It was impossible to tell what exactly he was seeing in his eyes at that moment.
Yu Konghou, seeing his reaction, already knew that Tang Lichen could no longer control Kuang Lan Wuxing. He smiled faintly—"The art of sonic killing... after all, is not without flaws." After a pause, he smiled again—with his current handsome appearance, that delicate, maiden-like smile was truly grotesque and terrifying, though he himself remained oblivious. "But Wang Lingqiu's 'Three Slumbers Sleepless Sky' can drive him even further into madness... hahahaha..." His laughter grew increasingly gleeful. "Within those three days and nights of heightened madness, I will teach him who his master is—and who his enemies are. You were once his master too. Now, let’s see just who this demon from the Kaputibalan Rebirth Score will obey—and whose life it will take!"
As he laughed wildly, Kuang Lan Wuxing rose to his feet, gripping his halberd with both hands and sweeping it forward. A scorching breeze whistled past, accompanied by a crackling sound as the stone tiles beneath shattered. The halberd carved a deep gash, several inches deep, just three inches from Tang Lichen’s feet.
After the fissure split open with a sharp crack, black smoke even billowed up for a moment, as if something flammable within the earth and sand had been ignited by the searing energy before vanishing into nothingness.
Tang Lichen swung his sword, Liqun , deflecting the scorching heat of the Chimei Pearl-Spitting Qi . Seeing the glimmer of the sword’s autumn-water-like gleam, Kuang Lan Wuxing’s eyes faintly brightened. With a thrust of his halberd’s blade, he aimed straight for Tang Lichen’s face.
His halberd was exceptionally long, its blade and spikes tinged with a reddish-gold hue—made of some strange, unknown material, possibly even poisoned. Tang Lichen raised his sword to block— clang! — Liqun actually managed to parry Kuang Lan Wuxing’s halberd. The sword’s material was of exceptional quality, and Tang Lichen’s strength was astonishingly fierce. Blade and halberd clashed, evenly matched.
While he and Kuang Lan Wuxing were locked in stalemate, Yu Konghou’s Wanli Taohua silently unfurled, sweeping across half the chamber. Tang Lichen had burst through the door with his sword, intending to kill him with overwhelming force—how could Yu Konghou let him escape? The delicate threads of Wanli Taohua shimmered with a fleeting, graceful light, coiling around Tang Lichen’s waist in an instant!
And at that very moment, Tang Lichen had just swung his sword to block Kuang Lan Wuxing’s halberd—the clang of their clash had barely reached Yu Konghou’s ears.
He smiled. This sudden, unexpected sweep was one of Wanli Taohua ’s killing techniques, called Falling Petals . The threads coiled tightly around Tang Lichen’s waist, and with a sharp tug, if he were unprepared, the fine silk would slice him cleanly in half at the waist.
Tang Lichen spun, the crimson silk at his waist fluttering with a jingling sound. Beneath that near-indestructible silk, he actually wore a layer of golden chainmail beneath his white robes. Yu Konghou tightened his grip, the threads of Wanli Taohua biting into the mail, attempting to crush it through sheer force.
Meanwhile, Kuang Lan Wuxing’s halberd thrust had missed its mark. With a whoosh , he swung the halberd in a wide arc, its blade suddenly wreathed in faint black flames. The upper edge of the halberd’s spike swept horizontally toward Tang Lichen’s neck.The black flames suddenly ignited in the dimly lit bedchamber, like a gourd of strong liquor splashed across the sweeping halberd of Kuanglan Wuxing. Tang Lici, his waist bound by chains, found himself at an apparent disadvantage—the halberd long, his sword short—as if instantly thrust into an unwinnable situation. Yet with a metallic clang, he raised his sword horizontally, the Liqun Sword catching the curved upper blade of the halberd, forcibly pushing Kuanglan Wuxing’s weapon back by an inch.
This proved that the sheer force behind his block surpassed the sweeping power of the halberd.
But as the flickering black flames grazed his brows, strands of silver hair at Tang Lici’s forehead ignited, turning to ash and scattering in the wind, barely missing his eyes. Meanwhile, Yu Konghou exerted his full strength, coiling the Wanli Peach Blossom several more times around Tang Lici’s waist. Though it couldn’t strangle him, it firmly held him in place.
Kuanglan Wuxing, having failed in two consecutive strikes, tilted his head slightly, the silver bells at his ears jingling faintly—whether he heard them or not was unclear. He retracted the halberd in his left hand, then slammed it down, driving the weapon into the ground. The impact shattered the green bricks beneath, and flames erupted instantly. The halberd, as Tang Lici had previously designed, contained flammable oil—a trick Yu Konghou had learned from him. Kuanglan Wuxing’s scorching True Power synergized perfectly with the oil. As the halberd struck the ground, the oil inside sprayed out in the fierce wind, ignited by the fiery venom of his True Qi. In an instant, serpentine flames slithered across the chamber, setting the bed and curtains ablaze.
Yu Konghou smiled faintly. With a deft flick of the Wanli Peach Blossom, the sword’s tip lifted one end of the fluttering Scarlet Silk Worm Sash that had been swirling around Tang Lici’s waist. Tang Lici, his sword still raised from the forceful block against Kuanglan Wuxing, took a step forward.
Seizing the moment, Yu Konghou moved like lightning, grasping the end of the sash lifted by the Wanli Peach Blossom. With a twist of his wrist, he wrapped it tightly around his hand. Now, he held the Wanli Peach Blossom in his left hand and the Scarlet Silk Worm Sash in his right. A flick of his left wrist sent the small blade at the tip of the Wanli Peach Blossom shooting forward, propelled by his True Qi. It pierced through a burning pillar with a sharp thud before losing momentum and lodging itself behind the column.
After Tang Lici took that step forward, the Wanli Peach Blossom had already coiled multiple times around his waist, with one end now stuck behind the pillar and the other firmly in Yu Konghou’s left hand. Meanwhile, one end of his own Scarlet Silk Worm Sash remained wrapped around his waist, the other clutched in Yu Konghou’s right hand. Like prey caught in a spider’s web, Tang Lici was pinned in place by three unyielding chains.
Kuanglan Wuxing, having been forced back a step and now recovering his stance, let out a low roar. The ground beneath him blazed with venomous flames as he turned and swung his arm, delivering another sweeping strike aimed straight at Tang Lici’s chest.
Yu Konghou tightened his grip, bracing the Wanli Peach Blossom and the Scarlet Silk Worm Sash with both hands. The three taut chains held firm. Tang Lici turned his head abruptly, his ash-gray hair whipping across his face—now unable to even turn his body fully.
But as the gray strands brushed past and the flames and smoke thickened, Yu Konghou didn’t see panic in his eyes. Instead, he caught the faintest quirk at the corner of Tang Lici’s lips—a ghost of a smile.
That was not the look of a man cornered. A chill ran down Yu Konghou’s spine, yet he couldn’t loosen his grip. Just as Kuanglan Wuxing’s halberd, wreathed in venomous flames, came bearing down, Tang Lici suddenly spun—once, twice—Instead of attempting to free himself from the two long ropes binding him, he spun around and wound them back. Yu Konghou was abruptly yanked forward, stumbling several steps, while the small sword embedded in the pillar was violently torn free by Tang Lizci's brute force. With a thunderous crash as the burning pillar shattered and collapsed—the freed blade of Wanli Taohua fell into Tang Lizci's grasp.
Indeed, Yu Konghou had transferred seventy to eighty percent of his martial power to Kuang Lan Wuxing. In terms of internal strength and palm force, he was no match for Tang Lizci now. Watching Tang Lizci brazenly wrap Wanli Taohua around his waist, relying on his golden silk armor, even someone like Yu Konghou couldn't help but pale. The fine threads of Wanli Taohua were a weapon that had slaughtered countless, not some ornamental sash—yet Tang Lizci dared to coil it around his waist. Moreover, the pillar Wanli Taohua had been lodged in was the main support beam of the bedchamber. Once destroyed, the entire structure would collapse—how dare he— Before the thought could fully form, the pillar was forcibly torn apart by Tang Lizci, and half the roof groaned ominously, on the verge of collapse. Meanwhile, Yu Konghou was relentlessly pulled forward by Tang Lizci's spinning momentum. Before he could even process the situation, Kuang Lan Wuxing's halberd came crashing toward him.
With a few more spins, Tang Lizci had dragged Yu Konghou right in front of him. In that split second of hesitation, Yu Konghou failed to let go and was instead used as a human shield against Kuang Lan Wuxing's halberd! From allowing himself to be ensnared by Yu Konghou, to spinning and pulling him close, to shattering the pillar and seizing Wanli Taohua—Yu Konghou couldn't even tell who had outmaneuvered whom. Faced with the halberd at his chest, Yu Konghou had no choice but to release Wanli Taohua and the Piaohong Chongling, drawing a short sword from his robes to barely block Kuang Lan Wuxing's strike.
A dull clang rang out as Yu Konghou staggered back seven or eight steps, blood spraying from his mouth. His right hand's tiger-mouth split open, gushing blood. His diminished power was now impossible to conceal. Meanwhile, Tang Lizci, coiling Wanli Taohua around himself, nimbly dodged to the side. With a flick of the silver thread, the small sword of Wanli Taohua circled him like a fluttering butterfly before settling into his right palm. Tang Lizci left the scattered segment of Piaohong Chongling where it lay, the crimson silk unfurling across the ground. He stepped onto the red silk, flames roaring around him, silver hair dancing amid the black smoke. Tilting his head slightly, he smiled faintly at Yu Konghou.
Then, with a deafening crash, the bedchamber collapsed, burying all three beneath the rubble.
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