Chapter Fifty-One: Falling into Darkness
“Big Brother...” The chubby boy, seeing Tang Fei at a disadvantage, hurriedly dashed out from his hiding spot.
Tang Fei shot him a glance, his tone irritable. “I told you to save your ammo…”
The chubby boy loved playing with guns; once his finger pressed the trigger, he couldn’t stop. In no time, he had burned through all the energy rounds in the pulse gun. Tang Fei's own energy bullets were also spent; otherwise, he would never have stepped out to confront his enemy head-on. Who would use a blade when they still had a gun?
“I didn’t expect it to run out so quickly,” the chubby boy replied, genuine regret in his voice.
Tang Fei stared at Gou Guangsong, licking the blood from the corner of his mouth. Ever since he'd been wounded by the Fierce God, it took little to make him bleed... He’d need a proper recovery if he could even make it back. On the Old Earth, every battle could be your last.
“Qi Manipulation level?” Gou Guangsong eyed Tang Fei, his voice probing.
“Sharp eyes,” Tang Fei replied with a cheerful smile. Not wanting to seem at a disadvantage, he shot back, “And you?”
Know your enemy as you know yourself, and you’ll never be defeated.
“Spirit Path.” Gou Guangsong answered with a trace of pride. The winding path leads to the depths, where the temple garden grows lush—meaning he had achieved a significant understanding of martial arts, reaching a threshold where true mastery lay just beyond.
Tang Fei was bitter inside. The path of cultivation was riddled with hardship, and differences in level meant disparities in power. Thus, the saying went: “Each rank is a mountain; each realm, a new sky.” He knew his true strength was at the lower tier of Qi Manipulation, but through his cunning, thick skin (or perhaps shamelessness), and extensive combat experience, coupled with his ability to exploit the terrain of the forest, he could barely pass for a middle-tier Qi Manipulation cultivator. That already made him a force to be reckoned with on the Old Earth, undefeated in Hate Mountain.
But facing someone of the Spirit Path realm was another matter entirely. This wasn’t just a difference in grade, but a suppression of realms. If he’d known, he wouldn’t have asked—the truth just made him uneasy.
“You’re not refugees from Old Earth, are you? Did you come down from the New Star?”
“How did you figure that out?” Tang Fei widened his eyes, feigning disbelief.
“So it’s true.” Gou Guangsong grew more convinced. How could Old Earth produce such formidable young men? How could there be such youthful Qi Manipulation cultivators? He studied Tang Fei, then said, “You’re injured.”
“Am I?” Tang Fei wiped the blood from his mouth and joked, “Just a bit too much internal heat lately.”
“I can sense it. You’re wounded. Otherwise, that last strike of yours would have been far more ruthless and decisive.”
A seasoned fighter could always recognize another. The man could see through him.
“I’m still here,” the chubby boy piped up, trying to draw their attention.
Tang Fei glared at him, exasperated. “Didn’t I tell you to use this chance to escape? Why did you come back?”
He knew his internal injuries were severe and didn’t know how much longer he could hold out. Once the bullets were gone, he’d signaled the chubby boy to make a run for it while he launched a desperate attack to create an opening. He hadn’t expected the fool to not only ignore the signal, but to rush out of hiding.
Idiot!
“Bro, what are you saying?” the chubby boy replied. “How could I run? If we’re running, we run together.”
“How could I run with you here?” Tang Fei snapped. He’d already realized as soon as the fight began that these opponents were all cultivators—especially the old man, who was at least his equal in strength. If they tried to escape together, they’d just become prey for the hunters. One needed to distract while the other fled; that was the best chance. He’d already mapped out all possible escape routes in his mind…
But the chubby boy had ruined it all.
The chubby boy only grinned sheepishly. He couldn’t run—he’d rather die alongside his big brother than escape alone.
“Think you can run?” Gou Guangsong’s eyes flashed with murderous light, his voice cold and menacing. “You’ve killed so many of my men… Now, this is our home ground.”
No matter what, these two could not be allowed to live.
In a blink, Gou Guangsong vanished from where he stood. When he reappeared, he was high above, sword descending toward Tang Fei’s head.
Tang Fei had no time to dodge. Gritting his teeth, he raised his blade to meet the attack.
Clang!
Steel rang against steel, the force of the blow driving Tang Fei’s feet deep into the earth. Yin and yang energy surged violently through the blades, transferring into Tang Fei’s body.
From above, Gou Guangsong rained down blows, his blade splitting into countless shadows, falling like a thunderstorm.
With nowhere to dodge, Tang Fei could only raise his kukri and block, strike after strike, his body sinking deeper into the ground until his legs were buried up to the knees.
Clang! Clang! Crack…
After who knows how many blows, the kukri could take no more; with a sharp snap, it broke in two.
A glint flashed in Gou Guangsong’s eyes—his chance had come. He had been focusing his energy with each strike, targeting the same spot on Tang Fei’s blade. Sure enough, the kukri’s quality was no match for his own titanium blade; it broke as he’d expected.
“Now die!”
He brought his sword down in a lethal arc, aiming to cleave Tang Fei in two.
With only the hilt of the kukri left, Tang Fei had no way to parry with his right hand. But as he dropped the broken blade, his left hand drew the slender Xuexue Blade, a gift from Phoenix, at his waist.
He raised it just in time.
Clang!
The two blades collided. The Xuexue Blade in Tang Fei’s grip remained unharmed, but a notch appeared in Gou Guangsong’s titanium sword.
What an extraordinary blade!
Yet, the massive collision wrenched at Tang Fei’s wounds; his organs churned violently, and it felt as if his heart and lungs would burst from his mouth.
He spat out another mouthful of blood.
Though he had blocked the strike, Gou Guangsong could tell Tang Fei’s strength was spent; his resistance was obviously weaker than before. Now, he would end this.
Gou Guangsong’s form expanded, his voyage suit tearing and crackling as his body swelled massively. Blue light shimmered around his hands, and his titanium blade was enveloped in cyan radiance.
Moonbreaker Slash!
Tang Fei gripped his blade with both hands, gathering what remained of his yin-yang energy to its peak.
Xuexue Blade!
If he couldn’t withstand this blow, or if the blade broke again… only death awaited him.
Clang!
Golden light flashed, sparks flew. From high in the air, Gou Guangsong brought his blade down with all his might, desperate to crush Tang Fei.
Tang Fei, too, raised his sword with all his strength—pushing, pushing up…
Gou Guangsong’s face was a study in extremes. How had this killing blow been blocked yet again? Tang Fei was gravely wounded, unable to fight at full strength; Gou Guangsong had the advantage in both realm and experience, his yin-yang energy far denser. Yet this boy’s body seemed possessed by a wild beast—unwilling to die, unwilling to yield.
Unable to force down the titanium blade, Gou Guangsong used the rebound of their clashing swords to leap backward. As he did, he kicked Tang Fei hard in the chest.
Bang!
Tang Fei took the blow like a stone, ripped free from the earth, sent flying backwards. He crashed through several saplings before slamming heavily into the trunk of an ancient tree.
“Brother…” the chubby boy howled.
He was still locked in combat with two cultivators, his Skull Hammer whirling fiercely. Though untrained in cultivation, his brute strength was fearsome; even together, his two foes couldn’t subdue him quickly.
Seeing Tang Fei smashed aside, fate uncertain, the chubby boy’s eyes went bloodshot with fury and grief. His face twisted with boundless hate.
They dared kill my big brother… They dared kill my big brother… They dared kill my big brother…
His expression contorted, eyes turning a deep, bloody red—two sunken pits boiling with blood. Black mist poured from his body, ghostly and chilling.
His body began to swell, growing larger and larger, until he resembled a moving mountain. At the same time, the Skull Hammer in his hand seemed to come alive, growing with him. A wailing rose from the skull, mournful and chilling, as if the cries of the damned echoed from hell itself.
The Fierce God returns!
Ignoring his opponents, the chubby boy charged at Gou Guangsong, leaving his back open to three sword slashes.
He saw no one but Gou Guangsong.
It was him. It was him. He killed my brother…
Swinging the Skull Hammer, he brought it down upon Gou Guangsong.
“What is this thing?” Gou Guangsong stared in shock. Hadn’t this boy been a non-cultivator? What was happening now?
No time to think—he raised his blade to block.
Clang!
The hammer struck, sending Gou Guangsong’s titanium sword flying out of his grip—and hurling him through the air as well.
He crashed to the ground, barely registering what had happened, as the monstrous Skull Hammer descended.
It loomed closer and closer, terror filling his face—
Crack!
His skull was pulverized.
The Skull Hammer, sated with blood, grew even more frenzied; the cries within it became all the more wretched and piercing.
The chubby boy hefted the hammer and charged at the others.
In that moment, one thought consumed his mind.
Kill them all!
Kill them all!
Kill them all!