Commanding Wind and Cloud

Chapter 472: A Strike From the Stars

“You…” Feng Linacis stared so hard that the corners were split open! Blood seeped out, along with hatred! “Qian Jin! I’m going to kill you! My son… I’ve cultivated him all my life and I’ve planned to give all my throne to him when he has 1,000 deaths on his hand!”

“Dad, I hacked three mercenaries today! I scared the shit out of the rest!”

“Dad, I killed five more today! A woman also died in my bed!”

“Dad, can two three-year-old children be counted as one adult together? I killed them today, so can they count towards the number”

“Dad, I’ve reached 300 today!”

Words kept resounding throughout his head! The father still remembered the happy face of his son, who had told him that he had killed 300 people a month ago.

But now, his son was beheaded! Color could not be seen on his son’s face anymore, and in his son’s staring eyes, there was nothing but shock!

What had he seen before death? Having no time to think about it anymore, Feng Linacis started his Golden Warrior Heart, and his Warrior Power covered all of his body! “You dared to murder my son? I will kill you, bastards!”

“You still have hundreds of bandits alive, right?” Qian Jin threatened the mad father in an extremely calm voice. “You lay a finger on me? I’ll kill them all whether you can hurt me or not.”

“You think I’m worried about their death?”

His son had already died. All his hope was gone! He had nothing left to lose! His subordinates? He didn’t even care about his own life! If not for his son, he wouldn’t have worked with the Black Wind! Nor would he go to the Demons!

He wanted to go to the demons and get a noble status so his son could be admitted to the advanced war academies in the Demons! With the best education, Linacis Family could secure a bright future for their family.

But now, everything evaporated with the head presented here!

“No matter who stands in my way today,” Feng Linacis took out his sword and pointed to the crowd, “He is my enemy! Black Wind, I’ll do whatever you want with my suicide squad! But first of all, let me kill these three little bastards!”

With shrugged shoulders, Yi slowly raised his arm and suggested a step back for all of them. “Well, since he wants to kill the bandit hunters, let’s see what the man has got to cooperate with us!”

Reaching into his Warrior Dimension, Qian Jin took out his [Ji-Du]! As his Warrior Power wandered along the blade, the wrapping cloth was torn into pieces once again! All the eyes were blinded by the brightness!

After they opened the eyes again, they were stunned! Zhanmadao? It was often used by ordinary warriors in a grand army to attack the cavalrymen. On what earth would a man choose such a bulky piece as a weapon?

Flickering his wrist, Tence Matten took his weapon out from his Warrior Dimension for the very first time. It was a surprisingly huge metal fan, which was equal to a man’s height.

It took Qian Jin only a glance to know the folding fan, a Warrior Weapon, actually was by no means lighter than his Zhanmadao. He had underestimated the man’s strength.

While Iron stood there without showing any emotion like he had already been used to this. To him, His Royal Highness was divinely smart and strong. Especially now he had already mastered the Royal Zence Strength Warrior Power! He had the strength comparable to that of a Barbarian warrior.

The cracking corners of Feng Linacis kept twitching as hatred increased in his eyes! Each of the bastards had a Warrior Dimension? Why hadn’t he? Having no place to store his trophies, he had to leave his son at the base. That was why his son was killed!

Traces of Warrior Power were inserted into Feng Linacis’s sword through his body! As the blade grew brighter, the temperature around got lower! The Warrior Power jumping on the blade looked so strange, like running flames!

Elemental Warrior Power

When Feng Linacis stomped his feet, the grass below was immediately frozen in a second, the iced grass began to burn! In another second as the man rushed to Qian Jin under the thrust, the grass all turned into ashes!

How unbelievable this was! How raging the flame was! One moment the grass was frozen into icy bars, and in the next moment, the bars were all burnt into a pool of gray ashes!

Icy Flame Warrior Power! Black Wind gazed at the back of Feng Linacis with obvious greed in his eyes. Rumor had it that this kind of Warrior Power was in possession of a unique elemental force, by which the Warrior Power Connections and the body of the opponent could not only be frozen but also burnt!

It was a legendary Saint Warrior Power Training Scroll! Black Wind couldn’t help but swallow the lump in his throat. He had long heard that Feng Linacis had acquired a Saint Warrior Power Training Scroll, but it was incomplete. What a shame! Otherwise, he would grab it by all means!

And then, abruptly, Feng Linacis launched another strike! The blade seemed neither straight nor curved. Like a stone cast into a lake, the ripples were seemingly simple. But deep down, his swordsmanship was buried in the killing practices over all these years.

Aimed at the spot between Qian Jin’s eyebrows, Feng Linacis, a Level 9 Demon Extinguisher who had a Golden Warrior Heart, initiated another strike with all the strength he had. The blade shook fiercely, issuing a series of buzzing sounds like a functioning stringed instrument. Death was in the air!

Driven by his wrist, Qian Jin flipped his elbow. Zhanmadao was immediately placed vertically instead of being crossed in front of the chest. In a simple move, it guarded against the coming sword. Clang! Clang! Clang!

As the two pieces collided, a deafening roar was issued upon the surrounding ears as if hundreds of troops were fighting against each other with metal weapons! It was quick and crisp, then it became harsh like thundering gongs and colliding saws!

Warrior Powers and sparks were splashing! All at once, a layer of frost spread over the edge of Zhanmadao. Feng Linacis tried to keep pushing, but strangely enough, he heard a low moaning! A gap was there, on his cutting chin!

That was what happened when two different quality blades came across each other!

How come? Feng Linacis clenched his teeth. Most of his Icy Flame Warrior Power was blocked the second it touched that Zhanmadao. As for the quantity which had reached Qian Jin, it was negligible. What was that weapon?

What could he do now? Continue to push? Inject more Warrior Power to break through that oddly fine weapon? Or try another strike?

If he held on to the current strategy, it meant this would be a gamble of Warrior Power! He didn’t know if he could leap out of the defense lines of Zhanmadao and freeze Qian Jin’s Warrior Power. He didn’t know if he could slow down Qian Jin’s speed and then kill him with lightning-fast blows.

To try another strike? He had to organize the attack again, which meant the pre-emptive opportunity had sunk to almost nothing.

By instinct, Feng Linacis reacted favorably to the situation. Along with the wrist, the sword gave up the downward strike but cut sharply downward against Zhanmadao’s body!

Clang! The blade went toward Qian Jin’s arm at top speed like a snake climbing up a trunk! As it passed by the edge, the sky became white like the early frost.

While the mad father changed his offense, the strike was not that forceful but more insidious! Running fast along Zhanmadao, it looked determined to kill. The blade was sharp enough to cut steel! Qian Jin might not be able to take it even with the [Wind and Cloud Golden Body].

Suddenly, Qian Jin made a few turns by his wrist and just like his opponent, he held tight to Zhanmadao and slid it across the coming edge! By the borrowing force, he cut down at Feng Linacis’s center line!

Seeing the giant blade swoop down from the sky, Feng Linacis was dazzled! He felt like it was not a chopper but the long river hanging among the stars! He couldn’t even come up a thought to resist, numerous stars gathered in the blades above the rolling flow.

How could he blend the stars in his strike?

Zhanmadao was roaring like a surging river and the sound rained down on Feng Linacis’s skull! With a Warrior Heart way stronger than that of Qian Jin, he could have defeated him by just a few punches.

But now, he couldn’t even control his Warrior Power just because the bastard had got the finest Zhanmadao!

A weakness came to Feng Linacis’s lips and his heart beat painfully while listening to the rolling waves stirred up by his opponent! He knew his blade would be completely ruined if he forced himself to take this strike.

In the blink of an eye, the veteran made a smart move. Clinging to the ground by his toes, he jumped in the right direction like he had this done by someone else. He skated free from the fatal cut.

At the same time, Qian Jin squinted his eyes. In control of any air flow on the battlefield, the man was ready to show the world what he had gained in the Ancient Desert Sea with his life at stake. He had never been so great, being able to feel every rolling grain of sand.

In fact, Qian Jin had already predicted the plan of Feng Linacis the second his toes moved! Stooping a little, Qian Jin darted out in half-activated [Innumerable Shadows]! Meanwhile, he withdrew Zhanmadao. The rolling waves suddenly stopped and the sinister glare solidified.

The stars went out and the moonlight froze.

All of a sudden, the stars and long river stopped falling. The swift current ceased shrieking. The boundless cleaving power disappeared. Even the coldness of the blade remained at rest like it had been in a painting.

This scene would only come forth when speed was met with skill.

After the pulling up, Qian Jin charged forward as his ankles vibrated violently under the fully-activated [Innumerable Shadows]! Beams of light on Zhanmadao came to life once again! The repeated cycle was exactly same with that of the moody Ancient Desert Sea. Rays of coldness and traces of Warrior Power formed into a cage, by which Feng Linacis was enveloped.

It was a Saint level Land Tearing Chop!

This pulling and slicing were different compared to the former days. It seemed the hard training in the Ancient Desert Sea finally paid off.

It was not a breakthrough in strength but one of will! The cut was no longer just a simple forward movement. In the blade, there was a concealed momentum, which was composed by not only the violence and coldness of the Ancient Desert Sea but also the vastness and mystique of the stars.

The Warrior Power echoed on the blade, which sounded like a war drum. The edge, at the same time, gleamed wickedly and lit up the whole sky. It was no longer a blade but a brush of an artist, by which the mysterious stars were painted.

A star-like blade?

Having learned from Blake and other masters in the Endless World for so many years, Qian Jin had developed a particularly broad vision and will. The accumulated experience suddenly broke out, which also startled Qian Jin.

He hadn’t achieved this even confronting against Iron’s suppression and the Ray Leader’s sneak attack. But now, he finally made it! He knew it was a course from quantitative to qualitative changes. Thanks to Feng Linacis, he reached the point.

Huh? Yi raised his eyebrows. On what earth was a Demon Slayer capable of this high-standard strike?

Overwhelmed by the energy, Feng Linacis put on a really serious look. Like drowning in the river of stars, he knew it was too late to escape.

In such a short period of time, Qian Jin had snatched the dominance by virtue of his blade. Trapped in the cage, Feng Linacis’s heart gave a leap for he knew it would be lucky if he were to be just injured. Damn it! It was all because of the blade! Without it, he would not have been…

“Break!”

Finality flitted across Feng Linacis’s eyes! He decided to get rid of this Zhanmadao first!

As he cried out, bars of blue Warrior Power, visible to the naked eye, rushed out of his blade! All of a sudden, the temperature around the blade plunged below freezing! No, it kept going down! Water in the air was instantly solidified and then, oddly enough, the icy bars began to burn.

Warrior Technique Sequence Explosion! The breath of the roar froze the air the second it went out! It seemed Feng Linacis had set himself with a will to freeze Qian Jin’s rushing river-like Warrior Power.

At the same time, his blade, which had transformed into a long white thread, winded itself around Zhanmadao. After a buzzing knock-out, the Level 2 Warrior Weapon broke into hundreds of metal pieces! The impact went forward like an intangible ball, aiming at the blade in Qian Jin’s hand.

It was 30 degrees below zero after Feng Linacis ignited the Warrior Technique Sequence of his unique fighting technique. His heart wrenched and his body was in pain at such a low temperature.

It was the specialty of Icy Flame Warrior Power! The temperature was brought to absolute zero!

Over these years, Feng Linacis had finally mastered the third technique sequence! The chill of his Warrior Power moved not just along Zhanmadao. The air and Warrior Power around the giant blade all became a bridge for it!

In the twinkling of an eye, both arms of Qian Jin were tied up by ice. Although the strongest impact had been blocked out from the body by Zhanmadao, the violence caused by the spinning Warrior Power was enough to send the giant blade into the air.

The rushing river-like Warrior Power suddenly stopped.

Qian Jin’s arms were weary and stiff. Just at this moment, Feng Linacis had wormed his way out of the cage and rushed to Qian Jin at full speed! As he activated the second technique sequence, a jumping fist wrapped by Icy Flame Warrior Power of minus ten degrees crashed against the head of Qian Jin!

The numbness showed up out of the blue but also disappeared soon enough. The extreme cold was of no use against Qian Jin. The pausing blade started to move again.

What the hell? Sensing the reviving murderous spirit in Qian Jin’s Warrior Power, Feng Linacis couldn’t help but contract his pupils. Though the Icy Flame Warrior Power couldn’t penetrate the man’s body, it should be enough to freeze the body and the Warrior Power!

The blade was broken! The technique sequence had been ignited! There was no way left for Feng Linacis! Keeping shoulders down, he made a turn and punched out at Qian Jin’s chest with a resolute momentum! “Break!” Suddenly, it became minus ten degrees!

He needed to grab time, space and opportunity!

So, he moved even faster! Just at this moment, Qian Jin pulled Zhanmadao back and hacked down! The frozen blade sank into Feng Linacis’s shoulders. The attached Land Tearing Chop was inserted into his body. No one could handle the power that was able to split the ground! “Puff!” He spat out a mouthful of blood, which immediately turned into bloody icy bars!

Turning to the right with all the might he had, Feng Linacis got rid of Zhanmadao! But at the same time, he also lost his left shoulder and arm. Blood kept surging out from the wound. But still, he rushed toward Qian Jin aiming at his chest with his right hand. The bursting technique sequence jetted out!

However, Qian Jin looked so quiet as a mysterious star that no one could read his expression. Feeling every grain of rolling sand around, he moved his calves at top speed and tried to dodge aside.

A ball of frozen air, at the same time, sprouted out from Feng Linacis’s fist! 200,000, 300,000, 400,000… It reached 700,000 cycles!

Zhanmadao was so severely damaged that the Warrior Power was effectively reduced! While Feng Linacis, once gain detonated his second technique sequence! Mixed with icy flame, Qian Jin was in danger!

[Wind and Cloud Golden Body]! Bang! A sickening thud was heard in the middle of the battlefield like a stick had hit in a stuffed sack! Zhanmadao flew and rotated in the air before it landed and rooted into the open area in front of Zence Matten!

In small steps, Qian Jin slid laterally for about three feet. With each move he made, the weeds below were frozen and then instantly burned! The cloth covering his right shoulder had also long been burned to ashes.

He was hit right on the mark! Golden Warrior Heart was way too formidable! This punch could kill a Demon Slayer without even touching him!

From his tanned right shoulder, frying sounds kept coming out like barbecue. Worm-like icy flames clung to the wound, trying to go beneath the skin!

Yi’s eyebrows twitched violently. How come the kid was still alive? What was his body made of? Although that punch, released in between, wasn’t as powerful as it could have been, it should have, at least, smashed his shoulder!

Feng Linacis, after all, was a top Demon Extinguisher with a Golden Warrior Heart and he had even ignited such a strong fighting technique! How come Qian Jin was just burned?

What? Covering his wound with the remaining hand. Feng Linacis staggered in pain! He was about to faint, but Qian Jin, his opponent, stood there, relaxing his shoulder that should have been in pieces by now.

Damn! It was all because of the knife wound! He couldn’t have given it all! Otherwise, Qian Jin would have no chance at all of surviving.

“You are pretty tough, huh?” Regardless of his bleeding arms, Feng Linacis suddenly bent his knees and crashed against Qian Jin like a beast! Meanwhile, he slapped himself on the wound! By the quick freezing and burning, the wound stopped bleeding! Overturning his wrist in the air, he aimed at Qian Jin’s head!

He believed that without a Warrior Weapon, Qian Jin had been seriously weakened. Even though he was losing his strength, he could still kill that little bastard! He stretched his palm, and everywhere it passed by, four icy bars immediately shoot forth! Crack! Crack! Breaking sounds kept being heard! Finally, Qian Jin was shrouded!

It hurt! Qian Jin felt his energy connections turn cold in a burning sea. The flame was unexpectedly cold. It was attacking his Warrior Power, connections, and even the reservoirs.

650,000… 550,000… 500,000 cycles…

Before Feng Linacis could react, the energy connections in his right arm became broken and finally disappeared! The cycles of his Warrior Power rapidly reduced to 400,000! With all his strength, he slung the arm over like a Titan tossing a pillar!

There was no way for Qian Jin to move! The fighting technique that had exploded inside Qian Jin was now scurrying around under the leadership of the Icy Flame Warrior Power, like a bunch of thugs stalking in a calm town!

In a hurry, Qian Jin kept his body down and bent his knees as if he were sitting on a stone bench. His upper body erected like a giant bell! Little by little, he lifted the suspending arms! He was not lifting a blade, nor he was forming a punch! Right! It was a hammer! He was lifting a hammer like he was about to forge something. It was the simplest solution, using a diamond to cut diamond!

It was the Third Hammering Technique of the [Eighteen Blade Elevating Strikes]! A tough fist, not very large, wrapped in Warrior Power, was emitted like a giant elephant looking up into the sky! Three Warrior Hearts, at the same time, turned around at the speed of 300,000 cycles! Whining wind was set off like a Behemoth was waving a hammer!

No one knew who, the Titan or the Behemoth, was going to stand out in this desperate combat!