Chapter 49 : Chapter 49
Chapter 49: Lu Zhan, You Lied to Me
The instant the Perfection Martial Art Limit-Breaking Card shattered, Lu Zhan—already deeply familiar with the Nine Heavens Breaking Fiend Art—felt a fresh wave of understanding rise within him.
All kinds of experience in wielding the saber flooded into his mind.
BOOM!
Peals of thunder roared through his consciousness.
He could feel the saber energy inside his body undergo a complete transformation. Within the dark crimson saber energy, there was now an extra layer of silver.
That was the intent of the Nine Heavens!
【Congratulations, Host. You have comprehended the Entering the Divine Nine Heavens Breaking Fiend Art.】
【Congratulations, Host. You have comprehended Saber Intent. Stage: Initial Comprehension of Intent】
Saber Intent!!!
If he remembered correctly, experts of the Divine Sea Realm only began to comprehend saber energy, while only those of the Yuan Gang Realm could comprehend Saber Intent.
And yet he had comprehended it at the Aperture Opening Realm?
So this was the surprise brought by the Entering the Divine Nine Heavens Breaking Fiend Art.
It was simply wonderful.
“Lu Zhan, there is no need to keep fighting, is there? You may be strong, but there is still such a huge gap in realm between you and us. The fact that you can fight us to this extent already proves how powerful you are, but even so, you still cannot do anything to the two of us working together.”
“Oh, really?”
In the next moment, Lu Zhan leaped into the air, looking like a god of slaughter beneath the moonlight.
The Longevity Saber in his hand trembled without end.
“Tsk, you have not seen anything yet.”
“You barged into my jurisdiction, tried to rob me, and then thought you could just run away. If I actually let you escape, where would I put my face?”
The middle-aged man looked up—and nearly lost his soul from fright.
“S-Saber Intent?!!”
Am I so beaten senseless that I am seeing things now?
Impossible. It was already outrageous enough for someone at the Aperture Opening Realm to comprehend saber energy.
And this man had directly comprehended Saber Intent?!
“Damn it! Young man, you are really going to leave this Old Ancestor behind and run? Don’t you want the Marrow Cleansing Pill anymore?”
The balance they had struggled so hard to maintain did not even last a second before the middle-aged man abandoned Sima Zheng and fled.
If he had to face Lu Zhan alone, he had no confidence at all.
After cursing the middle-aged man’s ancestors for eighteen generations in his heart, Sima Zheng could only grit his teeth and face it head-on.
At the moment Lu Zhan’s Saber Intent descended, a battered bronze bell appeared around Sima Zheng’s body.
CLANG!
A crisp sound rang out.
Sima Zheng was blasted backward more than ten meters, though he did not die. He was only badly wounded, while the Saber Intent rampaged through his body, shredding away his life force.
That bronze bell should have been a Spirit Weapon, and not a low-grade one either. It had perhaps already reached the middle grade, though it was damaged.
Otherwise, it would not have been shattered by Lu Zhan in a single strike.
Sima Zheng had picked it up from an ancient ruin.
Its power had been tremendous. It had once helped him escape with his life from a perfected Aperture Opening Realm expert.
It was also his greatest trump card.
But now...
It was shattered!
The moment Lu Zhan split it apart with one slash, he knew there was no escaping anymore.
Looking at the middle-aged man who was fleeing, Sima Zheng’s expression turned venomous.
That junior had ruined him.
“Lu Zhan, don’t kill me. This Old Ancestor kneels to you. I beg you, spare me.”
Lu Zhan looked at him with disdain.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to take me as a Registered Disciple? And now you are begging me to spare you?”
“How about this? I won’t make things difficult for you. Since you are already kneeling, you might as well kowtow.”
Lu Zhan openly humiliated him.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Sima Zheng knocked his head three times without the slightest hesitation.
“Your mind runs too deep. If I leave you alive, I won’t be able to sleep.”
“Lu Zhan, I knelt, and I kowtowed too, yet you still refuse to spare me? Do you really have to force this Old Ancestor to death? Fine, fine, fine. Since you refuse to let me live well, then you should not think of living well either.”
At some point, a porcelain bottle had appeared in his hand.
His expression was complicated. So many people had died for this thing.
“If this Old Ancestor cannot have it, then I will destroy it.”
A ruthless glint flashed through his eyes.
He squeezed lightly.
BANG!
The porcelain bottle shattered, and the pill inside shattered with it.
In an instant, dense medicinal fragrance and Spiritual Energy spilled out in every direction. The flowers, grass, and trees nearby all grew by a large margin in a strange burst.
“You are courting death!”
A trace of anger flashed through Lu Zhan’s eyes.
But Sima Zheng laughed triumphantly. “Hahaha, Lu Zhan, you little brat, it hurts, doesn’t it? Losing a Marrow Cleansing Pill must pain you deeply. This is the price of mutual destruction. Dying with a Marrow Cleansing Pill is worth it. This Old Ancestor does not lose out... wait!”
Sima Zheng sniffed the air.
“No... something is wrong!”
“The smell of this pill is wrong. This is not a Marrow Cleansing Pill. It is a Qi-Gathering Pill.”
Shock, confusion, unwillingness.
They had all seen with their own eyes that the porcelain bottle had contained a Marrow Cleansing Pill.
But now, as though by magic, it had turned into a Qi-Gathering Pill. So after fighting all night, this was what they had been fighting for?
Then their deaths had truly been too unjust.
“Lu Zhan, you lied to me! You lied to all of us! You set a trap for us! May you die a— I... even as a ghost... will never let you go!”
Lu Zhan could not be bothered to waste words. He simply beheaded him with one slash.
That old thief Sima Zheng had destroyed one of his Qi-Gathering Pills. He truly was despicable. And he was not even as polite as the younger ones. He did not even know to say thank you.
“I lied to you? Do not put it like that. You make it sound like some aggrieved little wife. You were the ones who were stupid, and now you are blaming me?”
“And a trap? Please. I merely took the Marrow Cleansing Pill home to consume it. You were the ones rushing over to die. How is that my fault?”
“As for becoming a ghost? Forget it. It is not that I look down on you, but once you are a ghost, I could crush a whole crowd of your kind with a casual hand.”
In truth, the bottle he first took out had indeed contained the Marrow Cleansing Pill.
But when he tossed the pill bottle upward in his right hand, he made a small move and used the Sumeru Mark on his right hand to switch it out.
The bottle was still the same bottle, but the pill was no longer the same pill.
If he had possessed any other pills on him, he would not even have been willing to use a Qi-Gathering Pill for the swap.
What a pity. He had just collected his resources, and now he had already lost one.
【Ding! Detected that the host has slain an eighth-layer Aperture Opening Realm Martial Artist above his level. Reward: 3740 Slaughter Points】
【Ding! Detected that the host has completed ten consecutive kills. Title obtained: Ruthless and Decisive. Reward: Talent—Eyes of the Candle Dragon】
He had actually obtained a new title.
He still remembered the effect of his first-kill title, First Showing of One’s Edge. It had been extremely powerful.
So what would the effect of the ten-kill title be?
Lu Zhan did not rush to check it. There was still one more head left to take.
The middle-aged man kept fleeing while glancing back.
When he saw Lu Zhan kill Sima Zheng with a single slash, he realized that Lu Zhan had been holding back from start to finish.
He had comprehended Saber Intent long ago, yet never once revealed it.
He was monstrously strong.
Whenever the middle-aged man faced Lu Zhan, he always felt a shiver of dread.
He could not help looking back over and over, afraid that Lu Zhan would suddenly catch up and stab him in the back.
Fortunately, there was no sign of Lu Zhan behind him.
He finally let out a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness he did not follow.
At an exaggerated speed, he fled Peach Blossom Alley.
In his mind, the danger level of this place had already been raised straight to that of a forbidden zone.
Suddenly, on the railing of the bridge ahead, a young man stood in his way, holding a saber loosely in one hand.
“Lu Zhan! There is no life-and-death grudge between us, is there? I was in the wrong about this matter. As long as you let me go today, I will compensate you.”
Lu Zhan simply drew his saber and charged forward.
“There is no need for an apology. Just repay it with your life.”
“Remember this: do not casually reach for anything that belongs to the Demon Extermination Bureau. The higher-ups do not interfere because the gap in seniority makes it inconvenient for them to act.”
“And one more thing. Be more careful in your next life. Do not come making trouble in my jurisdiction for no reason.”
The middle-aged man panicked.
“Wait, Lu Zhan, stop! I am actually a Demon Extermination Bureau... captain!”
Just as he was about to shout the word “captain,” a lump of mud sealed his mouth shut.
The moment Lu Zhan heard the words “Demon Extermination Bureau,” he understood what the man was trying to do.
If the other man managed to declare his identity, then Lu Zhan would be killing a captain of the Demon Extermination Bureau.
If he failed to declare it, then Lu Zhan would only be killing a criminal attempting to attack a Jurisdiction Head.
Lu Zhan was not afraid of him, but it would still be troublesome.
The middle-aged man instantly understood Lu Zhan’s intention, and a trace of madness flashed through his eyes.
Fine, fine, fine. If you will not let me live, then we die together.
He pulled a talisman from his robes.
An Ice Arrow Talisman, equivalent to a single strike from a Divine Sea Realm expert.
This was his life-saving trump card, one that he had paid an enormous price to obtain.
He had never expected he would have to use it today.
“Lu Zhan, go die!”
The talisman tore apart, and at once the sky filled with countless dense ice arrows.
Even before they drew near, one could already sense the terrifying power of each arrow.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The ice arrows fell like rain.
The bridge was filled with a biting chill, and a layer of frost-filled mist enveloped the surroundings.
“Hahaha, I killed Lu Zhan! Hahahahaha, I killed Lu Zhan!”
Standing at the bridgehead, the middle-aged man laughed wildly.
It was exhilarating!
That man, who had been like a nightmare, was finally dead.
“Lu Zhan, do not blame me. If you must blame someone, blame yourself for insisting on driving me to the end.”
Although trading one Ice Arrow Talisman for one Marrow Cleansing Pill was a bit of a loss, at least he could recover something.
Just as he was about to reclaim his spoils of war—
From the freezing mist, an incomparably overbearing strand of Saber Intent flew out.
SLASH!
A head slowly fell to the ground.
“How is that possible?”
Even a strike from a Divine Sea Realm expert could not kill this man? How had he done it?