Chapter 67

Chapter 67: Hellfire

When the black-faced fellow heard this, his face instantly lit up like a blooming flower, and he nodded repeatedly, saying, "I told you so, little brother, you could definitely help us!"

As he spoke, he and his companion slowly walked towards Lou Yun.

Lou Yun raised his Stone Sword, pointed it at the black-faced fellow, and said, "Who exactly are you, and what have you come to me for?"

"Who we brothers are doesn’t concern you. We were only ordered to take your life! To be clear, you can’t blame us brothers; you should only blame yourself for offending someone you shouldn’t have offended."

The tall man had long been impatient. The moment his companion’s words ended, he suddenly let out a fierce roar. A silver glint flashed in his hand, and unexpectedly, he cast out a huge fishing net, aiming to cover Lou Yun’s head.

A magical weapon being a fishing net was something Lou Yun had genuinely never seen before. However, he dared not waste time and swiftly dodged aside, while simultaneously pondering how to counter the enemy in his mind.

If it were an ordinary fishing net, it might have been manageable, as he could have relied on a blade’s sharpness to cut through it, but now this net was formed from spiritual energy. Relying solely on a weapon wouldn’t be easy, as it was the tall man’s magical weapon, and if damaged, his life could have been in danger.

In the instant Lou Yun dodged the net, the black-faced fellow immediately followed up. His magical weapon was a long sword, stabbing straight toward Lou Yun.

His movements were clean and sharp, without the slightest hesitation, completely different from his speaking style. From a distance, Lou Yun felt a chilling aura pressing in, and it was clear that the power behind this strike wasn’t something to underestimate.

Lou Yun had the mind to give it a try against the opponent’s strength, so he channeled his weapon spirit power fully. With his Stone Sword, he blocked forcefully. With a "clang," the two swords collided before bouncing apart rapidly, and both felt a slight tremor inside.

From that one sword clash, they both judged that their strengths were nearly equal. Lou Yun was alright, knowing his own capabilities, but the black-faced fellow was utterly astonished. Before coming, someone had warned him not to judge Lou Yun’s strength by his magical weapon level, a piece of advice he hadn’t believed back then. But now, after experiencing it personally, he truly accepted it.

A primary three-star magical weapons master actually possessed strength almost equal to his own as an intermediate three-star magical weapons master!

After the weapon collision, both took a few steps back. But before Lou Yun could steady his footing, the tall man’s enormous fishing net descended like a curtain, sweeping over Lou Yun again.

Lou Yun had no way to deal with that net; he couldn’t slice through it with his weapon or get wrapped up in it, so he had to dodge. Yet as he dodged, he gritted his teeth and suddenly shot out a tiny fireball from his hand, which whooshed right into the net.

Originally, Lou Yun hadn’t wanted to use Fusang Fire, but now facing a joint attack from two opponents of similar strength to his, he didn’t dare hold back. He had to get rid of one first.

The Fusang Fire entered the net and ignited instantly. The tall man clearly hadn’t expected Lou Yun to have this move; he swiftly drew back the net and flustered to put out the flames!

Though Lou Yun’s current control over the temperature of Fusang Fire wasn’t enough to destroy a magical weapon of an intermediate three-star magical weapons master, at least he could keep the fire burning for a while, buying himself some time.

Seeing that the tall man was indeed entangled by the Fusang Fire, Lou Yun ignored him. His body curved forward, and like a leopard, he charged fiercely toward the black-faced fellow.

The black-faced fellow had meant to help his companion, but upon seeing Lou Yun rush toward him, he gave up the idea. With a cold laugh, he swung his sword to meet the attack.

Instantly, the two were locked in combat, truly well-matched adversaries who couldn’t overpower each other in the short term. Gradually, though, the black-faced fellow grew anxious, while Lou Yun became calmer with each exchange, since both knew the longer it lasted, the more it favored Lou Yun.

If Xia Zhilan didn’t see Lou Yun return after a long wait, she was certain to come looking for him, and once she arrived, the outcome spoke for itself!

But Lou Yun didn’t want to wait for someone else to save him. After thinking it over for a bit, he decided to reuse his old trick.

Lou Yun replaced the Stone Sword in his hand with a Dream Emperor Sword, formed by borrowing external spiritual energy. After fighting with his opponent for a while, he violently clashed against the magical weapon in the other’s hand.

With a "bang," the Dream Emperor Sword shattered on impact, reverting to spiritual energy and dispersing all around.

Facing this, the black-faced fellow showed no surprise; instead, his lips curled into a faint sneer as he sped up his attacks, almost as if he knew Lou Yun would employ this false magical weapon bursting trick!

Since the opponent gave him no opening, Lou Yun had no other choice. He could only form another Dream Emperor Sword and continue fighting.

But now, Lou Yun was extremely puzzled: whose orders were these two following to kill him? How could they have such detailed knowledge about his false magical weapon explosion technique? He had only used it twice since learning it—once against Qin Wufeng and the others, and once against Boss Zhao!

Qin Wufeng!

The name flashed in his mind, and Lou Yun suddenly wondered: could these two have been sent by Qin Wufeng to kill him?

He dismissed Boss Zhao because Boss Zhao was already dead. Even if his subordinate Yue Qing had survived, someone with Yue Qing’s life-fearing nature would never have ordered assassins to target him, nor known about the false magical weapon explosion move. So it could only be Qin Wufeng!

Nearly a month had passed since Qin Wufeng and his crew last tracked and ambushed Lou Yun’s group. Since then, Qin Wufeng and his two subordinates had vanished without a trace, and Lou Yun hadn’t inquired much more about it.

The dark-faced fellow had just said they were sent to kill Lou Yun because he had offended someone he shouldn’t have; coupled with Qin Wufeng’s family background—he was the son of the renowned Breakthrough General Qin Luoyuan—it was far too simple for him to find people to deal with himself!

Thinking this, Lou Yun decided to probe the other’s reaction, so he flashed a cold smile at the dark-faced fellow and said, "So why didn’t Qin Wufeng come himself?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the dark-faced fellow’s face visibly paled slightly; though he regained his composure instantly, it didn’t escape Lou Yun’s notice. Now, Lou Yun was certain that the other party had indeed been sent by Qin Wufeng to deal with him!

Lou Yun never had much fondness for Qin Wufeng to begin with, yet he hadn’t actively provoked him either; but now, for him to come at Lou Yun again and again, even wishing him dead, it truly sparked anger in Lou Yun. At that very moment, Lou Yun secretly made up his mind—he absolutely wouldn’t let Qin Wufeng off the hook!

Just then, Chang Xiang suddenly roared, "Be careful!"

Lou Yun jolted slightly; without even turning back, he sensed a surge of force rushing at him, and simultaneously, the heat from the Fusang Fire vanished. Clearly, the tall guy had broken free from the Fusang Fire and was now ambushing him from behind.

At the same instant, the dark-faced man’s magical weapon came thrusting forward again. This time, the tip of his sword vibrated incessantly; it was clearly a single blade, but under the vibration, it transformed into countless swords, their points aimed at every position around Lou Yun—front, back, left, right.

Trapped between attacks from front and rear, Lou Yun found no retreat: moving forward meant certain stabbing by the dark-faced fellow’s sword, while moving backward would land him in the tall guy’s fishing net.

Clenching his teeth, Lou Yun prepared to risk getting stabbed and charge forward. Even if he were pierced, he could still move, whereas getting caught in the net would mean losing all freedom and becoming completely at their mercy!

But before Lou Yun could take a step, an angry beastly roar rang out, followed immediately by a tumultuous "boom!"

The thunderous noise erupted behind Lou Yun, yet he had no time to even glance back. His vision blurred, and suddenly, a figure appeared right in front of him, gripping tightly onto the sword the dark-faced fellow had thrust toward him!

"Teacher Han!"

Spotting the other’s back, Lou Yun let out a long sigh of relief and quickly turned his gaze behind him. It shocked him afresh!

There was nobody behind him—the tall guy and his fishing-net magical weapon had completely vanished, leaving only a palm-sized scorch mark on the ground as if burned by fire moments ago!

What was going on? Where was that tall guy?

Just then, a streak of red light shot straight at Lou Yun’s face. He hastily reached out and caught it—Xiao Huo was already excitedly licking his cheek with its wet tongue.

"Big Brother Lou, are you all right?"

Xia Zhilan and Nie Jiu hurried over.

Lou Yun pulled Xiao Huo off his face, tossed it onto his shoulder, and nodded to Xia Zhilan and Nie Jiu. "I’m fine!"

Still gripping the dark-faced fellow’s sword tightly and not turning around, Han Tianxiao said, "Lou Yun, bringing your little pet along this time was exactly the right choice. Earlier, it suddenly became extremely agitated, and Little Lan immediately suspected you might be in danger. That’s why we rushed over, and indeed, its intuition was spot on!"

Xiao Huo could actually sense his peril—Lou Yun had never imagined that!

Counting this, Xiao Huo had already saved him three times. Reflecting on it, Lou Yun reached out and patted Xiao Huo’s head to express his thanks.

Suddenly, Han Tianxiao’s voice changed. "Bad news!"

As he spoke, he dashed forward in one swift step to the dark-faced fellow’s face, grabbing his chin. Yet the dark-faced fellow smirked strangely at Lou Yun and said, "You wait—others will come for you!" Then he collapsed backward onto the ground.

"He deliberately took poison to kill himself!"

Han Tianxiao had initially hoped to extract some information from the man, but he never expected such a fierce resolve; knowing escape was impossible, the man bit down on the poison hidden in his teeth, refusing Han Tianxiao any chance to question him.

Lou Yun recalled he had a poisonous jade tag that could neutralize most toxins and was about to fetch it to give it a try, when suddenly the dark-faced fellow’s body trembled violently on the ground, then curled into a tight ball, shrinking smaller and smaller, his clothes gradually dissolving as well. In mere moments, the entire man had melted into a lump of sticky black liquid.

The grass surrounding the puddle instantly withered and shriveled!

Han Tianxiao exclaimed, "Such powerful poison! Don’t anyone go near this area—the toxicity is far too strong! A Jiu, go fetch some soil; I need to bury this spot to prevent anyone wandering in and suffering an unprovoked disaster!"

While Nie Jiu dug for soil, Lou Yun asked, "But what happened to the other one?"

Han Tianxiao gestured to Xiao Huo, still lying obediently on Lou Yun’s shoulder. "Ask it!"

"Ask it?"

Lou Yun felt puzzled—he had indeed heard an unmistakably furious beastly roar earlier, but that wasn’t Xiao Huo’s cry at all. Xiao Huo’s voice resembled a tiny mouse’s, only capable of little "squeaks"; it could never produce such an earth-shaking roar!

But Xia Zhilan nodded firmly. "Yes, Big Brother Lou. Just now when we arrived, we saw the tall guy flinging a fishing net at you. We wanted to help but it was too late. Then Xiao Huo suddenly let out a terrifying roar—it made my ears ring until now! After its cry, Xiao Huo spat out a black fireball that blasted the tall guy straight on…"

"And then?"

"Then, without even a sound, he disintegrated into ash just like that. That black mark on the ground? That’s all that remains of the tall guy now!"

Lou Yun stood dumbfounded, recalling back to the black mark he noticed earlier; he had guessed it was left by flames, but he hadn’t for a second imagined it signified the tall guy’s total annihilation from this world!

"A black fireball?"

Both Lou Yun and Chang Xiang muttered this simultaneously, prompting Chang Xiang to gasp out, "A black fireball would be Hellfire! Kid, didn’t you tell me earlier that Xiao Huo devoured the Heavenfire Hellfire? Could it be… after swallowing the Heavenfire, it can now spit it back out as a weapon?"