Chapter 099: Fatal

The black blade took one white wave of light after another from Wei Xiaoran, while Lin Zhan darted left and right, looking thoroughly battered.

The silver light and golden flames had stretched to a full three feet, yet they still could not get close to Wei Xiaoran, much less inflict any伤害 on him.

His long-range attacks merely let him wait in perfect comfort for his prey to tire.

The battle in the air between the staff and the white bone tower was still raging. The thunderous crashes had never once stopped, reverberating in his ears and pounding in his heart.

Lin Zhan could feel the energy of the white bone tower steadily weakening, and as one side waned while the other waxed, the power of the staff only grew ever fiercer.

At this rate, the white bone tower would not hold out much longer.

And as for Lin Zhan, he too could not hold out much longer.

Struck again and again from afar by those white waves of light, he had no choice but to pour all his strength into the protective spiritual aura around him, keeping the Heaven-Devouring Demon Armor at its strongest defense, and forcing every ounce of spiritual power he possessed into the black blade. Even the Wind, Rain, and Cloud movement technique he strained to maintain would, with the slightest lapse, leave him gravely wounded or dead.

It was a deadlock, and it was a dead end. Lin Zhan had lost the easy composure he once held in his movements.

Boom.

With one final, violent impact, the white bone tower was clearly dealt a heavy blow. It swiftly shrank back, flew away, and vanished of its own accord into the spatial realm.

Lin Zhan could only sigh bitterly. He knew that once a magical artifact's energy was drained to a certain extent, it would return to rest and fall into a period of slumber. During that time, it could no longer be used.

By now, Lin Zhan immediately changed tactics.

Since Wei Xiaoran possessed long-range means of attack, then he would no longer charge straight ahead. Instead, he would use his movement technique to weave and fly around the buildings of the inn, luring the other man into attacking. Perhaps then he could find an opening.

The inn was a cluster of buildings. Besides the main house for lodging and dining, there were also stables, storage sheds, kitchens, and other relatively independent structures. Lin Zhan moved and leaped through these buildings.

Aside from using some blue-ice timber common in the Blue Ice World, the inn had also been built with a great deal of decades-old frozen ice. Such material was sturdy and hard, so when Wei Xiaoran's light finger strikes landed upon it, they could at most carve out a few pits. There was no way for him to destroy an entire building.

Infuriated, Wei Xiaoran gave chase at once. The staff, now reduced in size, was gripped in his hand, fierce and mighty.

"Boy, stop running. This old man has already laid down a barrier. You can't escape it no matter how hard you try."

As he fled, Lin Zhan replied, "Who told you I was running? I'm giving you a tour of the layout of Fu Yang Inn, so you don't get lost, old man."

Pfft!

Wei Xiaoran nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood.

During these several dozen breaths of pursuit, he had originally been hunting with the ease of a cat toying with a mouse. Yet Lin Zhan's nimble performance only made him grow more and more restless and irritable.

The unexpected loss of the eight experts from the Wei Manor, all above the second rank of the yellow tier, had also been wholly outside his calculations. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

So he sent a voice transmission to the servants and guards who had earlier withdrawn, ordering them to keep watch over the perimeter. Then he hefted the staff and began a new round of demolition.

Decades-old frozen ice was indeed hard, but the material used to build these structures could never compare with the strength of the magical staff in Wei Xiaoran's hand.

Crash!

The stables were swept down.

Bang!

The kitchen was smashed to pieces.

Clang!

The eaves were utterly ruined.

This time, Lin Zhan could not avoid it in time. A sweep of the staff's wind struck his left leg, and his movements were immediately thrown into great disarray.

The precious materials and spirit stones he had previously absorbed from the reserves of the Nine-Star Diagram had only just restored his injuries and stamina, and in this instant he once again sank back into weakness.

Lin Zhan tried to move a few steps, but it was terribly difficult.

A wry smile flickered in his heart. This time, he really was done for. He might as well lean against the wall and wait for Wei Xiaoran to come over.

Life here truly was dramatic. He had once thought that arriving in a new place would mean a new journey, a fresh beginning. He had even imagined making a name for himself at the sect's grand duel on Flame Peak, showing the face of the outer-servant Orchid Hall to everyone and proving that servant disciples were still disciples, that servant disciples had their own spring as well. Then he would go to the Northern Border Forest for training, seek out treasures, or perhaps chance upon some inheritance by fate.

After that, his strength would surely improve. And once it did, the most important thing would be to head to the Cloud Prison in the Punishment Hall and rescue the several servant brothers trapped there.

Now, all of that seemed unlikely ever to happen.

"Brother One, brothers, it seems I, Brother Eleven, will never see you again. I am sorry."

Lin Zhan lowered his head toward the imagined direction of the Cloud Prison.

And what about Yun Yin, that former little rich girl disguised as a boy? In the future, would she feel a twinge of sorrow because of his disappearance?

"Perhaps she will forget me sooner or later," Lin Zhan laughed at himself.

Of course, at this moment he also thought of the world from which he had come, where his own family still lived. After dying in this Blue Ice World, would he be able to return to that original world?

"Heh," Lin Zhan chuckled again in self-mockery. There was also Senior Sister Tan Qingxuan, who carried the hopes of her entire clan on her shoulders, and Jin Shi from the Jiangnan Daoist Robe household, whom he had only just met.

He had always thought that when faced with life and death, he would surely go through a great struggle and turmoil. But the situation gave Lin Zhan no room to think further. Wei Xiaoran was already before him. With a heavy slam of his staff, a crack split open in the ground at Lin Zhan's feet.

"Die!"

Wei Xiaoran swept his staff toward him with overwhelming arrogance.

Though Lin Zhan had resigned himself to his fate, he would never let the other man have an easy victory. He had even been hoping to launch a close-range attack.

So when the staff came sweeping in, he sprang upward and twisted in midair, narrowly avoiding that fatal blow. The black blade flew from his hand like a bolt of lightning, carrying silver light and golden flame. Lin Zhan spat out a mouthful of essence blood, infusing it with the refined core of concentrated spiritual power as he unleashed it.

The black blade shot forth like an arrow. This was Lin Zhan's strongest attack, forced out by sheer stubborn will. At the same moment, both of his fists clenched hard, and two blazing fist-shadows erupted before swiftly merging into one another, reaching a full ten feet in length.

His fists led the way, and his spinning body was wrapped in crackling arcs of lightning as it slammed toward Wei Xiaoran.

Wei Xiaoran forcefully pulled back his staff, which had already carried its momentum forward, and with one strike sent the black blade flying. But Lin Zhan's human-shaped cannonball came crashing straight into his chest.

They were too close now. The staff could no longer muster its power.

At once, Wei Xiaoran released his grip and tossed the staff aside for the moment. He drew in his chest, and a vast protective aura of spiritual power instantly surged up around him. Though he was of the fifth rank of the yellow tier, taking Lin Zhan's first-rank yellow-tier fist technique head-on would be uncomfortable, but it would not cause him much real injury.

Thus, when the other's protective spiritual power suddenly swelled, the silver radiance and golden flames of Lin Zhan's fist vanished at once. The collision with the spiritual shield only caused Lin Zhan himself to suffer the greatest damage.

The bones in his fists and arms were shattered inch by inch, his head suffered a heavy blow, and his body was sent flying backward like a kite with a broken string. Before his consciousness blurred completely, he seemed to hear someone shouting:

"Young master!"