Chapter 43 Clashing with Essence Condensation

"No!" Instructor Nie shouted out in horror as he witnessed his comrade die at the hands of Nanhong Yechang.

The shock caused him to slow down ever so slightly, and this momentary delay in his movements actually allowed another demon martial artist to catch right up to him!

"Damn it!" Instructor Nie hurriedly brought up his spear to defend against the demon's powerful strike.

"Instructor Nie, watch out!" a human martial artist quickly turned upon seeing how things played out.

"Help him!" the other human martial artist similarly spun around to help.

Seeing this, even Hu Shenwei and Lu Tianzi stopped in their tracks. Except for them, the entire team had turned around to clash with the demons!

They could not possibly just abandon the rest of their team and leave!

"Human trash! Die as the weakling that you are!" the demon's sabre slashed down, meeting Instructor Nie's spear in mid air.

As the two weapons came into contact, it was as though Instructor Nie's spear was completely non-existent as the demon's sabre directly passed through it, splitting it into halves!

"Damn it!" Instructor Nie hurriedly retreated after losing his weapon.

But how would the demon martial artist allow him to escape just like that?

Seeing that Instructor Nie's spear was now in two separate pieces, the eyes of the demon martial artist lit up in bloodlust. He immediately followed up with another attack, determined to reap the life of his target!

"Don't even think about it!"

At this moment, the two other human martial artists had arrived by Instructor Nie's side. One on the left of Instructor Nie and the other one on the right, the two of them struck out simultaneously towards the demon.

Clang-!

The demon's sabre collided heavily with the two swords, but the end result caused the demon to widen his eyes in disbelief.

The combined strength of the two human martial artists actually managed to stop the demon's slash!

However, that was already the best that they could do. As for forcing back the demon martial artist, that was simply impossible.

After all, their strength was far below that of their opponent's.

Just to match the attack of an Essence Condensation realm martial artist like their opponent, it already took them a great deal of teamwork, coupled with seamless synergy between their attacks in order to accomplish such a feat!

Such a thing would not be possible if they had not already known each other for so long, to the point of fully understanding each other's skills, thoughts, and strength.

"Retreat!" Hu Shenwei once again conveyed his voice to his three comrades who were engaged with the opponent, afraid that they would be held down by their opponent.

But it was already too late.

Even if they had not slowed down, the demons would have caught up to them sooner or later. However, this small exchange had allowed the rest of the demons to catch up immediately!

Even Nanhong Yechang had already swiftly pulled his sword out from the motionless corpse of his first victim before heading over.

At this time, even if the three human martial artists other than Hu Shenwei and Lu Tianzi wanted to retreat, it was already impossible for them to do so.

"Damn it!" Lu Tianzi cursed under his breath.

Against such a lineup for their opponents, there was no way for them to win this battle!

And that was not even considering the other seven demons with lower cultivation realms. They might not have caught up yet, but it was definitely only a matter of time before they did.

Lu Tianzi stole a quick glance at Hu Shenwei, who looked just as conflicted as he did.

However, what Lu Tianzi did not know was that Hu Shenwei was feeling an even greater dilemma than him.

If the group was completely wiped out, then even if Hu Shenwei managed to survive and return to Ivory Rock City, he would have to bear the responsibility of their deaths!

That would severely damage his claim as the legitimate successor to his father's position in the future!

But if he turned back and helped out, then what if he got too entangled to escape?

His life was the most important after all!

Since that was the case, all he could do now was to attempt to create another opening for the rest to break away from the demons.

"Get the Essence Condensation realm one!" Nanhong Yechang suddenly ordered.

Alarm bells instantly sounded off in Hu Shenwei's mind as he heard that. He watched in horror as four of the demons headed straight for him, ignoring every single one of his teammates!

This group even included Nanhong Yechang himself, only lacking the demon who was clashing with his three teammates. It was obvious that the demons saw Hu Shenwei as the greatest threat, wanting to take him out first.

"Shit!"

Facing such a dire situation, Hu Shenwei immediately abandoned all thoughts of helping his teammates as he turned to escape. Before anything else, he needed to get away from the demons and ensure his own safety!

But as opposed to Hu Shenwei, Lu Tianzi saw this as a wonderful opportunity!

He ignored Hu Shenwei and directly slipped past the four approaching demons, heading straight for Instructor Nie's group instead.

The other four demons definitely noticed his actions, but did not think much of it, choosing to focus on pursuing the fleeing Hu Shenwei.

After all, what could Essence Building realm martial artists possibly do to Essence Condensation realm martial artists?

So what if one more of them joined the fray?

At this moment, the demon facing Instructor Nie's group was already slashing down with his sabre, this time galvanising the Slaughter Essence in his inner world to the limit, not wanting to give the human martial artists any room for a breather!

A dark aura shrouded the sabre, applying an unknown pressure on the three Essence Building realm martial artists even before the clash. This unknown pressure directly affected their control over their inner world, resulting in them being unable to draw upon all of their strength in defence.

They were already weaker than their opponent originally. With their strength further weakened, how would they be able to match the full power strike of an Essence Condensation realm martial artist?

The three of them including Instructor Nie worked together and struck out at the exact same time, struggling with all their might to resist.

Bang-!

Their weapons completely burst apart upon impact with the dark sabre of the demon's, sending fragments flying out in all directions!

The demon stepped back slightly in the face of the onslaught of fragments, but was eventually able to deflect the incoming fragments with a few precise swings of his sabre.

However, the three human martial artists were not so lucky.

They suffered a disadvantage during the clash and the blood within them was already violently tumbling as they were pushed back from the impact. There was simply no way for them to recover fast enough to guard against the fragments!

The flying fragments cut their bodies in dozens of different places, causing the human martial artists to be drenched in their own blood.

Even after this, the demon did not let up.

He immediately rushed forward once more, intending to quickly finish off the job here before rejoining his comrades in their pursuit of Hu Shenwei.

Once again, his sabre was shrouded in a dark aura as he struck down, aiming right at Instructor Nie!

Instructor Nie had already lost his weapon, his spear broken into halves and then split into pieces after that. So how could he resist?

All Instructor Nie could do was to stare hopelessly at the incoming sabre, ready to accept his fate.

But this time, the demon's blade failed to find its intended target.

Right when he was about to hit Instructor Nie, the demon suddenly sensed a sword at his side, piercing forward straight towards him. If he followed through with his attack, then he would definitely be struck by the sword!

To be injured just to kill off an Essence Building realm human martial artist, that was simply too unfair of a trade!

With that in mind, the demon immediately abandoned his attack on Instructor Nie, instead redirecting his sabre to match the incoming sword.

Clang-!

The screeching sound of metal grinding against metal echoed out as the demon's strike was once again matched evenly in a frontal slash.

But this time was completely different from before, when the two human martial artists worked together and managed to block his attack.

This time, the demon had used a combat skill that materialised his Slaughter Essence. By all rights, there was no way that an Essence Building realm opponent would be able to stand up to it!

Yet at this moment, the truth was laid bare before his eyes.

He was actually locking weapons with a human at the Peak Essence Building realm, unable to gain the slightest bit of advantage!

And this human standing opposed to him was naturally Lu Tianzi.

A thin film coated the sword in Lu Tianzi's hands, completely neutralising the dark aura from the demon's sabre!

The demon's eyes widened in disbelief, momentarily unable to accept what was happening.

It was not just the demon either. Even the other three human martial artists, including Instructor Nie, were completely shocked at what they were seeing.

Even though they had already seen how imposing Lu Tianzi was when he stared down numerous demons at the Essence Building realm, there was a huge gulf between the Essence Building and Essence Condensation realms!

Only Lu Tianzi was completely focused at this moment, and this gave him a small opening to carry out his next move.

With a quick wave of his other hand, Lu Tianzi threw out a cloud of powder, instantly swallowing the demon within.

Bone Numbing Powder!

"Bastard!" the demon immediately drew back while holding his breath.

With the powder appearing at such a juncture, how could the demon not understand that it was definitely more than what it seemed?

Lu Tianzi's eyes glinted with a sharp light as he pursued, not wanting to give the demon a chance to recover his stance.

Another clash of weapons, followed by another cloud of powder.

With that, Lu Tianzi forced the demon to retreat once again.

Just as Lu Tianzi was about to continue his pursuit, he suddenly noticed Hu Shenwei returning from the direction that he escaped in, the four demons from before still hot on his heels.

In fact, Hu Shenwei's shirt was already drenched by blood.

Apparently, he had suffered a severe blow during the escape, before finally returning to meet up with them again.

Lu Tianzi's eyes turned cold immediately.

By coming back right now, was Hu Shenwei deliberately leading the other demons back to them because he could not escape by himself?

There was no way to win a full frontal clash with the demons, so that meant Hu Shenwei must be intending to use them as a meatshield while he made his own escape!