Chapter 76: The More Illumination, The More Temptation
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
“Boom!”
The two powerful forces clashed together, forming a violent collision.
All the leaves were completely powdered.
The warrior from Square Commandery took more than ten steps back and then managed to steady himself with effort. He had sustained severe internal injuries. He could feel the Spiritual Blood flowing inside him, like a huge hammer thumping him on the chest.
Zhang Ruochen, however, stood calm and still, with ease. Not even a fringe of his garb was damaged.
“It can’t be! A warrior in the Initial Stage of the Black Realm can’t be this powerful!” The warrior from Square Commandery clenched at his chest, staring at Zhang Ruochen in disbelief.
Zi Qian appeared behind him and said, “Don’t you know he once ranked first in the Yellow Board in Yunwu Commandery? Ignorance is also a crime.”
“Another powerful warrior?”
The warrior’s face changed color, and one word came to him.
Flee!
He immediately used a body martial technique. He stepped on the ground with his soles and dashed out suddenly. His speed reached 32 meters per second.
But Zhang Ruochen was even faster! He soon overtook the warrior and attacked him with one finger on his spine.
“Boom!”
The warrior gave out a shrill cry and fell to the ground.
“You… you destroyed my Mid-heaven Meridian…” Lying on the ground, the warrior shivered all over and stared at Zhang Ruochen with strong hatred.
If a warrior’s Mid-heaven Meridian was destroyed, he would never make further progress in his cultivation. In other words, he could be seen as a half-wreck from now on.
“Puff!”
Zi Qian beheaded the warrior with a slash. Red blood gushed out of his neck.
“You…”
Zhang Ruochen stared at Zi Qian. “He would have been disqualified from being in the School of the Martial Market, because I destroyed his Mid-heaven Meridian. He was no longer a threat to us. I don’t see the necessity of killing him!”
Zi Qian put her sword back with a cold look. “Since he could practice into the Advanced Stage of the Black Realm at such an age, there must be some sort of strong power supporting him behind the scenes. If he survived, he would seek revenge.”
Zhang Ruochen could not respond to that.
To be honest, Zi Qian had done nothing wrong. But Zhang Ruochen still believed the warrior’s death was completely unnecessary. The destruction of his Mid-heaven Meridian was a serious punishment for any warrior.
Zi Qian searched the warrior’s body and found 21 Spiritual Crystals, 500 silver coins, and a box with Beast’s Eyeballs in it.
She opened the box. Then her pretty face beamed with delight. “Six Beast’s Eyeballs! That’s three inferior-class level-two savage beasts.”
Zi Qian put the box away immediately. Then she glanced at Zhang Ruochen and asked, “You are a prince, so I assume you aren’t hard up?”
“No,” said Zhang Ruochen.
“Since that’s the case, I’ll take all the Spiritual Crystals and silver coins!” Zi Qian did not stand on ceremony and put the 21 Spiritual Crystals and 500 silver coins in her bag.
Zhang Ruochen was a little curious and asked, “Are you hard up?”
Zi Qian said seriously, “Even a warrior with high talent can’t become powerful without Practice resources. But the resources cost a lot of money. Of course, a lofty prince like you who has never lacked any resource since birth, can’t understand the importance of money.”
“You can take his war knife.”
Zi Qian kicked the war knife, a Third-class Genuine Martial Arm, towards Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen caught the war knife unceremoniously and put it away in his Spatial Ring.
Zi Qian was slightly astonished seeing his ring. She stared at it and asked, “A spatial treasure?”
“Yes!”
Zhang Ruochen simply told her the truth. “Yes. I can give it to you if you like it.”
Zhang Ruochen took the white phoenix-carved ring off and passed it to Zi Qian. He said with a smile, “To be honest, there are too many decorative patterns on this Spatial Ring. It suits women more!”
Zhang Ruochen felt nonchalant about it. It was just a semi-finished Spatial Ring. He did not love it dearly. He could make a new one anyway.
But to Zi Qian, a spatial treasure was priceless and extraordinarily rare.
“He could give it to me? For free! Was the Ninth Prince so short-sighted?”
Zi Qian stared at Zhang Ruochen intensely and found a gentle smile on his face. It seemed that he meant it from the bottom of his heart.
Zi Qian glanced at him coldly and did not take the Spatial Ring. She said, “Don’t you know that men can’t give women rings at will?”
After saying this, Zi Qian walked up to the Silver Dragon-lion and dug about a kilogram of Spiritual Brawn out.
Zhang Ruochen’s hand stretched halfway in the air. He felt a little surprised at first, and then he laughed. “I want to give it to you simply because you are carrying too many things. It will be easier to store them in the Spatial Ring. What are you thinking about? I’m only 16. How can I have any other intentions?”
Zi Qian’s look grew even colder. She threw the Spiritual Brawn to Zhang Ruochen, and then stretched out a hand. She said, “Pass me the space treasure.”
Zhang Ruochen took the Spiritual Brawn and handed the Spatial Ring to Zi Qian.
“How does it work?” she asked.
“Just transfer your Genuine Qi into the ring,” he replied.
Zi Qian transferred her Genuine Qi. A layer of white light began to glow immediately on the Ring’s surface.
She put her hand into the ring and found that the internal space was not that big, only the size of a small house. It was different from the legends, which said you could put mountains, even heaven, and earth in these treasures.
But it was enough for putting away some personal belongings.
Naturally, Zi Qian liked the Spatial Ring very much and hated to part with it. She glanced at Zhang Ruochen with her beautiful eyes and asked, “What will you use if you give it to me?”
“I have others!”
With a gentle smile, Zhang Ruochen took all the things in the Spatial Ring out, and put them into the Spatial Crystal’s internal space.
Zi Qian took the Spatial Ring again and started to put all her belongings into it. Soon, she had nothing on her hand but a phoenix-patterned jade ring.
“This is indeed a spatial treasure! How wonderful!” The more Zi Qian looked at the ring, the more she liked it.
She took out 30 Spiritual Crystals from the Spatial Ring and handed them to Zhang Ruochen. “I won’t have it for free,” she said. “Here, take these.”
Zhang Ruochen shook his head, “If I wanted to sell it, I’d sell it for at least 200 Spiritual Crystals.”
Zi Qian’s face became cold. She looked at the Spatial Ring. “If that’s the price, I won’t take it.”
Zhang Ruochen laughed. “If I wanted to sell it, of course, you’d have to pay me that much. But now, I want to give it to you, so you don’t have to pay me even one silver coin.”
“You…”
Zi Qian flashed her pearl-white teeth. “Okay! I’ll take it! But why must you give me such an expensive treasure?”
Zhang Ruochen kept walking ahead. “Because we hit it off,” he said blandly.
Zi Qian asked, “Don’t you worry that I’ll kill you and rob you of your other treasures?”
Zhang Ruochen glanced at her. “Most people don’t return kindness with ingratitude. After all, there are more good people in this world than bad. I just don’t believe I’ll be so unfortunate to meet a bad person… What are you doing?”
Nobody knew when Zi Qian’s sword was drawn from the sheath and pointed at Zhang Ruochen’s neck. If she struck a little bit forward, Zhang Ruochen would lose his head.
But Zhang Ruochen stared at Zi Qian calmly.
He secretly transferred his Genuine Qi into the Vessel of Spirit, which formed a 10-meter Space Domain.
If Zi Qian ever dared to do anything, Zhang Ruochen could kill her faster.
Zi Qian, however, was not conscious of the Space Domain. She stared at Zhang Ruochen closely with a struggling look, and then put her sword away. “I just want you to know, you are too naive! People are dangerous, and one should always guard against the harm others might do. I suppose this is your first time practicing outside the palace?”
Seeing Zi Qian put her sword away, Zhang Ruochen scattered the Space Domain as well. He simply said, “Yes.”
Zi Qian was speechless. She did not feel like talking to him about it anymore, so she said, “Let’s keep hunting the warriors from Square Commandery!”
Staring at Zi Qian’s receding figure, Zhang Ruochen rubbed his chin and smiled. “Her movement is exactly the same as Chen Libing from Hades Department. Only professional killers can train their hearing and smell to such an extent. I was right. She is also a killer from the Hades Department.”
How could Zhang Ruochen be naive when he was a man who had already died once?
He was on guard against her when she got close to him intentionally. The only thing he wasn’t sure about was whether she came from the Hades Department or not.
After constant probing, Zhang Ruochen was finally sure of her identity.
But even knowing the truth, Zhang Ruochen wasn’t frightened at all. He saw it as a kind of experience.
“Miss Zi! Wait for me! Don’t be so fast!”
Zhang Ruochen trotted after her.
The first round of the exam would take three days.
Before the first day darkened, Zhang Ruochen and Zi Qian met another two warriors from Square Commandery. Needless to say, Zi Qian killed them both.
Beast’s Eyeballs, Crystals, and silver coins were taken by Zi Qian.
All the weapons and Pills were taken by Zhang Ruochen.
“It’s night. We can finally have a good rest,” said Zhang Ruochen.
Zi Qian rolled her eyes at Zhang Ruochen. “Most warriors will do the same as you at night. They will find somewhere safe and prepare to sleep. This is the perfect time to hunt them down. We need to kill at least twenty warriors from Square Commandery tonight to finish the task.”
“Task? What task?” asked Zhang Ruochen.
“It’s the task we set for ourselves,” Zi Qian replied. Square Commandery robbed Yunwu Commandery of our mines, and even seven of our cities. Countless soldiers and people died brutally. Don’t you want revenge for them? What’s more, Prince Huo Xing said publicly that he will kill you one day. Don’t you want to kill him? Don’t you want to teach Square Commandery a lesson?”
Zhang Ruochen could not respond to that at all.
After a while, Zhang Ruochen finally replied, “Let’s fight!”