Chapter 208: A Tooth for a Tooth, Double the Payback!
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
Even professional adventures would occasionally find themselves stumbling on the road. There was no omniscient and omnipotent god in this world, only cultivators dedicated for perfection.
In a trance, those two sentences appeared in Wang Lu’s mind.
It was not clear where these sentences came from, but for a long time, Wang Lu had used these as his code of conduct.
He often did things crookedly, often took risks, and often did something outrageous that changed the worldview of others. However, as far as he was concerned, he was serious about everything, never fighting a fight that he was not confident to win.
Including this time’s Battle of Full Moon Valley. In addition to the method of subtraction to confirm their absolute strength, even after Tiger King had left the scene, and the conclusion that had already been set, Wang Lu was still maintaining enough vigilance. This spirit of maintaining concentration was the key to his success.
However, even a wise man sometimes makes a mistake. On the eve of total victory, the tight string was slightly loose a little, revealing a trivial but fatal flaw.
He should have thought of it long ago.
If there were people worthy of his special attention in this Battle of Full Moon Valley, The Yuanying Stage Tiger King would be ranked first, followed by not the second-in-command Elder Gong Yang, nor Tiger King’s spirit beast whom he treated as his right-hand man, but A Xia.
Wang Lu never underestimated the destructive power of that perverted cultivator. A Xia was indeed a waste in the road of Immortal Cultivation, and his ability to play tricks and schemes was indeed not on Wang Lu’s professional adventurer level. However, in a well-planned layout, he was likely to become an unpredictable variable.
Because he was perverted enough, twisted enough, and cruel enough.
In fact, when Wang Lu called out the spirits of all living things to rout Tiger King, laying the victory in one fell swoop, he had spent a lot of thought trying to figure out A Xia’s move. He didn’t think A Xia would just silently watch all of these from the sideline. In this magnificent scene, he was definitely impatient to set his foot in… He just never thoroughly thought out when would A Xia enter the scene.
Perhaps this was indeed Wang Lu’s lack in luck. If A Xia could completely seize Tiger King's body early on, suppress the injury, and came out of the crest of Crown Cloud Peak, perhaps he could catch up to when Wang Lu was still maintaining a complete vigilance.
At that time, as long as Wang Lu found any abnormality, successfully determining A Xia’s identity through his intuition, the first thing that would come to his mind was that, the cat girl would immediately become the biggest destabilizing factor!
Wang Lu did not doubt the defection sincerity of the cat girl, nor did he doubt Liu Li’s Brilliant Sword Heart. However, he also did not doubt the level of control that A Xia has over his slaves! Ling Yan has been taught in his hands for decades, how could it be that easy to get rid of A Xia’s control? Perhaps the slave mark could be isolated with the Brilliant Sword Heart, however, how could it be easy to root out the shadow that was accumulated deep inside her heart for decades?
Obedience to A Xia has become an instinct. When this instinct erupted, as the line of defense, it was likely that the Brilliant Sword Heart would internally disintegrate! It wasn’t that A Xia had a means to regain control of the cat girl, but the cat girl could not help but fall into his control!
Without a direct meeting, this was unlikely to occur, but once two of them met each other, cat girl’s slave instinct would certainly break out… It was also because of this that, before the battle in the Full Moon Valley, Wang Lu had sent her quite far away to blow the horn. When the general situation has been decided, he finally let her return with the horn—after all, the strength of a Jindan was worth of use. Thus, though this layout has been cautious enough, unexpectedly, there was still a loophole.
When the cat girl pierced the unaware Liu Li’s body with the dagger, Wang Lu knew that the worst possible outcome had become a reality; the accumulated fatigue in his body and mind was instantly swept away.
Although he did not have the time to prevent this thing from happening, Wang Lu still made the fastest reaction.
He completely ignored the cat girl Ling Yan and also did not pay heed to the seriously injured Liu Li. Instead, he stepped forward, aiming for A Xia in mid-air.
Cat girl Ling Yan did not have the intention to hurt Liu Li. After that blow, she fell into confusion. However, because of this, even Liu Li momentarily has yet to realize the sudden change. However, Quan Zouhua, after a moment of shocked, immediately bit down the two hands of the cat girl, during which, there was no reaction from the cat girl at all.
Before the battle in the Full Moon Valley, Wang Lu had told Quan Zouhua to immediately take away the cat girl’s ability to act once there was any sign of a problem with the cat girl. Leaving behind her life was possible, but it did not need to be polite on anything else.
As for Liu Li’s injury… it was indeed very serious. However, it would not immediately be a fatal wound. Cat girl’s hesitation at her instinct made it difficult for her to fully erupt. And, Liu Li was in a combat state, so she was not without preparedness. However, the trouble at near really caught her off guard—she excelled at attacking, but not good at defense. Secondly, Xiao Qi’s zen cultivation was best at life-saving, so there was no need for Wang Lu to mind while she was there. Thirdly, from the perspective of A Xia, a living Liu Li was far more conducive to him than a dead Liu Li.
Previously, when he saw the blue-green dagger in cat girl’s hand, Wang Lu has already figured out that the other party ought to not directly seek for the death of Liu Li. The dagger was likely poisoned, the kind of which that would bite the heart and rot the bone, yet not immediately lethal. After this, the other party would likely use the antidote to ask for an outrageous price.
There was only one right response to this, which was what Wang Lu was doing now.
He reassigned the magical power in his Jade Mansion, using them as the fuel to power the spell lightening his body. He took a step, then his body flew to the sky like a meteor, straight to A Xia.
Capture the leader first. As long as he could seize A Xia, nothing was difficult to solve. Let alone now that Liu Li was severely injured, the most taboo thing to do was long delay. In normal times, Wang Lu never put these small characters of Beast Master School into his eyes. However, with the betrayal of the cat girl, Quan Zouhua subduing her and Xiao Qi trying to heal Liu Li, their group almost did not have any fighting power. Even if he did have the Non-Phase Sword Defense, with so many Jindan Stage cultivators present, it would unavoidably expose the flaws, not to mention there was this A Xia who he could not treat lightly.
Therefore, the correct response was to take back the initiative, making a preemptive strike and taking the other party’s biggest variable. Although he didn’t know what A Xia thought when deciding to take the forefront position in their formation, it had created an excellent condition for Wang Lu. If he just hid in the circle of Jindan Stage Elders, it would not be easy for Wang Lu to go in front of him.
Of course, despite all these reasons, the only real thing that drove Wang Lu to respond like this was anger.
When Liu Li, in astonishment, dazed in his side, the mind of the ever-thoughtful Wang Lu instantly went blank.
When he became aware again, his body had involuntarily stepped forward and had enough strength to soar.
His line of sight was filled with blood-red, like being in the sea of fire, burning pain from an unknown fire that also continued to plague his heart. And in his brain, there seemed to have a swelling force that wanted to burst out… For many years, he has never experienced such pure rage.
Even if he were injured, it would not move his emotion too much. However, Liu Li was not the same; she was Wang Lu’s reverse scale [1]! This trip to Cloud Region was actually Wang Lu’s task alone. Yet, Liu Li followed him all the way through and did everything that he told her to do, without any complaint or slack. This unreserved trust also meant great responsibility.
Wang Lu was the Senior Brother, so he has the responsibility to protect his good Junior Sister. He was expert in defense, and has the ability to assume responsibility. It was exactly because Liu Li put her trust completely on Wang Lu that even when she entered the combat state and the Brilliant Sword Heart fully activated, she didn’t waste too much energy in self-preservation—she believed that no matter what danger she might encounter, her Senior Brother could help her block them all.
Unfortunately, Wang Lu made a mistake. Though it was just an insignificant little delay in reaction, it has led to a bad consequence after all. The fact that he has betrayed the trust of his Junior Sister was the greatest impetus for Wang Lu’s action.
Non-Phase Sword did not have the ability to treat illness, and Wang Lu also has no instinct to cure when he was in the battle state. Thus, when the anger flooded his mind, his first reaction was to kill.
In the blink of an eye, Wang Lu has already flown straight before A Xia. His speed caught many of the Jindan Stage Elders in surprise.
Only A Xia still leisurely fluttered in mid-air as if he didn’t see the oncoming Wang Lu and didn’t see the burning rage in Wang Lu’s eyes.
"An act only. You can’t hurt me."
A Xia shook his head with a smile as pride overflowed his heart. Wang Lu’s momentum seemed ferocious, but in his eyes, it was no different than a dog trying to jump over a wall. Because...
"How can you hurt someone, my lord, Wang Lu?"
Whoosh!
Wang Lu’s blunt force momentum indeed stopped short of its target, three feet away from A Xia’s face.
From A Xia’s side, dozens of Beast Master School cultivators immediately surrounded Wang Lu. However, they were not in a hurry to make their move.
Seeing that the situation has already been set, A Xia’s smile turned even more complacent. "Do you find it really strange why I can recognize that you are not Yue Lu, but Wang Lu? Do you wonder why I know you’re only skilled in defense, but you can’t hurt anyone?"
During all these, A Xia had carefully observed Wang Lu’s reaction, but from his face, he didn’t see any change.
However, it was of no matter to him. A Xia couldn’t contain the excitement from his heart as he answered his own questions, "Among the successor disciples of the Five Unique, a few years ago, you suddenly broke to the fore with a big reputation, your defensive immortal cultivation method shocked everyone. Now, as long as one has vast experience, seeing that a young cultivator with not so high cultivation base yet expert in defense, one would inevitably think of you."
Actually, it was not that easy to guess. Nine Regions was vast. Talented cultivators and miracle-like fighting cases emerged one after another incessantly. In addition to those professionals who sold information for a living, it was difficult for ordinary people to master so many details. Young, defense expert, could do an over-rank fight… there were easily more than a thousand of such people. A Xia didn’t determine the opposite party’s identity according to this.
However, those words did work like a psychological attack against the opponent morale so that the other side felt that everything has fallen into his control, thus the opponent would not be able to wield one hundred percent of their power.
Moreover, the fact was also so. Wang Lu was constrained by his Big Heart Demon Oath. He simply could not hurt people using Immortal cultivation method. Although there was a little bit of flexibility there, he needed the other side to strike at him first before he could rebound the damage.
Would he make the first move? Of course not, therefore...
The next moment, however, a fist heavily landed on A Xia’s face and all his remaining train of thoughts broke into pieces.
The fist was not heavy, however, the burning strength that could burn the sky and boil the ocean imbued within that fist caused his internal organs to burn and him to spat out blood on the spot!
What kind of punch was this? A fist of fire? Burning heart fist? Or… no, how could he hurt me? He is constrained by the heart demon, how could he possibly hurt me!?
Why doesn't the heart demon kill him? He who disobeys the oath should die without a doubt! Why doesn’t he die?
The next moment, Wang Lu’s faint voice seeped into his ears.
"This is the harm that you gave me, I simply pay it back in double."
The next moment, the second heavy fist landed on A Xia’s face. He seemed to be in a sea of fire, and the body injury that he previously suppressed nearly broke out. And in the middle of this pain, a flash of light passed through A Xia’s mind as an incredible idea jumped out.
This is rebound injury! Could it be that sadness could be counted as injury!?
...
[1] Legend says that dragons have reverse scales that hold much of their power, but also their weakness. Anyone touches those scales would provoke the dragon. This came from the idiom 龙有逆鳞, which literally translated to dragons have reverse scales, meaning everyone has their ‘sensitive point’ which will enrage them if touched.