“Tch! Fighting two of them at once wasn’t enough, was it? There’s another group waiting for me over there...that won’t do!”

Jing Mingfeng grumbled to himself as he parried two attacks from the gold and blue streaks of light with his black dagger. He wasn’t in decent shape, but the light in his eyes was as sharp as ever as he observed his surroundings to optimize his battle strategy.

“Grandfather’s done with half his goal already. He just needs to finish off the patriarch. Even if we don’t kill off the Qin, they’ll lose any chance of getting any more powerful. No one...no one will escape the two of us then!

“Doesn’t feel like I’ll be able to take on any more people after this, so...it’s time to retreat!!”

Jing Mingfeng knew his limits. It was high time for him to withdraw from battle and head west. With his agility and the power of Black Phantom, Jing Mingfeng was just barely to fend off the two Early-stage Soul Kings without too much trouble.

He also knew that trying to fight them for an extended period of time would be foolish. The distance away from the others wasn’t negligible, but it also wasn’t something that’d take more than a bit of effort for a Soul King to cross. His battle with the two Soul Kings in front of him was already taking a minute longer than he expected and would definitely be even more trouble if he didn’t pull away now.

He’d lose the fight if a third Soul King were to come in now, and his life would practically be forfeit if that Soul King was a Mid-stage or Late-stage...

“Over there!!”

Jing Mingfeng’s eyes lit up when he saw his opportunity out from this battle. Over twenty streaks of light were flying out and away from the area as soul cultivators were trying their best to flee the area. If he used his disguising abilities to hide, Jing Mingfeng would have an excellent chance of being able to escape.

Having that in mind now, Jing Mingfeng flew at once over to the area. The dagger in his right hand exuded a faint greenish-black light from the blade to block a streak of golden light from his right and force the Soul King back.

“Whoosh!!”

Suddenly, a barrage of blades made from elemental water came flying at him from his left! Rather than leap away from the attack, Jing Mingfeng weaved through the spaces in between the blades like if he was dancing to come out from the other side unscathed!

But another danger was already coming onto him the moment he made his way out from that attack!

“Clang!!” Jing Mingfeng’s left hand flew up to block the blue-glowing blade coming down onto his head at nearly the last second.

An opening!

The hand holding Black Phantom snapped forward at the water-type Soul King. Taking advantage of when the man was trying to pull his weapon back, Jing Mingfeng thrust the dagger onto the chest of the Soul King!

“Pcht...ding!!”

The dagger broke through the elemental barrier the Soul King threw up with a popping sound not unlike that of a balloon but was then stopped in a flurry of sparks when it made contact with the layer of clothes the Soul King wore!

The elemental barrier wasn’t the only layer of defense the water-type Soul King had. He still also had a strong piece of armor!

“Tch!!”

Jing Mingfeng clicked his tongue in annoyance at the missed opportunity. There wasn’t even enough time to make a second attack since the Soul King was attacking first!

He leaped into a different direction this time to avoid the attack, but the sword of the Soul King followed swiftly after him like a shadow to a body. Left with no other choice, Jing Mingfeng brought both of his daggers in front of him to try and block the sword stroke.

“Clang!” The sword smashed forcefully into his daggers without enough power to send Jing Mingfeng flying away. And as if to follow up on his companion’s attack, the metal-type Soul King sent a wave of elemental metal to strike down Jing Mingfeng!

Jing Mingfeng’s eyes widened at the attack. Grunting out loud, he encased himself in a bubble of elemental wind to protect himself.

“Boom!!!”

The strike impacted against his barrier and broke apart simultaneously with it, leaving a very unprotected Jing Mingfeng open to another attack. He was like a ball being punted around with to go flying back towards the water-type Soul King!

Jing Mingfeng was ready to strike this time though. As he flew at the Soul King, Jing Mingfeng readied Black Phantom to strike at the heart!

The water-type Soul King hadn’t been too prepared for Jing Mingfeng to suddenly come flying back to him, so his eyes widened fractionally at the sight of where the dagger was aiming for. His previous success in blocking the dagger before helped the man come to a quick decision to use this opportunity to ignore the attack and attack Jing Mingfeng with a downwards stroke!

He knew the dagger wouldn’t pierce his armor. Whatever Jing Mingfeng tried, it wouldn’t be enough to stop the Soul King from splitting Jing Mingfeng in two!

But this was the exact scenario Jing Mingfeng was looking for!

His dagger gained a black and green sheen to its edge as it once again struck at the same place as before!

“Pchttt!!!”

Like a hot knife through butter, the dagger sheared straight through the elemental barrier over the Soul King’s robes and then through the piece of armor straight into his heart!

“Clang!!”

The sudden intrusion of the dagger into his body forced the Soul King to flinch. That was more than enough time for Jing Mingfeng to pull his dagger back and stop the incoming sword stroke from hitting him!

“Qin Kui!!”

A horrified cry came from the metal-type Soul King behind him, but the water-type Soul King couldn’t hear him at that moment. All he could do was look down at his pierced armor in slow disbelief. He hovered there for a moment before his body finally grew slack and began to plummet down towards the ground!

Only a single thought played across his mind on his way down: “Why...didn’t my armor block that strike like before!?”

The answer was simple, not that he’d know the answer in any case.

Equipment Grade: Mid Heaven

Elemental Affinity: Wind, Darkness

Upgrade Level: +10

Attack: 4400

Additional Attack: 2000

Soul Compatibility: 25%

Equipment Effect 1: 30% Increase in attack speed.

Equipment Effect 2: 30% Decrease in presence. 20% Chance to evade being scanned.

+10 Additional Effect: Leave a mark upon the first strike.

Apply a second mark when the same place is struck for double the damage.

Apply a third mark when the same place is struck for triple the damage.

No more than triple the damage can be dealt.

A fourth mark will erase the first mark.

Any mark applied will last for either 5 minutes or until the fourth mark is applied.

Cooldown of 3 seconds between marks.

Upgrade Requirement: 230 Soulpoints

The success of his second attack didn’t even require any additional strength from Jing Mingfeng. All he had to do was strike at the same place for before to have his dagger deal double the damage!

A preposterous ability like that could really only be understood by experiencing it for oneself. But the price for it was a steep one...death!!

His success with killing one of his foes didn’t seize Jing Mingfeng’s mind. He paused briefly to stow away the space ring of the now dead Soul King before shooting forward!

He only made it a hundred meters before a new presence made itself known to Jing Mingfeng. Snapping his head right, Jing Mingfeng’s eyes widened as he realized a streak of violet light was flying straight for him!

“A Mid-stage Soul King!!”

Jing Mingfeng cursed to himself and picked up the pace to fly away.

The person coming for him was an elderly man dressed in purple—this was Qin Shu’s father! His eyes radiated with murderous intent as he rushed for Jing Mingfeng, his grizzled mouth curling into a snarl. The snarl only deepened at the sight of the dead water-type Soul King falling from the skies before it cracked opened to roar!

“Die!!!”

Countless bolts of lightning manifested into the world at his command. It converged on the same space to form a python and shot straight for Jing Mingfeng faster than he could fly!

The level of power this attack was on was completely different than anything the previous two Soul Kings Jing Mingfeng fought. This attack was powerful enough to swallow Jing Mingfeng up if he was to be caught in it!

And if that wasn’t enough, the metal-type Soul King let out a furious roar as well. A giant golden sawtooth blade formed above his head before it flew out to strike down the fleeing Jing Mingfeng!

“Bzzz....”

The world itself shook for a moment as a black stream of light came flying from the west. Devastating in power, this stream of light flew at the two incoming attacks as if to stop them.

Jing Wuying had sensed the danger Jing Mingfeng was in and was stepping in to save him!

But there was someone else that had moved a step faster than he did, and that was when the tides of battle had suddenly changed in a completely different direction!!

From completely out of the blue, a ‘volcano’ appeared onto the scene with a streak of violet light to follow!

And then a voice as cold as ice echoed across the sky!

“Freeze!!”