Chapter Sixteen: Revolution Demands Blood (Part Two)

Wei Wuji stood steadfast before the Hegel couple, a human barrier against the chaos. The earth spirits who sensed something was wrong began to return, attempting to seize back their captives. Yet, they quickly discovered the terror of facing Wei Wuji; he stood like an insurmountable chasm before the Hegels, and any earth spirit that charged forward was sliced in two by the crimson-violet Seven Fiends Geng Metal sword light that danced from his fingertips.

The two Commineson delegates, who had moments before been fleeing like desperate dogs, found new vigor and turned from hunted to hunters, joining in the slaughter against the bear earth spirits.

The earth spirits relied on their numbers, launching wave after wave of assaults against Wei Wuji. But soon, they realized this was no ordinary foe. The whirling sword light was a merciless grinder, reducing those who charged to bloody fragments. Flesh and blood spattered across the faces of the Hegel couple. Hegel himself barely managed to keep his composure, while Mrs. Hegel, pale as death, kept wiping the blood from her face with trembling hands.

It was only when three ogres, wielding massive clubs, joined the fray that Wei Wuji felt even a hint of trouble. These three were far tougher than the earth spirits—each one was at least five times as strong as a bear earth spirit, and in a straight fight, even ten bear earth spirits might not bring down one ogre. What’s more, during their earlier battle with the Commineson revolutionaries, one ogre had awakened his primal instincts and could now wield the Bloodthirst Technique.

The ogre in the center cast the Bloodthirst Technique on his companions, causing their muscles to swell and their eyes to glow red. Their strength surged by half again. Now, three ogres charging together were more troublesome than fifty bear earth spirits. Against such opponents, Wei Wuji would normally pay them little mind; even if there were three against two, Gamio and Layard would not hesitate to use the terrain and clever tactics to kill these simple-minded, muscle-bound brutes.

But now, Wei Wuji had no such luxury. If he so much as stepped aside, the Hegel couple would be recaptured by the bear earth spirits, who were already rushing in behind the ogres. If the line was broken, the captives would be lost.

The sword light sliced the ogres’ flesh, but ogres were not like earth spirits; their skin was thick and their muscles dense, so they did not fall immediately. On the contrary, the three ogres howled, their savagery unleashed. Even brave Mr. Hegel began to panic, wondering if they should scatter and flee.

By the time the three ogres reached Wei Wuji, they had been cut to ribbons by the Geng Metal sword light, their bodies streaming blood like fountains. Yet, standing nearly three meters tall and weighing close to eight hundred pounds, the ogres’ formidable bodies, combined with the Bloodthirst Technique, made them even more tenacious. The technique not only enhanced their physical power but also dulled their sense of pain.

Wei Wuji frowned. He felt no fear of three crazed ogres; even if their chieftain appeared, he could still flatten him. But the couple behind him were mere mortals. He extended his fingers and drew a true talisman. The Daoist tradition had thirteen true talismans, each giving rise to countless derived spells.

The rune was complete. The Beihai True Water Talisman activated, and a shadowy ripple like water shimmered before the Hegels—a spell Wei Wuji had used once before, when feigning an assassination attempt on Warrenheit to break through an encirclement. It was not the strongest defense, but it could be cast quickly and offered special protection against fire-based attacks.

“Come, then! Let me finish you all at once,” Wei Wuji said coldly. His extended fingers curled back, and the ten sword lights vanished.

He brought his hands together and pushed forward like a blooming lotus. In that instant, the golden core within his lower abdomen glowed, and a pillar of light burst from his lotus-formed palms, dazzling as lightning. “Daoist Art—Immortal Qi Discharge!”

The first two ogres took the brunt of the attack. It was as if a spear had thrust through their waists—one lost a huge chunk of his left side, the other nearly his entire right flank, spilling viscera onto the ground. The last ogre, terrified, snapped out of his bloodthirsty rage and turned to flee; he was lucky, for only his left forearm was struck by the aftershock of the Immortal Qi Discharge, leaving him maimed but alive.

Wei Wuji drew back in satisfaction. Normally, he would never need to use golden core power against a mere trio of ogres—it was like using a butcher’s blade on chickens. But he needed to intimidate the remaining bear earth spirits and the two Commineson delegates, and he feared the rabid ogres might inadvertently harm the Hegels, even with the True Water Talisman’s protection. So he chose to end the threat in one decisive blow.

Seeing the last ogre attempt to escape, Wei Wuji snorted, pointed his finger, and unleashed a sword light more than three times thicker than before. It slashed horizontally, splitting the ogre’s leather-tough back and leaving a gaping wound.

The three ogres writhed in agony on the ground, their courage shattered and their fighting spirit utterly destroyed by Wei Wuji’s terrifying attack. Only the lingering effect of the Bloodthirst Technique kept their formidable vitality from flickering out.

Wei Wuji was surprised—they had not died instantly. He had underestimated the strength of the continent’s creatures. What he did not know was that the Bloodthirst Technique had sustained them, burning through their life force in the process.

The remaining bear earth spirits were terrified. They had charged behind the ogres, hoping to overwhelm Wei Wuji, but their supposed reinforcements were annihilated in a single exchange. Bear earth spirits were larger and braver than the average, but they were still earth spirits, and without a leader, just as Wei Wuji expected, their morale collapsed.

They gave up any hope of reclaiming their captives; now, survival was all that mattered. They turned and fled, not sparing a glance for the dying ogres. Their alliance was one of convenience—the ogres had been strays taken in by the bear earth spirits, who needed them for difficult targets, while the ogres needed the earth spirits to find prey.

But there were pursuers behind as well. Gamio and Layard, grinning wickedly, blocked their escape from two directions. While they couldn’t annihilate all the bear earth spirits at once, a slight delay would be enough—if the demon-like man behind caught up, the bear earth spirits would be doomed.

The cleverer among them immediately dropped to their knees, babbling pleas for mercy in a mix of the common tongue and the earth spirit dialect.

“Weren’t you all enjoying chasing me just now?” Gamio shouted, hacking off the arm of a bear earth spirit bandit. The victim fainted instantly from pain. Behind Wei Wuji, a woman’s cry rang out—it was Serra’s voice. Mrs. Hegel, having never witnessed such brutality, was horrified; until now, Mr. Gamio had seemed a reasonably polite, if slightly muddle-headed, warrior.