Xiang Shaoyun’s hairs all stood on end as a wave of killing intent washed over his body. Jumping to the side, he barely dodged the killing blow aimed at him. An arrow was firmly lodged where he had stood before.
“What the hell! Who shot that arrow?” Xiang Shaoyun furiously bellowed.
“Leave the items, and I’ll spare your dog life!” a cold voice sounded. After the voice finished speaking, a group of people walked out of the forest. The group of five were all about Xiang Shaoyun’s age. However, their cultivation was equal to, if not higher, than his. The leader of the group was at first-stage Astral Realm while the other four were all eighth- or ninth-stage Basic Realm cultivators.
These youths were not from Wu Town. Rather, they were from the neighbouring town, Gateflag Town. Gateflag Town also had its very own martial arts institute called Gateflag Academy. In terms of martial prowess and achievement, they were neck and neck with Martial Hall Palace. Since this was the case, conflict between the two was something that was inevitable.
The leader of the group, who was also the one who had shot the arrow, was called Luo Liufeng, one of the top 10 outer court disciples of Gateflag Academy. He had only just recently broken through to the Astral Realm and was all set to become an inner court disciple. Xiang Shaoyun was not too pressured by their appearance, thinking to himself, Their strongest person is at first-stage Astral Realm. There’s no need to be afraid of them!
“You wish to steal this young master’s things? Come at me if you are able to do so!” Leaving the bag in its original spot, Xiang Shaoyun stood up, glaring straight at the group of people. He had almost been killed by this same group just now. If he chose to act weak now, he’d be ridiculed.
“You don’t know life from death! Just a mere seventh-stage Basic Realm trash dares to act so arrogantly? Luo Shi, kill him!” Luo Liufeng coldly laughed.
A bald, stocky youth stood out and answered, “Okay then. It looks like he’s a disciple of Martial Hall Palace. Watch me break off his four limbs and feed them to the beasts!”
Taking a few steps forward, Luo Shi sent a fierce punch straight at Xiang Shaoyun. This one punch contained no less than 450 kilograms of weight behind it. If it connected, a regular Basic Realm practitioner would be in dire straits. Facing this punch, most people would usually choose to run instead of facing it head on. Xiang Shaoyun, on the other hand, sent a punch of his own in response.
Rushing Qi Fist!
As he adopted a steady stance, his power rushed forth like a river, force turbulent and wild like the roar of a dragon.
Pow!
“Ahh!”
When the two fists collided, the self-assured Luo Shi yelped in pain after his fist was brutally bent from the punch. Not giving the other party an opportunity to retreat, Xiang Shaoyun once again rushed forward. With his elbow at the forefront, Xiang Shaoyun thrust straight for Luo Shi’s throat.
In order to become a hero, one must be ruthless! Xiang Shaoyun wanted to become stronger, never to be bullied by anybody else ever again. Since that was the case, he had to be vicious toward his enemies.
“Bastard, stop!” Luo Liufeng cried out in warning the moment he felt that Xiang Shaoyun wanted to kill Luo Shi. However, he was too late. The moment Xiang Shaoyun’s elbow came into contact with Luo Shi’s adam’s apple, the 500 kilograms of force behind it caused the adam’s apple to instantly rupture along with everything behind it, killing Luo Shi on the spot.
“Y-you killed Luo Shi?! Damn you! Kill him!” Luo Liufeng roared, his expression utterly crazed.
“Only you are allowed to kill me and not the other way around? What a joke!” Xiang Shaoyun countered, charging forward instead of retreating. Intending to kill each and every one of his enemies, he sent out Rushing Qi Fist time and again. After witnessing the death of Luo Shi, the rest of the youths were more cautious. Drawing their weapons, they blocked his fists and pressed on to suppress him.
Not daring to block them with just his flesh, Xiang Shaoyun drew his Heavy Cleave Saber, sending slash after slash at them. The saber itself weighed close to 150 kilograms. Adding on Xiang Shaoyun’s 500 kilograms of strength, one slash of his would be close to 650 kilograms of weight at the very least. With one slash, he would be able to take out thousands of soldiers and win battles with his might alone. The moment the saber touched their weapons, the youths’ hands became as weak as jelly, causing their weapons to fly out of their hands.
“Kill!” Xiang Shaoyun’s killing intent drastically climbed, sending a single saber slash towards the nearest youth.
The Heavy Cleave Saber had no match, dominating everything there.
Puff!
Unable to dodge in time, the youth was sliced cleanly in two, fresh blood spraying everywhere. The other two youths were scared white, neither daring to attack Xiang Shaoyun again.
“Go to hell!” Luo Liufeng, who had been watching from the side, could not help but shoot an arrow. His timing was impeccable. This was the period when Xiang Shaoyun was slowly recycling the energy within his body, rendering him vulnerable.
Although Xiang Shaoyun had extremely sharp reflexes, he had no way of dodging an arrow from an Astral Realm cultivator in this situation and could only forcefully twist his body to avoid being hit in important areas.
Ah!
The arrow, which had Astral Energy imbued in it, shot directly into Xiang Shaoyun’s shoulder, causing him pain down to the very bone. If not for his body being much more powerful than a regular Basic Realm practitioner’s, his body would have exploded.
“Kill him!” Luo Liufeng once again ordered. In his eyes, Xiang Shaoyun was a mere sitting duck with no more ability to resist. The two other youths once again drew their weapons and charged straight at Xiang Shaoyun.
Just as the foremost youth’s sword was about to pierce Xiang Shaoyun’s heart, Xiang Shaoyun’s aura suddenly changed as he sneered, “You wish to kill me? You’re not worthy of doing so!”
Slashing out with the Heavy Cleave Saber, a flash of white light rushed out of the saber’s body.
Tchhiing!
The scariest thing about saber slashes was the amount of weight behind them. Furthermore, the pure white light of Xiang Shaoyun’s slash was not something a regular Basic Realm cultivator would be able to block.
Upon coming into contact with the saber energy, the youth in front of him, along with his weapon, was cleanly severed in half, and the youth at the back had his stomach cut, his innards leaking out.
“Ah! B-boss! He’s in the Astral Realm!” the injured youth cried out in pain as he backed off.
Needless to say, Luo Liufeng had already noticed this fact. Without any more consideration to the matter, he readied a second arrow as he viciously said, “I’m not going to give you any more chances to live!”
Just as he was about to release the second arrow, a flash of white rushed him. Before he could even react, the white shadow had latched itself onto his arm.
“Meow!”
“Ah!”
That shadow was none other than the tiger cub, who then straight up bit Luo Liufeng’s arm.
Crying out in pain, Luo Liufeng almost let go of the arrow in his hand. “Where the hell did you come from? Get lost!” Vigorously shaking his arm, Luo Liufeng did his best to fling the cub away. The tiger cub was still rather young and had no way of tightly biting onto his arm. Hence, the cub was flung far away.
The heavily wounded Xiang Shaoyun had already propped himself up, and now, wielding the Heavy Cleave Saber once more, he slashed viciously towards the youth nearest to him.
“Go to hell!” Throughout the whole sequence of Xiang Shaoyun’s blade rising and falling, the youth he was targeting was scared stiff and had no chance to dodge. His fate—he had his head lopped off with one strike.
After killing the last lackey, Xiang Shaoyun’s eyes turned to Luo Liufeng. Luo Liufeng felt the surroundings drop to a subzero temperature, and he immediately turned to run.
“I’ll remember you! I, Luo Liufeng, will be the one to take your head in the future!”