Chapter 184 - 183: Making a Move
At almost the same instant, Chen Shouye’s left hand swept toward Xiao Zhong’s ribs with a Demon-Subduing Seal, the force of the blow chillingly sharp!
The Palm Seal was archaic and heavy, imbued with a magnificent, righteous aura that could suppress evil and shatter illusions. Though launched second, it arrived first, slamming directly into Xiao Zhong’s descending Ghost Head Saber.
BAM!
Qi Strength erupted outward, kicking up a storm of dust and grass.
Xiao Zhong felt his arm go numb, his blood and qi churning violently. The wild smile on his face froze as he stumbled back a dozen steps, his eyes wide with disbelief and horror.
This sudden turn of events plunged the entire battlefield into a moment of dead silence.
Every eye snapped to the young figure who had just charged into the fray.
"The Spirit... Spirit Realm?!"
"Is that Shouye?"
"Chen Shouye from the Kao Mountain Martial Arts Hall!"
"When... when did he break through to the Spirit Realm?!"
"The Chen Family... has two Spirit Realm masters?!"
A tidal wave of astonished cries swept through the crowd.
The martial brothers from the Kao Mountain Martial Arts Hall were both shocked and overjoyed. They never imagined their junior brother had quietly broken through to the Spirit Realm.
Those from the Tiger Subduing Martial Arts Hall who knew Chen Shouye, and were aware that his older brother Chen Shouheng had already reached the Spirit Realm, were utterly dumbfounded.
The news that the Chen Family now had two Spirit Realm masters was like a clap of thunder, making everyone’s scalp tingle.
In the depths of despair, a torch of hope had been abruptly ignited.
In its place came the shocking, ecstatic relief of having survived a catastrophe.
Their collapsing morale, boosted by this sudden and powerful reinforcement, was forcefully dragged back from the brink.
"Fuck!"
Xiao Zhong steadied himself. The numbness in his arm and the roiling of his blood and qi left him both furious and alarmed. The savage grin on his face twisted into a snarl. "Where did this little bastard come from! How dare you ruin my fun! Get him! Kill him!"
Ye Buping’s gaze was venomous. He was more observant than Xiao Zhong and had already sensed that the young man’s aura was dense and heavy—he was clearly no ordinary newcomer to the Spirit Realm.
But the die was cast. With a cold snort, Ye Buping flicked the tip of his Longsword and attacked Chen Shouye simultaneously with Xiao Zhong, one from the left and one from the right.
A flash of the saber, like a bolt of white silk, aimed viciously for his head.
The shadow of the sword, like a venomous snake, lunged for his heart.
The combined might of two battle-hardened Spirit Realm masters with seamless coordination was far greater than the sum of its parts.
Chen Shouye took a deep breath. The Immovable Vajra Bright King Technique circulated within him at an unprecedented speed, and the Inner Qi in the newly formed Spirit Realm in his Dantian surged relentlessly.
He struck with both palms, unleashing a rapid succession of Nine-Character Hand Seals. His left hand met Xiao Zhong’s Ghost Head Saber, while his right, fierce and powerful, slapped toward Ye Buping’s Longsword.
BAM!
CLANG!
The two massive impacts exploded almost as one.
A wave of energy rolled out, blasting away all the dust and grass on the ground.
Chen Shouye’s body swayed slightly, and fine cracks spiderwebbed across the flagstones beneath his feet, yet he hadn’t retreated a single step.
Xiao Zhong and Ye Buping were once again sent reeling, their arms numb and their assault momentarily halted.
"Damn you! You’ve got some skills!"
Xiao Zhong roared, the blood vessels in his eyes swelling. His attacks grew even more frantic, each slash of his saber more vicious than the last, as if he were tireless.
Ye Buping’s Sword Techniques, in turn, became more cunning and sinister, always probing for an opening.
Chen Shouye responded with composure, the various forms of the Nine-Character Hand Seal flowing from him effortlessly. He blocked, deflected, parried, and repelled, managing to counter both of their onslaughts.
In the blink of an eye, the three had exchanged nearly a hundred moves. The sound of clashing metal was incessant, and blasts of Qi Strength shot out in every direction, making it impossible for anyone to approach.
Amid the fierce exchange, Chen Shouye keenly sensed something was wrong.
’Xiao Zhong’s and Ye Buping’s Inner Strength is indeed immense, far greater than mine as a newcomer to the Spirit Realm,’ he thought. ’But their power feels... impure, heterogeneous. Its circulation is sluggish, as if several different types of Inner Strength have been forcibly fused together. At best, they’re only able to exert seventy or eighty percent of their true power.’
’What’s stranger is that as the fight drags on, the already chaotic auras within their bodies are becoming even more unstable, as if they could lose control at any moment.’
’It’s the side effect of that Demon Skill, the Swallowing Essence Technique!’
Chen Shouye understood instantly.
He had been present when Shu Qi and Ya Jiu laid their trap and had seen the Demon Skill for himself, so he knew its nature all too well.
He immediately changed his strategy. Instead of pressing the attack, he switched to a defensive posture, fortifying himself with layer upon layer of the Immovable Vajra Bright King Gang Qi.
Xiao Zhong and Ye Buping couldn’t even break through his Eighth-Layer Gang Qi.
His Nine-Character Hand Seals, now a stable defense peppered with counterattacks, sent his opponents into a flustered panic.
The longer Xiao Zhong and Ye Buping fought, the more alarmed and anxious they grew.
They realized their ferocious attacks were useless against the young man’s defenses.
Meanwhile, their own blood and qi churned ever more violently. A sickening nausea rose in their chests, and the flow of their Inner Strength became severely impeded. If this dragged on, they risked suffering a qi deviation.
The two exchanged a look, and each saw fear and the desire to retreat in the other’s eyes.
"Fall back!"
Xiao Zhong let out an unwilling growl, feinted a vicious slash to force Chen Shouye back half a step, then turned to flee.
Ye Buping was even more decisive. Withdrawing the gleam of his blade, he beat a hasty retreat.
With their leaders retreating, the remaining Martial Artists of the rebel army lost all will to fight.
"Run!"
Someone screamed the word, and the rest followed like a receding tide, abandoning hundreds of their comrades’ corpses as they vanished into the dark wilderness.
The bandits had come as quickly as they had gone.
In the camp.
The survivors stared in the direction the rebel army had fled, still in disbelief. After a stunned moment, a wave of genuine cheers and gasps of relief erupted.
"Shouye, you... When did you break through to the Spirit Realm? That was... that was incredible!"
His martial brothers from the Kao Mountain Martial Arts Hall were the first to surround him, their faces alight with joy and envy.
Chen Shouye slowly exhaled a turbid breath. The faint golden light surrounding him faded, and his face was a little pale, a clear sign of his exertion.
He waved a hand, his tone as calm as ever. "I was just lucky enough to break through recently."
He was a man of few words and preferred not to talk about himself.
"Shouye, thank you for saving our lives!"
"Thank you for your help, Young Master Chen!"
One by one, people came forward to express their gratitude, their eyes filled with awe.
Afterwards, they began clearing the battlefield, treating the wounded, and assessing their losses.
Just then, a Junior Officer from the government troops, who was in charge of inspecting the supplies, came scrambling over. His face was white as a sheet, and his voice trembled uncontrollably. "Young... Young Master Chen, something’s wrong! You... you need to come see!"
A chill went down Chen Shouye’s spine. He immediately got to his feet and hurried after the officer.
Some of the nearby Martial Artists and soldiers also sensed something was amiss and subconsciously gathered around.
At the edge of the camp, two mule carts stood alone, surrounded by the scattered corpses of several rebels.
This was where the fighting had been fiercest. The rebels had briefly broken through the defensive line and reached the Silver Carriages.
On those two mule carts were the silver boxes, which had been sealed shut with heavy bronze locks and strips of paper bearing the Government Office’s Red Seal.
But now, the lids of the boxes had been pried open. The seals were torn, and the broken locks lay discarded to the side.
"Just now... some of the bandits broke through to here," one man explained, his voice trembling. "The brothers fought them to the death to drive them back, we didn’t let them take the carriages... B-but it looks like... it looks like they opened the boxes!"
Inside the boxes, only the topmost layer consisted of neatly stacked, snow-white official silver ingots.
Beneath the silver ingots were chunks of grayish-brown, crudely shaped mud bricks.
These mud bricks had been roughly molded into the shape of silver ingots and haphazardly piled up to fill the rest of the box, with only a thin layer of true silver on top as a disguise!