Cloud Dragon Nine Manifestations

"Chen?"

After hearing him, Zou Huainan's expression grew even gloomier, but he did not fly into a rage. Instead, he hesitated briefly.

In Dragon Abyss City, there was naturally only one "Chen" brazen enough to act so arrogantly.

As the son of the Southern City Commander of the Imperial Capital Guard, he had always run rampant through the southern part of the city on the strength of that status. No one dared provoke him.

Yet the more one relied on something, the more one feared it. His birth was his greatest support, so when facing someone of even nobler birth, wariness naturally rose in his heart.

Before the Four Great Clans of Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen, his background was not worth mentioning.

However...

There were only a handful of direct descendants of the Chen Family in the Divine Capital around his age. He was certain that none of them would come to the Imperial Capital Guard and begin their careers from the bottom. Even if the man before him truly came from the Chen Family, he was undoubtedly only from a collateral branch.

If this had been his own affair, he might have taken a step back for the sake of caution.

But when he thought of the person who had sent him here today, he felt that a mere collateral descendant of the Chen Family was nothing to fear.

Looking at the upright and righteous Liang Yue before him, then Pang Chun, tall and valiant over there, Zou Huainan said coldly, "It seems the people at your Fukang Ward station truly need a proper lesson!"

Before his words had even faded, he leaped up and kicked straight at Liang Yue, who stood in his way!

In his eyes, a mere subordinate guard could be cursed whenever he wished and beaten whenever he wished. So long as he did not lay a hand on that collateral Chen Family descendant, even if the matter was investigated afterward, he would bear no real responsibility. It could also serve to intimidate the other side.

As for that subordinate guard himself...

Heh.

Who cared?

He was merely an attendant.

Choosing Liang Yue instead of Pang Chun may also have been because he wanted to pick the weaker one. After all, that burly man who stood like an iron tower did not look easy to bully.

Put simply, among the three of them, he had chosen the soft persimmon that looked weakest in both background and strength to vent his anger on.

But he had not expected that the other party was not soft.

He was hard, too.

Liang Yue had only just broken through into the Second Realm of martial arts, and his Divine Sense was keen. Seeing Zou Huainan's kick coming, Liang Yue's eyes narrowed. His left hand hooked back while his right hand swept aside.

Bang—

Though he deflected seventy to eighty percent of the kick's force and suffered no injury, Zou Huainan was at the peak of the Second Realm, his qi and blood far stronger than Liang Yue's. The force that spilled out still jolted Liang Yue back several steps.

"A Yue!" Seeing this, Pang Chun suddenly erupted, shouting as he charged toward Zou Huainan.

He did not know or care whose father was whose son. Hitting Liang Yue was simply not allowed!

One of Zou Huainan's Subordinate Guards stood closest to Pang Chun. Frightened by the sudden burst of his imposing presence, he hurriedly drew his blade to stop him.

Before the ringing clang of the drawn blade had faded, Pang Chun swung his arm and casually smashed a horizontal elbow into the man's jaw, sending his entire body flying backward with a single blow!

It was an Iron Mountain Lean delivered without deliberate intent.

Though both were in the First Realm, Da Chun possessed extraordinary strength. Within the same realm, he could practically crush anyone.

The sound of that blade being drawn was like some sort of signal, instantly igniting the tense atmosphere. Another subordinate guard and Chen Ju drew their blades at the same time, and the situation abruptly descended into a melee.

Clang!

Relying on his advantage in cultivation, Chen Ju knocked his opponent's weapon away with a single clash.

He was furious as well.

He had agonized for a while before revealing his Chen Family identity, thinking the other party would show some respect. Who would have thought it would not even be worth a shoe insole? It was truly humiliating.

At the same time, Zou Huainan had also drawn his blade! Pang Chun was charging at him like a savage bull, the fierce wind of his momentum bearing down. Zou Huainan spun his blade and prepared to slash straight at him! Force whistled through the air!

There was a gap in their cultivation. If that slash landed, Da Chun would either die or be seriously injured!

At that critical moment, Chen Ju spun his blade and blocked another strike for Pang Chun.

With a clang, the two blades collided and sparks scattered everywhere. Chen Ju's cultivation was already inferior to Zou Huainan's, who stood at the peak of the Contemplation Realm. Moreover, he had blocked the strike in haste without gathering force, and he too was knocked back several steps.

With his strike blocked, Zou Huainan found Da Chun already crashing close. He could only twist his body and spin once through the air, dodging that heavy, powerful collision.

If that bull-like force had struck him solidly, even he would not have been able to bear it.

After spinning around, he swept his blade out again, slashing toward Pang Chun's unguarded back.

Chen Ju was one thing, but these two lowborn Subordinate Guards dared defy him and even attack him. It enraged him beyond measure. His cultivation was the highest among those present. Once he truly turned ruthless and struck with all his strength, no one could possibly stop him!

But was that really so?

"Da Chun!" A shout came from the side, and a waterfall of snow-bright blade light suddenly poured down.

Zou Huainan turned his eyes and saw that the subordinate guard who had caught his kick earlier was charging at him with blade in hand. He had no time to make out Liang Yue's movements, because in the next instant, the man transformed before his eyes into nine leaping figures.

Cloud Dragon Nine Manifestations!

Seeing Da Chun in danger, Liang Yue did not hesitate in his urgency and unleashed the strongest move of the Hu Family Blade Technique!

Clang clang clang.

Rip rip rip rip rip rip—

Zou Huainan blocked three of the strikes, but the other six streams of blade light still landed squarely on him. In an instant, the sounds of wind being torn and cloth being ripped merged into one.

Bang—

The sky-filling blade light flashed past. Zou Huainan's upper garments were all shredded apart, leaving him suddenly half-naked. Before he could react, a flying kick struck him squarely in the chest.

Zou Huainan flew into the air, hurtling backward five zhang before hitting the ground with a thud. His qi and blood stalled, choking him so badly that he could not speak.

"You..." He propped himself up halfway, pointing at Liang Yue across from him with one hand, unable to force out a complete sentence.

Only now did he understand that this subordinate guard was no soft persimmon for others to squeeze. He was so hard he practically burned!

Liang Yue kicked him flying through the air, then landed gracefully and said flatly, "Commander Zou, if you continue to press the matter, those blades will not be cutting clothes next time."

"Pfft—" Ashamed and furious, Zou Huainan suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood that had been congested in his chest.

His two subordinates scrambled up and hastily supported him away. The three fled in panic.

"Good!"

By then, more than a hundred commoners had gathered around to watch. After discussing the matter, they had long seen right from wrong. Seeing Liang Yue's side win a complete victory, cheers immediately erupted one after another.

But after returning to the station, the three of them were immediately subjected to a furious, head-on scolding from Hu Tiehan.

"I told you to spend less time playing with idiots!"

Hu Tiehan slapped the table angrily, pointed at Chen Ju, then at Liang Yue. "Drawing blades in the street between Imperial Capital Guards! And the one you fought was Commander Zou's son? Do you have no brains?"

Pang Chun explained from the side, "Commander Hu, this isn't Chen Ju and A Yue's fault. Give me some face, and don't..."

"Shut up!" Hu Tiehan pointed at him. "Who do you think I meant by idiot?"

Pang Chun lowered his head silently as well, pursed his lips, and muttered, "The idiot was me..."

"I'm an Official Guard. I'll bear the main responsibility for this matter." Chen Ju said carelessly, "If Commander Zou wants to pursue it, then at worst we all take it upward. Are we supposed to let others beat us without fighting back?"

Hu Tiehan's face remained taut, his thick beard trembling. "This sort of matter cannot be brought into the open. They certainly will not pursue it publicly. But you still have to serve in the Imperial Capital Guard. What will you do in the future?"

"The other side was overbearing and unreasonable first, then they brazenly attacked us. We merely fought back because we had no choice," Liang Yue said. "If there truly is no other way, then we can only leave the Imperial Capital Guard."

"You make it sound easy. You're about to become Official Guards, with bright futures ahead of you. Are you just going to throw it all away?" Hu Tiehan glared at him, let out a heavy breath, then continued, "I'll go to the Southern City Main Office shortly and find Commander Zou. I'll plead for you and apologize. So long as Commander Zou agrees, that will be enough. They were in the wrong to begin with, so presumably they will not pursue it too harshly."

The three of them were all somewhat moved upon hearing this.

"Which of you made a move?" Hu Tiehan pressed again. "Who hit Zou Huainan, and how did you do it? Tell me everything in detail."

"Everyone made a move, but I was the only one who hit Zou Huainan. They were all protecting me," Liang Yue answered.

"Huh?" Hu Tiehan was slightly startled and rather surprised. "Zou Huainan broke through into the Contemplation Realm two years ago. You beat him by yourself?"

"I broke through too," Liang Yue said.

"Huh?" Hu Tiehan was surprised again. As he calculated just how quickly Liang Yue's cultivation had risen lately, he thought for a moment before adding, "But even if you just broke through, the gap in cultivation and techniques still..."

The peak of the Second Realm meant that Zou Huainan had already comprehended quite a few techniques. The technique resources he could access were certainly superior to Liang Yue's as well. Liang Yue had only just broken through, so how much time could he have had to comprehend techniques? In terms of combat strength, he was not much stronger than someone at the peak of the Qi Blood Realm.

The gap between them was still enormous.

"That is indeed true. My qi and blood were far less abundant than his. It was thanks to the blade technique you gave me, Brother Hu." Liang Yue nodded. "I used Cloud Dragon Nine Manifestations to defeat him."

"Huh??"

This time, Hu Tiehan was shocked beyond measure. His "huh" lasted for a long while, followed by an extended silence.

The eighteenth move of the Hu Family Blade Technique, Cloud Dragon Nine Manifestations.

Ever since that ancestral grandmaster on the Great Snow Mountain, no one had mastered it for who knew how many years. As a descendant of the Hu Family, he knew perfectly well how complex the Dao resonance within its visualization was. No wonder Liang Yue had been able to defeat the strong while weak.

But how long had Liang Yue even possessed that blade technique?

Hu Tiehan's gaze at Liang Yue shifted from shock to confusion, then from confusion to blazing fervor.

That look was like sweet rain after a long drought, meeting an old friend in a foreign land, having one's name written on the Gold List, candles in the bridal chamber... Anyone stared at like that by a towering, broad-shouldered big man with a face full of thick beard would inevitably feel their scalp prickle.

After a long while, he finally spoke slowly.

"Little Liang, what do you think of Brother Hu as a person?"