As Bai Yunfei drew closer to the corner of a valley due to Shao Ling’s guidance, he began to leak his soulforce without concealing it in fear that the kidnappers would think that he wouldn’t come for Xiao Fang. At the same time, his soulsense began to spread out in order to map out the terrain as much as he could.
“There’s just two people!” Bai Yunfei’s eyes lit up in relaxation. “That’s good. Xiao Fang seems to be unharmed too…”
Nearing the edge of the forest, Bai Yunfei’s footsteps began to lighten up in speed. Soon enough, he made it out from the treeline and stepped onto a small clearing in the valley. Somewhere about ten meters away stood two white-robed men staring vigilantly at him. Beside them was the terrified-to-tears Xiao Fang.
Bai Yunfei shot a consoling look to Xiao Fang before turning his attention to Tang Ya and Su Xia with a pointed look. “You two and I don’t even know each other, let alone have any grudges. What is the meaning behind this kidnapping?”
“Haha, little brother, let’s not misunderstand the situation here. We’ve nothing against you. We just wanted to get your attention, that’s all. We only want to conduct a trade with you.” Tang Ya laughed in response to Bai Yunfei. On the sly, he probed Bai Yunfei with his soulsense — only to reveal that Bai Yunfei wasn’t as strong as they expected, allowing him to sigh to himself in relief. Of course, the two hidden commoners in the bushes were completely overlooked by the two.
“Trade? What kind of trade?” Bai Yunfei asked.
“The life of this little girl here in exchange for those soul items of yours. How ‘bout it?” Tang Ya spoke as if he was conducting a fair trade.
“Hah! That’s your idea of a ‘trade?’” Bai Yunfei laughed. “Did you think I’d accept?”
Tang Ya glance at Xiao Fang behind him, “If it were me, I’d refuse, but I’d like to try in any case. What if you agree?”
“Fine, I accept!” Bai Yunfei proclaimed.
“Eh?”
The absolute ‘straightforward’ nature of Bai Yunfei’s reply was completely unexpected by both Tang Ya and Su Xia. In fact, it had been so surprising that Tang Ya just had to ask, “What did you just say?”
The smile on Bai Yunfei’s face grew even wider, “I said, I accept! Well then… take them then!”
Before Bai Yunfei finishes speaking, he gave a shake of his right hand. Three separate glints of icy-cold steel twinkled in the air, flying toward Tang Ya’s head, throat, and chest!
Compared to before, Bai Yunfei’s expertise in throwing knives was far better. The three upgraded daggers whistled furiously as they shot through the air. Eyes dilating in concentration rather than in surprise, Tang Ya brandished his hand in front of him. Following the swis.h.i.+ng sounds of three daggers making contact, what came next startles everyone—Tang Ya had caught all three daggers between his fingers!
“Peh! How insignificant, I’ll—!” Tang Ya’s disdainful words were cut short when a fourth dagger came twinkling into view! Even more startling, this fourth dagger was going even faster than the previous three! From when he opened his mouth to talk to the end, the dagger was already at his eyes!
“Tzk!”
Thanks to the +10 effect, “When thrown, increase the power of the attack by 30%,” the dagger sent Tang Ya ricocheting back!
“Big bro!” Su Xia started toward his brother.
Midway there, Tang Ya’s body suddenly came jumping back up, revealing the dagger caught in between his teeth!
At the most crucial moment, he had actually used his mouth to catch the dagger!
Spitting out the dagger with an ashen expression, Tang Ya shook his right hand so that a crescent moon-shaped blade appeared in his hand. Pus.h.i.+ng off the ground, he flew toward Bai Yunfei, and Su Xia followed, “Let’s get this over with, kill him!”
“That’s the plan!” Bai Yunfei snorted in reply. The Fire-tipped Spear appeared in his right hand and stabbed forward unflinchingly, accepting Tang Ya’s approach.
A distance of ten meters was absolutely nothing when both combatants were soul cultivators. In an instant, Bai Yunfei’s Fire-tipped Spear glowed brightly with a fiery blaze as it stabbed at Tang Ya, but that stab was dodged before the spear had to be brought up to block Su Xia’s stroke.
Bai Yunfei’s spear sprung up once more to hopefully catch Su Xia in the throat, but then one of his opponent’s blades knocked the spear away. Since Tang Ya had knocked the spear away horizontally, Bai Yunfei took advantage of the momentum to bring his right arm up. He withstood Su Xia’s next chop with his Flameblade Bracer.
Starting from first contact, Bai Yunfei’s spear was caught by Tang Ya and Su Xia’s blades at every opportunity. The cooperation between the brothers was perfect, an airtight coordination. If it were any other Late-stage Soul Sprite, they would have been defeated long ago, but Bai Yunfei was different with his upgraded equipment. He was able to defend against what he couldn’t dodge, and he could also make use of the Goldsilk Armor to give himself a last-resort guard as he delivered a Ninefold Fist Force, leaving the brothers wary.
Nearly a hundred blows were exchanged before both sides had a succinct understanding of the other side’s strength. Neither of the two had gone all out, but the disparity could be estimated.
On the left, Bai Yunfei forced Su Xia back with his spear. On the right, he used his bracer to block any sword stroke from Tang Ya.
Each time Tang Ya’s sword made contact with Bai Yunfei’s bracer, a flurry of sparks lit up the area.
At one point, when one of the blades made contact with his Flameblade Bracer, Bai Yunfei’s eyes suddenly lit up— +10 effect of the Flameblade Bracer, activate!
(When blocking, there is a 9% chance of absorbing and converting the attack power into personal attack power, releasing it with your next attack. It can be held for 3 seconds. The amount of converted attack power cannot exceed the defensive strength of this item.)
His right foot stepped back behind his left.
His spear held its guard.
His right fist glowed a bright red as he clenched it.
And like a cannon, he fired it straight at Tang Ya.
Tang Ya’s face fell when he realized that this fist wasn’t like any of the other punches, and wanted to draw back rather than to accept. However, his sword was extended too far to pull it back. The best he could do was to lift up his left arm to reveal a small circular s.h.i.+eld within his robes—a Human-ranked soul item.
“Bang!”
“Crack!”
Reinforced by the bracer’s converted power, the Ninefold Fist Force completely exceeded Tang Ya’s expectations! Whatever strength Tang Ya had thought Bai Yunfei possessed, he had been completely wrong!
Under the disbelieving eyes of Tang Ya, the circular s.h.i.+eld on his arm was broken apart by one punch!
A tremendous energy was transmitted into his arm following the breaking of the s.h.i.+eld, prompting Tang Ya to rush his soulforce into his arm to protect himself while beating a hasty retreat.
However, there was no way Bai Yunfei would give him the chance to retreat. Tossing the Flame-tipped Spear to his right hand, he leaped forward to stab Tang Ya in the throat!
As the tip of the spear drew closer and closer to his throat, Tang Ya’s eyes flashed with an idea. The arm holding his blade flicked the blade so that it would leave his hand, and in two complete rotations, the sharp blade moved, in a threatening arc, toward Bai Yunfei’s throat!
The fact that Tang Ya threw his very own weapon was not within Bai Yunfei’s calculations. With no other choice but to dodge, Bai Yunfei s.h.i.+fted his foot just slightly. He pushed off to the side, allowing the blade to fly past his ear with a painful wind stinging his cheek.
Unfortunately, Bai Yunfei’s maneuver gave Tang Ya just enough time to fall back several meters. He was weaponless, so Bai Yunfei was hesitant to give up this opportunity to attack him. Twisting his waist, he activated the Wave Treading Steps and renewed his charge toward Tang Ya.
When he sent the Fire-tipped Spear stabbing forward, the white bracelet on his right arm began to s.h.i.+ne brightly, and Bai Yunfei’s eyes started s.h.i.+ning as well—3% bonus speed, activation successful!
However, when he was about to make use of that speed, something out of the corner of his eye forced him to give up his pursuit. Throwing himself to the right of where he stood, Bai Yunfei’s head turned to look behind.
Right there! A s.h.i.+ning spinning disk whirled past where his chest once was—it was the blade that Tang Ya had just thrown!
Back when Tang Ya threw the sharp blade, it’s trajectory was on the same path of Su Xia, who was in the middle of ambus.h.i.+ng Bai Yunfei from behind. Su Xia’s free hand latched onto the spinning blade as if to ‘accept’ it, and when he did, he followed the momentum of the spinning to send it spinning back to Tang Ya.
“What—what’s going on?”