By itself, Pang Bai Shan's mountain might be a powerful and devastating attack, but it should be easy to escape. Well, it was too big for most of the students to evade it in time, given how it covered almost the entire courtyard they occupied. But even so, those at the edges were lucky enough to be within dodging distance.
Or so they thought, but Pang Bai Shan was not the only enemy present.
"Ugh!?"
"I can't move?!"
All the students gathered in the courtyard – both the Blue and Red Factions – found themselves immobilized and unable to budge from their current positions.
Behind Pang Bai Shan, his comrades from the Shadow Gang had activated a formation. Similar to a gravity spirit array, upon activation, the formation artificially increased the weight upon the students caught within it, pinning them in place. Several of them crouched and many dropped to their knees, unable to withstand the immense pressure. It was a struggle for them to even stand.
"You already had a formation sneakily prepared in advance!" Zhang Ping hollered furiously, blood leaking from his mouth. "You bastards! You planned to kill all of us from the start!"
"Of course," Pang Bai Shan replied. "We never intended to let even a single one of you go."
"Why?" Liu Yu Feng demanded angrily. "Aren't you also from Seven Stars Academy? Why are you so determined to kill all of us? What exactly do you achieve by doing this?"
"The destruction of Seven Stars Academy, of course," Pang Bai Shan replied gloatingly. "And if we succeed, all the members of my Shadow Gang will be automatically accepted into Dark Shadow Academy as elite students."
"You…you betrayed us all just to get into Dark Shadow University?!" Zhang Ping spat. Pang Bai Shan sneered, his face full of scorn and contempt.
"Of course. The essence of Dark Shadow University is assassination. And what better method of proving that we would be worthy of enrolling in it by proving our skills through the destruction of Seven Stars Academy from the inside?"
"You will never get away with this!" Liu Yu Feng yelled.
"Oh, but I already have." Pang Bai Shan finally finished coalescing his massive white mountain before hurling it down upon the helpless Blue and Red Factions.
The mountain never reached them.
Wielding my dragon sword, I traced the qi lines that indicated the weakness of the mountain, and sliced it to bits. The debris of the mountain fell harmlessly around me, dissipating into mild wisps of qi.
"Shu Cong!" Zhang Ping gasped. "You actually came to rescue us…?"
"Of course," I replied, swinging my sword and cleaving through another portion of the mountain. "Isn't it the responsibility of Seven Stars Academy students to watch out for each other?"
Then I narrowed my eyes, glaring murderously at a stunned Pang Bai Shan. "Though I wouldn't count a traitor as a student of our academy. Since they want to join Dark Shadow Academy so badly, they can fuck off from here."
For a moment, Pang Bai Shan was silent, unable to absorb what was happening before his eyes. Then he shook his head in amazement.
"I remember you doing the same thing against my brother, but witnessing this feat again firsthand never ceases to amaze me. Just what the hell are you? How are you able to cut my White Mountain Strike apart?"
"By using my sword?' I responded, waving my dragon sword at him. Pang Bai Shan scowled, and hurled several white orbs at me, but I sliced through them effortlessly.
He then disappeared into the shadows and reappeared behind me, trying to stab me from behind. I spun around and parried his strike, but was unable to cut off his arm. Pang Bai Shan had already pulled back, but he kicked at my midriff after I missed my attempt. I had sensed his attack coming and was able to block it with my elbow, but the tremendous impact of his kick sent me hurtling several meters away.
"I saw you pull a similar tactic against my brother," Pang Bai Shan snarled. "And I will throw your words back at you. The same trick is not going to work twice – especially since I've already watched your match against my brother!"
"So you've been preparing to take revenge on Shu Cong all this time, you despicable bastard!" Zhang Ping yelled furiously. "Your brother was the one who was trying to kill Shu Cong!"
"We all saw it too!" Liu Yu Feng agreed vehemently. "If he hadn't tried to kill Shu Cong, he wouldn't have lost his life in that match!"
Pang Bai Shan cocked his head to the side and glowered at them. "Shut up, all of you!" he snapped and launched white orbs in their direction. Both Zhang Ping and Liu Yu Feng could only watch helplessly, still under the effects of the gravity formation, unable to evade. Cold perspiration poured down their pale faces.
"Pang Bai Shan, that bastard…! He really intends to kill us!" Liu Yu Feng cried out.
"If only this stupid formation isn't restricting our movements…!" Zhang Ping growled.
I could feel the effects of the formation weighing down on me, but I somehow found the burst of strength to disappear from my position and reappear in front of Zhang Ping and Liu Yu Feng, using my footwork techniques. Gritting my teeth, I cut through the numerous orbs with a few flicks of my sword.
Then I crouched down, heaving.
"Hah! No matter how skilled you are, even you aren't immune to the effects of our gravity formation!" Pang Bai Shan crowed. He prepared another White Mountain Strike, ready to pulverize me.
However, I smiled and stabbed the ground with my sword. In an instant, the entire formation vanished.
"No way! How?!"
The Shadow Gang members behind Pang Bai Shan – the ones who were powering the formation – backed off, stunned at how their handiwork was obliterated so easily.
"How did he destroy our formation just like that?!"
"I told you before…I can kill anything. As long as I can perceive its origins…its flow of qi, I can kill it…even if it's a god."
A spirit formation was nothing to my enhanced sixth sense. I could see all the origin points along with the lines of qi. As long as I destabilized those currents and disrupted those origins, I could easily dismantle it.
"Just what the hell are you?!"
Pang Bai Shan roared and hurled his white mountain at me. I rose to my feet, no longer heavily weighed down by artificially increased gravity, and cleaved through it.
"All of you, move!" I ordered.
The Blue and Red factions obeyed immediately, their members scattering and pulling away to a safe distance. They didn't run away completely, though, remaining just far enough to witness the struggle between me and the Shadow Gang.
"What about you?" Zhang Ping asked, even as Liu Yu Feng helped him to his feet and supported him as they ran.
"I'll clean up the Shadow Gang," I replied.
"But you…"
"Just trust Shu Cong!" Mu Zi Xing appeared, escorted by Si Nan. She closed her eyes and placed her hands on Zhang Ping's broken arm, infusing it with golden qi as she executed her healing techniques. As she did so, Si Nan guarded her, keeping an eye out for a Shadow Gang member who assaulted their position. Whirling about, he kicked the guy away.
"I won't let you touch Zi Xing," he snapped before stomping on the poor Shadow Gang member.
Ignoring the exchange, Pang Bai Shan continued to glower at me. His lip curled into a sneer. "You really know how to brag. Do you really think you can defeat the Shadow Gang all by yourself? You can't even beat me…!"
"You talk too much," I said behind him. His eyes widened and he spun around, wondering when I got behind him. He was too late. My sword had flashed upward and stabbed him in the back. Blood spewed from his mouth as he hunched over, clutching at his ruined chest, where the tip of my blade had punched through.
"You…bastard! Launching a sneak attack…!"
"That's rich, coming from you." I rolled my eyes and kicked him off my sword. "So you can perform sneak attacks all you want, even hiding a formation to trap your fellow students or jump between shadows and stab people from behind, but when someone else does it, he's a bastard. What does that make you? A hypocrite?"
"Fuck you! Die!"
Pang Bai Shan flung his white orbs at close range, hoping to hit me before I could react. But my Heavenly Flow and Earthly Paths had sensed his attack before he launched them and I evaded the orbs effortlessly. First, I used Tui to retreat, pulling back to a safe distance, and then I weaved through the barrage. Those that I couldn't avoid, I cut down with my sword.
My opponent was not idle. While I dealt with his orbs, he gathered the rest of his qi into another massive mountain to pulverize me.
However, he was badly wounded. The exertion was costing him a great deal. Blood dripped from his mouth and the wounds on his chest and back, staining his clothing. Veins bulged and popped out of his paling skin and he was slowly crumbling under the ordeal, his knees bending to an awkward crouch.
Even so, he was determined to throw one last attack at me. He didn't care if it cost him his life. He evidently wanted revenge for his brother.
Unfortunately, I had no intention of dying to fulfil his selfish and twisted desires.
With just three strokes from my dragon sword, I sliced apart his massive mountain. The white block of qi ineffectively dispersed into harmless wisps of qi, even as the crumbling qi debris fell around me. Pushing my glasses up my nose, I regarded Pang Bai Shan coolly before strolling toward him.
Against someone of his caliber, I didn't even need to execute Yin Yang Swordsmanship. Which was a good thing, because I had yet to grasp anything concrete from the techniques that Tian Mo had given me.
If Pang Bai Shan had been a cultivation realm higher, perhaps at Yellowed Lands, then I would be in deep trouble.
"Gah!"
Pang Bai Shan doubled over, vomiting a glob of blood. He threw his hands out and broke his fall, coughing and going into convulsions. He clutched at his chest and slowly raises his head to glare defiantly at me.
As much as I wanted to kill him right now, I had to be cautious. For one thing, Pang Bai Shan's subordinates from his Shadow Gang were desperately hurling themselves at me right now, determined to protect their boss…even at the cost of their lives.
The guy was a bastard, but he was at least able to inspire such immense loyalty from his followers. I admired their spirit and courage, but that didn't mean I was sympathetic enough to show mercy to anyone trying to kill me.
Swinging my sword, I unleashed a golden blast of qi that cut through the first rank of Shadow Gang members. They shrieked in agony and impotent rage as they were hurled away from the colossal shockwaves, their bodies flying through rubble created from a wall that I accidentally shattered with my attack.
Flicking my right hand almost casually, I swung my dragon sword toward the opposite direction this time. Another golden wave of qi obliterated the second rank of Shadow Gang members, hurling them through the courtyard. Perhaps a few remained intact and alive, but the rest had been dismembered and were strewn across the cracked concrete in broken pieces.
"What were you saying earlier?" I asked a stunned and disbelieving Pang Bai Shan, my voice cold. "Something about me not being able to annihilate the Shadow Gang all by myself?"
Kicking off the ground, I advanced toward the fallen Shadow Gang leader in a single bound, swinging my sword to take his head.
My blade never reached his neck.
"!!"
I was forced to skid to a stop when someone darted out of the shadows and parried my sword. With a swipe of his arm, he forced me several steps back with overwhelming force. Righting myself desperately, I found myself staring at a hooded figure.
"Sorry," the newcomer said, standing in front of the stricken Pang Bai Shan. "But I can't let you kill off one of my best seedlings so easily."