Chapter 128: Chapter 128: Semi-Move Kill
Shi Xiaole was not in a hurry to pursue.
Because he also saw Wang Yangming and others who were hanging in mid-air.
"Flee!"
The masters of the Bloody Red Altar scattered like birds. What kind of joke was this? If even their master had failed, their lingerings would spell certain death.
Regarding these Devil Path martial arts masters who used the lives of innocent people for cultivation, Shi Xiaole had no fondness; he would kill one if he caught one, and two if he seized a pair.
In no time at all, only a few lone individuals managed to escape. Without the protection of the Bloody Red Altar, they wouldn’t dare to be outrageous in the Martial World.
"Brother Shi, I didn’t expect us to meet again here."
Having been freed from the ropes and his strength restored, Wang Yangming looked at Shi Xiaole with great emotion.
Some people, their strength truly couldn’t be measured in ordinary ways.
Indeed, Shi Xiaole was such a person.
"Dual excellence in sword and blade, I admit defeat today."
"Thank you, Brother Shi for saving our lives."
Others also stepped forward, collectively expressing their gratitude.
Originally, Qiu Wunan intended to use torture to force Wang Yangming and others to act as spies for the Bloody Red Altar and infiltrate the orthodox sects, thus hesitating to end their lives.
Who would have expected that this decision ended up saving their lives?
Taking advantage of the moment Wang Yangming and others were meditating and adjusting their breathing, Shi Xiaole entered the stone structure once occupied by Qiu Wunan.
If possible, he doesn’t want to leave a future disaster behind.
After carefully searching inside the structure, Shi Xiaole felt a movement. He suddenly swung his sword towards the wall on the east side.
A thunderous noise rang out.
The wall collapsed, revealing a long passage with a faint light flickering inside.
Gathering his strength, Shi Xiaole slowly ventured in.
The passage was not straight, but coiled downwards, ending right at the center of the foundation of the structure.
At this moment, Qiu Wunan was sitting inside a spacious stone chamber, with a grimace of murderous intent all over his crimson face.
This was his place of cultivation and pleasure. Apart from an abundant source of food, there were also a dozen bare-bodied women for him to vent his frustrations on.
"All of this is your doing. Once I master my technique, I’ll skin you alive and drink your marrow."
The Woman Devouring Great Method does not necessarily rely on virgins for cultivation, it’s just that the resulting effect is better. If it’s a woman who has experienced intercourse, even if you master the Woman Devouring Great Method, you’ll face many problems, such as unstable foundations and impure internal power.
However, now Qiu Wunan has no other options.
He was sure that Shi Xiaole would follow him down. Fortunately, there was a mechanism in the passage that was enough to slow down the latter. In the meantime, he had to desperately practice the Woman Devouring Great Method.
As long as he could even start, it would increase his powers greatly. Killing that kid then wouldn’t be easy.
Thinking of this, Qiu Wunan flashed a cruel smile and pounced towards the women not far away.
Shi Xiaole meandered around the coiled passage, but suddenly stopped.
In front of him, there were fifteen figures.
No, to be precise, they were not people but fifteen metal humanoid puppets.
"Mechanical Humanoids."
Shi Xiaole took a deep breath.
The world of martial arts has always been vast and diverse.
Apart from the most common martial arts, there are many side methods, such as the array systems, occult divination, anything to do with poison and hidden weapons, and mechanics.
Mechanical Humanoids are one of them.
This kind of puppet mimics the structure of the human body, has very flexible mobility, and is protected by materials. Unless you overpower it, you could easily be caught up.
It is said that the Mechanism Pavilion, one of the eight major sects in Qingxue State, specializes in this art, and its Mechanical Humanoids can easily kill a Xuanqi Realm master.
Thump thump thump.
Seemingly sensing movement, three Mechanical Humanoids rushed over. Given the width of the passage, only so many could fit.
With his hands gripping the sword, Shi Xiaole immediately used his life-threatening move.
Thump!
To his surprise, a low-grade magical sword combined with a killing move left only a shallow trace on a Mechanical Humanoid.
At this time, the three Mechanical Humanoids moved to attack him.
Countless slashing sounds echoed in the corridor, like the sound of rain hitting banana leaves.
Using the Tianluo Step, Shi Xiaole was still at ease under the siege of the three Humanoids. Out of ten attacks, at least eight hit their bodies.
Unfortunately, the materials used to create the Mechanical Humanoids were too solid. Amid the clanging sounds, only sparks flew, with little damage to their surfaces.
Moreover, the rebound forces even caused Shi Xiaole’s arms to feel numb.
Seeing three more Mechanical Humanoids rushing from the rear, Shi Xiaole had no choice but to retreat. When they were about five zhang apart, the Mechanical Humanoids stopped their movements.
"Qiu Wunan, using this trick to bother me, you have certainly miscalculated."
After a brief pause, Shi Xiaole turned and left.
On the surface, having learned about what was happening in the passage, Wang Yangming and the others volunteered to spread the wrongdoings of the Bloody Red Altar in the martial arts world, inviting the masters of the Righteous Path to kill Qiu Wunan.
"Brother Shi, come with us."
Wang Yangming said.
"Someone needs to be here in case Qiu Wunan tries to escape."
Shi Xiaole shook his head.
Going out would only mean he had one more mouth to feed; it wouldn’t be very useful. It would be better to stay here, where he might break the Mechanical Humanoids in advance.
Through their previous confrontation, Shi Xiaole felt that the Humanoids were not invincible; as long as he could find their weakness, the rest would be easy.
"Alright, we’ll ask for Brother Shi’s patience for a few days."
After Wang Yangming and the others left, Shi Xiaole returned to the passage to continue his fierce battle with the puppet warriors.
This time, he employed the strategies of the Dai Sect.
Through the Stone Touching Qi Cyclone that was rapidly revolving in his mind, the light, air movement, and even the minutest movements of the puppet warriors within fifteen meters became perceptible to him.
Clang... Clang... Clang...
Over and over again, he swung his sword, creating repeated collision.
He was immersed in a strange state, completely unaware of his surroundings.
Not until half a 2-hour period had passed did Shi Xiaole retreat five zhang, meticulously reflecting on the many experiences just now to identify any suspicious parts, then rushing up again to verify his conclusions through battle.
Unconsciously, the night had passed.
Shi Xiaole himself hadn’t realized that at first, he could only fight against three puppet warriors at a time, but now it had become six.
His techniques had also undergone subtle changes.
The simplest chopping, stabbing, lifting, steering, cutting, and horizontal movements were being used a little less forcefully than the day before, but the effect it achieved was all the more remarkable.
"In a fight, there is no strongest technique, only the most suitable one."
Mysteriously, Shi Xiaole had come to some kind of enlightenment.
The puppet warriors were too sturdy, the damage caused by a sliver of life and ordinary techniques seemed to make no difference at face value. On the contrary, ordinary techniques, when properly used, had the profound effect of using a minimal force to move a massive object.
For Shi Xiaole, this was an all-aroundening sublimation of martial arts.
He began to blur the boundaries between killing techniques and ordinary ones; although he largely remained in the realm of theory, he had at least taken the first step and laid a solid foundation for the future.
The sublimation of his martial arts philosophy gave Shi Xiaole’s mind an electrifying boost, suddenly bursting forth with countless inspirations.
Whoosh... Whoosh... Whoosh...
Subconsciously, he started to employ the Taiyue Three Green Peaks technique.
The three distinct sword techniques, after several successive uses, had faintly begun to trend towards unity.
Fusion!
From a very early stage, Shi Xiaole wanted to combine the three top-tier swordsmanship techniques to create a more potent killing technique. Unfortunately, because of his limited foundation, he had not been successful until now.
In this instance, under a combination of circumstances, his Taiyue Three Green Peaks were evolving towards the form of a single sword technique.
"No, this part of the movement is not smooth."
"This way doesn’t work either, it would disrupt the overall ambiance."
His brain felt like it was going to explode, and then with a loud bang, it became a terrifying and astonishing half-finished killing technique.
Yes, half-finished.
The top-tier martial arts techniques were advanced one stage higher than the mid-tier ones, the difficulty of combining them is too great. Even with the benefits of this sublimation, he had only completed half.
However, Shi Xiaole was already very satisfied with this.
Without any surprise, he was anticipating needing several more months or even years to reach this point. Now that he had created half a killing technique from scratch, everything would be much easier in the future.
Thud... Thud... Thud...
Three puppet warriors charged at him again in unison.
Shaking his head, Shi Xiaole took a step forward. His hands moved as quick as lightning, ding... ding... ding, he stabbed three times straight down.
With a resounding bang.
Visible to the naked eye, three sturdy puppet warriors collapsed inwards from their insides, simultaneously turning into a pile of scrap iron.
In truth, as early as last night, Shi Xiaole already discovered the weaknesses of the puppet warriors. He just wanted to use them to enrich his swordsmanship, hence the delay.
Striding forward, Shi Xiaole didn’t even look back as he knocked down the remaining nine puppet warriors one by one.
"I must master the Woman Devouring Great Method, I will kill that kid."
In the innermost stone room, Qiu Wunan majorly roared in his heart. His body turned blue and then white, looking extremely terrifying due to the fluctuation of his internal energy.
Not far from him, over a dozen women lay soft and weak, they looked like they were on the brink of extreme exhaustion after just one night’s time.
"You bloody whores, come and serve me."
Forcing the yin energy he’d absorbed into his dantian, Qiu Wunan opened his eyes and roared hoarsely at the dozens of women around him.
The women were shaking fearfully. Just as they were about to move, a soft footstep echoed in the room.
"It’s you!"
Under the torchlight, Qiu Wunan’s face dramatically changed, saying, "How did you get in?"
"Of course, I walked in."
Shi Xiaole leisurely replied.
"Impossible, how could you possibly break through fifteen puppet warriors?"
Qiu Wunan’s voice twisted a bit.
His Woman Devouring Great Method had not yet been mastered. These dozen women had inferior aptitudes, and now Shi Xiaole blocked the doorway, how could he escape?
A faint smile appeared on Shi Xiaole’s face as he said, "Don’t be nervous, I won’t deploy the Soul Transfer Great Method. As long as you can withstand my one sword stroke, I will let you go."
"Really?"
"Of course."
Before he could finish speaking the word "of," Qiu Wunan launched an attack. His vigorous Devil Path internal power blasted towards Shi Xiaole: "Go to hell!"
Facing this attack, Shi Xiaole didn’t bat an eye. He lightly swung his sword with his thumb on the hilt.
This sword stroke was like a vast mountain range, yet also like tumultuous water flow. Sadly, just as it had risen to mid-air, it shattered prematurely.
It was just half an attack.
In the soft flicker of the candlelight, Qiu Wunan froze in place as if he was petrified.
At that moment, the silhouette of the young man in the green shirt had disappeared around the bend of the passage.
