Chapter 82: Chapter 81: The Fall of an Innate

"Kill!!!"

Chen Sheng’s command was like an ice pick shattering the cold night’s silence.

Upon hearing the command, the surrounding soldiers’ eyes flared with bloodlust. Without a moment’s hesitation, they took advantage of the moment the Demon Monk Shan Xin fell from the sky, his footing still unsteady, and swarmed him like a relentless tide.

Dozens of steel blades, glinting coldly in the flickering torchlight, rained down on their target.

"Get out of my way!!!" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Though Shanxin was surrounded and afflicted by a strange poison, his Innate True Qi dissolving like boiling water on snow and his Blood Qi stagnating, he was still an Innate Expert. The difference between an Innate and a Foundation Establishment Martial Master was as vast as that between the heavens and the earth.

His face twisted in savagery, Shanxin let out a deafening roar.

The sound wave, infused with his remaining Innate True Qi, erupted outwards!

It was a Buddhist Secret Skill—the Lion’s Roar!

The dozens of soldiers who surged forward felt their vision blacken and their ears ring, as if struck in the chest by an invisible sledgehammer. Many collapsed on the spot, bleeding from their eyes, ears, and noses, and the assault faltered.

"Five hundred taels of silver for the man who kills this fiend! Retreat half a step, and you’ll be executed under military law!"

Yan Ming’s roar cut through the air at the perfect moment, quelling the soldiers’ fleeting panic.

Knowing that morale could not be allowed to falter, he led by example, fearlessly swinging his blade and charging toward Shanxin. Beside him, Cheng Yanhua also sprang into action. His spear shot out like a venomous dragon leaving its cave, letting out a piercing shriek as it stabbed for the vital point on Shanxin’s back.

A man will die for one who recognizes his worth.

Yan Ming had been promoted and trusted by Chen Sheng, and had protected him all this way. Cheng Yanhua owed his position as commander of the North City Military Camp entirely to Chen Sheng. Now was the time for them to repay that trust with their lives.

Seeing their two commanders charge fearlessly into the fray, the surrounding soldiers found their courage once more. Suppressing their terror, they let out beast-like howls and surged forward again.

Shock and fury warred in Shanxin’s eyes. ’These ants, which I’d normally crush without a thought, dare to swarm me like this?’ On a normal day, with his True Qi abundant, he could have fought his way out of such an encirclement and escaped with ease.

But now, his True Qi and Blood Qi were rapidly dissipating under the strange poison’s effects. With every breath, he grew weaker than the last.

’I have to end this quickly. I can’t let this drag on!’

Shanxin’s mind raced. Once his Innate True Qi and Blood Qi were gone, this swarm of ants might actually manage to bleed him dry right here.

"Die!"

Yan Ming put everything he had into a single strike, his blade whistling as it cleaved down toward Shanxin’s skull.

Though his strength was greatly diminished, Shanxin’s insight and experience remained. With a cold snort, he forced the meager amount of Innate True Qi left in his Dantian into his palm. He didn’t dodge or evade, but met the blade head-on.

CLANG!

The sound of flesh striking metal rang out like a hammer on an anvil.

The steel blade in Yan Ming’s hand shattered from the force of the blow, sending shards flying. Yan Ming himself was thrown back as if hit by a battering ram. The webbing of his hand tore open, blood streaming down his arm, as his body flew uncontrollably through the air and slammed hard onto the ground.

At almost the same instant, Cheng Yanhua’s spear reached his back.

As an Innate Realm expert, Shanxin’s Spiritual Sense was sharp. In that split second, he twisted aside to protect his vitals, reached back, and precisely caught the spearhead. Then, with a sudden burst of power, he gave it a violent shake.

Cheng Yanhua felt an irresistible force travel up the spear shaft. A searing, numbing pain shot through his arms, and he instinctively let go.

Shanxin snatched the spear and, in a single fluid motion, swung it in a wide arc. The shaft slammed brutally into Cheng Yanhua’s chest.

A sickening CRACK of breaking bones echoed through the air.

PTUH!

Cheng Yanhua sprayed a mouthful of blood. His chest was visibly caved in—it was impossible to tell how many ribs were broken. His body was flung away like a limp sack, and he collapsed, unmoving.

However, after forcefully channeling his power to defeat two enemy commanders, Shanxin was suffering as well.

His brows were knitted tightly, his face several shades paler than before.

The more he circulated his True Qi and Blood Qi, the more rapidly the insidious poison, a malady that clung to his very bones, ate away at him. Otherwise, at his peak, that one attack would have been enough to obliterate a Foundation Establishment Martial Master like Cheng Yanhua into a fine mist of blood.

The successive, brutal defeats of Yan Ming and Cheng Yanhua did not make the surrounding soldiers flinch.

On the contrary, everyone could clearly see that the Demon Monk’s breathing was ragged, blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth, and his movements had lost their initial ferocity. He was clearly an arrow at the end of its flight—a spent force.

Great rewards breed brave men, and besides, their orders were absolute.

Someone let out a cry, and the bloodlust in the soldiers’ hearts was fully unleashed. Howling, they charged forward, one wave after another, and a storm of blades and spears once again engulfed Shanxin.

Shanxin was forced to use the stolen spear like a quarterstaff, whirling it in sweeps and smashes. He relied on his exquisite techniques and profound understanding of how to apply force to barely defend a thirty-foot radius around himself, keeping the common soldiers at bay.

But he knew this was just a temporary solution that would only hasten his demise. His True Qi and Blood Qi were now draining away at an accelerated rate.

Not far away, Chen Sheng stood clad in light armor. His gaze was as still as a deep pond, fixed on the Demon Monk who was still fighting stubbornly in the center of the encirclement. A heavy, unshakeable solemnity was etched between his brows.

’Innate Experts... they truly are incredible,’ Chen Sheng thought, a chill running down his spine.

He had witnessed the power of the Innate Realm before, but Shanxin’s ability to display such terrifying resilience and lethality even after being afflicted by the Sealing Yuan Miasma and a cocktail of other potent poisons concocted by Li Huai Sheng still exceeded his expectations.

He couldn’t imagine how terrifying Shanxin’s power would be at his peak. A common Foundation Establishment Martial Master probably wouldn’t survive a single exchange. Even someone in the Marrow Transformation Realm would struggle to last more than a few rounds.

"Do not worry, My Lord."

Beside him, Li Huai Sheng let out a low, sinister chuckle, his voice dripping with cold satisfaction. "This man has been afflicted by my Sealing Yuan Miasma, a poison that corrodes the very foundation of one’s True Qi. What’s more, when he struck the bait through the heart, he was tainted with the Filthy Blood Poison. With two poisons coursing through him, both his Blood Qi and True Qi are collapsing. In my estimation, he has one hundred breaths left, at most. Then his lamp will run out of oil, and he will die!"