Chapter 111: No Retreat, Only Advance; All Offense, No Defense

Faintness and weakness washed over me; the man before my eyes blurred into two. I stood swaying on the spot, on the verge of losing consciousness entirely.

I quickly sat cross-legged on the ground and bit the tip of my tongue. Spitting a mouthful of blood onto my hand, I formed a sword-finger gesture and traced a "Cleansing and Protection Mantra" onto the steel pipe: "By the law... as commanded!"

As the words left my lips, I took a deep breath, held it, and using every last ounce of my strength, I gripped the steel pipe with both hands and slammed it against my own forehead.

With a dull thud, I collapsed to the ground. This move left not only Song Zhong, who was standing nearby, staring at me with a bewildered expression, but even the man himself looked confused.

My grandfather once said that if one is struck by filthy miasma, there is no need to panic; there are two ways to break it. The first is the urine of a prepubescent boy, which is pure yang and can dispel all yin-evil toxins. Although I am still a virgin, I could not produce any at that moment. The second method is pain—intense, excruciating pain—which can keep a person lucid for a quarter of an hour under the influence of the miasma. To counter this specific type of miasma, one must strike the caster’s mouth, which breaks the spell.

"Jiang Huai!" Seeing me collapse from hitting myself, Song Zhong ran over and reached out to help me up.

But before his hand could touch me, I sprang up, clarity returning to my eyes. After patting my head, I felt my forehead. I was impressed by how ruthless I had been; I was covered in blood. I turned to look at Song Zhong, who froze, his hand hanging in mid-air, unsure of what to do.

"I'm fine. Go get your brother down." I waved him off and pulled out my phone, handing it to him. "Call Wang Zihao and tell him to set off in ten minutes. I have a big gift for him."

Song Zhong took the phone and stared at me blankly. I urged him on, puzzled, "Go! Your brother is hanging there; it can't be comfortable."

Song Zhong nodded and walked toward Song Chao, following my instructions. As he passed the man, the man glanced at him but did not stop him. Instead, he looked at me with curiosity. "Judging by your tone, you think you've got me? How much longer can you last after being hit by my miasma?"

I sighed, slowly stood up, and walked toward the short blade the man had dropped.

The man did not intervene. I picked up the blade, toyed with it for a moment, and looked at him, saying quite honestly, "Well, it should be about fourteen minutes now."

The man frowned, unsure of what I meant. I stopped speaking, wiped the blood from my forehead, and traced a talisman onto the blade with my sword-finger.

"By the law of the Three Mao, forward and never retreat, offense without defense. With killing intent from all directions, I alone advance. May the True Lord protect my body—by the law, as commanded!"

Holding the blade horizontally before me, I crooked my finger at the man. "Come on. This is my first time using a spell in a real fight. I hope you don't disappoint me!"

The man snorted and swung his blade at me with one hand. I grinned and let out a roar: "Well swung!"

My eyes widened like a wrathful guardian deity. I had no intention of dodging. Taking a deep breath, I swung my blade to meet his.

*Clang!*

The blades locked together, unable to be pulled apart. The man reacted instantly, kicking at my knee. I ignored the blow, let him kick me, and simply gripped my blade with both hands, pulling with all my might. "Break!"

I didn't budge from the kick, but at that moment, the force of my pull snapped the blade in his hand. The man was stunned and tried to retreat, but I leaned forward and roared, "Where are you going?"

I didn't let up, driving my blade directly into the bone of his left shoulder.

"Argh!" The man screamed, but his reaction was one I hadn't expected. He didn't try to dodge or collapse; he bit his lip until it bled and lunged at my stomach with the broken fragment of his blade.

*Clang!*

"Impossible! That's impossible!"

"You think you can break my Vajra Body and Killing Intent Mantra? Dream on!"

I took a deep breath and countered with a punch to the bridge of his nose. Immediately after, I grabbed the steel pipe from the ground and struck the blade still lodged in his shoulder.

The pain of the blade in his bone, compounded by the secondary impact, was too much even for the most resilient man to bear. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed backward.

I seized the opportunity, stepped on his hand holding the broken blade, snatched it away, and without hesitation, slashed across his mouth!

The excruciating pain caused the man to faint instantly. I dropped the broken blade and sat on the ground. I lifted my shirt to look at the spot where he had stabbed me. Although the skin wasn't broken, a large, swollen blood blister had formed, and it was agonizing to the touch.

At that moment, Song Zhong arrived with Song Chao. "Are... are you okay?"

I looked at him with a bitter smile and pointed to my stomach. "What do you think?"

Under Song Zhong's questioning gaze, I took off my shirt, stuffed it into my mouth, and bit down hard. Using the broken blade, I carefully lanced the blood blister on my stomach. As long as my spell was active, it acted like hard-qigong, preventing him from stabbing deep, but if I didn't drain the pooled blood, I wouldn't recover for a long time. Better a short pain than a long one.

Watching the blood flow out, I blinked and wrapped myself up with my clothes. After standing up, I asked Song Zhong, "How is your brother?"

Song Zhong came to his senses and shook his head. I looked at him, then took Song Chao from his arms. I laid him flat on the ground to examine him, pulling back his eyelids to find that his pupils were missing—replaced entirely by white. There were tiny needle marks on all four of his limbs.

"Heart-Locking Soul-Sealing. Your brother has had a rough lot in life."

I looked at Song Zhong and explained, "He has been cursed. The caster has forced his three souls and seven spirits together and sealed them. Looking at him, the spell hasn't been cast for long, but if it isn't broken within twenty-four hours, he will be cognitively impaired for the rest of his life."