——So their target was White Zhiqing all along?
Lin Dongming was momentarily stunned, unable to understand why it was her. Although she was indeed an important disciple of the Heavenly Extreme Sword Sect, in terms of significance, she was far less important than Senior Brother Yuan Jianyi and Han Xiangjun.
If Lin Dongming were from the Demon Sect, they would surely choose Han Xiangjun as their target instead of White Zhiqing.
After all, while their combat strength might not differ much, their importance certainly did.
“…Why do you want her? Is she that important?”
Lin Dongming tried to extract as much information as possible from his opponent.
“Oh? So you didn’t know.” The man in black teased, “It’s the secret of White Zhiqing’s Dao Body.”
“The secret of her Dao Body?”
Lin Dongming suddenly recalled a similar conversation he had with Song Yumian. He had some guesses, but they were just guesses.
“The secret of her Dao Body?”
Lin Dongming asked again, puzzled.
“Go ask your Elders,” the man in black said. “I won’t tell you here. Unless you’re willing to hand her over to me.”
“Ridiculous.” Lin Dongming cut in before Mo Qingxue could respond. “If I handed her over today, I’d be too ashamed to stand under Heaven and Earth.”
—As if! If I let her go, that would mean losing two hundred thousand Spirit Stones every month!
Someone like Lin Dongming, a miser, would never so easily give up such a lucrative benefactor.
“There’s no one else here anyway,” the man in black insisted. “Only Heaven knows, Earth knows, you know, and I know. You don’t need to worry about the Sect Master or the Elders punishing you.”
His gaze shifted to Mo Qingxue. “If you’re worried, Daoist, I can deal with the Wenxin Tianzong disciple here as well.”
Mo Qingxue took a step back immediately, her wary eyes scanning both Lin Dongming and the man in black.
Lin Dongming remained disdainful. “Boring. I only do things that I can face myself for, regardless of others.”
“And besides…” Before Mo Qingxue could be moved, Lin Dongming sneered coldly, “If I really cooperated with you to kill the Wenxin Tianzong Daoist, I doubt I’d get to escape alive.”
Only then did Mo Qingxue realize this was an attempt at sowing discord. Normally, such cheap tricks wouldn’t faze her. But now, both were seriously injured, at a complete disadvantage, their wounds still throbbing painfully, heavily interfering with their thoughts.
Don’t be fooled by the fact that Lin Dongming had almost beheaded their opponent just now—that was a surprise attack. The Thunder Dragon Xuanting’s Lei Gang he was controlling was enough to kill them hundreds of times over.
In fact, Mo Qingxue greatly admired how Lin Dongming could still stay clear-headed in such a situation.
—This is someone worth befriending. Both his mind and Dao heart are excellent. I must ask his name later.
She glanced once more at Lin Dongming’s handsome profile: and he’s not bad-looking either.
But little did she know that Lin Dongming’s reason for not handing over White Zhiqing was because of two hundred thousand Spirit Stones.
“…What a pity,” the man in black sighed long and deep, replacing the small black sword with Lei Gang. “Then you can only die here.”
Countless bolts of Lei Gang surged towards the two.
“This is trouble,” Lin Dongming clicked his tongue and took out one iron short sword after another from his Storage Ring.
Just a single Lei Gang earlier had left White Zhiqing heavily injured and unconscious. Now with so many Lei Gang descending at once, even one strike would send them straight to King Yama.
“Golden Light Bodyguard!”
Mo Qingxue shouted sharply as waves of golden light enveloped them both. She then pulled out a black scroll from her Storage Ring, quickly unfurled it, bit her finger, and smeared fresh blood on it, drawing a long streak. “Wenxin Formation!”
The characters on the scroll fell like stars, rapidly forming a hemispherical barrier above their heads, protecting them inside the formation.
The golden light was soon shattered by the Lei Gang, but the hemispherical formation seemed much sturdier, only wobbling slightly under the thunder strikes without breaking.
“So this is Wenxin Tianzong’s Wenxin Formation…” Lin Dongming glanced over, “Looks like a pre-written formation on a scroll, kind of like a talisman.”
“Impressive eyesight, Daoist,” Mo Qingxue remarked. “But let’s deal with the immediate danger first. This Wenxin Formation won’t hold for long; we need other solutions.”
Lin Dongming pointed at the numerous Xuan Iron swords floating beside him, speaking softly, “Don’t worry. The solution’s already here.”
“Huh?”
Mo Qingxue looked confused. “You’re relying on these mortal iron swords to block Lei Gang?”
She could see clearly most of these Xuan Iron swords weren’t even of the Xuan rank, many were just ordinary iron swords that could be bought in mortal towns.
“Just watch.” Lin Dongming didn’t want to explain further. He raised his right hand, forming a sword with his fingers, and lightly waved it downward.
Dozens of iron swords flew out simultaneously, hitting the Lei Gang directly. Instantly, the trajectory of the thunder strikes changed, all of them veering away from the Wenxin Formation, scattered as if dispersed by an unknown overwhelming force.
But Mo Qingxue sensed no large-scale spiritual power radiating from Lin Dongming. To her, it looked like he was simply directing the flying swords to collide with the thunder strikes.
“Interesting,” the man in black smiled. “How did you do that?”
“Do you really think I’d tell you?”
Lin Dongming rolled his eyes. In truth, he’d tied iron wires to the ends of the Xuan Iron swords, allowing the lightning to conduct along the wires.
In the previous life, there were large scientific experiments where rockets dragged iron wires into lightning bolts, successfully guiding lightning underground.
Suspicious, the man in black unleashed another wave of Lei Gang, only for Lin Dongming to summon dozens more flying swords, diverting the remaining thunder strikes as well.
The man in black had very little Lei Gang left.
“Though I don’t know how you did it, Daoist, you’re truly formidable. Astonishing.” Mo Qingxue praised.
“You flatter me, Daoist. Just a petty trick.” Lin Dongming waved his hand dismissively. “Not worth mentioning.”
“But if you can control the trajectory of Lei Gang, why not turn the thunder strikes back on your enemies?”
“Difficult,” Lin Dongming shrugged. “You’ve probably noticed, the Lei Gang follows the path of the flying swords. The swords aren’t fast enough, so it’s easy for the opponent to dodge.”
“You’d better give up,” Lin Dongming deliberately spoke loudly, “No matter how remote this place is, it’s still near Tianjian Peak. If this drags on, someone will definitely notice and come rushing.”
“That’s true,” the man in black smiled. “A prolonged fight isn’t favorable. Today, I might just have to return empty-handed.”
He took out the small black sword again. “I see your swordsmanship is quite good. How about you accept one of my strikes? If you catch it, I’ll leave immediately. If not…”
Lin Dongming shrugged. “If I don’t catch it, I guess we’ve lost. Do whatever you want. By then, you won’t be stopped anyway.”