Chapter 290: Courting Death With a Passion

When Senior Brother Lin was immersed in the miraculous feeling that almost allowed him to break through earlier, he completely forgot about Shan Dao who was behind him. He didn’t even notice when Shang Xia threw out his flying knife.

It went without a doubt that Shang Xia had been toying with Senior Brother Lin the whole time. Senior Brother Lin might be from the Changbai Holy Land, but it seemed as though his battle experience was a little lacking.

Moreover, Shang Xia’s goal was to kill Shan Dao anyway. He had to take revenge for the ambush the other day.

As a direct disciple of the Changbai Holy Land, Senior Brother Lin was extremely proud of his status. However, all that ego and pride was ground to dust by Shang Xia who killed three of his fellow disciples in front of him.

Senior Brother Lin, who was a step away from entering the grand completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm, felt his body shivering violently as all the energy left him.

Luckily for him, he managed to maintain his last shred of rationality. He knew that it wasn’t time to be crying over the death of his comrades. He quickly acted to retrieve their bodies.

Even though the battle between the Martial Intent Realm cultivators had ended, the Martial Extermination experts in the distance were still going strong. Liang Shuangren was still at a massive disadvantage and he needed to bring his fellow cultivators over to utilize the Essence Harmony Pulse Formation.

Reaching down to pull out the flying knife stuck in Shan Dao’s throat, a sharp whistle came from behind, causing the hair on his body to stand erect.

Luckily for him, he was prepared for any type of ambush. The moment he discovered the threat, he twisted his body to the side.

The metal arrow that appeared from the depths of the forest around them pierced straight through Shan Dao’s corpse. The strong force dragged the body several feet across the ground.

Several dozen feet away, Shang Xia lowered his bow and released a soft sigh. He was lamenting the fact that his sneak attack missed, but he didn’t stop there. He started rushing towards Senior Brother Lin.

The arrow was supposed to bury itself deep in Senior Brother Lin’s body, but the man was clearly prepared for Shang Xia’s sneak attack.

After the short break he received when Senior Brother Lin collected the bodies of his comrades, Shang Xia managed to recover slightly. He wasn’t afraid that he would be suppressed mercilessly like before.

Moreover, the arrow he shot out earlier had a second purpose. He wanted to stop Senior Brother Lin from retrieving his Fleeing Wind Dagger.

The dagger might be small, but it was still a low-grade weapon nonetheless. Shang Xia wasn’t a wastrel who wasted resources!

It didn’t take long for Shang Xia to close the distance between them. He didn’t slow down as he sent another arrow flying towards Senior Brother Lin.

Ready to take the attack on, Senior Brother Lin sliced it in half. However, the remnant energy in the arrow forced him back. With Senior Brother Lin distracted, Shang Xia moved even closer.

“That… That’s Yin Lian’s Bow!” Senior Brother Lin gasped as a twisted expression appeared on his face.

Facing the fast-approaching Shang Xia, Senior Brother Lin knew that he wouldn’t be able to defeat such a monster. Even though he wanted nothing more than to tear Shang Xia to shreds, his last remaining bit of rationality told him to run.

After missing his first arrow, Shang Xia didn’t expect the next to hit. However, stalling Senior Brother Lin was enough. The loot on the corpses belonged to him and he couldn’t allow Senior Brother Lin to take them away.

It went without saying that Shang Xia had noticed that the other three were carrying a variety of precious items on them. Just their weapons alone were worth a huge fortune. All of them were carrying graded weapons and Shang Xia couldn’t allow such goodies to slip away from under his eyes.

When Shang Xia was about to enter striking range, Senior Brother Lin finally made the rational decision to leave. In order to save himself, he couldn’t retrieve the corpses of his fellow martial brothers.

Shang Xia didn’t plan to hunt Senior Brother Lin down. Instead, he went to retrieve his Fleeing Wind Dagger immediately. After grabbing his dagger, he discovered that Shan Dao’s blade was missing! Earlier, Shang Xia noticed that his blade was a mid-grade weapon.

Sweeping his divine sense across the corpse, he discovered that everything was missing! There could only be one explanation. Senior Brother Lin retrieved them earlier when he grabbed Shan Dao’s corpse.

A trace of irritation filled Shang Xia’s heart. If he acted a little earlier, he might have been able to stop Senior Brother Lin from taking away the items.

The person who was supposed to possess the largest fortune among them was Shan Dao, but Shang Xia only managed to retrieve his dagger from the corpse.

The items on the other two experts might not have been retrieved by Senior Brother Lin, but they didn’t possess a spatial artifact. The most valuable items on them were Yuan Gang’s axe and Junior Brother Di’s short hammer.

Shang Xia’s sneak attack was too successful. Junior Brother Di died without drawing his weapon. However, when Shang Xia tried sending some of his Origin True Qi into the weapon, he felt a sense of rejection.

If he was unable to send his inner qi into the weapon, it would be less useful than an ordinary sword he picked up at the side of the street. Unable to decipher the reason behind the rejection, Shang Xia could only store it in his Embroidered Cloud Case to bring it back for future research.

Luckily for him, he was able to use Yuan Gang’s axe with no problems. The axe was a low-grade weapon, and Shang Xia took it as his consolation prize. At the very least, he received something after killing the three of them.

Naturally, Shang Xia was probably the only person who could say something like that. Receiving two graded weapons would make anyone else jump for joy. If Shang Xia’s attitude was seen by anyone from the five institutions, they would probably drown him in spit.

When everything was done, Shang Xia waved his hand and tossed the three corpses into a nearby hole in the ground. When he was done, he turned to look at the chaotic battlefield in the distance.

From the time Shang Xia carried out his sneak attack to the time Shang Xia disposed of the three bodies, not too much time had passed.

With the intensity of the battle going on among the Martial Extermination Realm experts, they might not even notice what happened over at their side.

Dealing with the Martial Intent Realm cultivators of the Azure Spiritual World, Shang Xia didn’t know what to do next. He couldn’t help the Martial Extermination Realm experts on his side even if he wanted to. After all, he was unable to observe the situation happening in the huge battle between the four.

He didn’t even know that out of the four Martial Extermination Realm experts who were fighting, which of the other three were on his side. The only enemy he knew was Liang Shuangren.

Whoever it was up there would be able to notice him eventually.

Indeed, not too long after, he heard an enraged cry coming from Liang Shuangren.

With a confirmed enemy yelling his guts out, Shang Xia knew that the only smart move was to retreat. Also, from the urgent cries for help from the group of Martial Intent Realm cultivators of the Azure Spiritual World, Shang Xia could tell that Liang Shuangren wasn’t in a good spot.

Since Shang Xia’s confirmed enemy was in a pinch and he didn’t know who his allies were, he could only run as far as he could before waiting for the situation to clear up. Leaving would allow him to stay safe while not affecting the outcome of the battle.

However, the moment he turned around to leave, a bad premonition filled his heart.

Mister Bu’s identity might be suspicious, but Shang Xia couldn’t deny that the expert took care of him previously. If not for the fact that Mister Bu pushed him away when they were discovered, he might have already lost his life to the cultivator of the Azure Spiritual World.

Of course, the main trust Shang Xia had in Mister Bu came from the Tongyou Institution. They were the ones who sent him to meet Mister Bu in the first place!

Thinking up to that point, he turned back to look at the chaotic battlefield once again. He measured the distance visually and realized that even after drawing his bow to the maximum, he wouldn’t be able to shoot his arrow at anyone fighting. Even if it was possible to shoot an arrow in there, it would be useless against a Martial Extermination Realm expert.

The most likely scenario was that the arrow would be ripped to shreds by the shockwaves from their clashes long before it reaches the battlefield.

Realizing there was nothing more he could do at his current location, he leaped off the hill and did something absolutely insane. He started running towards the battlefield.

The distance between him and the fight wasn’t large, but Shang Xia found it difficult to make much progress. Strong winds pushed him back as the chaotic fluctuations of heaven and earth qi obstructed his way.

When he tried his hardest to approach, a loud blast rang through the air and he nearly lost control of his inner qi. If not for the fact that his foundations were solid, he might be crippled by the sudden disturbance. Regulating his inner qi, he started to push himself forward.

When he started feeling the impact of the shockwaves on his body, he finally made out a few of the figures fighting above.

Glancing at the four of them once, Shang Xia had no choice but to take a few steps back in retreat. He discovered that his inner qi was exhausted after a short glance at the battle!

It was the effect of the various extermination origins controlled by the four of them.

However, that also told him one important fact. He was close to the heart of the battle if their extermination origins could affect him so heavily!

To put it bluntly, he was able to notice them, but any of the four would be able to kill him with a single thought! Gritting his teeth, Shang Xia chose to risk it all.

Gripping his Scarlet Star Spear in his hand, he barged his way into the area covered by their extermination origins. He locked on to Liang Shuangren as soon as he could before pushing his Origin True Qi to the limit to release one strike.

There was only a single move Shang Xia knew that could cause damage to Martial Extermination Realm experts. That was his fifth move, the Woundless Spear!

After unleashing his strike, Shang Xia didn’t even have time to keep his spear in his Embroidered Cloud Case. Holding his spear, he fled hastily from the scene.

The instant he left the destructive region, a new wound appeared under his right rib. The wound was once again seven inches long and one inch deep.

His clothes were stained an even deeper shade of red.