Urban Martial Saint

Facing the fiercely charging Corpse Ghost Dragon, Ye Qing had no intention of dodging in the slightest. He drew in a deep breath, and just as the Corpse Ghost Dragon was about to rush right up to him, he suddenly reached out, grabbed the Dragon-breaking Knife beside him, yanked it out in one motion, and cleaved down toward the Corpse Ghost Dragon in midair.

Ye Qing had no Meridians, his strength couldn’t be released, so this chop didn’t have much effect at all, there wasn’t even any Saber Qi bursting out. In fact, even if this slash landed on the Corpse Ghost Dragon’s body, it still wouldn’t be able to injure it. If he couldn’t draw on the power within the Dragon-breaking Knife, then this Dragon-breaking Knife was no different from an ordinary Famed Instrument; how could it possibly hurt the Corpse Ghost Dragon!

However, seeing this, Wanyan Second Master was overjoyed. He hurriedly let out a sharp howl, directing the Corpse Ghost Dragon to seize that Dragon-breaking Knife.

The Dragon-breaking Knife had been left behind by the Knife Saint—whoever held the Dragon-breaking Knife held all the authority of the Sword Saint Sect. Wanyan Second Master had been scheming to snatch this Dragon-breaking Knife all along: if he could take it back, they could then seize control of the Sword Saint Sect. Wanyan Second Master had just made such a colossal blunder that he was nearly in despair; if he could take command of the Sword Saint Sect and earn such a great merit, perhaps he might be able to atone for his mistakes.

The Corpse Ghost Dragon had no consciousness of its own; it only listened to Wanyan Second Master’s commands. Hearing his howl, it changed from attacking to grabbing, directly stretching out its hand to clutch the Dragon-breaking Knife and trying to snatch it away.

But the Dragon-breaking Knife is hardly something that can be taken so easily. When the Knife Saint left the Dragon-breaking Knife, he left a tremendous suction force within it. Even the several Sect Leaders of the Sword Saint Sect had been unable to pick up this Dragon-breaking Knife. Though the Corpse Ghost Dragon’s strength was slightly greater than that of those Sect Leaders, compared to the Knife Saint himself, it was still far, far inferior.

The Knife Saint had said that to resist this suction, your strength had to be greater than his own. The Corpse Ghost Dragon clearly did not meet that condition, so once it grabbed the Dragon-breaking Knife, the power within its body was continuously drawn into the blade. The Corpse Ghost Dragon simply stood rooted to the spot as the Dragon-breaking Knife relentlessly siphoned off its inner strength; it didn’t even have the strength to retreat. Moreover, it didn’t have self-awareness, and had no idea that after grabbing the Dragon-breaking Knife, its internal power would be ceaselessly drained away.

Everyone around had been certain Ye Qing was doomed this time; no one expected this kind of development. Seeing the Corpse Ghost Dragon grab the Dragon-breaking Knife, the people of the Wanyan Family were actually extremely excited—taking the Dragon-breaking Knife was the same as seizing the Sword Saint Sect, and then the Wanyan Family would have no more rivals. Even Wanyan Hongfeng was thrilled: if they could control the Sword Saint Sect, the Wanyan Family’s plan would be close to success.

Yet what happened after the Corpse Ghost Dragon grabbed the Dragon-breaking Knife left everyone a little baffled. The Corpse Ghost Dragon had clearly gotten hold of the Dragon-breaking Knife; with a casual tug it should have been able to wrench the knife away, and grab Ye Qing as well. But in this critical moment, the Corpse Ghost Dragon didn’t move at all, simply standing there face-to-face with Ye Qing, motionless. It neither pulled the Dragon-breaking Knife back, nor attacked Ye Qing—what was that supposed to mean?

Among everyone present, only those on Ye Qing’s side knew what had actually happened. Because they had all witnessed the Dragon-breaking Knife’s power and naturally understood what would occur once the Corpse Ghost Dragon clutched the blade. So, seeing the Corpse Ghost Dragon frozen in place, quite a few people on Ye Qing’s side couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Grabbing the Dragon-breaking Knife is absolutely not a good thing; it’s a calamity instead. Everyone silently wondered just how much of the Corpse Ghost Dragon’s strength was going to be sucked away by the Dragon-breaking Knife.

The Wanyan Family’s people down the mountain naturally had no idea what was going on; seeing the Corpse Ghost Dragon standing unmoving, Wanyan Second Master was somewhat puzzled. He inhaled deeply and howled again, signaling the Corpse Ghost Dragon to seize the Dragon-breaking Knife and drag Ye Qing down. But this time the Corpse Ghost Dragon still did not obey, continuing to stand face-to-face with Ye Qing as if it had never heard his command—what in the world was that about?

”Corpse Ghost Dragon, what are you doing?” Wanyan Second Master couldn’t help shouting. In the past, his howls had always been able to control the Corpse Ghost Dragon. Why didn’t it work this time? Was the Corpse Ghost Dragon rebelling?

The Corpse Ghost Dragon remained motionless, as though it hadn’t heard Wanyan Second Master’s order. In truth, Ye Qing understood best—the Corpse Ghost Dragon wanted to move, but simply couldn’t. The Dragon-breaking Knife was drawing out the power within its body in an unending stream; it didn’t even have the strength to take a single step. Unless it let go—released the Dragon-breaking Knife—there was no way to break out of this situation.

But Wanyan Second Master’s order was precisely to seize the Dragon-breaking Knife. The Corpse Ghost Dragon had no thoughts of its own, it only knew the command was to take the knife, so of course it wouldn’t release its grip. As a result, the situation fell into a deadlock: the Corpse Ghost Dragon refused to let go, its power kept being sucked away by the knife, and unless its strength was completely drained, nothing about this stalemate would change.

The Wanyan Family’s people were all dumbfounded; none of them knew what had happened. Wanyan Second Master called out several more times, but the result was the same—the Corpse Ghost Dragon never moved.

”Second Brother, just what are you doing?” Wanyan Hongfeng couldn’t help asking; even he had no idea what was going on.

”I… I don’t know either…” Wanyan Second Master was mortified. He had wanted to render some great service, but the Corpse Ghost Dragon had chosen the critical moment to drop the chain, leaving him utterly humiliated. This concerned his very life—if the Corpse Ghost Dragon botched things, he was done for.

He howled a few more times, urgently ordering the Corpse Ghost Dragon around, but there was still no response. Wanyan Second Master simply didn’t imagine that this situation had anything to do with the Dragon-breaking Knife; he thought his Heart Demon Technique had malfunctioned.

This state of affairs lasted nearly ten minutes before the Corpse Ghost Dragon’s body finally slackened and it slowly toppled to the ground.

”Corpse Ghost Dragon, what’s wrong with you?” Wanyan Second Master cried out in alarm, even more baffled than before. With the Corpse Ghost Dragon’s level of strength, how could it suddenly collapse? And throughout the entire process, he hadn’t seen anyone attack it; it hadn’t been injured at all, had it?

Those on Ye Qing’s side understood perfectly; the Corpse Ghost Dragon had collapsed because the power within its body had been completely drained by the Dragon-breaking Knife—there wasn’t a trace of strength left. It had no choice but to fall. One had to admit, the Corpse Ghost Dragon’s power was indeed tremendous; the Dragon-breaking Knife had needed nearly ten minutes to suck it dry. Previously, when it was the several Sect Leaders of the Sword Saint Sect, just two or three minutes of absorption had taken away half their strength. That alone showed how powerful the Corpse Ghost Dragon truly was!

Seeing the Corpse Ghost Dragon fall, everyone broke into cheers. With this, the Wanyan Family had effectively lost a Unity of Heaven and Man expert, greatly easing the pressure on the crowd. Otherwise, that Corpse Ghost Dragon alone could have suppressed them so completely they’d have no way to fight back.

”What just happened?”

”Why did the Corpse Ghost Dragon fall down? Could it be injured?”

”We never saw anyone attack him—how did he get hurt?”

”Then what’s going on? He was standing ramrod straight just now, then suddenly keeled over. Brain hemorrhage?”

The Wanyan Family’s people all murmured in confusion, completely thrown by the situation. Wanyan Second Master’s mouth hung wide open; for a long time he couldn’t recover his wits. He had intended for the Corpse Ghost Dragon to capture Ye Qing and reclaim the Dragon-breaking Knife. That way he’d have Ye Qing in hand and the Sword Saint Sect in his grasp, earning great merit. Yet he never imagined that after the Corpse Ghost Dragon charged up, it would fail to seize Ye Qing, fail to reclaim the Dragon-breaking Knife, and instead leave itself behind up there. This was something he wouldn’t have dreamed of even in his sleep.

What exactly had happened? Why had the Corpse Ghost Dragon suddenly fainted? What had Ye Qing done to it? How could those people over there possibly have any means to injure the Corpse Ghost Dragon?

Wanyan Second Master felt his brain wasn’t enough for this, and just then Wanyan Hongfeng’s furious voice carried over: ”Second Brother, just what are you doing!”

Wanyan Second Master only felt terribly wronged—he wanted to know what had happened too; he himself had no idea. How could this beyond peerless master of a Corpse Ghost Dragon collapse in front of someone who didn’t even have Meridians? What in the hell had happened?

But Wanyan Hongfeng’s question was essentially dumping all the responsibility on his head. At that moment Wanyan Second Master almost felt like having a breakdown. The matter of the Long-toothed Rats being completely wiped out hadn’t even been resolved, and now this mess had blown up; there was no way he could possibly escape death this time.

Seeing Wanyan Second Master remain silent, Wanyan Hongfeng’s expression darkened with anger, and he cursed furiously, ”Trash, you can’t get a single thing done!”

Wanyan Second Master’s face reddened. Though he had indeed made mistakes, being cursed like this in front of everyone by Wanyan Hongfeng was something he found hard to stomach.

Wanyan Hongfeng paid no attention to Wanyan Second Master’s anger. He lifted his head to glance at Ye Qing and said in a deep voice, ”Ye, once I’m done with this Jiao, you’re next. In a moment I’ll come up personally—I want to see what other tricks you think you can pull!”

When Wanyan Hongfeng finished speaking, he suddenly pressed both hands downward at the same time. The other black palm immediately thrust down as well, the two hands together pinning Fat Jiao beneath them. Fat Jiao’s body had already been bent low from the pressure; with this second hand pressing down, Fat Jiao was forced flat onto the ground without suspense, spraying a mouthful of blood from its lips. Blood spurted wildly from the Scale Armor on its body, showing just how grievously Fat Jiao was wounded.

”Submit, or die!” Wanyan Hongfeng roared, the power in his hands surging sharply as he kept crushing down on Fat Jiao.

Fat Jiao had no strength to resist at all; its body was slowly being pushed into the Stone Tablet beneath it. Blood gushed constantly from its body, its entire form stained red, a sight that made people ache to see. Yet Fat Jiao had a spine; even in such a situation, it still showed no intention of submitting, stubbornly resisting to the end.

”Wanyan Hongfeng!” Ye Qing let out a hoarse roar from his throat and actually charged down while clutching the Dragon-breaking Knife.