One Against Two
“Use Intoxicating Breeze, I’ll stall for time.”
Lin Mu Yu softly whispered to Chu Yao, then walked out.
Chu Yao obediently sprinkled a bottle of Intoxicating Breeze onto the ground. Luckily, she was upwind on the hill. The poison wafted with the wind towards the two attackers, but neither seemed to have noticed.
…..
“Seven Martial Saints again?”
Lin Mu Yu stood calmly and frowned, but did not go on the offensive. “Ever since I left Silver Fir City, I haven’t offended anyone else. You guys don’t have to hunt me down like this. If there is anything valuable currently on me, I would gladly hand it over in exchange for my life.”
Saying this much was for nothing else but stalling time. After all, he still had several injuries right now. The arrow wound in his chest had not completely healed before a Scorching Wind Mercenary’s team captain had stabbed him again, adding injury to injury.
Right now, the two opponents before him were both powerful enemies. Rentou and Bafu were both covered in the faint gloss of energy shields. This identified them as experts of around level 50 Battle Saints. One was already tricky; now that there were two, Lin Mu Yu would not even have a chance in hell if he was to face off with them directly. As such, he had to wait until Intoxicating Breeze took effect, and that process would need at least another 5 minutes.
“Is that so?”
Song Bafu slowly pulled back the bowstring of his bow and readied two arrows. Laughing cockily, he asked, “You mean to tell me that there are other things on you more valuable than your head?”
“Of course!”
Lin Mu Yu’s heart almost jumped up into his throat. Taking out the four throwing knives from his waist pouch, he combined them into a four-pronged throwing star, “Look here, this is a weapon presented to me by Flame Cauldron Qu Chu. It’s called the Sonic Blade, a famed weapon of General Feng Yi Cheng. You guys have probably heard of his name, right?”
“Quit it with your delusions, brat. You think you can fool us?”
Rentou tugged on his spear and calmly stated, “You’re just trying to stall for time. Feng Yi Cheng was a famous general of the last generation. A pillar of the Empire, so how could his weapon be in the hands of a nameless squirt like you?”
“You can decide whether or not to believe me. In any case, this was given to me by Flame Cauldron Qu Chu, and he was Feng Yi Cheng’s close friend.” Lin Mu Yu’s voice went up a decibel and sounded particularly powerful.
Song Bafu began to waver, “Is it truly Feng Yi Cheng’s weapon?”
“How could it be fake?” Lin Mu Yu faintly smiled, then raised the sword in his right hand, “This sword’s name is Prairie Fire. It came from Ye Liang of the Seven Martial Saints. You guys have probably heard of this as well, correct?”
Song Rentou’s gaze grew cold, “You little brat actually killed Ye Liang and seized his horse and weapon!”
Although these brothers were also two of the Seven Martial Saints, their family background was still nothing compared to that of Ye Liang’s. Ye Liang was said to be very wealthy, so getting his hands on a spirit-forged weapon like Prairie Fire was not a problem at all. However, Rentou and Bafu were both of commoner descent; they could only wish to have a spirit-forged weapon in their dreams. Their weapons right now were at best only high quality versions of normal weapons.
“It really is the Prairie Fire!” Song Bafu’s eyes were already overflowing with greed. Licking his lips, he smiled greedily, “It is truly ‘You can wear down a pair of iron shoes and find jack squat when you try, but then a free meal will fall on your lap when you don’t try at all’. Prairie Fire is said to be a 3rd Tier Spirit level weapon, but to think it would be in this brat’s hands. Younger brother, we’ve hit the jackpot this time. This Prairie Fire can probably sell for over ten thousand gold Yin… HAHAHAHA…”
“Don’t be so quick to count the money!”
Lin Mu Yu laughed and returned Prairie Fire back to its sheath, “I didn’t say I was going to present it to you guys yet!”
Song Rentou’s eyes flickered with a ruthless fierceness as he smiled, “Did you think that you would have the right to say what you want? After we cut off the head of you and that little girl, these treasures will naturally be ours!”
Lin Mu Yu couldn’t help but laugh, “Do you really think you guys can beat me?”
At the next second, the gourd martial spirit emerged from his body at its master’s call.
It was Song Rentou’s turn to laugh, “Ouh, so you have a 10th rank Green Gourd. You only have an auxiliary martial spirit yet you are so cocky. Heh, brat, your martial spirit scared little old me to death!”
“Is that so?”
Lin Mu Yu’s smile turned into a smirk. Channeling true energy into his martial spirit, the green gourd’s color rapidly changed into silver, then blue, and finally red. This was an alternation between 4 layers of power, signifying that this spirit had obtained 4 skills!
“What… how it that possible?” Song Bafu blurted out with his mouth wide open, “This… this brat’s spirit only has four layers, but it has absorbed four spirit abilities? One for each layer? How is that possible? Even the strongest martial gods of the Empire couldn’t possibly have this kind of luck, right?”
Indeed, there was probability involved in the absorption of martial spirit abilities. Absolute power was not the sole factor in the making of a strong practitioner, the element of luck could also play an important role. The few extremely lucky people who had continuously obtained new skills could very easily improve their cultivation level by a great amount from that alone. This was the reason for Song Bafu’s astonishment.
“I’m not done yet!”
As if purposefully playing around, Lin Mu Yu suddenly lifted his left hand and tossed a punch into the air. With a loud bang, a huge rock in the distance exploded into pieces. Lin Mu Yu’s cultivation was already far from how it was in the beginning.
Song Rentou was overwhelmed by awe. He had never seen a martial arts technique as mysterious as this!
“That is…?” Song Bafu was a bit more knowledgable. His gaze turned colder as he asked, “Sonic Punch… It’s Flame Cauldron Qu Chu’s secret technique, Sonic Punch! Goddamn brat, did you become an apprentice to Flame Cauldron Qu Chu? Did that old fellow not put about a warning that he would never take in any disciples? To think that he would pass on his secret technique to you… Who are you to Flame Cauldron Qu Chu?”
“I’m Qu Chu’s student!” Lin Mu Yu calmly replied, “If you two know what’s best for you, then hurry up and leave while I don’t want to take your lives. Or else, you won’t only have offended me, but also Flame Cauldron Qu Chu. Were he to catch wind of this, do you think he would simply let the matter go with you two?”
Song Rentou grew slightly wary at the exclamation.
However, Song Bafu’s face had nothing but greed and determination. He coldly sneered, “Not a problem. Dead men can’t talk. Little brother, let’s go!”
“Yes!”
…..
Both men called out their martial spirits. They were undeniably of the same blood, as both of their martial spirit were big black bears, beast-type spirits with great amounts of raw strength!
“Ah Yu, be careful!” Chu Yao softly said.
Lin Mu Yu waved his hand, signaling to her that he would be fine by himself.
Gradually raising his energy level, the Green Gourd’s scarlet luster became more and more concentrated. At the same time, rows of gourd vines wrapped around the outer gourd rampart. Finally, the outermost layer was covered in the flame-red Ebony Scale. This time, Lin Mu Yu didn’t have a choice. He had to stay on the defensive in a 1v2 situation because the Gourd was originally not an offensive martial spirit. The fact that he had the Ebony Scale, however, meant that his defensive strength was enough to ward off attacks.
He was in too great a need for time. Once Intoxicating Breeze took effect, he’d be able to defeat the two men before him. However, he would still need to wait another minute or two.
“Kill him!”
Song Bafu bellowed and three arrows flew out like shooting stars. The arrowheads tore through the air with clear tracks. Furthermore, rows of Black Bear spirit energy coiled around the arrow shafts, making them look like undefendable missiles of doom.
*Boom* *Boom*
Two loud explosions marked the collisions as Lin Mu Yu trembled on impact. Tiny cracks appeared on the Ebony Scale, but luckily its defense was strong enough to not break immediately. He quickly tossed out the four throwing blades, all of which began to quickly swirl in the air with murderous intent. Song Bafu could only carry his bow along as he dodged the attacks, since he had no way of shooting safely anymore.
The flame-red Ebony Scale encircled Lin Mu Yu, while he condensed most of his true energy into pieces of Verdant Shell that attached to his skin. It was a shame that he did not come across any Iron Pear Flowers on the way, or else he would have topped it all off with a bit of Stoneskin potion.
“Die!”
Song Rentou yelled out as he stabbed forward with his serpent spear. With the spear tip enveloped in blazing crimson flames, he struck at the sides and instantly broke open a gap in the Ebony Scale. This Song Rentou’s strength was much stronger than his older brother’s!
The sweet taste of blood rushed up his throat, and Lin Mu Yu couldn’t help but grumble. The enemy was already able to make his blood boil in a single attack. This kind of opponent was most definitely the most problematic!
In the blink of an eye, the Gourd Rampart had been punctured several times, and had become riddled with gaping holes!
*Woosh!*
Song Rentou used his crafty attack once more, and instantly broke through the Ebony Scale’s defense. The long spear tip pierced through the rampart created from two layers of gourd vines. It slashed with a whistling sound at Lin Mu Yu’s neck, and left a bloody trail behind. Luckily, Lin Mu Yu was quick to avoid the attack, or else he would have been impaled through the throat!
A chill crept into his heart as a feeling of strengthlessness could be felt from his energy center. He was about to run out of usable energy.
Right at that moment, Chu Yao’s silver needles whistled through the air as they punctured into Song Rentou’s energy shield one after another, resulting in blazing sparks splashing off the barrier.
“Not dead yet?!”
Song Rentou broke out into laughter while the flames on his spear surged out violently. He didn’t even pay attention to Chu Yao’s attacks; instead, he stabbed with confidence at Lin Mu Yu’s chest.
*Agh*
A hand grabbed onto the spear tip while blood instantly began to spill from the fleshy gashes. Lin Mu Yu endured the pain in his hand as he tried his best to prevent his opponent’s spear from stabbing into his chest. At the same time, he swung his sword at the spear shaft, but couldn’t do much more than leave a centimeter deep groove in the shaft. Prairie Fire’s sharpness was not enough to chop a purely metallic spear like this.
“Die!”
Song Rentou’s face was covered in viciousness. With a violent cry, he slowly thrusted his spear into Lin Mu Yu’s shirt, digging in about 3 centimeters.
In the moment between life and death, Lin Mu Yu could only feel a wave of flame energy surging within the Prairie Fire. It was the sword’s spirit-forged effect. At the moment when its owner was about to die, the beast spirit within the sword had finally attempted to save its master!
Along with a loud beast roar, the energy form of a flaming tiger emerged from Prairie Fire, then proceeded to pierce through Song Rentou’s chest plate!
“Ough!”
Song Rentou’s eyes opened wide as he slowly fell on his back. A giant bloody hole appeared in the middle of his chest. This was a 3rd Tier Spirit Level weapon’s power!
….
“Little bro!”
Song Bafu yelled out in alarm and immediately drew his bow. Yet before he could do anything, he suddenly felt as if his surroundings were becoming blurrier. At the same time, the true energy in his arms quickly dissipated, so much so that he was no longer able to even draw his bow.
“What’s happening!?” His mind fell into confusion.