In Qianye’s eyes, a mysterious fellow in the wilderness was bent over and cautiously passing in front of him. That fellow looked fairly handsome, inhumanly so in fact. It was just that his sneaking demeanor and gleaming eyes looked like he was up to no good.
It didn’t seem like that sneaky fellow was trying hard to hide himself—only his silhouette was somewhat blurry and melding in with the surroundings. In truth, it wasn’t that simple. To the ordinary person, what he had left behind during his movements weren’t afterimages but immobile shadows. Additionally, his aura didn’t leak out at all, so there would be no reaction in the perception of other experts; they would probably treat him as they would a stone even if they did see him from far away. In this aspect, his stealth ability was quite similar to Qianye’s own, and he was even better at utilizing it.
Despite all that, the man seemed to be focused on something, oblivious of Qianye who was in a similar state of concealment. Additionally, his every step would leave a wisp of black energy in Qianye’s True Sight, making it impossible to lose track of the target.
“So he’s a demonkin.” Qianye sat up, pulled out Heartgrave, and took aim at the suspicious fellow from over a thousand meters away.
This would’ve been a great opportunity to seize the demonkin, but this fellow was too powerful to capture alive. With Eden’s arrival, there had to be a fair number of demonkin in the neutral lands. There would be lots of opportunities to capture one of them alive.
Qianye no longer hesitated. The moment that fellow faded away, he moved Heartgrave toward an empty space in front and opened fire!
When that mysterious demonkin appeared once more, there was an origin bullet coming for his face!
Anwen was completely focused on the young girl. How could he have expected an origin bullet after just a routine movement? The bullet was so powerful that he could clearly sense death approaching him!
On the verge of life and death, Anwen could no longer bother with his prestige. A complicated diagram appeared on his forehead as his robe puffed up into an inflated balloon.
The origin bullet struck Anwen squarely, shredding his robes and flinging him backward from the impact. He tumbled several times through the air before barely managing to stand still. Even such movements were fairly tiring for him; the damage he had sustained was apparently not light.
Anwen was shockingly pale and there was a layer of white frost clinging to his brows. He looked down at this body to find blood flowing out of his abdomen. It took him three flickers of his demonic energy to stop the hemorrhage. The might of this shot was far beyond his expectations. It was fortunate that his robe had blocked a good portion of the impact, otherwise, he would’ve been forced to utilize his final life-saving measures and flee.
But that robe was now ruined. It was a high-ranking secret treasure, one that was also convenient to use. Without it, it could be said that he had lost a life.
Fury flickered through Anwen’s eyes as he glanced in the direction of the shot. He wanted to see what kind of person dared to ambush him.
Although he was heavily injured at the moment, he still had several secret treasures on him that he could use to fight. The assailant must be drained as well after firing such a shot, and the young lord really didn’t mind killing this person in passing should the opportunity present itself.
Now that he was searching intentionally, Anwen immediately noticed Qianye over a thousand meters away. This distance was far beyond his imagination. At first, he had thought that such an accurate shot with so much power had to be from within five hundred meters. He couldn’t help but feel impressed at Qianye’s gun after seeing that they were a thousand meters apart.
This distance also meant that the marksman’s consumption was significant. It was already a surprise that Qianye was standing, but he had to be forcing himself. Anwen revealed a cold smile as he moved toward Qianye, calculating whether or not he should kill Qianye or beat him into a pulp.
It would be too boring if he killed Qianye now. At the thought of that, Anwen decided that he would only break Qianye’s arm as compensation .
He was calculating enthusiastically when he noticed Qianye’s aura climbing rapidly. In the blink of an eye, Qianye had gone from weak to full, and began closing in on his peak!
Anwen couldn’t believe his eyes for a moment, and neither did he know what had happened.
Qianye actually never thought that this fellow would survive the shot. At first, he had thought the other party would turn tail and run like Eden, but who would’ve thought Anwen would come for him instead? Even with heavy injuries, he was intent on killing Qianye.
“This idiot!” Qianye thought, seriously surprised. Qianye immediately poured out the essence blood store within the Book of Darkness and entered a state of bloodboil, steadily raising his physical state.
Anwen was startled as he wasn’t expecting this kind of development. He thought about running away, but he was a young lord of the demonkin race and he had spoken so arrogantly just a while ago. Hence, he really couldn’t bring himself to flee.
It was during this moment of hesitation that Qianye had rushed in front of him and slashed down with his heavy sword! There was no holding back.
East Peak brought with it a whistling reverberation. Anwen was surprised—he knew that this swing contained a force to be reckoned with, so there was no way he would take it head-on. With a shake of his left hand, a crystalline dagger appeared in his grasp with which he swung along East Peak’s flat side, hoping to guide the sword away.
However, East Peak only let out a crisp sound and trembled ever so slightly. It wouldn’t budge at all.
Anwen was surprised yet again as he gained a new understanding of Qianye’s heavy sword. At this critical juncture, his body slid past East Peak with a swift sideways shift and crashed straight into Qianye. He was actually going for a physical brawl.
Anwen was highly confident in his combat techniques. A close-up fistfight would also reduce East Peak’s effectiveness and give his dagger the greater edge.
What Anwen didn’t expect was Qianye wasn’t about to shy away from a melee fight, either. He simply lowered his shoulder and rammed into the demonkin.
Only a muffled groan was heard. Anwen failed to move Qianye by even an inch while he himself had to take half a step back, his face pale. The crash had landed squarely on his chest, leaving him breathless and with a stifling sensation. He swung a backward palm chop at Qianye’s throat, but the other party made no move to evade, only throwing a punch at his chest in response. Anwen decided to trade injuries with Qianye, since the latter would receive the heavier damage anyway. But at the last moment, he remembered that Qianye’s body was outrageously strong and that it would be him taking the loss if they were to trade blows.
Anwen’s combat arts were exquisite. He immediately lowered his elbow and struck the crook of Qianye’s arm, effectively neutralizing this blow.
The two immediately became entangled—their figures crisscrossed rapidly as one sought to kill the other. They produced all kinds of destructive moves in a small space, in a short time. Even a divine champion would be full of praise upon witnessing them fight. Both men had far surpassed their cultivation realms in terms of technique.
The battle was quiet at first, but eventually, the sound of rumbling thunder spread out in all directions.
Qianye’s eyes turned entirely blue as his blows became faster and more powerful. East Peak remained in his right hand, performing various shifting roles—a shield, a sword, a staff or a spear.
Anwen complained inwardly. He wasn’t inferior to Qianye in terms of combat arts, but the other party’s outrageous strength made him suffer repeatedly. Additionally, he was being entangled as though he were in a dense spider web, and his movements had turned sluggish. Although the effect wasn’t all that strong, it was extremely uncomfortable.
How could there be space for mistakes in a showdown between experts? Qianye would’ve beaten the demonkin black and blue had it not been for his superior combat arts, and yet even Anwen could barely hold his own.
Qianye produced numerous killing moves, yet they were neutralized one after the other. He couldn’t help but praise the demonkin secretly. He felt that his understanding of combat arts would improve yet again after this battle. Anwen’s body was also shrouded in a faint layer of energy which reduced the effectiveness of his Eye of Control—the restraining effect it could offer was less than half of what it would normally be. It was barely useful against an enemy of Anwen’s level.
Patience, nonetheless, was a virtue Qianye had never lacked, and he had never been afraid of long battles, either. He immediately changed his strategy from pursuing fatal blows to patient encirclement.
Now this made things difficult for Anwen.
Qianye’s strategy was almost shameless. He wouldn’t let go of any opportunity to attack, even if it was just to cut the opponent’s clothes. Yet, his attacks were usually so powerful that Anwen had to fully defend against every strike.
In the blink of an eye, Anwen was full of injuries and his clothes had been ruined. Although the wounds were simply flesh wounds, he looked fairly miserable on the surface.
Furious, Anwen wanted to give Qianye a taste of his own medicine, but the latter’s body was so much stronger than Anwen’s. A shallow strike might not necessarily break Qianye’s skin, but Anwen was always in danger after taking wound after wound. Anwen woke up, realizing that fighting on like this would only make him suffer.
But his realization came too late—Qianye suddenly shot out a punch at lightning speed!
Anwen was startled upon seeing this punch. He didn’t understand how this fast but powerless strike was supposed to hurt him. It wouldn’t do a lot of harm even if it hit him.
However, he swiftly came to and cried out in his mind. Qianye’s punch was aimed right at his face. Although the force was indeed light, the impact sent his head spinning, and wisps of origin power seeped into his eyes, nose, and skin.
Anwen cried out in surprise as a dazzling light erupted from his belt.
Immediately sensing danger, Qianye had no choice but to abandon the chance of a follow-up attack.
A faint golden ring of light swept out from Anwen and spread toward every direction, only disappearing after traveling dozens of meters. Qianye had evaded sufficiently fast, yet he was still grazed on the abdomen by that ring of light. He was shaken because that energy would’ve cut through his abdomen if he had taken enough of it. This demonkin really possessed a lot of secret treasures.
Anwen glared fiercely at Qianye before turning to flee at full speed. Qianye knew he couldn’t catch up, so he abandoned the thought altogether.
The appointment on the second day duly arrived. The old marquis and demonkin elders were waiting at the designated location. Anwen also appeared on time, but he was badly bruised and many of his protective treasures were gone. Shocked out of their wits, the demonkin elders went over to check on Anwen. They only felt somewhat relieved after finding that there were no serious injuries.
Anwen forced a smile. “The neutral lands is really interesting. There’s no great danger here.”
It was just that his swollen left eye was far from convincing.