Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior-Chapter 64 - 62: The Overbearing Spear, Kill Zhao Xuan!
The Great Mist Mountain is shrouded in mist year-round. After night falls, the shadowy forest below the night sky resembles a myriad of ghostly apparitions.
At the peak of the North Mountain lies an abandoned temple, where a white-eyed hanging tiger is enshrined in the dilapidated altar. Legends of the Mountain Monarch have been passed down in the Cyan Cloud area since ancient times, but as time went by, the abandoned temple has turned into a forsaken shrine, long devoid of incense, and the tiger’s eyes are covered in dust. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢
The abandoned temple is filled with the aroma of wine and meat. Leading the group, a fierce-looking man with a long saber at his waist sits with his back to the White Tiger statue, tearing into chunks of meat, wine spilling down his beard.
On either side of him, two bandits, one fat and one thin, are devouring their meal, wiping their greasy hands constantly on their clothes, also drinking and eating heartily.
The skinny man, eating his meat, occasionally glances with his shifty eyes to the left column. Bound to that web-covered pillar is a young maiden in her prime, dressed in a blue dress. She is unconscious, her face pale, her long hair disheveled, having been greatly frightened before passing out.
"Boss, will the Yan Family really obediently bring money to ransom her?"
"Hmph, the Yan Family treasures this girl quite a lot," the leader raised an eyebrow, exuding a killing aura from his angry gaze, "The Yan Family tried to deal with me. Once we have the money, you can have this girl to play with. I will make sure that the Yan Family has no peace."
"Heh heh."
The fat and skinny man exchanged a wicked, lecherous laugh, and then the skinny man got up and said,
"I’m going to relieve myself."
"Get far away. If you disturb my drinking, I’ll deal with you."
The skinny man hunched over with a servile grin and slipped out the door to relieve himself. The mountain wind blew constantly at night, sending fallen leaves from the forest into the abandoned temple. The dark clouds in the sky suddenly dispersed, revealing the cold, piercing moonlight.
Thwack!
Just as the skinny man raised his eyes to the sky, his body suddenly convulsed violently, and the tip of a cold spear abruptly pierced through his chest. His pupils widened, wanting to turn to look, but the long spear, emitting cold air, twisted, shattering his internal organs.
Blood surged to his throat and gushed out. The skinny man’s head slumped, and his body collapsed.
A hand in the night firmly caught the corpse and laid it down silently.
"Two left."
At that moment, inside the abandoned temple, the man drinking wine’s eyes narrowed. The mountain wind brought a distinct smell of blood. He abruptly stood up and smashed the wine bowl in his hand. The long saber rang as it unsheathed a few inches.
"Who dares mess with your Grandpa Zhao without knowing death?"
Bam!
The porcelain pieces splattered, with the fat man kicking over the wine jar, his small mung bean-sized eyes staring like a venomous snake at the temple door.
Having been exposed, the person outside the temple no longer hid. In the moonlight appeared a man more than seven feet tall, holding a blood-stained, cold spear, his expression as cold and unmoved as a glacier.
It was the assassin ’Li Feiyu’ who had accepted the Third-Level Bounty Order.
"Are you the one hired by the Yan Family?"
The Rice Hat Wanderer shook his head. When he did so, the fat man beside him launched a sudden attack, wielding a gleaming long saber that slashed through the air like a white streak.
"Die for me!"
This slash was swift and ruthless, without any flamboyance. The fat man had killed no less than dozens of people with it. The powerful and sudden slash meant most people would suffer greatly, if not die, upon encountering it.
However, the Rice Hat Wanderer remained calm, his right arm holding the spear shook, and the spear in his hand surged forth like a dragon breaking through the sea.
Clang!
The spear’s body snapped back, appearing after the fact, striking the fat man’s saber. The fat man sneered. This was an ambush strike, almost with full force, while the opponent seemed to be responding in haste.
He was certain of victory, having encountered martial artists wielding spears before.
However, the next second, the fat man’s smile froze.
The spear’s body drawing circles in the air held a mighty force, and upon contact, an irresistible force of several thousand pounds surged in.
Crack!
The long saber in his hand was instantly snapped, the broken blade shooting into the wooden pillar, followed by a cold glint that expanded infinitely in his dazed pupils.
Pfft.
The spear pierced through the beating heart beneath his chest. The fat man looked down, full of disbelief and unwillingness. Then the long spear swung, and the fat man was sent flying backwards.
The body slammed to the ground with a heavy crash, lifeless.
"I want you to pay for Old Three’s life!"
In a flash, Old Three had been speared to death by the suddenly appearing man, enraging the burly man. Nevertheless, he gauged the opponent’s strength in that attack.
Zhao Xuan’s eyes bulged with rage. He hadn’t sensed the same aura from Su Mu as the one from the Hong Saber Martial Arts Hall Instructor who had pursued him earlier; nor did the earlier spear strike possess the distinctive ’Tendon Power’ of the Seventh-Grade Muscle-Enhancing Martial Artist.
Recently, he had fought head-on with the Muscle-Enhancing Martial Artist hired by the Yan Family, vividly recalling the aura and Tendon Power of a Muscle-Enhancing Martial Artist. In a surprise encounter, one’s primal instincts would not hold back, thus Zhao Xuan concluded this was just a Bone Forging Realm Martial Artist.
"As long as you’re not a Muscle-Enhancing Martial Artist, you’re doomed!"
The long saber infused with power slashed through the air, sweeping in like a fierce wind.
Su Mu’s eyes narrowed. The power in Zhao Xuan’s slash was several times greater than that of the earlier fat man; truly worthy of someone on a Third-Level Wanted Order.
At that moment, Su Mu’s wrist twisted, and as the spear thrust out, there was a faint sound of wind and thunder.
Torrential Rain Spear Technique: Thunder Shock Break!
Clang!
The cold iron spear tip collided harshly with the long saber, producing a thunderous clang of metal, immediately followed by the fusion of four streams of power through the Transforming Force into the spear tip.
Zhao Xuan’s slash was instantly halved in power, while Su Mu’s mighty power remained unabated, causing Zhao Xuan’s hand bones to bend, his inner qi and blood to churn.
Buzz!
A buzzing sound emanated from Zhao Xuan’s bent hand bones, rapidly snapping back as he flicked his hand.
"Second Bone Forging, Tough Bone."
Su Mu mused quietly; the first Bone Forging resulted in Iron Bone, while the second in Tough Bone.
Tough Bone does not break, power resonates naturally.
Martial artists at the Tough Bone Realm have greatly enhanced bone flexibility; angles at which ordinary people would break bones can quickly recover, and bones resonate with a humming sound when exerting force. It’s said that they may even produce sounds resembling a tiger’s roar or a dragon’s cry.
The spear, king of all weapons.
An inch longer, an inch stronger!
Su Mu’s long spear kept thrusting forward, the spear shadows forming a continuous sheet, pouring down like torrential rain. Even Zhao Xuan, strong as Tough Bone, was suppressed painfully within the abandoned temple.
"Dammit... this is Transforming Force!"
Zhao Xuan cursed angrily, employing successive body techniques as this suddenly appearing individual’s power was far above his own, and he possessed Transforming Force.
Zhao Xuan’s imposing long saber could not exert even half its might, nor could he close in, while the opponent fully deployed his abilities with strange force at that.
With such an advantage for the opponent, just one spear was enough to keep Zhao Xuan exhausted; defeat was only a matter of time this way.
"Come again!"
Su Mu’s eyes shone brightly, as earlier neither of the two could resist under his spear. Only Zhao Xuan’s formidable strength counted as a whetstone for the spear, which is a tool for killing.
Weapons need to see blood in cultivation!
Bang!
The spearhead grazed a wooden column, scattering wood chips, puncturing a hole directly. Force shifted, Su Mu retracted the spear and thrust again.
"No, this can’t go on like this."
Zhao Xuan finally saw through Su Mu’s intentions, instantly furious, and his side-glance fell on the Yan Family girl nearby.
Suddenly dodging sideways, he kicked up the long saber on the ground. The saber, infused with power, shot toward the column where the Yan Family girl was.
Seeing this, Su Mu’s spear shook, forcibly halting the attack, and the spear shaft swept away the shooting saber.
But at that moment Zhao Xuan let out a furious roar.
A sinister grin appeared on his face; the fellow indeed fell into the trap. His real goal was not to use the Yan Family girl for a sneak attack but to break Su Mu’s weapon.
Zhao Xuan was notorious for his evil deeds, having killed over a hundred people with rich combat experience. From the start, he noticed the metal spearhead was only attached to the wax wood shaft in Su Mu’s hand.
Roar!
With a furious roar.
Zhao Xuan’s aura suddenly surged, his eyes turned blood red, his skin exuded a dark red hue, and then he stepped forward to slash his saber down.
Chop!
The blade cut through the transforming force flowing along the spear shaft, then continued downward, splitting the spear into two pieces. Zhao Xuan reached out to grab the piece with the spearhead and tossed it backward.
Whoosh.
The cold iron spearhead embedded itself in the shrine behind him, pinning the dilapidated White Tiger statue with a single slash, causing Zhao Xuan’s saber blade to shatter, and several cracks appeared on the blade.
He simply discarded the saber to the ground, laughing wildly as he did.
"Your spear is broken, let’s see how you fight me, Zhao Xuan!"
Su Mu’s eyes narrowed; Zhao Xuan’s aura surged after the roar, accompanied by an eerie dark red hue likely due to cultivating some forbidden demon technique.
At this moment, Zhao Xuan exuded a mysterious aura similar to Uncle Wu and Director Li.
With the demon technique, Zhao Xuan’s strength approached Yijin!
Zhao Xuan, with a sinister grin, strode forward confidently, delivering a palm strike.
Yet the fear and panic he expected did not appear on Su Mu’s face, not the slightest.
Su Mu took a deep breath, releasing it.
Beneath the rice hat, the blood and flesh under the Snow Silkworm Treasure Armor rapidly pulsated, instantly entering the Limit Break and Vajra Body state, his whole body expanding sturdily, then he clenched his palm into a fist.
Roar!
A resounding tiger roar echoed through the Abandoned Mountain Lord Temple.
Double Tiger Overlap!
This punch concurrently imbued with the perfected Five Animals Qigong, perfected Tiger Subduing Fist, four powers fused with grand Transforming Force, and the top-tier eighth-grade martial arts Vajra Body from the Vajra Temple!
Su Mu has always been strongest not with the spear, but with the fist technique!
Zhao Xuan suddenly realized, conscious of having stepped into a tiger’s den, but it was all too late.
Since entering Qingyun City, Su Mu hadn’t fought anybody for half a year; even he didn’t quite understand how strong he’d become.
Crack!
The Tough Bone from Second Bone Forging completely snapped under this punch, Zhao Xuan’s right arm bending at a bizarre angle as he let out a piercing scream, flying backward like a cut kite.
"Gah-----"
Zhao Xuan’s wail abruptly ended, as the blood-stained wax wood spear tip pierced through his back, nailing the unfinished scream dead in his throat.
His pupils dilated, looking down at the broken spear penetrating his chest, face filled with disbelief and horror.
With the last breath of terror expelled, Zhao Xuan’s head dropped powerlessly.
Blood gushed forth like a fountain, dyeing the White Tiger clay statue bright red.
Zhao Xuan, dead!
...
