stjorthotic Chapter 73 The War Begins 2
Chapter 73 The War Begins 2
Seeing that Yan Hua was distracted, Liu Mu, the Blazing Blade, thought he had an opportunity and launched a sneak attack from behind.
When the blade was still a foot away from the back of the neck, Yan Hua didn't turn his head. He casually thrust his right fist backward, and the intent of the fist arrived first. A fist-shaped indentation appeared in the chest of the rogue cultivator, and the sound of ribs breaking could be clearly heard in the midst of the melee.
Liu Mu flew off the stage like a kite with a broken string, his limbs twisted at an abnormal angle when he landed, and the blood foam gushing from his mouth shone brightly red in the morning light.
The stench of blood permeated the morning breeze over the drill ground.
The first to become agitated were the warriors wearing beast-head masks.
Their boxing style was inherently aggressive and explosive. After smelling blood, the force of their punches suddenly increased by several times. They no longer stopped at the beginning and instead aimed every move at vital points.
Immediately afterwards, two more rogue cultivators were affected. One had his shoulder blade shattered and staggered off the stage, while the other was punched in the abdomen and collapsed on the edge of the stage, vomiting blood, before being dragged off.
The atmosphere on the stage changed imperceptibly, transforming from a martial arts contest into a life-or-death struggle.
All the warriors wearing beast-head masks began to gravitate towards Yan Hua.
"Could they be in cahoots?"
"I just realized they were working together very well, first secretly killing off the others, then joining forces."
Even the audience could see the clues, so there was no way Quan Feng wouldn't notice.
He forced his opponent back with a single strike, then abruptly retreated, landing beside Lin Mu.
"Black Impermanence," he lowered his voice, his gaze sweeping over the remaining martial artists on the arena, "Yan Hua and his group are clearly in cahoots. We have five people on our side: you, me, Ye Zhaoxi, and two from Lieshan Martial Arts School."
"If we join forces and weather this round, we might still have a chance of winning."
Before he could finish speaking, a very soft and apologetic sigh came from behind him.
Ye Zhaoxi cupped his hands in greeting to Quan Feng, his lips moved slightly, and he quickly said, "Junior Brother Quan, I'm sorry, the Ye family cannot break ties with the Xuanmen." Then he jumped off the arena.
To protect his family's interests and his fellow disciples' reputation, he abstained from the competition.
On the other side, Yan Hua, holding his blood-stained hand, looked toward the location of the two Lieshan warriors.
"Get out of my way, don't get in my way."
"Stand in the corner and wait for the quarterfinals."
The two martial arts practitioners exchanged a glance, then retreated to the far corner of the arena as if granted a pardon, hiding there.
The arena suddenly became empty.
Yan Hua slowly raised his eyes.
The blood-red tinge remaining in those pupils had not yet faded, and now it was ignited by another kind of light.
He took a step, and the rammed earth debris beneath his feet bounced away with a jolt from the force of his internal energy.
His gaze passed over the mess of broken wood and bloodstains on the stage, finally landing on Quan Feng.
"The five of you hold off Black Impermanence."
"I'll take care of Quan Feng."
The five masked men dispersed the instant Yan Hua finished speaking, like five fingers clenching into a fist.
Tiger Head blocked the front, Leopard Head and Eagle Head silently flanked the sides, Wolf Head circled around to the back to block the retreat, and Owl Footsteps silently stood between Lin Mu and Quan Feng, cutting off his only possible route to support his companions.
The five people's breathing rates were almost completely synchronized, and the intervals between lifting their feet and landing were roughly the same, as if their thoughts had been connected to form a cage without any blind spots.
Lin Mu stood in the very center of the group of five, holding a long spear in his right hand, the dark blue shaft gleaming coldly in the morning light.
His thoughts had already spread a foot around his body before Yan Hua even spoke.
Owls have the lightest footsteps, but the frequency of the air currents they stir up doesn't lie;
The wolf head behind them, wielding a knife, had the most steady breathing, but each time he gripped the hilt, his knuckles made a very subtle grinding sound.
......
Five people, five different energy trajectories, all clearly visible in my divine sense.
Lin Mu slightly spun his toes, lowering his center of gravity even further, and the butt of his gun slowly traced a half-arc as it scraped the ground.
Tiger Head was the first to move.
His right fist came crashing down from the front, the power of his Iron Wire Fist condensing into an extremely fine and sharp penetrating force, like a steel wire aimed straight at Lin Mu's throat.
At the same time, the leopard's head swept to the left side, its five fingers of the Stone Claw slightly bent into hooks, with three fingers curled inward, specifically targeting the knee joint;
Eagle Head attacked from the right, layering the palm force of the Cloud Turning Hand, and struck down at the ribs;
The wolf's head approached silently from behind, the short knife making no sound, its blade flashing only briefly in the morning light before slicing straight down the back of the neck.
At the same moment the five attacked, the owl took two steps closer from the front, waiting for Lin Mu to reveal an opening.
No matter which person's attack Lin Mu receives first, the owl will kill him instantly during the gap.
Lin Mu tightened his mind to the extreme, and every slight disturbance in the air around him was transformed into direction, distance and speed in his mind.
He took a half step back with his right leg, and the butt of the spear sprang up from the ground. The wind spike drew an arc in front of him, and the spiraling force spread out along the shaft of the spear.
With a slap of his left palm on the butt of the spear, the spear tip pierced the left wrist joint of the leopard's head, forcing it to retract its claws and change its move.
Using the force of the gun, it bounced and swept towards the elbow of the right eagle head, interrupting the stacking force of the Cloud Turning Hand.
Using the force of the recoil, he thrust forward, the tip of the spear grazing the tiger's head's fist, the spiraling force completely dissipating the penetrating power of the Iron Wire Fist.
The spear's tail swung back like a dragon's tail, slamming backward onto the wolf's head with a dull thud like a hammer blow.
In a very brief instant, he compressed his marksmanship to its limit, each shot precisely hitting the weakest point in the five men's attack. The spiraling force of the Wind-Riding Spear spread out in circles along the shaft, barely managing to suppress the rhythm of the encirclement.
All five were forced back half a step at the same time, and then pressed forward again in the same instant, with perfect rhythm.
The second wave of attacks followed immediately.
Tiger Head's Wild Bull Fist came crashing down from the front, its force as heavy and powerful as a bull's horn striking.
The leopard's head transformed its claws into a palm, and the hidden force of the Rock-Splitting Palm, wrapped in tearing power, struck towards the lower abdomen;
Eagle Head's Iron Sleeve Skill infuses his sleeves with neutralizing force, making them as hard as iron plates, and sweeps them toward his lower back.
Wolf Head's short knife attacked from behind again, the tip of the blade condensing into a line of energy that blocked all escape routes.
The owl still hasn't made a move.
Those amber eyes searched for cracks inch by inch amidst Lin Mu's gunfire.
The five players' teamwork was flawless, flowing smoothly and seamlessly.
The wolf-headed blade sliced through the back of his clothes, leaving a white mark on his back;
The edge of the leopard's paw sliced across its ribs;
The eagle's iron sleeve swept across the shoulder blade, causing the air membrane to vibrate and hum.
Under the relentless onslaught of the five men, Lin Mu's firing range was compressed smaller and smaller, and he could no longer break through the situation by simply defending.
He suddenly changed his tactics.
Fengci thrust forward, forcing Tiger Head back. The tip of his spear exploded with a cold light in the sunlight. Tiger Head dodged to the side, creating a gap in the front of the five-man encirclement.
In that brief moment of space, he used the Wind Step followed by the Sudden Wind Step, his entire body moving like a wisp of smoke, brushing past the leopard's fist, and instantly darting out of the encirclement.
The speed was so fast that the masked man didn't have time to stop his attack.
The five people's auras all turned in the same direction, and their encirclement became a mixed pursuit formation.
He widened the distance to five zhang, his spear tracing a leisurely circle in the morning light, its tip pointing diagonally at the ground, regaining its unhurried and composed posture.
An inch longer, an inch stronger!