Chapter 929 The Reckoning (6)

Rays of sunlight glinted off the needles embedded surreptitiously between his fingers, the luminescence giving off a cold bluish vibe.

“Poison needles, the signature weapons of the Lord of Venom of the Western Wilderness. Even a Class XII like you would die quickly the moment the poison enters your body.”

Nie Renlong chuckled wickedly, delightfully pleased as if he was showing off a masterpiece of his own making.

“One hundred and eight strikes. That’s the number of times I struck you, and every time, six poison needles pierced through your skin to funnel the poison into your body. I know how you were unfazed about the Deity’s Bane poison back then. Maybe you have a certain sort of immunity. But now that you’re so grievously injured and with so much poison in you, it’s time you embrace your doom.”

His fingers let go and the tiny needles drifted like hay in the wind before they fell to the ground.

Blood began to escape from the wound on Li Mu’s chest. Red at first, the stream of liquid gradually turned gloomy blue, a strange and eerie rivulet of otherworldly feel.

Nie Renlong looked absolutely happy. “It appears that you really are dying. The poison is taking hold.”

“How do you feel right now, brother?!” Lu Chuan gasped, panicking.

Li Mu shook his head before panning his gaze back to Nie Renlong. “So… You’ve done all this just to kill me? Do that and, still, the force field that guards the stronghold of the Creed stands. You won’t break it. You’ll never break it.”

“Do you think so? Heh. What if I were to say that I can?” Nie Renlong snorted gleefully, “Or have you not noticed that four of the five heads of the Great Five are missing?”

Li Mu’s brow piqued.

“How about a guess?” Nie Renlong continued, “Where do you think they are right now?”

Li Mu immediately caught his gist. The four remaining heads — and the greatest warriors — of the Great Five — no, wait. There should be five, Li Mu realized. Five of them must have long slipped away during the Battle of Dawncrest to make for the five ley lines that powered the enchantment to undo it.

“It appears that you guessed the answer,” Nie Renlong remarked dryly, the adroit observer that he was, “Everything is working according to plan. You might be talented, you might be powerful, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re a fool. A fool that has walked right into my trap by no fault of mine.”

“All these, just to kill me and destroy the Creed of Divinity?” asked Li Mu.

“Of course not. I need to ascend and leave this Heaven-forsaken place. But you’re in my way. But your enchantment is a quaint one that could prove to be useful. I’ll destroy the Creed of Divinity, then I’ll claim this enchantment for my own. With its help, I’ll be able to realize my ambition to ascend. So, looks like some words of thanks are in order, I guess.”

…

Harkenglen.

Situated to the northwestern side of the Creed of Divinity stronghold was this tranquil and idyllic glen known as Harkenglen that was once used by the Creed to grow herbs although sometime after that, it was abandoned and left to thrive in the wild on its own.

A man with ochre brown hair strode down the path that led into the valley.

His ordinary features belied a commanding presence stemming from his piercing glare that indicated that he was more than just a common warrior, but rather, a leader of men.

The sharp elderly “It should be here, according to the instructions given by the ‘Sage’… The spot where one of the ley lines is passing by. Now all I need to do is to destroy its main node — hm? Wait, who goes there!?” An looked up at once warily.

The sharp elderly man looked up at once warily.

Just ahead, perched atop a rock was a man cradling his sheathed saber and he was staring at this intruder coldly.

“You? Grand Master Lu Chuan of the Creed of Divinity? How is it possible that you’re here?!”

“Shouldn’t you be with Li Zhiyuan right now?!” The sandy-haired old man gasped with surprise.

“I could ask you the same thing, Lord of Venom of the Western Wilderness,” Lu Chuan responded with frost. “You should be right there yourself, watching the fighting at Dawncrest with the rest of the coalition. Yet here you are, intruding into the rather modest grounds of the Creed of Divinity stronghold?”

The Lord of Venom chuckled. “I guess it should be expected that the Creed would lay out defenses around such a critical area. After all, this is one of the main weak spots of that enchantment, no? But you’re nothing but a puppet whose strings are being held by Li Zhiyuan. Do you think you have what it takes to stop me? I seem to remember that you were not even Class VI back in my best days.

Lu Chuan refused to respond to the verbal prod.

“On a normal occasion, I would not even deign to deal with you myself. But you are nevertheless the Grand Master of the Creed of Divinity, so perhaps I’ll make an exception,” said the Lord of Venom, “On guard, then.”

…

At a hilly bamboo forest nearby the stronghold.

Unlike the bamboo grove that Li Mu usually lived in, the tall and woody vegetation here was very much denser and the slopes were steeper and higher that one could easily hear the mountain breezes howling in their endless cacophony. Beds of fallen bamboo leaves sprawled on the ground like a carpet of brownish and greenish hues.

The head of the biggest religious order of the Eastern Orients Zhu Lingfeng was a lone figure standing amongst a jungle of towering bamboo shrubs. Clad in robes of green and donning a reed kasa hat, he admired the lush beauty of the bamboo forest that had endured for centuries. “Beautiful bamboo trees. What a surprise indeed. I never thought that I would find such beautiful specimens here. If only I could bring one and add it to my collection…”

Zhu Lingfeng was an avid lover of bamboo trees. Anyone in the Jianghu of Molderad knew about it.

“No one is taking away any bamboo trees that belong to the Creed of Divinity.”

A gruff voice responded. The Punisher of Evil Shen Jia appeared, stepping out from an unseen corner in the jungle. In mere flashes, he reappeared just a hundred meters away, staying true to his reputation of being a sharp and stern person as always.

Zhu Lingfeng was mildly taken aback. “So, your teacher had bidden you to watch this place, eh? To think that you would still dare to show yourself after seeing me.”

“I came specifically for you. People have been praising the invincibility of the Thirty-six Swords of the Bamboo Copse. Even my teacher remarked on how fierce the strokes were. This is a chance to see it myself.”

“Oh? So that’s the best your teacher can do? ‘Fierce’, huh?” Zhu Lingfeng looked unamused.

“Molderad is a cornucopia of countless martial techniques and disciplines, but only a few have caught my teacher’s eyes. You should consider it an honor that he feels that your discipline is good enough to warrant his attention.”

Zhu Lingfeng responded with disgust, “Perhaps you want a taste of how fierce my blows could be yourself.”