Chapter 108: Counterattack
Chapter 108: Counterattack
As the words echoed, eight figures emerged behind Nangong Zuoye—all late-stage Soul Martial Realm experts.
Cheng Lingyu’s eyes narrowed as he calculated his options. Seventeen enemies surrounded him, mostly at the late Soul Martial stage. While he could hold his ground briefly, victory was impossible. With Lan Xiaozhu beside him, direct confrontation would only endanger them both.
“We retreat.”
Knowing discretion was wiser, Cheng Lingyu pulled Lan Xiaozhu backward, fleeing swiftly.
“You think you can run?”
Lu Yu sneered, giving chase to seize Cheng Lingyu and pry loose the Holy Emperor’s legacy from the underground palace. The Nangong family’s experts shared this goal, determined not to let him escape.
“Where’s your bravery from yesterday?” Nangong Zuoye taunted, rallying his forces to cut off Cheng Lingyu’s path.
Silent, Cheng Lingyu dragged Lan Xiaozhu upward, racing through the shadowed Guishun Valley. His speed and Physical Body rivaled even Soul Martial experts, his explosive power defying expectations. Yet he’d underestimated them.
A Soul Martial expert unleashed soul transformation—a massive beast materialized, blocking their escape. Cheng Lingyu veered like flowing light, dodging the first beast only to find two more closing in.
“Leave me,” Lan Xiaozhu urged darkly. “I’ll stall them.”
Cheng Lingyu met her gaze but refused. A flicker of light revealed a storage ring on his finger—one of many from his Spirit Cloak Ring. He stuffed Lan Xiaozhu inside, shedding dead weight.
“Clever trick!” Lu Yu spat, grudgingly impressed.
Relieved of pressure, Cheng Lingyu secured the storage ring within his Spirit Cloak Ring. But the two families had cornered him in a valley, escape now hopeless.
“Speak!” demanded the seventeen experts encircling him. “What happened in the Holy Emperor’s palace? Where’s the Sun God Tablet? Where are Hua Yuehong and Bai Ruomei?”
Cheng Lingyu smirked, a high-quality treasure artifact Long Sword gleaming in his grip. “Ask my blade.”
He struck first, sword swirling as butterflies erupted mid-air—their wings beautiful, their aura lethal.
“Beware his divine weapon!” Nangong Zuoye barked.
“He’s ours today!” The experts lunged, not as allies but rivals hungry to claim the Holy Emperor’s legacy first.
Cheng Lingyu let out a long howl that echoed through the heavens as he unleashed Seven Butterfly Shadows, combining it with Thousand Strikes in an all-out assault.
“You’ve got some tricks, but your cultivation level’s too low.”
Lu Hu, leader of the Lu family’s contingent, stood at the peak of Seven Levels of Soul Martial Arts. A prominent figure in Yunyang City, he thrust his right arm forward. The limb expanded thousandfold in the void, becoming a towering hand radiating domineering might as it crashed toward Cheng Lingyu.
The palm strike shook the void, generating a supergravity field that instantly immobilized Cheng Lingyu.
Glaring skyward, Cheng Lingyu’s Long Sword hummed fiercely. Converging sword light and overlapping butterflies coalesced into a soaring phoenix silhouette. Sword light flooded the heavens, carrying unyielding killing intent as it clashed with the colossal hand.
Fragmented sword rays transformed into a blazing fire pillar mid-air, briefly halting the descending palm. But under overwhelming weight, the fiery defense shattered moments later.
Cheng Lingyu grunted, his body hurled backward through unfathomably mystical evasion. A smoldering handprint crater marked where he’d stood. Blood sprayed from his lips as he landed – though avoiding direct impact, internal injuries racked his body.
“He’s wounded! Break him completely before interrogation!”
Lu Yu’s twisted face showed cruel anticipation. Nangong Yehong, leading the Nangong family forces, shouldered past Lu Hu to strike first.
Facing two peak Soul Martial experts, Cheng Lingyu’s eyes burned with fury as he twisted through desperate evasions. Lu Hu materialized beside him with contemptuous ease, giant hand snapping toward his throat.
Trapped, Cheng Lingyu’s eyes turned icy. As fingers closed in, serpentine flames erupted from his core, coiling around the grasping hand.
“Pathetic flames can’t stop…”
Lu Hu’s taunt died as he recoiled, violently shaking his Nine Nether Flame-engulfed limb. Even a Seven Levels master proved powerless against this recently absorbed inferno.
Nangong Yehong’s kick sent Cheng Lingyu skidding back, worsening his injuries. Yet when he sprang airborne again, his Physical Body showed no damage despite internal trauma.
“Thousand Strikes!”
Whirling leg shadows carrying mountain-crushing force lashed at Nangong Yehong.
“Fine technique, inadequate strength…”
Her fists detonated air with each punch, generating chaotic vortices and ear-splitting sound waves. Cheng Lingyu’s ten-thousand-pound kicks collapsed under the onslaught, throwing him earthward.
As he staggered, experts from both great families struck. The combined assault sent him tumbling through dust.
Bloodied yet composed, the youth rose with disheveled hair and flame-lit gaze.
“Submit, boy. No more suffering.”
Lu Yu flashed into position, his right foot materializing at Cheng Lingyu’s chest in an instant.
Cheng Lingyu’s eyes blazed with fury. Crossing his arms, he seized Lu Yu’s whirling leg while thrusting his own right foot upward to intercept the incoming fist.
Three Lu family experts charged forth, intent on capturing Cheng Lingyu.
Not to be outdone, four late-stage Soul Martial Realm experts from the Nangong family surged forward.
“Soul Theft!”
Amid the chaos, a spiritual assailant struck – high-frequency mental energy stabbed into Cheng Lingyu’s sea of consciousness like a blade, only to vanish without ripple.
Blood trickled from Cheng Lingyu’s lips as cold determination flashed across his face. His true essence surged violently, causing the pyramid within his dantian’s True Essence Sea and five lakes to radiate. A slumbering force awakened, unleashing indomitable dominance.
Cheng Lingyu’s killing intent exploded. Heart Sword Leaves No Trace manifested without warning – sword energy fused with black death light coalesced into the Sword of the Reaper’s divine might. Six surrounding experts disintegrated like paper.
“No… Aaaaagh!”
Bloodcurdling screams shattered the two great families’ illusions. The six masters crumbled to ash under black death light’s corruption, their martial souls’ agonized wails freezing Nangong Yehong and Lu Hu in terror.
“Your turn, Lu Yu.”
Cheng Lingyu’s icy pronouncement accompanied his Long Sword’s horizontal sweep. A butterfly danced gracefully through the air – beautiful yet lethal.
“You… Demon! I won’t lose!”
Lu Yu’s blood-red eyes bulged madly as he launched frenzied punches.
“Filthy beast!”
Lu Hu snapped into action, lunging to intercept.
Cheng Lingyu ignored the threat. His blade whirled like a sawblade, the fatal butterfly piercing Lu Yu’s defenses to burrow into his heart.
“Aaaah… Can’t…”
Lu Yu’s dying shriek echoed with bitter resentment as life drained from his eyes.
Lu Hu descended with Nine Nether Flame still clinging to his right fist. “Die, vermin!”
Cheng Lingyu’s blade-sharp gaze merged Invasion of the Mind with Soul Cutting Technique. A psychic blade of vibrating energy shattered Lu Hu’s mental defenses.
Cursing violently, Lu Hu pressed the attack.
Smiling coldly, Cheng Lingyu released his magic knife. Dark aura clashed with Lu Hu’s flaming arm as the blade awoke – demonic revival energies flooded the valley with magical aura.
“Fall back!” Nangong Yehong shouted.
Nangong experts retreated instantly while Lu fighters hesitated. Cheng Lingyu soared skyward, magic knife conjuring black lightning that formed a grinning specter.
Lu Hu’s severed arm spun through the air, his agonized roar shaking the battlefield. The magic knife flew free, transforming into a demon dragon that trapped all combatants within its oppressive domain.