Soaring the Heavens

The sudden wave of heat caught Liu Yun by surprise. He hurriedly backed off, but a large piece of the robe around his back was already blackened and turned to ash.

The raging blaze swept through the surrounding area in a seemingly never-ending fury. It was as though it was a reflection of Miao Yi's anger, wanting nothing more than to swallow everything up in its path of destruction. With Miao Yi standing right at the epicenter, the powerful radiance resembled a giant blossoming flower of flame. Miao Yi had stirred the Supreme Fire Crystal's destructive capabilities to its utmost potential.

Noticing that the assassins' sole target was Miao Yi, and seeing that they could do little to stop them or save Miao Yi, the rest of the crowd immediately broke off into separate directions.

Little did they expect that they would perish by the hands of their own comrade instead of the enemy's attack. The raging fires quickly caught up to them, then swallowed them up in an instant.

"Ahh…!!" The agonizing screams were enough to make one's skin crawl.

As he was too close to Miao Yi, Liu Sha had nowhere to run. The intense heat was immediately upon him, scaring him out of his wits. He swiftly swung his deerhorn knives and deflected two giant orbs that came straight at him.

Then, in his haste, he hurriedly formed a cocoon of sand. The sand underneath his feet quickly gathered, forming an impenetrable barrier around him. The sand cocoon then abruptly shot upwards from the impact of the heatwave, its surface quickly melting from the blazing flames, and the molten liquid slowly dripped down onto the desert below.

Seeing that he failed to strike down Liu Yun, Miao Yi quickly twirled his spear around and began launching his attack on Liu Sha instead.

How could he miss such a good opportunity to attack at close-distance? Like a dragon, Miao Yi's spear shot out furiously. One thrust, two thrusts, three thrusts, four thrusts, five thrusts; the Qilin Spear was launched out like a spark of lightning, with each strike quicker than the last.

One after another, blades of fire relentlessly charged at the cocoon of sand up in the sky. The intensity of the flames, along with the impeccable speed of Miao Yi's strikes, created numerous burnt holes on the cocoon in the blink of an eye.

By the fourth strike, the cocoon of sand had crumbled away, and the person within was already charred black. And by the fifth strike, the humanoid figure within the cocoon had instantly turned to ash; not even a scream could be heard from him.

Meanwhile, a voice called out painfully, "Brother!"

The pair of flying swords transformed into two streaks of light and abruptly shot towards Miao Yi through the flames. With a couple of flicks, Miao Yi drew forth two flaming dragons from the fire with his Qilin Spear and sent them crashing towards the flying swords. However, a Red Lotus cultivator was still a Red Lotus cultivator after all. The two fire dragons instantly crumbled before the flying swords. That said, the force behind the swords had dropped significantly as well.

The eight giant orbs circling around Miao Yi crashed against the flying swords repeatedly, eventually managing to knock them away.

As Liu Yun swung his arms, the flying swords whirled about, then struck down at Miao Yi once more. Meanwhile, Miao Yi defended himself with another two flaming dragons, then used the eight giant orbs to deflect the flying swords again.

This exchange went on for a while, with neither side holding a decisive advantage over the other. Liu Yun didn't dare fight Miao Yi in close-quarters as he was wary of the latter's flames. This, in turn, allowed Miao Yi time to properly defend against his attacks. Meanwhile, Miao Yi had no way of dealing with Liu Yun, who was attacking from a distance.

After a few bouts, the fiery blaze beneath Miao Yi's feet quickly receded back into the Qilin Spear, and the eight giant orbs descended onto the ground and stopped moving about. Miao Yi pointed his spear up at the sky and bellowed, "Despicable fiend! Do you dare fight me to the death?!"

After being burned through by the intense flames, a large area of the desert became a giant reflective surface, with Miao Yi standing at the center of it all.

From Liu Yun's perspective, why should he be afraid of Miao Yi? His actual brother had just died. Not to mention, he wouldn't simply let slip away all the transcendent artifacts that Miao Yi had.

With almost no hesitation whatsoever, Liu Yun swooped down and landed on one of the sand dunes in the distance. With both swords in hand, he stared coldly at Miao Yi.

Miao Yi lowered the Qilin Spear, pointing it at the ground. Meanwhile, the eight giant orbs quickly shrank and formed a bracelet around Miao Yi's wrist.

"Die!" Miao Yi shouted, then broke off into a sprint across the giant reflective ground. As he charged across the desert, his spear was aimed straight at Liu Yun in the distance. There was no hesitation in his movements as he charged forward with reckless abandon, giving others the impression that he was attacking out of pure desperation.

The Lady Boss and the others were taken aback, and the stonemason furrowed his brows and said, "Has that kid gone mad? It's not like the other party could have done anything to him from a distance. He clearly could've used that as an opportunity to escape? Isn't he just courting death by actively approaching the enemy?"

As he stood atop the sand dune, Liu Yun revealed a vicious expression, crossing his swords in front of his face and biting down on them. With both swords held in his mouth, he stomped on the ground with one leg, causing the sand underneath to tremble violently.

Then, a giant ball of sand created entirely using transcendence energy slowly rose from the ground like some glutinous pastry. Liu Yun slapped on the ball with one hand, and the giant sand ball abruptly shot out.

As he pushed the giant ball of sand from behind, Liu Yun charged straight towards Miao Yi. And although he was moving such a giant chunk of sand around, his speed was still much higher than Miao Yi's.

Liu Yun was wary of Miao Yi's fire attack. Without anything to protect himself, he didn't dare get too close to Miao Yi with just his cultivation. And what better protection was there than the limitless sands of this vast desert underneath his feet? The reason why his brother Liu Sha had failed to avoid certain death was due to the suddenness of the attack. Neither of them expected Miao Yi to have such a transcendent artifact. Not to mention, Miao Yi's counterattack with the spear was uncannily fast, causing Liu Sha to pay the ultimate price for his moment of carelessness.

To overcome Miao Yi's transcendent artifact, he had to rely on the desert sand! Liu Yun was confident that with his cultivation and some form of protection ready, then even if a mishap were to occur, he would still be able to hold off until he could escape to a safe distance.

With the spear dragging behind him, Miao Yi charged over, meeting Liu Yun and his giant ball of sand head on.

As the Lady Boss and the others watched these two quickly approaching one another, their eyes widened. The Qilin Spear behind Miao Yi was abruptly raised, leaving several afterimages in its path. At the same time, Miao Yi's running speed had suddenly increased as well, far beyond the limits of what a Blue Lotus cultivator should be capable of.

"All those who stand in my way shall die!"

As he struck out with his spear, Miao Yi let out a deafening roar to raise his own morale. This was the sound of a man who was putting everything he had on the line.

A near-solidified flame abruptly erupted forth from the spearhead of the Qilin Spear. Like a flash of crimson lightning, it measured half a foot wide and broke out with incredible speed. As the bright crimson streak flashed by—'Whoosh!'—the air sizzled and seared.

The attack that was manifested from bringing out the full potential of the Supreme Fire Crystal within the Qilin Spear seemed to bear as much substance as a physical object.

As he pushed the ball of sand forward from behind, Liu Yun immediately felt something was wrong. It seemed that even the air itself was teeming with a sense of danger.

Bang! Like a rock smashing into tofu, the crimson lightning pierced straight into the ball of sand rolling towards it.

The ball of sand had melted almost instantly, like a popped water balloon.

Fortunately, Liu Yun had already sensed the danger beforehand and quickly activated his transcendent arts to protect himself from the piping hot liquid that was cascading over him. At the same time, he leaped up into the sky, tossing two flying swords straight at Miao Yi. However, what he saw next had him absolutely horrified.

One strike, two strikes, three strikes...

The crimson lightning that had pierced through the giant ball of sand was only the first strike.

The Qilin Spear in Miao Yi's hand moved at an inconceivably high speed. Even though it was just a single thrust, it gave others the feeling that ten crimson bolts of lightning had flown out. It was another ten deaths with a single spear!

"Ahh…!!" An agonizing scream resounded.

As Liu Yun backed away from the exploded remains of the melting ball of sand, he was quickly severed in half while in mid-air, and instantly transformed into two balls of fire.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh… Now that they had lost their target, the other crimson bolts of lightning that shot out landed in the distance and created several plumes of flame. However, these soon disappeared with the wind.

Clang! With the last of his stamina, Miao Yi swung his spear again, knocking away one of the flying swords that were coming towards him. The Qilin Spear and the flying sword both flew off in the collision, and the skin on Miao Yi's hand ruptured with blood.

Having just deflected one of the flying swords, he was too out of balance to escape the second one, which then firmly struck his chest.

"Pfft!" Miao Yi spat out a mouthful of blood as his entire body flew backward and landed heavily on the sand. Even though he struggled a bit with his limbs, he was unable to get himself back up; he could only lie down on the ground like a dead dog.

Fortunately, he had killed Liu Yun first, ensuring that there was no longer any remote control on the two flying swords; the only thing that remained was the powerful inertia.

It was also fortunate that the armor had helped him absorb some of the damage. Otherwise, he would already be following Liu Yun down to the grave.

But even so, the chest area of the armor artifact was still dented inwards.

As the yellow sands gently rolled under the ever-blowing winds, the Lady Boss and the others silently stared atop the sand dune in the distance, and so did the two little heads that popped out of the sand; they were all shocked!

Lying down on the sand, Miao Yi panted heavily with a wry smile on his face.

Initially, he thought that he would still have some stamina left after using this 'Single Spear: Ten Deaths' technique now that his cultivation had increased by a few grades. However, as it turned out, only the might of the attack had become more powerful; he was still completely drained of almost all his stamina afterward.

It seemed that there was an issue with controlling the power of this attack. There was definitely a need to practice it more once he had the chance.

Miao Yi feared that he would turn out like this after using that technique. Otherwise, he would have already used it when killing Liu Sha. Given the state he was in now, even a mortal could kill him, much less a cultivator. This was also why he was so hesitant to use the technique. If he had any other option, he wouldn't even dare to try it!

If he had used this technique against Liu Sha earlier on, then Liu Yun would probably be chopping his head down with ease by now.

Popping their heads out from under the sand, Pi Junzi and Tao Yongchun stared at the Lady Boss and the others for a while. Seeing that there was no movement from them, the two guessed that they were probably maintaining their neutral stance, as they always had been. Pi Junzi and Tao Yongchun exchanged glances, then nodded and climbed out from under the sand.

The two of them rushed over to Miao Yi's side and helped him up, asking, "Are you alright?"

There was both a sense of joy and admiration in their eyes as they looked at Miao Yi. To them, he seemed even more ferocious now than he was back in the Subjugation Crusade. This time, he had even single-handedly killed two Red Lotus cultivators.

Miao Yi coughed, spitting out another mouthful of blood as he cursed, "Like hell I am. We can't stay here for long. We should hurry and get away from this place!"

Pi Junzi asked, "Where to?"

"Damn it all, that's it! I'm done! First the Hive Gang, and now two Red Lotus cultivators. If a Purple Lotus cultivator is sent after this, there's no way I can survive no matter how many lives I have. Why won't they just give it a rest already?! I'm not going to play this stupid game anymore, not even if they beat me to death! Send me to Tempest Tavern quickly!" Miao Yi cursed loudly.

Tao Yongchun quickly rushed off to the side and picked up Miao Yi's Qilin Spear. He knew this was a very valuable artifact and shouldn't be left behind.

With a pale expression, Miao Yi weakly waved his hand and said, "Don't forget the other stuff too. I earned this with my life. If I leave it be, I'll get bad karma. You two poor sods can have them. Quickly now, things will get messy once people start to show up!"

So they could have these treasures! Pi Junzi and Tao Yongchun carefully set Miao Yi down, then quickly ran around the battlefield and clearing up all the items. Even though their hearts were palpitating like mad, they were feeling a rush of excitement as well. Even though they would always meet with danger every time they met Miao Yi, the bastard seemed to always bring a get-rich-quick opportunity with him as well. It was truly a love-hate relationship for them indeed!

After sweeping up all the riches, Pi Junzi and Tao Yongchun ran back to Miao Yi and lifted him up. Pi Junzi then dove towards the ground and opened up a path through the sand. The group then disappeared beneath the opening in the ground, which was subsequently closed up by the cascading sand...