Black Myth: Starting from the Destined One
Chapter 188 - 167: Battle of the Geniuses! _3

Chapter 188: Chapter 167: Battle of the Geniuses! _3

"So Xie Wenren was telling the truth!"

Seated in the chair, Cen Fuda saw his henchmen scatter in all directions, including the four servants who were carrying his chair.

"Damn it! Take me with you! If I die, none of you will live either!"

After screaming, those four servants then came back and carried him as they ran. Yet, Pei Yuanjing of the Flame Cloud Sect remained proud and unmoved, silently watching.

Li Ping’an looked up and mocked:

"Boy, you, a cultivator of the Flame Cloud Sect, rely on these riffraff and thugs to bolster your stance. It seems you are no different from Xie Wenren. Enough with this pretense, you should leave now to avoid ending up like Xie Wenren! And besides, the ghost is about to come out! When that happens, you’ll not be able to escape!"

"Do I, Pei Yuanjing, need these vermin to make me look imposing? Truly laughable!"

Li Ping’an didn’t understand the arrogance of Pei Yuanjing and his standing within his sect. He only thought to intimidate Pei Yuanjing into retreating by mocking him, but unexpectedly it had the opposite effect and instantly enraged Pei Yuanjing!

Pei Yuanjing suddenly flew down, blocking the way of Cen Fuda, Iron Staff Wang Lang, and the others, and threatened harshly:

"Don’t you dare run! Go back and kill Li Ping’an, or I’ll kill you all!"

"Ah?"

Iron Staff Wang Lang, Cen Fuda, and the gang of ruffians, who were fleeing, were stopped in their tracks by Pei Yuanjing and looked at him with puzzled expressions, asking:

"Immortal Pei, why are you doing this? Aren’t we on the same side?"

"Who’s on your side? I find it shameful enough as it is. As for why I’m doing this..."

Pei Yuanjing looked at the people before him with disgust, as one might look at insects:

"Because you’re in the way! It was meant to be a quiet contest between me and Immortal Li, but you animals ruined my pleasure!"

Iron Staff Wang Lang’s eyes darted around as he quickly explained:

"Great Immortal Pei, we only wanted to help you. We meant no offense! Please show mercy!"

"Without my permission, you came here and disrupted my challenge to Immortal Li. That is the greatest sin!"

Fearing they might not obey, Pei Yuanjing immediately produced a flame in his hand and swept it towards the ground at the feet of the crowd, where it turned into a half-meter-tall firewall.

"Go now! A moment’s delay and I will burn all of you alive!"

"This..."

Iron Staff Wang Lang, Cen Fuda, and the group of ruffians, idle followers, and servants all looked troubled. They looked back at Li Ping’an in terror, then at Pei Yuanjing in fear, caught between the two powerful men, not knowing what to do.

"Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! What a temper!"

Li Ping’an realized that this Pei Yuanjing, who was young enough to expel Xie Wenren from the sect and who despised life so casually while claiming to be second only to the best in the world, was no different from another version of Cen Fuda – arrogant and imperious, just with a different name and status!

The most infuriating part was that he had to fight Pei Yuanjing, watch his mood, coax him, be careful around him in battle, and in the end, obediently accept death! Where in the world was there such a reason?

This left Li Ping’an inwardly complaining:

Damn it! Why do I always meet such idiots? Do they really think they can do whatever they want and have me, Li Ping’an, at their beck and call?

"Brothers, death awaits us either way, so we might as well take our chances against Li Ping’an!"

Iron Staff Wang Lang reasoned that Li Ping’an’s Sword Control Technique was powerful, but likely not enough to defeat the second-best in the world, Pei Yuanjing.

Between two choices, he would always pick the weaker one, so he might as well gamble on it, thereby Iron Staff Wang Lang found himself leading the others back to attack Li Ping’an!

"Good animals! All of you are blind fools with hearts cloaked in fat! Insisting on opposing me, an Earth Immortal! Sword Control!"

Li Ping’an, still wishing to avoid trouble and not wanting to kill in order to stay in Chang’an City, controlled his iron sword to wound Iron Staff Wang Lang and the others, not aiming for their vitals.

A streak of cold light flew from Li Ping’an’s hand and returned, leaving Iron Staff Wang Lang, Cen Fuda, and the others lying on the ground, battered and incontinent, all clutching their wounds and kneeling to beg for mercy:

"Supreme Treasure! Don’t kill me! Please, don’t kill me!"

"Grandpa, spare my life! Grandpa, spare my life!"

"We were wrong! Please be merciful!"

"It was all Xie Wenren’s instigation, we have nothing to do with it!"

Li Ping’an knew these wretched beings were bullies who thrived on the weakness of others. He couldn’t be bothered to argue with these dog-like characters and threatened Iron Staff Wang Lang sternly:

"Wang Lang, you scoundrel! I took the blame for you for killing Cen Changqing, but don’t trouble me again! Otherwise, I will hunt you to the ends of the earth!"

Kneeling on the ground, Iron Staff Wang Lang knocked his head frantically in gratitude:

"Good! Good! Good! As long as you spare my life, anything is fine!"

Li Ping’an then turned to Cen Fuda, who was sitting paralyzed in his chair and shivering, and questioned:

"Cen Fuda, you living creature, do you still want to seek vengeance against me?"

"I... I..."

Cen Fuda, nearly scared to death, cowardly looked back at Pei Yuanjing, signaling for him to quickly say something on his behalf!

However, Pei Yuanjing simply turned his head away:

"Fool, why are you looking at me? What do I care about the life or death of you lowlifes!"

"This..."

At this point, Cen Fuda thought that revenge could wait; it was most important to survive the immediate peril. He immediately put on a nervous smile and replied:

"Li Ping’an, no, Immortal Li, I, Cen Fuda, will never seek revenge against you again! Please spare my life! Can I go now?"

"All of you, get out! And don’t come bothering me again!"

"Not so fast! Am I invisible?"

Pei Yuanjing watched everyone with a cold expression and said:

"Li Ping’an, since you’re unwilling to kill these nuisances, fine, I’ll kill you first, then these fools. They’ve ruined my plans; even if they die here, nobody will know it was me. Later, I’ll blame it on you. With the Flame Cloud Sect backing me, everyone will believe what I say, hahaha!"

"Pei Yuanjing, you are too arrogant. Li Ping’an, kill him now!"

Xie Wenren, who was hiding nearby on a rooftop watching everything, was nervously observing, ready to snipe with a sneak attack, although he still had yet to decide on his target.

"Earth Fire!"

With a gesture, Pei Yuanjing conjured another two-meter-tall flaming circle under the feet of Iron Staff Wang Lang, Cen Fuda, and others, trapping them inside. He did this fearing they might sneak away while he was busy confronting Li Ping’an.

After doing this, he turned back to Li Ping’an with excitement and said:

"Immortal Li, there’s no one to disturb us now, bring it on!"

"You madman!"

Li Ping’an cursed and made a final effort:

"Hey, hey, hey, can’t we just not fight?"

"If you weren’t an Earth Immortal, I wouldn’t have come for you. I am obsessed with the Dao! I battle the strong and win every fight! It’s the same for everyone!"

As he spoke, Pei Yuanjing took off the Sword Box from his back, drew out the dim and lusterless Immortal Slaying Sword, and then, using the Sword Control Technique, he quickly flew up, still arrogantly saying:

"Immortal Li, I have a rule, my sword must draw blood, so you can’t escape today!"

"Damn it! You little beast, are you forcing me to act, huh?"

Li Ping’an had not expected that each of Flame Cloud Sect’s cultivators would be more troublesome than the last, with Pei Yuanjing being the biggest nuisance of all. Seeing that Pei Yuanjing was adamant about challenging him, an Earth Immortal, Li Ping’an understood that he couldn’t avoid the fight that night, and was forced into combat.

But cunning as he was, he never fought without preparation and quickly activated his Divine Power: Insight into the Hidden to assess Pei Yuanjing’s cultivation:

Pei Yuanjing, Taoist cultivator: Guxuan Realm 80%, Strength: 450, Mana: 450, Defense: 500

Critical Hit Rate: 0%, Critical Hit Combo: 0%, Damage Bonus: 0%, Damage Reduction: 0%

Four Disasters Resistance:

Cold Immunity: 0%, Fire Immunity: 30%, Poison Immunity: 0%, Lightning Immunity: 0%

"And I thought you were some great expert, the world’s second-best talent? Ha! Just a mere Guxuan Realm practitioner. You dare come before me with your base tricks? Tiangang Single Peak Seal!"

Once Li Ping’an had fully grasped Pei Yuanjing’s strength, he thought about intimidating him a little, showing off his power to make him back down, so he only launched a Single Seal from the Tiangang Five Peaks Seal at Pei Yuanjing, using less than ten percent of his strength.

Even this small exertion of strength was enough to produce a colossal mountain peak above Pei Yuanjing’s head, pressing down with the force of thunder.

"Fire Yan Palm!"

Casually raising his hand, Pei Yuanjing sent a pillar of fire soaring from his palm, which engulfed and burned the mountain peak conjured by Li Ping’an’s mana.

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"Immortal Li, do you look down on me, Pei Yuanjing? Huh? Break!"

With a thunderous shout from Pei Yuanjing, the towering pillar of fire transformed into a flaming hand, which crushed and burned the mountain peak to ashes.