A figure dressed in green robes with a green mask covering their face moved silently through the distant woods. Yu Konghou and Zhu Yan were engaged in combat, the Chi Mei Tu Zhu Qi causing fallen leaves to swirl and ignite in spots around them. Within several zhang radius, rabbits scurried and rats fled, birds took startled flight—sounds echoed everywhere.

In this chaos, Ren Qingchou saw the green-robed figure circle around the surrounding trees several times. Not knowing what they had done, the person suddenly turned and flashed toward him with lightning speed. At the exact moment this person flashed forward, Yu Konghou suddenly turned his head—though he was fighting with Zhu Yan, how could he let his guard down regarding Ren Qingchou? But this suddenly appearing green-robed figure was beyond his expectations. He had barely heard any footsteps, wind-breaking sounds, or even the rustling of robes as this person leaped forward.

He turned his head suddenly because he heard Ren Qingchou’s breathing pattern change abruptly.

The moment he turned his head, Kuanglan Wuxing’s strange long halberd drove straight in, bringing with it a faintly blackening hot wind as it thrust toward his ribs. Yu Konghou leaped up, his right-hand sword “Kunlun Jade” once again striking the long halberd, borrowing force a second time to leap higher. He resembled a pink butterfly with sleeves billowing in the wind—with a sweep of his sleeve-robes, he descended toward Ren Qingchou’s side.

Kuanglan Wuxing grasped his long halberd and immediately leaped up, carrying scorching true qi along with weapon and body as he pounced toward Yu Konghou.

In Ren Qingchou’s view, it was all in an instant—the masked green-robed figure, Yu Konghou, and Kuanglan Wuxing all pouncing toward him together.

In the blink of an eye, the green-robed figure arrived first. At first glance seeing Ren Qingchou’s severe chest wound, he raised his hand and five golden needles fell precisely into Ren Qingchou’s chest, stopping the bleeding from his wounds and sustaining his breath. Yu Konghou, following close behind, frowned—he had originally thought the green-robed figure hiding in the rear was Tang Lici, but he had never heard of Tang Lici possessing golden needle healing techniques. This person seemed not to be Tang Lici after all.

Even if this person wasn’t Tang Lici, they still deserved death. Yu Konghou spread his sleeves wide, turning in mid-air as if to land behind the green-robed figure, but with the rotation of his waist, “Ten Thousand Li Peach Blossoms” smoothly emerged—he struck while turning, and when he attacked, Yu Konghou’s back was to the green-robed figure, the blade tip of “Ten Thousand Li Peach Blossoms” hidden by his body, impossible for the green-robed figure to see.

But with a flash of silver light, “Ten Thousand Li Peach Blossoms” struck from behind, circling half-way around his body toward the green-robed figure. That person neither dodged nor avoided, instead diving headfirst into Yu Konghou’s embrace.

Yu Konghou was in mid-air, “Ten Thousand Li Peach Blossoms” already fully committed. He hastily used “Kunlun Jade” to slash down at the green-robed figure’s head. That person’s movement technique was superb—flashing past in an instant. Yu Konghou had no choice but to turn again, taking advantage of the momentum to retreat backward.

However, behind him was Kuanglan Wuxing.

Zhu Yan’s long halberd traced an arc, striking Yu Konghou’s right waist squarely. The sharp strange halberd carved a long bloody gash across Yu Konghou’s right waist. Though Yu Konghou took a hit, he remained calm in the face of danger. “Ten Thousand Li Peach Blossoms” flew rapidly through the air in spirals, wrapping around Zhu Yan’s strange halberd with “ding-dang” sounds for seventeen or eighteen circles, firmly locking onto this vicious weapon.

Zhu Yan exerted force to struggle free, but “Ten Thousand Li Peach Blossoms” and the strange halberd were tightly entwined together—equivalent to him and Yu Konghou being locked together in one place. Yu Konghou was forced to take his strike, blood and qi surging in his chest, extremely furious in his heart. Something moved in his sleeve—another small black snake completely opposite to “Xiao Xue” emerged and bit Zhu Yan’s arm.

The green-robed figure who had landed made a sound of surprise: “Xiao Linglong?”

He actually recognized the strange black snake in Yu Konghou’s hand.

Seeing “Xiao Linglong” bite Zhu Yan, Yu Konghou determined that even if Zhu Yan didn’t die, he would certainly be deeply poisoned. He smiled coldly: “Correct, Xiao Linglong.” Though Zhu Yan was already poisoned, Yu Konghou’s right-hand sword Kunlun Jade still thrust toward his chest. The two fell together, crashing heavily to the ground. Yu Konghou’s Kunlun Jade penetrated one inch into Zhu Yan’s chest before it could advance no further, firmly blocked by “Chi Mei Tu Zhu Qi” as if there were a thousand-jin boulder beneath the sword. Yu Konghou’s true force raced through him, his waist wound spurting blood wildly, even carrying out a trace of dim black qi.

Seeing both men mutually wounded, the green-robed figure scooped up the barely breathing Ren Qingchou and headed straight into the forest. Yu Konghou pulled out Kunlun Jade. Zhu Yan stirred his long staff, his brute strength actually snapping the fine silk cord of Yu Konghou’s left-hand “Ten Thousand Li Peach Blossoms.” Yu Konghou was greatly shocked—that “Ten Thousand Li Peach Blossoms” which had killed countless people was now entangled on Zhu Yan’s strange halberd.

His reaction was extremely quick. He flew up with a kick, striking Zhu Yan’s wrist. Zhu Yan’s strange halberd was wrapped with “Ten Thousand Li Peach Blossoms”—though the sword was slender, it was very heavy. With this slight hesitation, Yu Konghou’s kick connected with his wrist, and the strange halberd flew from his hand toward Zhu Yan’s rear, landing heavily on the ground.

The green-robed figure carried Ren Qingchou swiftly into the forest. Yu Konghou’s forward pounce had caused his own techniques to become overextended, resulting in mutual injury with Zhu Yan—how could he let this pass? This person was clearly not Tang Lici. He kicked away Zhu Yan’s long halberd and leaped up. Originally burning with fury and about to pounce toward the green-robed figure, he suddenly had a change of thought—at this moment he was fighting one against two. Zhu Yan was mad and unpredictable, this green-robed figure’s origins were unknown, and he himself was wounded. The situation was probably dire.

Yu Konghou calmed down, his thoughts turning. His heart grew slightly cold—Tang Lici had released Zhu Yan and sent the green-robed figure as backup for Ren Qingchou. This green-robed figure was definitely no ordinary person. But this person had saved Ren Qingchou and immediately turned to leave. This was…

Something was wrong!

After leaping up, he used everything he had learned in his lifetime to flee in a direction away from both the green-robed figure and Kuanglan Wuxing.

How could Zhu Yan let him escape? He also leaped up, following close behind Yu Konghou, his five fingers like claws, heavily grasping toward Yu Konghou’s shoulders. Yu Konghou took a deep breath, his form flickered, and he suddenly appeared three feet in front of Zhu Yan. Zhu Yan’s grab fell short. His eyebrows twitched, and suddenly he gave a great shout. While in mid-air, he made a sword-holding gesture with his empty hands toward the front, swinging a red-black sword beam toward Yu Konghou’s back!

Yu Konghou suddenly turned around. The sword beam penetrated his chest, and both men crashed heavily from mid-air again, rolling in the dust.

By this time, the green-robed figure had long disappeared. Yu Konghou felt his entire meridian system as if burned by fire—”Chi Mei Tu Zhu Qi” had penetrated deep into his internal organs. He spat out a mouthful of blood and looked up at Zhu Yan.

Kuanglan Wuxing Zhu Yan’s face was scorched black. “Xiao Linglong’s” severe poison had entered his body, and combined with his evil true qi “Chi Mei Zhu” that harmed others and himself, he was also gravely wounded and near death.

Yu Konghou grabbed Kunlun Jade and struggled to stand. Even though Zhu Yan looked like he could be killed with just one palm strike, he showed no attachment and staggered away into the distance.

Zhu Yan struggled to sit up, crawled a few steps, and grabbed the eight-chi long sword that had been thrown to the ground earlier.

Yu Konghou rushed forward without looking back. Zhu Yan grasped the long sword—that eight-chi long sword hummed resonantly, making whistling sounds in mid-air as it shot toward Yu Konghou’s back.

Yu Konghou identified the position by sound and threw Kunlun Jade backward, willing to abandon his famous weapon in order to leave this place immediately.

The eight-chi long sword came through the air while Kunlun Jade spiraled toward it. The two fierce blades clashed in mid-air. With a thunderous roar, a ball of sparks exploded in the air, countless points of fire scattered down like a rain of fire. This situation was completely different from what Yu Konghou had expected. He turned back in alarm to see the grass, wood, and dry leaves around them, all dried by “Chi Mei Tu Zhu Qi,” beginning to burn in the fire rain.

This burning was merely the beginning. He saw a fire line winding to life outside the surrounding groves—someone had somehow poured flammable materials outside the forest. The fire line advanced extremely quickly, becoming a fire dragon when blown by the wind, trapping him and Zhu Yan in the flames.

Tang! Li! Ci!

Yu Konghou’s heart filled with great hatred. This green-robed figure had not come to kill, but to set fire!

And Zhu Yan had been given a different weapon—inside that eight-chi long sword, flammable materials had been hidden. Somehow Tang Lici had deceived Zhu Yan into switching from that intimidating long halberd, causing him to overlook the eight-chi long sword. If his guess was correct, the flammable materials weren’t only in this sword—probably Zhu Yan’s entire body, including that intimidating long halberd, were all flammable materials!

He suddenly turned back, staring at the strange halberd tangled with his “Ten Thousand Li Peach Blossoms.” That thing lying on the ground was actually seeping some kind of black oily substance drop by drop—when Zhu Yan had wielded his halberd to create qi earlier, easily igniting fallen leaves, it wasn’t entirely due to the profound mysteries of “Chi Mei Tu Zhu Qi,” but because this strange halberd had been secretly oozing black oil. As Zhu Yan swung and danced his halberd, his true qi ignited the black oil, causing fires in mid-air.

This black oil should be everywhere Zhu Yan had passed, with seeds of fire buried throughout.

Tang Lici… truly calculated without omission.

He had used Kuanglan Wuxing to such an extent, then abandoned him in this sea of fire, planning to use one great fire to… burn both Kuanglan Wuxing and Yi Tao San Se to ash and scatter their bones.

Yu Konghou swayed unsteadily to Zhu Yan’s side, his face showing a trace of strange, eerie smile. Today we two are mutually wounded, both near death… but how could we two be burned to death by… Young Master Tang’s great fire? He took a pill from his bosom, looked at it with regret, rubbed it once, and stuffed it into Zhu Yan’s mouth.

Tang Lici’s not coming was his greatest miscalculation!

Fierce fires spiraled upward all around with hunting sounds. Mountain valley winds howled on all sides, stoking the fire’s momentum. The forest trees were gradually scorched and dehydrated by the fierce fire, then caught flame. Large patches of ash fell from overhead, mixed with unextinguished sparks. Dusk was emerging, daylight gradually darkening, yet this place was brilliant as if it were a bright pearl held in the mouth of a coiling mountain dragon, shining brilliantly among the silent dusk mountains.