Red Dust

The enormous blade aura descended almost the instant it appeared, leaving dozens of afterimages in the sky.

Bai Cangshu flipped backward into the wind, and the air around him instantly froze into ice crystals.

The blade aura plunged into the asphalt road. The next moment, the weed-choked wilderness all around turned silvery white at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Crack~

The sound of the earth splitting was like a collapsing glacier. After the brittle cracking of thin ice came a thunderous explosion.

Boom!

The ground tilted and collapsed in an instant, and the land within several thousand meters sank several meters at once.

Bai Cangshu emerged from the freezing wind, staggered two steps, and wiped his chest. His chilled blood had already frozen into crystals, and his lips and nose were bruised dark blue. Though the cells that had frozen to death instantly healed themselves, the frost-laden blade aura still left his muscles slightly stiff.

That strike was incomparably domineering. Everything across several thousand meters had been completely frozen by a single slash.

With just one move, Bai Cangshu could tell that the man before him was on a completely different level from the Reincarnators he had encountered before.

Even that bizarre Crimson Night could not compare to this man in sheer oppressive presence.

Red Dust dragged his blade behind him, his long hair flying in the cold wind. The braid tying back his hair had snapped under the violent eruption of his Internal Qi.

He wore a bold expression, his brows fully relaxed. Every cell in his body seemed to open wide and breathe, while his hair spread outward from the follicles.

This was the sign that his fighting spirit had erupted completely. After merely exchanging a glance with Mercenary Tao, Red Dust was certain Flower Immortal had been right. This Mercenary Tao was a rare powerhouse, an anomaly.

He was utterly incomparable to those so-called elite Reincarnators.

As it happened, neither was he…

At that thought, Red Dust suddenly threw back his head and laughed. He stomped on the completely frost-cracked ground before him, and explosive force burst forth. The shoes on his feet instantly shattered under the force of his Qi and shot outward.

Bang!

The air was completely displaced. Red Dust appeared before Bai Cangshu like a phantom in an instant, his treasure blade gleaming with cold light as it slashed diagonally down.

Fast—fast to the extreme!

Even without Mantra or Sensen no Sen, Bai Cangshu could clearly see the trajectory of that strike. Yet precisely because there was no feint or concealment, the slash was so fast that it left only an afterimage.

The instant Bai Cangshu raised his left hand, the blade had already cut into his shoulder. It entered only an inch into his flesh before the blade itself was caught in his left hand.

Red Dust’s eyes flickered slightly as well. Mercenary Tao’s speed exceeded his expectations. His unenhanced Agility had already touched the Second Tier limit, entering the special state of 40+, and with Howling Wind Chill’s 1.7 efficiency, his actual Agility was already close to 70 points!

In other words, Mercenary Tao was most likely also the type whose Agility had broken past its limit. Moreover, his base attributes were terrifyingly high. Red Dust had never heard of any Reincarnator who could stack their base attributes this high after experiencing so few worlds.

There was only one explanation. Either the intelligence was wrong, and Mercenary Tao was not some newcomer at all but a veteran Reincarnator who had merely switched to a new Avatar, or…

The other party was a Special Reincarnator!

Unlike those newcomers who only knew fragments about Special Reincarnators, Red Dust and the Sage served under an important figure and had witnessed some of the methods used by Special Reincarnators.

Such a newcomer with high attributes fit the characteristics of Scarlet Great Sin Reincarnators, who slaughtered other Reincarnators to rapidly plunder attributes and grow stronger. He might also possess a Tarot Sequence such as the power of The Chariot.

Red Dust tried to pull back and draw his blade, but it seemed wedged in the other man’s muscles. He heard the sound of a great bowstring being drawn taut. Mercenary Tao’s muscles bulged inch by inch in an instant, his whole body swelling by more than a full circle as he broke past two meters in height.

The veins on the left hand gripping his Snow Concealment Blade protruded like black snakes, and the entire arm was completely hardened with Armament Haki.

Huff~

White mist sprayed from Mercenary Tao’s mouth and nose.

Seeing this, Red Dust guessed that Mercenary Tao likely possessed some special bloodline, but he was not flustered. At the Second Tier, base attributes such as Strength and Agility were still important.

But Reincarnators were no longer the sort who fought purely through physical strength.

Energy was the core of the Second Tier!

Boom!

Freezing Inner Force surged out in an instant. The white mist around Red Dust’s body was immediately blown away, replaced by ice crystals condensing as the temperature plummeted.

Bai Cangshu, closest to Red Dust, was instantly coated in frost. This was the first time he had experienced such a direct energy impact.

The Inner Force abruptly shook, and Bai Cangshu felt the space before him empty. His opponent had already planted a foot against his body, then used the blade’s hilt to vault over his head. As his body spun, countless leg shadows descended.

Bai Cangshu suddenly yanked downward on the blade in his left hand. The icy treasure blade carved a wound across his shoulder as it was pulled free. The wound did not bleed; the area around it had simply been completely frozen, his muscles turning pale blue-white, and its healing speed was slower than that of an ordinary injury.

"Ha!"

Bai Cangshu exhaled with a shout. Rather than weakening his fighting spirit, this injury stimulated it further. He dragged the red-haired man down from the air, while his own legs kicked out like afterimages.

Wind God Leg!

A fierce whirlwind carrying tremendous force collided with the other man’s leg shadows.

His opponent’s leg techniques were fierce and forceful, but Bai Cangshu’s physical toughness and strength were even more horrifying. Wind God Leg was originally a nimble kicking technique, yet in Bai Cangshu’s hands, direct clashes were even more terrifying.

Bang bang bang bang!

Amid the string of collisions, Radiant Flame instantly ignited around Red Dust’s body. He immediately pulled away and spun backward. Freezing Internal Qi extinguished the Radiant Flame at once. There were no injuries on his body, only damaged clothing.

Meanwhile, crimson flames ignited across Bai Cangshu’s body as well. In the high-frequency exchange, Solitary Jealousy Flame had risen.

Trait: Solitary Jealousy Flame triggered. All attributes +1

Red Dust beckoned with one hand, and the ice-blue treasure blade Bai Cangshu had pulled from his body returned to his grasp. Barefoot, he walked across the frozen earth and paced before Bai Cangshu.

"You’re quite good, Mercenary Tao. Better than I expected."

Bai Cangshu was larger than his opponent. He looked down at the man holding the long blade.

Though the man truly did feel powerful, overflowing with pressure…

Thump, thump…

Bai Cangshu’s heartbeat began to accelerate, and sparks of electricity appeared in his eyes.

"Giving your victory speech already?"

"Isn’t that a little early…"

The other man was strong, that was true, but Bai Cangshu also believed that he was strong.

In the distance, a cactus broke through the frost-cracked ground. It had actually grown ears and eyes.

Flower Immortal, hiding in a car more than ten kilometers away, kept her eyes closed, her expression grave.

Looking at the bleak, deathly cold earth before her, she knew Red Dust had made his move. But Mercenary Tao was still standing, which clearly meant he had not been defeated.

"You have to win, Red Dust…"

In truth, Flower Immortal had learned more information about Mercenary Tao through secret channels. A man claiming to be the president of the Yi Xin Society had given her some intelligence and invited her to make a deal.