by <unknown>
He then went to get the door with the hoe in his hand. Upon opening the door, he laughed and said, “Oh, so it is the few of you. Junior Martial Sisters, please come on in.”
Ting Lanyue, Yu Feiyan, Tao Yanran and Li Xiuniang looked at him curiously and Ting Lanyue laughed as she said, “Senior Martial Brother Zhong, I heard from a few junior martial brothers that you have returned. Why did you shut yourself in your place after returning instead of challenging the Dragon and Tiger Challenger Board. And why are you still dressed like that?”
With him now being Rebirth level Qi Practitioner, and the girls still being at Spirit Nurturing, they would have to address him as Senior Martial Brother Zhong.
Zhong Yue welcomed them into his place and he said, “This place got messed up after in my long absence. So, as you can see, I am cleaning this place up.”
The girls walked into the cave dwelling and Li Xiuniang could not hold herself back and asked, “Senior martial brother Zhong has no intention of challenging the disciples on the Dragon and Tiger Challenger Board at all?”
Zhong Yue shook his head and said, “Not really.”
Yu Feiyan smirked and said, “I’m not buying it. Even we sisters went to challenge them and we have had more than a few ten battles in these few months. I don’t believe that you are not interested at all!”
Ting Lanyue then said proudly, “Senior Martial Brother Zhong, with the rapid improvement in our strengths and your long absence, I think that you will not even be able to beat us anymore! How about a little friendly match? I will definitely make you cry!”
Zhong Yue had already realized that the girls’ strengths had increased a lot and felt genuine happiness for them but he still said, “Please behave.”
Ting Lanyue immediately sulked and Li Xiuniang said, “Are you sure you don’t want to? I have been looking for a chance to fight you ever since losing to you last time! If you won, I will help you clean up your place! Fei Yan, do you want to have a match with Senior Martial Brother Zhong as well?”
Yu Feiyan nodded and said, “I’m a little worried that Senior martial Brother Zhong has gotten lazy in this period of time. Fine, why don’t we have a look at Senior Martial Brother Zhong’s improvement. Yanran, what do you propose?”
Tao Yanran laughed and said, “Senior Martial Brother Zhong is a Rebirth level Qi Practitioner and we are all Spirit Nurturing Qi Practitioners. I think that it’s better if we fight him together. If Senior Martial Brother Zhong loses, you will have to clean our cave dwellings as well!”
Ting Lanyue got excited immediately and she said, “Then it is decided! You will become our junior martial brother again in no time!”
Without any options left, Zhong Yue said speechlessly, “Alright. Fine. Dear junior martial sisters, let’s go!”
After a moment, the four girls could be seen cleaning his place obediently; removing the grass, watering the flowers and sweeping the dust.
“I lost before I could even deliver an attack. Senior Martial Brother Zhong is such a bully!” voiced the indignant Ting Lanyue.
“I was extremely frightened and I cried.”
Tao Yanran said in embarrassment, “He was emitting a ferocious aura just now that I thought he wanted to eat me alive….”
Yu Feiyan and Li Xiuniang faces’ were still a little bit pale. Before they could deliver their attacks, Zhong Yue’s aura immediately billowed over them and their mind immediately went blank. They instantly conceded defeated and now, they were cleaning Zhong Yue’s place, just as they promised.
“Is Junior Martial Brother Zhong in?”
Suddenly, a voice could be heard shouting loudly outside, “Stop hiding inside, I know you are back!”
Zhong Yue was carving something onto a rock and he put the rock down and immediately opened the door as he heard the voice. Then, Tan Zhen could be seen rushing into his place and he said with a laugh, “You really are back! Good, good! You have no idea what happened since you were gone for so long. My strength has improved drastically and I am sure I could take on two of you at the same time ... Huh? So many junior martial sisters at your place and they are helping you in your housework? Junior martial Brother Zhong is indeed incredible!”
As soon as Tan Zhen saw the busy Ting Lanyue, Yu Feiyan and other girls, he gave Zhong Yue a thumbs up and praised, “Although junior martial brother is not as handsome as me, I will admit that you are still no lesser than me. I have five fiances and you have four!”
Li Xiuniang and the other girls blushed and they all shouted, “Stop talking rubbish, Senior Martial Brother Tan Zhen. You better be careful or you might bite yourself!”
Tan Zhen remained unflinching he said with another laugh, “None of my five fiances want to see me. Each time they see me, they will definitely want to kill me. Unlike my Junior Martial Brother Zhong, all your girls seem very docile with you. With so many girls that listen to you obediently, it’s no wonder that you haven’t been showing up these past few days.”
“I like this kid’s shamelessness!” praised Xin Huo in Zhong Yue’s psyche ocean.
Tan Zhen sat down and said, “Elder Feng is preparing to split the Dragon and Tiger Challenger Board into three lists. Spirit Nurturing, Rebirth and Awakening level will have one each. I am now the sixth disciple on the Rebirth level list and I am getting ready to challenge the number five disciple. Junior Martial Brother Zhong, our last fight ended with a draw. How about we fight again? I am sure you would want to know where you stand as well right?”
Zhong Yue shook his head and said, “The Dragon and Tiger Challenger Board is meaningless to me now. Who is the first and second on the Rebirth level list?”
“The first is the Yu Zhengshu from the Yu Clan and the second is Qiu Jin’er from Qiu Tan Clan. The third is Shui Qingyan from Shui Tu Clan and the fourth and fifth place are disciples from from the big clans.”
Tan Zhen then continued to say dejectedly, “I can’t believe there are two girls occupying the top three places. Yu Zhengshu entered the inner hall earlier than the other two girls and especially for Shui Qingyan from the Shui Tu Clan. She entered the inner hall less than a year ago and received third place … Don’t worry, I will challenge and defeat them one by one and represent the Swords Gate to battle the Xiao Mang Celestial Race! Junior Martial Brother Zhong, come, we shall have a battle and let me see your improvement in this period of time!”
Zhong Yue rejected and he said, “Senior Martial Brother Tan, there’s no need for us to do this/”
Tan Zhen could not resist the temptation and he insisted to fight with Zhong Yue. However, shouts calling for Zhong Yue could suddenly be heard again. A confused Zhong Yue walked towards the door to see ten plus Qi Practitioners standing in front his place. Those Qi Practitioners were those that he had once beaten up.
“Anything that you want from me?” Zhong Yue greeted them and asked
“Zhong Shan Clan’s member, I am extremely dissatisfied that I lost to you back then. But now, I’ve improved and I want to challenge you again!”
“Come on, young man!”
“Fight us fair and square!”
……
Tan Zhen looked at them angrily and shouted, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong was as equally strong as me long ago and I am already the sixth place in the Dragon and Tiger Challenger Board. Are you saying that you can best me then? Get lost, garbage!”
Zhong Yue stopped Tan Zhen with a raise of his hand and he said, “You don’t have to waste your breath, Senior Martial Brother Tan. The inner hall disciples of Swords Gate have lacked such motivation for a very long time and I am happy that they wish to challenge me. Why should I turn them down if they are seeking for more advice from me?”
Tan Zhen blinked his eyes and said, “You are going to fight them?”
Zhong Yue shook his head and said, “I can’t resist them, dear senior martial sisters and senior martial brothers, please!”
Then, Zhong Yue unleashed his aura, a dense killing intent permeated a surrounding
radius of ten miles and everything around him became deathly quiet. Everyone’s minds in the radius of his aura went blank and they saw blood start gushing out from the ground, flooding the area around them. In but a split second, a blood ocean had formed around them and they saw corpses floating all over it!
Then, the shrill sounds of shrieks coming out of the floating corpses could be heard beside their ears, gradually growing louder in a rising crescendo before culminating into a deafening cacophony that threatened to render them insane!
This was an abnormal phenomenon created by Zhong Yue and it stressed their souls greatly, sinking them ever deeper into the abyss of Zhong Yue’s immense killing intent.
Then, Zhong Yue retracted his aura and the killing intent dispersed like the passing wind. The next thing he saw was the scene of the ten plus Qi Practitioners all sitting absently on the ground, faces pale and pupils dilated. Some of them shouted and ran away while some of them directly collapsed onto the ground, crying and trembling in fear after their terrifying ordeal.
Meanwhile, somewhere far away, the eight hall masters became shocked by the killing intent and they flew up into the air and looked towards Zhong Yue’s direction. The Sword Qi hall master murmured, “Such incredible killing intent, did a demon intrude on the Swords Gate?”
After all, they had never experienced any battle involved killing, which is why they lack the killing intent that one should possess at their level. They lost their will immediately after witnessing my killing intent.
Zhong Yue shook his head and he turned towards Tan Zhen as he said, “Senior Martial Brother Tan, we… Senior Martial Brother Tan?”
He saw cold sweat percolating all over Tan Zhen’s forehead and back. Zhong Yue was left speechless and he thought, Seems like Senior Martial Brother Tan also lacks such experiences; he seems strong from the outside but weak on the inside. But I guess he will become strong after experiencing a few true battles.
Zhong Yue’s killing intent was incredibly overbearing and was not something an average Qi Practitioner could handle, despite the Swords Gate being a gathering place of geniuses. Even so, those who shared the same experiences as Zhong Yue were in the scarcest minority.
We Qi Practitioners in Swords Gate usually lack killing intent needed to survive. Their current power may be sufficient for friendly matches among each other, but it is not enough for a real battle where life and death hangs in the balance, thought Zhong Yue.
Somewhere far away, Feng Shouzhu appeared beside the eight hall masters and he said disappointedly, “Unable to withstand even such killing intent. These little guys could only fight among themselves and they will not be able to win against the ferocious disciples of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race….”
Chapter 158: The Soft Spot in His Heart |
The hall master of the Hall of Sword Heart shook his head and said, “All these days, the duels and battles are getting staged non-stop in the inner hall, the disciples’ prowess have already improved greatly, Elder Feng is being too strict to them.”
“It’s not strict, but these inner hall little brats lacks the sharpening from life and death situations! What are we Qi practitioners? Ages ago, the ancestors of Swords Gate came to the Great Wilderness that crawled with monsters and demons. They fought with their lives to protect the humans, tempering themselves through countless life and death situations. With a thought, their wills to kill surged and billowed a million feet high into the sky, and the demons and monsters would stay a thousand miles away — these were the true Qi Practitioners!”
Feng Shouzhu raised his withered hand and pointed at Zhong Yue, saying, “This little brat from the Zhong Shan Clan is good. His killing intent could render his opponents defenseless against him. Of all the other disciples of the inner hall, who could be of his match?”
However, the eight hall masters were dismissive, Feng Shouzhu glanced at them and saw their attitudes. He sneered coldly and said, “Not long ago, there was news from the East Barren. The monster saint city lord Shi Buyi took in a dragon by the name of Long Yue as his closed door disciple. This Qi Practitioner is also only at the level of Rebirth, but in the bloody massacre in the saint city, over hundreds of monster Qi Practitioners died by his hand. Among which, there was even one at the level of Awakening! Of all the disciples of our Swords Gate, which Rebirth disciple is able to accomplish such a feat? And word kept coming in, this Long Yue has returned to Gu Xia City from the saint city, slashing and killing every obstacle along the way. In the end, he was responsible for the death of a total of fifty-eight Awakening Qi Practitioners!”
The eight hall masters shouted out in involuntary shock, “Rebirth killing Awakening, how is that possible?”
“Elder must be joking right? A battle that resulted in the massacre of two hundred Qi Practitioners, moreover, monster Qi Practitioners, even the dragon race couldn’t have done it right?”
“That’s true! People get tired, and defense could never be flawless, except if you wrapped yourself in like a cocoon, perhaps only then, would you be able to block down most of the attacks. But this is also useless against sonic and soul attacks, as long as there are a few Qi Practitioners that are proficient in the sonic and soul attacks, his defense would be broken through!”
“Nearly two hundred Qi Practitioners, how could it be that easy? One would invariably receive innumerable small wounds that would eventually deteriorate into severe life-threatening wounds – it’s a sure death situation! The monster race must be boasting!”
“Definitely boasting! The disparity between Rebirth and Awakening level is too great, other than the five elemental innate spirit bodies, no one else could battle across higher realms! And it is still very difficult to win against the Awakening level even if one had the five elemental innate spirit bodies, let alone killing fifty-eight Awakening Qi Practitioners!”
“We of the elder council have only received the news a few moments ago. Even the elder council was shocked when the news arrived!”
Feng Shouzhu sighed, he said, “Not long ago, the celestial race visited us. The few high priests were also talking about it. Clearly, they’ve also received the news, knowing that Shi Buyi has taken in a very formidable closed door disciple. The high priests were talking to us — if Long Yue were to make his appearance, he will be of the highest priority to be exterminated, so that he wouldn’t develop into a larger issue in the future! Can you all find me a Qi Practitioner from Swords Gate, one that can stand match evenly with this Long Yue?”
The eight hall masters just stood rooted at their positions in stunned silence.
On the Swords Gate’s Tiger and Dragon Challenger Board, there were countless experts at the Qi Practitioner level, especially the top three — Yu Zhengshu of the You Yu Clan, Shui Qingyan of the Shui Tu Clan and Qiu Jin’er of the Qiu Tan Clan. But if speaking of killing the Awakening level Qi Practitioners and slaughtering over hundreds of other Qi Practitioners in a battle, they all did not think that any one of them would have the ability to do so.
Shui Qingyan’s identity was kept concealed, the hall masters did not know that she was the Tian Myriad Mother, hence, they evaluated her as a normal Qi Practitioner.
“In actual fact, Qi Practitioners like Long Yue still exist in all of the races.”
Feng Shouzhu was disheartened, “All of the Qi Practitioners nurtured by the races have been through strict and ruthless selections, they only cheer and crowned the winner; while we of the Swords Gate are still messing around like juveniles. As such, we can never nurture a dominant overlord that can stand above the world … Have a look, this is how Long Yue looks like.”
He took out and opened a picture art which depicted the image of Long Yue. The images illustrated the bloody massacre he incited. It appeared as if a human spy had recorded the event in the monster saint city and sent it the intelligence back to Swords Gate.
The eight hall masters’ faces changed drastically. On the image, they could see over hundreds of monsters falling under Zhong Yue’s i
ndomitable strength – swift and fast. The street became paved with corpses, and the cobbled ground became flooded with streams of blood. He appeared just like a god of death!
“Each of you, make a copy of this image, and request the disciples to remember this Long Yue’s face when the teaching classes are on.”
Feng Shouzhu gave his orders, “If this dragon comes out for a training trip and our disciples become so unlucky so as to meet him, they must know that they can only run, run for their lives immediately and do not think of engaging him in battle! Following which, they must inform the hall masters and elders immediately so that this dragon can be exterminated before he evolves into a bigger problem in the future!”
The eight hall masters’ hearts quivered as they quickly made copies of this ‘Long Yue’.
This Zhong Shan Clan member….
Feng Shouzhu’s spirit shuddered in zeal and his eyes shone brightly as he gazed at Zhong Yue. He murmured to himself, This Zhong Shan Clan member’s killing intent is thick enough, he might just be able to match with that Long Yue. But I wonder how significant his improvements on cultivation base are now. However, even if he is not as strong as Long Yue, he is still a talent worth nurturing, only by going through hundreds of battles could one obtain such a thick and heavy killing intent!
The master of the Shield Wall Hall said, “Long Yue, Zhong Yue ... both have the same character of ‘Yue’. If this Zhong Yue has been nurtured properly, then it would be like the contention of the Twin Yue’s of the Great Wilderness and East Barren. Sadly….”
He lamented, “This brat Zhong Yue, ever since he has entered the inner hall, he has never once attended a single class! He has never been to my Hall of Shield Wall at all!”
“Neither did he come to the Hall of Sword Heart!” The hall master of Hall of Sword Heart was also saddened.