Chapter 9

Hm hm! Tang Yin sneered in his heart, this was exactly the effect he wanted. He retracted the spear slowly and threw it on the ground.

“Ah?” The silver-armored soldiers were shocked and wondered if he had brain problems. He was facing so many people, yet he threw away his weapon. Wasn’t this simply wishing for death?!
Everyone was wary of Tang Yin when he had a spear in his hand. Now that he had thrown it away, all the soldiers thought that their opportunity had come. A burly silver-armored soldier roared and took the lead. He gripped his blade with both hands and raised it above his head, aiming straight at Tang Yin’s head.

Tang Yin didn’t panic, nor did he rush to dodge. He stared at the steel knife that came rushing with the wind. He tilted his body slightly and suddenly opened up the fist that was hanging next to his leg. A ball of black flame sparked on his palm. It was only as big as a marble at first, but in the blink of an eye, it spread throughout his whole palm. As the black flame was incredibly strange, it looked as if his palm was shrouded by a cloud of black mist.

The soldier who attacked didn’t see any of these. His attention was all focused on Tang Yin’s head. He just wanted to slice him into half.

When the blade was less than three inches away from Tang Yin’s forehead, Tang Yin finally moved. His body was like a mudfish and slithered half a foot toward the sides, just enough to dodge the sharp edge. WIthout waiting for the opponent to retract his blade and make another strike, Tang Yin’s palm reached forward and grabbed that person by his face. The flame in his palm was like fire that came in contact with fuel and spread throughout the whole body of the person from his face.

Hu!
The black flame burned the soldier’s body in a flash. It was followed by crisp crackling sounds that his armor and weapon fell onto the ground. His body had disappeared out of thin air, there wasn’t even a strain of hair left. His body that was burned turned into faint black mist that broke down into countless strips of smoke that seemed to be alive. It permeated through the pores on Tang Yin’s body and into his body.

Silence! The entire battlefield had immediately quiet down. The silver-armored soldiers were stunned at this sight. Their mouths hung open, yet they forgot to breathe. A huge living person was ‘made disappear’ by Tang Yin. This weird sight had never been heard of before, let alone seeing it with their own eyes. They even suspected that Tang Yin used some sort of witchcraft or magic, and a thick sense of fear spread from their feet all the way to the ends of their hair.

They didn’t know that Tang Yin’s black flames was the hardest yet the most basic skill in the dark spiritual arts – <the Flame of Darkness>. It burned soldiers’ bodies and turn it into Reiki to be absorbed by him. It was the first tier of <the Flame of Darkness>, <the Burning of Death>.

There were also factions in the dark spiritual arts that could be summarized into two major factions, the inner sect and the outer sect. There wasn’t an essential difference between the outer sect of the dark spiritual arts and the light spiritual arts. They both relied on the practitioner’s own cultivation to increase their Reiki, but they differed in the skills learned. However, the inner sect of the dark spiritual arts was completely different. The practitioners were not able to rely on their own cultivation to increase their Reiki. Instead, the Reiki needed to be absorbed through constant battles and killing their opponents with <the Flame of Darkness>. <The Flame of Darkness> could be said as the most basic skill of the inner sect, and also the hardest to succeed in cultivation. There was a high possibility for <the Flame of Darkness> to turn against the cultivator himself at the first stages of practice, causing the cultivator to be burned into nothingness. This was also one of the reasons why there weren’t many dark spiritual art practitioners. Besides, as the dark spiritual art had a faction of such extremity and mercilessness as the inner sect, it caused great discrimination and pressure toward the dark spiritual arts as a whole. They were also seen as incompatible by the light spiritual art practitioners. It was natural for those who wish to cultivate dark spiritual arts to feel pressured into giving it up.
Yan Lie was the best among the dark spiritual arts practitioners. His cultivation was also the most infamous and horrifying dark inner sect.

Tang Yin combined with Yan Lie, but had received limited Reiki and was in need of Reiki replenishing. The soldiers in front of him was undoubtedly the best object for his replenishing. However, he didn’t want the fact that he was a dark spiritual arts practitioner to be known. Which was why he released the Feng state soldiers first so that he could act freely.

“You… Are you a demon?” A silver-armored took the lead in reacting, looking at Tang Yin fearfully as he gulped, and asked with a trembling voice.

“Hehe… Haha…“
Tang Yin chuckled at first, and then laughed out loud. The Reiki he absorbed from the soldier was limited, yet it ignited the bloodthirsty nature in his bones. He bent his fingers and <the Flame of Darkness> in his palms became wilder and brighter. He sneered and said, “That’s not important. As today, none of you should even think of leaving!”

The second he said the last word, his body rushed forward and plunged into the crowd. His palms opened up while waving, burning each and every person in his way like a ghost, as if a tiger that had just walked into a flock of sheep.

Tang Yin’s execution of <the Flame of Darkness> could be said to be even more proficient in comparison to Yan Lie. There was no kung fu in this world, the people here only cultivated Reiki as well as the various techniques of spiritual arts. Yet Tang Yin had been practicing martial arts since young and had more or less came in contact with the various sects of martial arts. The power of his movements, sensitivity, mysteriousness and unpredictability were extremely apparent especially in melee battles.

What he displayed was the combination of kung fu and spiritual arts, it was natural for his power to multiply greatly. A group of spiritual warriors might not even be a threat to him, what more these ordinary soldiers!

Under the burning of <the Flame of Darkness>, half of close to a hundred people had disappeared almost instantly. Tang Yin’s didn’t slow down in his movement speed, he instead got faster and faster. The Reiki in his body accumulated rapidly in accordance to the killing, growing stronger and stronger. At the end, he almost couldn’t control his body and could only think of killing.
Danglanglang! After getting rid of the last soldier and absorbing all the Reiki floating in the air, <the Flame of Darkness> in Tang Yin’s palm finally disappeared. He gasped for air. Although there was sweat all over his face and body, he didn’t feel exhausted. Instead, he felt an inexplicable excitement, and there was also a sense of fullness in his body.

After resting for a while, Tang Yin’s mood returned to its calmness. Looking around, he could no longer spot a single enemy soldier, and weapons and armor scattered all over the ground.

He felt the slow flow of Reiki in his body and looked down at his palms. So this is <the Flame of Darkness>, the most horrifying skill in dark spiritual arts. Tang Yin smiled, Combining with Yan Lie has its benefits…

“Flame… <the Flame of Darkness>?”

The sudden voice that came from behind caused Tang Yin to return to alertness. The black flame that disappeared from his palms reignited without warning. At the same time, his whole body rushed backward as if it had turned into an arrow that was just released from its bow.

“It’s you?” The person who appeared behind Tang Yin was the young man he met in the bushes earlier. He thought that the young man had already escaped with other Feng state soldiers, he didn’t expect that he would have stayed. There was no need to ask, the young man must have seen everything that happened clearly.

“You didn’t run?” Tang Yin frowned and glared at the young man coldly. Although he was from Feng state, <the Flame of Darkness> on his palm didn’t disappear. On the contrary, the murderousness in his eyes grew stronger.
The young man could feel his murderousness and his heart trembled. He shivered in secret yet remained calm on the surface. He showed a friendly smile and said, “You… You don’t have to worry. Although I saw it, I will never tell…”

Without waiting for him to finish, Tang Yin sneered and said leisurely, “Only the dead will close his mouth forever!” He was never a soft-hearted person. Ever since he was a kid, he had killed countless number of people in order to survive. Killing another young man wouldn’t make much difference, even if he was from Feng state.

But what weirded Tang Yin was that this young man clearly didn’t have any Reiki, which meant that he had never practiced spiritual arts. How could he recognize that he was using <the Flame of Darkness>?

He decided to clear things out first. He took in a deep breath and suppressed his intent to kill. Tang Yin asked in a serious tone, “You’ve seen <the Flame of Darkness>?”

The young man was a little relieved. When Tang Yin’s murder intent was all pointing toward him, he felt as if all the air around him had solidified. The invisible yet realistic pressure seemed as if it were about to crush his body. He knew that that was the ‘spiritual pressure’.

He sighed gently and said with a bitter smile, “I have never seen <the Flame of Darkness>, this is my first time seeing it.” Seeing Tang Yin’s raised eyebrows and the doubt in his eyes, he explained hurriedly, “But, I’ve read a lot of books. From astronomy to geography. I’ve also read a number of books on dark spiritual arts, which is why I know a little about <the Flame of Darkness>.”
Tang Yin glared at the young man fiercely. After a long while, he chuckled out loud. He had seen many arrogant people, and this young man could be regarded as one of the best. He dared to claim that he knew everything ‘from astronomy to geography’, his shamelessness was extraordinary.

Seeing that his murderous intent had weakened, the young man continued, “So, you can’t kill me. Me being dead wouldn’t bring you any advantages, only losses.”

Tang Yin smiled and asked, “Why?”

The young man said hurriedly, “Because I am very knowledgeable, I will be very helpful if I stay by your side!”

Tang Yin couldn’t help it and laughed loudly. <The Flame of Darkness> in his palm also followed to disappear. He thought that he was already crazy enough, yet this young man was crazier than him. He said sarcastically, “If you are really so knowledgeable, wouldn’t you have long become an official? Why are you still a little soldier?”
The young man looked at Tang Yin strangely and asked, “How could a civilian become an official?”