Chapter 17

: The Ultimate Price
Translator: 
Panda_Penn 
 Editor: 
Chrissy
The fire wasn’t blazing, but the smoke was billowing!
The house was a stone house, with not much wood ware in it except for some bookshelves, desks, chairs, wooden beam and the door, plus some bedding and quilts with cotton wadding. The heavy snow had just stopped not quite a long ago. Since the snow and ice hadn’t thawed, so even a wooden house would not burn too seriously, but the smoke was heavy.
The stone house of Lu Li was located in the corner of the tribe. There were some distances with even the nearby tribes,so the fire would not spread out.
However, the fire burning and the surge of dark smoke had alarmed many people in the tribe. More and more started to gather towards this way.
Seeing that Di Huo and Di Han were there, some of the women and elderlies didn’t dare to come over there.
Clearly today, most of the people in the tribe had known about the action of Di Huo and the rest of the guys. Di Ba had become the patriarch of the External Clan of the Zhao Family and had his prestige greatly increased in the tribe, so naturally, nobody want to offend the family strain of Di Ba over some nonsense like this.
Of course…
Lu Li and Lu Ling were not well received by anyone. The only person that cared about them was the Sixth Granduncle that currently on his sick bed. He could not intervene even if he wanted to.
There was a sense of coldness creeping up the corner of Lu Li’s mouth while looking at the people in the tribe in the distance. Even though they were born in the tribe, yet there was no sense of belonging here at all. At this moment, he was completely downhearted.

Sis, you have to stand over to the side. I will badly hurt all of them first, and I will take you out of the tribe. Whoever stands in our way today, I will cripple them!

The fire was burning stronger, giving half of Lu Li’s face a red color. After Lu Ling moved to the other side of the yard, Lu Li slowly started walking outside of the yard, making his way towards Di Han step by step.

What?

There were more than a dozen people outside. All of them, including Di Huo and Di Tian, slightly changed their facial expression. As of this moment, they sensed something different. Lu Li’s momentum was getting stronger. He was much like a beast trapped in a hopeless situation, ready to put up a desperate fight with all he had.

Kill him!

Di Han felt that he should not allow Lu Li to move any closer, otherwise, the latter’s momentum would steadily keep getting stronger. When Lu Li’s momentum went up, his would go down. Di Han’s would definitely be suppressed by Lu Li’s, and the former would get beaten by the latter.
Di Han shouted and slightly kicked backwards on the ground with just one foot and he flew into mid-air like a feather. His saber did not morph into fabulous saber sparkles, but was just directly aimed at Lu Li.

Master!

One could truly feel an expert when there was one. Di Han did not employ any sophisticated Xuan Skill, but in just this simple cut, Lu Li felt like the three directions around him was blocked by the long saber. Other than retreating or defending, he had no other way to go.
Yet behind him was the blazing house. Lu Li had no way back. The only alternative option left for him was to brace himself to defend. He bent his legs and tightly grabbed onto his saber. Previously, he just used one hand to hold the saber, but now that he had used two, one could imagine how strong a stress had Di Han put onto him.

Hoy!

Lu Li chose to initiate the attack. He swung his saber up high and chopped it downward with great power directly towards the forehand of Di Han. He was as fast as usual. In just a split of a second, he was now standing right beside Di Han, and surely enough, the saber would land on Di Han’s head.

Ha, ha.

Di Han grimly laughed. Lu Li could not practice any Xuan Skill because he did not have any Xuan Energy. But Di Han himself had one Body Arts [1] Xuan Skill and one Sword Arts Xuan Skill.
To Di Han, Lu Li’s cut, even with its aggressiveness, was laughable. He could have easily dodged Lu Li’s attack and cut Lu Li.
And that was exactly what Di Han did!
He pressed his long saber down, glided it over in a beautiful arc, then flipped himself over. His long saber was directly targeted at Lu Li’s knee. If he were to reach his target with this move, Lu Li would have his leg crippled…

Hiss~

Some of the elderlies looked away as they couldn’t bear to look at such a miserable situation of a leg breaking. But Lu Ling, on the other hand, still felt otherworldly as usual. Her face was calm and cold, as if the one that was going to have his leg broken was not Lu Li, but someone she had nothing to do with.

Hoy!

At that critical moment, Lu Li still did not lose his composure. He didn’t even look at the saber sliding down towards his knee. He turned his two hands while still holding onto the saber with strength, and glided the saber in an arc. Then he chopped at Di Han’s head in a continuous action.
Fight for his life with his life!
That was Lu Li’s strategy. He was prepared to trade his leg with Di Han’s life. It was only depending on whether Di Han had the guts or not.
Clearly, Di Han did not have the guts. He was not stupid enough to trade his life with Lu Li’s leg. He had to switch to another move to turn and glide the sword upwards to block Lu Li’s saber. Lu Li was too fast that Di Han could not manage to dodge it no matter what.
Lu Li was hanging in mid-air. There was no place for him to leverage his strength. As long as Di Han could block Lu Li’s move, Lu Li must have completely exposed himself. Then Di Han could hurt Lu Li in dozens of ways.

Clank, clank~

Sparkles came out. The depressing sound of sabers hitting against each other had tumbled the qi and blood in everyone. Lu Li’s move was so full of strength that Di Han’s body was heavily trembling. His two legs sunk into the dirt path, and two deep footprints appeared.

Something is wrong!

Di Huo cried out in a low voice. Di Tian’s face became serious. They detected something was not quite right in Di Han’s expression.

Swish, swish, swish~

Lu Li’s saber bounced off, but Lu Li did not pause for a single moment. He stayed in mid-air while constantly chopping his saber downwards. Every move was aimed at Di Han’s forehead. In a single breath, he had made four or five moves with each one of them having a strength of more than 11,000 pounds.

Clank, clank, clank!

Sounds of gold and iron hitting against each other came out. Sparkles were flying everywhere. Di Han’s face showed that he was in pain. The others could not see anything. Only he himself knew how much efforts he had made just to defend himself.
Lu Li indeed did not have the Xuan Energy, but he was not less strong than him. At least, he possessed more than 11,000 pounds of strength.
The most important thing was—Lu Li was too fast, too swift in his use of the saber. In a time of a single breath, Lu Li could chop for four or five times, and every time he chopped, the saber would carry a strength of more than 11,000 pounds. People had just blinked for a couple of times, but Lu Li had chopped for more than a dozen times. It was like he would never drain his strength.
Di Han could not fight back because Lu Li was so fast, with one move after another. If Di Han wouldn’t try to shove the saber aside, he would have his head crashed. Now that he did not want to die, the only thing left for him was to desperately ward off Lu Li’s ferocious attack like waves of tides.
He had shifted to using both of his hands to grab onto his saber for a while now, or else he would have been smashed away. Nevertheless, there was blood coming out of his purlicue. His hands had gone numb, and his legs were uncontrollably trembling. The qi and blood in his body was tumbling over and over. If it were not for the fact that he made great efforts trying to suppress down the blood in his throat, he would have spat out blood a long while ago…

Clank, clank, clank!

Even though Lu Li was at a more advantageous position, he did not show any mercy. After he landed on the grounded, he jumped up high again while waving the saber with both of his hands; he began to chop it down without any break. His own qi and blood were also tumbling over because of the shock, but he tried to hold his breath, and kept chopping with extreme efforts. He knew very well that if he could not win against Di Han this time, if he felt a bit discouraged, he would be killed by Di Han.

Clang!

After Lu Li made seven or eight moves, Di Han’s saber was broken. Every time, Lu Li would cut at the same spot. Even though Di Han’s long saber was a Xuan Artifact of the Human Grade, but what Lu Li was using was the same. Under constant cutting and chopping, Di Han’s long saber, much like the claws of the Red Phosphorus Hawks, could stand it no more.

What?!

Di Han screamed in a frighten state now that his saber was broken and his body was exposed. If Lu Li did not stop, his head would definitely be chopped into pieces. Over the distance, Di Huo and the other people were also alarmed that their expressions changed. Di Huo cried out in anger,
Lu Li, stop!

But the momentum was too strong. Lu Li could not stop even if he wanted to. All he could do was to move the saber to the side for a bit at the critical moment and tried to decrease some of his strength accompanying that.

Crack!

The saber cut into Di Han’s left shoulder for about four inches and almost peeled off Di Han’s entire left shoulder and arm.

Ouch…

Di Han shouted in pain. He backed off for about ten steps, and kept screaming holding the heavily bleeding shoulder. All that was in his eyes was hatred and resentment. It was excruciatingly painful.
From the corner of his eye, he could see Lu Ling was standing not far away behind him. An idea came up. Di Han suddenly took on a hideous and ferocious look. He charged at Lu Ling while shouting,
Bastard, how dare you to hurt me? I will break your sister’s other leg now!

Lu Ling, who was calmly standing without a single motion, retreated from the calmness seeing that Di Han was charging at her with a ferocious look all over his face. A hint of excitement even reddened her face.
She gently smiled. With the reflection of the fire on her, she looked all the more pretty and coquettish. Lu Ling spoke with a soft voice,
You cannot defeat my brother, so now you want to bully a girl that is so weak and vulnerable? Di Han, you are good for nothing, just like your father and uncles. But… are you sure that I am a pushover? Five years ago, I already made the claim. Anyone who wanted to bully my brother and me will pay. Will pay the ultimate price!

…
[1]
Shen Fa (身法)
which means
Body
and
Methods