Shi Mu had already anticipated Liu An’s attack.

　　He stomped his foot hard to shove himself to the left, sidestepping Liu An’s first attack.

　　Liu An missed his target but that seemed to be well within his calculation. In a flash, his talon-like hand had turned to Shi Mu for a midair grip.

　　Pyu! Pyu!

　　Five grey crescent-shaped blades appeared out of thin air before expanding to several feet long. With a harrowing gale, the blades hurtled toward Shi Mu at lethal speed!

　　Shi Mu had barely righted his footing; he was far from capable of dodging the attacks. So with a sudden spin, he pulled out his Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife, clutched it hard with his hand, and layered it with a thin red light.

　　With a loud roar, he swung his blade hard.

　　Cheeeeh!

　　Thirteen shadows of the blade crossed the air like a web of swords before clashing with the five crescent-shaped grey blades.

　　A cacophony of metallic clashes blared just as scarlet and grey lights blazed in the air!

　　Shi Mu’s body was sent backward over several feet, his face turning white for a second. Fortunately, the five lightning-like grey blades shattered after the collision.

　　“And that was just an appetizer, Brother Shi. Time for the main course!”

　　Liu An made a gripping motion with his hand. With a flash of black light, a yard-long black spear appeared in his hand. Rows and rows of mystical runes were carved on the weapon’s shaft. Black smog encircled its tip, and upon closer inspection, the smog seemed to be taking the form of a few phantoms. The entire spear oozed a strange feeling of evil—a sure sign that it was an invaluable weapon.

　　Liu An brandished the spear before lunging toward Shi Mu. He flicked the spear and created a whole barrage of concentrated black rays aimed right at Shi Mu’s chest.

　　These black rays were so quick, they had completely enshrouded Shi Mu’s torso!

　　Shi Mu’s eyes dazzled with a golden gleam, his Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife swung through the air madly to materialize arcs of red energy from the blade to meet the incoming group of densely-packed black rays.

　　Clank clank clank! The sounds of iron clashing rang out!

　　As Shi Mu and Liu An clashed swords for several rounds, Liu An was slowly but steadily transformed into a half-zombie, accentuating his powers to a terrifying degree.

　　Shi Mu possessed tremendous powers himself but, unlike his opponent, his wounds had yet to recover. As time passed, it was obvious that Shi Mu was in an inferior position. His defense was riddled with openings for his dangerous opponent to seize.

　　A few seconds later, a loud “clank” cut through the din!

　　Liu An used the black spear for an upper-jab, forcing the Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife out of Shi Mu’s hand. He shook his hand once more, and the spear darted like a black comet straight at Shi Mu’s chest.

　　“Die!” Liu An’s cried, his eyes glinting with mad malevolence.

　　Shi Mu’s hand was sore, his face sickly pale, a stream of blood gushing out from the corner of his lips. Yet his eyes showed no fear, and as a flame burst out from his hand, he seemed to be preparing for a counterattack.

　　It was at this critical moment when a yellow glow shimmered behind Liu An. In the next millisecond, a towering skeleton burrowed out of the earth, its yellow bone-blade swinging into a horizontal motion toward Liu An’s legs.

　　It was so sudden, Liu An was palpably surprised.

　　With astounding reflexes, Liu An withdrew his black spear within seconds, his foot tapping on the ground before pushing himself out of harm’s way with a well-timed leap.

　　However, the towering skeleton was too quick with its surprise attack. Liu An may have shifted from the offensive to the evasive, but his left leg was still hit by the attack.

　　Splurt! Liu An’s garment covering his left leg was instantly ripped off by the attack, leaving a shallow cut on his shamrock-green skin as pale-yellow fluid gushed out of the fresh wound.

　　A cold look crossed Liu An’s face. Then, as grey light burst out of his left hand, he jumped into the air and gave a forward punch.

　　A gigantic fist about twenty-odd feet wide flew out of his hand like a mountain falling from the sky.

　　With nowhere to duck, the skeleton’s soul flame flickered, its body shining brightly in yellow for a second, before drilling back into the earth.

　　It had just managed to vanish when the grey fist slammed onto the ground where it stood seconds ago. Amidst the racket, sounds of bones breaking could be heard as debris scattered to all sides. Soon, a crater was formed in the ground.

　　It was a powerful punch, but it seemed that the skeleton had managed to escape relatively unharmed into the earth.

　　“Oh, I had forgotten the fact that Brother Shi is also a magically-adept Moon-rank Soul Magician. You also own a dead spirit pet from here, don’t you—although it was most definitely not the one that burrowed out of the ground just now, was it?” Liu An landed steadily to the ground, his eyes never leaving Shi Mu.

　　Shi Mu capitalized on that sudden opening to break from the melee by leaping backward several feet away. His face was white as a sheet when he produced a single pill in his hand before swallowing it, showing no sign of replying to Liu An.

　　Flames flashed behind his back before materializing into wings of flames, several feet long. With a flap, he turned into a red blur as he sped close to the earth.

　　Black lights shot out of Liu An’s back as soon as Liu An saw Shi Mu’s escaping method. Then, the same black lights merged into a pair of jet-black wings.

　　They glowed as circles of undecipherable runes graced their surface. Much like the black spear, Liu An’s wings emanated a pervasive sense of the sinister.

　　His wings shuddered, and Liu An too became a black blur giving chase after Shi Mu. Incredibly, his flight was no less than Shi Mu’s—if not faster.

　　Within seconds, Liu An managed to catch up with Shi Mu. He hurled his black spear forward aiming for a jab at him.

　　A black glow escaped from the tip of the spear as faint banshee-like howls could be heard. Wisps of black smog flew out of the shaft before taking the form of a black mirage—it was as if the devil himself had risen to the land of mortals from his throne in hell.

　　Shi Mu could feel a thick surge of unscalable pressure shooting out from the black spear and shrouding him as if space had been bound by the pressure.

　　It seemed that the black spear was about to pierce his body when the same yellow brilliance glowed from below Liu An’s feet— and once again, the same towering skeleton sprung out of the earth.

　　Its left arm was marred by cracks as if the entire arm bone was about to fall apart. Its right arm swung its blade towards Liu An’s ankle.

　　On the surface of the yellow bone blade was a layer of dazzling yellow light, its momentum wild and unbridled.

　　“There you are!” Liu An gave a sly chuckle before pushing his arm into a new direction. This time, the black spear aimed at the towering skeleton coming out of the earth!

　　Craaaack!

　　The spear collided with the tall skeleton’s bone blade and shattered it. Yet the breaking of the blade did not seem to have lessened the impact nor the speed of the spear as it quickly pierced the skeleton’s chest before breaking out from the other side.

　　The skeleton’s eyes glowed bright purple. It paid no heed to its injury as it furiously clutched on the spear’s handle.

　　With a flash of red, Shi Mu appeared behind Liu An—his two hands on the hilt of his sword—and swung downward.

　　The Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife gleamed with a chilly black luster.

　　Liu An twitched his wrist to dislodge the spear from the skeleton, but he found it to be quite stuck.

　　A brief look of shock crossed his features, but he recomposed himself very quickly. He exhaled a puff of black light from his mouth, which crystallized into a black shield in front of his body.

　　The surface of the shield was crawling with the same black runes found on the spear and the wings.

　　The Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife landed on the shield with a loud racket, but about halfway through the shield, the blade stopped completely.

　　With this opening, Liu An quickly jerked his wrist, triggering the spear to radiate a dark aura which proceeded to materialize into several black blades. With a few hard slices, the towering skeleton was instantly rendered into several pieces before falling to the earth as a pile of bones.

　　Liu An turned his attention to Shi Mu’s black blade. He ducked, rearing his body backward with a lunge.

　　But that was when the empty space behind Liu An suddenly glowed black, and from it, a silver silhouette abruptly lunged out with a black iron rod in its hand.

　　The rod was a blur as it went right at Liu An’s head.

　　Liu An’s heart skipped a beat. Black light blazed out of him and his body stopped immediately in its tracks before flashing to the side out of the attack’s reach.

　　He was too slow. With a “crack” , the black rod slammed onto his shoulder. Blood instantly danced in the air—Liu An’s shoulder had been smashed into pieces as a gory pile of flesh scattered.

　　That silver silhouette was none other than Yan Luo!

　　She seemed displeased that she didn’t manage to instantly kill Liu An on the spot. With a flap of her wings, her body once again became a blur as she tailed Liu An relentlessly like a shadow.

　　In midair, the black rod in her hand emitted black light as shadow copies of her rod appeared in the air like a deluge pouring over Liu An.

　　“Yan Luo!”

　　A look of relief crossed Shi Mu’s visage as soon as he caught the silver silhouette. However, it wasn’t the time for him to say hello and chat with his old buddy.

　　He took a deep breath and red lights burst out of his body. The Crimson Ape Energy Construct materialized in the air as he prepared to hurl into the melee to help Yan Luo.

　　Yan Luo’s voice boomed in his mind, “Focus on patching yourself up and don’t be a hindrance!”

　　Shi Mu was stumped, then let out a mirthless chuckle.

　　In a flash, Liu An and Yan Luo’s silhouette were lost in the melee. It seemed that the two of them had the same level of power as they moved with the speed of lightning, sometimes clashing together and sometimes darting away. They were so quick, they formed afterimages of themselves.

　　Cacophonic rumbles blared nonstop, belying the intensity of their duel.

　　Shi Mu took a deep breath. He conceded that with his current status, he really might just cause more trouble if he rushed in to help.

　　So, with the red flashes dissipated, he landed on the earth and took out a single pill. He swallowed it and started to sit cross-legged. He then took out two Advance-ranked Fire Attribute Spirit Stones in his hand and absorbed the spiritual energy within them.

　　Fine red lines crossed into his arms before seeping into his body.

　　Violent rumbles of the fight kept assaulting Shi Mu’s ears, arousing his panic, but he had to suppress it in order to focus on his recovery.

　　With the combined effects of the pill and the spirit stone, his almost-depleted Real Qi was starting to fill up again.

　　Several minutes passed, and his body had recovered half of his Real Qi. If it wasn’t for the unadulterated spiritual energy imbued in the advance-rank spirit stone, his Real Qi wouldn’t have possibly recovered so quickly.

　　Of course, this speed came with a cost. Two advance-ranked spirit stones were akin to half of the wealth a common martial artist in the Dongzhou continent may possess. They were rare even in the Western He continent.

　　Although it was commonly said that a single Advanced-ranked spirit stone equaled a million low-ranked spirit stones, their actual price was never just that. Shi Mu had only managed to obtain a dozen of them from the Dark Moon Cult sub-altar back then, so every single use was a loss.

　　It was then when a loud racket boomed from the distance, followed by a violent tremor as if something had been slammed into the earth with full force.

　　Then, tearing through the air was Liu An’s maniacal laughter.