Chapter 45: Fighting Head-On!
Just as Xiang Shaoyun was about to grab Little White and hide, the other party appeared right in front of him.
“It’s the brat! So he never left the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range after all! No wonder we didn’t find him even after waiting half a month outside the mountain range. We’d even thought that a demonic beast had eaten him!” the person at the forefront shouted and glared at Xiang Shaoyun.
Before Xiang Shaoyun were four men, each riding a fearsome mount. The person who spotted Xiang Shaoyun was called Yan Tianming. He rode on a tier-2 Intermediate Demon lion.
“Damn it! It’s the Mad Lion Hunting Group!” Xiang Shaoyun immediately took off. Watching the four men advancing to surround him, there was no other realistic action to take. As he did not know the strength of the four, he was unwilling to take any unnecessary risks in attempting to fight them.
“Where can you run? After him!” Yan Tianming bellowed, pointing towards the fleeing Xiang Shaoyun. As he gave his orders, he hurled a spear at the fleeing Xiang Shaoyun.
The spear furiously cut through the air, landing right in front of Xiang Shaoyun. Badly startled, he was forced to come to a stop. The very instant that he came to a stop, two people caught up to him on their mounts. A sword and a saber came flying straight for his back.
These two people were both Astral Realm cultivators. With both saber and sword energy heading straight for his back, Xiang Shaoyun could not help but feel threatened. Luckily for him, his power had improved tremendously since he and the Mad Lion Hunting Group last met. His reactions were also astoundingly fast—by pushing forward just a bit, he dodged both of the saber and sword lights.
While his opponents were still recovering from the missed attacks, he focused his energy into his fists and sent two packed punches at the bodies of the demonic beasts.
“Roar! Roar!”
Xiang Shaoyun’s punches left the two beasts roaring and reeling in pain. The two beasts sped up, wanting to get away from Xiang Shaoyun as fast as they possibly could. The two people riding those two beasts were the least fortunate of the bunch—in their attempt to escape, the beasts violently flung them off their backs!
“Die!” Xiang Shaoyun’s eyes gleamed with fury. Seizing his opportunity, the Heavy Cleave Saber slashed out, sending a blindingly bright light of saber energy straight at the two men!
Swish!
One of the men’s heads was cleanly sliced off, and it flew far away from its body. Just as Xiang Shaoyun was about to slash the second person, Yan Tianming came between the two of them.
“What a ferocious brat! However, I will take you down today!” Yan Tianming growled before hurling the spear in his hand. A trail of three to four meters of astral energy trailed behind it.
Yan Tianming was indeed worthy of having reached the fourth stage of the Astral Realm. Xiang Shaoyun immediately slashed out once again with the saber in hand, sending out yet another burst of saber energy.
Clang!
A violent burst of energy erupted from where the two weapons collided. Xiang Shaoyun was forced back significantly. Furthermore, several cracks appeared on the Heavy Cleave Saber.
“An expert of the third or fourth stage!” Xiang Shaoyun wavered.
Seizing the opportunity, the other attacker once again charged murderously at Xiang Shaoyun.
Xiang Shaoyun immediately reacted, yet a long wound was still left on his arm, causing his blood to spill. As for the attacker, he spun his weapon and stabbed straight at one of Xiang Shaoyun’s vitals. Coming from a primary-phase, third-stage Astral Realm expert, this thin strain of incoming light was a fatal attack.
Xiang Shaoyun activated his gift of instincts and clearly saw the trajectory of the incoming attack. Not only that, even Yan Tianming’s attack, which was coming from the opposite direction, fell clearly within his vision.
Ordinary first-stage Astral Realm experts would be hard-pressed to survive such a pincer attack. But Xiang Shaoyun used an extremely ingenious body movement to evade both attacks. At the same time, he yelled, “Little White, attack!”
The moment Xiang Shaoyun yelled, Little White, who had been hanging on his shoulder, moved.
“Meow!”
Little White moved like an agile cat, and in the blink of an eye, he landed on the third-stage Astral Realm expert’s face.
“Ahhh! Ahhh!”
The person wailed miserably as Little White’s clawed furiously on his face. This person’s looks were most likely ruined forever. While Little White was keeping the person busy, Xiang Shaoyun’s Heavy Cleave Saber swept toward Yan Tianming with full power.
Heavy Cleave Technique!
A saber energy that seemed slow yet was in fact fast moved straight at the tiny opening Yan Tianming had revealed.
Meanwhile, Yan Tianming was only halfway done releasing his attacking technique when he sensed the threat Xiang Shaoyun’s attack posed him. He was thus forced to shift his technique into a defensive technique. After blocking the attack, he sent a brand new attack at Xiang Shaoyun, vowing to get rid of this enemy as soon as possible. However, he was only halfway done releasing his attack before Xiang Shaoyun once again attacked his opening, forcing him to retreat repeatedly.
Such a weird kid. Why is he able to see through my attacks? Yan Tianming thought to himself. He bellowed, “I refuse to believe you will be able to see through my moves every time! Die!”
Yan Tianming finally took everything seriously and decided to kill Xiang Shaoyun as soon as possible. He was finally going to show his true power. A golden radiance rippled out from his long spear, the dots of radiance akin to shining stars in the night sky. The spear moved speedily, and coupled with the bright radiance it was emanating, one would have difficulties looking directly at it.
Xiang Shaoyun’s gift of insights was unable to keep up with this new move, and he was forced into the defensive.
Clang! Clang!
They clashed, sending astral energy spraying everywhere, destroying all the plants around them. Even Xiang Shaoyun’s Heavy Cleave Saber was broken during the clash.
“Without a weapon, it’s time for you to die!” Yan Tianming grinned as he yelled and continued attacking Xiang Shaoyun. But inwardly, he was flabbergasted. This kid is obviously only a first-stage Astral Realm cultivator. How is he capable of blocking me? I must kill him! He can’t be allowed to grow!
Yan Tianming lived up to his reputation as a hunter who had spent the majority of his time in the forest. The moment he caught on to an opening, he attacked relentlessly, not giving Xiang Shaoyun the time to even draw his sword.
Xiang Shaoyun relied on Overlord’s Nine Nether Steps to avoid the attacks, yet many wounds were still left on his body.
“Since I can’t escape, I might as well throw all caution to the wind!” Xiang Shaoyun muttered as a ruthless glint surfaced in his eyes. He pushed his eyes to the limits and was finally able to see the trajectory of Yan Tianming’s spear. He directly reached for the spear and clasped it under his armpit.
That gave off an impression that the spear had stabbed Xiang Shaoyun, and even Yan Tianming was none the wiser. It was right this moment that Xiang Shaoyun unleashed all his strength and punched with his other hand. Purple qi swirled around the tyrannical fist as it shot forward.
Lightning Bolt Fist!
The fist surged violently, carrying the power of lightning! Yan Tianming had never expected Xiang Shaoyun to suddenly erupt with such power. But he was still a fourth-stage Astral Realm expert. He immediately countered with a punch.
Bang!
The two fists connected, creating a loud sound of collision. The impact directly sent Yan Tianming flying from his mount. An intense pain assailed his hand, as if lightning had struck him. Xiang Shaoyun seemed to have turned into a phantom as he immediately caught up to Yan Tianming and drew his sword. The sword sliced forward, and its energy ripped through the air like a rainbow.
“NO!” Yan Tianming stared at the incoming sword, his eyes wide. He couldn’t even protect himself in time. The sword whistled through the air. A head separated from its body. Just like that, a fourth-stage Astral Realm expert died.
When Yan Tianming’s companion saw this, he trembled in fear. And when Xiang Shaoyun glanced at him, he started stepping backward. He did not even have the courage to face Xiang Shaoyun.
“Y-you can’t kill me! I-I’m a member of the Mad Lion Hunting Group!” he stuttered as he retreated.