The fact that their opponent remained standing regardless of the number of blows hurled infuriated both An Fei and Yang Jian, as well as everyone present.
The young girl seemed to be only interested in performing an interesting sword dance, with the only novel aspect being that the sword grasped in her hand blazing with a scarlet flame. The three grown men were equally frustrating to be forced to do nothing but to observe and be comical in appearance.
Yang Jian, whose awe-striking reputation relied solely on his heaven scattering, <Extreme Yang> martial art technique that empowered the fist, could not land a single fist on the young girl’s body. Tang Yunhe, who possessed a striking reputation as an executioner of the blade, failed to strike An Fei’s clothes, much less her waist-length hair that was freely scattering around.
…as for Shen Haoren who wielded the unreasonably mighty <Heaven and Earth Cannon>, seemed to have lost his eyes today…
Boom!
“Argh!”
A coin imbued with magnetism and electrical current empowered by spiritual essence buried itself into the shale floor directly before an elderly member of the Du Clan’s feet.
The resounding force of the impact was transferred directly onto the elderly man’s body, hurling him directly into the harsh surface of the wall of the chamber.
When he had managed to orient himself to a standing position, the elderly man was certainly not pleased.
“Shen Haoren!” Du Yongming roared with a ferocious expression.
“Do you have eyes or not!? Why did you aim at this old man!?”
“Do you think I wanted to aim at you?” the middle-aged man retorted with an equally enraged expression.
“You try fighting this stinky lass, and see if you can’t avoid the same fate!”
The Du Clan’s elderly figure was instantly stumped by Shen Haoren’s aggravated roar, and silently endured the torment of a second misplaced coin. Even though the hurled coin this time was of gold and not silver, the elderly man repressed his tongue.
…though that was only because he and the remaining cultivators of the Hundred Clan Coalition had indeed, attempted to fight An Fei.
They had adopted a hailstorm approach of martial arts techniques to utterly eradicate the mortal girl on the spot, only to suffer attacks of equal magnitude…
The only reason why Yang Jian, Shen Haoren, and Tang Yunhe were still able to attack the young girl was because they hadn’t participated in the initial two waves of assaults.
Otherwise, even they would be rolling on the ground, howling in agony…
Wait.
Equal magnitude?
Du Yongming’s eyes shot open, a pallid expression on his aged countenance. With a loud slap of his palm onto the already ravaged and defiled shale floor, the elderly man mustered the remaining spiritual essence to release a fierce howl.
“This young girl’s external martial arts technique can reflect attacks of any magnitude! Simply despicable – this goes against the mandates and blessings of Heaven!”
The howl was embodied with a lifetime’s regret and exasperation, in addition to an overpowering sensation of annoyance that they had never experienced before.
As the Hundred Clan Coalition’s cultivators slumped onto the ground with blood seeping from their body, their hearts tore themselves apart at the Du Clan’s frenzied howl.
Each of them had suffered injuries that would take years to recuperate, and perhaps incur sequalae that would plague them for the rest of their lives.
When they thought about the duration of time that had now just been squandered within a span of a moment, tears welled in their eyes.
All they had to do was simply not attack, and thus nothing would be reflected onto them, ah?
To a certain degree, Du Yongming’s scream was an apt description of the <Steps of Underlying Shadow>’s implied effects in a battle.
Regardless of the directional attributes of an attack, An Fei could perfectly reflect it back towards the opponent without suffering harm herself.
That was, given that the incoming attack possessed pure physical force and nothing else.
An Fei’s hanfu was unscathed, and the young girl’s skin was unbroken and completely smooth despite the number of flames hurled onto her body, stabs towards her neck, or electromagnetic coins shot towards her path.
And yet, the young girl experienced an unbearable torture with each passing moment.
The spiritual essence of the mortal world forced shivers of pain to torment her muscle, and her body was riddled with an innumerable amount of discolored spots, their violent surface trembling in their agony.
At the same time, the diluted spiritual essence from the Sanctum rendered horrifying wounds onto Yang Jian and the others’ body.
“Flare!”
Compared to An Fei who had only experienced a “bullet hell” of the modern world, the cultivators of the Shattered Star Continent had survived through numerous hells of blood, tears, and suffering to attain their present cultivation state.
As such, Yang Jian quickly suppressed the wraith of pain, his fists embodied in Yang-attributed spiritual essence sweeping towards the young girl’s liver and spleen.
From behind surged Tang Yunhe’s multicolored jian, the merciless tip of the sword aimed towards the exposed nape of the young girl.
Standing at the edge of the elevated platform of the transference array, Shang Xuan clenched his teeth as he relinquished another gold coin, smacking it with his double-ended war hammer.
Teng!
The brilliant orange streak of light accompanied by the faint odor of burnt oxygen imprinted itself onto the onlookers’ memory, as well as the dual fists embodied by golden light and the shadowy sword hissing through the wind.
They appreciated the culmination of teamwork expressed by Yang Jian and the others, but they couldn’t help but admire the young girl’s response.
Regardless of a cultivator’s attainment and prowess, a coin propelled by electromagnetism and spiritual essence was bound to faster. As such, An Fei stabbed the tip of the taijijian into the shale floor, the <Steps of Underlying Shadow> hurling her into the air.
The coin scattering electrons blazed through the air and under the strands of her hair to embed itself into the walls of the chamber housing the transference array.
The young girl then relied on the accompanying turbulence in the wind to throw herself back onto the ground, the taijijian’s sharp blade extended to slash through Tang Yunhe’s tattered back.
And finally, a dainty fist slammed into a handsome man’s solar plexus, penetrating through the defensive barriers with ease.
A slice of blood was scattered into the air, accompanied by two figures stumbling backwards until their feet tottered at the edge of the elevated platform.
Too frustrating!
Yang Jian groaned as he patted his solar plexus with his left hand, finding it now impossible to ignore the seeping, pervasive waves of pain.
Sensing his mind’s capitulation, the previously ignored pain pummeled the man until he was left gasping for breath, unable to speak with beads of perspiration decorating his forehead.
Why was killing a mortal girl so… difficult?
“…it’s just like fighting a doppelganger of myself,” Tang Yunhe groaned with chattering lips.
“Not to mention, that doppelganger can effectively counter each and every single one of my attacks.”
Having practiced their martial art techniques for decades, Yang Jian, Tang Yunhe, and Shen Haoren were equally aware of the devastation their attacks could impose onto a human being, much less a mortal.
As such, when they glanced onto their own body tattered with streaks of blood and severed muscle, they felt the pangs of familiarity and excruciating pain.
Of course, if they simply didn’t attack, they would have never acquired such injuries.
But would An Fei truly allow them to silently stand in place, intending on pressuring her into a surrender by their gazes alone?
“Honorable Yang, shouldn’t you return my items?”
The young girl stared directly into the battered man’s eyes, her countenance devoid of exhaustion save for a slight pallid expression.
An Fei raised the taijijian into the air, pointing the blade towards the remaining members of the Hundred Clan Coalition.
“And shouldn’t you all explain why you dared to attack me?”
“That – that was because of the prophecy of Emperor Nine Yellow Reincarnations and the seven-tailed fox –“
Shua!
“Enough about a seven-tailed fox’s blood – that was a blatant lie, isn’t it?” the young girl snapped with a stern expression as the taijijian raked through the shale floor.
“The interlude of a seven-tailed fox was merely your own greed translated into fragments of a prophecy, wasn’t it? Otherwise, this Honorable Yang’s Patriarch would have not mentioned something about my possessions, hm?”
“This…”
The injured cultivators gazed onto the young girl’s countenance and then each other, attempting to sound out the current situation.
After a brief moment of internal contemplation, the elderly figure of the Di Clan stepped forwards, a series of wrinkles manifesting upon his exposed forehead.
“Yes, the lore of a seven-tailed fox’s blood was our creation – the temptation of a Nascent Soul Realm spiritual beast, perfectly domesticated and to our bidding – is far too great to bear; not even the Imperial Families or the Three Great Sects will pass such opportunity. However, so what?”
“We are only the younger generation of the Hundred Clan Coalition. Even Honorable Yang’s profound strength is insignificant compared to the Yang Clan. Do you really think that you can leave this place alive?”
The elderly figure’s countenance was exceptionally maleficent and horrifying, and the primal instinct of conquest – and fear – could be discerned.
And yet, before An Fei could say a word, a leisurely voice rang from the corridor leading into the hall hosting the transference array.
“Oh dear, this place has been beat up rather painfully. My, dear lady Xu, you seem to be placed in quite the troublesome situation, haven’t you?”
