14: Crimson Flame Sect surprise attack

A sharp, piercing whistle tore through the air.

By the campfire, the smile on Xiao Li's face instantly froze.

He looked down in disbelief at the tip of a flaming spear, radiating scorching heat, that had pierced straight through his chest.

Through that charred, bowl-sized hole, the flickering firelight behind him was still visible... He opened his mouth, wanting to continue demonstrating the sword move he hadn't finished, but only scalding blood surged up his throat.

The light in his eyes quickly dimmed, and his body went limp, falling heavily into the nearby stream and splashing up a blinding spray of blood-red.

"Xiao Li!!" Third Brother Wang let out a sorrowful cry, his eyes instantly turning bloodshot.

"Enemy attack! Chiyan Sect! Form a formation!!" Senior Brother Zhao Qian roared, his longsword already unsheathed and humming.

To the left, a scorching fireball the size of a millstone trailed black smoke as it let out a dull whistle, slamming violently into a Utility Disciple who was trying to pour spiritual energy into the formation's eye.

"No!" The Disciple only had time to let out a desperate scream before being instantly swallowed by the flames.

He didn't even have a chance to struggle before turning into a human-shaped piece of charcoal emitting green smoke.

To the right, a dense shower of ice spikes, glinting with a cold light, rained down.

Two Outer Sect Disciples with quick reactions drew their longswords and formed the simplest Liangyi Sword Formation, their blades humming as they glowed with a faint spiritual light.

"Hold them back," one of them said, frantically pouring spiritual energy into his sword.

Puh-puh-puh-puh!

The ice spikes easily tore through the fragile sword-light shield, and countless bloody holes instantly appeared on their bodies as blood sprayed out.

Terror and resentment still lingered in the eyes of those two Disciples, but their bodies had already collapsed heavily to the ground.

Directly ahead, invisible wind blades swept past; several Utility Disciples running to take cover found their upper bodies separating from their lower halves as they ran, their internal organs and intestines spilling onto the ground with a wet thud.

The ground beneath them suddenly split open, and sharp stone spikes erupted from the earth, impaling several terrified Utility Disciples directly upon them.

"Let's fight them to the death!" Big Ox's eyes were blood-red as he roared, lifting a heavy wooden shield nearby and charging toward Lin Feng, intending to block the incoming ice spikes for him.

"Don't, Big Ox!" Lin Feng shouted urgently.

But it was too late.

A massive rolling stone, carrying immense force, came whistling through the air and smashed precisely against the wooden shield.

Crack.

The wooden shield, along with the sturdy body behind it, was instantly smashed to pieces.

It was a mangled mess of flesh and blood, with only the deformed wooden shield left embedded in the gore.

Seeing his close friend's gruesome death, Third Brother Wang collapsed to the ground in terror, his crotch instantly soaking wet.

Lin Feng's heart pounded wildly, feeling as if it were about to explode.

Senior Brother Zhao Qian was surrounded by three Cultivators, his spiritual energy surging violently as his Qi Refining Sixth Layer cultivation erupted.

"Chiyan Sect scum! Come and fight!" He let out a roar, neither dodging nor evading as he executed a Splitting Mount Hua strike, forcefully hacking back a Chiyan Sect Cultivator who was trying to attack head-on, sending him and his Magical Artifact stumbling back with split hands.

But because of this, he left himself wide open.

Another Cultivator holding a scimitar seized this fleeting opportunity, slashing his blade directly at Zhao Qian's right shoulder, which was exposed from the force of his strike.

Although Zhao Qian dodged at the last possible second, the blade still tore through his protective spiritual light and clothing, drawing a spray of eye-catching blood.

On the other side, Senior Brother Sun Hao summoned a Small Bronze Shield.

The ancient-looking small shield spun rapidly in front of him, emitting an earthy yellow halo; though it didn't seem large, it always managed to appear precisely at the most dangerous spots.

A Chiyan Sect Cultivator thought he saw an opening and brought his Ghost-head Saber hacking down.

Sun Hao shifted his footing, his body lightly evading the blade while simultaneously thrusting and flicking his longsword, the tip piercing the Cultivator's vital underarm area exposed by the momentum of his strike.

The Cultivator screamed as his entire arm instantly went limp, and the Ghost-head Saber flew from his hand.

With a flick of his wrist and a flash of sword-light, Sun Hao ended the man's life.

Immediately, two more Chiyan Sect Cultivators with noticeably stronger auras attacked from both sides.

He was forced onto the defensive, with sword-light and shield shadows intertwining; though he remained as steady as a rock for the moment, blocking all their attacks, he was completely pinned down and could no longer spare any attention for anything else, let alone support the others.

Seeing that the two strongest combatants on the Tianxuan Sect's side were now barely holding their own and locked in bitter struggles, Lin Feng grabbed Third Brother Wang: "Let's go."

"There's another one trying to run," a cold voice rang out as a Chiyan Sect Disciple at the Fourth Level of Qi Refining spotted them, lunging forward with a cruel grin, his blade aimed straight for the back of Third Brother Wang's heart.

Without a second thought, Lin Feng shoved Third Brother Wang behind a nearby tree while he dodged the blade. That sliver of Sword Intent within him condensed at his fingertip with unprecedented speed, and instead of retreating, he advanced, tapping toward the opponent's wrist holding the saber.

"Puh!" A faint, muffled sound echoed.

The Chiyan Sect Disciple felt a numbness in his wrist as a surge of energy instantly pierced his Meridians, leaving his entire arm limp and weak, and his steel saber clattered to the ground.

He looked at Lin Feng in horror, unable to comprehend how a Menial Servant could break through his spiritual energy defense.

Lin Feng didn't linger for the fight, kicking him over violently before pulling the terrified Third Brother Wang along to sprint again: "Run!"

The two stumbled deep into the dense forest. Piercing screams and explosions echoed continuously behind them. Third Brother Wang's legs felt weak, and tears and snot streamed down his face: "It's over... it's all over... Xiao Li... Big Ox..."

"Don't look back. Run if you don't want to die," Lin Feng growled, his heart beating like a drum as he pushed his spiritual energy to the limit.

Suddenly, a sharp ice spike shot silently from the side of the forest, aimed straight for the crown of Third Brother Wang's head.

Lin Feng caught it out of the corner of his eye and could only shove him forward.

The ice spike grazed Lin Feng's arm as it flew past, carving a bloody gash deep enough to see the bone; the freezing chill instantly invaded, numbing half of his arm.

The ice spike embedded itself deep into the tree trunk behind them with a dull thud.

"Senior Brother Lin!" Third Brother Wang cried out in alarm when he saw Lin Feng's bleeding arm.

"Hurry, go! Run separately. If even one survives, it's enough." Enduring the sharp pain and cold, Lin Feng pushed him in another direction while he turned and charged without hesitation toward where the ice spike had been fired.

"Senior Brother Lin!" Third Brother Wang's tearful cries were quickly cut off by the trees.

Lin Feng fled for his life, the wound on his arm bleeding continuously. The sounds of pursuing footsteps drew closer and closer. His spiritual energy was depleting rapidly, and his vision began to blur.

'I can't die! I absolutely cannot die here!'

His intense will to survive and the medicinal power accumulated from the qi condensing pills he'd taken over the past few days were completely triggered by the threat of death.

Boom.

Qi Refining Third Layer.

In this life-or-death moment, he had actually achieved a Breakthrough.

The sound of pursuit was already right behind him.

A glint of determined ruthlessness flashed in Lin Feng's eyes as he stopped and turned around.

In his hand, he already gripped a sharp piece of broken wood.

The Chiyan Sect Cultivator who was pursuing clearly hadn't expected him to turn back suddenly and was momentarily stunned.

In that split second, Lin Feng poured all his newly gained spiritual energy and that sliver of Sword Intent into the broken wood. His body shot forward like a taut bowstring, and the broken wood became a blurred shadow, piercing straight toward the opponent's heart.