Counter-Hunt

Lanh Hoa moved ahead, his figure nearly blending into the darkness between the rock walls. Hao Nhien followed more than ten steps behind, his gray cloak pulled low over nearly half his face. Tieu Dao Sword had its silver radiance suppressed until only the faintest sheen remained as it followed silently behind him.

The shortcut Lanh Hoa had mentioned was indeed extremely difficult to discover. It barely resembled a road at all, only a narrow fissure squeezed between two inward-leaning cliffs, with its entrance almost completely concealed by old Dragonmist Thorn. Ash-gray trunks crowded together while needle-like spikes reached outward from every direction, each thorn tipped with a thin layer of silver mist reflecting the dying moonlight. Without someone familiar with the terrain to guide the way, even a person standing directly in front of the fissure would have struggled to notice that a passage existed behind those poisonous thorns.

Lanh Hoa slowly pushed one of the Dragonmist Thorn branches aside, careful not to let the spikes touch his skin or allow the branch to snap back and make a sound. Only then did he turn sideways and slip into the narrow passage.

Hao Nhien followed closely behind.

The moment he entered, the surrounding atmosphere changed. The desert wind outside was blocked by the two rock walls, and even the faint sound of sand moving across the ground gradually disappeared. Inside the fissure, only their soft breathing remained, together with the occasional scrape of cloth against stone and the bitter scent of Dragonmist Thorn lingering in the air.

Many sections of the passage were so narrow that a person had to turn one shoulder sideways to squeeze through. The rock walls on both sides were jagged, with sharp stone points occasionally jutting outward like beast fangs. Above them, Dragonmist Thorn stretched across the gap and intertwined into a natural canopy of spikes, allowing the moonlight to filter through only in broken streaks of dim silver.

As he moved, Lanh Hoa used subtle hand signals to tell Hao Nhien when to stop, lower his body, or avoid one side. Hao Nhien asked nothing. He simply kept his spiritual awareness compressed into a very short range, enough to sense unusual fluctuations nearby without carelessly extending it farther.

After nearly half an incense stick of time, Lanh Hoa suddenly stopped and raised one hand across his chest.

Hao Nhien immediately halted.

The passage ahead widened slightly. The sand there was unnaturally smooth. In a path filled with scattered stones, exposed roots, and uneven marks left by wind erosion, that very smoothness made the area stand out.

Lanh Hoa crouched and lightly brushed two fingers against the edge of the sand. A thin layer of dust slid away, revealing a black cord almost completely hidden in the darkness beneath it.

It was not a killing formation, only a simple warning trap. If someone accidentally stepped on the cord, it would pull a small stone positioned farther away and create enough noise to alert whoever was lying in ambush.

Lanh Hoa turned to look at Hao Nhien.

Hao Nhien gave a slight nod.

At the very least, this proved that the secondary route was also being watched, just as they had expected. The defenses here were simply far less concentrated than those along the main road.

Lanh Hoa gently pressed the cord down with the tip of his sword, then wedged a small stone into place to preserve the original tension. After that, he signaled for Hao Nhien to circle around the right side of the rock.

Once Hao Nhien had passed, he lowered his voice.

"Stay three beats behind me. Let them think only an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator entered."

Lanh Hoa paused for the briefest moment, but immediately understood. The corner of his mouth curved faintly before he slowed down and gradually disappeared into the darkness behind.

Hao Nhien continued deeper alone.

Not long afterward, the path opened into a wider section. Several large boulders were piled against one another, forming a sheltered space away from the wind. Dragonmist Thorn grew thickly across the mouth of the gap, blocking nearly all the remaining light from outside.

When Hao Nhien came within range, his spiritual awareness suddenly touched a faint fluctuation.

A cultivator's aura.

He stopped at once, then deliberately took another step forward a moment later. The edge of his boot brushed over the thin layer of sand, producing a faint rustle.

The darkness ahead reacted immediately.

Two clusters of Dragonmist Thorn trembled at the edges of the passage, and four figures stepped out one after another.

Three were tall men dressed in black cloaks, each carrying the steady aura of mid-stage Foundation Establishment. One of them exerted pressure nearly comparable to Lanh Hoa's, clearly standing very close to the peak of the middle stage. The fourth man remained slightly behind them. He was smaller in build, and his aura was clearly weaker, placing him only in early-stage Foundation Establishment.

What caught Hao Nhien's attention most was the faint trace of Fire aura coming from the last man.

Fire Qilin Tribe.

The man in the middle stepped half a pace forward, his voice hoarse and cold.

"State your identity. Who are you, and why have you entered this route?"

His gaze swept from Hao Nhien's cloak to Tieu Dao Sword behind him before stopping on the face mostly concealed beneath the hood.

"Do not think about lying. If there is a problem with your story, you will not leave this place."

Hao Nhien stopped about ten zhang away and deliberately allowed a trace of caution into his voice.

"I am from the Fire Qilin Tribe and am returning to the settlement. I should be asking who you are and why you are guarding this path."

The man immediately turned toward the smaller figure behind him.

"Do you recognize him?"

The Fire Qilin tribesman stepped forward and studied Hao Nhien carefully from head to toe. His gaze passed over Hao Nhien's build, cloak, sword, and finally tried to make out the face beneath the hood.

At last, he shook his head.

"I don't recognize him. He's unfamiliar."

The leading man sneered.

"And you still dare claim to be Fire Qilin?"

He raised his sword and pointed the tip directly at Hao Nhien.

"Take off your hood."

Hao Nhien remained silent for a moment, then slowly reached up and pulled the hood back.

That was enough.

The smaller man truly was a member of the Fire Qilin Tribe, while the three standing in front of him clearly were not. Lanh Hoa, hidden somewhere behind them, must have noticed the same thing.

Hao Nhien offered no further explanation. He suddenly turned and burst backward as though trying to flee toward the entrance.

The nearest man immediately gave chase.

"Trying to run?"

Sword energy erupted, sweeping sand and poisonous mist through the narrow passage. The other two quickly spread to either side, trying to seal off Hao Nhien's escape angles.

After only a few steps, Hao Nhien abruptly pivoted.

Fire Spirit Sword had already appeared in his hand.

Fire spiritual power poured into the thick blade, causing the dark patterns across its surface to glow a deep red. Hao Nhien twisted at the waist, using the force from his sudden stop to deliver a reverse slash.

The pursuing man showed no panic. He immediately raised his weapon to meet the strike.

The two weapons collided, filling the fissure with a sharp metallic crash.

The recoil ran through Hao Nhien's arm and forced him to slide more than ten steps backward across the sand. The difference in cultivation was immediately obvious, but Hao Nhien had never intended to defeat this opponent through raw force.

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The man was just about to press forward when powerful Fire spiritual power suddenly erupted behind him.

Lanh Hoa had made his move.

He burst from the Dragonmist Thorn, the ancient Fire-aligned sword in his hand becoming a dark-red streak. The mid-stage Foundation cultivator on the right barely had time to turn before Lanh Hoa's blade reached his chest.

He hurriedly raised his sword to block.

But Lanh Hoa had already gathered power before striking, compressing his sixth-layer Foundation Establishment Fire spiritual power into a sudden burst. The unexpected impact knocked the enemy's sword aside, and the tip of the ancient blade immediately pierced through the opening and drove deep into his chest.

Fire energy erupted inside the wound.

The man managed only a strangled sound before Lanh Hoa ripped the blade free and sent his body crashing heavily into the sand.

The expressions of the others changed immediately.

No one still dared to treat Hao Nhien as an early-stage Foundation cultivator who had simply wandered in by accident.

The strongest of the three men reacted extremely quickly. His aura surged, the pressure nearly matching Lanh Hoa's. He rushed forward to intercept him, his longsword constantly changing angles to prevent Lanh Hoa from continuing the pursuit.

Their swords collided repeatedly inside the narrow passage.

Lanh Hoa held the advantage in Fire affinity, and his Fire spiritual power was exceptionally compatible with the ancient sword he had received not long ago. Every sweep of the blade raised the surrounding temperature, causing the silver mist on nearby Dragonmist Thorn to evaporate into thin vapor.

His opponent's cultivation was not much weaker, but both his weapon and affinity were inferior. After several exchanges, fine cracks had already appeared along the sword in his hand.

He no longer dared to meet Lanh Hoa head-on and began retreating while constantly changing angles, trying to drag Lanh Hoa into a prolonged stalemate.

On the other side, Hao Nhien was already being pressured again by the first man.

The opponent was also at mid-stage Foundation Establishment. Every strike carried more weight than Hao Nhien's, and his spiritual power was far denser. If they fought purely through strength, Hao Nhien held no advantage at all.

But he had no intention of doing that.

His Wind affinity allowed him to sense the slightest changes in airflow inside the fissure, while his Spirit Wings opened only in brief bursts behind him, driving his body to change direction or accelerate at exactly the right moment. It was not free flight, nor did he disappear from sight, but the explosive speed over short distances was enough to make his opponent strike empty space again and again.

Fire Spirit Sword occasionally counterattacked from awkward angles, making the man increasingly impatient.

When another horizontal strike came toward him, Hao Nhien shifted to the right. His body slipped out of the attack by a narrow margin, while Fire Spirit Sword immediately swept toward the enemy's wrist.

The man pulled his hand back at once.

The blade only tore through part of his sleeve.

"Is dodging all you can do?"

Hao Nhien did not answer.

He was still waiting.

His opponent had clearly been drawn into a heavier and heavier attacking rhythm. After several failed attempts to land a clean hit, the man suddenly shifted into a two-handed grip, poured spiritual power into his saber, and swept it horizontally with full force.

The air screamed.

Before the blade truly reached him, Hao Nhien had already sensed the air being compressed into a thin wall of pressure ahead of its edge.

His Spirit Wings opened sharply for a single beat. Hao Nhien moved with the very current of air driven ahead by the saber, allowing it to push his body backward along the path of the strike. The blade swept directly past his chest and tore away part of his cloak, yet failed to touch his flesh.

The man immediately poured in more force, twisting his waist and shoulders to drive the attack after Hao Nhien's retreating body.

At that exact moment, Tieu Dao Sword flashed behind Hao Nhien.

He did not try to control it through any complicated trajectory. He simply poured spiritual power into a strike he had prepared beforehand and sent Tieu Dao Sword shooting straight through the opening that had appeared.

The man saw the silver light and immediately tried to withdraw his saber.

But the full force of his body had already been committed to the horizontal slash, leaving him one beat too slow in recovering his stance.

That was enough.

Tieu Dao Sword pierced straight through his brow.

His body stiffened, the saber slipped from his hand, and he fell heavily into the sand.

Hao Nhien exhaled hard. The webbing between the thumb and forefinger of the hand holding Fire Spirit Sword had already split from the earlier collisions, and blood ran down the hilt. Repeated bursts from the Spirit Wings had also made his body noticeably heavier.

He had just started to turn toward Lanh Hoa when a sharp sound suddenly tore through the outer end of the passage.

A figure rushed in at great speed.

The aura of late-stage Foundation Establishment erupted even before the newcomer entered clear view.

"Useless trash!"

A deep roar echoed between the two rock walls.

"I was gone for barely a quarter of an hour, and you already let someone fight their way this far?"

The returning man was massive, built like an iron tower. A black cloak covered his entire body, while dark cloth concealed most of his face, leaving only a pair of cold eyes exposed.

The mid-stage Foundation cultivator fighting Lanh Hoa immediately changed his stance and withdrew a short distance when he heard the shout.

Lanh Hoa stopped pressing forward as well, his gaze turning solemn.

The newcomer swept his eyes over the corpse on the ground before his attention settled on the ancient sword in Lanh Hoa's hand.

"Good sword."

He drew the long saber from his back.

"A pity the man holding it may not be able to keep it."

Lanh Hoa said nothing.

He had already been wary of the possibility that someone else might still be hidden along the secondary route, so the moment the late-stage Foundation aura erupted, his stance shifted immediately into defense.

The leader gave him no more time.

His long saber descended.

Lanh Hoa twisted aside and swept the ancient Fire-aligned sword across to intercept.

A heavy impact boomed through the passage.

Fire energy and saber force collided, shaking the Dragonmist Thorn on both sides. Lanh Hoa was driven back several steps, his feet carving two deep lines into the sand.

The leader did not stop. His second strike immediately followed the first.

Lanh Hoa was at the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment, and his Fire affinity combined with the ancient sword gave him combat power far beyond an ordinary cultivator at the same level. Even so, the opponent before him had already entered late-stage Foundation Establishment. The difference in spiritual power and cultivation pressure still forced Lanh Hoa onto the defensive in a direct clash.

Behind them, the remaining mid-stage cultivator immediately tried to join the battle.

Before he could raise his sword, Hao Nhien's Fire Spirit Sword came from the side.

He was forced to turn and block.

Hao Nhien gave him no opportunity to support the leader. Their weapons collided repeatedly in the confined space. Although the man's aura was nearly comparable to Lanh Hoa's, he had already fought Lanh Hoa for some time, and the sword in his hand had been battered by Fire spiritual power and the ancient blade until cracks had appeared across its surface.

Hao Nhien did not try to win quickly.

He only needed to keep this man occupied.

Farther away, the early-stage Fire Qilin tribesman stood pressed against the rock wall with a pale face. He still held his sword, but clearly did not know which side to join, his gaze shifting constantly between the combatants.

The fight between Lanh Hoa and the leader grew increasingly fierce.

A downward saber strike forced Lanh Hoa to angle his sword across the blow. The enormous force traveled through the blade, numbing his arms and driving him back several more steps. The enemy's saber followed with a horizontal sweep, carving a long wound across Lanh Hoa's left shoulder before he managed to evade.

Blood immediately soaked through his robe.

The leader gave a cold laugh.

"Good sword, and your Fire spiritual power is not bad either. Still not enough."

He raised his saber, preparing to press forward again.

At that moment, the sound of breaking metal rang out from the other side.

The mid-stage cultivator fighting Hao Nhien had just used his already cracked sword to block Fire Spirit Sword once more. The weapon finally failed and snapped cleanly across the middle.

His expression changed at once.

Hao Nhien did not waste the opportunity.

Guided by his Wind affinity, his Spirit Wings opened for a brief instant and drove him straight into the opening ahead. Fire Spirit Sword stabbed directly toward the exposed area of the man's chest.

At the same time, Tieu Dao Sword shot in from a low angle.

The man hurried backward, but he was still a fraction too slow. The silver blade pierced through his chest, and his body slammed into the rock wall before going completely still.

The late-stage leader had already turned his head.

That single beat was enough for him to realize that the situation behind him was slipping out of control.

"Trash!"

His long saber changed direction.

Lanh Hoa pressed forward at the same moment.

The leader was forced to turn back and block the ancient sword coming down toward him, but Hao Nhien had already rushed in from behind like a gust of wind.

His Spirit Wings spread.

He did not fly high into the air. He only used the burst of force to alter his approach angle inside the cramped passage, slipping past the returning sweep of the saber before bringing Fire Spirit Sword down from the left.

The leader reacted with astonishing speed.

His long saber had barely knocked Lanh Hoa's ancient sword away before turning horizontally, the spine of the blade catching Fire Spirit Sword.

Metal crashed.

The recoil knocked Hao Nhien off line.

At the same time, Tieu Dao Sword shot forward from behind him.

The leader immediately tilted his saber and knocked it aside.

Three attacks had come one after another, yet his saber rhythm still had not broken.

Hao Nhien immediately understood that this man relied on far more than cultivation alone. His combat experience was also formidable.

The leader had just deflected Tieu Dao Sword when he twisted at the waist, preparing to use the momentum to strike Hao Nhien. Behind him, Lanh Hoa had already closed in once more, the ancient sword blazing with Fire spiritual power as it thrust directly toward his back.

Against a mid-stage Foundation cultivator, this pincer attack likely would have been enough.

But the leader did not retreat. His saber rotated rapidly, clearly intending to rely on superior speed and cultivation to resolve both attacks one after another.

That was the moment Hao Nhien saw the opening.

Inside his Sea of Consciousness, the Spirit Sword trembled lightly.

There was no flash of light and no sound.

An invisible fluctuation crossed the distance between them and struck directly at the leader's Divine Soul. It was nowhere near strong enough to cause real injury to a late-stage Foundation cultivator, nor could it make him lose consciousness.

But his movement stalled.

For less than half a beat.

In a life-and-death exchange, that was already more than enough.

Lanh Hoa thrust forward.

The tip of the ancient Fire-aligned sword pierced into the leader's back, and the compressed Fire spiritual power within immediately erupted. The man roared and forcibly tried to turn, his long saber still attempting to slash backward.

But Lanh Hoa's blade had already passed between his ribs.

It drove deeper.

Into the heart.

Fire energy burst inside his body and choked off the roar in his throat.

The leader remained standing for one more breath.

His eyes widened above the dark cloth covering his face, then the strength in his hand finally faded. The long saber fell into the sand with a heavy sound.

Lanh Hoa pulled the sword free and stepped back twice.

The leader's body collapsed into the passage.

For several breaths afterward, no one spoke.

Hao Nhien rested Fire Spirit Sword lightly against the sand and regulated his breathing. His sword arm was still numb, the webbing of his hand had split open, and a considerable amount of spiritual power had been consumed through repeated use of the Spirit Wings and Tieu Dao Sword.

Lanh Hoa was not in much better condition. The saber wound across his left shoulder was still bleeding, and although his aura had not become unstable, it was clearly heavier than before.

The last early-stage Fire Qilin tribesman among the ambushers still stood near the far end of the passage.

At some point, the sword in his hand had lowered.

Hao Nhien looked toward the two survivors, but he did not approach immediately.

The battle on this hidden route was not truly over yet.