CHAPTER 515: CHAPTER 515. SEARCH

Amon never stopped running. Sima Fang ran behind the two. She threw water darts to suppress the Alpha Flying Knives hindering Hua Ling. Still, Amon’s mastery of the art allowed the knives to shake off those weak water darts easily. They only altered the knives’ trajectories a little. The knives’ harassment of Hua Ling remained.

When Hua Ling came into the range of Amon’s Xian Cloth, his ceremonial dagger joined in the harassment. While Hua Ling easily swatted the Alpha Flying Knives away, the same could not be said about the ceremonial dagger.

After several clashes, Hua Ling was surprised to find some nocks on the blade of her glaive. This showed the black dagger was of a much better quality than her weapon. She immediately pumped more aether into her glaive to protect it, allowing it to clash with Amon’s dagger without suffering further damage.

While the ceremonial dagger won the contest in clashes, the Alpha Flying Knives did not. After suffering multiple impacts from a Spirit Stage cultivator, cracks started to appear on the knives.

*CRACK!*

One of the Alpha Flying Knives finally succumbed to the punishments and broke.

The four flying knives and the ceremonial dagger had always moved in a tight formation, forming a net that prevented Hua Ling from advancing. Now that one of the knives was gone, a hole had appeared in the formation. Hua Ling shot forward before Amon could mend this hole.

She used movement art that boosted her speed while leaving afterimages. Her Phantom Stride slipped her out of the knives’ encirclement. With one step on the bamboo fence, she shot back in Amon’s direction. Amon sensed her arriving behind him.

"Taste my moon slash!" She exclaimed as she slashed her glaive down. The light that followed her swing formed a crescent shape.

Amon lifted his left arm to block. Hua Ling expected her glaive to slice the arm into two. To her surprise, her glaive failed to cut through. A black shadow blanketed the arm and cushioned the blow.

Even though Amon successfully blocked the slash, he still suffered the force of the impact. He was swept by momentum and lost his balance. Before he almost hit the ground, his other hand made a throwing motion. The metal cube in his hand flew forward.

Amon threw the metal cube using the Hundred Shooting Stars. It flew far and with a curving trajectory. It hit a bamboo fence far away, bounced into a corner, and went out of sight.

Seeing that, Sima Fang jumped up. She wanted to jump past Amon and Hua Ling to chase the metal cube. To her surprise, Amon’s three Alpha Flying Knives came at her. She had no choice but to stop advancing and deal with those knives.

Amon had also stopped running. When he got back up, he lunged at Hua Ling. This abrupt switch from evasion to offense confused Hua Ling and slowed her reaction. Additionally, he used the Silent Swift Shadow Fist. His invisibility added to Hua Ling’s mental surprise, even when she could sense his approaching presence.

She pulled up her glaive in time as his fist arrived. Amon’s fist slammed into its shaft. Simultaneously, the crimson dagger snaked from behind and targeted her back.

Hua Ling recovered after feeling the impact on her glaive. She was again surprised by the power behind the punch. It was not the power of an average Intermediate Mystic Stage cultivator. Her surprise this time didn’t slow her. A powerful energy exploded out of her. This energy halted the ceremonial dagger, preventing it from stabbing.

Hua Ling followed up with a quick spin. Multiple crescent lights radiated out of her. Amon used his right arm, shielded by the Xian Cloth, and left arm, shielded by Bo Wu, to protect his vital parts. He avoided fatal wounds, but the rest of his body was full of cut wounds.

When Hua Ling was about to press on her attacks, she heard Sima Fang’s yell.

"Go after that metal box he had thrown! His partner must be behind that bamboo fence."

Hearing that, Hua Ling canceled her assault and rushed to where Amon threw the metal cube.

"Not so fast!" Amon exclaimed. He threw all the remaining flying knives in his belt. He also sent the three Alpha Flying Knives that were hindering Sima Fang toward Hua Ling. In exchange, he jumped up and had his ceremonial dagger target Sima Fang.

The flying knives flew in an arc and blocked Hua Ling’s forward path. "Useless!" She shouted. She twirled her glaive, and several crescent lights shot forth. The lights knocked out all the knives. As for the three Alpha Flying Knives, they came at her from above.

"You again!" Hua Ling exclaimed when she saw those three large knives. She was already pissed at those knives because of their previous harassment. She jumped and performed a large swing. The swing conjured a large image of a half-moon.

The three Alpha Flying Knives shattered after clashing with this half-moon image.

Hua Ling shot back toward where the metal cube was supposed to be. She felt much better after destroying those pesky knives, but her action delayed her by a few seconds.

When she arrived at the corner where the metal cube disappeared, she didn’t see anything. There was no cube. She also didn’t see anyone along the path ahead.

*

Sima Fang’s conjecture was correct. Amon had indeed called someone from his team. Amon was already close to where the water-bamboo contraption was when he saw Hua Ling.

Knowing Hua Ling’s cultivation, he telepathically called Huang San to meet him halfway. When he threw the metal cube, Huang San was behind the corner the metal cube disappeared into. Once Huang San caught the cube, he immediately ran away.

Thanks to Amon’s intervention, Hua Ling failed to see Huang San before he turned another corner. With the bamboo fences blocking her senses, she didn’t know where Huang San had gone off to.

Huang San arrived back at where the contraption was. He immediately flew up to where the bamboo lever was. When Amon called him to fetch the metal cube, Amon also explained his deduction about the contraction. Amon believed the metal cube could be used on the lever’s handle to turn it.

As expected, the metal cube fit nicely inside the square-shaped bowl at the end of the handle. Once the cube was placed, the lever slowly turned due to the cube’s weight.

The lever was now resting on the opposite side from before. The water that fell into it was transferred into the second vertical bamboo pole. Passing through a series of gears like the other side, the water flowed into the second horizontal pole.

"Did you find anyone?"

Huang San heard a voice from the other side of the bamboo fence.

"Don’t you think I would have engaged that someone if I did?" Another voice replied.

"Stop being a smartass! Keep searching! Sima Fang estimates Amon’s partner is around this area. She said this partner should have a metal box. She thinks it is the key to passing this stage. We cannot let them use it. This is our chance to get rid of Huang San’s team."

’Prick,’ Huang San thought in his mind. These people didn’t bother to use his honorary title behind his back.

The voices continued. "I’m searching right now! Get off my case!"

"Sshh...!"

"Shh, what?"

"Listen!"

Silence. By then, the water had gone through the horizontal pole and fallen into the second basin.

"Is that... the sound of water?" The voice from the other side of the fence was heard again.

"It is. Something must be behind this fence. You go this way. I go the opposite way. We circle from both sides to get behind this fence. Hurry! I believe our target is there. I will call the others as well."

Sounds of hurried footsteps ended their conversation.

’Shit!’ Huang San cursed in his mind. He looked at the water falling into the closed basin. The water dripped slowly. It will take some time for the basin to be filled.

Huang San unsheathed the golden longsword strapped on his waist. He heard incoming footsteps then.

’Damn! That was fast,’ he said in his mind. It wasn’t surprising, though. Following the sound of water, they had a point of reference. It was much easier traversing a maze if one knew which direction they should head towards.

Huang San hid behind a corner from where the footsteps were heard. He activated a defensive arcane art, Wood Skin. His skin became hard and rough.

The footsteps sounded closer.

Huang San thrust forward once the owner of the footsteps appeared from the corner. The owner was surprised by suddenly sensing someone so close, but it turned out he had a good reflex. He jumped away the moment he sensed Huang San. Huang San’s sword failed to pierce his torso but sliced through his left hip.

"Fuck!" The person cursed from the pain.

Failing to end the enemy with an ambush, Huang San continued to attack. His golden sword danced as he performed a mixture of confusing slashes and thrusts.

Huang San’s confusing martial arts put his opponent in a panic mode. The enemy desperately parried the attacks using his arms, which had turned into metal, but the pain in his hip was distracting. After suffering a few more slashes, he accidentally fell to the ground.

Huang San was about to deal the finishing blow, but a surging water wave forced him to fall back.

"Gui Cong, are you alright?" The one who discharged the water wave asked the man Huang San had wounded.

"Wu Ya! You arrive in time!" Gui Cong replied. He rose despite his bloody wounds. "It seems like we have found our prince."