Star Martial Soaring Cloud

Over the past few days, Wang Xiao has lost count of how many fierce battles he has fought with the pursuing enemies.

He always strikes swiftly and ruthlessly, each move aimed directly at vital points. Once he has succeeded, he never lingers in the fight, immediately withdrawing and moving on to find the next target.

In this chase, the balance of power has become blurred, and it's difficult to distinguish who is the pursuer and who is the prey.

Throughout this process, Wang Xiao remained extremely vigilant, his spiritual senses spreading out in all directions like a spider web.

At the slightest sign of trouble, they would abandon the battle and retreat without hesitation, never giving the enemy a chance to encircle them.

By this point, he had killed more than twenty cultivators from the Hua family—achieving such a result single-handedly amidst heavy encirclement was truly remarkable, but he had also paid a heavy price in blood.

Wang Xiao had almost no external injuries and showed no signs of fatigue, but the successive fierce battles made his internal injuries more and more serious.

If this continues, his health will eventually collapse completely.

Even more troublesome is that the danger has never been over; the pursuers could emerge from any corner of the forest at any time, and if his internal injuries continue to worsen, his situation will be extremely precarious.

Fortunately, the Kung Pao Chicken drew most of the fire away from him, but this was by no means a long-term solution.

As time goes on, people will inevitably notice something amiss, and his situation will only become more precarious.

Wang Xiao knew that to escape this endless pursuit, he had to prove his innocence, but the Hua family had not given him that chance. The relentless pursuit had left him breathless.

The Hua family's relentless pursuit left him no time to catch his breath or make any plans.

He knew that only by eliminating the Hua family, their core pursuers, as soon as possible could he seize the initiative in the battle.

With this in mind, Wang Xiao had already made a decision—to deal a heavy blow to the Hua family's pursuers, the primary objective was to eliminate the three Fish Leap Perfection Realm experts they had sent.

As Wang Xiao moved through the forest, he refined his "decapitation plan."

To catch a thief, first catch his king; to kill an enemy, first behead him. To temporarily eliminate the threat from the Hua family, he had to severely damage their main force of pursuit, and those three experts naturally became his first targets.

Once these three are eliminated, the remaining members of the Hua family will be no threat at all, freeing him up to do what he truly wants to do.

Wang Xiao was confident he could kill one person in a one-on-one fight; against two, he could only flee in a sorry state; and against three, he would probably only be able to report to the King of Hell.

These three experts were not only two minor realms higher than him in cultivation, but also had incredibly rich experience in fighting.

Wang Xiao dared not underestimate this situation and could only adopt a strategy of defeating them one by one, relying on both wisdom and force to win this life-or-death struggle.

The enemy is advancing in a triangular formation, so the central force will inevitably be the first to penetrate deep into the enemy territory.

Wang Xiao immediately decided to target the team in the middle lane first—another reason being that the leader of this team was the old man in red who had fought against him not long ago.

The frustration of an unsuccessful start will surely affect the old man in red's temperament, making this the best time to strike.

On this day, as the old man in red and his group searched, they occasionally found traces of blood on the ground.

He couldn't help but feel a surge of joy: this was clearly a sign that Wang Xiao's whereabouts had been exposed, and the other party might be nearby! In recent days, the Hua family members had already noticed Wang Xiao's battle plan—deliberately hunting down lone members to gradually deplete their own forces. But Wang Xiao's elusive nature made him impossible for them to guard against.

Left with no other choice, they decided to go with the flow and deliberately arranged for some of the Hua family members to act alone, hoping to continuously deplete Wang Xiao's vital energy and gradually pinpoint his exact location.

This tactic did indeed narrow down the search area time and time again, but their wishful thinking ultimately backfired.

Wang Xiao deliberately used as little of his vital energy as possible throughout, intentionally leading the enemy into a misunderstanding.

Even though his internal injuries continued to worsen, he could temporarily suppress them with the help of herbs he gathered in the forest, and his vital energy remained abundant.

After discovering the bloodstains, the old man in red initially wanted to summon the other two experts to join him, but then he changed his mind and abandoned the idea.

Firstly, he was not entirely certain that Wang Xiao was nearby. If this was a trap set by the enemy to lure them into withdrawing their forces before breaking out from another direction, then it would be exactly what they wanted. Secondly, and this was the most crucial point, in his view, since Wang Xiao had exposed his whereabouts and left such an obvious flaw, he must be severely injured and at his last gasp.

"This is a tremendous achievement; only a fool would ask others to share in the spoils!" the red-robed old man thought to himself. He immediately ordered his men to quicken their pace, advancing cautiously yet impatiently.

As he continued his pursuit, the bloodstains on the road became increasingly dense and the bloodstains became fresher, while the distance between him and the other two groups of people grew further and further.

After a morning of rapid march, the old man in red finally made a significant discovery.

When they reached a slope connecting to the valley, a figure appeared ahead—a young man dressed in Hua family attire, hunched over, one hand clutching his lower abdomen, the other dragging a blood-stained longsword, his steps unsteady and staggering.

His hair was disheveled like straw, his clothes were stained with blood, and a conspicuous trail of blood trailed behind him. He was clearly at his last gasp and had suffered extremely serious injuries.

The old man in red was overjoyed. Having lived in the Hua family for decades, he recognized at a glance that the person before him was definitely not a member of the Hua family.

"Trying to disguise yourself as a member of the Hua family and get away with it? You're underestimating the Hua family too much!" He sneered inwardly, slowing his pace as he quietly approached the figure.

But the figure seemed completely unaware, showing no reaction whatsoever.

This further convinced the old man in red that the boy before him was completely exhausted and had lost even the most basic sense of self-preservation.

He completely let down his guard, suddenly accelerated, and slammed a palm down hard on the figure's back: "You little brat, die!"

The palm strike was as sharp as a knife, and the fierce wind finally startled the figure in front.

He turned around in a panic, his whole body momentarily frozen, as if he had been terrified by the sudden attack—his face was ashen, his pupils were wide open, his eyes were filled with terror, and he was completely devoid of life.

Caught off guard, he could only instinctively raise his sword to parry. But this hasty strike was utterly ineffective compared to the red-robed elder's long-prepared palm strike.

The sword light and the palm strike collided with a deafening roar, unleashing a dazzling burst of light.

The sword energy that Wang Xiao unleashed was like a lone boat on a vast ocean, utterly unable to withstand the onslaught of the storm in the face of the red-robed elder's palm strike, which was as powerful as crashing waves.

"Die!" the red-robed old man roared hysterically, his palm strikes becoming increasingly violent and unstoppable.

The longsword in Wang Xiao's left hand finally couldn't withstand such mountain-like pressure and shattered into pieces with a "crack." The palm strike broke through his defenses and struck his chest directly.

The immense impact caused Wang Xiao's chest and abdomen to churn violently, blood rushing to his head. A sweet taste rose in his throat, and he spat out a spray of blood, splattering it all over the red-robed elder. But at that moment, a cold smile curled at the corner of Wang Xiao's lips.

"Why...why..." The old man in red had just landed a palm strike, but his body was strangely frozen in mid-air, his face full of disbelief.

"Is my blood cold?" In the moment of life and death, a cold mockery is far more lethal than harsh words.

The old man in red was trembling with anger, but he couldn't utter a sound—to be precise, he had no strength left to speak.

Crimson blood slowly dripped from the red-robed old man's lips. His gaze stiffly shifted downwards, where he saw a long sword gleaming with brilliant golden light piercing his chest and shattering his heart.

The longsword pierced through his body, leaving only the black hilt exposed. Blood gushed out like a fountain, the blood mist rising and staining his red robe, making it even more shocking.

In fact, when the blood that Wang Xiao spat out splashed onto his face, the old man in red had already sensed something was wrong—how could the blood of a living person be so cold?

But it was all too late.

The spurting blood was coagulated blood that Wang Xiao had prepared in advance; the broken and limp longsword in his left hand was both a deception to paralyze the enemy and a clever way to block his right hand hidden at his waist.

Just as the red-robed elder's palm strike was about to reach him, Wang Xiao gently patted his waist with his right hand, and the Seven Star Sword, as thin as a cicada's wing, sprang out.

Under the cover of the raging air currents, and with the red-robed elder already careless, he was completely unaware of this deadly attack.

When the Seven Star Sword bounced to a position perpendicular to his body, Wang Xiao's vital energy suddenly erupted and poured into the sword. At this moment, the Seven Star Sword was no longer the frail "soft black willow branch," but a divine weapon capable of piercing through everything.

The old man in red unleashed his full palm strike, and the two immense forces clashed against each other, causing him to deliberately collide with the Seven Star Sword.

The power of this sword strike was equal to the combined strength of the two of them.

Although his powerful palm strike ultimately landed on Wang Xiao, the force of the strike was weakened considerably by the broken sword in his left hand. Even if it had hit, it wouldn't have given him any chance of survival; instead, it cost him his life.

Those two choked "why"s held so much doubt and resentment, a truth perhaps only the deceased old man in red himself knew.

"Go down and scout ahead for your master." With those cold words, Wang Xiao drew his sword and swung it back, sending the old man's corpse flying like a kite with a broken string.

When his men arrived, panting, all they saw was a cold corpse crashing heavily to the ground.

The red-robed elder had rushed out earlier, and they hadn't been able to keep up. When the battle broke out, the energy unleashed by the two stirred up dust everywhere, and the battle ended in an instant. With their eyesight, they couldn't see the details at all.

When their loved ones suddenly died tragically, the Hua family members first cried out in grief, and then their deepest sorrow erupted, their wailing echoing across the entire hillside.

"master--!"

"Uncle—!" Heartbreaking cries rose and fell.

Taking advantage of the moment, Wang Xiao swung his sword, stirring up a cloud of dust. When the dust settled, he was nowhere to be seen in the valley.