Zhao Shanling’s face gradually grew cold as he asked, “So what you said earlier about us working together was all bullshit?”
“Sorry, I don’t want this to happen either,” Qi Jiuchuan said with an apologetic expression. “I don’t have a choice. Not to mention that you’re from a domain that’s much more powerful than the one I’m from, I can’t afford to wait for Nie Tian to recover his strength while Liang Hao withers away from the backlash...
“I can’t bet my life on the worthiness of your words, so I can only end that possibility beforehand.”
With these words, Qi Jiuchuan stepped back to put a safe distance between him and Nie Tian and Zhao Shanling.
Zhao Shanling seemed very upset. Even a hint of panic could be seen in his eyes as he hastily jumped backwards. Standing behind Nie Tian, he said, “I was to about make friends with you and the Trisword Sect. Who would have thought that you’d actually do this to me! Are you certain you want to do this, Brother Qi?”
“My apologies, but I’ve already made up my mind!” With these words, intense killing intent built up in Qi Jiuchuan’s eyes as he waved his hand. “Go kill them, Liang Hao!”
Liang Hao was becoming increasingly unstable, destructive flesh aura surging about inside of him.
He was in desperate need of a vent.
If he couldn’t vent the violent flesh power within him on an opponent, it would build up and exceed his capacity, which would eventually cause him to explode and die.
This was the reason why Qi Jiuchuan had decided to get rid of Nie Tian and Zhao Shanling as soon as possible.
Watching Zhao Shanling set Qi Jiuchuan up while pretending to be in shock, Nie Tian couldn’t help but marvel inwardly, “He’s such a terrific actor...”
He had a feeling that Zhao Shanling had never truly wanted to share Master Voidspirit’s legacies with Qi Jiuchuan.
Immediately after confirming that he still had the strength to kill Liang Hao, Zhao Shanling had made the decision to rip off his pretender’s mask.
Zhao Shanling had needed a reason to justify his action, and that was why he had told him to show weakness.
After making some comments inwardly, Nie Tian slowly rose to his feet.
He intentionally circulated his flesh power to make his cuts split even wider.
Blood spilled from the numerous wounds that covered his whole body. Trembling, he jerked his head towards Zhao Shanling and said, “I, I’m afraid I won’t be able to hold for too long...”
“You have to!” Zhao Shanling shouted with a fierce expression.
ROOOAARRRR!!
Liang Hao threw his head back and roared, and then two beams of blood-colored light burst forth from the depths of his eyes.
CRACKLE!
As he loosened his shoulders, scary crackling sounds came from the protruding bones in his shoulders and other bones that didn’t seem to match his body.
All of a sudden, he brought his fingers together and formed a sword with his right hand.
As he drove it towards Nie Tian, three beams of scarlet light shot out of the tips of his three disproportionately long fingers.
Without making a sound, Nie Tian gathered his flesh power to his left hand as he lifted it to fend off Liang Hao’s piercing hand sword with his palm.
CRACKLE! CRACKLE!
Liang Hao’s two shorter fingers suddenly exploded, giving rise to an explosive force.
Simultaneously, his remaining three exceptionally long fingers shed their skin and flesh, revealing thick, long finger bones.
From the look of it, they were bones taken from a Mountainsplit Beast’s claw and transplanted to his hand.
PUFF!
The blood-colored light and Liang Hao’s fingers stabbed into Nie Tian’s palm.
The skin and flesh in Nie Tian’s palm was split and pierced through.
However, Liang Hao’s finger bones were stopped and couldn’t go an inch deeper when they met Nie Tian’s hand bones.
Nie Tian’s crystallized bones had been repeatedly refined with Heavenly Wood Heal. Each and every one of them was even harder than metal.
“Hmm?!” Qi Jiuchuan’s expression flickered as he saw Liang Hao’s vigorous attack being warded off by Nie Tian with nothing but his palm.
The light of contemplation glittered in his eyes as he snuck a glance at Zhao Shanling from afar.
After seeing the composed expression on Zhao Shanling’s face, he knew that something was wrong.
BANG BANG BANG!
At this moment, the thick finger bones Liang Hao used to pierce into Nie Tian’s palm exploded violently, sending three wisps of raging flesh aura rushing up Nie Tian’s arm like bloodthirsty flood dragons.
Nie Tian shook his head and let out a low chuckle. “This one is much stronger than Ji Long and the others, but still not strong enough.”
Then, he summoned the flesh power that was scattered in every corner of his body to trap the three flesh auras before activating Life Drain to absorb the violent flesh auras, which clearly didn’t belong to Liang Hao.
Before long, the invading flesh auras were completely absorbed and vanished inside of Nie Tian.
Nie Tian sighed and lifted his unoccupied hand. “You’ll suffer less dead than alive. Let me end your misery for you.”
With thirty percent of his flesh power, he adjusted his mind and threw a Rage Punch towards Liang Hao’s chest.
The faint, blood-colored ward over Liang Hao’s entire body seemed to detect danger, and thus rapidly shrank, forming the pattern of a Mountainsplit Beast over his chest.
Even though the pattern was only a condensation of flesh power, it was so vivid that it looked like a living Mountainsplit Beast.
However, as Nie Tian’s devastating fist slammed into his chest, the illusory Mountainsplit Beast was instantly reduced to flying blood-colored sparks that filled the air.
Nie Tian’s fist strike seemed to be branded with the rage and unyielding will of a titan that fought against the heavens. The unstoppable force shattered Liang Hao’s transformed sternum, along with his heart that was protected by it.
Like a deflated balloon, Liang Hao’s chest collapsed. The blood-colored light in the depths of his eyes rapidly disappeared, restoring a flash of clarity to his eyes.
In that flash, he smiled faintly at Nie Tian. Instead of hatred, gratitude filled his face.
From the look of it, he had wanted to die for a long time, but since he was controlled by Qi Jiuchuan, he couldn’t even kill himself.
Now, Nie Tian finally gave him the sweet relief of death.
“He had his own bones and meridians replaced by those of a Mountainsplit Beast. Bearing the unbearable agony, he was neither a human, nor a spirit beast. He also became a slave to a person like Qi Jiuchuan, and became nothing but a tool to secure Master Voidspirit’s legacies. He must also have known that, successful or not, he would have been put down by Qi Jiuchuan after this mission...”
From the look in Liang Hao’s eyes, Nie Tian sensed what was on his mind and the deep hatred he harbored towards Qi Jiuchuan.
“Don’t worry. The one who committed such crimes against you will follow you to the Yellow Springs. I bet the thing you want most now is for him to die in this place as well. I’ll be a good guy and fulfill that wish for you.”
With these words, Nie Tian added a bit more force, and Liang Hao collapsed to the ground.
Qi Jiuchuan’s face turned pale with fright as he started to step backwards. As he did, he called out, “Brother Zhao! We can still talk about this! I’m willing to give up my share of Master Voidspirit’s legacies and disappear forever.”
At this moment, Nie Tian’s eyes were brimming with energy. Rich flesh aura even exuded from his pores. His previous bedraggled look was long gone.
After witnessing Nie Tian annihilate Liang Hao so effortlessly, he realized that Nie Tian wasn’t affected by his injuries at all.
That was when he realized that what he had seen upon his return had been fake. Zhao Shanling had misled him to initiate the attack.
“You’ll disappear forever?” Zhao Shanling smiled broadly as he shook his head. Spreading his hands with a helpless expression, he said, “It’s not like I don’t want to spare your life. It’s just that I can’t afford to let you live. What if you leave this place, but recover strength and ambush us on the outside?
“You went to great lengths to kill Han Chigui for the exact same reason. How can I be so imprudent with you?”
Nie Tian didn’t need Zhao Shanling to give him an order before bolting towards Qi Jiuchuan.
He didn’t have the slightest good feeling about him. In his eyes, Qi Jiuchuan was even more inhumane and damned than Han Chigui from the Bliss Mountain Sect.
Han Chigui had only picked and trained children that had been endowed with exceptionally tough bodies in order to secure Master Voidspirit’s legacies, but he hadn’t done anything inhumane.
Qi Jiuchuan, however, had searched for juniors like Liang Hao and replaced their bones and meridians with those from a spirit beast. The inhumane process had made them half man, half beast, which was so much crueler and crazier than the Bliss Mountain Sect’s method.
“Nie Tian, break his bones, severe his meridians, shatter his spiritual sea, and then you can leave him to me,” Zhao Shanling said, smiling. “I’ve got some questions to ask him. Perhaps I’ll even learn the method to go to the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries from him.”
Nie Tian’s eyes lit up. “Sure.”
“Don’t! Don’t do this!” Qi Jiuchuan ran for his life.
Nie Tian chased after him with a cold face.
A few minutes later, Nie Tian dragged Qi Jiuchuan, who was covered in blood and on his last gasp, back and threw him to Zhao Shanling’s feet like a piece of trash, “He’s all yours.”
Smiling broadly, Zhao Shanling crouched down and took out a sharp, shining blade. “Alright, let’s have a good talk, shall we?”