Chapter 92: The Sword Fanatic

A little earlier.

After traveling all day, Ji Huo and Xia Ningshang finally reached the road leading out of the Heavenly Desolation Range.

Fortunately, there were not many wandering martial artists here.

Most likely, more of them had assumed that two badly wounded fugitives would never come this way, and had gone searching in the mountains instead.

At the end of the road, apart from a few groups of martial artists gathered around eating and drinking, there was also one man in black fitted clothes with dreadlocks, sitting with his eyes closed in rest.

On his back he carried five treasured swords, each of them looking outrageously expensive, enough to buy hundreds of the fine longswords used by a swordmaster.

He even bore the five swords spread out behind him, like a peacock fanning its tail, gaudy to the extreme.

"Ah, it really is the Sword Maniac. Among all the famous swordsmen, he's the most flamboyant one."

So it was true. Xia Ningshang looked around, her gaze drifting across the martial artists.

"What is it?" Ji Huo asked with a smile.

Xia Ningshang's eyes curved with amusement. "I'm missing a weapon that suits me."

Don't you still have that broken fragment of the Demon Dragon Spear... Ji Huo blinked, then understood. Laughing, he said, "Easy enough. I'll get you one."

With that, he strode toward the crowd.

As his pace quickened, afterimages began to trail behind him.

The ground trembled beneath his running feet, as though answering his movements.

Then lightning flickered over Ji Huo's body, and the ghostly image of a giant black bear appeared, charging forward on all fours toward the crowd.

With the trembling ground beneath it, it looked like a mad giant bear was barreling in to kill without regard for anything.

"It's Ji Huo!"

"Ji Huo is here!"

"His injuries have healed!"

"Run!"

The gathered martial artists looked at the towering, over ten-meter black bear and fled in terror, all of them turning tail in a panic.

They had heard that Ji Huo had been severely wounded, but with what he was showing now, where was there any sign of injury?

"Trying to leave? Not so easy!"

Ji Huo laughed heartily and threw a powerful punch. Lightning flashed at once, and in an instant the fleeing martial artists were swallowed whole.

Under the savage force of the strike, the crowd was blasted flying one after another. Now and then, lightning fell from the giant bear's phantom form, tearing flesh and leaving them bloodied.

One of the martial artists dropped the fine steel spear in his hand. Ji Huo's eyes lit up. With a grasping motion, he pulled it to himself, then tossed it back.

"Miss Xia, catch the spear!"

Xia Ningshang, close on his heels, sprang up and caught it in midair. She spun the spear in a graceful flourish, then looked at Ji Huo with a half-smile.

"How did you know I was skilled with spears?"

Ji Huo laughed. "A woman like you looks even more heroic with a spear in hand!"

Xia Ningshang gave a light snort and leaped into the crowd. First she turned the shaft to deflect their attacks, then swept the spear sideways and sent them flying.

"Fine spearwork!" Ji Huo praised.

You're just playing the straight man, aren't you... Xia Ningshang curled her lip slightly, very much wanting to say it aloud.

The martial artists who had surrounded them were killed or fled, and in the blink of an eye the area had been cleared.

The Sword Maniac, sitting at the far end of the road, had already opened his eyes the moment Ji Huo appeared. His gaze fixed greedily and hungrily on Ji Huo's waist, just like an old man who had been locked in prison for years and suddenly seen an alpaca.

At Ji Huo's waist, though wrapped in cloth, the Sword Maniac still recognized it at a glance.

"It is the scent of a sword... the scent of a famous sword... a true famous sword..." he muttered, a look of intoxication flashing in his eyes.

"It is a peerless blade... the number one sword under heaven... get it... I must get it..."

His shoulders began to shake, his whole body trembling uncontrollably as his hands flailed through the air and his head jerked from side to side, as though he were seized by some fit.

"Get it..."

"I must get it..."

"I have to get it..."

As he chanted in a daze, the fingers darting wildly through the air suddenly trembled, and a streak of crimson light shot forth with piercing speed.

The Blood Vein Sword Finger!

Ji Huo only felt a surge of danger. He immediately answered with a punch.

"Be careful!" Xia Ningshang cried urgently.

The red light collided with the fist force in an instant. After only the briefest pause, it bored a tiny hole through the fist aura and shot straight toward Ji Huo's heart.

Ji Huo was startled at once. By instinct he twisted aside, and the red beam struck his arm, leaving behind a deep wound.

It still didn't pierce through? As expected, his body is monstrous... Xia Ningshang's mouth twitched as she explained.

"His sword finger is extremely fast, and he condenses all his power into a single point, giving it terrifying penetrative force. It is especially effective against your wide, sweeping style. That's how he injured me before as well."

So that's it—an attack that breaks the whole by striking the point. A new idea, at least... Ji Huo rolled his neck. The wound on his arm healed rapidly under the nourishment of the earth.

"Together!" Ji Huo charged at once.

"All right!" Xia Ningshang ran after him with the spear in hand, battle intent surging.

"Bear Overwhelms the World!" Ji Huo roared and slammed a palm fiercely downward in front of him. At the same moment, the giant bear behind him bellowed as well, and its paw descended like Mount Tai crushing down from above.

The Sword Maniac's body jerked fitfully, his limbs dancing wildly, yet he shot upward into the air with astonishing speed. The ground was instantly smashed to pieces by the bear's palm force.

"Need a sword, need a sword!"

The greed in his eyes grew even more obvious. Just as he lifted his hand to point, a spear suddenly lunged out from behind the giant bear, thrusting straight for his throat.

The Sword Maniac hastily twisted his head aside. The spear tip spat out a burst of spear force that flew into the distance and shattered several trees at once.

Then the spear swept sideways, but the Sword Maniac had already drifted back, unleashing several streaks of sword qi in an instant to stab toward the two of them.

Xia Ningshang stepped forward, her spear flashing in repeated blocks. Using the force-deflecting momentum of her technique, she knocked all those sword qi aside, and the two of them remained unharmed.

Then Ji Huo emerged again from behind Xia Ningshang and sent a punch crashing out.

The strike looked plain enough at first, but in midair it suddenly transformed into a massive fist aura over three meters high.

The Sword Maniac's body trembled. Four or five sword qi shot out at once, as if he meant to repeat the same trick and drill through the fist aura.

But Xia Ningshang had already concealed herself beneath the fist aura. She knew that without the Demon Dragon Spear, she was nowhere near the destructive force of this human bear named Ji Huo, so she concentrated on defense.

Her speed was astonishing as she flicked the sword qi away from beneath the fist aura. Just as the Sword Maniac seemed about to dodge in alarm, she suddenly withdrew her spear and thrust out in rapid succession, completely sealing off his retreat on every side.

With a thunderous blow, Ji Huo struck him head-on and sent him flying!

Immediately afterward, Ji Huo swept his left hand, and several bolts of lightning crashed down in succession, all of them striking the Sword Maniac.

The Sword Maniac fell to the ground, his body trembling violently.

"We did it!" Their eyes lit up at the same time. They had not expected this half-step grandmaster to be brought down so easily.