Chapter 143: Killing Without Mercy
As the six people saw Xiao Chen approaching; they all became very cautious. They even stopped their breathing. It was instantly extremely quiet.
Zhang Tu held that mysterious piece of metal in his hand. He was actually sweating; he could not help but scold himself in his heart, Just a Superior Grade Martial Master, there is no need to be so anxious.
He slowly recovered his calm as he watched Xiao Chen get closer. He could not help but slowly countdown in his heart, Ten… Nine… Eight...
“Go!”
When he finished his countdown, he immediately threw the piece of metal in his hand. The piece of metal immediately grew large, becoming the size of a small mountain instantly and falling towards Xiao Chen.
There was a loud crash as it landed. The ground trembled, and some of the nearby trees fell.
“Oh, no…!” Zhang Tu exclaimed. In an instant the piece of metal left his hand, there was a flash of lightning, and Xiao Chen suddenly disappeared.
“Ah!”
There was a loud, miserable cry. It was horrifying to hear in the silent forest.
Liu Chen’s body was chopped into two pieces and fell from the tree. Xiao Chen stood on the tree watching the piece of metal on the ground; he felt astonished.
It was fortunate Xiao Chen picked up on their intent to kill him. Otherwise, if he were caught off guard, Xiao Chen would have fallen for the trap. With such a huge thing pressing on them, even a Martial Saint would not be feeling good.
Zhang Tu quickly descended to the ground and picked up the piece of metal. He wanted to throw it again, but Xiao Chen did not give him the opportunity to do so. Xiao Chen leaped into the air and rushed over from the top of the tree; he turned into a howling Azure Dragon.
A cold gleam flashed; when Xiao Chen landed before Zhang Tu, he did not hesitate to make a quick move, using Drawing the Saber.
The saber created a gust of wind, but the saber was faster than the wind itself, startling Zhang Tu. He quickly gave up on throwing the piece of metal and retreated.
When Xiao Chen saw him retreat, the corner of his lips curled up slightly in a smile. There was a loud crack of thunder from behind him as electricity surged through the ground and traveled through Xiao Chen’s feet before gathering on the Lunar Shadow Saber.
In an instant, there was a flash of purple light. Xiao Chen did not even bother to release the power of the Demonic Core in the Lunar Shadow Saber. However, the electric light was still very dazzling.
He stepped forward ferociously, and the blade of his saber fired out a long purple arclight.
On the arclight were countless electric sparks flickering. It looked very strange but beautiful.
Zhang Tu knew he would not be able to dodge this arclight. He used all the Essence in his body to form a shield of Essence, hoping to clash head-on with it.
However, the Rushing Thunder Saber Technique that was improved by Xiao Chen was much mightier than it was before. Despite Zhang Tu using all his Essence to create the shield, it was not sufficient.
“Pu Ci!”
The Shield of Essence in front of Zhang Tu was immediately sliced apart. The purple light cut through his clothes and created a long gash in the Yellow Grade Battle Armor he was wearing. Then, it left a huge gaping wound on his chest, resulting in blood spurting out.
The horrifying electric light penetrated his body quickly, destroying the meridians in his body. Immediately, all the Essence in Zhang Tu’s body became chaotic; he temporarily lost control of his body.
“Rushing Heaven Chop!” Xiao Chen shouted as his body soared. The saber pierced towards Zhang Tu’s chest in a manner that was void of any gaudiness.
“No!” Zhang Tu’s eyes revealed an expression of extreme horror and despair. At that instant, his life started to flash before him.
He thought of the eagerness and excitement he once had when he first came to Saber City. He thought of the oath he swore when he entered Heavenly Saber Pavilion’s outer sect; he would become the strongest saber user one day.
However, all his ideas shattered in the face of the cruel reality. There were many who had similar talent as him, cultivating to levels ahead of him by relying on the resources of their clans.
After a year or two, his hopes of entering the inner sect became distant and indistinct. It was not known from when, but he had forgotten his oath and fell to his current depraved state.
Suddenly, he realized, in a dispirited manner, he was going to die soon. This was his final battle, and he actually did not even managed to draw his saber. He only thought of using despicable means to deal with a Superior Grade Martial Disciple.
He did his best to regain control of his right hand, wanting to pull out the saber at his waist. However, the moment he touched the handle, the Lunar Shadow Saber pierced through his body, along with Xiao Chen. There was a loud bang, and his body exploded into bits.
Zhang Tu’s saber fell to the ground; he did not manage to draw it before dying. Xiao Chen spun around and quickly caught the falling piece of metal with his hand.
The remaining four people behind him turned pale when they saw Xiao Chen deal with the strongest amongst them, Zhang Tu, in an instant; they immediately fled.
“Dragon Seizing Hand!”
Xiao Chen shouted, and a huge, black palm descended from the sky. It smashed the four people to the ground with a loud bang. Xiao Chen used the Dragon Seizing Hand again without moving from his original spot; this time, he used his right hand to control the huge, black palm, forming a fist!
“Boom!”
A cultivator who was struggling to stand up was immediately hammered violently by the black fist. He cried out miserably before he was crushed to a pulp!
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
There were three more explosion sounds. The black fist continuously smashed down with a surging force and huge power.
The ground trembled continuously; the trees to the side became slanted. After a long time, the trembling stopped.
Xiao Chen stood upright with his hands behind his back. He eyed the five corpses coldly before searching through them and quickly leaving the area.
There was too much attention drawn just now; there were many cultivators attracted by it, and they had started making their way there. Xiao Chen did not dare linger too long.
Not long after Xiao Chen left, a Heavenly Saber Pavilion outer disciple arrived. He was carrying a thick saber, and there was a long horizontal scar on his face.
That scar made the originally young and tender face look very malevolent. When he saw the bodies on the ground, he was not too shocked.
Zhang Hu’s body had been exploded to bits already. It looked very disgusting; blood dyed the ground red. It was impossible to make out the identity of the corpse.
After looking around for a while, he found a black metal token. On the front of the token was Zhang Tu’s name. On the back, the words ‘Heavenly Saber Pavilion outer sect’ were carved.
“Zhang Tu was killed by someone in Evil Wind Valley?” the scarred man said slowly; his eyes revealed shock. In the depth of his eyes, there was a hard to trace grief.
“Pu! Pu! Pu!”
There was the sound of rushing footsteps. Many Heavenly Saber Pavilion outer disciples had heard the commotion and rushed over. When they saw the miserable way in which the bodies on the ground were killed, they were all startled.
“It’s Liu Chen and his group; this is their metal token.” Very soon, they found their identity tokens.
As they were all outer sect disciples, everyone naturally recognized Liu Chen’s group. They all felt afraid at seeing how the group died so miserably.
One of the outer disciples wearing embroidered robes came over to the scarred man and took a look at the metal token in his hand; he was stunned.
After that, he smiled, “I never expected Zhang Tu to die as well. I thought he managed to escape. Lu Mingfei, were you the one who killed them? Zhang Tu was your biggest competitor for entering the inner sect.”
He looked at the scarred man and asked mockingly, as though he was completely looking down on him.
“Zhang Tu actually died; he was one of the top ten contenders for the inner sect spot. His death is unfortunate.”
“I do not know who did it, to actually kill six Heavenly Saber Pavilion outer disciples under Heavenly Saber Pavilion’s noses. How daring! He is clearly looking down on Heavenly Saber Pavilion.”
“It is clear this person has a much higher cultivation than Zhang Tu. This fellow must have tried to kick a rock. After bullying so many people, he was finally bullied back.”
When the group of disciples who rushed over heard Zhang Tu’s name, they all broke out in discussions. Some shook their head and sighed, and some were secretly happy; this way, there would be one less competitor for the end of year exam.
The treatment of a Heavenly Saber Pavilion inner disciple was much better than an outer disciple. Just considering the Spirit Stones alone, they receive ten times the amount an outer disciple would.
Furthermore, they would have the opportunity to be taught by a Martial King. They would also have all sorts of high ranked Martial Techniques and Medicinal Pills to choose from. The mountain range was filled with Spiritual Energy; the amount could not compare to Saber City’s.
However, there were only ten spots for outer disciples to enter the inner sect every year. This resulted in the competition amongst the outer sect being very intense. As for most of the cultivators here, they were happy when they heard the news of Zhang Tu dying.
Lu Mingfei stood up and grasped the metal token tightly. He faced the youth in embroidered robes and said coldly, “Yan Tianzheng, you best hope you will not be matched against me in the competition at the end of year. Otherwise, I will kill you.”
After he spoke, he immediately left, taking big strides. Yan Tianzheng laughed mockingly as he watched him leave, “He’s just a commoner. To think he wants to compete against me for an inner sect spot? Fat chance.”
In another portion of the forest, Xiao Chen casually laid a small illusion formation. Then he carefully inspected the piece of metal in his hand.
This piece of metal could actually grow on command, becoming the size of a small mountain instantly. It was quite similar to the legend in his previous life where Yu the Great tossed out a handful of mud; it instantly grew big and stopped a flood.
“Is this a kind of Secret Treasure?” Xiao Chen asked as he looked at the piece of metal with doubt. However, when he checked it with his Spiritual Sense, Xiao Chen was unable to find any Daos or formations in it.
There was no evidence of it being a Secret Weapon. Just as Xiao Chen was lost in thought, he suddenly remembered an extremely precious material listed in the Compendium of Cultivation.
Astral Iron!
This was a naturally formed treasure. According to legend, it originated from a piece of meteorite. After it was forged, it would have all sorts of miraculous effects.
Some would be able to summon endless flame, cold ice, harsh winds, some could create a small realm, and some could even summon a creature, not from this world. It was very strange.
The Astral Iron had existed in the universe for hundreds of thousands of years. Over such a long span of time, they absorbed all the chaotic Spiritual Energy of the universe and all sorts of strange radiation. It was not surprising it could have such strange effects.
“This is definitely a piece of Astral Iron!” Xiao Chen said joyfully. He was sure because it was listed in the Compendium of Cultivation. Although it only gave a brief introduction, it was something that really existed.
Although the effects of the Compendium of Cultivation were not all the same, they had one common usage: to repair all sorts of Divine Weapons and Secret Treasure. It could even completely repair the strongest Divine Weapon or Emperor Grade Secret Treasure.