Yanling

Yanling

Several sides were locked in chaotic battle.

The area had been divided into three zones.

Lu Jinlin fought Xu Huan and Zhao Yuanshan.

The two elders of Hengshan Qiushui fought Zhao Jinzhi.

Lu Zhaojin fought Chen Kang.

Now, only Zhao Huaishui was without an opponent. He was more than happy with that, having already climbed onto the platform and prepared to take the treasures from the stone pillars.

Suddenly.

With a piercing shriek, an arrow shot toward his hand.

Zhao Huaishui had no choice but to withdraw his hand. His eyes blazed as he swept his gaze around. "Who?!"

A burst of dense footsteps came from the tunnel.

Then he saw an old man and a youth, followed by eight well-trained attendants.

The youth held a longbow, and it was clearly he who had fired that arrow.

The youth tossed the longbow to an attendant behind him and looked arrogantly at Zhao Huaishui. "No one is taking anything from this Cave Mansion."

Zhao Huaishui had never seen this youth on Mount Qi and did not know his origins. Yet judging by his costly armor and the halberd on his back, he was surely of noble birth. With a protector accompanying him, he was likely the descendant of some great Lineage.

Zhao Huaishui knew there were no great Lineages on Mount Qi. It was a poor place, after all. That could only mean the youth had come from beyond Mount Qi.

Either Luoshui Commandery.

Or Yanling Commandery.

Damn it!

Zhao Huaishui had no favorable impression of people from either commandery. Had it not been for what they had done back then, Mount Qi would never have declined to such a state. Even Mount Qi's martial world had weakened, leaving them to be mocked whenever they went out.

Still, he knew those from the two commanderies were not people he could provoke now. But how could he willingly give up the opportunity before him, an opportunity that belonged to Mount Qi? As the magistrate of Qishan County, how could he accept that?

Zhao Huaishui's eyes nearly split open, cruelty thick in their depths. He intended to risk everything to seize at least one wooden box.

Seeing Zhao Huaishui still dare to move, anger surfaced on the youth's proud face. "As expected, this wilderness is full of savages who cannot understand human speech. Uncle Chen, kill them all."

The protector beside the youth nodded. "Young Master Jingyi, please wait here for a moment. I'll be back shortly."

The moment Uncle Chen finished speaking, his Late Seventh-Rank cultivation was revealed without reservation. He stomped hard against the ground and leaped into the air, hurling his spear as his body followed behind it, both charging toward Zhao Huaishui.

Zhao Huaishui's expression changed drastically. He had never expected Uncle Chen to be Late Seventh-Rank, slightly stronger than himself. With no time to think, true qi surged around him, and his palms turned jade-green just like Zhao Jinzhi's. He blocked the incoming spear, but Uncle Chen had already closed in and sent him flying with a vicious kick.

Zhao Huaishui steadied himself and landed firmly, but he could not stop a mouthful of blood from spraying out.

Uncle Chen's kick had been extremely heavy. It had nearly left him unable to even circulate his true qi.

Uncle Chen hooked up the spear with his foot and caught it steadily, flourishing several spear flowers before sneering at Zhao Huaishui. "You have some skill if you can take one kick from me, but that is all."

Zhao Huaishui suppressed his turbulent breath and shot back coldly, unwilling to yield, "That is all you can do as well. If you had not arrived so suddenly, how could you be my opponent?"

Uncle Chen snorted. "Savages from the wilderness are all stubborn-mouthed."

His spear thrust forward, driving straight for the Yellow Dragon. The spear glow flickered like that first ray of dawn piercing the darkness as the rising sun drove it away, shining directly upon Zhao Huaishui's face.

Zhao Huaishui felt immense pressure, but there was nowhere to run. He could only grit his teeth and withstand it.

The youth observed the battle. Uncle Chen would take down Zhao Huaishui within a few moves, so there was nothing to worry about there. The others, however—especially those two youths—truly surprised him. "I never thought such a wilderness would produce heavenly geniuses. They look no older than sixteen or seventeen, yet they have already broken through to the Seventh-Rank Realm. If they were in Yanling Commandery, they would have to be disciples of great sects."

Thinking that he himself was only at late Eighth Rank, the youth's expression suddenly turned somewhat grim. "I cannot let them leave alive."

The youth took back his longbow from an attendant, drew an arrow from the quiver, nocked it, and pulled the bow to a full moon. The arrowhead pointed at Lu Zhaojin, who was fighting Chen Kang. With a shrill whistle, the arrow pierced the air and flew toward Lu Zhaojin.

Lu Zhaojin felt as if thorns were pricking his back. Hearing the whistle, he did not turn around, merely slashing out with his sword. Sword Qi split the arrow in two, sending the halves flying past him from either side.

At that moment, Chen Kang seized the opportunity and struck Lu Zhaojin's chest and abdomen with a punch.

Chen Kang had put all his strength into that punch, gathering all the true qi in his body. Yet to his astonishment, Lu Zhaojin stood there as though nothing had happened.

Chen Kang immediately sensed something was wrong. "A Hardening Technique."

They simply knew too little about Lu Zhaojin.

That was also because no one who had fought Lu Zhaojin had survived.

Otherwise, Chen Kang would not have been so shocked.

Lu Zhaojin circulated his true qi and blasted Chen Kang away. He then glanced back at the youth who had fired the cold arrow, thinking that once he dealt with Chen Kang, he would cut him down with one stroke.

The youth had not expected his arrow to fail, much less for Lu Zhaojin to fix his gaze on him. Meeting those eyes filled with icy killing intent, his heart involuntarily trembled. It was as though he saw a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, while he stood beneath that mountain of corpses, tiny as an ant.

When the youth broke free from that strange sensation, his face twisted into a hideous grimace. He felt humiliated and enraged by the fear that had arisen in his heart. "I am of the Yanling Chen Family. How dare this wilderness savage insult me?"

Chen Jingyi ordered his attendants to charge at Lu Zhaojin.

Lu Zhaojin did not know what kind of force the Yanling Chen Family was, but even if he did, he would not fear them. So long as he had enough experience and techniques.

These attendants were somewhat stronger than the Zhang family's men. Most were at early Eighth Rank, while even the weakest was Ninth Rank Mid Stage.

Moreover, once Lu Zhaojin was harassed by the attendants, Chen Kang would have an opening to strike at his vital points.

But no matter how many attendants there were, they were merely experience being delivered to him.

Sword Qi swept through them, and the attendants stopped moving. Their advancing steps froze, and they collapsed to the ground one after another, dead.

A closer look would reveal a bloody line across every one of their throats.

One sword, throat-sealing.

Killed Ninth-Rank Martial Artist. Experience +50

Killed Eighth-Rank Martial Artist. Experience +500

...

Experience: 6818

Now Lu Zhaojin had once again fallen into the predicament of lacking techniques.

Especially sword arts. Ever since the Gale Sword Art had reached perfection, he had not cultivated another sword art.

This had greatly slowed his progress in comprehending the sword path.

Otherwise, killing Chen Kang would not have been so troublesome.

Chen Jingyi cursed the group of useless trash inwardly, while also being shocked by the youth's strength. He did not rashly step forward, intending to wait until Uncle Chen killed Zhao Huaishui before making this man pay.

But Lu Zhaojin had no intention of letting him go. Ignoring Chen Kang's incoming fist shadows, he raised his sword and charged at Chen Jingyi, causing the latter's expression to change drastically.

Chen Jingyi pulled the halberd from his back and attempted to block Lu Zhaojin's attack with a cleaving strike. But an Eighth-Rank facing a Seventh-Rank was nothing more than an egg striking a stone. Not to mention Lu Zhaojin possessed extraordinary strength—one casual sword stroke knocked the halberd aside, and another slashed toward Chen Jingyi's head.

Seeing Chen Jingyi in danger, Uncle Chen immediately roared, "Stop!"

He struck Zhao Huaishui to the ground with one palm and hurled the spear in his hand toward Lu Zhaojin, trying to stop him.

Unfortunately.

Lu Zhaojin's killing intent had already been set.

Within that horizontal streak of Sword Light, Chen Jingyi's head separated from his body.