Splitting the Heave

“Plop!” Shang Xia was quickly swallowed by the muddy water.

Other than the ripples that formed on the surface, Shang Xia was nowhere to be seen! 

Sun Haiwei glanced at the water that swallowed Shang Xia up, but she was quickly forced to retreat by the undead corpse.

It was actually a rank three creature! How unlucky were they to run into it?!

However, that begged another question. How did the rank three undead corpse enter the mine?!

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Sun Haiwei could see that the clothes on the undead corpse was slightly damp, but it could be considered overall neat. It wasn’t a surprise that his clothes seemed completely outdated.

“How can it look so unaffected by the sands of time?” Sun Haiwei gasped. Her thoughts turned to a rumor they had on the Tongyou Peak and recalled that they were close to the Coral Forest.

“Could it be?! A member of the Zhu Family?! How did they run out of the Coral Forest?” 

She waved the spikes in her hands and a wall of orange flames and thick blue ice formed around her.

However, a strong shockwave caused the ice wall to shatter to bits, forcing her several feet back. Even so, she failed to nullify the effects of the shockwave. Slamming into the wall behind her, she felt a sickly sweet sensation welling up in her mouth.

Although she took a huge loss in the exchange, she managed to tear a layer of skin off the palm of the undead corpse. Jet-black rotten flesh was revealed under the layer of skin.

“Crap! It has overwhelming strength and extremely thick defenses!” Sun Haiwei yelled right before the undead corpse made its next move. Roaring loudly, the corpse rotated its wrists towards Sun Haiwei.

Instinctively, she leaped to the side.

The wall behind her converged as it tried to trap her within. If she moved a little slower, she would have been sealed within!

The undead corpse didn’t wait for her to catch her breath. It continued its relentless assault. Raising its leg, it stomped downwards.

Giant cracks formed in the ground below and huge boulders started to fall from the ceiling. 

As her body twisted and turned to avoid the falling debris, a sharp spike emerged from the wall beside her, stabbing into her shoulders. 

“Damn it! Why hasn’t he emerged from the water?! Could there also be danger beneath the surface?!” Sun Haiwei grumbled. Her thoughts didn’t stop her from counterattacking. Her spikes glowed orange and blue as she lunged at the undead corpse.

She was greeted with a shriek from the creature, and the rocks that had fallen onto the ground started to rise. They flew towards Sun Haiwei like iron to a magnet.

When that was happening, a figure broke through the surface of the water and soared through the air. Thick strands of crimson-red lightning tore through the void and created a lightning web that trapped the undead corpse.

“Crackle!” 

As the lightning lashed against its body, a wretched cry left the corpse’s dried-up lips.

Shang Xia, who just appeared, looked extremely haggard. Mud was stuck in his hair and it stained his clothes a dirty brown.

Truth be told, that was the worst state he had been in. Not even when he had been hunted down by Yan Ming did he feel so haggard.

It was one of the reasons behind the anger in Shang Xia’s heart. Of course, he couldn’t vent his frustration on Sun Haiwei as she saved him from the attacks of the undead corpse. All his rage was channeled to the undead corpse.

As the corpse lost control of the mud and rocks it threw at Sun Haiwei, she managed to make use of them and transform it into a frozen bridge with her icy qi.

Stepping onto the frozen bridge, one of the spikes in her hand blazed with an orange flame. She approached the rank three undead corpse that was trapped in Shang Xia’s lightning web and the moment the lightning subsided, she stabbed the spike deep into the frozen bridge beneath her feet.

The ice and fire qi in the air clashed against each other, causing a massive explosion. At the same time, the strand of destructive qi shot towards the undead corpse, causing great damage.

“Senior Sister Sun, are you alright?” Shang Xia yelled from the side.

With her face slightly pale, anyone present could see that she wasn’t in her best shape. She seemed to have suffered some injuries, but she gritted her teeth in reply, “I won’t die so easily!” 

She didn’t forget to remind Shang Xia, “Be careful! A rank three undead corpse won’t be killed so easily!” 

After the dust settled, Sun Haiwei and Shang Xia approached the location where the undead corpse was blown to. However, they discovered that nothing was left other than several fragments of bones and rotted flesh.

“Don’t tell me we destroyed its body completely with our attacks…” Shang Xia gasped.

Right as he completed his sentence, Sun Haiwei cried, “Be careful! It’s underground!” 

The ground beneath their feet caved in as soon as she spoke and a hand that was missing three fingers grabbed onto Sun Haiwei’s ankles.

With her expression changing drastically, her inner qi circulated violently throughout her body. The arm of the undead corpse started to emit smoke as the smell of charred flesh filled the air. Soon, a layer of ice covered the smoking arm.

Despite that, the undead corpse’s grasp remained firmly on her ankles. It tightened its grip as Sun Haiwei’s face scrunched up in pain.

Shang Xia leaped into the air as soon as the ground started to shatter, and he grunted slightly before slashing his Delicate Jade River Sword towards the undead corpse’s arm.

As his blade came slicing downwards, the debris in the surroundings gathered around the creature’s wrists to form a protective layer.

A loud clang echoed through the air and his attack failed to cause a single scratch to the creature.

When that happened, Sun Haiwei’s body started to sink. It was clear that the undead corpse wanted to drag her down to prevent Shang Xia from joining the fight.

Sun Haiwei didn’t let it do as it pleased. Her spikes stabbed straight into the wall beside her to stop her descent.

Realizing that there was no time to waste, Shang Xia’s sword shot out again as lightning flashed about the blade. 

Landing on the layer of rocks around the undead corpse’s arm, the impact blew away a huge chunk. Unlike the previous time, Shang Xia’s attack wasn’t completely useless. The lightning surrounding the blade tore into its arm. It released Sun Haiwei while howling in pain.

Sun Haiwei didn’t manage to escape unscathed either. The lighting numbed her legs, and the undead corpse managed to recover quickly to grab her other leg.

A frown appeared on Shang Xia’s face. The inner qi in his body started to transform, and the lightning around his blade disappeared. He used the Vigorous Sword Art to attack the undead corpse, but the effects were abysmal. 

Changing his sword style once again, his sword turned soft and wrapped around the wrist of the annoying creature. It cut deep into the undead corpse’s skin, but it quickly used the surrounding rocks to block itself from receiving further damage from Shang Xia’s sword.

“It’s no use! This is a rank three undead corpse that specializes in manipulating the dirt and stone around us! It’s pretty impressive for you to manage to cut through a layer of its skin!” Sun Haiwei cried.

“It’s alright! There’s definitely a way to deal with it!” Shang Xia continued to use his sword to slash at the creature.

“It’s useless to waste our energy like this! Hurry up and cut off my leg!” Sun Haiwei exclaimed. 

Raising his head in shock, he saw an ugly smile plastered on her face. Her arms trembled violently, and it was clear she wouldn’t be able to hold on for long. 

“At the very least, I’ll be able to stay alive…” Sun Haiwei muttered.

Shang Xia’s sword chopped downwards again. His strike was even more terrifying than before and it destroyed the layer of rocks around the arm.

His inner qi transformed in the instant he destroyed the layer of protection on the undead corpse’s arm and he flowed perfectly into the next sword strike. A bone-chilling scraping sound echoed through the air and Shang Xia successfully unleashed the most difficult move of the Flexible Sword Art. It was one of the most profound techniques recorded in the River Sword Policy as it required the cultivator to transform their qi instantaneously to catch their opponent off guard!

Even though the River Sword Policy in the Tongyou Peak’s Scripture Depository wasn’t complete, Shang Xia had already understood the theory behind it. It wasn’t difficult for him to extrapolate the moves to complete the inheritance.

The sword managed to injure the creature, but it failed to rescue Sun Haiwei.

“Good technique!” Forcing a smile, Sun Haiwei tried to hide the pain in her legs. 

A trace of hesitation flashed across Shang Xia’s face and he paused for a second. 

“Flexible Sword Art… The principle behind it requires one to perfectly fuse softness and strength qi, making up for each other’s weaknesses. Even though he managed to hurt the undead corpse earlier, Shang Xia’s technique involved two strikes in total. It wasn’t a true fusion of both types of qi!” 

Shang Xia nearly slapped himself when he thought about it,

Equilibrium! That was what Shang Xia learned ever since he entered the Martial Extremity Realm! Why didn’t he think of it earlier?!

Fusion of both softness and strength qi to unleash a single strike… That was the pinnacle of the Flexible Sword Art!

Watching the hesitation flash across Shang Xia’s face, Sun Haiwei thought that he was reluctant to chop off her legs for real and she forced a smile, “Hurry up! I can’t hold on much longer!” 

Shang Xia raised his head to stare into her eyes all of a sudden, and she noticed the confidence and joy contained in them. His gaze caused her to lose all focus all of a sudden and she forgot about the existence of the rank three undead corpse.

The sword in his hand slashed out towards the arm clutching her ankles, and the sword strike seemed as ordinary as could be.

“Clang!” 

Before she could react, she felt the grip loosening around her ankles. She lost her balance all of a sudden, and she tumbled onto the solid ground nearby.

A heaven-shaking roar came from under the ground, and despite the many layers of earth between them and the undead corpse, its cries echoed clearly in their ears.