Chapter 185: Tyrannical
Xiao Chen was frightened out of his mind the entire afternoon. He could not understand how the group of miners vanished. How could such a large group of living humans disappear without a trace?
Furthermore, these people had an alarm with them. If they met with danger, they would sound the alarm the moment they could; it would be heard throughout the mine layer.
Mu Xinya also felt it was strange, “Senior Brother Ye, what do you think is going on? It is extremely queer.”
Xiao Chen smiled, “Even such an intelligent person like yourself cannot figure it out. How would I know?”
Hearing what Xiao Chen said, Mu Xinya revealed a smile, “Actually, I have an idea. It is definitely impossible for these people to disappear. There are so many dead tunnels in the mines where it is impossible for people to see their fingers when they stretch their hand out. All they have to do is to hide in one of these dead tunnels; it would be difficult for people to find them.”
Xiao Chen shook his head and retorted, “That is impossible. Why would these people be hiding? They are all ordinary people. Without our protection, they have no chance at living. Even if there is no danger, they will starve to death.”
Mu Xinya said, “Then where do you think they went. They couldn’t all have hidden themselves in the ground.
Xiao Chen would temporarily set aside things he could not figure out. This was how Xiao Chen had done things all the while. Since he could not do anything about it, he could not be bothered to think about it.
“Don’t bother yourself with it; we will leave it to Martial Uncle Ye and the others to deal with it. We should be more careful. We should just muddle along for this one month, then leave.” Xiao Chen now felt a little regret for accepting the mission.
The mines became very strange. The unsettling feeling in his heart turned even more intense. Xiao Chen only wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.
The next week was comparatively calm. There was no conclusion to the end of that day’s incidents. The people Ye Wen sent out did not discover the group of missing people despite looking for a long time.
During the day, Xiao Chen and Mu Xinya continued their patrols. Occasionally, they would meet some corpses. It was now easy for the two of them to deal with it; their coordination was getting better.
On a particular night, Xiao Chen continued to practice his saber technique in a spacious area of the tunnel. He took out a few Night Pearls from the Universe Ring and placed them around the surroundings; the pitch dark tunnel immediately turned bright.
These Night Pearls were taken from the Jiang Clan’s Secret Treasury in the past. While he was tidying up the Universe Ring the day before, he found them. Coincidentally, it would be good to place them here.
The bright space was much better than the pitch dark tunnel it was before. Like before, Xiao Chen practiced the eight basic movements of the saber first; he could not afford to let his Basic Saber Techniques lag behind.
Then he would practice all the Martial Techniques he knew, one by one. The Rushing Thunder Saber Technique, Dragon Seizing Hand, Flight On Wings, Astral Swordplay… regardless of whether he learned it by himself or imitated it by using the Battle Sage Origins, he would practice them all.
Only when he completely exhausted all his Essence, he would stop and rest for a while. Then, he would take out an Inferior Grade Spirit Stone from the Universe Ring and drain it completely, recovering his Essence.
After all this, Xiao Chen would get up and start practicing the Clear Wind Chop. He spent most of his time practicing the Clear Wind Chop.
The Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art was extremely compatible with the Clear Wind Chop. He was able to move around a like dragon in the air and execute the Clear Wind Chop from any position or angle he wanted.
However, no matter how much he practiced, Xiao Chen was unable to hide his killing intent. The instant the Lunar Shadow Saber was drawn, his killing intent would surge out; there was no way to control it.
Xiao Chen leaned helplessly against the wall of the tunnels, pondering the problem of his killing intent. The so-called killing intent referred to a tyrannical Qi that formed automatically after a cultivation had killed a certain amount of people.
Normally, when these people locked gazes with others, their killing intent could automatically surge out. It would cause the other to feel fear in their heart, resulting in them not being able to concentrate.
Furthermore, there were some terrifying people who could control their killing intent freely. They could condense their vast killing intent into a thread; they could even turn it into a saber or spear and pierce a person’s mind, injuring their spirit and instantly causing them to lose their combat prowess.
However, such a state could only be achieved by those who practiced the way of killing. People like Liu Ruyue and Ye Wen clearly did not practice the way of killing. So how did they do it?
Xiao Chen slowly rose up and placed the Lunar Shadow Saber aside. Then he used his hand to imitate it. At this moment, his killing intent was automatically hidden; it did not leak out at all.
Suddenly, Xiao Chen comprehended it; he knew why his killing intent kept appearing.
When he held the Lunar Shadow Saber, he would unconsciously leak out some killing intent. After all, the purpose of the Clear Wind Chop was to kill people. It would be impossible to use it without any killing intent.
When the killing intent appeared, the killing Qi would automatically surge out. However, when he punched out earlier, there was a killing intent in his heart, but no killing Qi surged out.
This was because he only used his fist and moved it; he treated it just as a simple movement.
Xiao Chen grasped the Lunar Shadow Saber once again and drew it out of the scabbard. He kept saying to himself, This is just a movement, I am only performing a mechanical movement. I am only drawing the saber after picking it up.
Just like walking and eating, this is just a simple movement. There is no need to overthink. Xiao Chen hypnotized himself just like this as he slowly executed the Clear Wind Chop.
The blade sliced through the air as he executed the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art simultaneously. A cool breeze generated in the tunnel. Xiao Chen’s mind was blank; he was very calm.
“Shua!”
A cold, sharp gleam flashed in the air, Xiao Chen’s body paused in midair as he continued to execute the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art. His feet were off the ground, as though he was riding on the cool breeze, as he continued to execute the Clear Wind Chop three more times.
Within the cool breeze, the black Lunar Shadow Saber was like a tree branch dancing in the wind. It did not carry any killing intent; if one faced it, they would not feel any pressure at all.
“I finally succeeded!” Xiao Chen exclaimed in joy after he landed. He sent out a total of four Clear Wind Chops. All of the killing intent was successfully hidden.
So that was how to do it! This must be the so-called ‘sudden enlightenment.’ A problem that could not be figured out for a long time was suddenly solved; everything immediately became clear.
Xiao Chen had these thoughts, but he did not know if one did not have enough experience and practice, how could there be a sudden enlightenment?
As long as I hypnotize myself, I can hide the killing intent. If I can cheat even myself, how can I not cheat others? Xiao Chen was very excited.
Xiao Chen continued his practice. There was a consistent cool breeze with a saber blade moving along it. Occasionally, there would be a cold light working together with the Azure Dragon Cloud Soaring Art to move about quickly, changing its movements unpredictably.
Xiao Chen kept practicing until his Essence when dry. He sat on the ground and thought about what he had learned. After a while, he put away the Night Pearls and made his way to the stone room.
Along the way, Xiao Chen passed one of the excavation sites. Xiao Chen slowed down; he noticed there were about ten Spirit Swallowing Worms active in the middle of the excavation site.
The ‘zi zi’ sound they made was unpleasing to the ear. This was the sound of them eating the Spirit Stone raw ore.
The Spirit Swallowing Worms treated the Spirit Stone raw ore as food and lived underground. Logically speaking, they should be the Heavenly Saber Pavilion’s largest enemy. However, looking at this scene, it seemed more like they were rearing these Spirit Swallowing Worms on purpose.
Xiao Chen walked past this place every day. Every time he did so, there was an urge to kill them all. This was due to a lot of contribution points. After killing them all, he would have 50 contribution points.
“Hu!”
Suddenly, a strong wind blew behind Xiao Chen. A figure appeared behind him at lightning speed and tapped his shoulder with his right hand gently.
Xiao Chen quickly focused and drew his Lunar Shadow Saber. A blazing saber light was formed as Essence gathered on its surface.
“Chi!” Just as the saber light was about to complete forming, that figure flicked his finger on the Lunar Shadow Saber. There was a ripple in the air as the saber was knocked back.
“Your reactions are not bad; you are able to draw you saber within one breath. You must have practiced your Basic Saber Techniques to the middle perfection already,” Ye Wen spoke to Xiao Chen with a gentle smile as he slowly appeared.
When Xiao Chen saw it was Ye Wen, he slowly let down his guard. He sheathed his saber and cupped his hands in greeting, “Martial Uncle Ye, you speak too highly of me.”
Ye Wen smiled. When he saw the Spirit Swallowing Worms before them, he said to Xiao Chen, “Are you finding it very strange that even though there are so many Spirit Swallowing Worms, I do not go and kill them?”
Xiao Chen nodded; this was exactly what he was thinking. If Ye Wen told him, it would be great.
“Let’s go; let me bring you somewhere. It's not a big secret; I’ll tell you about it later.”
After Ye Wen spoke, he led Xiao Chen to navigate the tunnels, turning corner after corner. Along the way, he even activated some secret switches. Places which Xiao Chen thought were dead ends suddenly opened up.
Where is he bringing me? Xiao Chen was very curious. He originally thought Ye Wen would bring him to the layer’s headquarter. However, that was not the case.
“Hua La La!”
Suddenly, the sound of flowing water could be heard from in front of them. It was unknown what secret mechanism Ye Wen activated, but the wall before them moved aside.
“Hu!” There was a cooling breeze blowing towards them from the door. A huge cave appeared before Xiao Chen; it was hundreds of meters tall and thousands of meters wide.
This was no longer on the same scale as a cave. It was like someone had used brute force to carve out a space. There was a gushing underground river flowing rapidly; this was the source of the sound he heard earlier.
The space had suddenly become so big. It felt extremely comfortable.
What was even more surprising was Xiao Chen and Ye Wen were not the only ones here; there were many other people from the Heavenly Saber Pavilion.
These people were all wearing a black light armor; occasionally there were be a flash coming from them. There was a surging killing intent extending out from every one of them.
Even though Xiao Chen was a distance away, he could feel the sharp killing intent. Even though he knew this killing intent was not directed at him, he felt as though he was being watched by an evil ghost; it felt very scary.
Xiao Chen placed his hand on the handle of his saber. The killing intent in his heart was unconsciously being drawn out. There was an impulse to draw his saber and kill every single one of these people wearing the black light armor.
“Relax, don’t be reckless. These are the people from the Divine Saber Camp. They will not take action against you,” Ye Wen suddenly called out just as Xiao Chen was about to lose control of himself. Ye Wen patted Xiao Chen’s shoulder with his right hand and infused a stream of warm Essence into him.
After Ye Wen’s warm Essence entered Xiao Chen, the killing intent in Xiao Chen’s heart calmed down; he stopped trembling.
However, he felt fear in his heart, “What was going on earlier? Why did I release so much killing Qi without any reason?”
