Despite the wind blowing as if there was a storm and sparks shooting as though explosions were going off, there was only a single instance of metal clanging. In spite of being hailed as the best hidden weapon, nobody lived to tell another about the appearance of needlerains. After all, it would only take a second for them to be punctured with enough holes to bleed out instantly.
Caught by surprise, Tiangou frantically swung his weapon as he tried to dodge for his life. Had he not heeded his intuition’s caution and stood in front of the golden light, he would’ve been another victim of the legendary weapon.
Tiangou was prostrated on the ground when the surroundings were silent again. Thirty-three metal needles were fired, all of which went straight through the walls without veering off path by the slightest inch. The urgent decision to go prone on the ground was the best choice he made for it was clear that none of his attempts to divert the needles succeeded.
Among the holes in the walls, Kuang Gusheng noticed that seven of them had traces of blood. If the needles could make Tiangou’s weapon resemble a beehive, it wasn’t difficult to imagine how destructive the needles were. As a matter of fact, Kuang Gusheng couldn’t see how deep the needles plunged in, the holes in the walls were enough to tell all that he needed to know.
Kuang Gusheng exhaled after a long breath hold. “You’re finally on your way down. I’ll see you off.”
If Kuang Gusheng didn’t have a reason to kill Tiangou before, then he had one after witnessing the way Tiangou just wielded his broadsword. That style was too similar to Shang Bieshi for comfort. Unfortunately, Shang Bieshi’s skills weren’t easy to dismantle.
“Forever Out of Reach,” Kuang Gusheng faintly heard uttered.
Using his hand as a blade, the prone broadsword wielder rose up to slash. Kuang Gusheng saw Tiangou move, yet he couldn’t defend. It was as though Tiangou blended in with nature to sneak up on him. Tiangou ploughed through Kuang Gusheng’s true qi armour to break the latter’s chest bones, almost wrecking his qihai in the process. This caused Kuang Gusheng to flop onto Tiangou’s arm until Tiangou sent him flying into a wall.
Kuang Gusheng struggled to his feet, face beet red. Within moments, he gasped up blood no less than that which Tiangou lost from the needles. Unlike the man staring at his own hand, unable to fathom how he pulled it off, Kuang Gusheng knew better than anyone his sneak attack gave Tiangou the push he needed to break through in his “level”, and this made him seethe with jealousy.
If Tiangou could’ve calmed himself to reflect on the strike, he could’ve leveraged the opportunity to ascend in his training. Regrettably, the only thing on his mind was his task at hand. His priority wasn’t martial arts; his priority was Fiends’ Genesis.
Tiangou sealed a dozen major accupoints. Alas, he was still bleeding too much to even walk properly.
Kuang Gusheng desperately and hectically tried to calm his energy flow and breathing. He had less than 40% of his power remaining after eating Tiangou’s chop, but it was a kill-or-be-killed situation. Even though the jagged edge on Tiangou’s blade was no more, Kuang Gusheng knew it could still split him, so he wasn’t going to let Tiangou get the initiative.
“What do you gain from this stubborn resistance?!”
Without the “magic” from before, Tiangou was just the Tiangou he was familiar with. Kuang Gusheng jumped over and uncorked two palm attacks. “The needles in you are rainneedles. There’s no saving you, so just roll over and die.”
“A New Discovery,” Tiangou uttered.
“Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!”
In spite of how long they’d known each other, not even Tiangou could name all of the techniques Kuang Gusheng threw in his flurry.
Tiangou repeated the same three moves in his arsenal over and over, yet Kuang Gusheng couldn’t do anything about them. Tiangou noticed this, and he could tell why Kuang Gusheng was failing to land. The problem wasn’t that Kuang Gusheng had hit his ceiling; the problem was that he was no longer fighting strategically.
“You’re afraid.”
“Yeah, I am! I always have been! But is it wrong to be?!” Kuang Gusheng’s movements sped up as his speech speed increased, ultimately exceeding the pace he was most familiar with. Yet, his power continued to rise. “I don’t want to go back to those days! Never! You think your father’s death is a big deal?! Have you seen people eating people by Beijiang’s border? Have you seen bandits kill and skin people?! I want to live! I want live! I’m not wrong! I’m not wrong! You’re the one who’ll die! You! All of you deserve to die!”
Kuang Gusheng perished at Beijiang’s border. What continued living on was merely the collection of his fears.
Kuang Gusheng eventually surpassed Tiangou’s defence speed, pummelling Tiangou on the chest. As his bleeding opponent skid backwards, Kuang Gusheng laughed hysterically as he gave chase. “You’re the one who’s going to die! You!”
For a moment in time, it looked as if snow coalesced and flitted through the darkness. By the time Tiangou’s brain received the input from his eyes, his face was covered in blood, and an extra object that wasn’t on the ground before was now there.
Kuang Gusheng had become another part of history.
Glossary
Qihai – I can’t remember if I’ve gone over this before, so this is to be safe. It’s located 1.5 inches below the umbilicus.
