Chapter 54: Acting Like No One Else Can Fly

As the voice faded, two figures rushed out from behind the Azure-Demon Old Ghost.

The Azure-Demon Old Ghost's burly frame shuddered; he had almost forgotten there were still two people watching him from behind!

Yet, having been exhausted to the point of collapse by the Black and White Fiends before him, how was he supposed to deal with these two now?

The one to strike first was Bu Weiwei.

With a single step on the ground, her body spun slightly and she leaped into the air, forming a sword finger with one hand!

"Jiawu Sand-Gold!"

Hearing the opponent shout the name of her spell, years of combat experience instantly told the Azure-Demon Old Ghost that this young girl was using a Five Elements technique!

Since it was a Five Elements spell, one had to fight it using the principles of mutual generation and restriction.

Among the Five Elements, fire subduing metal was common knowledge.

Without hesitation, the Azure-Demon Old Ghost waved his left arm and flicked his finger, sending a spark shooting out from his fingertips.

"Blood-Fiend Flame!"

A dark red flame, the color of blood, instantly ignited from the spark into a blazing expanse, forming a giant fiery blanket meant to engulf the incoming Bu Weiwei.

The Azure-Demon Old Ghost did not use much spiritual energy to drive this move; it was merely meant to repel Bu Weiwei, considering the trickiest opponents were still flashing back and forth in black and white.

Logically speaking, even with just a tiny bit of power, combined with the principle of the Five Elements restriction, it should have been more than enough to defeat this mere Qi Condensation stage cultivator.

However...

From between Bu Weiwei's sword fingers, a torrential, overwhelming flood of water suddenly surged forth!

Like a vast ocean, the roaring waves swallowed the fragile blanket of fire, leaving behind only a tiny puff of steam.

"Huh?"

The Azure-Demon Old Ghost was dumbfounded.

Wasn't this supposed to be a metal-attribute Five Elements spell? What in the world was this?!

And our fellow student Bu Weiwei had no idea why it had turned out this way either.

"Eh? Wasn't it Jiawu Sand-Gold? How did it turn into Guihai Great-Sea Water?"

Yet her incomprehension did not affect the spell's effect. The roaring torrent of water crashed over the Azure-Demon Old Ghost, instantly suffocating him.

This was far from the end; the spiritual energy contained within the seawater battered him relentlessly, disrupting the circulation of spiritual power within his body!

"Where do all these freaks keep coming from?!"

Unable to bear it any longer, the Azure-Demon Old Ghost gathered and compressed his spiritual energy to a single point, then caused it to burst outward from his body, scattering all the seawater surrounding him.

"Hoo, hah, hoo, hah!"

Before he could catch his breath, a massive shadow accompanied by a rushing wind hurtled toward him like a runaway freight truck.

It was A-Ling!

She swung the Taihang Stele, spinning it several times to build up momentum, determined to smash this demonic cultivator's head to pieces!

"Bang!"

Having his five senses disrupted by the various bizarre and ghostly spells of Qin Xi's group just moments prior, this particular strike carried immense weight.

It was A-Ling's first time encountering such a sturdy target, and the impact felt quite satisfying.

The Azure-Demon Old Ghost was sent flying like a kite with a snapped string, soaring thirty zhang away before rolling another thirty and a half times on the ground until he finally stopped.

A-Ling was the fastest of the four. With a couple of light taps of her toes on the ground, she matched the rolling speed of the Azure-Demon Old Ghost step for step.

Just as A-Ling finally caught up to him, the old ghost on the ground spoke in a sinister tone:

"You fell for it, child."

Naturally, a single blow from A-Ling could not defeat the Azure-Demon Old Ghost at the peak of Foundation Establishment. He had merely feigned defeat while secretly gathering his strength, preparing to pick them off one by one.

After all, fighting up to this point, no matter how arrogant the Azure-Demon Old Ghost was, he knew he probably couldn't defeat this group of freaks combined.

And the first target he chose to pick off individually was this reckless young girl.

"Rushing Demon Hand!" The Azure-Demon Old Ghost wore a ferocious expression as his left hand transformed into a bloody claw, striking straight for A-Ling's neck!

Yet A-Ling showed not a shred of panic.

"The Old Man Pushes the Cart!"

Over the past few days, she had pondered deeply, studying the books of sages day and night, and contemplated the body arts contained within the illustrations of those sagely texts.

Sure enough, hard work pays off. After several days and nights of tireless study, A-Ling had finally comprehended a terrifying set of close-combat techniques from those ground-based grapplings between men and women!

With a slight tilt of her head, A-Ling dodged the Azure-Demon Old Ghost's attack. Bending sideways at the waist while holding the Taihang Stele with both hands, right under the other's astonished gaze, the rectangular stone monument cleaved through the air and thrust ruthlessly into his most vulnerable spot.

This move, resembling an overlord hoisting a tripod, was one of the techniques A-Ling had悟ed from the sages' books!

"Bang!"

"Quaak!"

The Azure-Demon Old Ghost let out a miserable, wordless scream. This was the second most painful moment of his entire life.

The first most painful was being burned by the Qi of Haoran righteousness just moments ago.

At that moment, the Azure-Demon Old Ghost was struck so hard his yin organs retracted into his abdomen; he couldn't even stand up, and his face was plastered with sheer terror.

"You—you people... are you even human?!"

He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't keep fighting. If this continued, what he would lose would far outweigh anything he could possibly gain!

Yet A-Ling had no intention of sparing him. She swung the Taihang Stele in full circles and began battering him mercilessly.

Purely in terms of physical strength, A-Ling far surpassed the Qi Condensation stage; even among Foundation Establishment cultivators, she stood out as elite.

The Azure-Demon Old Ghost was once again sent flying dozens of zhang, the bones throughout his entire body cracking under the impacts. Had he not been at the peak of Foundation Establishment, the injuries he sustained would have killed him seven times over.

By now, he had neither the means nor the fighting spirit left to resist.

Now, only a single thought remained in his mind.

Run!

Forget about spreading cultivation techniques; as long as he could keep his life, anything would do!

Trembling as he pressed himself flat against the ground, the blood all over his body began to steam, and slowly, his feet lifted off the ground.

"When all is said and done... you Qi Condensation weaklings cannot keep me here..."

Channeling his spiritual energy, the Blood-Demon Old Ghost floated up into the air.

Flight.

There is a massive watershed between the Foundation Establishment stage and the Qi Condensation stage: cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage can already harness spiritual energy to achieve brief periods of flight.

Upon reaching the Golden Core stage, one can fly freely, unconstrained by distance or altitude.

As a peak Foundation Establishment practitioner, the Azure-Demon Old Ghost could naturally exploit this to escape the battlefield.

"Merely by circulating spiritual energy to tread upon the clouds in the sky, you Qi Condensation ants can never hope to achieve this... I come and go as I please. Heh, can you possibly stop me?"

Watching the Azure-Demon Old Ghost floating high in mid-air, the four of them could only stare blankly from the ground.

Unwilling to let him escape, A-Ling suddenly leaped from where she stood, springing ten zhang high into the air in a single bound. This startled the Azure-Demon Old Ghost so much that he hurriedly shot straight upward, narrowly dodging A-Ling's pursuit.

Landing back on the ground, A-Ling watched the Azure-Demon Old Ghost grow smaller and smaller against the sky, a trace of reluctance flashing in her eyes.

"...Still couldn't catch him?"

Just as she lowered her head in frustration, Qin Xi patted her shoulder from beside her.

"It's fine. Watch me."

"Eh?"

A-Ling looked up and met Qin Xi's confident expression.

Bu Weiwei chimed in from the side, "How are we supposed to chase him? None of the four of us can fly!"

With a sigh, Bu Weiwei added, "We should have anticipated this when we took on a Foundation Establishment mission... Even if we can win, if a Foundation Establishment cultivator wants to run, we can't stop them. We really should have prepared better."

"Who says I didn't anticipate it?" Qin Xi pulled out a portable array formation he had bought from the Grand Thousand Sect's store. "Making it sound like nobody else knows how to fly."

As the words fell, Qin Xi slammed the portable array onto the ground, and an array pattern abruptly lit up atop the mountain peak!

"Wait, this is..."

"It's the spiritual root testing array!" Bu Weiwei widened her eyes in utter astonishment.

And right there within the array, Qin Xi lifted off the ground and flew.