Chapter 86: Chapter 83: Inner Strength Master_1
The two quickly approached the ancient castle of the Liu Family.
The fierce fight between the two feudal lords was still intense.
Suddenly, a figure burst out from behind a collapsed wall, wielding a knife towards Lu Yan.
Lu Yan quickly retreated, leaving the old man in front.
The old man slightly hummed through his nose, and with a grab, he punctured the chest of the attacker, removed the still-beating heart, and crushed it with his bare hand.
"So ruthless, his methods are just like those of Martial Spirits. Being targeted by him would spell more danger than fortune. I wonder what my chances of success would be if I were to attack him now."
As Lu Yan stared at the back of the old man’s head, a flash of murder intent crossed his eyes, but was quickly hidden.
He couldn’t risk it.
The old man was too inscrutable; the gap between them was too wide. Even a surprise attack seemed unlikely to succeed. Instead, it was best to bide his time and wait for a better opportunity.
Lu Yan suppressed his murderous urge.
The old man turned around and smirked, asking: "Why are you looking at the back of my head so intently? Wanting to kill me?"
Lu Yan put on a sincere smile and replied, "Senior, you’re overthinking it. Let’s be honest, even if I had ten times the courage, I wouldn’t dare to do it."
But in his mind, he was thinking, "How sharp is this guy? Does he have eyes on the back of his head?"
The old man chuckled, saying, "Keep leading the way."
With the old man clearing the way, the two encountered no obstructions and easily solved any ambushes.
Boom!
In a collapsed wall of the old castle, two figures were embroiled in an intense battle, with vigorous winds whipping and rubble flying around, preventing others from nearing.
It was the two Martial Marquises of Liu and Wu families locked in combat.
"Are they the ones?"
The old man, staring at the Martial Marquises, asked.
Lu Yan shook his head.
They bypassed the battlefield of the two Martial Marquises and quietly headed deeper into the old castle.
Soon, they encountered another pair of fighting Martial Marquises.
Once again, the old man asked, and Lu Yan shook his head again.
"Boy, it’s better not to play tricks. In the face of absolute power, your little schemes are pointless."
The old man’s eyes started to chill, showing signs of impatience.
However, Lu Yan remained silent, bypassing the battlefield of the two Martial Marquises and continuing deeper into the old castle.
They hadn’t gone far when they heard the intense roars and collision sounds.
From the sounds of it, it was definitely more than two or three Martial Marquises clashing.
"Over there,"
Lu Yan said.
"Follow me."
The old man grabbed Lu Yan’s shoulder and leaped onto the roof without making a sound.
Then, with a few more hops, they were at the back of the old castle.
Behind the old castle was a spacious courtyard. At this moment, eight figures were waging battle in the courtyard.
All eight of them were Martial Marquises, forming three separate battlefields.
Two of the battlefields were evenly matched one-on-one confrontations.
On the third battlefield, three men were besieging one.
The besieged man was none other than the Ancestor of the Liu Family, whom Lu Yan had met before.
The three besieging him were two burly men and an old man with white hair.
Each of their fighting powers was extremely terrifying, leaving a path of destruction where they passed with flying sand and crumbling walls.
The Ancestor of Liu Family was obviously outmatched, completely on the defensive and unable to retaliate.
"Hmm?"
The old man’s gaze fell on the Ancestor of the Liu Family. He let out a soft sigh, frowned slightly, and seemed to be contemplating something.
"The person you want to bring me to is him, right?"
The old man said softly.
Lu Yan nodded.
At this point, lying was meaningless, as the old man had obviously figured out something.
He was ready. If the old man attempted to kill him, he would immediately rush out and drag the old man into the battlefield as well.
At the very least, it would be a mutual destruction.
Yet, the old man didn’t show any intention of killing him. Instead, he concentrated and kept staring at the Ancestor of the Liu Family.
Under the siege of the three great masters, the Ancestor of the Liu family was struggling, constantly retreating, and apparently about to lose his stamina.
"Get out of the way."
Driven mad, the Ancestor of the Liu Family repelled a man, forcing his way out of the encirclement and charging towards the exterior of the courtyard.
Elder Wu and the Bei Clan brothers were in hot pursuit, determined not to let him escape. They chased him out of the courtyard as well.
"Let’s go."
The old man took hold of Lu Yan’s shoulder and ran in the same direction as the Ancestor of Liu Family.
The night was a fast-paced game of chase that quickly moved miles away.
Ahead, two figures were engaged in an intense battle.
They were two Martial Marquises, representing the Liu Family and the Wu Family respectively.
"The Liu Family has six Martial Marquises, but the Wu Family surprisingly has eight."
A shock ran through Lu Yan’s heart.
The Ancestor of Liu Family charged directly towards the battlefield of the two Martial Marquises, lunging through the air and aiming for the Wu Family’s Martial Marquis.
The Ancestor of the Liu Family was a pinnacle of Martial Marquis, causing panic in the Wu Family Marquis who tried to retreat and evade.
"Old man, you wish."
From behind, Elder Wu roared like muffled thunder, throwing his spear towards the Ancestor of Liu Family.
A peculiar grin spread across the face of the Ancestor of Liu Family. With a swift backhand, he deflected the spear. His figure accelerated, heading again for the Wu Family Martial Marquis.
His speed was more than twice as fast as before.
The Wu Family Marquis had no chance to dodge and was caught by the claw of the Ancestor of Liu Family, which twisted his head off in a crunch.
At this moment, Elder Wu had caught up. His fan-like palm brought with it violent winds as he aimed towards the Ancestor of Liu Family.
The Ancestor of Liu Family spun around with astonishing speed and slapped back.
Clash!
The sound of their palms clashing rang out like a thunderclap. Elder Wu’s robust body flew backward like a severed kite and heavily smashed into the ground. A constant flow of blood spurted from his mouth. His palm had been smashed to a pulp, a bloody mess of flesh and bone fragments.
"Inner Strength... How is it possible that you have reached the realm of Inner Strength?"
Elder Wu howled in disbelief, simultaneously spewing mouthfuls of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs.
With that single palm strike, his internal organs had been shattered by Ancestor Liu’s Inner Strength.
He could hardly believe it, but the evidence was there in front of his eyes. But how had the Ancestor of the Liu Family achieved this?
He had only had the Phoenix Blood Worm for a few days. In such a short time, it wasn’t even enough time to prepare the Phoenix Blood Heart Protective Soup, let alone gather the necessary Spiritual Medicine.
What’s more, breaking through to become a Grandmaster took more than just a few days.
There was only one possibility. The Ancestor of the Liu Family didn’t break through with the help of the Phoenix Blood Heart Protective Soup, he had already broken through before that.
Everyone present, except for the Martial Marquis from the Liu Family, was utterly shocked. This was totally unexpected.
Clash!
The Ancestor of Liu Family rushed to Elder Wu like a gust of wind and crushed his skull with a single kick.
After finally killing his lifelong enemy, the Ancestor of Liu Family let out a joyous laugh. "This is my real power. There were too many people before, so it wasn’t convenient to reveal it. I lead you here, to choose a suitable burial ground for you."
Like a gust of wind, he lunged towards the Bei Clan brothers.
The Bei Clan brothers were horrified. Knowing they couldn’t escape, a ruthless expression came over their face. One of them pulled out a pitch black bone fragment. The two together poured their Bone Strength into the bone fragment. All at once, a terrifying aura exuded from the bone fragment. A surge of black energy extended from the bone fragment in all directions.
The Bei Clan brothers bore the brunt of the attack, getting enveloped in the black energy. Their faces distorted in pain and they screamed in agony. Their bodies visibly shrivelled up at an alarming pace.
The next moment, the energy hit the Ancestor of Liu Family.
Startled, Ancestor Liu quickly retreated, but he was still a little stained by the black energy. This energy seemed to awaken something within him. He roared and his face twisted. His pupils dilated to several times their normal size, and his mouth opened to reveal a tentacle-like appendage squirming out.
A thick black fog spread over his body, very much like the black energy emitting from the bone.
"Martial Spirit."
Lu Yan gasped.
The Ancestor of Liu Family was actually a Martial Spirit.
In an instant, a lot came to Lu Yan’s mind.
In the past, the Ancestor of Liu Family and two other Liu Family Marquises had joint forces to kill a Martial Spirit. But only the two Marquises returned, while the Ancestor hadn’t.
Those two Marquises claimed they had severely injured the Martial Spirit, but hadn’t been able to kill it before it escaped.
Now, it seemed they lied.
They might have successfully killed the Martial Spirit and learned from it the methods to communicate with Martial Spirits.
The Ancestor of the Liu Family may have used this method to communicate with the spirits, turning himself into a Martial Spirit and breaking through to become a Grandmaster through this.
This was the most plausible explanation.
"Demon Bone."
The Ancestor of Liu Family let out a low growl, leaped up, broke through the black energy that was emitted by the bones. His palms struck out and killed the Bei Clan brothers, seizing the bone in his hand.
With the death of the Bei Clan brothers, the black energy returned to the bone and vanished without a trace.
The Ancestor of Liu Family also gradually calmed down. The black fog enveloping him dissipated. The tentacle-like appendage retreated back into his mouth and his expression gradually resumed normalcy.
However, his gaze was directed towards the hiding place of Lu Yan and the old man.
