Chapter 42: A Matter of Life and Death (Part II)

Jiao Yujian stared at the figure not far away, his expression growing increasingly ferocious.

The more powerful the strength Li Qing displayed, the more it indicated that the fortuitous opportunities he had obtained were terrifying.

However, all of this would eventually come to an end.

"Die! Everything belongs to me!" Jiao Yujian roared coldly.

*Whoosh! Whoosh!*

The Black Wood Sword descended toward Li Qing with an unstoppable momentum, aiming straight for Li Qing's head.

Clearly, Jiao Yujian was unwilling to give Li Qing even a single chance.

At this moment, not far away, Li Qing's body was curled up and his eyes were tightly shut; only his facial muscles were twitching rhythmically.

The injuries to his divine soul had become increasingly severe. The immense pain had almost stripped him of his ability to think.

"Wake up!"

In an instant, a flash of clarity ignited in the depths of Li Qing's mind. He could already faintly sense the tearing aura of the descending Black Wood Sword.

"No, I cannot fall here!" Li Qing let out an unwilling roar within his heart.

With the blessing of the Sea-Suppressing Pearl, the Great Dao of Longevity had only just begun; how could he perish in a place like this?

Under the crisis of life and death, and through his sheer, stubborn willpower, he finally forcibly suppressed the endless pain in his mind and slowly opened his eyes.

*Swish!*

The Black Wood Sword had already appeared directly above his head.

In this desperate situation, relying on his powerful physical body, Li Qing kicked off the ground violently, his entire form twisting slightly as he lunged toward Jiao Yujian.

Seeing Li Qing charging toward him, Jiao Yujian actually wore a smile.

"Junior Brother Li, I have encountered countless people, but I never expected that someone like you would exist within the outer sect. You even caused that genius inner sect disciple to fall at your hands. Unfortunately, you are bound to die this time."

Thinking of the opportunities and treasures on Li Qing's person, Jiao Yujian's smile grew even more brilliant.

Standing in place, he allowed the mana within his body to surge once more. A massive cyan mana shield immediately appeared.

He was, after all, at the eighth level of Qi Refinement, and he had already suppressed the chaos of the mana within his body just moments ago. Furthermore, he had seen Li Qing's current miserable state.

From a distance, one could see thin strands of purple lightning weaving around Li Qing's charging figure, and his body was heavily stained with blood. In particular, his right arm was covered in large, cracked wounds.

He was clearly at the point of exhaustion, his life force nearly spent. In such a state, it would be impossible for him to break through the mana shield.

On the other side, the Black Wood Sword had already turned back, arriving behind Li Qing in the blink of an eye.

Faced with the choice between life and death, Li Qing's expression actually regained an extreme sense of calm. The moment he had charged out, he had already understood the current situation. Now, he was truly making a desperate, final stand.

*Whoosh! Whoosh!*

At that exact moment, the Thunder Spirit Technique began to circulate once more. Faint lightning power flowed out from his somewhat depleted spiritual apertures.

"Disperse!" Li Qing roared with a crazed expression.

The Thunder Spirit Technique operated frantically. A terrifying suction force extracted the very last trace of power from within his spiritual apertures. The six spiritual apertures on his legs once again violently surged with purple lightning power.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

Strange sounds erupted. As he over-extracted the lightning power from his spiritual apertures, the previously opened apertures could no longer hold up and began to collapse one after another.

Upon closer inspection, six bloody holes had appeared on Li Qing's legs where the apertures had burst. He looked increasingly tragic, with surging blood flowing wildly across the ground.

Li Qing showed no reaction to this; amidst the continuous, endless pain, he had begun to go numb.

*Swish!*

Bolstered by the lightning power following the collapse of his leg apertures, Li Qing once again charged toward Jiao Yujian like an arrow released from a bow.

"Damn it, how does this man still have hidden strength?" Jiao Yujian's expression changed drastically, and fear surfaced in his eyes.

He currently lacked the ability to summon another defensive magic tool. Just as he intended to retreat, Li Qing had already closed the distance. At such close range, he was naturally not faster than Li Qing.

Seeing the terror on Jiao Yujian's face, Li Qing instead revealed a savage grin.

"Disperse!"

*Whoosh! Whoosh!*

The spiritual apertures beneath his right arm also began to collapse, continuously spewing out surging lightning power. In an instant, a mass of purple lightning crashed violently against Jiao Yujian's mana shield.

Simultaneously, the spiritual apertures beneath Li Qing's left arm also collapsed, once again unleashing waves of lightning power.

This was his only chance; Li Qing would not allow even a single mistake.

*Boom! Bang! Bang! Bang!*

The terrifying power of the lightning erupted continuously. In an instant, Jiao Yujian's mana shield began to shatter.

"No... impossible..."

Amidst Jiao Yujian's terrified roar, the mana shield collapsed instantly.

At this moment, there was finally nothing left between the two men. Jiao Yujian looked forward to see a purple figure descending upon him.

"No!"

Having lost his mana shield, Jiao Yujian no longer had the means to resist. No matter how severe Li Qing's injuries were, he was still a body cultivator.

*Boom!*

A fist enveloped in purple lightning crushed Jiao Yujian's head.

*Splatter!*

A spray of blood bloomed in the air. Just like Jue Hen who had died earlier, Jiao Yujian was left as nothing more than a half-corpse lying on the ground.

After Jiao Yujian's death, the Black Wood Sword lost its master's control and fell to the ground.

*Thud!*

Li Qing could no longer support his heavily wounded body and fell to one knee on the ground. In his mind, pain mixed with a sense of dizziness kept washing over him.

But Li Qing knew he had more important things to do right now.

He stumbled toward Jiao Yujian's side. After opening Jiao Yujian's storage bag, Li Qing found two Solidification Pills inside. Without hesitation, he swallowed them immediately.

The medicinal power of the pills slowly melted within his body. At the same time, he swallowed a Nourishing Essence Pill to begin calming the backlash of the mana within him.

The only regret was that he found no pills for recovering divine sense among Jiao Yujian's supplies. Any treasure related to the divine soul was extremely expensive; it was normal for a mere late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator like Jiao Yujian not to have any.

A quarter of an hour later, Li Qing finally regained some strength. He lifted his head and slowly surveyed his surroundings. After finding no suspicious persons, a ball of flame appeared atop Jiao Yujian's corpse. The late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator Jiao Yujian was thus reduced to ashes.

With a pale face, Li Qing scoured the surrounding battlefield. He was currently operating almost entirely on sheer willpower to handle the aftermath. He also collected the fallen Black Wood Sword and placed it into the Sea-Suppressing Pearl.

Li Qing organized his own storage bag once more, placing everything unrelated to him into the Sea-Suppressing Pearl. Subsequently, he took several ordinary talismans from Jiao Yujian's storage bag and set off a series of explosions around the area. Only after the surrounding aura became incredibly chaotic and lost any distinctive features did Li Qing stop.

With Jiao Yujian dead, Li Qing's crisis had diminished. No one knew that Jue Hen's death was related to Li Qing. As for Jiao Yujian, he was just an ordinary late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator; the sect certainly wouldn't investigate thoroughly, nor would they find any traces leading back to Li Qing.

Everything unrelated to Li Qing himself had been stored in the Sea-Suppressing Pearl. After settling the surroundings, Li Qing thought for a moment and then, dragging his heavily injured body, headed toward the spirit mine cave.

While traveling, Li Qing did not treat his wounds at all; some wounds even occasionally dripped blood.

When he was halfway through his journey, he noticed several streaks of light appearing ahead. Without a doubt, it was Meng Kan and the other three.

The changes in the mine had merely been a scheme devised by Jiao Yujian himself. That nest of Jade-Devouring Insects had also been sought out by Jiao Yujian. Since there were no Jade-Devouring Insects in the spirit mine, Meng Kan and the others would soon be able to uncover the truth.

Seeing the newcomers approaching, Li Qing began to call out toward them: "Fellow Daoist Meng!"