Chapter Ninety-Two: Death Scythe and Bone Rampart

A sudden and brutal turn of events sent the unclothed female cultivators into shrill, humiliated screams of terror. Some even lost all composure and fled toward the cave mouth without bothering to dress.

"Silence."

The man in the black robe gave a cold snort and swept his massive sickle forward. Qin Feng did not even clearly see the motion. In the next instant, several icy streaks of light materialized out of nowhere within the cavern, tearing through space. Before a single cry could fully sound, every female cultivator had been beheaded, and the headless bodies collapsed softly to the ground.

The only one still alive was Li Haoran, who had not moved at all.

The cave fell instantly silent, yet thick with the stench of blood.

Li Haoran swallowed hard, his eyes wide with horror. He had not moved earlier because he had been too frightened to think; now that he had recovered his senses, he found that he was the only living person left in the cave.

Qin Feng, hidden in the shadows, was likewise shaken to his core.

"Damn, that's far too terrifying."

No need to mention anything else; earlier, when the black-robed man had struck, Qin Feng had only seen his arm move once and felt no trace of mystical power at all, yet he had killed without leaving a trace and taken heads from beyond sight.

This man's strength was utterly unfathomable.

"Bone Grit, go finish off that beast."

The mysterious black-robed figure motioned with his sickle toward the corner of the chamber, signaling the bone-spurred giant at his side to act.

"Mm."

The bone-spurred giant rumbled in assent, then strode toward the corner. That was precisely the place where the Six-Limbed Salamander Lizard was concealed.

Sensing danger, the beast's entire body tightened. Its streamlined form arched into an exaggerated curve. As the giant drew near, the Six-Limbed Salamander Lizard sprang out like lightning. Its pair of forelimbs flashed with two blinding gray glows as they thrust straight at the bone giant. The attack was so fast it seemed to vanish, then reappear behind the giant's head; the path of its movement was impossible to track with the naked eye.

Although the Six-Limbed Salamander Lizard's greatest killing move was stealth and ambush, Qin Feng was still stunned by this strike, even though he knew in advance where it was hiding.

Fast, ruthless, precise.

Those foreclaws, gleaming with cyan brilliance, could split mountains, crack stone, and shatter protective force.

It was simply not a power that one could withstand head-on.

And yet, the unimaginable happened.

The next moment, the bone spurs on the giant's back suddenly flared with a ghastly white light and extended rapidly. The hard, razor-sharp spurs pierced the demon beast's body straight through. Bone Grit turned around, and both arms began to writhe in a grotesque fashion. The muscles on his arms swelled more than twice their original size, and with a savage spread of his arms, he actually tore the nascent-demon beast in two with his bare hands.

"Hiss..."

"What terrifying innate strength."

"He actually tore a demon beast apart with his bare hands! And it was a nascent-demon beast at that!" Qin Feng, hidden in the dark, drew a sharp breath.

Even his back broke out in a cold sweat.

Qin Feng himself was naturally powerful, but even he could not tear a demon beast apart by hand. Yet he knew that demon beasts were famed for strength as well. Though this Six-Limbed Salamander Lizard was not a purely strength-oriented beast, a nascent-demon beast's power could never be underestimated.

The massive body of the Six-Limbed Salamander Lizard was ripped in half, and Bone Grit casually hurled the pieces to the ground.

A demon core dropped out at once. It landed in Bone Grit's hand, and the latter tossed it directly into his mouth. With two crisp crunches, his iron teeth ground the incomparably hard core and swallowed it whole.

Tear a demon beast apart. Chew its core.

The spectacle was overwhelming.

"Is this even still a human being?"

At that moment, Qin Feng felt that the bone-spurred giant known as Bone Grit was no ordinary man at all, but a monstrous being of another race.

Qin Feng himself was still able to keep a measure of composure, merely stunned by the other's tyrannical methods.

But Li Haoran was utterly petrified.

Especially after the Six-Limbed Salamander Lizard had been torn apart by Bone Grit, Li Haoran, stripped of his last reliance, was in even worse shape. Cold sweat poured from him, his whole body trembled violently, and he fell hard onto the floor, crying in panic, "Who are you? What are you doing in Mount Shu Sword? Listen to me, I am the son of the sect master, Li Xingjian. If you dare lay a finger on me, my father will never let you go!"

"Tsk tsk. So this is the so-called righteous and honorable sect. How laughable."

As he watched Li Haoran's disgraceful state, the black-robed sickle bearer spoke again in his eerie voice, right beside Li Haoran's ear.

When Li Haoran raised his head, he realized that at some unknown point the black-robed sickle bearer had flashed right before him. The two were separated by less than a foot. At such close range, sensing the deathly demonic aura on the other's body, that bone-chilling, forbidding cold almost made Li Haoran faint on the spot.

"Don't kill me, don't kill me. You can have whatever you want, just don't kill me..."

Li Haoran was completely panicked now, speaking recklessly in order to survive.

"Li Xingjian... tsk tsk. A son so debauched and lawless; his father can hardly be any better. That Li Xingjian may barely count as a figure of some note, but in my Death Sickle's eyes, he amounts to nothing. If I want to crush him, I shall crush him."

"Yes, yes, yes. Please, spare me!"

Li Haoran had completely lost all spine. Whatever the other side said, he only bobbed his head like a hammer striking wood, begging solely that the two mysterious monsters would let him go.

"Tsk tsk."

"Forgive the trouble, Young Sect Master. Come with us for a while."

"Where? I don't want to go anywhere..."

Li Haoran panicked again. At the mere suggestion that they would take him away, cold sweat broke out all over his body. He knew exactly how much he was worth. Within Mount Shu Sword, under the protection of Li Xingjian's prestige, he could still swagger and bully others a little. But once he left here, he would be nothing at all.

"You don't get a choice."

With that, Death Sickle opened his mouth and spat out a wisp of black mist, which struck Li Haoran's face. The latter had no chance to resist. His eyes rolled back and he stiffened, falling straight to the ground.

"Truly a useless waste."

Death Sickle's disdainful, sinister voice sounded as he gave a cold snort.

"Bone Grit, take him. We are leaving."

"Mm." Bone Grit answered in a deep rumble. After lifting Li Haoran one-handed, he glanced toward Fang Xinyi, who lay unconscious on the ground.

"Forget it. That woman is no different from a corpse. Killing someone like that is no fun. Let's go."

Of the two, Death Sickle seemed to be the leader, while Bone Grit was taciturn and mostly acted on orders.

As they spoke, Bone Grit had already headed outside. The black-robed man called Death Sickle remained leaning on his sickle and swept a glance toward the cave where Qin Feng was hidden.

That single look made Qin Feng's heart nearly leap out of his chest.

Even his breathing almost stopped.

Fortunately, it was only a glance. Then the other man withdrew his gaze and turned to leave the cavern.

And the Senior Brother Gu, who had stood rooted in place the entire time, suddenly toppled over with a thud, like a dismantled puppet. Evidently he had lost all remaining use; Death Sickle had withdrawn the spell controlling the corpse, leaving behind nothing but a dead body.

Only then did Qin Feng let out a breath.

That had been perilously close. But through this, Qin Feng had become even more interested in the huge black cloth draped over himself. What exactly was it? Even those two unfathomably powerful adversaries had been unable to detect his presence.

This time had been far more dangerous than any before. Qin Feng naturally would not dare let his guard down. Even after the two mysterious figures had gone, he remained hidden in the cave and did not move.

This time, however, he had been overcautious.

He waited for a very long time, yet no one returned.

The two of them must have achieved their goal and hurried off to leave Mount Shu Sword as soon as possible.

Only, why had they captured Li Haoran? Was a lecherous man like him really worth such a major operation? They had even gone to the trouble of infiltrating Mount Shu Sword to seize him. That was outrageously brazen.

Of course, these were only thoughts in his heart.

Since the people were gone, Qin Feng quickly leaped out of the cave, then came to Fang Xinyi's side, dressed her properly, and took out the Demon Blood Branch Coffin, placing Fang Xinyi inside it.

Fortunately, Fang Xinyi was unharmed, or else he would have borne a grave sin.

Within the Demon Blood Branch Coffin, what looked like a mere coffin actually contained countless layered spaces, each one independent. Not to mention a living person, it could contain tens of thousands of living people or corpses.

Using it to store Fang Xinyi was truly a waste of a treasure.

After putting the Demon Blood Branch Coffin back into his body, Qin Feng surveyed the surroundings and finally fixed his gaze on the slain Six-Limbed Salamander Lizard. With a flash of violet in his eyes, surprise immediately surfaced on his face.

Inside the Six-Limbed Salamander Lizard's body was a shattered jade tablet.

This jade tablet was clearly used for communication.

Qin Feng had only guessed as much, yet it had actually been true.

After Li Haoran had been injured last time, Li Xingjian and his wife had strengthened his protection, and thus they had stationed a nascent-demon beast to remain by his side at all times.

Not only that, they had also used a paired life jade tablet.

Such tablets came in matched pairs; if either one shattered, the other would shatter at the exact same moment.

So it seemed that Li Xingjian and his wife had already learned of their son's peril.

But why had they not rushed over immediately?

At that moment, a tremendous crash suddenly rang out from outside the cavern.

Qin Feng paused, then instantly understood.

Clearly, Li Xingjian and his wife had already successfully intercepted those two mysterious monsters, and a battle had broken out.

Qin Feng frowned tightly, his mind racing.

"Li Haoran has been taken, Mount Shu Sword is in chaos. Is this the perfect chance to break away from Mount Shu Sword now?"

The answer was obvious.

But what about Fang Xinyi? What about Zhan Bai?

If he simply left like this, Qin Feng could not help feeling somewhat unwilling.

As for Fang Xinyi, there was still hope. The Seven-Spirit Immortal Lotus would not fully merge with Li Haoran's soul in such a short time. As long as Li Haoran was killed and his skull split open, the lotus could be taken with ease.

Moreover, because of Huo Siyan, Qin Feng had long since developed murderous intent toward Li Haoran. If this bastard were allowed to continue his libertine ways, sooner or later he would set his vile sights on Huo Siyan.

Thus, Li Haoran had to die.

The Seven-Spirit Immortal Lotus had to be obtained as well. Once Fang Xinyi was awakened, Zhan Bai would no longer need to make any deal with that Crimson Corpse.

Having figured that out, Qin Feng knew exactly what he should do next.

He took out the huge black cloth and draped it directly over himself, then followed out from the direction the two mysterious figures had taken when leaving the cavern.

To kill Li Haoran, he had to save the person first.