Chapter 53: Two Strikes
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Di Jiu?” Jia Qian stared at him, his eyes wide with shock. Di Jiu had disguised himself as a middle-aged man, yet Jia Qian had recognized him as soon as he had spoken.
“That’s right.” Di Jiu carelessly tossed the plastic bag onto the middle of the table before putting his bag down.
He did not dare let his guard down, as he had heard that Jia Qian was an Earth Tier Warrior.
The plastic bag rolled around the huge table before coming to a halt. The severed head of Bi Zhengsheng rolled out of the bag.
Although everyone attending the meeting was ruthless in their own way, they all backed away from the table in horror as soon as they saw Bi Zhengsheng’s head.
“You must have a death wish…” Jia Qian was so angry that smoke was practically coming out of his ears. It felt as if he could set the entire meeting room on fire with his rage alone. He reached towards his waist and pulled out a sword with a soft blade so forcefully that it sounded like a whip. Then, he locked Di Jiu’s position with his sword.
Di Jiu could feel the beam of the sword locking his position even before he heard it whip through the air. The sword’s beam would follow him no matter where he dodged.
After that whipping sound was heard, the sword’s beam multiplied until there were eight beams. By now, it would be difficult to even take a breath, let alone dodge those beams.
Everyone in the meeting room had watched Jia Qian’s move. Even those who had initially wanted to challenge him were rendered speechless. None of them would have been able to avoid even this casual move of his.
Di Jiu had never planned on avoiding Jia Qian’s move. However, he had not planned beforehand which move he would use on him either. He would probably be able to inflict a lot of harm on Jia Qian if he ambushed him with the Fireball Dharmic Spell or the Wind-Rustling Move, but he was sure that his dharmic spells would probably be useless in such an open confrontation.
Based on Di Jiu’s current martial arts standards, the spells he performed would affect a big surface area. However, this also meant that it would be extremely difficult for him to inflict harm on Jia Qian with the Wind-Rustling Move or the Fireball Dharmic Spell, since he would be unable to concentrate the full force of either move on him alone.
Di Jiu flicked his right hand. The sound of a cloth ripping was heard as the saber cut through its black wrappings, revealing a blade with a few warps on it.
Di Jiu’s Quintessential Essence surged while the saber ripped through the black cloth and struck.
The Di Clan’s Seven Sabers was a technique meant for the battlefield. The Di Clan’s warriors had always believed that attacking was the best defence.
An ear-splitting sound of metal hitting metal was heard. Di Jiu felt a strong force rush through his sword, creating a temporary discomfort in his chest area.
“His Quintessential Essence is really strong!” Di Jiu was surprised by Jia Qian’s strength as he used the third saber move, the Di Clan’s Cyclone Saber Move.
He decided to fight a quick battle and execute the fourth saber move right after striking with the third one.
Jia Qian was even more surprised by Di Jiu’s capabilities than Di Jiu was by Jia Qian’s. How could Di Jiu possibly be so skilled? He had witnessed the fight between Shang Sha and Di Jiu with his own eyes. Based on his skills back then, he should have been able to literally disarm him by cutting off his arm with an abrupt violent move. Di Jiu should have been heavily mauled by now, which would have made it easy for Jia Qian to inflict excruciating torture on him.
The truth was that Di Jiu’s saber move had been executed more hastily than Jia Qian’s sword move. However, this did not give Jia Qian much of a head start. Jia Qian’s sword move had at best included slightly more Quintessential Essence than Di Jiu’s.
Jia Qian did not have time to get lost in his own thoughts, as Di Jiu had once again executed the Cyclone Saber Move.
Jia Qian could feel the space around him transform into a whirlpool of Saber Qi with protruding saber blades.
This move was too strong for him. No matter how hard he tried to dodge, he would get trapped within this whirlpool of Saber Qi.
Jia Qian did not bother hiding. Instead, he made successive movements with his sword. Beams of shapeless Sword Qi were set off along with his movements.
To any outsiders observing this duel, the sword in Jia Qian’s hand would have looked like a trap with countless tiny swords set off by Jia Qian.
Di Jiu knew very well that these Sword Qi were shapeless, so if he were to continue executing the third saber move in an effort to kill Jia Qian, he would definitely get injured by the Sword Qi.
Di Jiu’s saber moves focused on aura. Hence, he did not even consider letting go of the power repressing Jia Qian to execute the Fourth Saber Move.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
The Saber Qi of Di Jiu’s Cyclone Saber Move got entangled with Jia Qian’s Sword Qi, producing several explosive sounds.
Some of the Saber and Sword Qi shot out and injured the spectators, who had been hiding in the corner.
A violent force of Quintessential Essence swept towards Di Jiu, who felt a tightness in his chest and a sweetness in his throat. He knew this was the effect of Jia Qian’s Quintessential Essence. Jia Qian’s Quintessential Essence was exceptionally strong, as he was an Earth Tier Warrior.
Two consecutive sounds were suddenly heard. The first one was the sound of Jia Qian’s Sword Qi breaking through Di Jiu’s Cyclone Saber Move, hitting his waist area and causing some blood to splatter around. The second sound was the sound of Jia Qian’s leg being torn off by the Saber Qi of Di Jiu’s Cyclone Saber Move while he tried to escape.
Jia Qian fell to the ground after losing his leg, even though he was very strong.
The entire battle between Di Jiu and Jia Qian had actually been really short. From a bystander’s point of view, it had looked like Di Jiu had struck with his saber twice and Jia Qian had performed two sword moves. Di Jiu’s waist had gotten slightly injured and Jia Qian had lost his calf.
As Di Jiu was about to execute the fourth saber move and kill Jia Qian, he felt a sense of relief. He realized that he had been able to sever Jia Qian’s leg with the third move.
It seemed like he had overestimated Jia Qian. He wouldn’t have to execute the fourth move after all. Earth Tier Warriors were actually not that big of a deal.
One of the spectators started retreating upon watching Di Jiu severe Jia Qian’s leg. Di Jiu held on to his saber as he looked at him and said coldly, “If you take one more step back, you’ll be next.”
The spectator was so scared that he froze on the spot. Judging by the fierceness Di Jiu had displayed during the duel, he did not think that he would just make empty threats.
Di Jiu was about to get back to his fight with Jia Qian, when a white man pulled out his gun and pointed it at him. “Put your saber down and…”
Before the white man could finish his sentence, he felt a sharp pain in his wrist. Suddenly, both he and his gun fell to the ground.
Di Jiu walked over, picked up the gun and pushed it against the white man’s temple. “Unfortunately, I don’t like putting my saber down when I’m dealing with ingrates. What do you think I should do now?”
“You may do as you please. Please do as you please… I have overstepped my boundaries. Please have mercy on me…” The white man, who hadn’t been able to intimidate Di Jiu, could not think of any other words besides “please” to beg for his life.
Everyone in the room was stunned. They had all watched Di Jiu sever Jia Qian’s leg with the powerful Saber Qi of his saber move.
However, they did not understand how Di Jiu had attacked James and made him drop his gun. Did he have some sort of hidden weapon?
Di Jiu instantly seemed very mysterious to them. Some of them even started to suspect that he had been to the Fairy Planet.
“Did you conceal your true skills on purpose during your duel with Shang Sha? Were you afraid that I would run from you, if I knew what you were truly capable of?” Jia Qian was surprisingly calm. He knew that he was doomed, so there was no point in begging for mercy.
Jia Qian believed that Di Jiu had been pretending to be weak during his duel with Shang Sha. If Di Jiu had demonstrated his true skills like he had now, Shang Sha would not even have gotten a chance to make a move on him during the duel. The reason Di Jiu had pretended to be weak was because he had been worried that Jia Qian would flee the country if he knew how formidable he was.
However, there were still two things Jia Qian didn’t understand. Firstly, why had Di Jiu allowed Shang Sha to attack him so many times? Was he perhaps a sadist? Secondly, why had Di Jiu waited until that day to approach him? Why hadn’t he done so when he had gone to the Swallow Capital to look for him?
If Di Jiu had really pretended to be weak during his duel with Shang Sha, then he must have been waiting for Jia Qian at the Swallow Capital. Why had he gone into hiding?
Jia Qian found it difficult to believe that Di Jiu could have improved his martial arts skills in just over a month.
Jia Qian’s greatest regret was not training until he reached the Earth Tier cultivation level on the Fairy Planet before returning to Earth. Although it had been dangerous on the Fairy Planet, he would not have faced the danger he was facing right now. If he had really been an Earth Tier Warrior, he would definitely not have been in the position he was in right now, even if he failed to kill Di Jiu.
Everyone believed that Jia Qian was an Earth Tier Warrior, yet Jia Qian himself was the only one who knew that he had not reached that cultivation level yet. He was almost at the Earth Tier cultivation level, but he had never resumed cultivating in order to reach it, despite the fact that he had been back on Earth for many years.