Chapter 151 (Patreon)

A scythe of white-cutting energy extended from Chen Haoran’s sword and reaped the earth beneath him. Xie Jin’s attacker wisely leaped backward to avoid it but lost his footing as the White Tyrant’s Harmonization made the earth violently undulate like an ocean in a storm. Chen Haoran flashed his sword as he came down and a single white line bisected the roiling earth. The Liquid Meridian spiked his qi and narrowly dodged to the side as a trench opened up in the earth and extended far past him into the ruined jungle.

Chen Haoran adroitly landed in front of Xie Jin. With the Ninth-Layer in front of him he couldn’t do more than glance at Xie Jin but what he saw was startling. The upper half of his robes were little better than rags. The Beetle Gu that Chen Haoran had grown so accustomed to seeing was now buried in his chest and beating like a second heart. He was pale and sweating. There was a limp in his leg. His qi fell and rose with every beat of the Beetle Gu like a heart monitor threatening a flatline. His finger was missing.

“Brother Chen,” Xie Jin rasped. His eyes widened. “Brother Chen!”

Phelps and the Yellow Dragon acted as one. Blue and yellow liquid qi flooded out and met prides of lions and packs of wolves. The three qi’s held parity for an instant. The Yellow Dragon roared, and the king’s command traveled through his qi and into the beast horde. For the second time, however, it was useless. A hundred different roars from a hundred different species roared back through the red qi, and the beasts surged, not pushing back his qi but eating through it.

A lion bared its fangs and jumped forward to crush Chen Haoran’s throat. He slammed his sword through its head and then slashed horizontally, drawing a streak of white light through the red horde and cutting them to pieces. Behind the red qi, the ruined form of the Liquid Meridian was revealed. He glared balefully at them through the sunken eyes of his ruined face. The red uniform of the Garrison was instantly recognizable, but he was not among any of the Ninth-Layer’s that Chen Haoran had seen. His qi alone would have been instantly recognizable. It was the first time he’d seen another cultivator manipulate liquid into something other than a flood. Not only that, it wasn’t any ordinary liquid qi. Without even mentioning the devouring property, it actually felt like he was facing a horde of beasts right now. It was a feeling he was all too familiar with from the shenanigans of Lan Fen and Song Yuelin. It was a feeling that ordinary liquid qi couldn’t create.

Harmonization.

Or was it? Song Yuelin had said someone who could Harmonize with their cultivation method was a monster, but the only thing monstrous about the guy in front of him was his face.

The Liquid Meridian stretched out his hand. Liquid qi bubbled from his palm and spilled out a multitude of predator’s heads. They snarled and snapped as they fell in a line before swirling and condensing into a growling red halberd.

Chen Haoran had seen that halberd before. Had experienced that qi. Chen Haoran finally put a name to the man. “You’re Lu Aotian.”

“Feel blessed that you know your killer’s name,” Lu Aotian snarled.

“Brother Chen, I’ll help you,” Xie Jin said, standing up.

“Stay where you are and rest,” Chen Haoran said, not taking his eyes off Lu Aotian. “Everything is fine now.”

“Captain Lu!” shouted the three Garrison soldiers that had been accompanying Chen Haoran. They rushed over all while Six-Eyes looked over them atop the pillar.

Chen Haoran shrugged Phelps off his back. “Deal with them,” he told Xie Jin.

Lu Aotian growled something indecipherable and charged. Chen Haoran met in in a single bound. His sword flashed. Lu Aotian’s halberd roared. As a Ninth-Layer Liquid Meridian, Lu Aotian’s liquid qi was stronger and larger than Chen Haoran’s own and was an Earth-rank qi on top of that. As such, the halberd condensed from it was terrifyingly powerful, as seen when wielded by Commander Lu. Lu Aotian was not his father, however. Under the Crystal Transformation Realm, his liquid qi could not compensate for real steel.

The halberd shattered. Chen Haoran thrusted his sword into Lu Aotian’s chest. Before the tip could pierce his skin, however, a bracelet wrapped around his wrist glowed brightly, and a yellow barrier suddenly appeared and blocked it. Lu Aotian wreathed his hand with qi that took the form of a tiger claw and lashed out. Chen Haoran jumped backward just as the claws tore three white scars through his robes and across his stomach. They were all but gone when Chen Haoran’s feet touched the ground.

He touched the tears in his robe. Assuming that wasn’t Lu Aotian’s full strength, then it was still within the realm of what his defense could tolerate. That didn’t count Lu Aotian’s Crystal Transformation Treasure. Before he decided to pull that thing out, it would be best to end the fight quickly, whether through peace or violence.

“If you walk away now, then we can ignore this ever happened,” Chen Haoran said. “This is the only warning I’ll give you.”

Lu Aotian stared at him before incredulously laughing. It was a laugh both mocking and filled with suppressed anger. “You? Warn me? Look at my face. If I don’t repay this humiliation in blood, then I’m not human.”

Chen Haoran blinked. “Xie Jin did that? And here I was thinking it was your mother.”

Who was he kidding? Peace was never an option.

Lu Aotian proved the adage that hate could make anyone even uglier than they already were with how his melted face twisted with so much of it. A stampede of beasts sprung out of his liquid qi. Lions, tigers, leopards, bears, gorillas, bulls, boars, elephants, wolves and more. Were they to be painted with colors other than red, then each creature would look like the real article. They certainly felt that way to all his senses.

Chen Haoran flooded qi to his legs and ran. His own liquid qi would only be overwhelmed if he were to recklessly flood it, so he gave up control of it entirely to the Yellow Dragon. His sword flashed and with every strike he decapitated a qi beast and forced his way through the horde. The Yellow Dragon was constantly roaring in anger, but its use of his liquid qi was cold and calculated. No longer floods but jets that spouted across his body to interrupt attacks and slow down beasts in Chen Haoran’s blindspots while he dealt with the ones in front. He carved his way through the liquid menagerie and struck at him with his sword.

Lu Aotian had wizened up this time and pulled an actual halberd from his storage bag. It was a one-to-tone copy of the one his father wielded in the Golden Lily Auction house in everything but strength. A fact Chen Haoran was most grateful for because if it were any stronger, his sword may have actually been thrown from his hands. As it stood, Chen Haoran’s arm shook as their weapons clashed with the sound of whistling metal and roaring beasts. Lu Aotian grunted in surprise when Chen Haoran matched him rather than be overwhelmed. It was a peculiar situation, a Ninth-Layer unable to gain ground over a Second-Layer. White sword shadows flew from Chen Haoran’s blade and uselessly fell on Lu Aotian’s protective artifact. They stood in that position. Muscles straining and qi flaring as they pressed their weapons against each other. Whoever could overpower the other in this time would create an invincible momentum that would see them tilt the battle in their favor.

So naturally, Chen Haoran let go of his sword.

Lu Aotian tipped forward, and Chen Haoran stepped in, grabbing the half of his halberd with both hands. A tendril of liquid qi snakes out and wrapped around his sword at the same time Chen Haoran flexed his qi and heaved, lifting Lu Aotian, who had refused to let go of the halberd, into the air and slamming him headfirst into the ground. Gripping the halberd with one hand, liquid qi slapped his sword into the other, and the White Tyrant’s Harmonization flared to life as Chen Haoran brought it down on Lu Aotian with a heavy overhead slash. The yellow barrier appeared again to block the blow so he slashed down again and again. White light flashed with each blow like he was a blacksmith hammering hot metal. It enveloped Lu Aotian entirely, but despite the constant blows, Chen Haoran felt no give in the barrier.

He brought down his sword again and his vision went white. As it did, the halberd lost its resistance, and Chen Haoran had scarcely let go of it when Lu Aotian rose with hands wreathed with that felt like a hundred different beast claws superimposed on one another. One hand struck to block his sword. The other sank into his stomach. A feeling as if he were being eaten alive from the inside out struck Chen Haoran, and he jumped backward at the same time Lu Aotian pulled and ripped a chunk of flesh away.

“Brother Chen! Are you alright?” Xie Jin called out in concern. Phelps shrieked at Lu Aotian. Behind them were the corpses of the Garrison soldiers.

“I’m fine,” Chen Haoran said. “‘Tis but a flesh wound.” Lu Aotian hadn’t even reached his organs.

Hurt like a motherfucker, though.

Chen Haoran winced in pain and flooded qi to the wound. His sense followed it and found red qi infesting the wound and trying to strip away his flesh. Back at the Golden Lily Auction, Chen Haoran had assumed Commander Lu’s red qi to be some kind of acid. Now, he saw the truth of it. It was a qi that dissolved. It was a qi that feasted—a feeding frenzy of a hundred beasts trying to strip a corpse bare. Yellow qi drowned the beast qi, but it just turned on it instead of his flesh. It wasn’t until the Yellow Dragon descended and scattered it with a roar that his qi could finally do its work. Blood stopped, and flesh knit back together before his very eyes until there was no sign he’d been injured at all.

“You’re not normal,” Lu Aotian said. Chen Haoran noted he had an oddly aristocratic tone, considering what his face looked like. “You’re much better than what a Second-Layer should be.”

“If it took you this long to notice, then you’re a much more average Ninth-Layer than I thought,” Chen Haoran replied.

Lu Aotian picked up his fallen halberd and twirled it. Red qi fell like rain and bloomed into hungry beasts. “I do not know who you are or what your purpose it. Know this, however, whatever skills you may have are not enough. I will kill you. Then I will kill that shaman. Then, I will kill every single person connected to the events that occurred here today.”

“His defense treasure is Earth-Rank,” Xie Jin said. “I’ve been hitting it for awhile but I haven’t found the limit yet.”

“You think you can hocus pocus some Shaman magic to steal it?” Chen Haoran asked.

Xie Jin’s expression was at once pinched and ashamed. “I’ve tried. He’s made sure to wrap it in his qi.” The beetle Gu twitched and Xie Jin clutched his chest. “He’s a hard counter to me. I’m sorry.”

“You’ve done well,” Chen Haoran assured him. “Now watch me break him in half.”

“By all means,” Lu Aotian taunted. He began walking toward them, fire licking his heels. “Your strange Sword Technique may allow the weak to fight the strong, but do you have the qi to keep using it? I’d like to find out.”

Chen Haoran couldn’t help it. He laughed. Of all the things Lu Aotian could have said about the White Tyrant’s Harmonization. Even if he only knew the ghost for a short time. Even if he still didn’t completely understand his Harmonization. He knew just how ridiculous that sentence was. Chen Haoran did not Harmonize with the underdog that day in the Spa Cavern.

He flooded qi to his arm until his meridians swelled and his muscles hurt. He pushed that mass of qi into his sword, and the White Tyrant’s Harmonization glowed an incandescent white. For once, there were no arcing off blade lights or sword shadows. He knew just how the White Tyrant would respond if he heard Lu Aotian’s foolishness.

He’d end it in one blow.

“You got something wrong,” Chen Haoran said. “This isn’t a Technique for the weak to fight the strong.”

The flames around Lu Aotian’s feet turned blue, and he shot forward like a rocket, several times faster than Chen Haoran could keep up with. He came to a stop directly in front of Chen Haoran, scorching the earth black. His halberd dripped liquid qi like a savage predator’s drooling mouth and Lu Aotian swung it with the intention of letting it feast. Chen Haoran planted his feet and swung his sword. Blue fire flashed at Lu Aotian’s feet.

Chen Haoran missed.

Lu Aotian used his jet-like movement technique to quickly maneuver to Chen Haoran’s blindspot mid-swing. Phelps and Xie Jin shouted and flooded their liquid qi, but it would be too late to help him. Lu Aotian released a guttural snarl and chopped down into Chen Haoran’s defenseless flank. Chen Haoran could do nothing to stop him.

So he let the Yellow Dragon do it instead.

The Yellow Dragon roared, and its eyes shined. It shot straight through his body to his head. Then it went higher. A dragon of liquid qi erupted from his head and clamped its powerful jaws around Lu Aotian’s weapon arm. Lu Aotian shouted in shock and pain as his crippling blow was interrupted. It was the briefest of seconds but they would be fatal. Chen Haoran followed through on his missed swing, spinning around until he could see Lu Aotian’s wide-eyed surprise.

“This is a Technique for the strong to fight the weak,” Chen Haoran declared. He drove his sword into Lu Aotian’s chest. The yellow protective barrier flared to life.

“Song Yuelin!” boomed a powerful voice. Pan Gong and Captain Liu burst out of the jungle. “Stop!”

The bracelet cracked. The barrier broke. The tip of the blade touched Lu Aotian’s chest.

A ray of fiery orange light lanced out of the air and struck the White Tyrant’s Harmonization. Then, the Harmonization was gone. Chen Haoran did not know how to describe it but the force he built up within the blade disappeared. The White Tyrant’s Harmonization instantly flared up again and struck Lu Aotian, but it was not the same power he broke the barrier with. White cutting light carved into Lu Aotian’s chest, and he flew backward in a spray of blood and cloth scraps.

Chen Haoran immediately leapt backward to Xie Jin and Phelps and stood in front of them protectively. The Yellow Dragon coiled around his shoulders like a massive snake and released a low and threatening grumble. Lu Aotian disgracefully rolled himself up to his feet, purpling with shame and anger. Beneath the rags of his Garrison uniform was a black inner armor that absorbed the majority of the attack. What bleeding cuts Lu Aotian had elsewhere were merely cosmetic. Pan Gong and Captain Liu came to his side and stared at Chen Haoran with stone faces. Overhead flew the shadow that had ruined his finishing blow. Chen Haoran tracked Six-Eyes’s descent as he dropped down next to Pan Gong and the others. Fiery orange eyes burned within his binocular goggles.

Chen Haoran raised his sword.