Chapter 225: Chapter 215: Snow Battle (Part 2)
Ku Lie landed at the bottom of the pit. He constantly threw out moves to protect himself while feeling around, and soon his hand touched a stone wall.
He thought to himself, ’That kid jumped in here on purpose. Something’s fishy. I’d better get out of here first.’
He immediately pushed off with both feet and leaped upward. Just as his upward momentum was about to fail, he tapped his toes against the stone wall, intending to use it as a foothold to vault out of the pit.
But Zhao Lin would never let him escape. He was already hiding nearby, waiting for an opportunity. Leaping up after him, Zhao Lin abruptly lashed out with a Three Yin Claw.
Ku Lie’s senses were dulled in the snow—he couldn’t see, and his hearing was impaired. It wasn’t until the blast of energy struck that he managed to swing his arm to block.
A sharp pain shot through his arm, as if it were about to snap. His momentum dissipated, and he plummeted back down.
"Despicable!"
Ku Lie was at the Third Layer of the Blood Realm, his strength second only to Tuzha among the five. Furious at being ambushed and put at a disadvantage the moment he entered, he unleashed a Fiery Flame Saber.
This Palm Blade was intensely hot. Though the energy projection was only a foot long, the heat it radiated melted a gash several yards long in the snow at the bottom of the pit.
Snow from above immediately collapsed to fill the gash.
Zhao Lin didn’t engage him directly. He quietly scaled the rock wall, emitted an ultrasonic wave, and silently observed Ku Lie’s every move, unconcerned that anyone would come down to help.
In a pit like this, it didn’t matter how many came; they’d just be throwing their lives away.
Ku Lie unleashed five palm strikes but got no response. He kicked off with both legs and leaped upward once more.
Zhao Lin was already waiting for him midway up. He didn’t attack immediately, waiting until the very moment their bodies were about to pass each other before throwing a vicious punch.
The Celestial Frost Fist was chillingly cold and normally easy to detect. But here in the snow pit, the thick snowfall provided natural cover. Ku Lie only realized the danger when the fist was inches from his face, and he scrambled to raise a fist to block.
BANG!
Ku Lie plummeted down again, his Qi and Blood in turmoil. He nearly blacked out.
Only then did he realize that Zhao Lin’s senses were far sharper than his own. He didn’t know if the boy had clairvoyance or superhuman hearing, but his every move was perfectly anticipated.
He was in mortal danger.
He suppressed his aura and retreated to a corner of the pit, hoping to evade Zhao Lin’s pursuit.
Seeing this, Zhao Lin sneered to himself. He moved along the stone wall until he was directly above Ku Lie and threw a punch downward.
CRUNCH!
Ku Lie heard the snow compacting above him and hastily raised both palms to defend. Unable to muster his full strength in time, he was knocked to the ground by the punch.
Having landed the blow, Zhao Lin immediately changed position, circling to another side of the pit.
This repeated several times until Ku Lie, completely powerless to retaliate, began screaming in a rage. No longer conserving his energy, he furiously unleashed his most practiced Palm Skill. The force of his strikes continuously melted the snow at the bottom of the pit.
By now, Tuzha and the other two men had determined the pit’s shape. Seeing the snow heave and churn, they knew the two were locked in combat below. Though anxious, none of them considered jumping in.
For one, the pit was dozens of yards long; if Zhao Lin suddenly emerged, two men wouldn’t be enough to contain him.
For another, visibility in the snow was so poor they couldn’t tell friend from foe. Jumping in now might lead both fighters to mistake them for an enemy, forcing them into a two-on-one battle that would likely cost them their lives.
"Tuzha, should I go down and take a look?"
Of the three men above, besides Tuzha, one was named Mo Ban and the other Lasu.
Lasu, who was a good friend of Ku Lie’s, said worriedly, "I don’t know what’s happening down there. If I go down and first unleash a Flaming Blade, Ku Lie will know it’s me and won’t attack."
Tuzha was hesitant. After a moment of thought, he said, "Ku Lie is at the Third Layer of the Blood Realm. In a one-on-one fight, there’s no way he’ll lose to that kid. Let’s wait a little longer. If he were outmatched, he’d come up on his own."
In his mind, no matter how deep the pit, Ku Lie could get out with ease. The only reason he was still down there, he reasoned, was that he had Zhao Lin cornered and was on the verge of victory.
Unfortunately, he didn’t know that Zhao Lin was using echolocation, completely dominating the battlefield from beneath the snow. Ku Lie desperately wanted to get out, but all his efforts failed. His situation was now perilous.
A short while later, the surface of the snow suddenly stopped churning. Then, snowflakes sprayed into the air as Ku Lie’s head burst through. His face was contorted in pain, and both his hands clawed desperately upward, as if trying to pull himself out.
Tuzha and the others shouted in unison, "Hurry, get up here!"
"Ku Lie, I’m coming!"
Lasu leaped into the air, extending a hand to pull Ku Lie to the opposite "bank" of the pit.
Tuzha, however, suddenly sensed something was wrong. His gaze shifted downward and he saw the snow beneath Ku Lie was red. His heart sank. "Lasu, get back!" he roared.
Lasu froze for a second. With no time to think, he grabbed Ku Lie’s hand and pulled. He was surprised to find Ku Lie’s body was far lighter than it should be.
He looked down, and the sight made his hair stand on end.
Ku Lie was only half a man. His body from the torso down was gone, and blood gushed from the wound, spattering the snow in a gruesome display.
As it happened, Zhao Lin and Ku Lie had fought at the bottom of the pit. Ku Lie had held on for over twenty breaths before he could no longer fend off Zhao Lin’s phantom-like Body Technique and was struck twice by the Celestial Frost Fist.
The first fist shattered his protective energy.
The second sliced Ku Lie’s body in half.
Holding the torso, Lasu knew this was bad. He immediately let go, only to feel a sharp pain in his right leg.
An arm shot out from beneath the snow, grabbed his leg, and yanked him down with immense force.
Lasu plummeted downward. In the blink of an eye, he vanished completely into the snow.
Tuzha and Mo Ban could only stare, dumbfounded. Before they could even react, he was gone.
"What do we do?"
Mo Ban swallowed hard, his voice trembling. He didn’t have to guess what Lasu’s fate would be.
Tuzha’s brow furrowed. He took a deep breath, quickly regained his composure, and fixed his eyes on the surface of the snow.
"In terms of raw strength, any one of us could take that kid," Tuzha said. "But he’s treacherous and knows the terrain. That’s how Di Bu, Ku Lie, and Lasu all fell."
"But after fighting for so long, he must be at the end of his rope. If we team up, we can definitely kill him in one fell swoop!"
Mo Ban nodded. He knew they had no choice. Three of their comrades were dead; returning empty-handed would be a death sentence anyway. It was better to risk it all here.
"Right! No matter how good he is, he’s only at the First Layer of the Blood Realm. After fighting for this long, I refuse to believe he has much stamina left. We just need to be careful!"
As they spoke, the two moved to the downhill side of the pit to block any escape route down the mountain.
Suddenly, with a WHOOSH, a body shot straight up out of the snow. It was Lasu.
One glance was all Tuzha and Mo Ban needed to see that Lasu was dead. They fixed their gazes back on the snow.
Though he was beneath the snow, Zhao Lin was perfectly aware of the situation above. He slid to the side farthest from the two men, suddenly burst out of the pit, and immediately sprinted down the mountain.
Tuzha and Mo Ban were prepared. They flanked him, blocking his path, and each unleashed a Fiery Flame Saber.
Zhao Lin took a step forward, then suddenly pulled his foot back and leaped away. After feinting twice like this, he abruptly turned and bolted up the mountain instead.
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