Stranger Danger

Huo Linglong immediately strode toward a room all three of them hadn’t visited the day before yesterday. After opening the door, she moved aside and motioned for Sun Xuanzhen and Yue Juejiang to head in first. The two men didn’t suspect a thing and stepped into the room immediately.

The room was extremely small and barely big enough to fit a handful of people. After they went inside, there was almost no room for a fourth person. That was probably why Huo Linglong chose to hang outside the door behind them.

The resident of the room was a somewhat boorish-looking man. Stunned to see Sun Xuanzhen and Yue Juejiang barging into his space, he hurriedly shot to his feet and asked in a nervous tone, “W-What do you need from me?”

Sun Xuanzhen asked directly, “What did you do with your Profound Yellow Qi yesterday?”

The man looked confused. “I... gave it to you?”

“Me? Are you sure it was me?” Sun Xuanzhen’s voice grew a tad harsher.

“I don’t understand what you mean,” the man looked even more confused.

“Just answer the question!” Yue Juejiang interrupted impatiently.

Seemingly intimidated by Yue Juejiang, the man answered fearfully, “Of... Of course it was Brother Sun. I saw it with my own eyes.”

Sun Xuanzhen and Yue Juejiang exchanged a glance with each other and thought, there really is a thief among us.

Neither man noticed the timid man suddenly bending his fingers and tapping the space in front of him. A wave of anomalous energy immediately washed out and robbed them of their consciousness. Thick fog surging out of his body and covering everything with sixty meters of him[1], the man stepped forward and unleashed a pair of punches at Sun Xuanzhen and Yue Juejiang’s chest.

The instant his fists made contact, powerful sword qi suddenly surged out and surrounded Sun Xuanzhen’s body like a barrier, and Yue Juejiang’s skin took on a shade of bronze. It sounded like he was striking a thick chunk of metal instead of flesh.

The man ignored it all, however. He just kept pressing forward until his right fist shattered Sun Xuanzhen’s sword qi barrier, and his left fist cracked Yue Juejiang’s bronze body. Once done, he withdrew his fist exactly half an inch.

Sun Xuanzhen and Yue Juejiang had already regained their consciousness while he was retracting his fists, and they looked shocked to say the least. The sword qi barrier protecting Sun Xuanzhen was an ultimate technique in the “Sword King Scripture” known as the “Sword Qi Protects The Golden Palace”. Capable of both offense and defense, the practitioner must hone the “Sword Qi Protects the Golden Palace” until their sword heart gained a sixth sense of its own before they could use the technique. In times of crisis, the sword qi would activate on its own and envelop its practitioner in a protective barrier. In times of aggression, it could also be used to attack the enemy.

The sword technique’s greatest strength lay in the fact that it didn’t require its practitioner’s will to activate. It would automatically protect its owner if it sensed a certain level of danger, and it was powerful enough to block the full-powered attack of a Half-Step Grandmaster and buy time for its practitioner to react.

Not this time though. Somehow, the unknown man had shattered his “Sword Qi Protects The Golden Palace” in one punch. Sun Xuanzhen was shocked to put it mildly.

Yue Juejiang was even more shocked than the swordsman, however. Although he wasn’t a pure body-tempering warrior, the warriors of the Earthly Sovereign Hall were famous for their powerful body. Yue Juejiang had cultivated its ultimate art, the “Profound Yellow Art of Heaven and Earth” since young, and he had long since reached the journeyman level and attained a Profound Yellow Bronze Body.

The three stages of the “Profound Yellow Art of Heaven and Earth” were distinguished by the type of body the practitioner achieved, namely the Iron Body, Bronze Body, and Golden Body. A practitioner with an Iron Body was immune to conventional weapons, a Bronze Body feared nothing from the elements, and a Golden Body was impervious to all tribulations because it had achieved sagehood.

The Profound Yellow Bronze Body was so strong that it allowed him, a Half-Step Spirit Master, to withstand the full-powered attack of Sun Xuanzhen and Huo Linglong without a scratch. It was strong enough to endure even the attacks of a late-stage Spirit Master or a Half-Step Grandmaster for a short time. That was why the two Spirit Masters had treated him as their equal.

But now, this unknown man had cracked his Profound Yellow Bronze Body in one punch. Such was his strength that his vigor was churning like a seastorm.

“Insolent cur! Die!”

As shocked as they were, neither Sun Xuanzhen nor Yue Juejiang were greenhorns who would allow their emotions to overcome them in the heat of a battle. As soon as they saw him withdrawing his fists as if he was spent, they immediately recognized it as an opportunity and attacked him together.

Sun Xuanzhen pressed his fingers together and swung down like he would split apart the gates of heaven themselves.

“Sky Splitting Sword Qi”

Yue Juejiang also unleashed a palm strike that looked and felt like the apoplectic rage of mountains and rivers.

“Mountain River God Palm” [2]

The man didn’t panic, however. He simply extended his fists half an inch forward.

A storm could blow inside a cup. Half an inch could topple the heavens. Sun Xuanzhen’s “Sky Splitting Sword Qi” or Yue Juejiang’s “Mountain River God Palm” had just taken form when the man punched them in the chest once more.

Bang!

A small shudder overcame the two men. Then, half of Sun Xuanzhen’s body exploded into bits, and Yue Juejiang’s chest caved inward. Bright red blood gushed out of every orifice.

“Ahhh!”

The two men let out a bloodcurdling, fearful scream. Death was breathing down their necks, and they couldn’t help but quake in fear.

It was at this moment Sun Xuanzhen’s ruthlessness and decisiveness shone. Before Yue Juejiang could recover his wits, he kicked the man and sent him flying toward their attacker. At the same time, he pounced for the exit.

“Sun Xuanzhen, you...!”

Yue Juejiang’s eyes bulged with shock and fury. He couldn’t believe that Sun Xuanzhen would sacrifice him to buy time for his own escape.

The young man had grown up sheltered in the Earthly Sovereign Hall. As accomplished as he was, he had never experienced the ruthless reality of the jianghu. This was the first time he learned of the dark side of humanity, and unfortunately for him, it might very well be the last.

Yue Juejiang was still gripped by rage and sorrow when the unknown man caught him by the neck. He was so strong that he was unable to move a muscle at all.

After Yue Juejiang forged his Profound Yellow Bronze Body, he became as strong as five dragon elephants. However, he was powerless to resist the unknown man like a baby was powerless to throw back the strength of an adult.

The realization made him afraid, angry, helpless, and hateful. He hated the man, and he hated his betrayer, Sun Xuanzhen, even more.

As if he could sense his emotions, the corners of the unknown man’s lips curled into a devilish smirk. A small voice resounded inside his mind, “Don’t worry. He won’t escape.”

Who was he? Yue Juejiang could think of one and only one man. So, he turned his head and stared at Sun Xuanzhen.

Meanwhile, Sun Xuanzhen was wearing a pleased smile on his face. The fact that the unknown man had caught Yue Juejiang only filled him with a sense of satisfaction instead of guilt or sorrow. It was because Yue Juejiang’s “valiant” sacrifice had bought him a chance to survive.

Why would he care if Yue Juejiang lived or died? His life was more valuable than all other lives in this world. As for the Earthly Sovereign Hall, he could worry about them after he survived this crisis.

“Kill him now, Fire Princess! Otherwise, we’re all gonna die!”

Sun Xuanzhen roared while grabbing a pill from his Nature’s Shell. It was called the Sword King Pill, and its main function was to heal one’s physical injuries and restore one’s energies. If he ate it, a bit of time was all he needed to regenerate the exploded half of his body. He would have a shot at turning the tables against the unknown man then.

“Sure. I’ll help you.”

Sun Xuanzhen’s back was facing toward Huo Linglong[3], so he didn’t see the scornful smile spreading across her face. Yue Juejiang did though. At that moment, realization struck him like a lightning bolt.

They’re on the same side!

Huo Linglong took a step forward and cut off Sun Xuanzhen’s retreat, her upper body pressed snugly against his back. Realizing that something was horribly wrong, the swordsman shouted in shock and panic, “What are you doing, Huo Linglong?!”

“I’m helping you!”

He tried to react, but it was too late. A black nail appeared between her fingers, and Huo Linglong stabbed it into his neck with a giggle. See? I’m ensuring that your inevitable downfall would be as painless as possible.

“You...”

Sun Xuanzhen turned around and glared at Huo Linglong. He looked like he would swallow her alive if he could. “The two of you are on the same side?!”

1. Well, the door is open, and there are gaps between the door and the threshold of each room. Otherwise, everyone would just suffocate to death. ☜

2. Once in a while, I feel lazy and I’m like, instead of Divine Palm of Mountains and Rivers, let’s just translate it literally because no one gives a shit and this guy is soon to be dead anyway. ☜

3. Remember, he kicked Yue Juejiang toward the unknown man and pushed himself away, so his back was facing the exit this whole time. ☜

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