Chapter 300: The senior brother, the eldest brother, goes first!
The cool west wind blew through the green bamboo in the forest.
Hua Hua…
They heard needles falling in the bamboo forest and the sound of bamboo leaves swinging. Not far ahead, two horses, one black and one white, were silently chewing the grass leaves.
In this dead silence, Jianghe’s breathing noticeably stagnated. However, as the governor of the Heavenly Execution Court, he remained composed. Even though he knew the bamboo forest was full of danger, he showed no sign of panic on his face.
What was the cultivation level of the owners of those two horses? From what direction would they attack? And the biggest question was, why would someone ambush him in the bamboo forest east of Yuan Quan Town?
Passing through this bamboo forest and walking a few hundred feet eastward, they would reach a cave with a formation. Inside that cave was one of the forty-seven alchemy rooms of the Emperor Sect, a secret that must never be revealed.
Perhaps due to a sense of luck, Jianghe didn’t think that the group of people ambushing him knew about the existence of the Alchemy Room. They were probably just a group of thieves committing robberies.
After a moment of silence, Jianghe took a deep breath and spoke again,
“Do you two fellow Daoists recognize this golden robe? No matter if it is black or white, you should know in the Central Domain that offending the Heavenly Execution Sect is not a small crime that can be avoided by spending two or three days in jail.”
The voice shuttled among the green bamboo, but the only response was the sound of bamboo left swaying in the wind.
“I’ll count to three chances, three…”
Chiji—jiji~~jiji…
Just when Jianghe counted to three, three cries of a raccoon suddenly came from the depths of the bamboo forest, sounding like heralding spring.
After Jianghe heard this, he paused slightly and didn’t pay much attention. He continued to count down,
“Two!!”
Chiji—jiji~~jiji…
Birdsong sounded again, unexpectedly consistent with the rhythm just now.
At this time, Liang Zhu, standing behind Jianghe, finally realized that the bird’s throat did not emit this extremely natural-sounding crow but a special iron whistle.
Using this method of communication, because no spiritual power or magic weapon was used at all, it would not be detected by high-level cultivators with their spiritual consciousness, and even if it were detected, it would be in vain if they did not understand the code.
It was just a mortal’s crude method, but sometimes it could still be useful.
Chiji—jiji~~jiji…
As the third bird call came out, Liang Zhu finally understood the meaning of the bird call, but after understanding it, a trace of confusion flashed in his eyes.
What Lao Liu meant was—”Take the initiative.” In other words, did you want him to take action against Jianghe?
At this moment of surprise for Liang Zhu, Jianghe began his countdown. As he reached the final number, he raised his right hand, and a jet-black spear flew out from his waist storage bag.
“One!!!”
Seeing this, Liang Zhu gritted his teeth. Despite not wanting to attack Jianghe, who had his back turned, he decided to follow his sixth brother’s advice. He pulled a flaming red dagger from his storage bag, infused it with his spiritual power, and stepped forward.
Swish——
The flaming arc struck Jianghe’s back directly, followed by a ground-shaking explosion. Liang Zhu’s dagger easily cut a huge gash in the back of Jianghe’s golden robe, causing a burst of fire when it made contact with his protective aura.
Jianghe was caught off guard by Liang Zhu’s attack, but he reacted swiftly. He immediately placed his spear behind him and turned to look behind him.
Dang!!
The jet-black spear deflected Liang Zhu’s dagger.
Jianghe stared at Liang Zhu and questioned,
“Who are you?”
Liang Zhu looked at him calmly. With his left hand behind his back, he infused spiritual energy into the thunder talisman already prepared in his sleeve. He then jumped back, throwing the talisman at the same time.
Several dragon thunders fell from the sky, surrounding Jianghe like a cage. The bamboo forest was filled with strong winds, and lightning struck the green bamboo, leaving black marks.
Seeing Liang Zhu trying to distance himself, Jianghe frowned. He felt puzzled. How could a cultivator in the late stage of foundation building dare to attack him, a cultivator in the early stage of core formation?
“Do you underestimate me, the governor of the Heavenly Execution Court? Do you think I’m just a loose cultivator in the core formation stage, easily crossing boundaries with a little cleverness? Heh—”
Whoosh——
He grasped the handle of the jet-black spear with his right hand, swept around his body, and drew a dark arc around himself with the tip of the spear. The several dragon thunders that originally imprisoned him in place exploded instantly under the long spear that he swung into a curved arc, turning into spiritual energy.
Liang Zhu didn’t expect Jianghe to break through his thunder prison with just one shot. He was not a swordsman or a physical practitioner, so he couldn’t fight at close range. He originally considered trapping Jianghe for three breaths to create a chance to pull away, but now…
Boom–
Amidst the explosion, Jianghe, with the long spear in his hand, suddenly rushed forward to Liang Zhu almost instantly. He held the tail of the spear in his hand and thrust it forward as much as possible.
The tip of the spear was like the head of a blue dragon, bursting out with a tyrannical momentum like thousands of troops.
Liang Zhu looked at the spear pointed toward his chest, his eyes widened slightly, and his intuition told him,
——I absolutely cannot dodge this shot.
Once he was hit, his body would be blown into two pieces on the spot, and he would be killed instantly. However, he was still calm in his heart. He vaguely knew what was going to happen next.
——It’s time for Lao Liu to show up.
Almost at the same time.
Whizzing–
A cold light flashed through the bamboo forest behind Liang Zhu. An emerald-colored spiritual sword flew from the depths of the bamboo forest behind Liang Zhu and stuck to his waist. The sword’s tip accurately touched the tip of the black spear in Jianghe’s hand.
Then, a white shadow flashed out from the forest, came to Liang Zhu, and grasped the hilt of the spirit sword that had arrived earlier.
After Feng Yudie grabbed the sword’s hilt, she flipped it and struck it directly on the black spearhead, pressing it to the ground. Then she placed the sword horizontally on the spear shaft and moved forward.
Boom–
Jianghe opened his eyes slightly and looked at the sudden appearance of this silver-haired girl who was only in the middle stage of the Foundation Establishment. He was a little surprised for a moment. He didn’t expect that a cultivator in the middle stage of Foundation Establishment could actually block his attack with her skillful sword and also catch his flaw. But it was just a surprise attack
As the emerald-hued spiritual blade pressed closer to his neck against the barrel of the spear, he remained calm, gripping the dark shaft firmly in his hand and pressing down.
The spearhead, previously embedded in the ground, suddenly shot out like a snake from the earth, swiftly aiming its attack towards Feng Yudie’s back. Feng Yudie, catching sight of the spearhead, which appeared to bend 180 degrees due to its speed, widened her eyes in astonishment and hastily withdrew her spiritual sword, using it to shield her shoulder.
Clang!
The spearhead struck the blade of the spiritual sword directly, causing it to slip from Feng Yudie’s hand due to the overwhelming force, spinning and flying into the air.
Just as Xiao Yunluo’s emerald spiritual sword reached a distance of ten feet above, a black figure dashed out from the eastern bamboo forest, grabbing the spiritual sword mid-air and thrusting it downward towards Jianghe’s head.
Seeing Ye Anping’s attack, Feng Yudie quickly shouted a warning, “Young Master Ye, there’s something wrong with that spear!”
Ye Anping replied with a glance, indicating he had noticed.
Nevertheless, he inverted his body and thrust the spiritual sword downwards. Jianghe glanced up and swiftly used the spear shaft to deflect Feng Yudie’s frontal attack, then raised the spear above his head with both hands.
Ye Anping’s emerald spiritual sword descended again, colliding with the spear shaft and creating a shower of sparks.
Ding—
“Another foundation-building cultivator! Ha…”
Instantly, he swung the spear shaft held in his left hand, causing the dark long spear to transform again into a serpent, curving towards Ye Anping’s right side, aiming for his waist.
Ye Anping glanced at the spearhead, remaining calm as he said, “Junior sister.”
With that said, ten strands of ice-blue sword energy, carrying the essence of frigid water, attacked Jianghe from the west.
Pei Lianxue leaped out from the woods, arriving beside Jianghe and swinging her spiritual sword towards his neck.
“There’s more!” Jianghe exclaimed.
Wide-eyed, he attempted to knock Ye Anping away and then block Pei Lianxue’s sword, but as he prepared to control the spear with his spiritual energy, everything seemed to freeze momentarily, and the sounds ceased.
The spiritual spear vanished from his hands in an instant. Jianghe’s eyes widened in disbelief. Where did his spear go?
However, before contemplating what had happened, he instinctively blocked the sword light aimed at his neck among the ten sword lights with his hand.
Swish—
The remaining nine sword lights landed on various parts of his body, leaving nine deep wounds.
“Thick blood you’ve got there,” remarked Ye Anping, furrowing his brow slightly. He then turned and swiftly struck Jianghe’s neck with his sword-asking technique.
However, Jianghe managed to react. He raised his almost severed right hand and used his own flesh and bones to deflect the lethal strike from Ye Anping’s spiritual sword.
Swish—
Ye Anping pushed the sword forward forcefully and said, “In the end, it’s all a dead end. Wouldn’t it be better to die quickly? Must you endure so much suffering?”
“Ahhhhhh-!!” Jiang He’s eyes bulged with blood vessels as he looked at Ye Anping’s face. “How dare a few cultivators in the foundation-building stage…”
Swish—
Before he could finish his sentence, a silver-white sword pierced through his back and emerged from his chest. After Feng Yudie recovered, she immediately retrieved another spiritual sword she had brought and rushed back.
Jianghe looked at the protruding spiritual sword in his chest in disbelief. He stiffened his neck and twisted it 180 degrees, glaring at Feng Yudie behind him.
This frightened Feng Yudie, her face turning pale. It was the first time she had seen someone twist their neck 180 degrees with sheer strength alone. She immediately infused spiritual energy into her sword again.
Pei Lianxue in front of him and Ye Anping above him also cooperated with her without hesitation.
Swish—
Three spiritual swords, each radiating different spiritual powers, intersected at the golden core on Jianghe’s chest.
Ding—
The spiritual light scattered, the core shattered, and Jianghe fell.
The splattered blood dyed his golden Daoist robe, embroidered with the totem of the Heavenly Execution Court, completely red.
…
