Stranger Danger

Chapter 461: I Regret Nothing

Red lotuses began appearing in Duan Zipao’s headspace. Demonic hellfire burned his mind and seeped out of his pores.

Unfortunately, Duan Zipao was a late-stage Spirit Master who had forged his Yin God. There was a burst of spiritual power, and the Ghost Leopard of Winnowing Waters let out a mighty roar. Both the red lotuses attempting to take root in his mind and the hellfire spreading throughout his body were annihilated in an instant. At the same time, Duan Zipao snapped back to reality.

That wasn’t the only move Ye Qing had prepared for him, however. The second he regained his consciousness, Duan Zipao found a slender saber flying straight toward his neck. It was as red as it was lethal.

Pssh!

Blade sank into flesh, and for a moment, it looked like Ye Qing had won. However, the young man’s expression darkened. It was because the killer move that should’ve beheaded Duan Zipao was blocked. Somehow, the Leopard Commander’s armor had melted into streams of liquid and blocked his attack.

“Hahahaha! You think you can kill me?”

Duan Zipao let out a mad laugh, but his eyes were overflowing with murder and just a hint of fear.

At this point, even he had to admit that Ye Qing possessed outstanding intelligence, cunning, and adaptability. First, he used the fog to obstruct his spiritual senses. Then, he tricked him into killing against his own cavalrymen and incurring some serious damage as a result of it.

Although he was a Spirit Master, he wasn’t a body-tempering warrior. Not even he could take the cavalry charge of a guard of elite cavalrymen[1] head on.

As if that wasn’t enough, Ye Qing had launched his ambush right after his energies were scattered, and before new energy was born. His planning, his decision-making, and his timing were definitely praiseworthy. If it wasn’t for the fact that the armor he was wearing was a Strange Artifact called Black Water, he could very well be dead already.

Anger and fear joined together to form a sea of bloodthirst. Duan Zipao’s palm abruptly turned as black as ink, and he aimed a cold, vicious, and destructive palm strike at Ye Qing’s chest.

Bang!

There was a low, dull sound of impact, and the yin and yang energies protecting Ye Qing were completely destroyed. Not only that, the palm continued forward and struck Ye Qing right on the chest.

Pop pop pop!

Ye Qing’s insides began popping and cracking incessantly like fireworks. Duan Zipao was surprised for an instant before he burst out laughing, “You actually took my Black Sky Divine Palm head on? What a fool!”

He just wanted to force Ye Qing away when he executed the move. He never thought that Ye Qing would choose to bear the attack. An ultimate technique of the Black Sky Divine Palace, the Black Sky Divine Palm was an insidious, vicious palm strike that injected soft, cold poison into the target’s body. It spread quickly throughout the body and broke the bones, destroyed the internal organs, damaged the bodily points, and threw one’s pulse into complete disarray.

Depending on how tough the victim was, Black Sky Divine Palm could literally destroy a person’s bones and internal organs in one hit. It was best used against warriors with a tough body.

The palm force was incredibly difficult to remove as it seeped deep into one’s body, and as if that wasn’t evil enough already, it also inflicted long-term, unbearable pain upon its victims. The pain would not disappear until the palm force was fully eradicated, and it was bad enough that even a tough-as-nail warrior couldn’t endure it for long.

This was why the Black Sky Divine Palm was known together with the Three Splits Mind Killing Palm, the Absolute Yin Hand, the Finger That Castrates, the Insect Feast Palm and more as some of the most insidious and brutal palm arts in the entire world.

Duan Zipao didn’t expect Ye Qing to take the Black Sky Divine Palm head on, nor did he understand why the young man would make such a foolish choice. Regardless, he didn’t hesitate to rotate his palm half a circle and pushed a tidal wave of black palm force into Ye Qing’s body.

The palm force swiftly spread throughout Ye Qing’s body from the chest. In just the blink of an eye, Ye Qing’s complexion had turned a shade of black, and black blood was pouring from every orifice.

Ye Qing was smiling, however. While Duan Zipao was busy injecting as much palm force into his body as possible, he flipped his hand and caught the commander’s wrist in a death grip.

Realizing that he was in danger, Duan Zipao tried to withdraw his hand only to realize that his opponent was as immovable as a mountain itself. The next moment, an even bigger force pulled him uncontrollably into Ye Qing’s lap.

Duan Zipao blanched. He was currently spent because he had injected all of his energies into Ye Qing earlier. He hurriedly sucked in a deep breath in an attempt to gather new energy inside him.

He was too late. Ye Qing grabbed his left arm as well and headbutted him[2].

Although his armor blocked the headbutt for him, it couldn’t stop the anomalous burst of spiritual power invading his headspace. It instantly destabilized his mind and dimmed his consciousness. As a result, the energy he was channeling immediately crumbled into nothing.

Before Duan Zipao could regain his wits, Ye Qing tightened his grip into a bear hug and jumped. The ground shook, and they both shot toward the walls of Tian Yong like an arrow.

BOOM!

A massive pit with spreading cracks on the fringes appeared on the wall. The next moment, Ye Qing clenched his fists and began punching Duan Zipao’s stomach.

The armor was still protecting the Leopard Commander, but Ye Qing didn’t care. He kept throwing punch after punch with wanton abandon. Every time Duan Zipao regained his consciousness and got ready to launch a counterattack, Ye Qing would headbutt him and execute “Heavenly Demon Captures The Soul” to break his train of thought.

Although Duan Zipao was a late-stage Spirit Master with a Yin God, the cavalry charge from earlier had done him a serious amount of damage and drained much of his spiritual power. Not only that, Ye Qing’s “Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art” also damaged his Yin God. Finally, Ye Qing’s “Heavenly Demon Captures The Soul” was nothing like Duan Zipao had ever encountered, so he wasn’t able to counteract it immediately.

Like a tireless blacksmith, Ye Qing pounded Duan Zipao with his fists again and again. A dozen or so punches later, the armor finally exceeded its limit and exploded into smithereens.

The second the armor exploded, Ye Qing threw his left elbow forward and struck Duan Zipao squarely in the neck. It was such a powerful strike that the commander’s neck sank a full meter into the wall. Not done yet, Ye Qing raised his right arm and landed two quick strikes on Duan Zipao’s elbows. There was a bloodcurdling scream, and the man’s bones ripped right out of his flesh.

Now that the man was mostly disabled, Ye Qing no longer had anything to be afraid of. He began pounding away Duan Zipao’s stomach like a drum once more.

Debris flew everywhere as Duan Zipao sank deeper and deeper into the wall. His eyes were bulging, blood was pouring out of every orifice, and his energies kept growing weaker and weaker.

Dozens of punches later, Ye Qing abruptly stopped his assault. As if on cue, his energies suddenly plummeted like an avalanche.

If someone were to look at the exposed parts of his arms and neck, they would notice that his skin had turned bluish black in color. His eyebrows and hair were also frozen as if he was standing in the coldest winter. His aura was beyond chilly, and a pool of ice was spreading underneath his feet.

“Cough! Cough!”

Ye Qing covered his mouth and coughed a little. Despite this, he couldn’t stop a trickle of black blood from pouring through his fingers. Every part of his body was hurting like a bitch.

Duan Zipao’s palm strike hadn’t just jolted his internal organs out of position, broke his muscles and bones, and damaged his veins. The insidious palm force had also spread throughout his body and made him feel like he was standing naked in the coldest winterland. To say he was beyond uncomfortable would be the understatement of the century.

Even so, Ye Qing didn’t regret taking the palm strike. Everything he had done until this point was to kill Duan Zipao.

Duan Zipao was the greatest obstacle standing between him and freedom. He could never escape unless the commander was taken out of the picture. That was why he had been searching for a way to kill Duan Zipao from the moment he used the Child of Blood Demon.

First, he used the original fog to obstruct his enemies’ senses and pit them against each other. While Duan Zipao was at his weakest state, he would ambush the commander and hopefully kill him.

Everything had gone perfectly until Duan Zipao’s armor suddenly came to life and blocked what should’ve been a killing blow. The lull gave Duan Zipao just enough breathing room to unleash the Black Sky Divine Palm.

Ye Qing could’ve dodged the attack, but he knew that Duan Zipao just wanted to drive him away and buy himself even more time to recover. That was precisely why he couldn’t back off.

If he retreated, Duan Zipao would be able to recover his strength, and as a late-stage Spirit Master, the commander had all the tools he needed to turn this into a battle of attrition. There were only two possible outcomes if the fight did turn into a battle of attrition. One, he runs out of strength and dies. Two, reinforcements show up, save Duan Zipao and kill him.

Duan Zipao could afford to drag out the battle, but not him. That was why he could only bear the attack head on and fight with his life on the line. Moreover, Dan Zipao wasn’t a body-tempering warrior. His astral qi and spirit were powerful, but his body was perfectly average. He of all people feared trading wound for wound, life for life.

Ye Qing was the opposite. His body was strong, but his astral qi and spirit were weaker than Duan Zipao’s.

In a battle between warriors, the only path to victory was to attack the enemy’s weakness with your strength. Besides, Ye Qing was confident he could take the Black Sky Divine Palm and still defeat Duan Zipao.

In the end, he won, and Duan Zipao lost. So, he regretted nothing.

1. Reminder that “a guard” here is over 100 people. ☜

2. Never say that the MC can’t pick up skills from his foes. This one is contributed by Zhao Lan. ☜