Chapter 776
Chapter 776
‘Wh-what the hell! What is that? Did Shen Lang and Jin Mulan really sprout wings? Can they fly?’
Of course, they couldn’t. But with a wingsuit, they could achieve a form of flight, even if it wasn’t perfect. On modern Earth, many people enjoyed the extreme sport of gliding from high places wearing these bat-like wingsuits. Ah, no. It couldn't be said that *many* people wore them. Only those who didn't fear death and were professional enthusiasts of the sport did. It was an extreme sport different from paragliding, demanding an extremely high level of expertise. Otherwise, the chances of falling from the sky and becoming a pile of meat were high.
The Shen Lang of the past would never have dreamed of jumping from the sky wearing one. But with a supercomputer in his brain, he at least knew precisely how to control it. Most importantly, Mulan was with him. Mulan’s abilities were simply extraordinary. Her agility and her perception of nature and the wind were second to none. As such, she would be able to control the wingsuit with the utmost skill.
A cliff of over two hundred meters wasn't an ideal altitude for a wingsuit jump, but being near the coast meant the winds were strong, making it a good location for a descent. Over the past few days, under Mulan's protection, Shen Lang had already practiced descending several times at night. Thanks to that, he could now glide down from a height of over two hundred meters. Xue Che and the Grandmasters immediately rushed forward, intending to leap into the air toward Shen Lang, but they were forced to stop. They couldn't fly. The five Grandmasters could only stare blankly as Shen Lang glided away leisurely.
‘They can actually fly? But what does this mean? If you fly away, what's the point of us staying on this mountaintop? Are you going to have your Nirvana Army kill me? Was luring me out your only goal? Your Nirvana Army and masters are still over twenty *li* away, aren’t they?’
Having flown over two hundred meters away in what felt like an instant, Shen Lang began a countdown in his mind.
‘Three, two, one.’
Xue Che felt a surge of unease rising rapidly within him.
‘This is bad! Flee!’
BOOM!
Simultaneously with Xue Che’s thought, a world-shaking explosion erupted. If Shen Lang's previous traps had been like passing gas, this one had the power to shake heaven and earth. The gunpowder Shen Lang had used until now was weak, requiring massive quantities each time, but this explosive packed an astonishing punch. Because it was trinitrotoluene! Or TNT. Despite his best efforts, he had only managed to produce a small amount, but its power far surpassed the gunpowder he had used before. He had poured all two hundred-odd *jin* of it into this, so its destructive force was immense. Still, it wasn't enough to kill all these Grandmasters with the explosion alone. Masters of the Grandmaster level possessed incredible speed and physical fortitude.
However, Shen Lang had packed the explosive with countless shrapnel fragments and steel needles. Furthermore, he had coated every single fragment and steel needle with a potent cyanide poison. Most poisons would decompose and lose their toxicity at high temperatures, but cyanide had a melting point of over 600 degrees Celsius and a boiling point of 1624 degrees Celsius. Even when it boiled and turned into a gas, its toxicity didn't diminish, and if it entered the bloodstream directly, just one to two milligrams could be fatal.
In other words, one gram of cyanide was enough to poison five hundred people. This time, Shen Lang had exhausted all his resources to extract several tens of grams of cyanide from a vast quantity of almonds. He had designed the bomb so that the moment it detonated, thousands of steel needles and shrapnel fragments would shoot out madly in all directions like a storm of pear blossoms. It was designed to blanket the entire mountaintop, denser than a downpour, leaving no place to hide.
Still, the five Grandmasters, including Xue Che, reacted with incredible speed, leaping off the mountaintop the instant the explosion occurred. But unfortunately, they were a step too late. The shockwave from the explosion, along with the steel needles and shrapnel, flew too fast and too densely.
*Thwip, thwip, thwip, thwip, thwip.*
Two of the Grandmasters were struck in the back by numerous poison needles. With their martial arts skill, they could have dodged a storm of hidden weapons. They could even deflect weaker projectiles with their internal energy and true qi. But at such close range, the explosive force was too powerful, and the intense shockwave made it impossible to repel with internal energy alone. After being hit by the poison-laced shrapnel, the two Grandmasters immediately used their internal energy to stop the poison from spreading and frantically tried to take various antidotes from Mount Budao. But their efforts would prove futile. What Shen Lang used was cyanide, considered one of the deadliest poisons even on modern Earth. A few seconds later, the two Grandmasters were dead, their lifeless bodies plummeting down the cliff.
Two other Grandmasters had dived headfirst off the cliff, so they were slightly slower to evade and were struck by a few poison needles in their legs. One of them immediately took an antidote from Mount Budao but died anyway. Cyanide was a poison not of this world; what damn good would an antidote from Mount Budao do? The other was more decisive, immediately hacking off the leg that had been hit by the needles. Bright red blood gushed out, but he ultimately survived.
And what of Xue Che? He was even more incredible. The moment the explosion occurred, he leaped off the mountaintop and performed a 180-degree turn in mid-air. He realized that he couldn't deflect the countless poison needles with his internal energy aura alone; he needed to use his palm energy. So, in mid-air, he thrust out both palms and struck the empty space with all his might. In an instant, his internal energy and true qi surged, erupting like a powerful gust of wind. It was truly magnificent. The countless poison needles and shrapnel fragments were shattered by the force of his palm strike, and he escaped without a single needle touching him from head to toe.
But in the next moment, he felt something was wrong. He looked down and saw three black dots on his right palm. Three poison needles had struck his palm just before he unleashed his palm energy. However, he had almost simultaneously blasted all the needles away with his internal energy, sending the three embedded in his palm flying as well. In the end, Xue Che couldn't escape being poisoned either. He hesitated for only a few seconds, but in that time, the poison had already spread halfway up his arm.
“Aaargh!”
He screamed. A man isn't a man if he isn't ruthless, and one who is cruel to others must also be cruel to himself.
*Swish!*
With a single slash, Xue Che cleanly severed his own right arm. Then, with one arm and two legs, he swiftly leaped down the cliff. After descending the rocky precipice, he fled at top speed.
‘Shen Lang, you damn bastard! I knew I shouldn't have been greedy and come here. I knew there would be a trap, but I couldn't resist. It’s all because that bastard Shen Lang was ruthless enough to use himself as bait.’
Xue Che threw everything aside and fled madly, while at the same time, over twenty *li* away, Li Qianqiu, his wife, Big Dummy, and the others leaped from their boat and began swimming swiftly toward his location.
***
‘Run, run. Flee, flee.’
Xue Che and the lucky surviving Grandmaster could no longer afford to look out for each other. The two sprinted madly in different directions. The Grandmaster knew that Shen Lang's target was Xue Che, so if he separated from him, he might be able to escape. The sight of him fleeing on one leg, having cut off the other to survive, was wretched. At first, he hopped on one leg, but later he did a handstand and ran on his two hands, his speed still astonishingly fast.
In contrast, Xue Che had only lost his right arm, so his two legs were intact. He pushed his speed to its absolute limit, a pace few could match. As Xue Che fled frantically, he took out various medicines and sprinkled them all over his body. He was trying to eliminate his scent to avoid being tracked by Jin Mulan. Jin Mulan's sense of smell was like a dog's; without this, he stood no chance.
But at this rate, could Xue Che actually escape? It was possible! At the very least, Big Dummy and Li Qianqiu wouldn't be able to catch him. If Xue Che disappeared from Southern Vermilion Island again, he would never reappear.
‘Shen Lang, Jin Mulan. If I, Xue Che, escape with my life this time, I swear I will one day slaughter the entire Jin Clan. I won't leave a single one alive! I will flay you, Shen Lang, kill you, and burn you to ashes. Grr… From this day forward, I, Xue Che, will live for one purpose only: to survive and get my revenge.’
However, the feeling of unease in Xue Che's heart once again grew incomparably intense. Yet, he couldn't figure out where it was coming from.
‘I look back, and no one is chasing me. So why is this feeling of dread so strong?’
Suddenly, he glanced down and saw two black shadows on the ground, relentlessly and swiftly closing in on him.
‘Damn it all!’
He looked up and saw Shen Lang and Jin Mulan still flying through the sky. They were getting closer to the ground, but because they were near the sea, a strong gust of wind allowed them to continue pursuing him from the air without landing.
Xue Che felt like he was going insane. His martial arts were profound, and his lightness skill was formidable, but how could he possibly outrun someone who could fly? Moreover, Shen Lang and Jin Mulan were in the air, giving them an incredibly wide field of vision. No matter how hard he tried to hide, how could he escape eyes watching from the sky? At that moment, even someone with Xue Che's indomitable will couldn't suppress the despair welling up inside him.
‘No! I can't give up. If I can get into the forest, I can escape.’
Xue Che pushed his speed even further, running with all his might. He unleashed the full extent of his Grandmaster-level skills and plunged into a dense forest with incredible speed. In an instant, his figure vanished into the thick undergrowth.
“Husband, prepare for landing!”
Landing was the most dangerous part of using a wingsuit. One had to deploy a small parachute; otherwise, the probability of crashing to one's death was extremely high. But with Mulan, there was no problem at all. She was someone who could jump from a height of over twenty meters and be unharmed. She easily slowed their descent and landed. Moreover, Mulan felt no difficulty even while carrying Shen Lang.
***
After a successful landing, Jin Mulan carried Shen Lang on her back and dashed madly into the undergrowth. Shen Lang felt extremely embarrassed. It would have been much better if his wife had pursued Xue Che alone, but Mulan couldn't bear to leave him behind. What if an enemy appeared while he was alone, before Big Dummy and Li Qianqiu arrived? She even worried that a wolf might appear and easily carry her husband away. Fortunately, Mulan's physique had changed so dramatically that she could carry Shen Lang as if he weighed nothing and still run lightly. Moreover, once inside the forest, it was truly Mulan's world. Her speed became even faster than on flat ground. She could step on branches and vines to launch herself forward, moving with the speed of a lightning flash.