Chapter 12

Translator: Larbre Studio  Editor: Larbre Studio

Xu Yi had reached the peak of Body Forging and had skin as tough as hide and bones as hard as steel. Even with a blade, an ordinary person would not be able to penetrate his skin, but the wind from Zhou Shirong’s palm penetrated like an iron needle through bone.

He did not even dare to imagine what would happen if the strike had landed. Would his body actually explode from impact?

Just the wind from the strike was terrifying, and Xu Yi dared not face it head on. Like an agile snake, he slithered under the horse’s belly. As he did so, the sound of a fist breaking through the air exploded next to his ear.

Xu Yi’s heart almost leapt out of his mouth. He had never thought that a human fist could be capable of such power. By now, he knew in his heart that Zhou Shirong was not someone he could handle. He was truly too naïve when he thought he could kill the old thief’s son.

Although Xu Yi was stunned by Zhou Shirong’s power, Zhou Shirong, on the other hand, was also shocked by Xu Yi’s resilience.

With Zhou Shirong’s abilities, he easily identified Xu Yi’s current stage of cultivation. In the entire Lingxiao Hall, there was not a single person within the Body Forging stage and below who could avoid the kind of punch that he’d thrown. For Xu Yi to dodge it so easily shocked him greatly.

But Xu Yi was in no mood to figure out what Zhou Shirong was thinking. For him, this was a life and death situation. The cogs in his mind turned furiously, and he suddenly had an idea. He reached out and viciously pinched the horse’s belly. The white horse felt pain and immediately dashed meters ahead in a blink of an eye, dragging him along.

Xu Yi flipped back onto the horse, grabbed the reins, and steered the horse north. With his legs, he urged the horse to go faster, and the white horse increased its speed. In no time at all, they were over a dozen meters away from Zhou Shirong, who was still dazed from shock.

The wind howled as the sun began to set. Xu Yi rushed the horse with a whip and fled with all his might. Although he had never learnt any horse-riding skills, he had cultivated to the peak of Body forging. With his knowledge of body structure, flows of energy, and how to exert and redirect force, he rode the horse like a natural.

He sat on the horse, riding the wind, swaying naturally, and moving along with the horse.

What was more exceptional, however, was the white stallion under his legs. It performed better than any regular horse. With its hooves stretched out wide, every step it took was easily twice the distance a normal horse could move.

As Xu Yi was enjoying the sensation of riding a horse, the trees rustled behind him. He looked back, only for his eyes to almost pop out of his sockets in shock.

Zhou Shirong was flying through the air, stepping only on the tops of the large trees by the road. He had propelled his way forward as though he were flying. Within a few breaths, he quickly closed the 12 meter gap between them.

There were only a few meters left between them. Zhou Shirong leapt off the tree. With continuous strikes from both palms, a swirling air current was created out of nowhere. Xu Yi felt as though a tornado had been created in mid-air, threatening to suck him up into the sky.

Xu Yi had never seen such a skill before, which scared him out of his wits, but desperate to cling to life, he kicked hard at his stirrups. The strong force broke the stirrups, and the momentum carried downwards, sending him down to one side of the horse, almost causing him to fall off.

Using the downward momentum, Xu Yi’s body slanted to the side, and once more, he hid underneath the horse to avoid the blow.

The terrifying force suddenly vanished. Thankfully, the horse was as tall as a mountain. No matter what kind of wind blew, it would definitely not be able to blow past it to reach Xu Yi.

Although he was hiding underneath the horse, Xu Yi was still in great fear, as the abilities that Zhou Shirong had just displayed were beyond his understanding.

From what he knew, no matter how strong the force of a punch was, it still had to hit an object in order for its power to take effect. He had never heard of anyone using just the wind of a punch to kill someone.

But the attack that Zhou Shirong just performed was clearly a ranged attack. From a distance of three meters, an air current was created, and this air current was definitely not the kind of wind that was created from extremely high speed of a thrown fist. It was clearly the pure force of a palm.

And the force of that palm was greater than anything Xu Yi could imagine, even at the peak of Body Forging.

With that, Xu Yi could completely confirm that Zhou Shirong was definitely not still within the Body Forging stage. As he feared, he was already at the Qi Ocean stage, the same stage as his already deceased master, Liaochen.

As Xu Yi was truly fearing Zhou Shirong’s Martial Way cultivation, Zhou Shirong kicked off the ground again and caught up a dozen meters. With a gentle leap, he landed, standing on top of the horse’s back.

The white horse was indeed no ordinary horse. Even with the additional load of an extra man on its back, its speed hardly dropped. It continued to race onwards, wind whistling around it as it dashed as quick as lightning. To its left and right, the forests, trees, and huts quickly faded into the background in a blur.

Zhou Shirong was standing on the horse on both his feet, his white robes like snow, flowing gracefully in the strong wind. He looked like an immortal who had descended to the mortal realm.

But who could tell that, deep inside, this graceful Young Master Zhou was actually feeling anxious and angry all at once?

“Get off the horse. You’ve seen what I’m capable of. There is no need for your futile struggles. No matter what you have done to the Zhou family, just from the fact that you could time and again escape from my blows even though you are only at the peak of Body Forging, I shall allow you to end your life by your own hand!”

Zhou Shirong’s beautiful crescent-shaped brows bent as he finally decided to speak.

Xu Yi had seen bullshit before but nothing close to this level of bullshit. Xu Yi’s blood was boiling, but he managed to reply in a gentle voice, “The young master is kind indeed. I killed your uncle, slaughtered your cousin, burned your grand manor to the ground, and even took two pure gold biscuits. Even after all that, you allow me to take my own life. You’re simply too kind, so kind that you almost seem like a slave. I believe your ancestors must all be slaves.”

When it came to having a poisonous tongue, Young Master Zhou was definitely no match for the highly experienced Xu Yi.

In those words, there was not a single vulgarity, but each word picked at a sore spot.

Zhou Shirong almost bit on his own tongue. “You’re asking for death!”

Uttering his cry, his feet gently kicked off as he jumped off the horse, chopping towards the bottom of the horse with his palm, aiming straight at Xu Yi.

Although Xu Yi was busy fighting a battle of words, he was still very much focused. The moment the weight on the horse’s back was gone, the hairs on his back tingled. Shrinking his body to the side, he hid to the left side of the body. The horse was a grand and gigantic horse. By shrinking his body into a ball, his body was completely covered by the horse.

Zhou Shirong’s palm struck out as though it contained a bolt of lightning. As the force hit the ground, the impact made a deep hole, but it failed to hurt Xu Yi in the slightest.

“How dare you! I will make sure to capture you and toss you into a hive of a thousand ghosts! I’ll have you devoured so that neither your body nor your soul will be left!”

As he spoke, a vein was pulsing on his temple. The waves of anger were washing over his heart, with each wave higher than the last.

Even though Zhou Shirong knew that Xu Yi was the one who had killed the members of the Zhou family, he had never once thought much of Xu Yi. Right from the start, he was not even willing to utter a single word to Xu Yi.

That was because, in Zhou Shirong’s eyes, no matter how evil Xu Yi was, he was just an ant. And the way to deal with ants was just to stomp on them. There was no need for any talk.

But little did he expect that this ant would be so cunning, realising his weakness right from the start, and acting so haughtily up till now!

Indeed, Xu Yi had already found out Zhou Shirong’s weakness since the beginning: the white horse that he had been using as his shield.

At that time, when Zhou Shirong’s punch had come flying towards him, Xu Yi had felt a chill run down his spine, and he had slipped under the belly of the horse in order to evade the blow.

But after that, even though Zhou Shirong’s punch could have landed on something, the force of his punch exploded into a loud boom above the horse. Xu Yi then knew that, if not for the horse, he would have come to a miserable end.

The logic was simple. All Zhou Shirong had to do was to change his target mid-air and strike the horse. The moment the horse explodes from the impact, Xu Yi would definitely be hurt.

But Zhou Shirong chose to hit air instead of harming the white horse.

With that, Xu Yi knew that the white horse meant something significant to Zhou Shirong.

With Zhou Shirong’s weakness identified, how could Xu Yi not make use of this advantage?