Evil Mage Cultivation: The Immortal Enslavement Path Chapter 68

"Come!"

With a single word from Wu Han, Hong Qing shot forward.

Her figure blurred. The sword carved toward his neck in a blink.

Bong!

Wu Han snapped his silver spear upward and caught the strike in time, yet the impact shoved him back a full two steps. The force ran through his arms and rattled his bones.

This woman wanted him dead.

Anyone with eyes could see it. That opening move carried no restraint. Whispers rose among the spectators as people began to wonder what this fight truly meant.

If she killed Wu Han, I would be free. If she failed, he would join me.

Either way Luo Phen would benefit.

He had already promised to handle the aftermath and told Hong Qing to go all out.

And it matched what she wanted from the start.

"You really did grow stronger!" Hong Qing’s smile widened as her blade whipped forward again and again, a storm of cuts that forced Wu Han entirely onto defense.

Her martial art stood higher than his, her body was tougher, her experience in close combat deeper.

In the past he could not have blocked even with her bare hands.

"I guess I overestimated myself," Wu Han said, accepting her pride as a warrior and answering it in the same spirit.

Origin Ember Heart Law.

His heartbeat thundered. Qi flooded every corner of his body, squeezing out more strength, more speed.

The spear snapped forward.

Serpent Strike!

The tip slipped past her blade and rushed toward her face. At the last instant Hong Qing bent backward and flipped away, landing light on her feet as she reset her stance.

"Not bad," Wu Han said. At that distance she still escaped.

"My fiancée is the most nimble in this town!" Yan Fei shouted, chest swelling. "You can dream about landing a hit on her!"

Hong Qing’s sword art alone would never have earned her the tenth seat of the Luo clan. She had something else.

Speed. Flexibility. In this town, no one matched her!

"I get serious now. Don’t you dare die so easily on me!" Hong Qing laughed as she slipped in close. She passed his guard and drove a straight punch into his cheek, sending him stumbling back in shock.

Wu Han steadied his feet and answered with a thrust. She knocked the spear aside.

Hong Qing felt the punch had been too light to finish it, so she changed. Her steps tightened, her sword began to move with her body, light gathering along the edge as she pressed forward.

River Flow Disperse!

The blade swept toward him. Wu Han lifted his spear to meet it. In the next instant the weight shifted. The sword thinned, drifted, bent under his guard like mist.

Wu Han had expected something unusual.

He kicked off the ground and shot away, the edge grazing past him by a breath.

Yet a river never stopped.

Her blade curved again and chased him, turning, folding, falling from angles that made no sense. Wu Han tried to read it with the silver spear, but the pattern kept changing, coming from everywhere, impossible to pin down.

Slash!

For the first time, blood spilled. The cut slid across his chest and opened him. Red soaked into his clothes.

Wu Han smiled.

The wound closed before their eyes.

"That’s cheating, isn’t it?" Hong Qing lifted the blade and touched her tongue to the blood along its edge. Normally blood carried iron and dirt. His tasted clean, almost sweet, like fresh water pulled from a deep spring.

"You are fighting a healer. You should expect me to heal." Wu Han stepped in.

Sky Piercer!

His spear became a streak of light rushing toward her. Her eyes widened. The speed far surpassed what she remembered.

She moved at once, but she could not avoid everything.

The spear slipped past and tore across her arm. Blood sprayed.

Instead of crying out, she laughed. "This, this is what I was waiting for!"

Her eyes shone as she rushed him again, sword singing in her grip. Wu Han dropped the borrowed technique and shifted into the martial path he had forged for himself.

Sky Piercer!

Mountain Cleaving Slash!

The two forces smashed together. Light burst between them, sharp enough to make people squint. Wu Han used the reach of his weapon, driving rapid thrusts to keep her back, while Hong Qing met them head on, breaking each one apart with fearless joy.

They drew closer with every exchange. She was learning him, adjusting, proving why the Luo clan had accepted her as one of their own talents.

Cloud Pathing Thrust!

Her sword darted forward, touched the tip of his spear, then slid along it. The shaft bent, snapped aside, and his defense opened.

Damn.

Wu Han felt the hole in his guard and saw her smile as she closed in. Her fingers folded into a fan and shot toward him. He had seen that technique before, and he knew how dangerous it was.

Rage!

Power surged through him. He lunged and caught her wrist in mid strike. She blinked in surprise, then her lips curved again.

She kicked off the air and spun, heel crashing toward his head. The strength of a seventh stage cultivator slammed into him and sent him sliding away. She landed, chased, and came right back.

Her sword flashed.

The point drove into his chest before he could move.

"Ugh!" Wu Han tightened every muscle and grabbed the blade with his bare hand, stopping it from digging deeper. Blood ran down his fingers.

She leaned closer, delight bright in her eyes. "Is that all you have? If you hold back, I might kill you~"

Yan Fei stood frozen at the edge of the arena. He had never seen this expression on her face, never watched her glow like this.

"Hmph, crazy woman. So this is the real you." Wu Han dug in his heels and began to force the sword away.

Hong Qing pushed harder, teeth showing, but the distance still widened.

Wu Han’s gaze changed. "You want to test people that badly, fine. I will give you the answer you have been searching for."

She understood at once.

"You knew?"

He knocked the blade aside and drove his palm into her.

Blazing Raging Palm!

Fire burst out and swallowed her half of the arena. There was nowhere to run. Hong Qing threw up her guard, yet the heat chewed through it and seared her skin, leaving fresh burns across her body.

"I knew it, you can see me, Hahaha!!!" Hong Qing laugh, "Yan Fei, I breaking up with you."

She proclaimed it with her sword steady in her hand. Her qi channels burst open and power roared out of her body, pouring straight into the blade.

"I always admired you back then, when you struggled and forced your way forward. The you right now is pathetic."

Her eyes cleared. Doubt drained away and bloodlust took its place.

"What I want is someone strong enough to lead me," Hong Qing said. "Think of it as mercy that I did not kill you myself."

Dao of Slaughter Sword.

Killing intent poured from her blade.

This was the road she had chosen, the truth she carried since childhood.

She had never wished to be strong, yet strength followed her anyway.

People kept telling her to move faster, to grow stronger, yet all she had ever wanted was to walk behind someone she trusted. Every back she tried to follow ended up too slow, dragging in front of her until the wait began to hurt.

Until now.

"But right now I found someone who can outpace me!"

She had met many powerful cultivators before Wu Han.

Plenty of them carried talent, yet in her eyes they never used it well. She could always measure their ceiling, could almost point to the exact place where they would stop. Once she saw that, they became dull.

His rise was different. It made her want to throw everything away and chase after him without turning her head. The progress he squeezed out of the ability he had went beyond anyone she had known.

She could not picture the end of his road, and that thrilled her.

She wanted to push it to the limit.

To see if he could surpass her!

Love, life, rules, she placed all of it on this strike. If he survived, she would abandon it all. None of it mattered anyway.

"Here I go!"

Her sword steadied and turned crimson, light reflecting along the strands of her purple hair.

The disciples watching felt their stomachs twist. Even Luo Chen’s expression tightened. Only Luo Lan looked down at Hong Qing with a faint curl on her lips.

That woman did not know her place.

"Survive this!"

Ocean Wave Asunder!

The blade became a line that fell from heaven to earth. It fixed on him and dragged out every drop of strength she owned.

It would not stop until he died, or she did.

"Luo Lan, watch," Wu Han said as he faced the descending light.

Her resolve was twisted, yet it was still a goal. "This is what determination looks like."

"And I will answer it."

He threw away the spear. The red killing radiance rushed closer.

Wu Han stretched his hand forward and shut everything down.

Origin Ember Heart Law faded. Rage went silent. Protective qi vanished.

The lock over the black hole lifted.

"Witness my true power."

For a heartbeat, the world went dark.

World Devour.