Chapter 3017 — Dying with Eyes Unclosed (Monthly Tickets Requested—There Will Be More Updates Tonight!)

Originally, dealing with the maddened Heaven-Rank freak should have been easy—but now it had become incomparably difficult!

Otherwise, he and Old Twelve would have killed the Heaven-Rank freak long ago; why would they have waited until now? And after much effort they had finally found one flaw in the Heaven-Rank freak: when he was lucid, there was a blind spot he could not quite cover. That was also why, when one man found himself in dire straits under attack, the other could help him escape—because the moment the second man struck from the angle of that flaw, the Heaven-Rank freak had no choice but to turn and defend himself.

Therefore, whenever the Heaven-Rank freak was in his mad state, one man attacking head-on while the other struck from the angle of the flaw ought to work: the Heaven-Rank freak, not being clear-headed, would hardly be able to watch out for so much, and would very likely fall for it and be killed.

Only now they were one man short, and carrying out that plan had become difficult. Old Six could only grit his teeth and fight the Heaven-Rank freak head-on. Fortunately the fellow was rather foolish at the moment, so Old Six could still just barely gain the upper hand—but finishing him off was out of the question.

Wei Zhao watched Old Six battle the Heaven-Rank freak. From the way things stood, the Heaven-Rank freak could do nothing to Old Six, for Old Six was no fool; his dodging was nimble, while the Heaven-Rank freak flailed about wildly and could not land a blow on him at all.

Time and again the Heaven-Rank freak's battle-axe swept past, only for Old Six to slip away with ease, making Wei Zhao secretly lament the waste.

At the same time, Wei Zhao's mind kept turning over how he might help the Heaven-Rank freak kill Old Six! If Old Six escaped today, Wei Zhao feared the consequences would be endless! True, Leader Bai and Ancestor Xuanchen had an agreement—but that agreement rested on the premise of mutual non-aggression. Now that Wei Zhao had killed Old Twelve, if Old Six went back and told Ancestor Xuanchen, the Ancestor would have ample grounds to send men to hunt Wei Zhao down. After all, who had started it by killing his people?

If Old Six and Old Twelve had come to make trouble for Wei Zhao first and been killed by him, then Ancestor Xuanchen could only swallow his broken teeth. If he wanted to seek revenge on Wei Zhao again, Leader Bai would certainly refuse—because the Ancestor would be in the wrong!

But as things stood, Old Twelve was dead. Wei Zhao might claim he had only been helping the Heaven-Rank freak, but in essence Wei Zhao and the Heaven-Rank freak had no connection whatsoever. Ancestor Xuanchen need only insist on that point, and Leader Bai would be helpless to stop him from striking at Wei Zhao!

To put it plainly, where matters of the ancient stratum were concerned, what was needed most often was a pretext—a pretext everyone could live with. Once there was a pretext, there was nothing left to hold one back.

Yet turn it over as he might, Wei Zhao could not think of a single way to deal with Old Six!

The true-qi bomb—he had been compressing it for far too long, and even so, Wei Zhao could not be sure it would work on Old Six. Old Six was, after all, an expert at the peak of the late Heaven Rank; whether Wei Zhao's true-qi bomb could even injure him was doubtful.

As for the Frenzied Fire Eight-Trigram Palm, even if Wei Zhao managed to unleash the ninth form, it would likely be of little use against Old Six. After all, the ninth form was impressive enough if it could slay an expert at the peak of the mid Heaven Rank outright; whether it could even badly wound an expert of the late Heaven Rank was uncertain—let alone one at the peak of the late Heaven Rank.

Pondering back and forth, Wei Zhao's mind raced, ceaselessly recalling each of his past experiences fighting above his level. None of them seemed quite applicable, however, for the strongest opponents he had ever beaten above his level were Zhang Naipao's two subordinates—Demon Eight and Demon Nine, experts of the mid Heaven Rank.

Suddenly a flash of inspiration struck Wei Zhao: Zhang Naipao! In an instant he recalled Zhang Naipao's heaven-defying martial art—the Infernal Yin-Demon Fist—and how, after Wei Zhao's own modifications, the Infernal Yin-Demon Fist had become the Infernal Frenzied Fire Fist.

Though the Infernal Frenzied Fire Fist was not as powerful as the Infernal Yin-Demon Fist, it could still trap a person in an illusory realm—just as it had once trapped Zhang Naipao, unable to free himself! But the Infernal Yin-Demon Fist had its drawback: its effect on cultivators of higher rank was not particularly pronounced.

Those of firm will could quickly regain their senses from the illusion—or it might simply have no effect on them at all!

Be that as it may, having thought of this move, Wei Zhao had no choice but to try it. If it failed, he would have to waste his last Heaven-and-Earth Net, cast it over Old Six, and then let the Heaven-Rank freak smash two axe blows straight down and crush him dead.

With that thought, Wei Zhao began circulating the mental technique and incantation of the Frenzied Fire Palm, and then, in the manner of unleashing the Infernal Yin-Demon Fist, struck out all at once, driving a punch at Old Six's head as he shouted, "Infernal Frenzied Fire Fist!"

Old Six was frantically dealing with the Heaven-Rank freak, and Wei Zhao had chosen his moment well: it was exactly the instant the Heaven-Rank freak's battle-axe swept over and Old Six hurriedly raised his measuring rod to block that Wei Zhao's Infernal Frenzied Fire Fist burst forth!

A shaft of true qi shot into Old Six's head, and at once Old Six let out a great roar, a look of incomparable terror appearing in his eyes! He suddenly felt himself plunged into a sea of fire, and that sea of fire was chasing him from behind, about to consume him at any moment!

Old Six turned pale with fright and instinctively spun around to flee! But he was, after all, an expert at the peak of the late Heaven Rank and a disciple of the Five Luminaries Sect; his willpower was far beyond the ordinary. Had he not been occupied fending off the Heaven-Rank freak's attack and thus failed to notice Wei Zhao's martial art, Wei Zhao could never have caught him so easily!

So it was that after only a moment in the illusion, Old Six gave another great roar, broke free of it, and escaped the sea of fire cleanly! Yet his heart was filled with shock: Wei Zhao actually possessed such skill as to conjure illusions in others? What kind of martial art was that?

But when Old Six opened his eyes, he saw two battle-axes falling from the sky, smashing straight toward his skull! That was the last sight he saw upon regaining his senses—and then Old Six's head burst open and he collapsed to the ground, a bloody gourd.

Though his confusion had lasted but a moment—only a few seconds from the time Old Six was struck by the Infernal Frenzied Fire Fist to the moment he came to his senses—those few seconds had been enough for the Heaven-Rank freak's axe to come down on Old Six's head!

Mad as the Heaven-Rank freak's blows were, his strength was what it was, and Old Six had only just regained consciousness—he had no time at all to defend or dodge before his head was split open like a melon...

Old Six's death could be called deeply, deeply unjust. Had the Heaven-Rank freak been in his right mind and killed him, he would have accepted it—but for him to be killed while the freak was mad was a death he could not close his eyes over...

Yet his eyes were already gone—smashed to a pulp...

In the last instant before Old Six died, he wanted to say, Just you wait, our people will never let you off—but he could not make a sound... RS

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