would collide.
As for Chen Luo, he was just two li behind Wu Yuan, and in just two or three seconds, he would catch up too.
In other words, Wu Yuan’s window of time to slaughter them was brief.
“Shadow Blade, this is the ninth prince of Great Jin, His Majesty’s most valued son. Don’t make a mistake!” Li Zi’s urgent shout pierced through the air.
“Emperor Jin’s son? If Emperor Jin pisses me off, I won’t hesitate to slaughter him either!” Wu Yuan’s speed didn’t slow in the slightest; if anything, it increased.
Whoosh! A streak of eerie brilliance illuminated the surroundings as a blade ray sliced through the air.
“Kill!” Li Zi gritted his teeth, powering forward at full speed as he brandished his dual spears to meet the attack. Spear silhouettes multiplied as his near-Grandmaster strength erupted. He didn’t hope to completely block Wu Yuan, just stall for two seconds.
Clang! Clang! Saber met spear, and the two clashed over ten times in an instant. The terrifying force imbued within the blade ray sent Li Zi’s qi roiling!
Boom! One retreated rapidly, while the other advanced. After a brief but intense skirmish spanning over a hundred meters, Li Zi somehow managed to hold his ground, slowing Wu Yuan’s pace.
Whoosh! Like a bolt of black lightning, Grandmaster Chen Luo landed with a resounding thud and shot forward across the terrain. He was now mere hundreds of meters from Wu Yuan!
“Be gone!” Wu Yuan swung his saber ferociously, forcing Li Zi to retreat again. Li Zi reacted instantly and met the attack. But then, in a silent and horrifying display, three streaks of metal sliced through the air, aimed directly at Jin Rensu. At this moment, they were only 200 meters from their target.
Not good! Grandmaster Chen Luo panicked, knowing all too well the devastating power of Wu Yuan’s throwing knives.
Li Zi reacted in record time, jabbing one spear toward Wu Yuan while instinctively flinging the other out.
Boom~ The flung spear swiftly deflected two of the throwing knives, sending them spiraling off in different directions. Only one throwing knife remained, hurtling at 800 meters per second, leaving Jin Rensu with virtually no time to react.
Jin Rensu’s eyes locked onto that single throwing knife. He could almost feel the grim reaper breathing down his neck.
Whoosh! A flash of sword light shone as he drew his own sword.
Boom~ The impact sent a bone-chilling power surging through his weapon. His arm ached sharply and his divine weapon flew from his grasp. However, he managed to deflect the last throwing knife, altering its trajectory. Ripping through the air, it grazed past Jin Rensu’s scalp, narrowly missing its mark.
A momentary joy flickered through Jin Rensu’s mind. I blocked it! I blocked a Grandmaster’s throwing knife!
Thwack~ Another throwing knife swiftly streaked by, slicing through his skull. The immense impact instantly followed through. Bone fragments exploded and blood splattered, as the headless body was forcefully flung backward before finally crashing to the ground.
The ninth prince of Great Jin, Jin Rensu, was dead!
This was Wu Yuan’s tried and true method with his throwing knives. After launching three in rapid succession, he would swiftly follow up with a fourth. It was his most lethal stealth attack.
“Shadow Blade!!!” Chen Luo’s roar echoed through heaven and earth, filled with endless murderous intent and inextinguishable rage.
As for Li Zi? He had no time to mourn Jin Rensu’s death.
Cling! Cling! Cling! Another lightning-fast series of exchanges, accompanied by a heart-stopping blade ray.
Thwack~ The blade ray descended on Li Zi’s remaining spear, sliding along the spear shaft and across his neck.
No blood was visible, but Wu Yuan sidestepped past Li Zi, directly pouncing toward Jin Rensu’s corpse.
With a heavy thud, Li Zi’s tall figure collapsed to the ground, blood slowly trickling from his neck.
Fourth in the Holy Continent Human Rankings, Li Zi, was dead!
If you were wielding two spears, it would have taken me some effort to kill you, but you dared sacrifice one spear to save someone else?
Dual-wielding was a challenging ability that required precise control of force. Those who had not mastered it were better off using a single-handed weapon. However, once mastered, the power it unleashed was truly immense.
“Shadow Blade, you’re dead meat!” A thunderous roar of unadulterated rage reverberated through the atmosphere.
Boom! With a ferocity that could not be contained, a staff descended upon the earth.
Chen Luo had finally caught up.
Clang! Wu Yuan swung his saber to meet the weapon, his expression cold. Borrowing the momentum from the impact, he lunged towards Jin Rensu’s side.
No treasures? A cursory glance revealed only weapons and armor on his body. He saw no other valuable items. That shouldn’t be the case! The ninth prince of Great Jin didn’t carry any items with him?
A wrist guard? Wu Yuan’s eyes swept over the corpse once again, noticing something peculiar about the wrist guard on the prince’s right arm.
At this moment, a Grandmaster was hot on his heels, Wu Yuan had no time for further contemplation. He instinctively swung his saber, the tip flicking upwards ever so slightly.
Swoosh! The arm was severed at midpoint. The wrist guard soared through the air, landing securely within Wu Yuan’s grasp.
In a flash, Wu Yuan covered hundreds of meters, his body twisting like an elusive gust of wind, narrowly dodging the ferocious staff swinging towards him.
The Greenflame Staff swiped past, splitting a large tree in half.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Enraged, Chen Luo unleashed a barrage of staff strikes, their silhouettes dominating the sky, compelling Wu Yuan to flee in a desperate bid for survival. He dared not face his opponent head-on.
“Chen Luo, dispose of the corpses,” Wu Yuan called out. Pivoting abruptly, he unleashed a blade ray of monstrous intensity.
Hm? Chen Luo’s expression shifted, and he raised his staff to defend.
Clang~ Wu Yuan’s saber strike appeared fierce, but it was barely imbued with force. He was simply utilizing the recoil to accelerate as he fled. Once again, he widened the distance between himself and Chen Luo!
Flee! With a leap, Wu Yuan covered hundreds of meters, frantically fleeing, leaving behind a blurred shadow.
Another fight? He could already feel waves of exhaustion rippling through his body. Even the blood-red mist could not fully dispel it.
Flee? I don’t believe you can maintain your secret art indefinitely. Chen Luo, seething with anger, flashed forward in hot pursuit of Wu Yuan.
The casualties were devastating. Ninth Prince Jin Rensu had died. How was he going to explain this to Emperor Jin? How could he let Wu Yuan off the hook?
As for the corpses? The black-robed middle-aged man, Nan Wei, was enough to guard the bodies from wild wolves.
The gap between the two quickly widened.
Yet, there was no joy on Wu Yuan’s face. Much like Chen Luo had predicted, even with his blood-red mist, Wu Yuan could not maintain his burst state forever. There would be an end, a limit.
Once his body reached its breaking point? Even swinging his saber would be tough, and death would be inevitable.
I can’t keep this up, I have to take a gamble. Wu Yuan’s eyes shimmered.
Choosing to confront a Grandmaster was akin to placing one’s life on the line!
In an instant, Wu Yuan deactivated Ghostwalk, significantly reducing the strain on his body. His speed dropped sharply.
He’s finally unable to hold on. Chen Luo’s eyes were icy cold, finally glimpsing a chance to put an end to Wu Yuan. After all, the benefit of having a superior physical constitution was that his normal sprinting speed outpaced Wu Yuan’s significantly,
After the two darted nearly ten li across the vast wasteland, Chen Luo finally caught up with Wu Yuan.
“Die.” Chen Luo swung his staff once again at Wu Yuan.
Clang! Clang! Wu Yuan swiftly spun around, his saber emanating a menacing glow, forcefully meeting the relentless strikes of the staff. Chen Luo swung the Greenflame Staff wide, intending to crush Wu Yuan with raw power.
While the weapons and armor lessened the impact of each clash, the accumulated injuries would eventually reach a critical point. But Wu Yuan’s saber techniques were remarkably versatile, either guiding the attacks like flowing water or striking preemptively like lightning, never allowing for a direct collision.
Without invoking their secret arts, there was a clear power imbalance, yet Wu Yuan possessed superior skill. The gap was not as great as it seemed.
As they battled, whenever Chen Luo slowed down to gather his strength for an attack, Wu Yuan took the opportunity to flee hundreds of meters away. Chen Luo had no choice but to continue the pursuit.
Less than an hour into this cat-and-mouse game, Wu Yuan managed to escape dozens of miles away as the two experts relentlessly tugged and pulled at each other. The areas they passed by were left in total disarray.
I just have to keep going like this, I don’t believe he can outlast me. As Wu Yuan frantically fled, the blood-red mist constantly entered his body, restoring his energy.
Under normal circumstances, Wu Yuan’s endurance would naturally pale in comparison to a real Grandmaster. However, with the blood-red mist, nothing was certain.
Argh! How can this Shadow Blade maintain this level of combat power for so long? Chen Luo was on the cusp of tearing out his hair in frustration. He has been keeping his secret art active for far too long. Even a Grandmaster would have reached their limit by now.
Though he was a Grandmaster himself, he could only maintain each burst of secret art for half as long as Wu Yuan.
Let’s see how long you can keep it up. Chen Luo gritted his teeth, still unwilling to give up.
The Cloud River snaked ahead, yet Wu Yuan continued to travel in a straight line, fleeing toward the Baihu Province.