A Pawn's Passage

Chapter 56: Desmond

Banished Immortals were the strongest among the Five Daoist Lineages. There was no doubt about their strength. Even a Guizhen-stage Martial Arts Practitioner like Xu Kou, who was an experienced fighter, was defeated by Zhang Yuelu.

Paired with a semi-immortal object, Zhang Yuelu could stand a chance to fight against an opponent who was a level higher. She could possibly even defeat Desmond.

When Zhang Yuelu and Desmond were fighting, Zhang Yuelu had the upper hand. The paper sword left holes in Desmond’s body, which seemed to be made of blood, so no damage was done. The holes were instantly filled with blood again, returning his body to its original state.

What scared Desmond was the mystical energy from Zhang Yuelu. This energy assimilated with Desmond’s blood and became indistinguishable, causing chaos within until his cells attacked each other. Another surge of energy went straight to his heart, making his heart beat violently like a drum.

Since the source of power for sinners is the heart, their bodies would stop functioning if anything happened to the heart.

Zhang Yuelu used the Six Void Tribulations Technique that she had used to defeat Xu Kou. Her qi could enter her opponent’s body and disperse their energy, allowing her opponent’s cells to attack each other and thus leading to severe injury or even death.

The Six Void Tribulations was a mysterious technique, but it was resolvable. Daoist practitioners with a solid foundation who were well-versed in the Daoist Master Nanhua’s differentiation of the six qi could counter the Six Void Tribulations. However, Desmond was not a Daoist practitioner, so he could not decipher the secrets of the technique.

Desmond was greatly restrained by the Six Voids Tribulations because he was seriously injured. If Zhang Yuelu was a Heavenly being, Desmond would have no chance of winning without any external help.

Desmond’s external possessions were all lost when he was hunted down by the Parthian Parliament, so he could only rely on himself. This consumed more energy from him, making him much weaker than an ordinary Heavenly Being.

At this time, Zhang Yuelu was like an inexperienced fighter compared to Desmond, a veteran. However, Zhang Yuelu had a powerful weapon in her hands.

A large sword slashed at Desmond from the side. Desmond, who was restrained by the Six Void Tribulations, dodged the attack. The sword struck the ground, creating a crack. The friction of the blade created many sparks that looked like extremely bright fireflies. Arthur charged forward, holding his sword tightly with both hands. He worked together with Zhang Yuelu to attack Desmond.

Desmond grunted, suppressed the strange energy in his body, and conjured the Blood Sword with all his might. The blood sword left a trail of blood wherever it passed. The countless blood trails intertwined, like a net that kept tightening.

Lingquanzi did not make a move because he was preparing a complicated and cumbersome spell ever since the Ancient Immortal’s spiritual force receded. At this time, the spell was almost complete.

He tossed out a paper man, pointed at it, and shouted, “Warrior, show yourself!”

Accompanied by a strong gust of wind, the paper man glowed in a golden light and turned into a military general, whose face was like ruby and whose beard was like velvet. It was about three meters tall, wearing golden armor wrapped with red ribbons. The warrior glowed like the sun.

This was the Yellow Turban Warrior of the Taiping Sect. During the Taiping Rebellion, everyone wrapped their heads in yellow turbans in a show of defiance to the previous dynasty. Hence the name Yellow Turban Warriors.

When the Holy Xuan was alive, he disliked sectarian bias and wanted to integrate the mystical abilities and spells of all the sects so that everyone could practice them. Although it was not completely successful, many spells between the three sects were interoperable. That was how Lingquanzi, a Quanzhen Sect disciple, was able to use the spells of the Taiping Sect.

The Yellow Turban Warrior charged at Desmond with two maces, each about one meter in length. The blood net that Desmond made could not withstand the impact and tore open. However, the Yellow Turban Warrior was burned by Desmond’s blood. There was a sizzling sound of corrosion, and its armor was much dimmer.

When Zhang Yuelu was no longer restrained by the blood trails, she spun the paper sword in her hand, creating a thunderous sound.

At this moment, Zhang Yuelu thrust a hundred paper swords at Desmond’s vital points. The swords flew so fast that all anyone could see was a sword qi. A Guizhen-stage master would only be able to see Zhang Yuelu raising her hand as well as the wounds all over Desmond’s body.

Although Desmond was a Heavenly Being, he was still severely injured by this paper sword. After all, the Amorphous Paper was a semi-immortal object with extreme killing power. Moreover, Zhang Yuelu launched a hundred swords in a row, so Desmond’s body could not heal in a short time.

There was a general rule in the Daoist community that it took three people of a lower realm to fight against one person of a higher realm. In this situation, it took three Xiantian Beings in the Guizhen stage to deal with one Heavenly Being in the Xiaoyao stage.

In addition, Desmond had lost all his belongings and suffered serious blood loss, making him very weak. At this time, facing three opponents, Desmond was actually at a disadvantage.

Faced with this situation, Desmond did not panic. Although his weakened state prevented him from using the unique abilities of a Duke, he was not completely helpless. He waved his black and red cloak that he was wearing and created thirteen duplicates of himself.

On the Western Continent, thirteen was an unlucky number and the number of the Devil. There were also thirteen clans of sinners.

For a moment, Zhang Yuelu felt seven figures around her. They were not illusions, but physical bodies. They neutralized her sword attacks and attacked her from all sides, forcing her to switch from offense to defense. At the same time, a strong stench of blood pervaded the air, entering her body from every pore and corroding her meridians and Dantians.

Zhang Yuelu had to use the Five Elements Qi Shield to protect her whole body against this blood aura.

She kept retreating, all the while hearing a constant clanging of metal against stone. Taking advantage of this opportunity, two of Desmond’s duplicates restrained the Yellow Turban Warrior, while three of his duplicates attacked Lingquanzi.

Lingquanzi used half of his Thoughts to control the Yellow Turban Warrior. At this time, facing the three menacing Desmonds, he dared not let his guard down. Lingquanzi muttered something under his breath and threw out three talismans, which then turned into three golden shields that kept spinning around him, providing airtight protection.

Three Blood Swords stabbed the golden shields formed by the talisman, staining them with a bloody color. The three duplicates drew their swords quickly. Each time they stabbed the golden shields, the shields trembled slightly. As a result, the golden shields soon dimmed and cracked.

Lingquanzi knew that he would lose if he kept fighting, so he took out a Five Thunder Talisman, worth 1000 Taiping coins, and threw it out. Suddenly, five thunderbolts as thick as one’s wrist appeared out of thin air and struck the three duplicates.

Of all the methods in the world, the thunder type was the most powerful. Monsters, demons, ghosts, and zombies were all naturally restrained by thunder. These sinners from the Western Continent were no exception. After Desmond’s two duplicates were struck by lightning, they immediately turned into a puff of green smoke and dissipated.

One remaining duplicate rushed toward Lingquanzi, who whipped out the Divine Dragon Pistol and shot the duplicate with a Dragon Eye Bullet straight in the heart.

The duplicate’s heart instantly exploded. His figure swayed and gradually disappeared. This was the advantage of working in Tiangang Hall. Lingquanzi was a fourth-rank Jijiu Daoist master, so the weapons he used could be reimbursed afterward. That was why he used them without hesitation and why he could exhibit such strength that was almost beyond his own realm.

The only Desmond standing ignored the cowardly Qi Xuansu and went straight to Arthur, restraining the latter from behind. This Desmond was the original body, not a duplicate.

Judging from appearance alone, Desmond was actually an extraordinarily handsome man. But at this moment, he looked ferocious and horrifying as his two long fangs protruded from his mouth and pierced Arthur’s neck.

For Desmond, the blood of a Paladin was undoubtedly a great source of energy to quickly regain his strength. Of course, Desmond had an intuition that the blood of that Eastern woman would be better, but that woman was too mysterious. He could not taste her blood for the time being, so he could only settle for the next best thing.

Desmond looked satisfied, as if he were enjoying the most delicious food in the world. But soon, his smile completely froze. Then his expression twisted in pain and horror.

“Superior Black Blood! You actually consumed Superior Black Blood!” Desmond flung Arthur to the side and held his own throat with both hands. His handsome face contorted, like that of a man who had been poisoned and was in extreme pain.

Arthur’s back smashed into the wall of the dungeon and slowly slid down. Due to the blood loss, his face was extremely pale. He spoke with difficulty. “Yes, this Superior Black Blood is from the Holy Court Tribunal, specially used to deal with a high-level sinner like you. Just one cup can put a Marquess to rest forever.”

Superior Black Blood was a special potion developed by demon hunters. It had not much of an effect on ordinary monsters, but it was lethal poison for sinners who relied on blood for survival.

Arthur had consumed this Superior Black Blood in advance. Thus, when Desmond drank Arthur’s blood, he was indirectly consuming poison. It was more lethal than simply being injured by a weapon laced with Superior Black Blood because this substance had integrated into his own blood and could not be segregated.

As the Superior Black Blood came into effect, Desmond screamed uncontrollably, losing all his grace. This immortal nobleman, who had lived for hundreds of years, once again felt the threat of death after his clan was destroyed. However, this time, it was not the powerful Parthian Parliament that threatened his life, but a menial chief bishop.