Chapter Ninety-Four: Interception

In the very instant when everyone was still reeling in astonishment, the mass of flesh and blood that had formed into a cocoon suddenly swelled and warped with furious violence. With a sharp crack, it shattered apart, and from within that blood-soaked shell, an enormous monster’s head thrust outward.

The creature’s head was round as a disk, with four eyes and a savage mouth that split all the way down to its neck. It was a ghastly sight.

Then, with a sudden convulsive twist of its body, the entire fleshy cocoon burst open. After a haze of crimson mist drifted away, the monster’s true form, suspended in the sky, was revealed. It was a beast entirely red in color, with no visible skin at all, only raw crimson muscle and white bone. It crouched on six limbs, eternally poised in an attack stance. Most striking of all was the huge swelling on its back, from which protruded countless long bone spurs as thick as human arms. They stood like spears, their razor edges sharp enough to pierce through anything.

"Tsk, tsk. Li Xingjian, Bone Luan is not something you can kill. This is only his second form. Of course, there are still a third and fourth form after this. Take your time killing him. As for me, I’ll be taking your son and leaving first!"

That earlier strike from Li Xingjian had clearly exceeded Death Scythe’s expectations. In the intelligence he had gathered, Li Xingjian was not supposed to possess such a monstrous technique as that finger sword just now.

So, with caution and dread rising in his heart, he chose to leave one man behind to hold Li Xingjian at bay while he himself took Li Haoran and withdrew first.

As soon as he finished speaking, a huge black ghostly head formed from mist suddenly appeared behind Death Scythe. It opened its maw and swallowed him in one gulp. When the mist dispersed, Death Scythe’s figure had vanished without a trace.

"Hmph. Think you can run? Dream on!"

A flash of fury crossed Li Xingjian’s face. Glancing at the bone-spear monster in the air, which was already bracing itself against him, he did not even turn around. Instead, he coldly ordered Qin Xinyue behind him, "Lead the elders and disciples to hold this thing off. Try to minimize your attacks. Its body is bizarre; it can absorb the power of attacks and evolve into new forms."

Seeing her son carried away, Qin Xinyue was naturally frantic with worry.

"All right. Go save our son quickly. Leave this to me!"

With that, she swept the hem of her robe aside and seated herself in midair. Extending a hand, she summoned a flowing ancient zither before her, then set her ten fingers upon the strings and began to play.

The melody was calm, yet beneath its serenity lurked a murderous chill.

Li Xingjian nodded, flashed a few times, and vanished. Qin Xinyue was after all a sixth-level Earthly Dipper expert. Even if she could not slay an immortal monster, she could at least use a sound-killing formation to pin it down.

Once Li Xingjian disappeared, the monster formed from Bone Luan let out a thunderous howl and lunged forward. In response, the notes drifting through the air suddenly surged and rose. In an instant, the rippling soundwaves took on substance, weaving themselves into a net around Bone Luan and trapping it within a cramped space. Blades of sound whirled in the air, slaughtering and shredding.

Bone Luan refused to be outdone. The bone spurs on its back suddenly lengthened, waving like countless arms. They formed an airtight cocoon of bone defense, continuously batting away the incoming sound blades.

The battle above grew ferocious beyond measure, and Qin Feng, who had been watching from below the whole time, could no longer sit still.

Li Haoran had actually been taken away alone by Death Scythe.

That, at last, satisfied Qin Feng’s condition for "rescuing someone."

But where should he lie in wait to intercept him?

Around Shu Sword Mountain there was a protective formation. By now, the moment Death Scythe and Bone Luan had been exposed, the formation was probably already activated. No one would be able to leave Shu Sword Mountain.

The only way...

Thinking of this, Qin Feng’s eyes suddenly lit up.

"Right. Ghost Sword Cliff!"

That was where the intruders had entered from, and the teleportation coordinates were surely set there as well. If they wanted to escape, the only possible route was the same one they had used to come in.

Since they dared to come and seize someone, they must have left themselves a retreat.

Qin Feng was more than eighty percent certain of this deduction.

"Then I’m going."

Having made up his mind, Qin Feng sprang into action at once.

Fortunately, Ghost Sword Cliff was on Sword Origin Peak. Otherwise he would have been helpless, because damn it all, he could not fly.

He had climbed Ghost Sword Cliff once before, so he knew the route well. While everyone on Sword Origin Peak was now focused entirely on the monster Bone Luan, Qin Feng simply threw off the big black cloth and ran swiftly toward Ghost Sword Cliff.

At a time like this, who would care about Qin Feng?

The path was familiar on the second trip.

Qin Feng’s physical condition was excellent, and climbing Ghost Sword Cliff took him hardly any time at all.

Moreover, he was confident he would arrive before Death Scythe. Li Xingjian, after all, was at the Heavenly Dipper realm, and it would be very difficult for Death Scythe to escape under his pursuit. There was a good chance he would be wounded and flee here.

And that would be the best moment for Qin Feng. As long as he seized the chance when the other side let down his guard and launched a sneak attack, he still had a few percent chance of success.

After making his decision, Qin Feng arrived early near the pass where the two had appeared before. He looked around, and sure enough, everything was exactly as it had been the night before, and Death Scythe had not yet arrived.

"Good. They haven’t come yet. Hide quickly and see if you can find an opening."

He took the large black cloth from his storage ring once more, draped it over himself, then found a huge rock and crouched behind it, waiting silently for Death Scythe to appear.

Time ticked by, second after second.

Qin Feng’s brow gradually tightened.

"Could I have judged wrong?"

After waiting so long without seeing anyone, even the normally steady Qin Feng began to feel uneasy.

But just then, a sharp whistle of breaking air reached Qin Feng’s ears from the far horizon. It came fast, carrying the crackle of a sonic boom, clearly the airburst produced by some weapon flying at great speed.

Qin Feng’s expression changed. He forced his vision to the limit and looked into the distance. The moment he saw it, his face broke into a grin.

It was not Death Scythe himself who was coming, but his weapon: that long black great scythe. At this moment, one end of the scythe was hooked around the collar of Li Haoran, who was still unconscious, and it was racing forward through the air.

"Where is Death Scythe? Did Li Xingjian not catch up?"

Qin Feng did not strike immediately. Instead, his violet pupils flickered as he looked behind the scythe. After confirming that no one was chasing it from behind, he took Heavy Wu from his storage ring, moved slowly onto the path the scythe would have to take, and prepared to rescue Li Haoran the instant the great scythe passed before him.

As for why this had happened, Qin Feng already had a rough guess.

Most likely, Li Xingjian had caught up with Death Scythe. Once pinned down by a Heavenly Dipper expert, how could he possibly escape? So he had sent the great scythe carrying Li Haoran ahead, while he stayed behind to hold Li Xingjian in place.

At this very moment, the two of them were probably already fighting.

Still, without the great scythe, how long Death Scythe could hold out was anybody’s guess. Qin Feng had no confidence in that at all. He could only seize Li Haoran quickly and proceed with the plan he had already laid out.

The great scythe flew in with astonishing speed. In the blink of an eye, it had reached Qin Feng’s face.

Because he was concealed beneath the black cloth, the other side obviously had not detected his presence.

Thus, as the scythe was about to fly over his head, Qin Feng moved.

He burst out suddenly. Following the trajectory he had already calculated, he sprang upward and swung Heavy Wu with all his might at the great scythe.

Boom.

The blow landed with brutal force. The tremendous impact sent the great scythe flying away at once, and Li Haoran’s body, shaken by the collision, slipped free of the scythe’s control and dropped downward.

Qin Feng reached out and caught him in one hand.

Only after flying several zhang did the scythe manage to steady itself in midair. Then, turning to face Qin Feng’s direction, a cold and sinister voice drifted out from within the blade.

"You brat, you’re courting death!"