As Hong Linying swooped down from the air, he laughed, "Haha, it's just a petty trick from the thieving world. The 'Concordance Worm'..., ah, what is this?" Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream echoed through the forest. Hong Linying's words were cut short by a loud shout, and his body twisted sharply in mid-air, tumbling wretchedly to the side.
Strategist Ji remained with his back to the two men. But now, several tree roots had burst from the ground behind him. They had pierced through the burly man who had stepped forward, his "Great Stele-Splitting Hand" poised to strike. Bloody tree roots protruded from his chest, crown, and neck at various angles. His body was still twitching, and it was clear he would not survive.
The "Wood Thorn Art"—a low-level immortal art. This was a precaution Strategist Ji had prepared earlier. He had only been worried about small animals disturbing him while he was absorbing spiritual power for his breakthrough, so he set up a defensive measure. Inspired by Li Yan's earlier "Log Spike Trap," he had considered using the dense trees in the area, summoning their underground roots to attack. It turned out to be perfectly suited for this moment. He was, however, quite dissatisfied that he had failed to eliminate Hong Linying in one fell swoop. It was not for lack of trying, but because the amount of spiritual power he could project externally was pitifully small at this time.
Yet Strategist Ji did not even turn his head. He muttered to himself, "'Concordance Worm,' it's actually the 'Concordance Worm.'" Suddenly, he ducked his head and sniffed at his own clothes, then abruptly looked up at Li Yan and roared.
"You actually put that kind of low-life martial world trash on me, and I never knew! Good, very good! What a fine move, a fine move indeed, hehe." By the end, he was laughing with a voice full of fury.
Strategist Ji was overcome with rage. First, a man as seasoned in the ways of the martial world as himself had fallen for this boy's trick. Second, if not for this boy's scheme, he would be safely healing his wounds right now, and none of this would have happened.
The "Concordance Worm," despite its elegant name, was a tool used by the lowest dregs of the martial world, those who resorted to petty tricks. It was a common, herbivorous demonic beast that could never evolve to the first tier, meaning it could never gain intelligence. However, it had an innate ability: every day, it would spit out a dozen or so transparent, round pellets. These pellets emitted a strong odor that other demonic beasts found unpleasant, mainly used to mark its territory and drive others away. Alternatively, if it found food it liked but could not carry away, it would spit these crystalline particles on it. Food tainted with these particles was extremely difficult for other demonic beasts to swallow, but the worm could follow the scent back to retrieve it later.
The Concordance Worm was extremely sensitive to the scent of its own pellets, able to track it from nearly a hundred li away. This could be considered a survival skill granted to it by the heavens. But this ability was well-utilized by some of the lowest-class members of the martial world, who would often crush these pellets and rub them on the clothes or carriages of their "fat sheep" targets, waiting for an opportunity to rob or steal.
Strategist Ji, of course, knew of this thing. The closer the worm was to the scented pellets it had left, the more excited it became. The key was that the scent was easily detectable by a martial arts master like himself. Now, hearing Hong Linying mention it and smelling his own clothes, a moment's thought made everything clear.
No wonder Li Yan had planted so many wildflowers, filling the valley with a rich fragrance. First, it masked the scent of the Concordance Worm pellets on his clothes. Second, his clothes had been hung to dry in the valley. During the spring, when pollen was spreading, a great deal of it would have landed on his clothes. When he put them on, his nose would be filled with the scent of flowers, covering the other odor. Third, with the flowers planted in the valley, he was constantly smelling them whenever he returned, which made him accustomed to it. This habit lowered his guard. With these factors combined, how could he possibly have noticed the scent left by the Concordance Worm?
Realizing this filled Strategist Ji with a mixture of rage and apprehension. He was beginning to feel a sense of dread toward Li Yan's cunning.
At that moment, Hong Linying had already sprung up from the ground, his face a mask of terror as he looked at the seated back and his dying junior brother. A peerless master of the martial world, killed in an instant. The two of them had not detected the slightest hint of a trap in the ground.
The reason they had not attacked immediately upon arriving was their fear that Strategist Ji had laid a trap. They had been tailing him from a distance and had not seen him dig any pits or move any earth. Even so, they had carefully observed the surroundings before making their move and had found nothing amiss. How could wooden spikes suddenly shoot out from the ground, killing one of them in a single blow?
But he was a ruthless man. After only a moment's hesitation, he knew the importance of timing. His figure shot up from the ground again. He leaped towards his junior brother, but as he neared the dying man, he merely tapped his toes on the body and vaulted towards Strategist Ji's back, aiming a punch at the back of his head. He had actually used his junior brother's corpse as a stepping stone to launch his attack.
His angle of attack was cunning. He did not approach from any other direction, fearing there might be other traps. By attacking from this direction, using a corpse as a shield, and being on high alert, it would be much harder for any trap to harm him again.
Strategist Ji truly had no way to evade this time. He strained to turn his head, sucked in his breath, and twisted his waist. Hong Linying's punch grazed past his ear and hit empty air. But Hong Linying was a master of the martial world with immense combat experience. Seeing this, he knew Strategist Ji was at a critical point in his healing and could not move away. His right hand, having missed, whipped back around in a half-embrace, his knuckles protruding to form a Phoenix Eye Hammer, which he smashed viciously towards Strategist Ji's left temple. His left hand also shot out from below, striking towards Ji's lower back.
This move had completely trapped Strategist Ji within his attack range. Having no other choice, Strategist Ji once again sucked in his chest and extended his arms, trying to lean as much as possible into Hong Linying's embrace. His right hand remained extended, still locked onto the crown of Li Yan's head. The posture was incredibly awkward, like a woman nestling in the arms of a burly man.
With a dull thud, Hong Linying's left fist slammed into Strategist Ji's lower back. His right fist, in its Phoenix Eye Hammer form, missed as Strategist Ji leaned back into his chest. He knew that Ji must have diverted some of his spiritual power to his lower back, but he was still a mortal man of flesh and blood. Hong Linying's decades of cultivated power were formidable. The blow made Strategist Ji spit out a mouthful of black blood, splattering all over Hong Linying's outstretched right arm and Li Yan's face.
Seeing his attack land, Hong Linying pressed his advantage without hesitation. He executed a close-range, Inch-force technique, raising both fists level in a "Twin Winds Funneling the Ears" attack, preparing to smash them into the head of the man in his arms. A direct hit would mean a burst of brain matter. But just then, he felt a powerful force erupt from the man's chest, a push and a shove. Immediately after, a ball of fire flared before his eyes. A wave of scorching heat washed over him. There was no way to dodge. In a breath, his entire body was engulfed in flames. The force pushed him back, making him somersault several times, but the fire on his body did not diminish in the slightest. He screamed in agony from within the flames, trying several times to stand and lunge at Strategist Ji, but he no longer had the strength. A few breaths later, he had been reduced to a raging inferno burning on the ground.
Just as his fist had struck Strategist Ji's lower back, Ji's body had leaned into his embrace. It turned out his disabled left hand had moved. With great difficulty, his five fingers formed a hand seal. A ball of fire flew from his fingertips and struck Hong Linying squarely. Then, a great flash of spiritual power from his four fingers generated a force that pushed Hong Linying away.
The "Fireball Art"—another low-level immortal art. Many of the meridians in Strategist Ji's left hand were damaged, rendering it immobile. He could only use it at close range with great effort. He had taken a heavy blow to successfully kill Hong Linying.
Turning to see Hong Linying twitching in the flames, Strategist Ji gave a cold smile. But in the next moment, his expression changed drastically. After those two exertions, the spiritual power in his body was on the verge of spinning out of control. The moment he had launched the Fireball Art, the Spirit-Absorbing Grand Art had begun to operate on its own. Horrified, he turned back, ready to focus his mind and fully operate the technique, when suddenly, a massive surge of spiritual power drilled into his palm from the crown of Li Yan's head. He was shocked. The Spirit-Absorbing Grand Art required him to recite the incantation to control the input of the opponent's spiritual power. But the spiritual power now rushing in was overwhelmingly powerful. How could he possibly absorb so much at once?
What happened next made his face change even more dramatically. As that spiritual power entered his body, the Fire Poison within him erupted as if it had met oil, boiling furiously. It was completely beyond his control. The most terrifying thing was that this spiritual power was utterly incompatible with the wood-attribute spiritual power in his own body. He was both shocked and enraged.
"You... you... what technique did you cultivate? How is it fire attribute...?" Before he could finish, another massive wave of fire spiritual power poured into him, making his mind go fuzzy.
'This isn't the cultivation of the early-stage of the first layer of Qi Condensation! You've cultivated to the peak of the late-stage of Qi Condensation! Impossible!' At that moment, he felt as if he had seen a ghost. Not only was the opponent's spiritual power of the wrong attribute, but the quantity was also wrong. Either of these was fatal. The first was obvious, but the second would also shatter the balance he had calculated for his breakthrough.
Seeing the cauldron of boiling oil that was his own body, Strategist Ji knew he had utterly failed. He roared in a frenzy of rage and grief.
"Li Yan, you tricked me! You tricked me! You will die for this!" He yanked his right hand back, pulling Li Yan into his embrace. The Spirit-Absorbing Grand Art was now fully active. His right palm, pressed against the flood of spiritual power from his opponent, could not muster the force to shatter Li Yan's skull. He resorted to the same tactic he used on Hong Linying, but this time, he pulled Li Yan into his arms. Once Li Yan's body was in range, he would use his left hand to hit him with a Fireball Art and blast him away. He could have moved closer to Li Yan himself, but that would have made it easier for Li Yan to block his momentum.
Just as Strategist Ji pulled, Li Yan's eyes flew open. He forcefully suppressed the output of spiritual power from the crown of his head. His right hand, instantly filled with spiritual power, moved. He yanked at the purple clasp on his own waist. A flash of white light shot out and disappeared into Strategist Ji's abdomen. It was a gleaming, short, flexible blade that Li Yan had hidden in his belt, its hilt being the purple buckle itself.
Strategist Ji felt a cold sensation in his abdomen, followed by immense pain. His right hand's movement faltered. He stared down in a daze and saw Li Yan's right hand tightly gripping something buried in his stomach. He let out a low growl, "You had another trick up your sleeve... Then... you... must also die!"
When he looked up, black blood was pouring from the corners of his mouth. He pulled with even greater force, bringing Li Yan closer. Li Yan's heart pounded. He put more strength into his hand and twisted, trying to shred Strategist Ji's internal organs with the blade's hilt, but it would not budge. Strategist Ji had anticipated this and had wrapped the blade in his abdomen with spiritual power.
Seeing himself sliding closer to Strategist Ji's embrace, Li Yan grew desperate. He had been leaning against the tree when he was slowly pulled up, his legs half-bent. Strategist Ji was sitting cross-legged beside him. Now, Li Yan suddenly bent one leg and, with a burst of spiritual power, kicked viciously at Strategist Ji's chest. Seeing this, Strategist Ji laughed loudly. "You think that little bit of force can stop you from coming over?"
He thought Li Yan was just trying to brace his foot against his chest to stop his slide. In his current state, his left hand could only make small movements at his waist; it could not be raised high enough to hit Li Yan's leg with a Fireball Art.
In the next moment, Li Yan's foot struck. Simultaneously, with a crisp click, a white blade shot out from the toe of his shoe and plunged into Strategist Ji's chest, right where his heart was.
Li Yan felt a flicker of joy, but in the next instant, a look of confusion crossed his face. The moment the white blade had pierced its target, a strange smile appeared on Strategist Ji's face. His seated upper body moved. Li Yan felt his foot meet no resistance, as if he had kicked empty air.
Just as the white blade from Li Yan's shoe pierced Strategist Ji's wide black robe, Ji's upper body had twisted and tilted in a bizarre fashion. The blade slid past his chest inside the robe. Then, he suddenly straightened his body, thrusting forward against the sole of Li Yan's shoe. A massive force struck Li Yan's foot. With a sickening "crack," Li Yan let out a heavy grunt. His leg bent at an unnatural angle and hung limply.
"So that was your final trump card," Strategist Ji's hoarse voice rang out. "Nothing more than this."