NOVEL NEXT The Crimson Hunter
TAK TAK TAK
The sound of warhorses' hooves pounding against the ground echoed across the barren landscape. The rhythmic stamping marked the determined pace of the two riders.
"Senior Brother, are you sure this is the right way?" one of the riders asked, his voice tinged with impatience.
"Don't be impatient, Ren'er," the older man replied, his tone calm but firm. "Two days ago, one of our informants saw him boarding a carriage to Dragon Tail. Our sect's warhorses far outpace those feeble beasts of burden pulling that carriage. If we keep moving at this pace, we’ll catch up in no time. Only then can we avenge Ren Shi!"
The senior brother looked to be in his middle ages, streaks of white in his hair highlighting his experience and the burdens he carried. His posture was straight, exuding a sense of authority and resolve. In contrast, the other rider was much younger, his face still bearing the softness of youth, though his eyes were hardened with the desire for vengeance.
The barren landscape around them was desolate, the dry earth cracked under the relentless sun. Sparse vegetation struggled to survive, and the wind carried a faint scent of dust and decay. The horizon was a shimmering line, broken occasionally by distant mountains or the silhouette of twisted trees.
The young man sighed as he heard the news. Ever since Ren Shi’s murder, the entire Justice House of the White Blade Sect had become mad, pouring every single ounce of their resources into tracking down the murderer. They had sent countless experts after him, yet all efforts had been in vain.
He still remembered the Justice House’s Master Ren Tai’s words before they began their journey.
“You two are our last hope in catching that murderer. If you two fail, then all will be over!”
Master Ren Tai had even sent his own brother, Ren Zhong, to go after the man responsible for Ren Shi's death. The pressure on their shoulders was immense.
As they rode through the dense forest, a carriage suddenly came into view in the distance.
“There! It must be that carriage!” Ren Zhong exclaimed. Before the young man could reply, Ren Zhong had already spurred his horse forward, drawing his Dao in a swift, fluid motion.
White Blade Martial Technique - Great Tiger of Storms - Justice House Variation!
With a powerful throw, the blade flew swiftly towards the carriage, its path surrounded by an aura of Qi that stabilised and guided it. The force behind the throw was immense, and the blade whistled through the air.
WHOOSH!
The blade struck the carriage with pinpoint accuracy.
BOOM!
The stored amounts of Qi in the sword released upon impact, causing the carriage to explode in a spectacular display of light and debris.
“Yes!” Ren Zhong shouted triumphantly as he neared the site. He hopped down from his horse and began searching through the wreckage for bodies.
“Come, Ren Kai, help me search for his body!” Ren Zhong called out to his son. But there was no sound of the warhorse approaching, nor any footsteps. Puzzled, he looked back.
“Oi, what happened!” Ren Zhong called out annoyedly, only to see Ren Kai still on his horse, motionless. The next moment, Ren Kai's body fell limply to the ground with a sickening thud.
THUD!
“What the—!” Ren Zhong rose up alarmed and dashed towards his son. His heart pounded as he reached Ren Kai, hoping against hope that he was still alive.
BANG!
Ren Zhong stumbled forward, feeling a sudden, sharp pain as someone attacked him from behind.
“It’s you!” Ren Zhong shouted in panic. In his haste, he had forgotten to draw his sword. He turned around quickly, hurling a fist towards his attacker.
WHOOSH!
Yet no one was there!
Thunder Law Martial Technique - Lightning Barrage!
Suddenly, a barrage of blows descended upon Ren Zhong with terrifying speed and precision.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Each strike was accompanied by a crack of thunder and the searing heat of lightning. The continuous assault charred Ren Zhong’s flesh, inflicting not only blunt damage but also burning him slowly and painfully. His skin sizzled under the relentless onslaught, smoke rising from his body as the electricity danced across his frame.
“You dare!” Ren Zhong roared in rage, his voice echoing through the forest. He tried to grab the attacker, but at that moment, they vanished, only to reappear on another side and continue the assault.
The attacks were relentless, coming from every direction. Ren Zhong's vision blurred from the pain, but he could sense the attacker’s movements, swift and elusive like a ghost in the storm. There was no pattern to the attacks, making it impossible for him to predict where the next blow would land.
“There’s no way to survive this!” Ren Zhong thought grimly. He could feel his Qi reserves dwindling with each passing second. The intense pain and exhaustion threatened to overwhelm him, but he steeled himself, refusing to give in.
“Let’s see how long your Qi may last!” Ren Zhong shouted inwardly, gritting his teeth and summoning every ounce of his remaining strength. He braced himself, determined to tank the hits and outlast his opponent.
That was a mistake.
—----------------------------------------------------
“How the hell do you have so much Qi?” Ren Zhong thought, baffled by his opponent’s seemingly endless Qi reserves. Half an hour had passed, and yet Ling Xuan continued to unleash Lightning Barrage, wave after relentless wave. His clothes had long since turned to ash.
Ren Zhong’s nerves were so damaged that he could no longer feel pain, a small mercy amid the torment. His movements were sluggish, his muscles twitching involuntarily from the residual electric shocks. His vision blurred as he felt himself teetering on the edge of consciousness. He was stuck, unable to muster the strength to defend himself, slowly succumbing to his grievous wounds.
“Kill me,” Ren Zhong managed to whisper, his voice a raspy croak.
Suddenly, the seemingly never-ending Lightning Barrage came to an abrupt end. Ren Zhong, surprised and exhausted, was about to breathe a sigh of relief from his charred lungs when he heard a cold voice cut through the silence.
“Alright.”
Enormous amounts of Qi began to agglomerate towards Ling Xuan’s fist,as Ling Xuan’s meridians also began releasing Qi. Red lightning began crackling around his hand, the air around him shimmering with raw power.
Thunder Law Ling Clan Potential Transmutation Art - Fusion: Crimson Thunder Obliteration!
The air around them grew thick with tension, crackling with the impending strike. Ren Zhong could barely lift his head to watch, his eyes widening in helpless horror.
BOOM!
The sheer force of the attack was unimaginable. A massive explosion of red lightning erupted from Ling Xuan’s fist, obliterating everything in its path. The sound was deafening, a roar that seemed to shake the very earth beneath them. The explosion illuminated the forest in a blinding flash, casting long, eerie shadows among the trees.
Ren Zhong’s upper body was completely destroyed in an instant. The crimson lightning vaporised his flesh, bones, and blood, leaving nothing but a smoking crater where he once stood. The ground beneath him was scorched black, the heat from the attack lingering in the air.
“You asked for it,” Ling Xuan said, gasping in exhaustion. He had expended an immense amount of Qi, and his body felt like it was about to break down at any moment. His limbs trembled from the strain, and he took a deep breath to steady himself.
“Who knew that the White Blade Sect would go mad over an officer’s death? Well, that is to be expected,” Ling Xuan smirked as he began to walk slowly toward Ren Kai’s horse, which he had drugged to sleep earlier.
When he was first constructing his plan to bait the White Blade Sect officers, he had come across a surprising detail: Ren Shi was the son of the Justice House’s Master, Ren Tai. This discovery had caused him to change his strategy. Instead of making the bait a one-off opportunity to condense a couple of meridians, he had realized that he could potentially bait an entire division of one of the Great Sects. Surely, that would net him tens of meridians.
“For weeks, I’ve been running and hunting them,” Ling Xuan murmured, grimacing as he recalled the numerous times he had narrowly escaped death. The constant pursuit had taken its toll on him, but it had also made him stronger.
“At least I was able to forge thirty meridians. Now I have a total of thirty-five,” he muttered to himself, feeling a sense of satisfaction despite his exhaustion. The meridians were the channels through which Qi flowed, and having more of them allowed for greater power and control.
“I was also able to finally test out my new technique,” Ling Xuan grinned as he reached the sleeping horse. He injected another drug to wake it up.
NEIGHHH!
The horse let out a cry as it slowly stood up, shaking off the effects of the drug. Ling Xuan mounted the horse, his thoughts drifting to his technique, Crimson Thunder Obliteration.
Crimson Thunder Obliteration was a technique that could be considered Ling Xuan’s magnum opus. It combined everything he had learned and obtained in this world to create a single, devastating technique capable of easily destroying an Expert. He had used the Lightning Barrage of the Thunder Law Sect as a base, incorporating the Ling Clan’s Crimson Barrage—a technique in which he had reached Absolute Mastery. The Crimson Barrage’s force transference, combined with the Potential Transmutation Art’s ability to generate immense kinetic energy, created a deadly synergy. By utilising his meridians to supply Qi, he had forged a technique of unparalleled destructiveness.
“Time to get going.” Saying this Ling Xuan rode off to Dragon Tail.