Shi Chang Xiao, Solitary Falcon, and Lei Wu Bei didn’t dare to neglect that dash by Li Jue Tian. They quickly changed positions. They took their respective places in a split second, and prepared to attack in sequence. They hadn’t consulted on a ‘plan of attack’ beforehand. But, weren’t these three veterans of innumerable battles? They had previously stationed themselves in a very casual manner at distinct locations. However, each of these had positioned themselves in a manner that would allow them to coordinate with the other two. Moreover, their positioning had been such that they were at a ‘best-fit’ location with correspondence to Li Jue Tian’s position.
Li Jue Tian rushed out, and his figure began to fade. He was at his fastest as he sallied forth to attack. Venerable Mei snorted, and sent out an explosive punch in response.
Li Jue Tian quickly stepped-back from his powerful rush-forward towards Venerable Mei. In fact, he slid away like a slippery fish, and retreated to one side. A figure had previously stationed itself behind Li Jue Tian. Suddenly, two fists shot out towards with Venerable Mei from Li Jue Tian’s back. Meanwhile, the Solitary Falcon employed his Eagle-style agility, and soared into the sky at the fast-possible speed as this happened. He had displayed the first method of the ‘Nine Claws of the Ghostly Falcon’!
Lei Wu Bei’s long and glittering blade was unsheathed once again. It went drilling from besides Shi Chang Xiao’s waist, and proceeded straight towards Venerable Mei’s chest. In fact, this attack enveloped around five meters of area around her torso. This was the most important battle of his life. He wasn’t about to be stingy with his treasured blade.
Li Jue Tian had retreated to the side. But, he quickly spun around as this happened, and returned to the fold with great speed. He took a neutral position with the help of his momentum as he had returned. Then, he unleashed a ferocious attack from the side.
The four men had attacked without prior discussions, but their attacks were flawlessly coordinated. Their attacks had seemingly proceeded towards Venerable Mei to ‘greet’ her, but their combined ‘method’ of doing do was rather ‘uncanny’.
These attacks looked quite simple at first. But, Venerable Mei was well-aware that they could turn into a torrent of complicated strikes. She would be trapped by one of her opponents within a short period of time. And then, the remaining three would use their respective trump cards to get rid of her while one of them had her trapped.
Venerable Mei had to face the combined attacks of the four Great Masters. But, she didn’t dare be careless about it. She roared loudly as her body started to spin. First, she avoided Shi Chang Xiao’s fists. Then, her black robe whirled in the air as she missed the thrusting blade-attack from Lei Wu Bei by the smallest of margins. After that, she turned around, and leaned to the side in a simultaneous motion. She seemingly hadn’t recovered from the punch. But, she still attacked Li Jue Tian head-on. She also raised her left hand, and launched a ‘cannon-ball’ strike towards the approaching Solitary Falcon.
Venerable Mei was quite calm in the face of the combined attacks from the four Great Masters. She had negated their attacks in the blink of eye. Moreover, she hadn’t taken these attacks ‘lying down’, and had managed to counter attack instead.
Li Jue Tian gnashed his teeth, and sped up. He knew that one of the four would have to suffer by enduring Venerable Mei’s attacks head-on. Only then could it be possible for the other three to complete their encirclement…! The others didn’t seem to have that much courage — or courage-enough — to contribute in that sense. In any case, his injury wouldn’t give him much time to end this battle. So, he had to do this himself!
It was the immense hatred Li Jue Tian harbored for Venerable Mei which had forced him to make such crazed decisions. An explosive sound was heard as he clenched his fist. A faint green gas had covered his body. It was evident that he was going to give everything he had in that particular punch. It was important that he showed no ‘fake efforts’ in regards to Venerable Mei this time.
He had figured that Venerable Mei’s agility skills would’ve become a ‘spent force’ in her attempts to evade the continuous attacks of the other three Great Masters. Therefore, she would have no choice but to face him since she would’ve been trapped in such a situation! In fact, he knew that this would be the only decision that he would’ve taken if he were in their place.
Venerable Mei’s expression turned cold. She quickly pulled back her fist, and sent them out to attack Li Jue Tian and Solitary Falcon once again. She then roared and kicked-out forty-nine times. Then, her body soared into the sky like a rocket; the three Great Masters who stood below her were still in a daze by the time she had met with the Solitary Falcon in midair, and had already exchanged a handful of strikes. In fact, their collisions had set fireworks in the sky above.
Two shadows flashed in the sky. The Solitary Falcon summersaulted through the sky, while Venerable Mei leaned and forward moved in a graceful trajectory. However, she made an about-turn with her feet while she was dropping down. Her hands extended from her sleeves as she unleashed strikes at Shi Chang Xiao and Lei Wu Bei. After that, she fiercely pounced upon Li Jue Tian!
It was obvious that Venerable Mei were moving with great momentum at the moment. Moreover, it was evident that they intended to take advantage of Li Jue Tian’s injuries, and hoped to get rid of the ‘toughest and most motivated’ opponent early on in the battle.
Li Jue Tian screamed loudly as he drew back like a lightning. He had hoped to face Venerable Mei with resolve. But, this attack was too much. In fact, it would unreasonable to content against Venerable Mei at this moment. The other three had been shaken-off by Venerable Mei’s counter. So, it was likely that he would have to fight her alone at this time. Moreover, he had somewhat lost the equilibrium of his strength at the moment. His former strength had been exhausted, but he hadn’t yet replaced it with a new burst. This meant that Venerable Mei could easily kill him… even if he were to attack by putting his life on the line. Moreover, Venerable Mei could easily dodge any attack under the sun after she had merrily killed him off.
The Solitary Falcon had been struck high into the sky at the moment. This obviously meant that the ‘aerial threat’ had been eliminated for the time being.
Therefore, Li Jue Tian could only move back in an attempt to make a blind retreat.
"That’s too bad ah!"
Lei Bao Yu and Bu Kuang Feng were at some distance from the fight. They both clapped their thighs with their hands.
Li Jue Tian withdrew, but realized that Venerable Mei hadn’t chased after him. In fact, she didn’t even display the intention to chase him down; this was rather unexpected. The Lord of Tian Fa was still in the sky. But, she was rapidly proceeding in a beeline towards another target — Shi Chang Xiao. The man hadn’t even recovered by the time they had unleashed a storm of kicks at him.
Li Jue Tian had never been Venerable Mei’s target. The Master of Life and Death — Shi Chang Xiao— had! He was the man who posed the greatest danger to Venerable Mei since he was the only fighter amongst the three ‘land-based’ Great Masters who hadn’t been injured in any manner.
It was obvious that Venerable Mei wanted to mete-out the same treatment to Shi Chang Xiao that she had previously dished-out to the two now-injured Great Masters.
The color of Shi Chang Xiao’s face had turned as grey as the mist. His eyes were petrified, and it seemed that his pupils had turned white. The man gave a loud shout, and hit out with his fists in anger.
However, he stood firm!
Shi Chang Xiao couldn’t retreat because he had Lei Wu Bei behind him. The Cold-Blooded Master would have to bear the brunt of this attack if Shi Chang Xiao were to move aside. And, Lei Wu Bei most-likely didn’t have enough strength left in him to face this supreme attack since he had already sustained injuries.
Venerable Mei’s kicks sent shockwaves through the air. These strikes hadn’t rooted from ordinary feet.
The four-man team would’ve been broken if Lei Wu Bei had been hit. And, the remaining three would’ve undoubtedly been defeated soon after.
Therefore, Shi Chang Xiao had no choice but to stand firm.
"Bang!"
Venerable Mei’s kick struck Shi Chang Xiao’s fist. Shi Chang Xiao’s body trembled at the impact. He had meant to pull-back his fist. He would then unleash his full power by putting more power in his second punch. However, he hadn’t even pulled his fist back by the time Venerable Mei’s foot managed to stamp on his fists.
Shi Chang Xiao was alarmed. He quickly sent his left fist forth to buy his recovering body some time. However, Venerable Mei’s foot stamped his right fist for the third time with a thunderous sound and great power before his body even got the time to shake properly… It was needless to say that his left fist hadn’t reached its desired position either…
Those three continuous kicks barely had any breaks in-between them. It seemed as if Venerable Mei had kicked thrice in one strike! But, each kick’s power was greater than the one before. Shi Chang Xiao’s body was on the verge of collapse, and he couldn’t help but take a step back.
His left fist finally hit out at that moment. However, Venerable Mei was ready and waiting. They quickly kicked out with their left foot. In fact, Venerable Mei’s body hadn’t reached the ground till that very moment.
"Bang!"
The sound of the left foot meeting the left fist echoed loudly. And then, Venerable Mei repeated what she had one to his right fist — she quickly kicked that fist three times as well.
Venerable Mei’s legs resembled parted scissors at the moment. However, each kick was powerful, and seemed to have the weight of a mountain behind it.
Shi Chang Xiao felt sour to his belly. In fact, the pit of his belly and his internal organs had been left to shake very violently. He then jumped, and staggered backwards. His nose itched as a thin wisp of blood flowed out of it.
He had suffered internal injuries!
However, Lei Wu Bei hadn’t failed to act at the opportunity that Shi Chang Xiao had provided by risking his body and sustaining injuries. Lei Wu Bei’s body seemingly moved in a ‘possessed’ manner as he dodged and rushed forward. His hand drew his long blade. Then, he waved it, and thrust it through Venerable Mei’s black robe.
However, he hadn’t even started to rejoice over his successful attack when he suddenly discovered that the stab he had made with his long blade felt ‘empty’ for some reason. His heart went crazy at this discovery, and he made a crazy horizontal slash with his blade.
However, he suddenly felt sluggish. His attack had been blocked. Venerable Mei had stretched their hands from their robes, and had caught the blade at the sharp edge before it had moved forward.
Her hand held this nearly Divine Weapon at its sharp saw-toothed edge with seemingly no problems.
Li Jue Tian and Solitary Falcon rushed forth from behind at that moment. And, they threw themselves at Venerable Mei in frenzy. Venerable Mei held the sharp edge of the blade in her left hand, while Lei Wu Bei tried to apply a force in the reverse direction to slash her hand open. She then raised one forefinger, and forcefully tapped the blade three times.
Then, Venerable Mei’s feet finally touched land after having remained suspended in the air up till that point. Her robes seemed to float around her like a sheet of iron. She then easily pushed-away Li Jue Tian’s attack from behind. Then, her palms transformed into countless after-images. The wind whistled as a hundred palms made a white gem-like triangle. This formation held vast power and might. After that, this formation sent the Solitary Falcon flying into the air once again.
Lei Wu Bei’s sword was tapped thrice by Venerable Mei’s forefinger. However, these three taps felt like three large explosions in the pit of his stomach. It was like someone had taken a large hammer, and had struck his chest three times with it. His eyes felt a burst of pressure, and he suddenly lost focus. The Cold-Blooded Master was forced back. In fact, he trembled as he withdrew. This involuntary backwards motion of his body had happened due to the strong wind which had arisen due to Venerable Mei’s attacks. This body then moved to one side, and ended-up causing an obstruction to Shi Chang Xiao’s leaping body.
A light tinkling sound was heard as Lei Wu Bei’s treasured blade turned into countless pieces of thin iron. These pieces then fell to the ground with a sharp noise. All that was left in Lei Wu Bei’s hand was the short handle…
That was the handle of a rare Divine Weapon! However, the weapon had turned to scrap metal with the taps of a finger! Lei Wu Bei was shocked with grief!
The blade had accumulated a few scrapes in his previous battle with the Snake King. Lei Wu Bei knew of this. But, he hadn’t worried much about it. [I will hold it together with my Xuan Qi. And then, I will take it for repair after this struggle of the four Great Masters comes to an end.]
[Come to think of it… Venerable Mei has broken my blade with just three taps from their finger…]