89 Handstands and Sudden Diarrhea

Yu Ce did not answer. In silence, he lifted the black longbow in his hand, raised his arm, and drew it to a full moon in one motion. Three black-feathered arrows burst forth.

As though endowed with spirit, the arrows whirled in an instant and formed a single line, all aimed straight at Qin Chuan’s brow.

Qin Chuan frowned. Sword light flowed about him, shimmering under the pale glow like a white fish gliding through water.

Clink, clink, clink.

In a heartbeat, the arrows were struck aside one after another and scattered to the ground around them.

Heavy as they were, they were fine enough for a sneak attack, but once exposed they posed little threat. He merely staggered back half a step before steadying himself.

Yu Ce is surely not skilled at long-range fighting, and yet he has taken up a longbow. Why not simply charge in? With his cultivation so far above mine, he ought to be far more formidable that way.

Thoughts raced through Qin Chuan’s mind as his keen gaze swept toward the white-haired man before him, whose hair had turned white from the use of a forbidden art.

Yu Ce’s left hand, gripping the bow, trembled almost imperceptibly.

Only for an instant, yet it sent a spark of delight through Qin Chuan’s heart.

“He has surely suffered too much from forcing that forbidden art. His vital energy must be badly depleted. At this point he is probably a spent crossbow.”

Yu Ce seemed not to notice that his weakness had been seen through. Once more he raised the longbow, aiming at Qin Chuan’s brow.

His hand shook even more now, as though he were on the verge of collapse. A sickly flush colored his face, and even his chest rose and fell unsteadily from drawing the bow to the full.

Seeing his chance, Qin Chuan took several quick steps forward, closing in as sword light blazed in his hand, feinting a downward strike.

Four zhang, three zhang... one zhang!

At that very moment, Yu Ce’s wavering aura abruptly solidified. A sharp light flashed in his eyes, and a cold, sinister smile spread across his face. He simply put away the longbow, reached to his waist, drew out a skull the size of a fist, and slammed it hard.

Countless chainlike strands of luminous force burst madly from the skull’s empty eye sockets, coiling toward Qin Chuan. In his heart, Yu Ce roared, already picturing Qin Chuan dying and falling.

Just when he thought success was in hand!

Qin Chuan abruptly halted, stopping neatly a full zhang away, a smile on his face. Clearly he had seen through everything long ago.

Though his body stopped, the sword light in his hand did not. In a flash, it poured out in full, transforming into a bright streak that swept not toward Yu Ce... no, not Yu Ce, but the space behind him.

After striking once, Qin Chuan withdrew at once, leaving the countless chains to seize empty air.

Seeing Qin Chuan suddenly freeze in place, Yu Ce’s expression changed. Then he saw the sword light slash obliquely toward the rear, and his heart lurched.

“Not good!”

Behind him, in an inconspicuous corner, lay a large number of talismans, along with yin-yang thunder beads.

Boom!

A violent shockwave, wrapped in a thunderous explosion, swallowed Yu Ce whole.

Qin Chuan only heard him cry out in misery. He had no intention of rushing in to finish him off; instead he turned and sprinted toward Jade Mat Mountain.

His cultivation is far above mine. As long as I give him even the slightest opening, whether he lives or dies, I will be the one in mortal peril. Since he dared to pursue me, he must have relied on something.

I do not insist on this blood pill.

First, I have no idea whether the rumor is true, that only those who cultivate the Heart of Heaven technique can use it. Second, the matter of the Innate Realm is still far beyond me.

At present, any cultivator in the Innate Realm is either a prodigy of rare brilliance or someone blessed with heaven-sent fortune.

Qin Chuan had also guessed that the blood pill could be used to break through into the Innate Realm. Though tempted for an instant, reason quickly reined him in.

The roar behind him lasted a full breath before Yu Ce’s furious howls followed.

His condition was already poor; if not for the fact that his cultivation towered over Qin Chuan’s, he would have died countless times over already.

And precisely because of that, his rage burned all the hotter.

Yu Ce was a core disciple of the Heavenly Heart Sect, his status exalted beyond measure. The sect had planned for decades, and who knew how many more years beyond that, before at last reserving this opportunity for him.

That alone said much.

Yet he had never imagined that one day he would be humiliated repeatedly by an ant not even beyond the Postnatal Realm.

He had feared the ghostly Seventh of Qi Refinement, wary that the man might trick him into close combat, and yet he had been played in the palm of another’s hand instead.

He tore his tattered clothes apart and flung them aside, revealing a bloodied upper body. Though he looked miserable, these were only flesh wounds; the true injury was the backlash from forcing the Blood Hand Seal.

His dantian was in chaos. Had he not taken medicinal pills to suppress it, he would scarcely have been able to cast even a single spell at this moment.

“I spent more than ten years in the stronghold for this blood pill. The thousand faces there were too wary, so I dared not stir the slightest wisp of spiritual energy. My spells have grown rusty indeed, and the marks on many of my treasures have loosened.”

“Otherwise, I would have slain the two of you long before you reached the Blood Pool!”

“The matter of the blood pill is a supreme secret. Master told only a handful of people, and not a word more. That is why, though this affair is hidden, no elder has come to assist.”

“Master said I am descended from an ancient hidden clan, and that my bloodline has even a trace of ancestral return. In my life, I can activate that forbidden art only once.”

“If I wait until after reaching the Innate Realm to use this palm, it will surely shake heaven and earth!”

“But...”

He turned back, his gaze piercing through layers of tree shadow to the wreckage of Mount Float. In his eyes there was only hatred.

“Today, you must die. If not, I’ll eat my own hat.”

Turning back, his face was full of baleful fury, no one could tell whether it was to avoid actually eating his hat or for some other reason.

He took out a pill, crushed it with a casual pinch into powder, and stuffed it into his mouth, smearing the remainder over his body at random.

His feet did not dare pause for even a moment. In an instant he had already put dozens of zhang behind him. His upper body blazed red-hot, like heated iron; if splashed with cold water, it would surely boil at once.

“Ah!”

“Take your life!”

Qin Chuan had not expected that, in barely ten breaths of time, Yu Ce would already be within three zhang of his back!

In shock, he suddenly heard a tearing sound cutting through the air behind him. Too late to turn, he could only twist aside on instinct.

Rip.

The sound of cloth splitting rang out as a sharp arrow tore through the fabric at his rear, sending a chill wind rushing in. Qin Chuan’s heart jumped; he cried out in lucky relief. Had that arrow shifted just half an inch more, he would have been ruined...

Damn it!

His cultivation is still far above mine. If this stalemate continues, I will be caught sooner or later!

Thinking this, he quickly reached to his waist, and his heart sank to the depths—he was almost out of yin-yang thunder beads.

With no time to grieve, he pinched two between his fingers, infused them with spiritual energy, and hurled them backward toward the place his instincts warned him about.

“Oh-ho!”

“Curse that damned bird!”

“Are those pills or spells?”

Yu Ce was blasted squarely, and hurriedly suppressed the nearly exploding aura within his dantian, roaring in fury.

Qin Chuan was delighted to see some result, but he did not attack immediately.

Pill-treasures like the yin-yang thunder beads were truly rare; it was no wonder others mistook them.

Seeing that Qin Chuan did not throw out any more strange beads, Yu Ce felt somewhat relieved. Yet in the next instant his rage only deepened. Taking a long breath, he flipped the longbow in his hand and nocked four arrows.

At that very moment, as though Qin Chuan had eyes at the back of his head, he suddenly tossed down another bead. A gust of cold wind swept it along, and it happened to fly straight toward Yu Ce’s head.

With a cry, Yu Ce’s force leaked away, and the four arrows shot aimlessly into the surrounding brush without any accuracy at all.

Fortunately, he reacted in time and barely escaped the force raised by the yin-yang thunder bead.

Otherwise, he would have been torn open again, losing still more spiritual energy and increasing the pressure in his dantian.

Though enraged to the point of madness, he could only keep close behind, never daring to advance, loosing an arrow now and then. Qin Chuan had no spiritual sense, relying only on guesswork and timing, and could not control matters with fine precision.

Back and forth, he could not avoid taking some wounds.

Though none were fatal, his clothes were in tatters. Counting roughly, he had seven or eight injuries; the most severe was a gaping wound opened along the outer thigh.

Under ordinary circumstances, he could have used spiritual energy to stop the bleeding for the moment and been fine. But now he was racing without pause, and could not attend to everything at once. Even with the Circulating Breath and Dust-Settling Art, he could only improve matters slightly.

When Qin Chuan cast away the last yin-yang thunder bead and reached again toward his waist, his hand suddenly paused, as though stung by a scorpion.

“Damn it, I’m almost out of yin-yang thunder beads!”

With a quick rub he felt it clearly: only three or five remained.

Yu Ce seemed to notice Qin Chuan’s oddity and laughed heartily. After swallowing another pill, he gave a low shout and closed in at once.

His face held that sickly flush, and his body trembled faintly. He clenched his teeth, clearly not in good condition.

Even so, he still flung himself forward without regard for his own safety, proof enough that the killing intent in his heart was utterly resolute.

The spiritual energy within his body had become hopelessly chaotic. He had suppressed it again and again with medicinal pills, like someone suffering diarrhea but unable to find a latrine. His trembling was due to that very thing, and it was truly lamentable.

“You want me dead?”

Qin Chuan gave a cold snort, drew something from his storage pouch, and flung it far away.

No one could tell what it was. It floated lightly down among the low grass on either side, drifting with the wind.

“Heh, what trick are you playing now? Though this time your aim is hardly any good.”

With a cold laugh, Yu Ce joined two fingers like a spear, ready to thrust into Qin Chuan’s back. Then he suddenly heard Qin Chuan say, “The skin, and the fire talismans!”

Yu Ce’s expression changed. He whirled at once to look behind him, only to see a faint scatter of firelight dancing in the moonlight.

“Careful, there’s more here!”

As though he had guessed Yu Ce’s mind exactly, Qin Chuan abruptly drew out another and tossed it to the side.

Yu Ce’s face changed drastically. The skin was an extraordinarily important item for using the blood pill; lose even one, and the chance of success dropped by one measure.

He had acquired the blood pill through secret methods, only to fail before he could even use it?

Never!

He tapped the ground repeatedly with his toes, made one final leap, and barely intercepted the skin in time, tearing off the fire talisman on it just as quickly.

What are these black-and-white beads?

The thought had barely risen when the bead suddenly shattered.

Boom!

When the yin-yang thunder bead exploded, it was equivalent to the full-force strike of a second-level Qi Refinement cultivator, but in the end it still could not inflict a truly fatal wound on Yu Ce.

Amid the thunderous blast, he cried out in agony. His face was covered in blood, and his eyes were bloodshot.

He turned back to glare at Qin Chuan, his gaze even more ghastly now. His feet suddenly drove him forward, a claw sweeping at the back of Qin Chuan’s head, while black threads shot instantly from between the seams of his five fingers, flashing like lightning toward Qin Chuan.

But Qin Chuan used the same trick again, and at this critical moment he tossed out yet another piece of skin, flinging it viciously into the brush.

A vicious light flashed in Yu Ce’s eyes, and he no longer hesitated. Qin Chuan had been leading him by the nose all along, clearly holding the advantage yet somehow restricting himself at every turn.

If one hesitates too long, disaster will surely follow!

“Even if I lose this skin, I will still take your life first!”

The black threads sped up another notch, paying no heed to the piece of skin.