Chapter 89: Slitting Wrists and Letting Blood

  "Ah" another muffled cry of despair came out, the voice was exactly like Yu Shu, Li Ran's anger surged in his heart, he took a step forward with the old man and kicked open the heavy purple sandstone gate in front of him with a loud bang.

  A vast courtyard unfolded before him, with halls and grand buildings standing all around. As he caught sight of a scene in the courtyard, Li Ran's emotions surged out of control, his teeth clenched in rage, hot blood rushing up to his head.

  In the courtyard, there were five wooden pillars standing in a row, with five people dressed as hunters tied up on top of them.

  In front of five people was a large pot emitting hot air, inside which boiling water was bubbling.

  At this moment, a strong man holding a cow horn knife and another strong man carrying a large bowl walked right in front of Yu Yuan Tu. With a swishing sound, the sharp cow horn knife cut open a long gash on Yu Yuan Tu's wrist, and fresh blood spurted directly into the large bowl, gradually filling it up.

  Yu Yuan's face was pale, his lips were purple and blue, and his head hung down softly, he didn't even know how many times he had been bled.

  "Stop!"

  Li Ran's face turned red with rage.

  Not far away, a man in brocade clothes was sitting upright with his eyes closed, regulating his breath. It was unknown what kind of skill he was operating, but there were bloodstains at the corners of his mouth. His face turned blue and red alternately, obviously it was the crucial moment of his operation. Behind him stood four sturdy men, who were exactly the people Li Ran saw on the Rocky Slope.

  Upon hearing the sound of the stone gate blasting off, the man in brocade clothes suddenly opened his eyes and looked over, his face alternating between pale and red, his chest rapidly heaving upwards, almost spitting out a mouthful of blood.

  "Is that Li Rou's knife? He was both shocked and enraged. Wasn't this the young man he had met at Luanshi Slope? How did he end up here? In a low, troubled voice, he waved his hand behind him and said: "Disturbing my cultivation... die..."

  As soon as the word "die" fell, a breaking wind sound came from behind, an iron arrow shot out quickly and shockingly, and in the blink of an eye it was shot to Li Ran's chest.

  It was the attendant behind the man in brocade clothes.

  On that day, the leader of the strong men was pierced by an arrow, and the speed of this arrow made people's hair stand on end. Li Ran felt a chill in his chest, and before he could react, he instinctively pushed the old man in front of him forward. With a "pu" sound, the tall and thin old man was shot through the chest with an arrow, and as he died, he still kept his round eyes wide open.

  The arrow's force was so strong that Li Ran's knife slightly changed color.

  The attendants behind the man in brocade didn't change their expressions, obviously they didn't care about the old man's death at all. The swift bow shot another arrow towards Lǐ Rán's knife, with a tricky angle and fierce force. The old man's corpse was sideways to Lǐ Rán's knife, only half of his shoulder exposed, and that arrow was heading straight for that half-shoulder.

  Li Ran's sword had already popped up in his palm, and with a swift motion, he shot an arrow at the burly man who had cut off Yu Yuan Tu's wrist. The arrow pierced through the man's chest, causing him to lurch forward before crashing to the ground at Yu Yuan Tu's feet. His face was frozen in shock, and even in death, he didn't understand how he had died.

  The sturdy man beside the blood bowl suddenly shook, and the blood bowl fell to the ground, spilling blood all over the floor. Seeing the spilled blood, the man's face turned pale with fright, and he collapsed to the ground, trembling like a leaf.

  The two cities mainly refined and absorbed the fresh blood of these hunters, and when he dropped the blood bowl, he knew that he had gotten himself into big trouble.

  The attendants behind the man in brocade finally changed color on their faces.

  Li Ran's sword move was incredibly mysterious, using the long arrow as his own, and the arrow he shot out became his deadly weapon. The followers took a cold breath, their eyebrows furrowed in an instant.

  He was a master of the Eight Trigrams True Energy, so how could his opponent's swordplay be so beautiful? What kind of power would allow a young man to have such an extraordinary ability?

  Li Ruo saw the blood still gushing from his uncle's wrist, and his eyes turned red. Such a cruel act of cutting one's wrist to shed human blood, Li Ruo knew that these people were so brutal that they had long been unreasonable, so he didn't expect to reason with them either. He took a step forward and rushed out.

  Brocade-robed man had four attendants by his side, three of whom were guarding the safety of the brocade-robed man. Another one saw Li Ran's knife and was about to rescue the blood slaves that the emperor wanted. He let out a cold hum, tapped his toes on the ground, and moved sideways like a ghost to block Li Ran's path. In a sharp and eerie voice, he shouted: "This place is not accessible, return by your original route!"

  With a flick of his wrist, a sharp knife flower appeared in front of Li Ran's blade.

  These five blood slaves behind him are extremely important to the Second City Master, and they must not be allowed to be taken away. Li Ran's sword was previously divine, but this follower is also fearless. Jingyuan's strength is already rare in the Wind City territory, so what can a young man with excellent swordsmanship do under absolute power?

  Li Ran saw his uncle still bleeding profusely, his heart racing like boiling oil, and his body still in motion, he rushed over immediately.

  That follower's eyebrows furrowed, and he cursed in a low voice: "You don't know life or death!" With a whoosh, the knife came slashing down. At this moment, suddenly a gleam of light rapidly enlarged before his eyes, like a flash of lightning bursting out from a cloud, so fast that it made one's eyes widen in shock, and before he could react, it had already reached his throat.

  He was so frightened that his soul flew out of his body, and he quickly leaned back, with the tip of his foot touching the ground. Then, using all his strength, he swung his body backward, and the sword's edge grazed his nose tip before stabbing outward. The sharp sound of breaking wind made his nose bleed profusely.

  The follower threw himself out several feet away, sat on the ground with a thud, covering his nose, and his eyebrows were filled with deep shock.

  Just now, that one sword made him have a kind of post-disaster survival fear, his whole body involuntarily deeply trembling. The power of one sword forced this strong man with eightfold strength to fly back violently, what kind of power was that? Only then did he know that the young man in front of him was far stronger than him even in absolute strength.

  Li Ran's sword was too urgent, every move was about his uncle's life and death. The Flowing Clouds Sword Technique, among which the first move "Flowing Clouds Emerging from the Sheath" was the fastest, the realm of sword intent unfolded with the flowing clouds emerging from the sheath, the speed of the sword was fundamentally not something that the eightfold essence of Jingyuan could withstand. In those years, Li Ran's sword had once in the Illusory Spirit Cave, split open the belly of a ten-fold powerful spiritual beast with one sword.

  Li Ran's knife shook and it was already his fastest move.

  Chase that servant away, Li Ran's knife foot lightly stepped forward, one step in front of Yu Yuan Tu, grabbed the hot towel from the pot beside him and applied it to Yu Shu's wrist, letting the blood congeal and stop flowing out.

  Yu Yuan Tu struggled to lift his head, forcing his eyes open, and saw that it was Li Ran Dao, feeling a sense of relief in his heart, he suddenly dropped his head and fainted.

  Li Ruo's knife flashed, and he knew that Yu Shu's life was temporarily unharmed. He let out a sigh of relief, his eyes blazing with anger as he gazed into the distance. The man in brocade clothes was still moving up and down, his internal energy circulating ceaselessly. Suddenly, he took a deep breath, compressing all his vital energy into his dantian. The strange colors on his face gradually faded away, replaced by an exceptionally rosy complexion that shone with vitality.

  He took a deep breath again, and the man in brocade stood up with a cold and solemn face. His triangular eyes flickered with a mixture of joy and resentment, staring straight at Li Furan's knife.

  A young man rushed into the Western City, killing his followers and blocking his path. At the most critical moment of his journey, he almost let his emotions get the better of him, but fortunately, he overcame that hurdle himself, refining the blood fox's blood medicine power in his veins to suddenly boost his strength.

  Who is this young man? Has he eaten the heart of a bear and the gallbladder of a leopard? Judging from his anxious appearance in rescuing that hunter, he should have some connection with that hunter.

  Three attendants beside him were overjoyed, bowing and congratulating: "Congratulations to the Second City Master for successfully breaking through, congratulations to the Second City Master for entering the tenth peak realm!"

  The man in brocade stretched out his pale fingers and pointed at Li Ran's knife, saying: "You little scoundrel almost ruined my big deal. No matter who it is, kill him without pardon!"

  Li Ruo's knife was guarding in front of Yu Shu, hearing this, he let out a long sigh. Indeed, there are masters and servants, without even asking questions, they directly killed them mercilessly. The triangular eyes' ruthless methods can be seen at a glance. Yu Shu and these people were caught by others to bleed, apparently also a usual tactic, others simply didn't take it as a big deal.

  The three remaining attendants turned their heads back with an air of arrogance and suddenly nodded in unison before walking out together.

  Three figures shot out like gray eagles, with knife edges flashing in mid-air. The sharp breaking wind sound of the three waist knives sealed off all the dodging and evading space that Li Ran had.

  The killer's blade flashed like lightning, and Li Ran retreated a step after his swift counterattack.

  Three sword lights, like a python attached to his body, coiled and leaped closely behind him. Li Ran's knife foot retreated again, and one sword light swept across his chest, narrowly avoiding being cut open by a hair's breadth.

  Behind him a clear and loud shout was heard, scaring him out of his wits.

  These attendants were originally the instructors of the 30,000 Iron Armor Army in Du City. They had received great kindness from the Lord of Lin Feng City and had pledged their allegiance to him, with orders to protect the Lord's younger brother. When they first entered Lin Feng City, they made a show of force, defeating all the mountain institute heads in the nearby mountain cities in one move, unstoppable, and subjugating all the strong men in the distant and near mountain cities.

  Four people are usually very proud of themselves. At this moment, three people joined forces to take action, which is something that has never happened in over a decade.

  Li Ran's sword just forced back the first attendant's sword, making them take it seriously.

  Li Ran's knife continuously retreated, a person's eyes flickered with a ferocious color, their footwork was off for a moment, and the two men caught up, their wrists rotated, the long knife sprang out from the side, and horizontally swept towards Li Ran's knife.

  This move, Iron Chain Across the River, was originally his signature technique. In the past, even the massive Iron Armored Beast had been sliced several meters away by this single diagonal slash. Knowing the temperament of that master, this move was originally intended to behead Li Ran with a single knife and leave no room for survival. Suddenly, he felt that Li Ran's sword seemed to have some spare energy, and he hummed softly at him.

  This feeling is too strange, he absolutely doesn't believe that someone under his knife technique would not be flustered, in the blink of an eye his eyebrows tightened, and with increased force in his hand, he saw a sword light along his knife momentum rapidly rising up, and with a "ding" sound it landed on his knife and slid along the blade edge, the long sword was incredibly swift, and in an instant it reached his throat.

  The man was shocked and retreated hastily, taking a step back. The three men with their three knives joined forces, all striking at the same time.

  Li Ran's knife unfolded the most complex third move of the Flowing Cloud Sword Technique, and in front of him, it seemed as if a thousand layers of spiritual clouds enveloped the sky. A sword flashed with lightning speed, along with three knives, forcing the three people to retreat continuously, and soon they were covered in cold sweat.

  In the Phantom Cave, Li Ruo had long been accustomed to killing such group-attacking spiritual beasts with a single sword. The three people were surrounded by one sword, and the sword borrowed the momentum of heaven and earth. Each sword had an unimaginable power. With a loud noise, the three knives in front of him broke off simultaneously.

  The three people's faces turned pale at the same time.

  …………

  (There is still one more chapter in the early morning)