“Don’t stop! Run! Inform the Metal Seats!”

It was Auntie Metal who blocked these spears with her body, causing another eruption of lightning qi to blind them to what was happening. Only her voice could reach them and they had to ensure to carry out her wishes lest they all die here!

****

“Sighs…”

When Long Di saw that they had escaped, he couldn’t help but release a drawn-out sigh.

He was well aware that the chances of them escaping were high, but he had to give it a shot. Unfortunately, he failed. But what was he to do? He was fighting two people that possessed higher cultivation bases than his own, though their current plight wouldn’t support this statement.

Long Di stared at Auntie Metal, who was akin to a silver statue. There were differences though, as the silver continuously undulated as if she was made out of liquid silver.

He could see the work of his lightning spears upon her body in the form of small potholes.

They were only a few centimetres thick at most. From this, Long Di could tell that the hardness of her body had gone up a few levels. Even worse, he could see the potholes slowly being filled out, unlike the godforsaken roads out in the countryside.

‘Troublesome indeed,’ thought Long Di to himself. They apparently couldn’t bleed, and even more so troublesome was that their injuries healed without trouble during battle.

“Auntie Metal, you used Silver Aegis!?” Uncle Metal rushed over to where she was with a look of shock on his face.

“Uncle Metal, we can’t underestimate this child! We need to go all out!” Auntie Metal’s expression was dark. Apparently, this was not a move that she wished to employ, but current circumstances, i.e. Long Di’s foot and its deepening relationship with their asses left her no choice.

It was obvious at a glance that Uncle Metal was hesitant about doing the same, but Long Di getting up along with the overbearing pressure that continuously wafted from his cauldrons forced his hand.

He also executed a set of hand signs in a blur before letting out a powerful roar. “Silver Aegis!”

In the midst of his transformation, Long Di already rushed over to retrieve his forging hammer!

“We need to finish this quick!” said Uncle Metal, his voice sounding like metal screeching against metal. It reminded Long Di faintly of the bronze seat he fought in the forest back then.

Bam!

Shu!

The ground cracked as they lunged toward Long Di. They both looked like liquid silver given humanoid form as they charged over.

In an instant, they were upon him, and Long Di found himself in a perilous situation. Their hand to hand combat sufficed to say were leagues above his own.

With every hit that he landed with his hammer, he would be greeted with several in return.

He couldn’t even properly execute the Breaking Mundane Forging Heaven! Every time he tried to use it, they would interfere at the most crucial moment.

It was not the easiest move to break since it could be started in nearly an instant. However, he was being beset by two experts who specialised in hand to hand combat and, even if he did manage to unleash it on one assailant, the other would be there to take him from behind.

Boom!

Bam!

Bang!

Fists, elbows, kicks, eyeballs and all manner of body parts landed on Long Di in building injury upon injury!

Boom!

A figure flew out at an alarming speed before crashing into the tunnel wall at the far end!

“Puah!”

A mouthful of blood erupted upon impact before he fell to the ground!

Who else could it be Long Di? Blood streamed down the side of his mouth as he stared dazedly and impassively at Uncle Metal and Auntie Metal.

He struggled to stand before he staggered back down on one knee. “Ack!” he coughed up another mouthful of blood for his efforts.

Though their somatic essence was effectively slowed for the most part, the technique they utilised allowed them to gain access to greater strength. Though it was a far cry from what they could achieve at their peak, bee stings, if done enough, can bring down even an elephant.

With this in mind, they simply pummeled the ever-living daylight out of Long Di until he could take no more.

When Uncle Metal and Auntie Metal saw the blood, they sighed a breath in relief. They didn’t know why, but everything that Long Di did before caused them to wonder if he was even human.

However, he was still alive, and that was a problem. They didn’t believe him when he said that he was sect-less, only an idiot would.

Still, it didn’t matter though. If they killed him here, then no one would know. Even if whoever was backing him up knew who made a move, would an existence comparable to the ten great sects really make a move on the Iron Body Forge Sect within the demon region? And for one human brat at that?

Plus, they gave Long Di a chance to state which sect he was from. He chose to remain silent on the topic, so he could only blame himself for his current dilemma.

Regardless, they needed to kill him now so they could put an end to this now.

Grrooaannn…

“Urkh!” Auntie Metal faltered for a moment before Uncle Metal caught her.

“Is it already happening!?” Uncle Metal asked with worry.

They both looked down and saw a warping of her leg. Furthermore, it could be seen even now that even the undulations that rippled across her body were far and few in between, making her appear more like a true silver statue.

“Y-Yeah, we need to hurry!”

Vrrrm!

Suddenly, their cauldrons brightened, and their rotation sped up. This allowed them to access even more strength.

Instantly, Auntie Metal felt a bit better. Looking over, they could see Long Di sitting up with his back to the shield, staring at them through half-closed eyes, apparently going in and out of consciousness.

“Looks like he’s not even able to keep up his cauldron suppression anymore,” Uncle Metal deduced.

“Then let’s kill him already!”

Shu!

Boom!

The ground blew apart under the power as they charged forward. They were going to kill Long Di in one fell swoop and end it here!

Whoosh!

Without warning, three figures appeared out of nowhere right a few feet from Long Di.

“L-Long Di!”

This sudden arrival caused Auntie Metal and Uncle Metal to be distracted. However, Long Di didn’t use this chance to attack them. He simply rolled out of the way like a certain omnipresent weed he was more than familiar with.

By the time Uncle Metal and Auntie Metal regained their bearings, their strongest attacks landed on the shield behind them.

The strike caused the shield to stretch inwards, followed by an increase in the speed of the runes swimming across its surface.

Auntie Metal and Uncle Metal’s expressions changed in an instant before they realised what happened.

They quickly looked to where Long Di landed to see him waving at them.

“You-”

Shu!

Before they could finish what they wanted to say, they flew back at twice the speed they attacked with.

Boom!

They crashed through the tunnel's wall and continued onward until they broke the wall of an adjoining tunnel before landing firmly within this tunnel’s wall.

Auntie Metal’s body had warped like hot metal that had far too much force exerted on one side. Her figure was beyond warped following the impact.

Tttssss…

Steam rose from her body as it returned to normal. However, the extreme shape of her body was not something her normal body could endure.

Once her body fully returned to normal, it shuddered as the skin tore apart while the flesh ripped itself asunder under the strain and tension of her current state. No sound was made, as she was much too weak to manage even a scream. The life drained from her face and the shuddering of her body came to a morbid stop soon after.

“A-Auntie Met- Ack!”

Coughing up blood, Uncle Metal was not much better. His body was also plastered on the wall like a piece of play-doh going through domestic abuse.

This was no surprise as they charged toward Long Di at full power before being repelled by a force twice as powerful.

It was now that they realised that Long Di played them for fools. He wasn’t going in and out of consciousness, and he didn’t lose the ability to maintain his cauldron suppression, either.

He simply made them think he was down for the count to goad them into attacking him with everything they had.

He knew the properties of the shield and its reflective ability of being able to return any attack it endured with twice or more the power.

Of course, he was going to move out of the way once they were uncomfortably close to him, but Shen Ling and the others appearing caused the distraction he needed to not have to stay in their way until the last possible second.

By the time they realised what had happened, it was too late.

However, Uncle Metal’s body was slowly but surely melding back to its original state. It seemed that because he went into the state later than Auntie Metal; he was able to employ its uses for such a situation.

But how could Long Di give him the chance to heal like everything was fine?

Raising his hand in Uncle Metal’s direction, a breath was all it took for a spear to form and a blink was all it took that spear to pierce Uncle Metal’s head.

It was only after killing him that Long Di noticed Shen Ling running over to him, but by then, darkness claimed his vision and everything went quiet.