Chapter 337: Psychological Warfare

“But within these ten breaths, I’ll kill you!”

His words were full of pride, lofty sentiments, and unruliness. To Flame-scorching Devilman, Meng Qi seemed like an Evil Lord—eternally undefeatable and unbeatable.

He understood that his imposingness was being snatched and his spirit was being pressurized. Any slight carelessness would sow the seeds of failure, and he wouldn’t even be able to withstand a single blow from Meng Qi. However, it was one thing to understand the situation but another to do something about it. It was incredibly challenging to try and readjust his imposing manner. Especially so when he had just watched his comrades perish. Soul-losing Flute, who had been acting from afar, was killed in the blink of an eye. Green Cultivator, who had been superior in strength and realm, was decapitated in a flash. With the murderer standing proud and tall before him, how could he not feel the pressure on his soul?

Nevertheless, he was still an experienced member of Jianghu. He had preliminarily attained the realm of Heaven-man Connection and wasn’t desperate enough to panic and sow his own seeds of failure. If his imposing manner was being repressed, so be it. He wouldn’t suffer an utter defeat as long as his heart didn’t waver, even if his strength suffered. If he could drag the battle to be longer than ten breaths, victory would be his!

Meng Qi’s open declaration of ‘ten breaths’ was modeled after the ‘ten strikes’ ploy of Master Wang. This allowed him to convey two clear messages to his opponent. First, dragging things out longer than ten breaths would ensure an easy win for him. Second, Meng Qi wouldn’t hold back anymore. Having to race against time, he would need to go all out in his first few moves. He wouldn’t leave any leeway, lest things were delayed until he could only gain the upper hand in the seventh or eighth breath. That would weaken him very quickly, making it almost impossible to put sufficient distance between him and Red-stair Assassin who was swiftly heading here.

Meng Qi didn’t need to describe his circumstance because Flame-scorching Devilman could assume as much from his condition. It was just that Meng Qi’s scream had burned such a message into his mind and strengthened his judgment.

In a battle between masters, covert fighting on a mental level was a necessity!

Flame-scorching Devilman contemplated running and hiding. It would be an easy win for him if he could just turn and flee into the woods with Meng Qi a distance away. He wouldn’t be in danger at all if he dragged things out beyond ten breaths…

However, he had experienced hundreds of battles and instantly knew that it wasn’t a good idea. He forcibly repressed the urge to do so. He did have to hide and flee, but the time was not now!

Their Qi was currently intertwined. The minute Flame-scorching Devilman tried to run, Meng Qi would attack him with a Thunderclap that could very well be even more powerful than his peak. On the other hand, he would be exposing his vital back of his heart to his opponent. How well would he be able to use his strength? He would probably end up dead with a single strike!

He did have to hide in the forest, maintain a distance, and wait for Meng Qi to collapse on his own. However, he first had to fight him for two or three moves before finding the opportune moment to escape!

Meng Qi had exhausted a lot of his energy after he burned his Blood Essence. He definitely wouldn’t have the energy to execute another Exterior-level killer move…

Flame-scorching Devilman had seriously injured Meng Qi’s back and his sword was no longer a threat. Even if he hit Flame-scorching Devilman with it, it would just result in a scratch…

Instead of hoping to get lucky, Meng Qi would definitely go all out in his first few moves…

These thoughts flashed through Flame-scorching Devilman’s mind like thunderbolts. Meng Qi’s roar was still echoing in the distance when he charged at him, thrusting his thin blade at high speed.

He chose to go on the offensive!

The Body Movements of his Lightness Skill resembled spreading flames that rose and fell. It was highly unpredictable for one couldn’t tell for sure when the flames would suddenly flare.

The thin blade trembled, setting the airflow on fire. With a fiery tail, it traced along a mysterious pattern and aimed straight for Meng Qi’s left arm.

The temperature of their surroundings skyrocketed all of a sudden, suffocating Meng Qi.

Meng Qi maintained his inner peace. He remained calm, ignoring the wound on his back, and attacked with his saber. Its Knife Momentum was perfectly round and its interior was so vast that it could swallow thousands of things and contain countless changes. One couldn’t tell for sure if it was on offense or defense. Displaying its suction power, it absorbed the fire in its entirety and clashed with Flame-scorching Devilman’s blade mid-air.

Clang!

Amidst the clashing, Meng Qi’s saber suddenly defied gravity and jumped up in a strange way. It exploded into countless silvery white thunder-like Knife Qi.

The Thunderbolt Python jumped, and crackling sounds resounded nearby. Reacting to the Knife Qi, numerous pine needles fell from their branches. Some were charred black while others were cleanly cut. The terrifying feeling hurtled towards Flame-scorching Devilman.

His pupils constricted. It was beyond his wildest expectations that his opponent would be hiding such a variation. His judgment was way off!

However, he kept his cool. Meng Qi using his Knife Qi and going all out was still within his expectations. He just didn’t think it would be that strange. Now that he could no longer block or evade Meng Qi’s attacks with regular moves, he had no choice but to use the Sky Demon Butchering Mighty Art!

The genuine Qi inside him suddenly flamed as his thin blade glowed brilliantly. It leaped up and launched itself at the blade edge of Meng Qi’s saber!

He had already performed the necessary calculations and knew that he would be able to sustain the Sky Demon Butchering Mighty Art for another ten breaths after Meng Qi’s limit. Moreover, Meng Qi would be severely injured while he would be unharmed. The outcome was obvious!

Then, he would immediately hide before the arrival of the other masters. There were many skilled Jianghu members crossing the mountains to get to where they were, but they wouldn’t stay for long.

The leap suddenly set the withered leaves around them on fire. Darkness was instantly illuminated by the flickering red. The demonic blade was like a spirit in the fire, shouting and jumping for joy. It hit the Heaven Inflicted Pain squarely on its blade.

Clang!

Meng Qi raised his saber and it flew into the air, exploding with Knife Qi. The thunderbolt pythons danced wildly about it like harbingers of the thunderstorm.

Flame-scorching Devilman’s heart suddenly skipped a beat and his gaze froze. When their blades collided, he realized that Meng Qi didn’t actually put a lot of genuine Qi into his saber. Most of the genuine Qi came from the Precious Weapon itself!

“What about his genuine Qi?”

“Wasn’t he supposed to use the entirety of his strength?”

Crippled by his fear, he could only stare blankly as if awaiting fate’s judgment as Meng Qi raised his left arm.

Meng Qi had forced even Master Wang to use his sword in defense after two consecutive hoodwinkings by Eight Nine Mysteries and similar attacks, never mind Flame-scorching Devilman.

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Flame-scorching Devilman rejoiced internally that Meng Qi’s left hand was basically useless and he wouldn’t be able to use an Exterior-level killer move.

However, his gaze suddenly froze!

Meng Qi’s Meridian was already falling to the ground and he seemed to carry nothing in his hands. A puff of white smoke was blown right onto Flame-scorching Devilman’s face. Even though he had Protective Upstanding Qi, his genuine Qi leaked profusely due to the move he used previously.

The white smoke invaded his nostrils. Slow by a second, he failed to close his Acupores of Nose in time and accidentally inhaled some of the smoke. His head began to spin and his limbs went weak.

“Sleeping gas?”

“The kind that rapists used?”

“Since when did Reckless Monk, famed for his wildness and ferocity, knew how to use sleeping gas?”

The Bone-weakening Mist was something Black Butterfly had learned from a certain script. Even ranked masters would go weak in their limbs after just a whiff of it!

Ordinarily, with his strength and the separation by the Protective Upstanding Qi, Flame-scorching Devilman could have prevented this. However, the deception of the Eight Nine Mysteries made it late for him to counter it. He had fallen into Meng Qi’s trap!

Meng Qi had used that battle to sculpt his image to be one of the heroicness, arrogance, firmness, and willingness to go all out. Coupled with the serious injury to his left arm, he had presented a convincing story to his opponent. The latter would never have seen his sleeping gas coming!

Meng Qi swung his saber, revealing all the genuine Qi and mental energy that it had been concealing. Its knife energy turned hazy and evoked all the irreconcilable and unforgettable memories from the bottom of Flame-scorching Devilman’s heart. Everything was like a dream to his confused mind, slow and drifting.

He wielded his demonic blade in defense, but it was a tad slower than usual. Meng Qi’s saber shattered his Protective Upstanding Qi and cut his neck.

The cut was as gentle as a lover’s kiss. The blade paused at his neck momentarily before Meng Qi pulled away. The light in his eyes dimmed. He subconsciously gripped his neck and gasped.

He saw Meng Qi sheathing his saber and announcing in a cold and cruel voice,

“Three breaths!”

Only… three breaths? Flame-scorching Devilman let go of the last shred of hope he had been holding on to. His consciousness faded as he fell backward.

He was still frustrated about Meng Qi using sleeping gas.

An Guoxie would probably be happy to discuss this with him in hell…

Meng Qi didn’t have the time to say anything like “I’ve always been a man of my word. If I said I’ll kill you in ten breaths, I won’t let it drag till the eleventh breath” or the like. He immediately fished out the antidote to the Bone-weakening Mist and a Recover Pill and swallowed them before his breathing failed him.

After that, Meng Qi tapped the major acupoints on the side of his back to stop the bleeding and extinguish the flames. He then tore off his robes and tossed it into the burnt shrubs nearby. The fabric was soaked with too much blood and would impede his running. Discarding it would also mislead those hunting him. Though he was seriously injured, it wasn’t to the point where he would collapse. He could still calmly change out of his bloody attire.

He swiftly changed into his black robes as he ran, with barely enough time to pick up Meridian and collect Flame-scorching Devilman’s thin blade. He didn’t even have the time to think about the items on Soul-losing Flute and Green Cultivator.

If the Red-stair assassin stopped him, he would definitely die in his current condition!

On top of that, something suddenly hit him. Perhaps the monk mastermind had only requested for the support of the Unrelenting Tower.

If he could think about making a huge fuss, surely the mastermind could too. His true trump card could be even more powerful than Heterodox Experts like Flame-scorching Devilman from the Myths. After Unrelenting Tower had caught their attention, their ace would sneak in just like before.

Of course, they would certainly send in Yellow-stair assassins on the second or third Heaven level of the Exterior if they had the chance.

Judging from the mastermind’s decisive killing, he had probably mobilized a Heterodox Exterior-level master. There were likely other similarly powerful opponents, besides the Red-stair assassin, that Flame-scorching Devilman had been waiting for!

Those on the Exterior level were limited, and those available for mobilization even more so. On the other hand, there were many routes to choose from. Meng Qi inwardly questioned himself. In an uncertain situation, he would definitely leave the Exterior experts in the middle of a few roads. That way, they could hurry over to the right path when they received the signal. It probably wouldn’t be too far from the roads they were on and could be calculated… Once they had confirmed his tracks that evening, they would probably come for him… If he considered the speed at which Exterior-level masters traveled, it wouldn’t be too late for them to catch him after all was said and done!

Soul-losing Flute had indeed made the signal earlier…

Meng Qi felt his heart clench. He bolted down the road to put some distance between him and his pursuers. At that point in time, another few breaths had passed.

He soon spotted a stream and quickly jumped over it and into the forest on the other side. His feet never touched the ground as he advanced deep into the forest.

…

Some 15 minutes later, a figure descended before the shrine. He was clad in black robes and carried a dark and unusual vase.

He smelled blood as soon as he saw the three corpses lying on the ground. He couldn’t hold back from cursing. “Useless trash!”

He never believed, not even for a second, that Flame-scorching Devilman and the others could ever kill Meng Qi. They were all too guarded against one another. Either way, they were just another trap he had set along the various paths. However, based on their strength, wasn’t it supposed to be easy to delay him for a period of time?

That way, he could have easily finished him off when he arrived!

He spread his mental energy to try and find a trace of Meng Qi. He soon found it and followed after it. Just then, the shadows wriggled in the darkness. The Red-stair assassin had finally arrived to hunt Meng Qi down as well.

When they reached the stream, the eyes of the man in black suddenly became harsh. In a low voice, he said, “Making use of the water to escape and erase his tracks? Darn it! I can’t tell how far he has gone or if he has left the mountain…”