Chapter 227: Chapter 217: The Top of Ancient Rock Mountain
The wind howled past his ears as the scenery flew backward in his vision.
Tuzha pushed his Qi and Blood to their limits, sprinting down the mountain and glancing back every so often.
After running for a while, he suddenly noticed the trail of footprints he was leaving in the snow. ’Damn it, this is bad,’ he thought. ’These mountains are covered in snow. No matter where I run, I’ll leave tracks.’
’If that kid gets help and they come after me, I’m afraid I’ll meet my end here.’
He looked around and saw a vast expanse of reeds ahead, stretching along a river as far as the eye could see.
’That’s it!’
A plan formed in Tuzha’s mind. In just a few leaps, he dove into the reeds, traveled sideways for a few miles, then abruptly changed course and headed straight back up the mountain.
’That kid will definitely think I’m heading down the mountain. Well, I’m going to do the exact opposite.’
In less than an hour, Tuzha reached the peak of Ancient Rock Mountain and immediately spotted the large boulder where Zhao Lin usually practiced.
He climbed onto the boulder and gazed at the scenery below, a sense of expansiveness filling him. He couldn’t help but feel secretly smug.
’There’s a saying that the most dangerous place is actually the safest. This is a perfect example.’
’Let them search the entire Yanyun Mountain Range. They’ll never imagine I’m right back on this very mountain. Ha ha...’
The more he thought about it, the more smug he felt, and he couldn’t help but let out a low chuckle.
"Did you really think I couldn’t find you just because you hid here?"
The slightly teasing words reached his ears, and the smile on Tuzha’s face froze instantly.
He turned his head and saw Zhao Lin strolling over, regarding him with an unreadable, faint smile.
"You... How did you find me?"
A trace of fear arose in Tuzha’s heart. He found the young man before him increasingly unfathomable.
Of course, Zhao Lin wasn’t going to tell him that he had tracked him by scent. He slowed his pace, stopping about twenty yards from Tuzha. He held up his hand, then folded down four fingers.
"Five people. And you’re the only one left."
"Don’t put up a pointless struggle. Seal your own pressure points, and I’ll let you live."
Tuzha’s face was grim, his eyes narrowed. "So sure you can beat me? Don’t you know that even a cornered beast will fight, and a desperate foe should not be pursued?"
Zhao Lin sneered. "Just as I’d expect from a barbarian. You learn two idioms and start using them all wrong. Who compares themselves to a cornered beast and a desperate foe?"
"Then again, the comparison is actually quite fitting."
In truth, Zhao Lin wasn’t normally one for idle chatter during a fight. Especially not in a life-or-death struggle, which required his utmost focus.
However, after training in the inner courtyard for over a year, he had come to understand a simple truth: words are also weapons.
He had once read a passage in a notebook: "A duel doesn’t begin with the first strike. Sometimes, a glance or a motion is all it takes to exert immense pressure on an opponent."
"’Using words to pressure your opponent can increase your chances of victory.’"
Zhao Lin’s deliberate display of confidence was all part of his plan to pressure Tuzha and gain the psychological upper hand.
Hearing the word "barbarian," a vein throbbed in Tuzha’s temple. He snorted coldly. "You people from Great Yue call yourselves the supreme nation of the Central Plains, but your performance at the martial tournament was nothing special. Not even as good as..."
Zhao Lin stared at him. "Not as good as you people from Weizi, right?"
Tuzha’s expression shifted, but he said nothing.
Zhao Lin didn’t press the issue, just smiled faintly. "Now that you say that, I think I understand."
"Understand what?"
"You’re not worried about my strength, are you? Worried that no one at the martial tournament would be a match for me, so you decided to get rid of me?"
Tuzha was inwardly shocked, but he remained silent.
’The Grand Elder believed Zhao Lin was growing too quickly, fearing that no one would be able to restrain him after he turned twenty-five. But looking at him now... forget a few years, he was already terrifyingly strong.’
Zhao Lin glanced at him and continued, "A pity. You seem to have overestimated your own abilities. If you had brought twice as many people, you might have actually succeeded."
Tuzha felt an inexplicable anxiety and shouted, "We’re past the point of words! Worst case, we’ll both go down together!"
With that, he leaped, crossing the several-zhang distance in the blink of an eye. His right leg swung out in a horizontal sweep, packed with ferocious force.
Seeing the ferocious attack, Zhao Lin retreated a step to avoid the brunt of it. As soon as the leg swept past, he suddenly lunged forward, striking with his hand shaped like a claw.
Tuzha’s next move was unexpected. Completely ignoring Zhao Lin’s incoming claw strike, before his right leg had even touched the ground, his left leg shot out and kicked toward Zhao Lin’s groin.
Zhao Lin was taken aback. This was a completely reckless, all-or-nothing fighting style. His own claw strike could certainly inflict heavy damage, but if that kick landed, he wouldn’t be able to take it.
He hastily leaped sideways, retracting his attack to dodge.
Seizing the upper hand, Tuzha was relentless, lashing out with a third, fourth, and fifth kick in succession.
With each kick, his whole body swayed slightly, as if he had an endless arsenal of follow-up moves.
The flurry of leg afterimages forced Zhao Lin into a constant retreat, leaving him no room to launch an attack of his own.
Zhao Lin’s heart tightened.
His master, Zhu Huaishan, had once said that in a fight to the death, the more you disregarded your own life, the less likely you were to die. The more you tried to preserve it, the sooner your death would come.
This was the principle of ’fortune favors the brave.’
’Tuzha is trying to carve out a path to survival with this suicidal desperation. If I get scared, I might just snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.’
’Damn... so you want to play rough, is that it?’
Zhao Lin’s eyes narrowed as he tapped into a well of ruthlessness from deep within. Seeing Tuzha kick out again, he simply planted his left leg firmly on the ground, activated his Turtle Shell Force to protect his upper body, and lashed out with a sideways Rain Covering Leg.
Tuzha was stunned that Zhao Lin dared to trade blows with him like this. It was too late to change his attack, so he also channeled energy to protect his body and put more force into his leg.
With two loud THUDS, both of them were sent flying sideways.
Their bodies smashed into the snow on landing, carving two deep furrows.
A moment later, Zhao Lin slowly rose to his feet.
He moved his body a little and felt his left arm was swollen and numb, completely devoid of strength. His chest also ached dully.
In comparison, however, Tuzha was in a much worse state. His face was ashen, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. Though he had managed to get up, he was swaying precariously, as if he might collapse at any moment.
"Pah!"
Zhao Lin spat out a mouthful of snow and walked toward Tuzha, his pace gradually quickening until he broke into a run.
’This body has been altered by the Spirit Beast Scroll,’ he thought. ’My resilience is far beyond that of an ordinary person. If I’m hurting, then my enemy must be in even worse shape.’
Tuzha bit his lip, forcing himself to calm down, and staggered forward to meet the charge.
Channeling his power, he flipped his palm and traced an arc, creating a red saber-like slash of energy that sizzled like a restless flame.
A frosty aura emanated from Zhao Lin’s fist, coating it in a layer of ice. Within the frost, two streams of energy—one green and one silver—could be seen faintly swirling.
BOOM!
The Fiery Flame Saber met the Celestial Frost Fist. The impact sent out dozens of shockwaves, whipping the ground snow into a wild flurry that slowly drifted back down.
The two figures crashed together, their forms a blur as the sounds of fists and feet striking home rang out continuously.
A cloud of frost and snow billowed out.
The exchange lasted for just over a dozen breaths. Suddenly, with a muffled thud, a figure stumbled out from the white mist.
Tuzha, covered in blood and his eyes filled with unwillingness, tried to prop himself up with his hands. But his arms gave out, and he fell backward onto the ground with a THUD.
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