C20 One Against Three

"Sister Qing, rest assured, I won't mess up this time. With this kid, any poison I choose will have him dissolving into a puddle of blood within minutes," Ouyang Cang assured the woman in black, his face oozing obsequiousness.

"Heh, you'd better be right. You know my temperament, Yan Qing—I won't hesitate to take you down with him if you fail," she retorted coldly.

Yan Qing was clearly unimpressed by his sycophancy, a stark reminder that bootlickers often end up with nothing.

"Hahaha, Ouyang Cang, how's it feel to be snubbed like that?" Mu Yunlong taunted mercilessly.

Yet Ouyang Cang seemed deaf to the mockery, his gaze fixed on Yan Qing, filled with unwavering devotion.

"Enough chit-chat. Get on with it before we run into more complications," Yan Qing commanded, ignoring the squabbling duo. Her focus was solely on eliminating Liu Yangshuo swiftly and making her exit.

Ouyang Cang bobbed his head in agreement, then retrieved a white jade bottle from his storage ring. "This Heart Devouring Bee is among the deadliest in the Ouyang family's arsenal. One sting, and within the time it takes an incense stick to burn, his heart will liquefy into pus. Not even the gods could save him then."

With that, Ouyang Cang uncorked the bottle, and a sinister black hornet emerged, its head peeking out.

He gestured toward Liu Yangshuo's room, and the bee darted forward, wings buzzing. Inside, Liu Yangshuo wasn't sleeping soundly. Alerted by the noise, he grabbed the oil lamp and hurled it at the window screen.

Smoke billowed instantly, and the Heart Devouring Bee, before it could even reach its target, succumbed to the smoke, dead.

Ouyang Cang stood there, stunned. The Ouyang family's prized poison, defeated by mere smoke. The scandal of it—his father, Ouyang Zhuo, would surely feed him to the snakes if he ever found out.

"Scram, you waste of space!"

Yan Qing shot Ouyang Cang a venomous glare and barked the command.

Ouyang Cang didn't dare talk back, meekly moving aside as ordered.

Inside the room, Liu Yangshuo caught sight of the Heart Devouring Bee's carcass on the floor. In a glint of silver, the needle in his hand morphed back into a spear, and with it, he bolted through the window.

"He's out, let's go!"

Upon seeing Liu Yangshuo emerge, Yan Qing, with Ouyang Cang and Mu Yunlong in tow, quickly gave chase.

They pursued him all the way to the desolate outskirts of Hagan Bay, where Liu Yangshuo finally halted.

"Quite the guts you've got, knowing we're here to end you and yet daring to come out here alone," Yan Qing taunted as he approached.

"I had this notion that doctors were benevolent, that all of you were upstanding. To think there'd be lowlifes like you skulking about. Clearly, the prestige of the Hagan Competition isn't what I imagined," Liu Yangshuo retorted with a sneer, resting the spear casually on his shoulder.

"Kid, being slick with words won't save you. Let's see if you can even make it through the night," Mu Yunlong interjected, eager for a confrontation in the open terrain that lay before them.

"Hahahaha, a bunch of Spirit Communication Stage upstarts daring to spout off at me? I'm eager to see how you plan to stop me from seeing dawn," Liu Yangshuo laughed heartily, the spear in his hand dancing, its tip aimed directly at Mu Yunlong.

Mu Yunlong and his companions paused, taken aback. This kid was clearly at the Great Perfection of the Dispersed Spirit Stage, yet he spoke with the confidence of a true master. Could it be he was concealing an injury, his true power only temporarily subdued?

With this in mind, Mu Yunlong grew wary, bracing himself for a serious battle.

Mu Yunlong slowly extended his right index and middle fingers, a dense and extraordinary spiritual force swirling around them.

"Enough talk. Have a taste of my strike!"

With his fingers poised like a blade, Mu Yunlong stamped the ground and charged at Liu Yangshuo.

Liu Yangshuo was quick to respond, a glint of determination in his eyes. "Bring it on!"

In an instant, the two warriors engaged in fierce combat. Mu Yunlong, unarmed, wielded his dense and extraordinary spiritual force with such prowess that it rivaled most spiritual weapons, sparking fiercely against Liu Yangshuo's spear.

As the battle progressed, they both sensed something amiss.

Mu Yunlong was the first to detect the anomaly. The force behind Liu Yangshuo's spear was immense, far beyond what one would expect from someone at the Great Perfection of the Dispersed Spirit Stage. They had exchanged a hundred blows, yet Liu Yangshuo showed no signs of defeat; on the contrary, he seemed to grow stronger with each strike.

Mu Yunlong inwardly breathed a sigh of relief for not underestimating Liu Yangshuo, knowing that had he done so, he would have been at a disadvantage from the start.

Liu Yangshuo was next to sense the oddity. Each of Mu Yunlong's moves appeared to be martial arts, but they were precisely aimed at Liu Yangshuo's vulnerabilities, soft spots, and vital points. It was less like martial arts and more akin to... acupoint striking.

Hundreds of moves later, their stamina was rapidly depleting.

Realizing his energy reserves were nearly spent, and that Mu Yunlong was the stronger opponent with energy to spare, Liu Yangshuo decided to go all out. With a mighty effort, he thrust his spear downward in a vicious arc towards Mu Yunlong's head.

"Stacking Waves!"

With a resounding "Boom!" both fighters were sent reeling back over ten meters, gasping for air as they eyed each other warily.

Just as Mu Yunlong was about to taunt the visibly exhausted Liu Yangshuo, his index and middle finger, which had absorbed the impact of Stacking Waves, snapped with a crisp sound, revealing they were broken.

Liu Yangshuo let out a light laugh, pleased with the effect of Stacking Waves. The hidden force within the attack had taken Mu Yunlong by surprise.

However, in that moment, Liu Yangshuo's attention was abruptly diverted. Of the three people previously before him, only two remained—the woman had vanished!

"Prepare to die!"

The whistle of a sword cutting through the air sounded from behind. Yan Qing's silhouette was swiftly bearing down on Liu Yangshuo's vulnerable back.

Liu Yangshuo cursed inwardly, too late to turn and defend as his arms gave way, utterly devoid of strength.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning erupted from above Liu Yangshuo's head, striking Yan Qing with unerring precision. She was catapulted through the air and crashed to the ground, her body emitting tendrils of black smoke.

The attack caught both Yan Qing and Liu Yangshuo off guard, neither having anticipated such an outcome.

Ouyang Cang and Mu Yunlong hurried to Yan Qing's aid, lifting her from the ground while warily eyeing Liu Yangshuo. They knew all too well that he had more tricks up his sleeve than they could count.

"Hmph, consider yourselves lucky today. I expect no further trouble before the start of the Hagan Competition," Liu Yangshuo declared, his voice laced with cold disdain. He plunged his spear into the earth, crossing his arms over his chest, an imposing figure reminiscent of a war deity.

Exchanging a glance, Ouyang Cang and Mu Yunlong made a hasty retreat, carrying the unconscious Yan Qing away from the scene.

Once their figures had vanished into the distance, Liu Yangshuo finally allowed himself to relax, slumping to the ground as a wave of emptiness washed over him.

An hour later, a weary Liu Yangshuo returned to Fragrance Tower, where Hsu Chengqiu and her team had already extinguished the blaze that had engulfed his room.