“He’s really impressive!”
Hu Niu’s eyes were bright. She had the instincts of a wild beast, and could keenly sense the killing intent emanating from Ling Han. She was both afraid and excited, for it was a familiar feeling to her.
She wriggled around, and really wanted to pounce to Ling Han’s side, but because both her arms and legs were tied up, she could only struggle around pointlessly.
Though Ling Han had killed one of the culprits responsible, his rage did not decrease in the slightest. The miserable and humiliated appearance of his father and his clansmen could not be removed from his mind’s eye, so his killing intent burned even more strongly. His stare fixed upon Cheng Ji Yu. This was another culprit, or it could be claimed that he’s the chief culprit of this entire calamity.
Because if it had not been for Cheng Ji Yu, how would the Cheng Clan have dared to assault the Ling Clan?
He definitely must kill this fiend with his own hands!
“Get out of my way!” He shouted loudly, and flew forward in a charge towards Cheng Ji Yu.
Zhu He Xin and Zhang Wei Shan were both flabbergasted. They were about to stop Ling Han, so that he would not be embroiled in such a dangerous situation, yet Ling Han shouted, “I want to take down this old dog on my own, don’t the two of you interfere!” His countenance was determined, and did not allow either of them the chance to refuse.
Zhu He Xin and Zhang Wei Shan could only step back, but they still prepared themselves. As soon as they saw Ling Han in danger, they would definitely step in and give him a hand–even if they would be rebuked by Ling Han later.
Ling Han stimulated the Lone Wolf’s Blood, and his prowess, which was initially at the eighth layer of Element Gathering Tier, was further upgraded. However, due to the fact that he had not suffered any debilitating injuries, the upgrade from Lone Wolf’s Blood was not too big, and only allowed his battle prowess to reach the peak period of the eighth layer of Element Gathering Tier.
But together with the rapid dance of five flashes of Sword Qi, and the Shocking Electricity Sword Arts, his might was still something to be feared.
Yet Cheng Ji Yu did not feel a single bit of fear. Giving a light snort, he struck repeatedly with his palms, which all transformed into gigantic hands formed of Origin Power, striking towards Ling Han. These gigantic hands of Origin Power were extremely solid, and easily crushed the incoming flashes of Sword Qi, fully displaying the might of a powerful warrior of Gushing Spring Tier.
“Ga, ga, ga, little bastard, what you’re doing now is only seeking your own death!” Cheng Ji Yu was extremely pleased. He could tell that whether it was Zhu He Xin, or Zhang Wei Shan, or the various parties of Da Yuan City, they had all actually come because of Ling Han. [1]
Thus, as long as he managed to take down Ling Han, he’d be able to take him hostage and escape this siege.
When he was finally safe, he would of course kill Ling Han with a single palm strike and thus achieve his vengeance, and would never again return to this place in his lifetime.
“Humph, today will be the day of your death!” Ling Han hissed, waving his sword repeatedly, the Sword Qi of his attacks seeming like rainbows.
However, the power gap between himself and Cheng Ji Yu was still too big. With one clap of the gigantic hand formed of Origin Power from Cheng Ji Yu, he could feel his internal organs trembling due to the impact. But because he had already learned the ability of Body of Dead Tree, and also possessed the Indestructible Heaven Scroll to help him recover his wounds, he only looked miserable. However, in truth, the repeated attacks actually helped to further stimulate the Lone Wolf’s Blood, and allowed his power to increase even further.
Still, no matter how big the power upgrade was, it was impossible for his power to break through to Gushing Spring Tier.
Ling Han frowned. The space in his Dantian was now abnormally big, so his ability to last in battle was something to be feared, and together with the ability of self-recovery from the Indestructible Heaven Scroll, he could easily wait for Cheng Ji Yu to drive himself to death with exhaustion.
But he was acting out of revenge now, and to drag this battle out for such a long time…? He could not wait, and neither could Ling Dong Xing!
Moreover, he did not want Ling Dong Xing to worry any longer about him.
In this case!
Ling Han’s gaze steeled, and without an ounce of hesitation, he communicated with the black tower. He wanted to use the blessing of the black tower to strengthen himself, and increase his battle prowess by an entire tier!
Black tower, come, give me power!
“Hum…” within his Dantian, the black tower gave a light tremble, and a mysterious power emanated from it as it started droning.
“Hong,” this power gushed out within Ling Han’s body, and increased his cultivation level at an extremely rapid rate—fifth layer of Element Gathering Tier, sixth layer, seventh layer… within the time for him to take a single breath, his cultivation level had broken through to Gushing Spring Tier, and continued to further increase after that, finally stopping at the fourth layer of Gushing Spring Tier.
It had completely increased his cultivation level with a massive upgrade of a whole tier!
“What!” Having sensed the abominable increase in power within Ling Han, Cheng Ji Yu, Zhu He Xin and Zhang Wei Shan all felt as if their eyeballs were going to pop out due to this tremendous shock. How was this possible, a martial artist in the fourth layer of Element Gathering Tier actually instantaneously increased his own cultivation level by an entire tier!
He truly deserved the name of alchemy genius!
Zhu He Xin and Zhang Wei Shan immediately thought that Ling Han must have swallowed some kind of alchemical pill to achieve such a power upgrade, and they could not help the admiration and reverence they felt towards Ling Han’s abilities as an alchemist increasing. Whether there existed such an alchemical pill in this world, the two old men did not even have a moment of doubt. They had already come to the stage that they would blindly trust Ling Han’s abilities as an alchemist.
“Damn you!” Cheng Ji Yu roared, and his palms struck repeatedly. One after another, gigantic hands of Origin Power came to life and headed towards Ling Han.
Ling Han gave a humph; his left hand curled into a fist and flew forward in his own attack.
Only his power had been upgraded to Gushing Spring Tier, so he still could not give form to his Origin Power. But that was all right, the power of the fourth layer of Gushing Spring Tier would absolutely dominate the first layer, so with a single punch, the green-colored gigantic hand formed of Origin Power instantly shattered.
Ling Han had already charged forward, and with a wave of his sword, five flashes of Sword Qi flew forward.
“Pu!”
There instantly appeared five sword wounds on Cheng Ji Yu’s chest, causing his chest to become a gory scene of blood and flesh. The wounds were so deep that even his bones and internal organs could faintly be seen.
“Old dog, hand over your life!” Ling Han said in a deep voice.
“Little bastard, you only forcibly increased your power to Gushing Spring Tier, but how much power would you actually be able to show? I will definitely be able to kill you!” Cheng Ji Yu released a furious roar. His hands moved continuously as he used the secret art of the Cheng Clan, Expert Armed Fist.
Unfortunately, though he had broken through to Gushing Spring Tier, and was now able to cultivate Black Grade martial arts techniques, the problem was that the Cheng Clan did not even possess Yellow Grade high level martial arts techniques—where would they have been able to get their hands on a Black Grade martial arts technique?
This Expert Armed Fist was only a Yellow Grade mid level technique, so its power was very limited. There was no way it would be able to compensate for the power gap between the first and fourth layer of Gushing Spring Tier.
Ling Han smiled coldly. If an ordinary martial artist did forcibly increase his own cultivation level by
a whole tier, he would indeed be unable to control such terrifying power, because such an upgrade was too enormous.
But he was different. In his last life, his cultivation level had been of Heaven Tier, so what could a mere fourth layer of Gushing Spring Tier count as?
Ling Han waved his sword in a powerful barrage of attacks, his Sword Qi seeming like rainbows, completely dominating Cheng Ji Yu.
The fourth layer of Gushing Spring Tier against the first layer, that was going to be a one-sided battle in the first place.
“Peng,” Ling Han raised his foot and aimed a kick at Cheng Ji Yu’s chest. “Ka, ka, ka,” the sound of bones breaking and fracturing was heard. At least four of Cheng Ji Yu’s ribs had broken, and his Dantian was completely shattered as his body slid to right in front of Ling Dong Xing.
“Kneel!” Ling Han commanded coldly.
“Nonsense!” Cheng Ji Yu shouted furiously. Even if he was killed, he would never lower his head in front of his enemy.
“You have no choice!” Ling Han waved his sword. “Pu, pu,” two splatters of blood appeared, and Cheng Ji Yu’s foot tendons had been torn, and he could not help his legs from bending as he knelt down in front of Ling Dong Xing.
“Little beast, even if I become a ghost, I will not spare you!” Cheng Ji Yu spat out blood. He knew that he would definitely die today, so he did not even think of begging for mercy. His eyes were sharp as daggers as he wanted nothing more than to stab Ling Han to death with his eyes alone.
“Father, this person is yours!” Ling Han calmed himself. He knew that Ling Dong Xing wanted even more to kill this enemy with his own hands.
“All right!” Ling Dong Xing’s face was filled with killing intent. He recalled how his clansmen were killed right in front of his very eyes, as if they were mere animals to be slaughtered. Their blood had painted the whole Ling Clan Residence red, and their bodies lay everywhere. His eyes instantly turned red, and taking the sword that Ling Han handed over to him, he immediately struck with a stab.
“Pu!”
The sharp sword stabbed right into his chest, and Cheng Ji Yu glared at Ling Dong Xing with utmost unwillingness. His mouth opened and closed a few times, as if he wanted to say something, but only blood gurgled out of his mouth, his head slanted to one side, and he was dead.
Ling Dong Xing gave a kick to the body of Cheng Ji Yu and the corpse flew some distance away. He raised his face to the skies and released an enraged roar. From today onwards, there would be no more Cheng Clan in Gray Cloud Town!
Chapter 86
Translator: _Dark_Angel_ Editor: Kurisu
Under the siege and assault of so many different parties, how could the Cheng Clan resist? They were instantly wiped out!
Perhaps there may be a few who have fortunately escaped, but with Ling Han’s current status in Da Yuan City, the survivors of the Cheng Clan would be ultimately detested by all. They’d have to keep running and hiding, or they’d definitely be apprehended and delivered straight to the Ling Clan.
…Who did not want to befriend Ling Han?
There were not many members of the previously flourishing Ling Clan who survived. Thus, Qi Yong Ye and the others did not leave immediately after eliminating the Cheng Clan. They left behind their people to assist the Ling Clan in taking control of the situation. But after such a battle, most likely no other party within the jurisdiction of the Da Yuan City would dare to make an enemy of the Ling Clan. Previously, more than one hundred different parties of varying power and might came to Ling Han’s aid, so who would not be terrified of seeing a repeat of this scene?
All the properties of the Cheng Clan naturally fell into the ownership of the Ling Clan. However, because the Cheng Clan had long been forced into economically dire straits, they were actually almost destitute. However, their minerals still existed, and so did their shop lots. With proper management, these properties would definitely be able to generate a massive income for the Ling Clan.
After staying at the Ling Clan Residence for about a day, Qi Yong Ye and the others excused themselves and departed. They were about to set off towards Hu Yang Academy, and since Ling Han would be going to the same place very soon, they did not depart with heavy hearts. After all, they’d be able to see each other again in a few days’ time.
Meanwhile, Liu Yu Tong entered seclusion in preparation to break through to Gushing Spring Tier, for she felt that she was really too useless. At a time when Ling Han needed his little female attendant the most, she couldn’t even do anything to help him, causing her to feel very dissatisfied with her current ability.
Thus, as soon as the danger was over, she immediately began the process of breaking through.
Ling Han also needed to stay for a while longer to help take care of some of the clan matters, so he decided to wait until Liu Yu Tong had broken through to Gushing Spring Tier before taking Ling Zi Xuan and Hu Niu with them to Hu Yang Academy.
The first item on the agenda was naturally the funerals of the clansmen of the Ling Clan.
Too many people had died; merely the funerals alone took seven days. Moreover, because too many of their clansmen had died, there was a need to replenish their manpower by a massive amount, or it would not be possible to manage so many different properties.
Ling Han was not of much help. He was an expert in alchemy and martial arts, but in such matters, he was completely inexperienced. Thankfully, Qi Yong Ye and the others left behind many of their own people to assist, and had promised that they would wait until the Ling Clan recovered before calling those people back.
In the meantime, Chen Feng Lie came once, bringing some news to Ling Han: Chen Peng Ju had indeed had a slip of the tongue after drinking too much, and the incident of Hang Zhan’s murder was known by someone else. That person, after much hesitation, finally decided to go to Stone Wolf Sect to tell this secret so that he’d be able to gain some benefits.
Who knew that he actually encountered Chen Feng Lie, and after Chen Feng Lie discovered the whole story, he immediately killed the man to keep him from divulging the secret.
Chen Feng Lie had come deliberately to express his good faith.
The current Chen Feng Lie no longer dared to have any thoughts of betraying Ling Han—how many parties stood behind Ling Han? Unless Chen Feng Lie had lost his senses, otherwise he would not dare to make trouble. Thus, Ling Han gave him the complete medicine formula to resolve his state of madness as a reward.
On the ninth day, an extremely powerful wave of power swept out from the inner courtyard of the Ling Clan Residence, and the terrifying pressure caused many elite martial artists of Gushing Spring Tier to feel as if their hearts and souls were pounding.
Liu Yu Tong had broken through!
Ling Han had been sitting in the middle of the courtyard in the midst of cultivation when a shapely figure flew towards him before stopping at his side. It was Liu Yu Tong.
“Not bad, eight days and you’ve broken through, your talent is truly not bad!” Ling Han smiled and nodded. Though he had previously given Liu Yu Tong much valuable experience in battle, but to be able to break through completely within a mere eight days, Liu Yu Tong’s talent in the field of martial arts was indeed extremely high.
Liu Yu Tong nodded, and in a firm voice, she said, “In the future, I will definitely not become your burden. Instead, I will be a helper you can depend on!”
“Haha, I believe you,” Ling Han said with a laugh. After some thought, he said, “Since you’ve broken through to Gushing Spring Tier, then I’ll teach you the third level of cultivation technique of the Three Yin Mysterious Arts. Once you’ve mastered that, you will never need to worry about falling unconscious again.”
“En!” Liu Yu Tong nodded, appearing slightly excited; this was a Heaven Grade cultivation technique, and for a martial arts maniac like herself, it was an irresistible temptation.
The two of them returned to the inner chambers, and Ling Han naturally again underwent a test of his own while he had been guiding h
er in the cultivation technique, causing his emotions to ripple continuously.
This young girl was indeed a demon. [1]
After much difficulty, he finally finished guiding her in the cultivation technique. Ling Han once again stepped out and continued to sit cross-legged in the courtyard.
Previously, the black tower allowed him to temporarily obtain the power of Gushing Spring Tier, but it only lasted for one hour. And the next time he wanted to make use of the power of the black tower again, he would have to wait until he has successfully broken through to Gushing Spring Tier.
However, when he has finally broken through to Gushing Spring Tier, he’d be able to gain a preliminary understanding of the secrets behind the black tower. He had no idea what kind of surprises awaited him then.
Additionally, Ling Han had also achieved the fifth layer of Element Gathering Tier by now.
Alchemy Emperor of the Divine Dao c1-1294 Page 52