105: Chapter 105 The Killing of the Green Cicada Mother

Watching the elite forces he had spent a huge price to raise falling one after another, Heisha's eyes almost cracked and bled.

His bronze short hammer smashed fiercely onto the ground, causing the light barrier of the Trapping and Killing Formation to vibrate violently, its array patterns flickering uncertainly, but after all, it did not shatter.

A mere Trapping and Killing Formation was something he wouldn't have given a second glance to normally, yet precisely when he most needed a quick victory, this array was like maggots clinging to bones—impossible to shake off or smash apart.

Those Loose Cultivators were still charging forward desperately, and those Wang Family disciples were still forming arrays, shifting arrays, and slaughtering; with every one of his subordinates that fell, the fire in his heart surged a notch higher.

Finally driven into a complete rage, he no longer cared about the damn Trapping and Killing Formation, and the array-breaking hammer, carrying the violent spiritual power of the Foundation Establishment Stage, smashed down directly toward Wang Yaowu's head.

"Die for me!"

At this exact instant, a hand steadily caught that immensely heavy array-breaking hammer.

The array-breaking runes on the hammer flashed frantically, attempting to pierce through the spiritual power of the hand's owner, but that hand remained completely motionless, as if cast directly onto the hammer.

An old and calm voice sounded amidst the humming of weapon collisions.

"Whose death are you calling for, Heisha?"

With a hum, the entire courtyard seemed as if the pause button had been pressed on it.

Everyone — bandits, Wang Family disciples, and Loose Cultivators — paused for a moment the instant this voice fell, and then the sounds of slaughter exploded once more, yet turbulent billows had already risen in everyone's hearts.

The bandits were shocked that the newcomer could catch the First Leader's array-breaking hammer with a single hand, while the Wang Family disciples and Loose Cultivators experienced a surge in morale after this voice, striking out even more fiercely and fearlessly.

Looking at the old Daoist priest before him with mixed gray hair and beard, and looking at the small insect fluttering its wings at his sleeve, Heisha's pupils suddenly shrank into two pinprick-sized black dots as he blurted out, "Master Qingfu! Why are you here? Aren't you at Qingfu Market?"

Master Qingfu let go of the array-breaking hammer, casually brushing away the dust stained on his cuff, "Just in time."

Heisha stared fixedly at him, thoughts racing through his mind.

It wasn't that he hadn't considered the risks of this trip; the bandit profession was inherently about licking blood off the edge of a blade, but never before had he felt like this—feeling as though he had been trapped in someone else's scheme from start to finish.

Master Qingfu could not have just happened to arrive; Qingfu Market was neither too far nor too close to Lotus Pier. Why didn't this old Daoist come earlier or later, but precisely when he made his move?

Unless he knew from the very beginning that someone would raid the Wang Family's gates tonight.

But how could the Wang Family have known he was coming? The matter of the Ning Family hiring him was known only to him and Ning Shengli; even the Third Leader was only told the target before setting out.

His informants in Wanshan County gave no warning, and along the way he hadn't encountered a single person from the Wang Family. How could the Wang Family have set up an ambush and brought in reinforcements in advance?

Unless it wasn't the Wang Family knowing he would come at all, but someone selling him out from the very beginning.

A name surfaced from the bottom of his heart, and he squeezed those two words out through clenched teeth: "It's the Ning Family!"

The corners of Wang Yaowu's mouth twitched slightly. When he was pointed at by the array-breaking hammer just moments ago, his back had indeed gone cold for a fraction of a second.

Master Qingfu had arrived just in time; half a beat later, and he would have had to use his own head to catch that hammer.

Hearing Heisha shout out the answer himself at this moment, he almost couldn't hold it in — this idiot, the Wang Family hadn't even suspected the Ning Family, yet he exposed the mastermind behind the scenes all by himself.

But that was fine too, saving the trouble of interrogating him later.

He gripped his heavy sword tightly and offered no explanation, merely cupping his fists toward Master Qingfu and saying, "Many thanks for Master Qingfu's rescue."

"Hey, you're being too polite." Master Qingfu smiled, and before that smile had faded from his face, his figure had already closed in before Heisha like a ghost.

Heisha let out a furious roar, the runes on the array-breaking hammer glowing brightly as he smashed it toward Master Qingfu's chest.

This hammer strike was unleashed in anger, carrying even greater momentum and weight than the one he had directed at Wang Yaowu earlier. Where the hammer's wind passed, even the air was compressed and distorted out of shape.

Master Qingfu casually flicked his sleeve, sending a dark green cold light flying out from within. That cold light was so fast that people could not clearly trace its trajectory. With only a crisp "ding" sound, the array-breaking hammer in Heisha's hand was knocked flying from his grip, tumbling through the air a few times before smashing into the courtyard wall and collapsing half of it.

The web of Heisha's thumb cracked open, blood streaming down his fingers. He had no time to look at the top-grade Magical Artifact that had accompanied him for the greater part of his life, desperately twisting his body aside to dodge the remaining momentum of that cold light, yet his shoulder was still slashed open with a wound deep enough to reveal the bone.

His figure abruptly dropped, and utilizing this dodging momentum, he darted away in the opposite direction without even looking back.

Instead of running outward, he flew toward the direction of the Ning Family's backyard; years of life-and-death combat experience had given him a dim sense of vigilance deep down.

Wang Yaowu watched that wretchedly fleeing figure, his brows tightly knitted together.

He had calculated that Heisha wouldn't be so easy to kill, so he had his second brother, Wang Yaowen, block the exit to stall Heisha for a few breaths. By the time Master Qingfu arrived to slay him, Heisha wouldn't be able to fly away even with wings. He never expected this fellow would run in the opposite direction on the verge of death.

"This Heisha is so vigilant even on the verge of death."

"Nephew, do not worry, he cannot run." Qingfu flew to keep up, and at that moment Wang Yaowu's heart suddenly tightened.

"Not good!"

Heisha's figure darted rapidly through the night like a lingering shadow, but after all, he couldn't run far.

Just as he skimmed over the outer wall of Lotus Pier's backyard, while his figure was still mid-air, dozens of fine bloody gasps suddenly and without warning burst open all over his body.

From the back of his neck to his ankles, every single bloody gash precisely landed on the vital points where the Meridians intersected, and blood squirted out, dyeing his black clothes dark red.

He let out a miserable scream right there in mid-air, falling from the sky like a bird with broken wings, and heavily smashed onto the bluestone slabs of the backyard, shattering a patch of stone bricks.

He struggled to raise his head, looking with a face full of blood and dirt at the dark cyan figure that was leisurely following up from behind, his eyes filled with sheer disbelief.

Every single old scar across his entire body was burning — those were hidden injuries left behind from fighting people years ago that had long since healed, and some were even left from his Qi Refinement Stage days, which he himself had almost forgotten.

Yet at this moment, these long-healed old injuries all ruptured at the very same instant, as if being torn open from inside his body outward by an invisible hand.

"What kind of evil art is this!" Heisha roared hoarsely.

Master Qingfu stood with his hands behind his back, the Qingfu Insect embroidered with silver threads on his cuff shimmering slightly under the moonlight.

His voice remained calm, as if explaining a most ordinary past event.

"Qingfu Mother-Child Killing; whenever anyone is injured by this old man, even though the wound heals, the Qingfu Insect mark does not disappear. Whenever this old man wants it to rupture, it ruptures."