Rising from Small Cloud Rain Technique

Chapter 96: Chapter 94: Flame Shuttle

“Huh?”

Zhang Tiezhu was slightly surprised. He had a trace of Divine Sense attached to the flying sword, and he was well aware of the attack power of the magic sword. To his surprise, it was halted for a moment, and the strength of the Water Curtain Technique’s defense was beyond his expectations.

However, aside from the surprise, more than anything, he felt delighted.

’Hehe, as expected of the high-tier disciples of the sect. The stronger you perform, the greater my rewards shall be.’

He pinched a spell to control the flying sword, turning it back to stab the target, leaving a trail of fireworks arc in the sky.

When the enemy’s magic sword hit the Stone Turtle Shield for the first time, Ji An felt the vibrational power coming through the magical artifact, and his tense heart relaxed a little.

After continuous weakening, the enemy flying sword’s attack was already at the end of its strength and couldn’t pose a significant threat to him.

The perfection level of Wind Control Technique made his body technique as agile as a flying fox, instantly darting three zhang away, and the enemy appeared in his attack range.

It’s rude not to reciprocate, so the Geng Metal Talisman was activated, and a golden Spirit Light carrying a murderous aura shot towards the enemy.

After activating the Geng Metal Talisman, Ji An didn’t even look back as he activated the Water Curtain Talisman, feeling the cold chill on his back that indicated danger from behind.

He slightly turned sideways and glanced back, positioning the Stone Turtle Shield to block the impending attack at any moment.

He cursed inwardly:

’That bastard, caught me and won’t let go!’

While Ji An was under attack, Li Lingyu’s Celestial Net Umbrella rotated under her control.

She fixated her gaze on the Flaming Magic Sword, ready to step in for rescue at any moment.

However, if her junior brother couldn’t handle the round of attacks, she would have to consider the issue of escaping.

When Ji An managed to withstand the sudden onslaught, Li Lingyu breathed a sigh of relief, charging forward in sync with her junior brother.

Her hand gently raised, and the golden runes on the talisman began to shine.

The enemy was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, with magical power quality higher than theirs and a greater amount of magical power.

She knew very well that if they couldn’t pose a threat to the enemy, they would be worn down sooner or later.

The purpose of activating the talisman was, firstly, to conserve magical power, and secondly, to test the strength of their magic technique, thereby adjusting their combat strategy.

When two golden lights shot from left and right, Zhang Tiezhu felt a stab of pain in his eyes.

He was surprised; he recognized the Geng Metal Finger, but had never encountered one that made him feel a sense of danger.

The golden light fell almost simultaneously on the protective spirit light of his defensive magical artifact, and feeling the decline in magical power, his astonishment deepened:

’Although the attack power isn’t quite like a top-grade talisman, it’s not far off.

No good, must swiftly eliminate one of them!’

Seeing Ji An again deflect his magic sword attack, his gaze shifted to Li Lingyu.

Simultaneously controlling two top-grade magical artifacts, the Divine Sense was depleting rapidly, necessitating a fast battle.

Though the male disciple’s aura was slightly weaker, his body technique was more agile, and coupled with a good defensive awareness, taking him down would likely require some effort.

Zhang Tiezhu took out a Golden Armor Talisman and slapped it onto himself. After infusing the defensive magical artifact with enough magical power, he focused on controlling the magic sword to attack Li Lingyu.

He abandoned controlling two magical artifacts simultaneously. Doing so would not only drain the Divine Sense faster but also make it impossible to free up a hand to cast spells.

He began evading the incoming attacks, trying to reduce the number of times he was hit, thereby conserving magical power.

The magic sword drew an arc and launched an attack on Li Lingyu’s side, while Zhang Tiezhu secretly pinched a spell and cast — Bursting Fireball.

This was an upgraded version of the Explosive Flame Technique, a spell only learnable at the Foundation Establishment stage, which he had practiced to the minor success level for years.

Facing the nimble flying sword, Li Lingyu involuntarily copied Ji An’s approach, activating the Water Curtain Talisman, while simultaneously controlling the magical artifact to form a second line of defense.

At this moment!

Zhang Tiezhu completed his spell, and a yellow flame light swiftly coalesced into a watermelon-sized fireball, rushing towards Li Lingyu like a Flying Fire Meteor.

If the Bursting Fireball so much as grazed her, she would undoubtedly be blown to pieces.

He had carefully observed Li Lingyu’s body technique speed; it was hard for her to completely dodge it.

Facing the abrupt change, Li Lingyu’s face instantly turned pale. Judging from the color of the fireball, she couldn’t withstand such an attack, and using a magical artifact for defense would lead to magic sword attacks.

Her only recourse was to activate the Water Curtain Talisman again, hoping to slightly block the attack, while twisting her body to lower her center of gravity and avoid a frontal blast.

As she activated the Water Curtain Talisman, suddenly a figure flashed past, and two more water curtains appeared before her.

Ji An, while attacking, had been mindful of the opponent’s movements. He had anticipated that the enemy would simultaneously control magical artifacts and cast spells.

This maneuver he could execute himself; there was no reason a Foundation Establishment cultivator couldn’t do it.

He didn’t know why the enemy hadn’t done so when attacking him, but was vigilant of such a tactic.

The moment the fireball coalesced, he moved swiftly towards Li Lingyu. The enemy’s magic sword was targeting his senior sister; it made no sense to get a fireball aimed at him, a combat instinct.

He had ample defensive means to dissolve or reduce the damage taken, but his senior sister didn’t have many tactics to ensure defense.

Sure enough, the target of the enemy’s spell was Li Lingyu, his rescue was timely, activating talismans and casting spells in one fluid motion.

“Bang!”

The Bursting Fireball contacted the Water Curtain Talisman and exploded violently. The first and second water curtains shattered instantly, but the third water curtain held firm for half a second before breaking into radiant spirit light.

This half-second cushion was the distance between life and death; the damage from the Bursting Fireball had been greatly diminished, leaving Li Lingyu merely shaken back several feet by the aftershock of the explosion.

’That guy isn’t all that strong after all!’

Ji An’s lips curled into a cold smile. He could pull off the maneuver to stack three layers of Water Curtain Talismans in an extremely short time.

Water Curtain Talisman, casting, Water Curtain Talisman, this triple combo he had demonstrated during demon hunting facing the Fire-Horned Bull.

“Senior sister, keep his flying sword occupied!”

Ji An transmitted a message, saying he had a better plan. He quickly approached the enemy, using a Geng Metal Talisman, casting a spell, and using another Geng Metal Talisman. Three beams of golden light shot toward the enemy, hitting two.

Having witnessed the power of the enemy’s magic, Li Lingyu realized she had narrowly escaped death. She wore a look of relief at surviving the ordeal, understanding that her magical combat experience was still lacking.

Upon hearing Ji An’s transmitted message, she immediately chose to comply, even if it meant risking damage to her magical artifact, to create an opportunity for her companion.

The Celestial Net Umbrella began to spin and collided with the retreating flying sword.

Li Lingyu gritted her teeth, her focus heightened, occasionally activating the Geng Metal Talisman to attack the flying sword.

A dramatic scene unfolded, with Zhang Tiezhu’s flying sword restrained, while Ji An continuously activated Geng Metal Talismans to exhaust the protective spirit light of the defensive magical artifact.

Whenever the enemy cast a spell to attack, Ji An could always release two water curtains in time and use a magical artifact to block it.

Though he was slightly deafened by the explosion of the fireball, he nonetheless gained the initiative in the attack.

He realized that although the enemy was at the Foundation Establishment Stage, their magical combat experience was not very rich, not like cultivators who frequently engaged in deadly battles.

After two periods of time, Zhang Tiezhu, seeing the enemy’s talismans depleted and then taking out another stack, began to feel the urge to retreat.

In just a short time, the enemy had scattered hundreds of talismans, unsure of how many more they had.

Li Lingyu’s magical combat experience also improved; while restraining the flying sword, she occasionally managed to unleash attacks toward him.

A Foundation Establishment cultivator being pressured by two Qi Refining cultivators with talismans would be laughable if spread around.

Ji An carefully observed the luster of the enemy’s protective spirit light, gradually discerning some patterns.

At this moment, if the enemy were hit by the Geng Metal Finger three or four times, the protective spirit light would inevitably shatter.

As long as they attacked again before the enemy replenished magical power for the defensive magical artifact, there was a great chance of causing them harm.

After quietly transmitting his conclusion, Ji An transmitted another message:

’I will shout loudly as a signal, and senior sister should launch her attack at the same time.

We only have one chance, so let’s seize it!’

Senior sister could create enough of a threat to the enemy only by complementing Ji An’s attack with additional damage.

If the tribulation cultivator felt the danger of death, he should choose to leave.

Ji An sighed internally, having had a momentary thought that they might be able to kill this tribulation cultivator.

Killing a Foundation Establishment cultivator with Qi Refining cultivators was exciting to think about.

But after throwing out several hundred talismans, the enemy’s defense was still steady and solid, and he felt that if the situation dragged on, their side might not be able to hold on first.

’Junior brother, go ahead, I will make a desperate effort.’

Received the message, Ji An took several steps closer and shouted loudly: “Hey!”

He repeated the familiar tactic, activating two Geng Metal Talismans and releasing a Geng Metal Finger again.

When he launched the attack, Zhang Tiezhu instinctively evaded to minimize being directly hit by the spell, thus reducing the consumption of the protective spirit light.

A stone stalactite suddenly protruded from the ground, blocking Zhang Tiezhu’s movement direction. It was a spell cast by the Spirit-Seeking Rat hidden in the dark.

Since this spell bore no intention of attack, Zhang Tiezhu did not sense any danger in advance.

When the stone stalactite appeared and was noticed, he wanted to evade but was already too late, colliding directly.

Familiar with Ji An’s and Li Lingyu’s attack rhythms, his mindset formed an inertia, unprepared for the sudden spell.

Zhang Tiezhu’s body was momentarily stalled, all three Geng Metal Fingers hit precisely.

Upon hearing Ji An’s loud shout, Li Lingyu immediately stepped forward to activate the Geng Metal Talisman. Simultaneously, she grabbed the Celestial Net Umbrella in front of her, and a fiery-red stream of light shot out from the tip of the umbrella.

This stream of light was the two Flame Shuttles hidden in the umbrella handle, firing in close succession to form a fiery line.

It was the Celestial Net Umbrella’s sole offensive technique, each Flame Shuttle being a top-grade magical artifact, with the power of a full-force attack of the Ninth-Layer Perfection level, and especially effective against defenses like protective spirit light.

She had been waiting for this opportunity, and now it had finally arrived!

The Flame Shuttle rapidly rotated, breaking through Zhang Tiezhu’s protective spirit light, penetrating his Golden Armor Technique, traversing his chest cavity, tearing and burning his heart and lungs, and exited from the other side of his body.

Ji An had just taken out a magic sword from the storage bag, intending to contribute some extra damage, when he saw the red glow flash, and the enemy’s body slowly fell.

With caution, he still controlled the magic sword to attack the enemy.

The arc of light circled the enemy’s neck once, and the Six Yang Leader’s head, wearing a black hood, fell to the ground, rolling over a few times.

Like a burst water pipe, blood sprayed from the headless neck.

Ji An felt reassured, his taut nerves relaxed. Only then did he notice his heart racing like a rapid drumbeat, several parts of his Daoist robe charred, and two spots on his arms grazed by the flying sword burning painfully.

He looked toward Li Lingyu, whose final attack was intense and caught the enemy off guard.

“What are you staring at? Clean up quickly and let’s leave here!”

Li Lingyu glanced at the umbrella surface, which had several large holes ripped open, her legs felt weak. She used trembling hands to activate the Object Control Technique and picked up the enemy’s magic sword to put into the storage bag.

Ji An dashed to the enemy’s side, grabbed the flag magical artifact and stored it, then roughly pulled off the storage bag while quickly searching the body.

After confirming there were no missed loot items, he removed the enemy’s head covering.

At this moment, Li Lingyu came over, recognized the enemy, and said with hatred:

“It turns out to be the shopkeeper of that Artifact Refining Shop. Should we report his identity as a tribulation cultivator to the marketplace’s law enforcement team? We might receive a reward.”

“Let’s hold off; we should report it to our master first and let the sect handle negotiations with the marketplace.”

This person wasn’t on the wanted list, meaning he was cautious enough to never be revealed, probably unable to find other evidence, and wouldn’t yield much bounty.

Negotiating with the sect might yield greater benefits.

Under Ji An’s control, the Mountain and River Seal pounded the enemy’s body into a pulp, and the Spirit-Seeking Rat rush came and gobbled up a few bites.

The Flying Tamed Beast, which had been observing from afar, was summoned; the two jumped on it and left hurriedly.