Chapter 243 – You Are Unfortunate

“————”

An unknown amount of time passed as the ceaseless roaring explosions in the mountains gradually subsided.

The battlefield had been reduced to scorched earth.

Flames burned everywhere across the mountains, with charred marks littering the landscape as if ravaged by artillery fire.

“Hah… Hah…”

Heavy panting echoed faintly in the air, coming from the two figures standing in opposition.

Su Ming knelt on one knee, supporting himself with his saber, while Mo Leng stood barely upright, covered in wounds—both breathing heavily, clearly exhausted.

The battle had lasted approximately ten minutes.

Ten minutes of intense combat had left both combatants seemingly drained and running on empty.

The Vision Mark on Su Ming’s forehead had already disappeared.

His Spirit Power was already needed to supply Little Hai’er, and using it to activate the Vision Mark and employ Spirit Arts in battle naturally consumed even more. If he didn’t cancel its use soon, he feared he wouldn’t have enough Spirit Power left to support Little Hai’er’s evolution.

Thus, as early as three minutes ago, Su Ming had been forced to deactivate the Vision Mark, causing the power of his Spirit Arts to diminish significantly.

In contrast, Mo Leng wasn’t faring any better.

Using the Vision Mark consumed a great deal of Spirit Power—the longer it was active, the greater the drain. Similarly, Demonization, being on par with the Vision Mark, followed the same principle.

If not for Mo Leng being a Five-Star Hunter with more Spirit Power than the average Four-Star Hunter, he likely wouldn’t have been able to maintain his Demonization any longer.

At first glance, Mo Leng seemed to be in slightly better condition than Su Ming, at least still capable of using his Awakening ability. But in reality, Mo Leng was the one in worse shape.

There was no helping it. During the fierce battle, while Su Ming appeared to be engaging Mo Leng head-on, even continuing to clash blades despite being overpowered by Mo Leng’s brute force, he suddenly began launching surprise attacks, unleashing a variety of Spirit Arts directly onto Mo Leng, leaving him battered and bruised all over.

It had to be said, this tactic was terrifying—you never knew when your opponent, mid-fight, would suddenly release a Spirit Art.

In close-quarters combat, a sudden Spirit Art blast coming out of nowhere was something even the fastest Hunter couldn’t evade.

Even someone of Lord Crow’s caliber couldn’t dodge Su Ming’s unexpected Spirit Art attacks, let alone Mo Leng.

If Su Ming hadn’t needed to conserve his Spirit Power for maintaining the Vision Mark and Little Hai’er’s evolution, Mo Leng might not have just been bombarded with various Spirit Arts—he could have been hit directly in the face with an Advanced Spirit Art.

That would have been true terror.

Even so, Mo Leng, who hadn’t been targeted with an Advanced Spirit Art by Su Ming, still suffered severe injuries.

This left Mo Leng both shocked and furious.

“Why? Why can he use so many different Spirit Arts?”

To be honest, the feast of Spirit Arts Su Ming had displayed truly frightened Mo Ling.

Mo Leng wasn’t unfamiliar with Upper-Rank Sorcerers, nor had he never seen more powerful Spirit Arts than these. But he had never encountered any Sorcerer who could employ such a wide variety of Spirit Arts from different sequences like this.Spirit Arts come in a vast array of types—offensive, defensive, auxiliary, sealing, and even more specialized branches like single-target attacks and area-of-effect assaults. The compilation of a hundred Spirit Arts forms a system that appears limited on the surface but is, in reality, immensely expansive.

A Sorcerer, constrained by factors such as their area of expertise, innate potential, and available energy, typically masters only one or two categories of Spirit Arts, with no more than ten arts per category.

Given this, even an Upper-Rank Sorcerer would, at most, command a dozen or so Spirit Arts, rarely exceeding twenty.

The President of the Sorcerer Guild, revered as the strongest Sorcerer in Longyao City and its sole Six-Star Sorcerer, has managed to learn only forty-eight Spirit Arts—less than half the total—despite leveraging the guild’s extensive collections, his own talent, and decades of diligent study.

Even so, this President is regarded as the foremost master of Spell Formulas in Longyao City, having dedicated over seventy years to the study of Spirit Arts to achieve his current prowess.

But Su Ming?

Mo Leng himself has personally endured no fewer than thirty types of Spirit Arts from him.

How old is he?

How young is he?

How can he possibly wield such a multitude of Spirit Arts?

What’s even more terrifying is that this individual is a Dual Professional, with abilities in the Sorcerer path being this formidable and his prowess as a Hunter not lagging in the slightest.

To put it plainly, the sheer power that enabled him to capture all of the Mo Family’s Upper-Rank Professionals single-handedly is enough to overwhelm any exceptional Hunter.

Coupled with the fact that he appears to be a Four-Star Professional who hasn’t even reached the peak of his rank yet can push Mo Leng to this extent, Mo Leng truly refuses to believe that such a monster exists in this world.

If Mo Leng had encountered such a monster under normal circumstances, he would have only two possible courses of action.

Either avoid offending him at all costs, even going to great lengths to win him over, or stake everything and resort to any means necessary to eliminate him.

But now, the former is no longer an option; only the latter remains.

At the very least, Mo Leng absolutely cannot stand by and allow such an existence to become an enemy of the Mo Family.

The killing intent in Mo Leng’s heart boiled over, and he yearned to tear Su Ming to shreds on the spot.

Yet, frustratingly, he seemed unable to accomplish this easily.

This drove Mo Leng nearly to madness.

“I’m just one step away… Why has this previously unknown monster appeared to stop me…!?”

Just one step, and the Bloodline of the Nightmare Species would be within his grasp.

Just one step, and the Mo Family’s long-cherished wish could be fulfilled, restoring its former glory.

Just one step… only this one step…!

“Even fate seeks to hinder us!?”

Mo Leng felt both aggrieved and consumed by Rage.

“No! I will never accept this!”

At this point, giving up was out of the question.

There was no turning back, and regret was absolutely impossible.

Even if it costs everything, I must realize the Mo Family’s long-cherished wish!”

Roaring these words in his heart, Mo Leng pulled out a vial of potion.

Undoubtedly, it was an alchemical concoction.

In this final moment, with his energy nearly depleted, Mo Leng finally cast aside all restraint, ready to unleash his power through the potion.

“Don’t even think about it!”Su Ming witnessed this scene and naturally couldn’t stand idly by while his opponent consumed a potion.

As someone who had once relied on elixirs to defeat powerful enemies, he understood perfectly well how much impact an alchemical potion could have at a critical moment in battle.

Thus, Su Ming acted almost without hesitation to intervene.

“First Form: Flying Arrow.”

Instantly, Su Ming employed the lowest-sequence Spirit Art that required virtually no preparation time, unleashing an invisible shockwave that shot forth like a bullet toward Mo Leng’s hand.

“Bang!”

The invisible shockwave struck Mo Leng’s palm with perfect precision, knocking the alchemical potion from his grasp.

“What?”

Startled, Mo Leng watched as the potion flew from his hand and immediately prepared to dart forward and catch it.

At that moment, a sharp whistling sound cut through the air.

Mo Leng’s heart tightened as he abruptly halted his movement and spun around.

What met his eyes was an alchemical saber hurtling toward him like lightning, its tip growing larger in his pupils.

At this critical juncture, Su Ming had emulated Mo Leng’s earlier tactic—treating his alchemical weapon as a projectile and hurling Firefang at him like a Hidden Weapon.

A chill ran down Mo Leng’s spine, prompting him to swiftly pivot his broadsword and slash at the incoming alchemical saber.

“Clang—!”

Amid scattered sparks, the scorching-hot alchemical saber was deflected by Mo Leng’s blade.

But behind the saber, a volley of fire arrows came roaring toward him.

“Thirtieth Form: Scorching Sparrow Song.”

Su Ming unleashed his final Spirit Art, sending fire arrows streaking forth like crying sparrows, trailing waves of flame and intense heat as they bombarded Mo Leng’s body.

“Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom—!”

A series of small explosions erupted across Mo Leng’s entire frame.

“Arghhhhh…!”

Mo Leng howled in agony as if struck by lightning, stumbling backward with blood spraying from his body in a pitiful state.

The relentless barrage of this Spirit Art ultimately became the final straw that broke Mo Leng, causing his knees to buckle and sending him collapsing to the ground.

Excruciating pain flooded his mind, leaving it blank for an instant.

And that momentary blankness sealed the outcome of this battle.

“Thud!”

Mo Leng only registered a blur before his eyes and a sharp pain in his chest—an alchemical saber had pierced through his body, emerging from his back.

Blood splattered across the earth.

“Wha…t…?”

Mo Leng froze completely, staring blankly ahead.

There, a figure had appeared as if from nowhere.

His shadowy skin was etched with patterns glowing in eerie blue.

Crimson pupils shimmered with icy light.

The winged Fiend stood holding the alchemical saber that had impaled Mo Leng’s chest.

Who else could it be but Su Ming?

In this moment, Su Ming had finally activated his Demonization.

“I didn’t want to use this originally, because my current condition seems somewhat unstable.”

Su Ming’s voice reached Mo Leng’s ears.

His Demonization was immensely powerful and terrifying—enough to startle even someone like Lord Crow. Had he employed it earlier, even Mo Leng in his demonized state would have been no match for him.

Yet throughout this battle, Su Ming had initially intended to avoid using Demonization altogether.It wasn’t because the Demonization consumed too much magical power, but because Su Ming’s Demonization granted his entire body the power of his right arm, spreading the characteristics of his right arm’s power throughout his whole being.

Now that the Demon Emperor Sword was reacting abnormally and he was even reluctant to use his right arm’s power, Su Ming naturally kept this ability hidden to avoid triggering inexplicable symptoms.

But this time, he had no choice but to use it.

“You’re more troublesome than I imagined. I should say, as expected of someone just one step away from the Six-Star level?”

Facing such an opponent, without using Demonization, without using his right arm, and with most of his Spirit Power allocated to Little Hai’er’s side, thinking he could secure a complete victory was nothing but wishful thinking on Su Ming’s part.

Seeing that Mo Leng was even considering taking pills, and with victory remaining elusive, Su Ming finally made up his mind and activated his Demonization.

“Congratulations, you’ve successfully forced me to use my full power.”

Saying this, Su Ming pulled out the alchemical saber he had plunged into Mo Leng’s body.

“Thud…”

Mo Leng collapsed on the spot, blood gradually spreading beneath him, forming a gruesome pool that looked utterly horrifying.

It was undoubtedly a fatal wound.

So severe that Mo Leng’s Demonization began to fade, the horned demonic deity form gradually disappearing as he reverted to his original appearance.

“You… you…”

Mo Leng stared fixedly at Su Ming, vomiting blood while desperately reaching out toward him, as if trying to grab hold.

But his fading strength and life made even this simple act impossible.

Su Ming also took a step back, his full-body Demonization quickly receding as he too returned to his original form.

“Ugh…”

At the same time, his right arm suddenly became burning hot, scalding to the point where Su Ming instinctively reached over with his left hand to grasp it.

This proved that Su Ming hadn’t been worrying unnecessarily.

Once he used Demonization to grant his entire body the characteristics and power of his right arm, the Demon Emperor Sword dwelling within would resonate in response, just like when using the [Silver Arm], releasing violent power fluctuations.

Though these fluctuations were subtle and not particularly strong, the burning right arm told Su Ming that this power was indeed causing some unknown effect on him.

“It seems I’ll need to find a way to investigate what’s really going on with this condition after returning.”

Frowning, Su Ming stopped paying attention to his burning right arm and looked toward Mo Leng.

The Mo Family Head’s consciousness appeared to be fading as well.

He no longer paid any attention to Su Ming, instead reaching out toward another direction.

In that direction, the soaring blood energy still raged, indicating that Hai’er’s evolution hadn’t yet concluded.

Mo Leng desperately reached toward that direction, as if trying to grasp some hope.

The determined look made even Su Ming feel pity for him.

He didn’t know what kind of resolve Mo Leng held to restore his family.

He knew even less how much Mo Leng had sacrificed for this goal.

He only knew one thing.

“You are unfortunate.”

Su Ming said this.

“What you desperately want to obtain at all costs happens to be mine.”

If there was any mistake Mo Leng had made, this was the only one.

If not for this, he might have already achieved his goal long ago.

Su Ming had only one thing to say.”Next life, remember to tell your family not to just teach you about restoring some Family, but also teach you basic manners about not randomly stealing others’ belongings.”

After leaving these words, Su Ming sheathed his Firefang and turned to leave.

Yet Mo Leng acted as if he hadn’t heard Su Ming’s words at all, persistently reaching toward the direction saturated with blood Qi.

Eventually, that hand slowly fell, landing in the crimson pool of blood, never to move again.

(End of Chapter)