"Brother, what should we do?"
Qi Hui was slashed with a sword more than ten times. His face still looked deathly pale even in the darkness.
Qi Guang, on the other hand, was relatively calm. He gritted his teeth and said, "If we have no route of retreat, we can only fight to the death. We must cover Zhao Junior Sister and help her escape."
A flash of light crossed Qi Hui's eyes, but he remained silent.
Zhao Molan exclaimed, "Qi Senior Brother, I won't leave. If we die, we die together."
The wounds of the three had not yet healed, and they were now more injured than before. Their strength was less than 30% of their usual. Under the encirclement of the Black Evil Gang's masters, they had eventually ran to a hidden cave entrance, with no way to retreat.
There was a flickering fire in the cave; Qi hui's eyes shone the brightest, suddenly yelling, "The one surnamed Shi is inside!"
This outcry was the equivalent of telling everyone Shi Xiaole's location, making escape impossible.
Qi Guang sighed.
Zhao Molan looked at Qi Hui, her beautiful eyes filled with disappointment.
In the dimly lit cave, a slender figure slowly came out, his handsome face still quite youthful. Who else could it be but Shi Xiaole?
With a face full of guilt, Qi Guang said, "Brother Shi, I... I'm sorry I got you involved."
Zhao Molan simply looked down, her pretty face flushing red and then turning white, hardly daring to look at him.
Qi Hui, however, shouted loudly, "With the enemy at our door, Shi Xiaole, we need to work together. Otherwise, none of us will survive."
Shi Xiaole glanced around.
Great, there were no less than fifty masters from the Black Evil Gang, mostly on around the Hidden Qi third or fourth level. The skinny old man from the day was grinning wolfishly, as if he was a poisonous snake.
Looking at his state, he seemed to have recovered a lot from his wounds.
Qi Hui knew his own strength. Faced with such a line-up, he would have been on a suicide mission unless he made a breakthrough. His talk of teamwork probably had a hint of sarcasm.
Shi Xiaole merely smiled at the moon.
He had helped people out of kindness, and never expected that it would lead to such a situation.
Qi Guang, struggling to stand, walked up to Shi Xiaole and whispered, "Brother Shi, when the time comes, we will rush to the right together, I will fight to the death to cover you."
Zhao Molan also made her way over to express her determination. Seeing that Shi Xiaole remained silent, the girl was so ashamed she was almost crying.
"Hahaha, the four of you can discuss as much as you want, it won't help. You won't escape tonight even if you had wings."
The skinny old man's sinister gaze eventually landed on Shi Xiaole. He gritted his teeth and said, "I've been in Emerald Feather City for ten years, and I've never been defeated by a young punk before. Little dog, I will make your life a living hell!"
Shi Xiaole said, "I'm afraid you won't be able to."
As he spoke, he suddenly moved towards the left side where most of the masters were standing. His right hand was already gripping the hilt of his sword.
"Brother Shi, don't!"
Qi Guang shouted in an attempt to stop him. The masters gathered there made up about 60% of the present crowd. No matter if it was Shi Xiaole or Qi Guang at his best, neither had any assurance that they could break through them.
"Young Master Shi, come back quickly. Weren't we going to stick together?"
Zhao Molan was also shouting hoarsely, stamping her foot in anxiety.
Only Qi Hui had a cold smile hidden.
Shi Xiaole, the fool, acted recklessly and overestimated his own abilities. Since he was drawing their fire, their chances of breaking out from the right side undoubtedly increased greatly.
"Little dog, you're the stupidest thing I've ever seen! Hehehe, it seems I overestimated you."
The skinny old man sat confidently as though he was fishing. In front of him were seven or eight masters at the Hidden Qi fourth level. Under their combined attack, how could this youngster not be subdued?
Of course, he was planning to wait until Shi Xiaole couldn't hold on any longer and then take action himself. He would ruthlessly trample him into the ground and crush his bones into dust. Only then could he vent his anger!
"You sure talk a lot. Old man, you should have escaped when you had the chance, but you had to come back and meet your doom. I'm more than happy to oblige."
Shi Xiaole's voice wasn't loud, but he was very calm, his words clearly entered everyone's ears.
Everyone felt that the young man was going mad in despair.
"Good, very good! What are you all standing there for, get him and feed him to the dogs for me."
As the skinny old man ordered, the Black Evil Gang's masters who had been holding back immediately shouted loudly. Seven or eight people pounced at Shi Xiaole.
They seemed to see the little fellow's fearful expression amidst the flurry of blades, and all let out triumphant laughter.
However, just as they raised their hands, Shi Xiaole made the first move.
With the Floating Step technique underfoot, Shi Xiaole bent low. His sword, which had somehow been drawn out without anyone noticing, stabbed towards a man in the middle.
Shit!
Blood sprayed into the sky.
The man was killed instantly and dropped to the ground. And before the rest could react, Shi Xiaole had already broken through the gap in the crowd and charged at the skinny old man.
"Damn it, this kid has broken through!"
The skinny old man was terrified.
Once a martial artist broke through their internal power realm, their speed and power would obviously increase by a level due to the substantial increase in internal power. At that moment, Shi Xiaole was clearly not the Shi Xiaole they knew from the day.
"Everyone, kill him for me, kill!"
The skinny old man had no confidence in dealing with Shi Xiaole; he desperately retreated backward.
But Shi Xiaole's target from the start was him. How could he let him escape? With a swoop of his sword, Shi Xiaole leapt up, executing the Rising Sun Phoenix from the Miao Family Sword Technique.
"No, it's impossible!"
This sword strike was both swift and fierce, carrying an even stronger aura than before during daylight. The withered old man knew all too well, in just a half day's time, not only had Shi Xiaole's internal power greatly advanced, but even his swordsmanship had escalated to another level.
Exerting all strength and concentrating it into his hands, the withered old man ferociously unleased the Evil Wolf Claw.
Regrettably, with Shi Xiaole's significant advancement in internal power, combined with Miao Family Sword Technique approaching Spirit Integration completion, the power of this sword strike was fifty percent stronger than during daylight. How could the withered old man possibly defend against it?
A clear slicing sound followed by a beast-like roar, everyone saw a pair of bloodied palms tossed into the air, then falling to the ground.
The withered old man was soaked in blood from waist up, both hands severed at the wrists, his face was terrifyingly distorted from the pain.
"Old man, who's the fool now?"
Without giving the withered old man any chance for resistance, Shi Xiaole's second sword strike, under the moonlight, pierced mercilessly into the old man's left chest.
The scene fell surprisingly silent.
Especially Qi Guang, Qi Hui, Zhao Molan and the other two Black Evil Gang advanced fighters who had experienced the daytime battle, all had faces of disbelief.
Just half a day ago, Shi Xiaole's martial arts skills were at most parallel to the withered old man's, defeating him was accomplished through luck. But now, he only needed two sword strokes to kill the old man!
From the moment he first attacked to now, only a moment had passed, yet Shi Xiaole had already established a break.
"You..."
Swoosh.
Without waiting for the withered old man to finish his words, Shi Xiaole emotionlessly pulled out his sword, then dashed forward without looking back.
Simultaneously, the shadow of a figure suddenly appeared on the right side, the very side that Qi Guang and the other two perceived as the weakest part of the encirclement. He jumped up, chasing towards Shi Xiaole on the left at high speed, full of murderous intent.
"God, it's the Life-Seeking Demon God, one of the Eight Evil Gods! Has Young Master Shi known about this all along?"
Zhao Molan exclaimed with eyes full of excitement.
Qi Guang shouted, "Quickly, Brother Shi has distracted the strong enemy for us, let's break through from the left."
With life and death hanging in the balance, no one dared to be lax; they charged towards the left with their fullest strength.
Mount Luyan, silent in the late spring cold night, saw two figures darting non-stop through the woods.
"Young man, despite your young age, you're heartless and ruthless. You can't live beyond tonight!"
While pursuing, the Life-Seeking Demon God still had spare energy to talk.
On the other hand, Shi Xiaole held his breath, just running with all his strength. The moment he spoke, his energy would dissipate, leaving him to be caught.
However, despite this, the distance between them was closing, from dozens of feet at the start to five or four now.
When the distance decreased to three feet, the Life-Seeking Demon God smirked and slapped towards Shi Xiaole's back.
A third-rate martial art technique, the Life-seeking Palm.
With his skill reaching the peak of six-level Hidden Qi, and the Life-Seeking Palm technique nearly perfected in Spirit Integration, the Life-Seeking Demon God was leagues beyond the withered old man.
With the whoosh of palm wind, Shi Xiaole felt a chill on his back. At this moment, the limitation of the Floating Step was blatantly exposed, leaving him unable to dodge the palm strike.
With a twist of his body, Shi Xiaole executed the strongest move of the Miao Family Sword Technique, the Raising Sword White Crane Spreads Wings, swinging it furiously.
Boom, went the sound.
The palm wind exploded, Shi Xiaole realized that the Life-Seeking Demon God's internal power was not only much stronger than his own, but its purity was also top-notch. Apparently, he too practiced a third-rate internal power Mind Method.
Barely suppressing a sweet taste in his throat, Shi Xiaole fought while retreating. During this process, he was constantly thinking about escape routes while also defending against the Life-Seeking Demon God's attacks, enduring bitter hardship.
Not long after,
Shi Xiaole spat out blood, stumbling over.
"Young man, it's time for you to die."
The Life-Seeking Demon God coldly chuckled, striking out with his palm. Dealing with a kid that only had fourth-level Hidden Qi, he had only used seventy percent of his power from the start, but it was already more than enough.
At a critical juncture, Shi Xiaole remained composed, switching from the vigorous Miao Family Sword Technique to the dangerous Huashan Sword Technique.
Faintly, the illusion of a mountain miles wide hovered in space, pressing down onto the unguarded Life-Seeking Demon God.
The Transformation Phase of the Huashan Sword Technique.
Bang.
The mountain-like illusion barely neutralized the force of the Life-Seeking Palm, but taking advantage of this explosive force, Shi Xiaole swiftly darted off to the side.
"Transformation phase?"
The Life-Seeking Demon God's expression froze for a moment.
As one of the Eight Evil Gods in the Black Evil Gang, how could he not understand the significance of Transformation Phase? Frankly, even with his qualifications, after practicing the Life-Seeking Palm for several years, he was far from reaching the Transformation Phase.
Shi Xiaole was only a few years old, although the level of his sword technique as indicated by its power was low, it was enough to demonstrate his high level of talent.
The Life-Seeking Demon God stood still, not continuing the pursuit.
Because nearby was the territory of the Huajian Sect, if he continued to hunt down Shi Xiaole, a premeditated genius of the Sect, it could stir up the Sect's advanced fighters, which would be bad.
"I'll spare your life this time, hope you don't let me see you next time."
The Life-Seeking Demon God left reluctantly.
He couldn't dream that if he continued to chase Shi Xiaole, not only would he not provoke the Huajian Sect, but he might even delight certain people.