CHAPTER 1929: CHAPTER 1926: A CHANCE ENCOUNTER WITH HU QI!

Lin Bai lingered in this canyon for a while, then rose again to leave the place, riding his sword away, continuing to search for the location of the next puppet lair.

Half a day later, Lin Bai arrived above a dense forest.

"It should be here. Inside, I can feel many puppet auras; this place should be considered a lair."

Lin Bai slowly stepped on his flying sword, descended into the forest, and stood atop a large tree’s canopy.

The moment Lin Bai landed on the tree canopy, a sudden, tragic roar came from below. Lin Bai’s pupils shrank in shock, and he looked down to see a gigantic figure emerging from the dense woods...

With arms outstretched, fists clenched tightly, its face contorted with rage, fangs protruding from its mouth, it was humanoid, leaping high into the sky, aiming to grab Lin Bai and tear him to pieces.

"Puppet Ape!"

Seeing the puppet that suddenly charged out, Lin Bai exclaimed in shock. The Demonic Sword ferociously slashed down, directly knocking the puppet that was rushing at him to the ground heavily.

This slash, though it repelled the puppet, could not kill it!

Roar!

Roar!

The puppet ape landed, with a terrifying sword mark on its chest. It climbed back up and roared angrily at Lin Bai before charging at him again.

Simultaneously, hundreds of puppet apes swiftly flew out from the dense forest, charging at Lin Bai from all directions.

"This is bad!"

Lin Bai exclaimed in surprise as he found himself surrounded by these puppet apes like a Heavenly Spider Web, leaving him no way out.

Lin Bai’s expression turned solemn as he hurriedly performed sword skills to counter them.

When Lin Bai killed a charging puppet ape with one sword strike, suddenly another puppet ape attacked from behind, aiming a punch at Lin Bai’s back.

Catching a glimpse of the attack with the corner of his eye, Lin Bai knew he couldn’t kill this puppet demon beast instantly with one sword strike, so he braced himself to withstand the punch.

Just then.

A deep male voice echoed: "Brother, these puppet apes here are not as easy to deal with as the ones on the Fifth Floor, so you must be extra cautious!"

As this voice echoed next to Lin Bai, he heard a sound of explosion from behind.

Turning around, he saw a burly man appear behind him, who punched and shattered the puppet ape charging at Lin Bai!

Lin Bai looked at this person, who stood about nine feet tall, wore a short robe made of animal hide, revealing large swathes of solid muscle, with a kind expression on his face and a slight smile.

Lin Bai was particularly shocked to see him.

Because those who could appear on the Sixth Floor at this time were basically powerful warriors in this examination.

"I am Hu Qi!"

After helping Lin Bai shatter the attacking puppet, the burly man cupped his hands and said with a smile.

"Hu Qi... one of the Dragon-Tiger Fight?" Lin Bai suddenly recalled.

Before the Master Apprenticeship Examination, Feng Wenjun had mentioned that the most anticipated battle this time was among the Dragon-Tiger Fight.

And Hu Qi is one of the Dragon-Tiger Fight, possessing the Emperor-level Martial Soul Devouring Demon Tiger.

"I am Lin Bai, nice to meet you... Brother Qi!"

Lin Bai said with a smile.

"So, it is Brother Lin Bai, the infamous prodigy sword cultivator spread throughout the Territory of all nations. I’ve heard so much about you." Hu Qi also cupped his hands and smiled. His smile was pure and didn’t seem malevolent at all, resembling a brother with strong Jianghu loyalty.

Lin Bai chuckled bitterly: "What’s a prodigy sword cultivator? If it weren’t for Brother Qi’s timely help just now, I’m afraid that puppet ape would have given me a hard time."

Hu Qi laughed heartily: "The puppets in this Sixth Floor indeed are extraordinary, exceptionally intelligent, and many of them have intelligence comparable to that of seven or eight-year-olds."

Lin Bai nodded slightly.

Roar! Roar! Roar—

While Lin Bai and Hu Qi were conversing, the surrounding hundreds of puppet apes howled ferociously at both Lin Bai and Hu Qi, with sharp teeth and blood-red eyes, looking particularly ferocious.

Lin Bai and Hu Qi’s expressions immediately cooled.

Hu Qi said: "Brother Lin Bai, it seems we can no longer chat idly. Since we’ve met here, why not join forces to clear this puppet lair?"

Lin Bai raised his Demonic Sword, coldly saying: "That’s exactly what I had in mind!"

Hu Qi smiled: "Great, since there are only the two of us, once we kill these puppet apes, we can split the Tribute Items Red Pearls evenly. How about that?"

Lin Bai nodded: "Alright!"

"Then let’s do it."

Hu Qi laughed heartily, stepped forward, and his body exuded immense power. He charged directly at a puppet ape, and with a single punch, shattered the puppet ape with terrifying force!

Seeing this, Lin Bai was astounded. Hu Qi’s strength was immensely powerful, and these puppet apes couldn’t withstand even a single move in his hands, being shattered with just one punch!

"It seems that even without me, Hu Qi could have single-handedly killed all the puppet demon beasts here," Lin Bai thought to himself while glancing at Hu Qi.

Lin Bai’s eyes flashed, and he said: "Seems like I can’t be so careless anymore. Time to show my real skills."

Lin Bai dashed out, his Sword Intention soaring to the sky, attacking a puppet ape with a single stroke. The Four Gods Sword Slash and the Single-Stroke Sword Skill came into play one after another, slaughtering puppet apes under his sword!

As each puppet ape died by Lin Bai’s sword, more than twenty puppets immediately surrounded and attacked him.

"Flying Sword!"

Lin Bai’s eyes flashed, and the Dragon’s Eye Flying Sword flew out of his body again. The spiritual light on the flying sword soared, and the sword, like a golden beam piercing the void, instantaneously slaughtered more than twenty puppet apes surrounding him beneath its blade!

Hu Qi looked back at this moment, his face filled with joy, and said: "Brother Lin Bai, your flying sword is truly incredible."

Lin Bai said with a smile: "Brother Qi is joking; your fists are the truly formidable weapons."

"Hahaha."

Lin Bai and Hu Qi exchanged glances and smiled, then directly used their skills, slashing down the puppet apes charging out of the dense forest one by one.

At this moment, a hundred miles away from this dense forest, four shadows stood in mid-air, watching from a distance as Lin Bai and Hu Qi fought against the puppet apes.

"Alas, we finally found a lair, only for someone else to grab it first."

"Those two seem to be Hu Qi and Lin Bai!"

"Hu Qi? Does he have the Emperor-level Martial Soul Devouring Demon Tiger?"

"That Lin Bai is said to be the infamous prodigy sword cultivator throughout the territories. It’s said he defeated Lin Yibing with one sword on the Second Floor; I wonder if it’s true or not?"

These four stood together, all youths.

Most notably, these four youths looked almost exactly the same, both in appearance and cultivation, like they were the same person!

But there were differences among them; for instance, one was missing his left arm, another his right arm, one was missing his left leg, the other a right leg...

They were the Four Heavenly Disabled Brothers!

"Big brother, what should we do? We finally found a lair, only to find it already occupied." The warrior missing his right arm asked, smiling, to the one missing his left arm.

The warrior missing his left arm said calmly: "Since we’ve run into them, we might as well test their abilities and see just how capable they really are."

"If their skills aren’t up to par, then the tribute items here will belong to us."