Chapter 059: Swinging a Hammer

The consumption during battle was astonishing. The Nine Star Diagram had only replenished about seventy percent of the spiritual power in the Sea of Spirit, far from reaching its peak. Normally, Lin Zhan would deplete the spiritual power in his Sea of Spirit, while the Nine Star Diagram would promptly replenish it, drawing its reserves from absorbing and transforming the spiritual energy of the entire world. When Lin Zhan channeled power from the Nine Star Diagram, he actually drew it into the Sea of Spirit first, not using it directly from the diagram itself. That was why, at present, his Sea of Spirit had not fully recovered.

But Lin Zhan also knew that Lu Feiying had suffered great depletion as well. Unless he possessed some extraordinary means of recovery, he too must be far from his peak state. Taking advantage of his own surging fighting spirit, Lin Zhan charged forward, wielding the white bone tower in reverse grip.

The white bone tower, a formidable magical treasure, was certainly not meant to be used this way. Yet as Lin Zhan fought with such reckless abandon, even Lu Feiying was momentarily stunned.

“Damn it, this fellow doesn’t follow any rules at all!”

From the moment he and his companion had launched their joint attack on Lin Zhan, to now—one of them had fallen, and their treasured artifact had become nothing more than a third-rate club in the enemy’s hands, while Lu Feiying himself, after all he’d expended earlier, had now used up more than half his strength. Only a few breaths had passed, yet the tide of battle had been utterly overturned.

“Is this really just a labor disciple?”

The spear in Lu Feiying’s hand no longer felt eager for blood; instead, a hint of dread crept into his heart. For a fifth-grade Yellow Rank cultivator to feel fear toward a first-grade, if word got out, none would believe it. Yet the events of the battle were vivid and undeniable.

Lu Feiying closed his eyes in anguish. In that brief instant, countless thoughts flashed through his mind. His fallen companion, a young man barely past thirty, had only recently joined under Cao Jin’s command—said to be a relative on Cao Jin’s uncle’s side. Because of a minor infraction during his duties in the Hall of Discipline, he’d been temporarily demoted. With a sect as his backing, he’d been able to refine a treasure such as the white bone tower. Even for a minor task like searching for missing labor disciples, Steward Cao Jin had specially instructed them not to let anything happen to this connected individual. Yet now, both man and treasure had been lost in a matter of moments.

“Why? Why does the opponent’s spiritual power seem inexhaustible, only growing stronger as the battle rages?”

With this confusion weighing on his mind, Lu Feiying opened his eyes to see Lin Zhan drawing ever closer, each step thundering like the strike of a giant hammer.

Lin Zhan had infused his movements with the force of wind, rain, and cloud. Every step was like a heavy blow upon the earth, shaking his opponent to the core. The white bone tower felt as heavy as a mountain; dragging it forward burned yet more spiritual power. But facing Lu Feiying, this was the day for their final reckoning, and Lin Zhan’s heart burned with determination.

Lu Feiying planted his spear into the ground, and the black serpent coiled along its shaft began to writhe as if alive. The black dragon head at the tip swayed, and with a burst of frosty mist, two more heads sprouted in an instant.

“A three-headed black dragon? This spear must be a magical weapon too, but it’s rather sinister—part serpent, part black dragon, altogether quite wicked,” Lin Zhan mused. He was already thinking of claiming the enemy’s weapon; after the experience with the white bone tower, he now eyed every magical treasure with interest, wondering if he could take it for himself. But this strange serpent-dragon shape left him dissatisfied; even if he seized it, he doubted he would ever use it.

In the encyclopedia from the Blue Ice World, alongside explanations of cultivator ranks, there were also entries on rare treasures, magical weapons, spiritual tools, and even talismans and formations. Lin Zhan knew that weapons were divided into ordinary and magical classes. The ordinary ones were called common weapons, while magical weapons were further ranked as magical implements, treasure implements, spiritual implements, immortal implements, and divine implements, each with lower, middle, and upper grades. The finest weapons in the Blue Ice World were of the spiritual implement level; anything above that, such as immortal or divine weapons, existed only in legend. Both the white bone tower and the black dragon spear were magical implements—the tower being upper grade, the spear mid-grade.

Such treasures were so rare that only the most fortunate cultivators could obtain even one or two. That was why, despite defeating several Yellow Rank cultivators, Lin Zhan had rarely seen such weapons. Even Yun Yin, that little noble, seemed not to possess such a magical device.

The clash was imminent; the battle reached its most explosive moment. Lin Zhan hefted the massive white bone tower as if it were a giant club and swung it down.

At that instant, a blazing golden dragon light burst from his palm, its draconic roar echoing clearly. The Nine Star Diagram was once again displaying its miraculous power. The golden dragon light grew ever more solid, its majestic head taking shape—clearly several times larger than the three-headed black dragon before him.

The contest was immediately decided. The golden dragon opened its vast maw and swallowed all three black dragon heads at once, then gave a satisfied belch, as if to say, “I am the true dragon!” It then spat out a plume of dragonfire, roasting the black serpent on the spear until it was charred and finally dissipated to ashes.

With a flash, the golden dragon light condensed into a brilliant golden beam and darted back into Lin Zhan’s palm.

At that moment, the white bone tower in Lin Zhan’s hand connected with the black dragon spear. With a sharp crack, the spear snapped cleanly in two.

“Aargh! Cough!” Lin Zhan recognized the sound of Lu Feiying being wounded by backlash. Now was the perfect time to strike while his opponent was weak. He raised the white bone tower again and again, smashing it down—once, twice, three times, over and over…

“Whew, this hammer is quite handy!” Lin Zhan, exhausted, finally slumped to the ground, gasping for breath. He had to admit, a fifth-grade Yellow Rank’s protective defense was formidable indeed. It had taken him at least two hundred blows to shatter Lu Feiying’s defenses and finally end him with one last strike.

Beside Lu Feiying’s shattered corpse, an emergency communication talisman on the ground was flashing—it was the message he had sent to the other teams just before his death. The message was brief, barely completed: “Cheng Wei is dead, my team is wiped out, the killer is Labor Eleven, Lin Zhan, Yellow Rank first grade…”

Immediately, several teams around Flaming Lake received news of the transmission. All seven search teams saw Lu Feiying’s warning and reacted in their own ways, though their responses were strikingly similar.

“Damn it, Old Lu must be joking! How could a mere first-grade Yellow Rank labor disciple kill so many high-level cultivators?”

“Bastard Lu, don’t joke like this. If I run into your team, I’ll show you what real trouble looks like…”

“Yellow Rank first grade, huh? Got it. I could crush him with a single finger. Just don’t let me run into him.”

They had no idea that Lu Feiying’s message had been cut short. He hadn’t managed to say: The opponent may be first-grade Yellow Rank, but he can instantly kill a third-grade and defeat a fifth-grade. And that golden dragon light is monstrously strange!

Be careful—be extremely careful!

This was Lu Feiying’s dying warning: be extremely cautious!