Chapter 24: Passing Through (3)

At the start, Rong Zixing was still a bit angry. After all, being challenged by a Yang Opening Realm cultivator was simply too embarrassing.

However, once they began to exchange blows, Rong Zixing’s attitude totally changed.

If Iron Cliff was like a mountain, like a giant, like a metal statue, then Cloud Leopard was like a fish, a chicken, a monkey.

A monkey that had been slathered in oil.

Difficult to catch and hard to grab.

When he unleashed a finger jab at Cloud Leopard, Cloud Leopard didn’t move much. He just simply twisted to the side and shot past Rong Zixing’s Twin Dragon Finger, closing in on Rong Zixing at an incredible speed. In his hand he held a dagger.

Rong Zixing recognized this blade.

Grade Four assassination Origin Tool, Hidden Needle. It possessed the ability to pierce through all kinds of barriers and shields.

The Rong Clan was a clan of assassins, so they were very proficient in using weapons like that.

Now, however, his opponent was using this kind of a dagger to fight him. Not only so, but the dagger glowed with a dark green color, obviously indicating that the dagger had been covered in extremely corrosive poison.

This kid’s heart was like his hands - they were both black.

Even Rong Zixing didn’t dare face this dagger strike head-on.

If he were to even be grazed by the dagger, who knew what kind of fate would befall him?

As such, he could only dodge.

His figure flashed as he disappeared, then reappeared in another location.

Darkness Snake Bloodline Origin Skill, Shadow Leap!

The skill allowed him to teleport anywhere there was a shadow. After Rong Zixing had made it his Natural Origin Skill, even the cooldown time was removed.

Even so, just as he was about to teleport to another location, Cloud Leopard tossed out a dart which flew right towards Rong Zixing’s face.

The tip of the dart was also covered with poison.

This sudden change gave Rong Zixing quite a bad scare. Even if the refractory period between his use of the Natural Origin Skill was very small, it was still impossible for him to actually use it repeatedly without any gaps at all. He had just completed one jump and couldn’t immediately jump again, so he could only tilt his head to the side in an attempt to dodge the dart. Even so, the dart still narrowly scraped past his face, leaving behind a thin wound.

Rong Zixing was badly startled. He hurriedly rotated the Qi in his body to the wound in order to stop the poison from getting too deep, but soon discovered that there was actually no poison on the wound.

There was no poison?

How was that possible?

This guy had actually purposefully painted the tips of his weapons with color to pretend that they were poisoned?

Damn, what a cunning bastard!

Rong Zixing cursed in his heart. At that moment, Cloud Leopard once again charged forwards, slashing his blade at Rong Zixing.

Cloud Leopard’s movements were both quick and vicious.

Rong Zixing could only activate Shadow Leap yet again, at the same time applying a barrier to himself. The battle was so quick that he hadn’t even had time yet to activate a barrier.

Indeed, as soon as he reappeared, he heard the clang of another dart bouncing off of his barrier.

This brat actually knew where he was going to land!

What powerful perception!

Rong Zixing harrumphed. He raised his palms and shoved out forcefully, and a powerful wave of Origin Energy came surging out.

He had discovered that this brat was astoundingly quick. Even though Cloud Leopard didn’t have any teleportation Origin Skills, his speed made up for it. When factoring in that Cloud Leopard could perceive where he was going to land, Rong Zixing knew that competing with Cloud Leopard in agility wasn’t going to do much for him.

Even so, if they were to really go at it, Rong Zixing wasn’t afraid. After all, he was still a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. What kind of message would it send if he were to take half a day to defeat a Yang Opening Realm kid?

As such, it was better to finish off this battle as soon as possible by using his powerful cultivation base to suppress his opponent.

Naturally, the best course of action was to unleash his Origin Energy without restraint.

The powerful wave of Origin Energy surged like a torrent towards Cloud Leopard.

This Origin Energy was wild and violent, affecting the space around it. Even though it wasn’t comparable with Su Chen’s Sumeru Void, it was still able to whip up a forceful wind. Under the torrent of Origin Energy, Cloud Leopard’s speed was obviously affected, and he began to slow down.

Rong Zixing smiled viciously. “Even the most agile monkey is still a monkey!”

As he spoke, he clawed out at Cloud Leopard.

Cloud Leopard countered with a blade strike of his own, seemingly motioning that he was going to resist with brute force.

How could Rong Zixing, who was unleashing his full strength, be afraid of the blade strike? His hands raked towards Cloud Leopard like iron talons. With a bang, the Hidden Needle tore through Rong Zixing’s barrier and sliced into his hand.

Rong Zixing, however, paid it no mind and continued to force his claw downwards, his fingers clamping onto Cloud Leopard’s wrist and sinking into his flesh.

Just as he was about to unleash a burst of energy and destroy Cloud Leopard’s arms, however, Rong Zixing’s expression suddenly changed as he withdrew his arm hurriedly and retreated.

His right hand was already beginning to swell, turning an ugly purplish-black.

“It’s poisoned?” Rong Zixing stared grimly at Cloud Leopard.

So the poison on the dart tip was fake, but the poison on the dagger was real.

Rong Zixing had made a judgment error. He had assumed that since the poison on the dart was fake, that the poison on the Hidden Needle would also be fake. This was the reason why he had decided to go all-out against Cloud Leopard in the first place, and he was willing to accept some light wounds in order to quickly finish Cloud Leopard off. However, it was this error in judgment that caused him to fall into Cloud Leopard’s trap.

It would have been fine if he had merely been poisoned. Most poisons could be expelled or suppressed by Origin Energy over time and weren’t too harmful. However, Rong Zixing had been in the process of launching an all-out offensive and hadn’t locked down the affected area in time. By the time he discovered that he had been poisoned, it was already too late. His entire arm had been poisoned, and the Origin Energy was cut off at his wrist.

Cloud Leopard had used an extremely powerful paralysis poison. A person afflicted by this poison wouldn’t die, but the poison was incredibly difficult to expel and would also temporarily paralyze the affected area.

Rong Zixing’s arm was basically temporarily crippled.

Not being able to use a hand had a pretty big effect even on a Light Shaking Realm cultivator. In addition, his opponent was Cloud Leopard, well-known for his vicious tactics and fearless style of combat.

His attacking style was somewhat similar to Iron Cliff’s in that they both relied on close-quarters combat and not on fancy Origin Skills, utilizing their physical explosiveness. However, Iron Cliff possessed extraordinary defensive and offensive capabilities, while Cloud Leopard possessed extraordinary speed. One relied on strength and the other relied on agility.

Cloud Leopard didn’t possess a powerful physique like Iron Cliff, but his ability to grasp timings and his combat efficiency were both far above Iron Cliff’s ability.

Every strike he unleashed was carefully aimed, vicious, and threatening.

Even though Rong Zixing was a Light Shaking Realm cultivator, he realized that he needed to place all his attention on dealing with Cloud Leopard.

“Bastard!” Killing intent surged in his heart. Not only was he unable to defeat a brat who was an entire cultivation realm lower than him, but his arm had also been crippled. This was a great loss of face. He barked, “You’re courting death!”

As he spoke, Rong Zixing’s body began to glow darkly.

This dark glow was not very bright, but the depth of color was intense. Any light that passed through it seemed to be absorbed then and there.

This was the power of the Darkness Snake Bloodline.

Rong Zixing’s Darkness Snake Bloodline had already been awakened five times, and his bloodline density was at twenty-five percent. He was only a step away from being able to assume a demonic form, so the illusory image of the Darkness Snake was incredibly dense. It was as if a real Darkness Snake was present, creating a tremendous amount of pressure on everyone present.

As the illusory darkness image appeared, the nearby Origin Energy began to gather. Simultaneously, a dot of black light began to gather at Rong Zixing’s fingertips.

The black light was incredibly dense. Rong Zixing finally unleashed it, and a black snake-shaped arrow shot out from Rong Zixing’s finger towards Cloud Leopard.

The Darkness Snake Arrow was the Darkness Snake Rong Clan’s most powerful Bloodline Origin Skill. It possessed frighteningly powerful corrosive attributes.

The Darkness Snake Demonic Emperor had relied on this skill to trample over the Seven Kingdoms, becoming an infamous legendary creature.

The Darkness Snake Arrow whistled through the air.

Cloud Leopard hurriedly evaded, but the snake arrow actually adjusted its flight path and continued to chase after Iron Cliff as if it was an actual snake. The arrow possessed the ability to autonomously chase after its target.

Cloud Leopard retreated rapidly but found that he could not escape pursuit. The snake arrow advanced relentlessly. Just as it was about to strike Cloud Leopard, Cloud Leopard’s figure shimmered as an illusory replica of his body split off from him.

Throughout his journeys, Cloud Leopard had encountered many opponents and had obtained his own good fortune. The illusory image he had produced was something he had picked up during one of his thousands of battles, and it appeared extremely lifelike. If it were merely an illusory image, however, the Darkness Snake Arrow wouldn’t have been attracted by it but would continue pursuing the true body. Cloud Leopard’s illusory image, however, seemed to possess physical substance, so it was able to trick even the Darkness Snake Arrow.

With a bang, the snake arrow collided with the illusory image, which shattered. Cloud Leopard didn’t even have enough time to sigh with relief before the Darkness Snake Arrow once again pounced towards him.

Cloud Leopard was badly startled. He attempted to dodge yet again, leaving behind even more

Illusory images. Cloud Leopard had created nine in a single breath’s time, and the Darkness Snake Arrow slammed through all of them in a single breath’s time.

Thankfully, once the Darkness Snake Arrow passed through the ninth illusory image, it ran out of energy and destroyed itself. Cloud Leopard sighed with relief.

Even though he had somehow managed to withstand the attack, it had taken him nine moves to deal with the opponent’s single attack. The might of a Light Shaking Realm cultivator was quite apparent in this exchange.

Even so, Cloud Leopard was fearless. In fact, his desire to do battle grew even stronger.

The more pressure he felt, the braver he got, and the stronger his opponent, the stronger his desire to do battle. This even extended to his combat prowess, to some extent.

Since his opponent was that strong, his desire to do battle grew even stronger. He shot Rong Zixin a glance and charged forward to attack once again.

Rong Zixing countered with a palm strike. The waves of Origin Energy surged ceaselessly, rippling through the air and affecting Cloud Leopard’s speed. At the same time, he unleashed another Darkness Snake Arrow followed by a Mountain Sundering Finger. He only had one hand, but managed to unleash three attacks at once. His movements were as fluid as water, as if he was completely unaffected by the poison. He didn’t even try to use the Shadow Leap. Obviously, his plan was to use strength to forcefully repress Cloud Leopard.

Cloud Leopard unleashed illusory image after illusory image, forcefully resisting these attacks. The simple Thunder Blade technique became much more powerful in Cloud Leopard’s hands. Streaks of Origin Energy flew everywhere amidst the massive flood of Origin Energy, and even the bystanders were swept up by it. A Light Shaking-level battle normally shouldn’t have taken place inside a city in the first place, and both parties were getting into it. As a result, the bystanders being harmed were also wrapped up into it.

Even so, Rong Zixing couldn’t do anything to Cloud Leopard.

Even though this kid wasn’t as strong as Iron Cliff, he wasn’t lacking in tenacity. Even though Cloud Leopard was clearly at a disadvantage as they traded dozens of blows, Rong Zixing discovered that he simply could not turn his advantage into a victory. The brat was also growing more and more courageous as he fought, and every attack seemed designed to take them both to the grave. Rong Zixing could only tighten his guard to avoid flipping the boat and taking himself under.

The Shadow Leap that he had refrained from using earlier was brought out again. Even though Cloud Leopard could still pinpoint where he would land, it was better than not using it at all.

The battle here was quite bitter, but on Iron Cliff’s side of things they had more or less managed to determine a winner. He had managed to easily dispatch two more opponents, so only the Origin Qi Scholar that could morph into a demon was left facing off against him.

The battle had yet to conclude, but all of the spectators were totally dumbfounded.