Half-Step Spirit Artifact

Wang Xincheng was so furious his teeth were itching, but this was hardly the time to enforce family discipline.

Liu Zheng twisted the knife. “Master Wang, does this count as bloodline purity being contaminated by everyday life?”

Wang Xincheng spun around and glared at Wang Keting. “You... Ah! What a disgrace to the family!”

Jiang Yunlu couldn’t hold it in and lowered her head to cough.

Behind Taira no Masakado, six shadowy hands spread open. Yin energy surged upward, and the fluorescent tubes overhead went dark one after another.

He looked at the short blade in Wang Xincheng’s hand, his smile vanishing completely.

“Chinese cultivation arts? You people really do love using divine weapons to throw your weight around.”

Ning Qingcheng continued providing commentary.

Wang Xincheng tossed the blood pack onto the ground. With his left hand, he formed a sword seal; with his right, he gripped the blade.

“Using a divine weapon against you is a blessing.”

He pulled a small bottle of strong liquor from his waist, unscrewed the cap, and sprinkled some over the blade first.

The scent of alcohol pierced through the yin energy, and the red radiance on the short blade surged outward another inch.

“Grand Supreme Elder Lord, heed my command! You ignore me, I ignore you. You don’t screw with me, I don’t screw with you. You screw with me, and I’ll screw with you right back! Immediately possess the body—sober up!”

After saying this, Wang Xincheng took a swig of liquor, then sprayed it forward. The short blade erupted with dazzling red light.

All the talismans etched into the blade came alive.

This wasn’t some flashy, decorative glow. It was a red light meant to suppress evil.

The buff was maxed out.

Liu Zheng stared in astonishment.

“Is that incantation... even legitimate?”

Wang Keting explained in a low voice, “It’s my first time seeing it too. Look how bright that little sword is. It should work.”

“Good point.” Liu Zheng nodded.

Taira no Masakado snorted and raised his hand to form a seal.

“I am the emperor!”

“Shadow Doppelgangers!”

His figure split into six.

Six Taira no Masakados stood atop the formation markings. Their positions were different, but their movements were identical down to the smallest detail.

Yin energy rose from beneath their feet, weaving into a net that once again pressed down toward the short blade.

“Hah. You’re merely relying on the advantage of your weapon! Shadow Doppelgangers!” Taira no Masakado formed a seal with one hand, and his entire body split into six, making him look like something out of a ninja technique.

No one else could tell which one was the real body.

Wang Xincheng, however, didn’t stop.

As far as his senses were concerned, all six were the same person.

There was no original body and no doppelganger.

That made things simple.

Cut them all down.

He stepped through a ritual footwork pattern. With red light clinging to the short blade, he lunged straight at the Taira no Masakado on the far left.

Taira no Masakado raised an arm to block. His arm transformed into a black shadow, trying to swallow the blade.

Wang Xincheng lowered his wrist.

The edge pierced into the shadow.

Whoosh!

The black shadow split open, and a section of Taira no Masakado’s left arm was severed.

The other five Taira no Masakados merely frowned. None of them were affected. Instead, they advanced step by step.

Wang Xincheng bared his teeth in a grin.

“One-on-one? Gang warfare? I’ll take on all six of you by myself!”

Riding the momentum of his blade, Wang Xincheng pressed forward. Every slash dimmed another section of the formation markings on the ground.

The six figures of Taira no Masakado closed in around him.

Fists and palms! Black blades! Shadow threads!

Their attacks came from vicious, unpredictable angles, all aimed at Wang Xincheng.

Wang Xincheng’s movement technique was nothing elegant.

In fact, it was downright awkward.

Yet every step he took landed precisely on the edge of danger. He retreated half an inch, advanced an inch, and somehow never gave Taira no Masakado the slightest advantage.

“You little brat!”

Wang Xincheng suddenly shouted.

Wang Keting flinched.

“Here!”

“Your lousy blood isn’t enough. Add some yang energy!”

“How?”

“Insult him!”

Wang Keting froze.

“Huh?”

“Insult him! Aren’t you usually so good at running your mouth?”

Wang Keting turned toward Taira no Masakado. After holding it in for half a second, he let loose.

“You old Japanese ghost! You’ve been dead for so many years and you’re still coming out here to work overtime. Doesn’t the underworld give you a pension? You’re dressed like some distinguished gentleman, but you can only fight with shadow clones. What, do you think you’re filming a tokusatsu show?”

Liu Zheng added, “The dialogue’s weak too. Way too much of a stereotypical villain. No depth.”

All six faces of Taira no Masakado darkened at once. In truth, he couldn’t understand what Wang Keting was saying, but he could still feel a sense of pressure bearing down on him.

He had only just broken free and still needed to digest the baleful energy he had accumulated inside his body. Perhaps he truly couldn’t deal with these people right now.

Wang Xincheng stepped forward. Fine cracks spread through the muddy ground beneath his foot.

He raised the short blade upright. The red glow at its tip compressed into a single line. When it descended, there was no unnecessary flourish—it simply drove straight toward the chest of one of the doppelgangers.

“Suppress!”

The blade pierced in, and the black energy covering the doppelganger collapsed on the spot.

The five other Taira no Masakados retreated half a step at the same time. The shadow that had been stabbed began collapsing from the chest outward and dispersed into gray smoke after a few breaths.

Five remained.

Wang Xincheng exhaled heavily, his wrist trembling violently. It wasn’t fear. The short blade was drawing out his vital essence. A half-step spirit weapon might sound impressive, but using one was utterly merciless.

It was powerful.

It was also deadly.

He clenched his teeth and refused to let go.

Taira no Masakado saw what was happening. The five figures raised their hands in unison, black marks appearing in their palms as yin energy pressed down and sent dust rolling outward across the ground.

“It was only one! I still have five doppelgangers!”

The five doppelgangers scattered, transforming into five gusts of yin wind that skimmed along the ground from different directions.

Wang Xincheng glanced down at the short blade.

The red glow had weakened.

If this dragged on, he would be the first to fall—not Taira no Masakado.

“This old man still has one more move! I’ll strip you to the skin!”

He cursed, then pressed his left hand against his right wrist and drew the short blade across it.

Blood poured out. The instant it touched the blade, it was sucked dry.

But the blade didn’t stop.

Wang Xincheng’s face rapidly turned pale. The muscles in his cheeks twitched, and half his body went numb. Meanwhile, the short blade glowed red-hot.

Trading blood for power.

Taira no Masakado sneered when he saw this. “And what good will that do? I can—”

Before he could finish, the five doppelgangers suddenly lost control and were forcibly dragged toward the short blade.

In the corner, Lin Mo’s spiritual sense was like a giant hand. It seized the doppelgangers one by one and hurled them toward Wang Xincheng.

The first slammed into the blade’s tip, and the black energy was sliced apart by the red glow.

The second followed close behind. It didn’t even have time to struggle before the short blade sucked it dry, leaving behind only a cloud of gray smoke.

The shadow doppelgangers melted against the blade’s tip like butter meeting a hot knife.

They dissolved in an instant.

“No! No! No!”

Taira no Masakado’s roar rose into a shriek.

With every doppelganger that vanished, the red glow on the short blade dimmed a little further.

By the time the fourth doppelganger disappeared, Wang Xincheng’s knees buckled, and he nearly fell to the ground.

The short blade was still drawing power.

With the final two doppelgangers remaining, the red glow was only strong enough to injure them, no longer enough to destroy them.

Lin Mo also stopped. Wang Xincheng’s half-step spirit weapon was indeed impressive. Unfortunately, the man wielding it wasn’t strong enough.

Still, it should provide enough merit.

Taira no Masakado endured the onslaught, his features twisted together. The two remaining doppelgangers retreated to either side, avoiding the blade’s edge.

“You can’t hold out any longer.”

Wang Xincheng raised his eyelids. His throat was dry and painfully raw.

“Even if I can’t hold out, I can still send you to the afterlife first.”

His words were defiant, but he could no longer stand steadily.

“Dad!”

Wang Keting lunged over, grabbed his wrist with one hand, and snatched the short blade away with the other.

Wang Xincheng was startled. “Don’t touch it!”

Too late.

Wang Keting copied his movements, raising the blade and slicing open his own wrist.

The moment his blood fell onto the blade, the short weapon immediately abandoned Wang Xincheng and began drinking Wang Keting’s blood instead.