18: Chapter 18: Slap the Fireball into His Chest

The Red Snake Sect's second team moved three times slower than the first.

The Cultivator in the lead pushed a corpse aside with his shield. As the corpse flipped over, a hole pierced by a short blade was revealed in its chest. A detection talisman slid across the corpse, but the talisman's fire only produced a few wisps of blue smoke; there was no explosion, nor did any poisonous powder fly out.

"Clear the area," the front-row Cultivator whispered. "The traps have been used up."

The Inner Sect Disciple did not relax. The snake bone beads on his left wrist clicked against his bracer. His gaze swept across the corpses, broken tiles, and snapped beams, finally landing on a few Taichu Sect laborers in the distance.

Those laborers were carrying a broken Formation Plate as they ran toward the depths of the Inner Courtyard. One of them slipped, and the Formation Plate fell to the ground, splitting in two.

From behind a crumbling wall, the Chuunibyou Youth's voice cracked as he shouted: "Don't drop it! That's the last piece of the formation eye!"

The Inner Sect Disciple raised his hand.

The team halted.

He stared at the half of the Formation Plate, watching one laborer scramble over to hug the fragments before being dragged away by another. The two argued for a few moments; their voices were chaotic, and their footsteps even more so.

"Senior Brother?" one of the men behind him asked.

The Inner Sect Disciple took out a fine needle and flicked it at a corpse by the roadside. The needle sank into the burial clothes, but the corpse did not move. He flicked another needle toward the bloody mud beside the broken Formation Plate; the mud splattered, revealing only stone slabs underneath.

He finally took a step forward.

"In and out quickly," he said. "Get the formation eye, don't chase stragglers."

Sect Master Di Kun stood behind a ruined beam on the second floor of the side hall, his old sword held horizontally in front of him.

Looking down from his position, the side path of the Inner Courtyard resembled the belly of a snake scorched by fire; corpses, broken tiles, bloody mud, and torn flags paved a winding path. The seven members of the Red Snake Sect entered bit by bit—two in front, three in the middle, and two in the back—always maintaining distance between each other, giving no chance to be wiped out in one go.

Sect Master Di Kun hooked his fingertip around a thin cord but did not pull.

The Tower Defense Youth lay on a beam on the other side, his lips pressed close to a crack: "Sect Master, four have entered."

Sect Master Di Kun did not move.

"The fifth..."

That Inner Sect Disciple also stepped into the range of the fake formation eye, the tip of his foot landing on the edge of a seemingly intact stone slab. The snake bone wrist beads clicked softly.

Sect Master Di Kun raised his hand and pressed his fingertip down.

The first layer did not explode.

The taut Split-Tooth Wolf tendons beneath the ground snapped upward, lashing out at the front and back of the team along with blood, mud, and gravel. Two animal tendons cut across the path like two black snakes suddenly erupting; the front two were separated from the middle section, and the back two were forced to retreat to the side of a crumbling wall.

"Cut the cords!"

The Inner Sect Disciple's reaction was terrifyingly fast. His red sword unsheathed, the blade grazing the animal tendons; the first one snapped on the spot, and the second was flicked by his backhand, shattering half a wall brick nearby when it broke.

Broken bricks flew everywhere.

He dashed forward two steps, almost leading the middle section out of the fake formation eye.

The Speedrun Youth shouted fiercely from behind a ruined window: "He only switches swords after his right foot lands firmly! Watch his feet!"

The Inner Sect Disciple's footsteps faltered slightly.

The "Formation Plate fragment" beside his foot sank downward.

The load-bearing catch snapped, the broken door plank flipped open, and two Red Snake Sect Cultivators fell into the underground pit, shields and all. At the bottom of the pit, bone-piercing nails pointed upward; the bone spikes pierced through their calves and ankles. Screams erupted from the bottom of the pit, shaking the dust off the crumbling walls in a flurry.

"There's a pit! Retreat!"

Just as the rear Cultivators moved, the Tower Defense Youth had already pulled the second cord.

The Explosive Fire Bead buried beside the fake formation eye was cracked by the rope catch.

Boom!

The flames did not rush directly at the crowd but instead licked outward along the corpse oil spread across the ground. Crushed medicinal herbs were ignited, and thick gray-green smoke rolled up from the fire; a mixture of scorched, acrid, and fishy-sweet smells filled half the side path in the blink of an eye.

The front row of the Red Snake Sect coughed until they doubled over, sparks dancing on their shields. The two in the rear were cut off by the smoke, their vision reduced to nothing but swaying silhouettes.

The Dark Souls Youth rolled in from the edge of the poisonous smoke.

His movements were slower than before; halfway through the roll, his shoulder hit some gravel, and a muffled grunt was suppressed in his throat. But he didn't stop. His broken wooden sword swiped along the ground, slicing the wrist of an injured Cultivator by the pit. Just as the Cultivator pushed himself up, the Dark Souls Youth drove his knee into the man's shoulder and plunged the wooden sword into the soft spot beneath his neck.

One strike.

He pulled the sword out and retreated.

Another Red Snake Sect Cultivator chased after him, waving his blade; the wind from the blade tore through the smoke, but the Dark Souls Youth had already rolled back behind the broken wall, crashing into a pile of broken tiles that clattered down all over him.

"Don't chase!" the Inner Sect Disciple roared.

But the team was already in chaos.

Sect Master Di Kun leaped down from the ruined beam of the side hall. As he landed, the wound on his chest tore open, and hot blood seeped through the grass cloth. He stepped forward, his old sword aiming straight for the Inner Sect Disciple's neck.

The Inner Sect Disciple turned to receive the blow.

The red sword collided with the old sword, causing the old sword to bend under the pressure. Sect Master Di Kun's tiger's mouth went numb, and the Sect mark on the back of his hand was stained with blood. Using the momentum, he turned sideways, sliding a short blade from behind his waist and slashing at the opponent's wrist beads.

The Inner Sect Disciple flipped his wrist, and the snake bone beads grazed the blade's edge. Several beads were sliced off, their fragments flying into the smoke. The caution on his face cracked for the first time; his red sword jabbed three times in succession, each strike pressing against Sect Master Di Kun's wound as he forced his way in.

The tip of the sword grazed his shoulder.

Sect Master Di Kun took half a step back, his back hitting the broken wall. The wall surface had already been scorched brittle by the fire; under the impact, cracks expanded, and dust showered over his head. The Inner Sect Disciple seized the opening, stomped a half-piece of the Formation Plate into shards, and thrust his sword straight at his chest.

Sect Master Di Kun blocked horizontally with his sword.

The sound of metal clashing was ear-piercing; the old sword was pressed back against his chest, and the spine of the sword struck his wound, causing blood to surge out. Sect Master Di Kun gritted his teeth, using his left-hand short blade to brace against the side of the red sword, forcibly deflecting the tip by two inches.

"Sect Master!"

The Sect Protection Elder charged in from the side, the blade's light cutting through the poisonous smoke toward the Inner Sect Disciple's waist. The Inner Sect Disciple didn't look back; he spun his red sword, the hilt knocking the short blade away, and the pommel followed through to strike the Sect Protection Elder's wrist.

The Sect Protection Elder's strike went off course.

The Speedrun Youth lay behind the broken wall, half his face blackened by smoke, and screamed at the top of his lungs: "His left shoulder drops before he strikes! A dropping shoulder means an upward slash, don't press the sword!"

Murderous intent flashed in the Inner Sect Disciple's eyes, and he flicked three snake-fang hidden weapons from his sleeve toward the source of the voice.

Sect Master Di Kun raised his foot and kicked up a broken shield.

The hidden weapons nailed into the shield, piercing through two of them. The third grazed the Speedrun Youth's scalp and embedded itself into the wooden pillar behind him, which immediately began to emit black smoke.

The Inner Sect Disciple closed in, his sword momentum growing heavier.

His cultivation was higher than Sect Master Di Kun's, his True Qi long-lasting, and the blood-red light on the red sword pressed down in layers. Every time Sect Master Di Kun parried a strike, the stone slab beneath his feet shattered in a circle, and the grass cloth on his chest was shaken even redder. He didn't shout, nor did he retreat far, locking the battle line to the edge of the fake formation eye.

At the base of the broken wall, the second Explosive Fire Bead was buried there.

The Inner Sect Disciple seemed to sense something wrong and shifted his feet to the side. The remaining snake bone beads on his left wrist suddenly stilled, his gaze sweeping toward the pile of medicinal herb ash at the base of the broken wall.

"Retreat!"

Just as he spat out that word, the Sect Protection Elder forcibly followed up with a side slash. The blade wasn't fast, but it blocked his retreat path. The Speedrun Youth shouted again: "Now! His right hand is returning to protect his chest!"

The Inner Sect Disciple retracted his red sword, the blade guarding his chest.

Sect Master Di Kun crashed into him.

He was not striking with his sword.

He took the last Explosive Fire Bead from his bosom with his left hand; the tattered cloth was already soaked with body heat and blood, and the fire pattern shone red beneath the fabric. The Inner Sect Disciple's red sword pierced into his shoulder, the blade passing through flesh and skin, but Sect Master Di Kun's hand slid along the blade and into the gap in the opponent's dharma robes.

The two were so close they could hear the sound of each other's blood dripping to the ground.

The Inner Sect Disciple's expression changed abruptly, and he raised his knee to strike at Sect Master Di Kun's lower abdomen.

Sect Master Di Kun released the Explosive Fire Bead, his right-hand old sword pressing back against the red sword, and he used the impact to violently retreat backward. A long gash was torn into his shoulder by the blade, blood spraying into the air and landing on the burning corpse oil with a sizzling sound.

The Explosive Fire Bead lit up in front of the Inner Sect Disciple's chest.

It exploded with a roar.

The firelight tore a large chunk out of the broken wall, stones flying outward, and the ruins of the Ancestral Hall were shaken until half of it collapsed. The Red Snake Sect Inner Sect Disciple was sent flying backward, his dharma robes shattered, half his body scorched black, and the snake bone wrist beads completely pulverized into powder.

The shockwave threw Sect Master Di Kun onto the steps of the side hall.

His spine shattered two stone steps, and blood surged in his throat, which he turned his head to spit onto the ground. His ears were filled with ringing, and smoke and fire danced before his eyes. By the time he propped himself up with the old sword, the side path had turned into a scorched wasteland; the secret pit had half-collapsed, bone nails and broken armor mixed together, and corpse oil was still burning in the cracks of the stones.

The Tower Defense Youth crawled out from behind the beam, a chunk of his hair singed off; he opened his mouth to curse, but was choked by the smoke and bent over coughing.

The Life-Skill Player rushed toward the edge of the pit with the laborers, dragging out the struggling Red Snake Sect Cultivators to deliver the finishing blows. The Dark Souls Youth leaned against the broken wall, his broken wooden sword stuck in the ground; his fingers still gripped the hilt, his knuckles tightening and loosening.

Sect Master Di Kun looked toward the center of the explosion.

The Inner Sect Disciple was not dead.

His chest was collapsed, half his face scorched black by the fire, and his right arm was twisted into an odd angle, but he used his remaining left hand to crush a white life-saving talisman. The talisman's light flared up, wrapping around his broken body and dragging him down toward the mountain path.

The Sect Protection Elder swung his blade and chased for two steps before being blocked by the collapsed stone beam. The blade struck the stone beam, sparks flashed, but the beam only cracked with a shallow mark.

"Can't stop him!" the Tower Defense Youth roared. "He's teleported away!"

Sect Master Di Kun did not pursue.

He gripped the old sword, his fingertips still dripping blood. Pale silver text flashed at the edge of his vision before being obscured by smoke and fire. The remaining Red Snake Sect Cultivators were pressed one by one into the bloody mud; the screams soon ceased, leaving only the crackling sound of flames gnawing at the wood.

Below the mountain path, the white talisman light dragged the half-charred figure across the rubble, stumbling into the shadows of the withered pines.

Sect Master Di Kun stood before the half-collapsed Ancestral Hall, a fragment of the red sword still embedded in the wound on his shoulder. He raised his hand to grip the fragment and slowly pulled it out; blood dripped through his fingers onto the scorched stone steps. The setting sun slanted into the ruined courtyard, casting the ground, filled with corpses, broken bones, and burnt-out Formation Plates, in a dark red light. As the mountain wind blew, ash swirled in circles around his boots.