Divine Retribution

The iron demon's appetite would be denied a while longer. For the soul he is after is more than capable of putting up a fight.

Mexiu's storage ring spit out a wo dao sword, as his terrifying opponent was mid dash. She unsheathed her weapon with absolute serenity, unfazed at the outstretched hand, large enough to swallow her head whole.

The one charging at her is a physical cultivator, covered in invincible iron from his bald dome down to his toes. His strength forged with souls and physical training, elevating it to unnatural heights. And with that monstrous strength, if he managed to grab ahold of her, his gargantuan muscles would seal her fate.

Does that mean that she would go down that easily? Far from it.

The gap in their cultivation might be heaven and earth, her kung fu however, will allow her to traverse it.

And her curved saber is the perfect weapon for doing such.

As Qiang's hand was mere inches away from Meixiu's head, her saber flowed to his wrist and pulled his attack, making it slip past the sect master.

Qiang was quick to recover from such blunder. His other hand balled into a fist and immediately beelined towards Mexiu, only for it turn out like his previous attack, as Meixiu's sabre guided it mere inches slipping past her ear.

Dangerously close to the demonic cultivator, Meixiu jumped and kicked Qiang's face, using it as a springboard to backflip and put some distance between them. Such action would have done considerable damage but Qiang's iron skin didn't even count it as a flick. The damage it inflicted was but an emotional one, as two of his attacks had already missed, and to top it all off, was a kick to the face. Although he tried his best to hide it, Qiang was both amazed and internally seething that a cultivator below his base level managed to pull off such feats.

Witnessing his opponent's lips carve into a haughty smile, Qiang lauded, "Tai Chi. Your Neijing kung fu is formidable. But I wonder, how long can you keep it up against my assault?"

"Long enough to drive your asses out of my sect."

The secret to Meixiu's defense wasn't simple redirection, she was increasing the momentum of Qiang's hands by pulling them in, making the behemoth lose control and allowing Meixiu to alter their direction. Qiang, who is a practitioner of Li kung fu, was a terrible match against Meixiu who is a master of Neijing. In short, it was a battle of external vs internal martial arts.

That may well be, it was not Qiang's first scuffle against a cultivator possessing such martial art.

Qiang is aware that Meixiu needed to imbue her wo dao with her qi at all times, or else his fists will decimate her. It is a battle of attrition then. And with the nine thousand souls swirling inside of him, waiting to be used as fuel, he's willing to bet that it's the woman in front of her who's going to fall down first before he even uses a sliver of that.

His muscular body tensed.

As soon as he launched towards her, Meixiu was ready to intercept.

+++

Using the backstage door to exit, half of the elders along with the core disciples are not on the spacious training ground to conduct their sect's trump card in order to excise the evildoers from their sect.

What was once Xiao's duty, now passed onto Lin as all they all surrounded in rows of circles and channeled not just their qi, but their overall cultivation into her.

But before they could even start the channeling process, a spear had protruded from the ground and impaled Lin's back. The spear retracted as quickly as it had appeared, the open wound near her stomach made Lin fall on her knees.

Even Liu found no satisfaction in what transpired before her eyes, for if Lin falls, so too would their sect. Her comrades were about to tend to her until Lin shouted otherwise.

"Continue the formation! The sooner it activates the sooner we can get rid of them!"

A few distance away from them, Jingfei's upper half emerged from the ground so she could taunt them, "Yes, listen to her. Just stand there as I pick you off one by one."

Using her qi to forcibly clot her wound, Lin stood as she defiantly gazed at the orange haired intruder, "One strike."

"What?"

"You'll only get one more strike. Make it count."

"Now that I've revealed myself, you can sense my cultivation, can't you?" The amusement was apparent in Jingfei's tone. "I'm pretty sure I stabbed you, not hit you in the head."

"Put up or shut up. You remind me of a certain redhead who's only good at yapping."

Even as Lin talked smack, her brain wracked to conclude every information available on her opponent, compiling them for a counter strike. Possible Earth type qi. Her technique that lets her hide underground masks detection. And the most important of all, her cultivation level was close to Xiao's. Hardly the time for recollection, but she wondered, how would Xiao fair against this formidable opponent threatening to collapse their sect?

As Jingfei dove into the ground once more, a bitter smile crept up on Lin's face. Knowing Xiao, her greatest offense which was raining down ice stakes, would render her useless against such a foe.

But not Lin.

Her electric qi may not outright kill the intruder, but the voltage she can output will no doubt incapacitate even a cultivator of Jingfei's caliber. The question is, how will she score a hit on such an elusive foe?

What seemed to be a handle popped up from Lin's storage ring that she wore on her left finger. The ideal length of a whip used in martial arts would be measured from one's chin, down to their toe. But the one that Lin pulled out was twice its size. The whip glistened as it was adorned in metal, while its tip had a blade akin to dagger's.

Underneath the earth, Jingfei circled like a sea monster poised to strike. One strike? Laughable. She would strike those around the blue haired woman, all so she would realize how powerless she is against her onslaught as her comrades fall one by one. And once she was surrounded by corpses, she would reveal herself once more and make her grovel before her feet.

Picking her target at random, Jingfei struck once more and impaled an elder. With his scream of agony as the signal, Lin's whip tangled itself at Jingfei's spear mere inches before it was able to retract below ground.

With all the electricity her qi could output, the deadly current raced from Lin's whip and into the spear. Lin smirked. She could only imagine how unbearable the pain of being electrocuted alive is. Had they been equal in their level of cultivation, her attack would have been enough to kill the intruder outright. Alas, knocking her out would have to suffice.

Smoke rose from the hole where the spear protruded as Lin coiled her whip back into her side.

Although momentous, her victory is something that she cannot savor at the moment, for time is against them. Their sect master's defense might fall at any moment while the one deep underground might regain her consciousness soon.

Thus, their Li Hua formation resumed.

+++

The sound of metal on metal clashing echoed.

Unleashing his favorite technique, Qiang's 'Furious Demon Barrage'. His fists bear down repeatedly at his target at an overwhelming speed, the after-images of his attacks made Qiang look like he had six arms, giving him the image of a sinister bodhisattva, whose evil devours all.

Ever lighter, Mexiu's wo dao intercepted his strikes.

"Good, good. Dance for me, sect master. Gwahahaha!"

Amidst their exchange, Qiang could see the strained face on the woman. She was reaching her limit.

And the moment that Qiang had been waiting for, finally arrived. As Meixu's qi had been drained, her wo dao shattered like a twig. The shockwave of his fists was enough to cause concussions, what more would a direct hit entail to?

Qiang's attack blew Mexiu's right arm completely, sending her flying from the impact.

Lording over the woman who was on her knees, wincing in pain as she clutched the stump of her dismembered arm. Qiang licked his lips, he could devour her in her current state.

Laugher escaped from the woman's lips, confounding Qiang. Had the woman finally lost her marbles? She sure took her time.

Mexiu looked at the demonic bastard straight in the eyes, "I win."

Thunderclouds gathered atop the sky, heralding what could be regarded as Qiang's heavenly tribulation for walking the path of a demonic cultivator.

A lightning lotus had emerged from the sky. It blossomed open with its center pointed towards Qiang. With the cultivation of the Tranquil Waterfall's mightiest stacked on top of each other, it is not far from the realm of possibility for the attack it would unleash to reduce Qiang into ash.

Sensing his demise, Qiang took a horse stance to brace for impact as he routed all the souls he could muster in his iron skin, but would it be enough?

A thunderous boom was heard all throughout the sect as the lotus fired a thick ray concentrated lightning.

"GWAAAAAAAAAH!"

Qiang screamed at the top of his lungs as he was swallowed by the beam. His iron skin was slowly getting eviscerated, his flesh burnt as soon as it was exposed.

As some sort of divine retribution, the invincibility of the iron demon was finally stripped in horrific agony.