Tainted Blood

by Tinalynge

  They were only four, and one of them was even a child. All four of them had two eyes only, and the strongest seemed to be the child at the ninth layer of Ordinary Knight rank.

  But for some weird reason, these four people were charging towards them without any fear or consideration. They had brandished their weapons. Wait, weapons? Who would use such crude arms in this world where spiritual energy was king? Only a few Primordial Beasts might bother with them.

  “Watch out, two of them seem to be Qi beasts,” one of the bandits cautioned, but honestly, they were not overly worried even then.

  “This is going to be fun!” Just as the bandit had told them to watch out, a loud booming voice sounded out as Lin Xiao was the first to make contact with the bandits. His staff swept out and sent three experts at the ninth layer of the Ordinary Knight rank reeling, blood spurting out from their mouths.

  “Oh, right, they are weak like twigs when you get close enough!” Lin Xiao grinned and ran towards one of the people who had the cultivation base of an Earth Knight.

  “Well, they are weak to physical attacks,” Bai Tianyi said as he came closer, hovering on his spiritual energy sword. His white clothes were fluttering in the air, his arms crossed over his chest.

  “Honestly, I don’t think I even need to do anything,” he sighed as he saw how one sweep of Lin Xiao’s staff had knocked three away vomiting blood.

  “Come on, join in the fun!” Xue Wei grinned as he went for the three ninth layer Ordinary Knights.

  Inner Might: Qi Sword Style!

  A sword appeared in his hands and with one quick flourish, one of their heads had already been severed.

  “They really are like paper tigers!” Xue Wei exclaimed in shock. “Their physical strength is even weaker than what I thought... their Qi levels are only at the Heavenly Warrior level!”

  “So that is why.” Hei Gou could not help but lament at the sad truth about these experts as well. Like a hurricane of blades, their group had suddenly appeared and just severed head after head in an instant.

  Even while speaking, Hei Gou was inching closer and closer to the last of the bandits, a paralyzingly shocked Earth Knight. As soon as he did manage to reach him, Hei Gou’s claws came slashing down, instantly ripping out the man’s throat. Blood oozed out the bandit’s mangled throat as he slowly crumpled to the ground, transfixed on Hei Gou with his unwilling, dying eyes.

  “This is kinda too easy is it not?” Xue Wei could not help but ask after the last bandit’s soul had been absorbed by Bai Tianyi. They had already killed the entire group and it was a one-sided slaughter. There had been no possibility to retreat or retaliate for this unlucky group.

  Chapter 44 - Soul Guard

  “They all have a serious flaw in their cultivation system,” Bai Tianyi frowned. “Their bodies are weak like paper, they cannot handle the attacks that we throw out, and they will almost instantly die.”

  “We were lucky this time,” Xue Wei suddenly said. “They did not take us seriously and allowed us to get close. If they launched attacks the moment they saw us, then we would have to battle through wave after wave of spiritual energy, and it would take us much longer to get close enough to deal the killing blows.”

  “If we ever get close,” Bai Tianyi nodded. “Especially Hei Gou and Lin Xiao have to be wary when they fight against spiritual energy attacks, considering that their soul is rather weak. They will easily fall prey to their opponents.

  “Spiritual energy attacks are split into various kinds similar to Qi attacks. Some of them aim for the soul of their opponent, while others materialize the spiritual energy and use it to strike the physical body.”

  “We are lucky that we are in Yan Dalu where the physical body is their weakness,” Bai Tianyi explained to everyone while Hei Gou rummaged through the corpses’ pockets, looking for valuables. “The experts here focus on materialized attacks to attack their opponent’s bodies, as that is their weak point. Specializing in soul attacks is not that useful since most warriors of Yan Dalu have a strong soul, so we have to use this to our advantage.”

  Hei Gou nodded his head. Although he was looking for treasure, his full focus was on Bai Tianyi’s words.

  “For now, we have to abuse the fact that we have superior physical strength,” Lin Xiao said. “Our fame might eventually resound throughout the entirety of Yan Dalu, but no matter what actually happens, we better expect that people will start preparing against us. Since this is the case, we need to kill as many as we can before they become wiser.”

  “I know a skill that you and Gou should practice,” Bai Tianyi said after a brief hesitation. “It is specially made for people with weak souls. It is a defensive method that will shroud your soul with Qi. This way, as long as they do not have a spiritual energy base higher than your Qi bases, then you should be safe.”

  “Unfortunately, it is not easy to train it and it will take time! But if we consider the fact that you might die if we do not do it, I think that it is without a doubt our best decision.”

  “Why did you not teach us this skill before?” Hei Gou asked, slightly nonplussed, but Bai Tianyi just sent him a glance. “I use spiritual energy,” he explained, “but here I am, basically making the two of you untouchable by a spiritual energy user. If you were to betray me, would that not be the same as picking up a stone only to drop it on my own foot?”

  “Did you expect us to betray you?” Hei Gou asked with wide open eyes full of surprise and slight indignation.

  “Well, you never know,” Bai Tianyi just shrugged his shoulders. It was clear that he felt no remorse having said the words he spoke. In fact, he was as casual as usual.

  “Okay, Tianyi told us about it now, so that’s enough,” Xue Wei finally said. He knew that if he did not stop them, then it would end up with Hei Gou and Bai Tianyi being at each other’s throats, barking at one another and wasting time.

  Bai Tianyi took a step back. He was after all Xue Wei’s contracted sword. Although he seemed human, he had given up his humanity for eternal life.

  It was times like these that people could sense the fact that he had lost his humanity. He would say hurtful things without noticing it, and he would do anything in his power to benefit himself and Xue Wei. And the only reason he would benefit Xue Wei was because of their soul contract.

  Hei Gou stopped arguing as well. However, his eyes displayed some displeasure with what Bai Tianyi had said. Lin Xiao, on the other hand, was completely stunned.

  Bai Tianyi had treated them like friends on the way, constantly bantered and having fun with them, yet now he said he never knew when they might betray him. This showed that he had doubts about them!

  Xue Wei understood that Bai Tianyi’s words were not as serious as they sounded. Although it made him sound as if he were constantly waiting for them to betray him, it was just as much a question about self-preservation. He was not willing to use his abilities unless necessary.

  Now that Xue Wei had stopped the argument, Bai Tianyi could feel that the atmosphere had cooled. Nonetheless, he was not dumb, so he was acutely aware that the conflict was because of the words he had said, but he did not regret saying them.

  In this world, everyone would do their best only if they had some sort of benefit from it. Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were without a doubt linked together because of their soul contract, so everything that benefitted one would benefit the other.

  Hei Gou was, on the other hand, someone with whom they only shared friendship. There was no heavenly oath that he was aware of to keep them together or keep him from betraying Xue Wei.

  Not to mention, Bai Tianyi had been strong at the beginning. He had been the one to look after them, but now he was the weakest in the group, tied with Xue Wei. Although his combat ability was outstanding, it was not enough to make him the anchor of the group any more.

  But what Bai Tianyi had that the others lacked sorely was knowledge and experience. Although his personality had changed slightly and he had become more inhuman, he
had retained his vast repertoire of knowledge and understanding, allowing him to be completely objective, unswayed by emotions at all.

  Xue Wei saw how Bai Tianyi found two empty jade slips and imprinted the information about the defensive ability that he was talking about and handed it to Hei Gou and Lin Xiao.

  Both of them took them with mixed emotions. Neither were happy about what Bai Tianyi had said, but after considering his situation for a bit, Hei Gou was able to see past it—Lin Xiao, on the other hand, did not know the situation too well. No one had told him about Bai Tianyi being an immortal sword spirit, so he was slightly taken aback, but he found it reasonable and thus was not too insulted.

  He quickly placed the jade slip on his forehead. A slight light broke out as the information within the slips entered their minds. Xue Wei looked on curiously. Although he would be willing to take the skill himself, he knew that he was not suitable for it.

  He practiced his spiritual energy, and since Bai Tianyi said that it focused on those with weaker souls, it would not exactly be useful to him. As for why, he was sure there was a reason and that it would be explained soon enough.

  Bai Tianyi saw Xue Wei’s curiosity and smiled. There was indeed a reason that he had not practiced said skill, and why he did not let Xue Wei practice it either.

  “When you practice this skill, your soul is protected by Qi, but at the same time it is impossible to release spiritual energy from the soul. It is fine for someone like Gou and Xiao, because neither of them have ever trained their spiritual energy, but for someone like you, it would be like cutting off your own feet. Simply a waste.”

  Xue Wei quickly gave up any thought he had about the ability. He was not willing to give up on his spiritual energy, and although it was somewhat lacking at the current point in time, it was not to the point where it could be disregarded.

  Furthermore, it was quite a feat that Xue Wei had achieved his current progress in both Qi and spiritual energy and come as far as he had

  “Train while moving,” Bai Tianyi said to the other two, his words sounding harsh, but he had the best understanding of the ability and he knew that it was possible to train and walk at the same time. It was obviously harder than when one was sitting cross-legged and could simply focus on cultivating, but the truth was that they were in a hurry to fish for bandits that could be slain for merits.

  Lin Xiao and Hei Gou were not focusing on the surroundings at all as they moved. Their heads were lowered, their hands on their chins and their mouths muttering words constantly.

  These two were deep in the training of the Soul Guard skill that Bai Tianyi had given them. Although they were both feeling rather excited. They knew of their own weakness. Their soul really was a weak point for them.

  Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi surveyed everything around them. Usually, they would use their spiritual energy to scan the surrounding area to ensure that no one was hiding, but this flat grassland made it so that they could see even further than what they could reach with their spiritual energy.

  It was strange, but it seemed that being in Yan Dalu, his spiritual energy could not reach as far a distance as it had back in Chang’an. In fact, his previous hundred kilometer radius had shrunk to only one kilometer!

  “There!” Xue Wei suddenly called out, startling Hei Gou and Lin Xiao awake from their cultivation. Bai Tianyi also focused his eyes in the direction that the former was pointing.

  There, long out in the distance, was a group of three people walking together. They seemed very arrogant. They did not even keep an eye on their surroundings and simply walked their path.

  Xue Wei could not see whether or not they had a black wristband on their arms, but he could not let it go. He needed to get closer to observe.

  “Well then, let us get moving,” Lin Xiao said with a grin on his face. He was already excited about another fight. In fact, he was sure that he had no weaknesses now that his soul was under the protection of Soul Guard.

  He just forgot that he had gotten Soul Guard less than a day ago. His performance with the ability could not be considered anything more than just above average, and as a result although a layer of Qi was shrouding his soul, it would not be enough to protect him for a long period of time.

  Hei Gou was less brazen. He was more withdrawn and understood the fact that they had just learned the skill and that he still had a great weakness in the shape of his soul.

  Still, he understood the importance of getting their hands on merits, so he did not say anything about them not going. Instead, he brought up the rear of their group. Now that they had started moving and stopped cultivating, his eyes were narrowed as he continued to observe the surroundings, scouring for traces of other people waiting in ambush or appearing in their line of sight.

  Xue Wei said nothing. He just started moving towards the people far away. All of them were using their movement techniques. Xue Wei had activated Forbidden Rush, and Lin Xiao was using a movement technique that Xue Wei had never seen before, which made it seem as if it touched upon the dao of space, where one step seemed to cover ten meters.

  Bai Tianyi had summoned his spiritual energy sword and was flying on it, and Hei Gou had summoned a pair of wings on his back, effortlessly following the other three.

  After the second mutation, he could transform parts of his body as he pleased and the wings came in handy when moving fast. His ability to fly and his wings were so fast that they could easily keep up with the movement technique executed by Xue Wei and Lin Xiao, and Bai Tianyi’s spiritual energy sword.

  Rapidly, they moved closer and closer to the group of three. The closer they came, the more acutely they could feel a sense of danger. These three were definitely not simple.

  Chapter 45 - Fight!

  The heavy pressure that these three experts emitted was getting heavier the closer Xue Wei’s group came.

  This only made them more excited. These three people seemed to be the strongest experts they had encountered since they entered Yan Dalu, not counting Elder Sun.

  Xue Wei slowed down their advance as he watched the three experts that they constantly inched closer and closer towards.

  There were two men and one woman. All of them were lean and bordering on skinny. The woman walked in between the two men, and their clothes were of decent quality, but they had clearly not been created from Fierce Beast or Primordial Beast hide, leather, or fur.

  The three were engaged in conversation. From time to time, their faces frowned, and they would look around with a casual gaze.

  They had long since noticed Xue Wei and his friends. However, instead of fleeing or trying to figure out who they were, the three had stopped in their tracks, formed a small triangle and now were discussing something that seemed important, their expressions souring with increasing annoyance.

  “Something feels off,” Xue Wei could not help but mutter as he once more glanced around them. Were these three really so strong that they could be carefree when engaging in a fight without a single worry, or were they bait for an ambush?

  “So you can feel it too, huh?” Bai Tianyi mumbled by his side. His eyes also glanced everywhere in an attempt to find any traces of the suspected ambush.

  “They are strong,” Lin Xiao finally said. “They don’t need an ambush because their strength is enough as it is.”

  “One of them is a Primordial Beast and he is at the fourth layer of the Earth Knight in Qi level.”

  “The other two are humans with the Yan Dalu bloodline in their veins. The man has three eyes and the woman has four.”

  “And, I do not know if I am excited about this or not, but they are not wearing the black bracelets.”

  Xue Wei nodded his head. He too had noticed the things that Lin Xiao explained.

  “It seems like this will be a tough battle,” Xue Wei said seriously. “The woman and the other man clearly have a spiritual energy cultivation at the Earth Knight rank. I cannot sense their strength, so it is above mine. If you leave the woman to me and Tian
yi, we will take care of her.”

  “Then Gou takes the Primordial Beast, and Xiao you take care of the last three-eyed spiritual energy cultivator.”

  Hearing Xue Wei’s arrangements, all of them started focusing on their target. There was no recklessness in their behavior this time. All of them were solemn and serious.

  Especially Lin Xiao was careful. He had been eager earlier because of the Soul Guard, but now that there was a massive gap between the quality of his soul and the soul of his opponent, he understood that he was not in a favorable position. All he could do was hope that his opponent specialized in materialized attacks that aimed for the physical body and not invisible soul attacks.

  Xue Wei and Bai Tianyi were the two weakest in the group if one looked solely at their cultivation bases, yet these two were supposed to go up against the strongest opponent.