Chapter 37: Killed Instead
Just as Yang Chen finished saying his typical phrase, hundreds of Inflammation Talismans suddenly burst out of the ground around the long bearded scholar. One explosion from an Inflammation Talisman would be absolutely unable to injure the scholar, the explosions of a hundred inflammation talismans, which were furthermore enhanced by the Universal Treasure Raising Secrets, however, would naturally change the outcome.
When he killed the first opponent, Yang Chen immediately became aware that these guys would certainly find the corpse in an instant, so he rapidly placed hundreds talisman papers in different places underground and now, affected by his spiritual awareness, they immediately exploded.
Just a moment ago, he had forcefully used all of the spirit power in his body and he was just barely able to move the great defensive spell of the Medicine Garden, but he was too weak to fully control it, so he was injured and had to suffer the backlash. The enemy, however, had surprisingly miscalculated when Yang Chen was speaking and did try to make Yang Chen flee into the maze again. One yang qi pill which Yang Chen had long ago put into his mouth timely entered his stomach and then he frantically unleashed those Inflammation Talismans he deployed long ago.
Apart from the Inflammation Talismans, there were also a dozen Thousand Jin Talismans as well as many tens of Gigantic Wood Talismans. With using wood to make fire, the Inflammation Talismans’ might increased even more, to the maximum. At the same time, tens of huge trees, thick enough one would have to wrap one’s arm around it, suddenly appeared in the sky, crashing towards the long bearded scholar.
In the time it takes for an eye to blink, the long bearded scholar’s entire body was buried under the pile of flames and huge trees and his presence could not be seen anymore. The fearful blade within Yang Chen’s hand slashed out once and was just about to go up when he suddenly heard a mad roar.
From within the lighted huge trees, suddenly a huge and very long haired claw appeared, this claw emitted a majestic pressure onto the surrounding flames and unexpectedly not even a single flame was able to channel through.
However, only the flames were blocked, those huge trees were sturdily smashing into the huge claw and immediately the owner of the claw issued a loud howl. After a moment, a shadow like a leopard flew out from within the flames and directly pounced towards Yang Chen.
Yang Chen’s blade was already horizontal in front of his chest, so upon seeing this he loudly shouted, raising the fierce blade within his hand to the top of his head and with strength enough to split open mountains he chopped the blade towards the leopard flying at him.
As quick as a spark from flint and steel, one human, one beast, within a blink, the distance between them had already closed to less than a meter. The momentum of Yang Chen’s blade was very quick: from raising the blade to chopping down, he didn’t waste any time. The bright and beautiful tip of the blade flashed through the sky so fast, the rest of the blade wasn’t even visible anymore.
The charging leopard’s body was going to hit Yang Chen, but as if it had suddenly lost all of its strength, its body stopped in the sky and following a breaking sound, it split into two pieces in front of Yang Chen., the cut was smooth as a mirror.
However Yang Chen was not checking up on the leopard’s body, rather scouting the left hand side, he took out tens of both Inflammation Talismans and great tree talismans and he detonated all of them to mask up the evidence of the attack in the area and went away.
Boom Boom
From within the sounds of explosions and ramming, suddenly a leisurely voice was heard:
“Good blade! I want it!”
Following which, the long bearded scholar’s pensive silhouette suddenly appeared outside the flames. From head to toe, he had not taken the least bit of damage and still had the same elegant appearance as before.
Hearing his voice and seeing his image, Yang Chen’s whole body suddenly trembled, as if he had too shocked. The fierce blade within his hand subconsciously shot towards the scholar and indeed the blade was thrown to give it to him, rather than with the wish to injure him.
Yang Chen’s sorry-looking figure was not missed by the scholar’s eyes so he slightly smiled when Yang Chen’s blade already had reached him. The long bearded scholar merely reached out his hand to grab the fierce blade with his hand.
Once it entered his hand, the long bearded scholar at once sensed something strange about the fierce blade and suddenly madly shouted:
“Magic weapon?”
His voice was brimming with pleasant surprise as if he had received a hundred million treasures.
From the start he had been lusting after Yang Chen’s weapon, that blade which had easily killed and beheaded three of his comrades, he even suspected that this was a talisman gem. He had personally seen Yang Chen kill his spirit pet, which confirmed that the fierce blade in Yang Chen’s hand was, at least, a talisman gem, thinking this he had reached out his hand to catch it but he never anticipated that this blade was actually a magic weapon.
To think that a magic weapon could become his, the long bearded scholar laughed until he almost fainted. Just because a kid of the first qi layer didn’t know what was that, did not mean that he would also not know what was that. However, when he had barely discovered that it was a magic weapon, a sword intent suddenly appeared from the blade within his hand and attempted to devour him.
“Magic weapon!”
His voice had immediately changed flavour, he shouted the same words as before, but the meaning was now entirely different, this time his voice was full of alarm and shock.
If it really was a flying sword magic weapon, then because of his cultivation at the eighth qi layer he may not be able to bind it at once. A cultivator of the first qi layer could remain unscathed after coming in contact with it, so surely it had to be a magic weapon which hadn’t passed through refining. This kind of magic weapon, he was holding its the handle in his hand. But he hadn’t expected that this magic weapon would be so surly and unreasonable like this.
The long bearded scholar sensed something queer and immediately wanted to get away from the blade within his hand, however, he did not have enough time. The violently surging sword intent entered his body and directly reached for the core of his spiritual awareness.
Chi!
The scholar’s body was like a hedgehog, illusory images of needles appeared all over him, and in a flash, the scholar’s whole body was filled with holes and turned into a huge leaking sieve. Soon his whole body, from top to bottom, appeared as if it did not have any bones and fell down flexibly like a puddle of mire.
“If you had had the strength of a JieDan stage expert, then I would have agreed with you!”
Yang Chen slowly walked forward and leaned in to pick up the fierce blade inserted into the ground, and placed it into his Achievement Ring. Shaking his head towards the muddy paste on ground said:
“But unfortunately, you did not have that!”
From the beginning, Yang Chen never intended to use his own talisman papers to repel the enemy. The talisman papers were refined at the time he was at the first qi layer, even if they were processed through the Universal Treasure Raising Secrets, and used in large quantities, they could not injure a master of the refine qi eighth level. The detonation of so many talisman papers was just to cover this final strike by throwing the blade.
Yang Chen getting stunned and throwing his blade to attack him was all a part of his plan. His killer weapon was precisely this fierce blade. In his previous life, this blade had taken the life of a JieDan stage expert who didn’t know the secret way to refine it. This long bearded scholar had a cultivation of the eighth qi layer, to forcefully try to bind the blade, death was the only possible outcome.
There ought to be one more enemy, but Yang Chen was unable to find his whereabouts using his spiritual awareness. Furthermore, after this kind of fierce fighting, the sound of the explosion of the Inflammation Talismans was so loud, but still the enemy hadn’t appeared, it could only be assumed that he was not there. Yang Chen would no longer looked for him and began to slowly collect his spoils of war.
Apart from the long bearded scholar, no other enemy had an intact corpse. Facing the enemy, Yang Chen was naturally not modest, those four still intact qiankun pouches, naturally they were now Yang Chen’s property.
Three people of the seventh qi layer and one eighth qi layer master were chasing to kill him, even if Yang Chen was benevolent, he could still not contain his bottomless fury. This affair was surely Sun Hai Jing and Chu Heng’s idea, otherwise, Sun Hai Jing would not have said those words before he left. However based on Sun Hai Jing’s background, he did not have the ability to hire these experts.
This situation, it’s not yet over! In his previous life, Yang Chen had suffered these kinds of attacks, but he would not this time. The recent chase to kill him made him experience the feeling of a stray dog that he had felt throughout his previous life. If it were not for the rule that disciples of the same sect could not kill each other, Yang Chen would have already taken care of Sun Hai Jing at the Nine Earth Manor. The other party was not willing to spare him though so it seems that after he returns this time, at the day of sect’s martial art competition, he would have to get rid of Sun Hai Jing and vent his heart’s anger.
All along he had not fired back when they chased to kill him, in this life Yang Chen did not intend to take such an attitude. To invite seventh and eighth qi layer masters, ordinary spirit stones were not enough, only if one were to offer talisman gems suitable for their use, would one have a chance to hire them.
At that moment, Yang Chen was searching for such gems in the qiankun pouches these assassins had left behind. Maybe he could find traces of Chu Heng’s creation skill among these items. Even if he was not able to find them, Yang Chen still wanted to spread the news. Chu Heng could not directly deal with Yang Chen, as he was the Merit Transferring Disciple, this was a well known secret in the Ye Xiu Manor and the Nine Earth Manor, but these baseless rumours could still get Chu Heng in trouble for some time.
What about hiring assassins himself? Yang Chen didn’t want to, since he had crossed over, even the jade emperor had turned into a departed spirit under his blade, so no matter what sort of enemy it was, Yang Chen wanted to use the edge of his own blade, like how he had gotten rid of these few just recently.
Yang Chen threw these few corpses into the illusion spell and within this brief period, he would not have to worry about them being discovered. If it went in accordance with his past life’s development, these few corpses would only be found after ten years.
Under the cover of the illusion spell, Yang Chen spent almost ten days recovering from the injuries he had received when the defensive spell of the Medicine Garden tried to devour him. He was lucky that this time the clean bottle had absorbed enough spirit power, this has saved Yang Chen’s spirit power from suffering devastating damage.
However it was convenient this way because Yang Chen’s spiritual awareness was already comparable to that of the mid foundation stage, still, forcefully stimulating the array had lead to his spiritual awareness being harmed. Luckily Yang Chen had already bound the medicine garden, so even if he were to be devoured, it would not be fatal, he would merely lose a portion of his spiritual awareness. The Three Purities Secret was matchlessly wondrous: within a few days, it had already restored Yang Chen’s lost spiritual awareness.
When he emerged again, he went to the Thousand Autumn Pavilion in the city market at MeiQing mountain. This was originally a shop run by Pure Yang Palace, Yang Chen casually entered and when anyone saw that there hung a qiankun pouch with the sign of the Pure Yang Palace at his waist, nobody stopped him and allowed him to directly go up to the hall above.
Bang!
Yang Chen threw a bundle wrapped in layers of cotton cloth on the table, the cold frost across his entire face made Yang Chen look very fierce and violent. He intentionally leaked some killing intent which made Yang Chen look like he surely wanted to attack. If he had not been a disciple of the Pure Yang Palace, perhaps someone would have already thrown him out.
“Younger Disciple Yang, what is this?”
A fat shopkeeper noiselessly appeared in front of Yang Chen, since he was one of them, it was natural for the shopkeeper to come out and receive him. This shopkeeper was a cultivator at the sixth qi layer, merely was he was previously a servant and only after reaching the fifth qi layer was he picked to go out and take care of sect’s business. He was very respectful towards the Pure Yang Palace’s disciples which had come out to train. Yang Chen had come here last time, so the shopkeeper naturally recognized him.
Yang Chen immediately opened the wrapped up cloth, exposing three and a half severed heads and a talisman tool in very good condition inside. The reason why there were three and a half heads, was because of that guy, who had been minced by the sword spell, only half of his head could be found, however, this could probably still be used to determine his identity.
“These things were found on their bodies, they resemble my Pure Yang Palaces’ creation skills quite closely.”
Yang Chen bitterly smiled.
“When did my Pure Yang Palace’s people start colluding with outsiders to kill the sect’s disciples?”
The shopkeeper was greatly shocked hearing this. Previously when Yang Chen was coming to the Nine Earth Manor he had been attacked by an assassin, this affair had already caused almost all of the loose cultivators in the surroundings of the MeiQing mountain to be interrogated. It was just like the previous matter had occurred yesterday, and today Yang Chen was attacked by assassins once again once again, in addition to that, even disciples of the Pure Yang Palace were implicated by this. For the shopkeeper, these words were like a lightning bolt from the sky.
Seeing these people’s heads, the shopkeeper immediately recognized them: these few were famous loose cultivators, they formed a group and would frequently come and go in the city market. However these cultivators had a pretty good cultivation while Yang Chen was merely a disciple of the first qi layer, yet unexpectedly he had killed would be killers. This stunned the shopkeeper even more and he felt endless admiration for Yang Chen.
“These guys also had one more companion, go and find his whereabouts, maybe you can find who is responsible for this.”
Yang Chen pointed this out and then immediately got up to leave.
“I am still occupied with my mission, so I will have to trouble senior brother to deal with this affair. Surprisingly during the time when the Pure Yang Palace’s disciples go outside to train, I still haven’t crossed the MeiQing Mountain and have already been chased by people with murderous intentions!”
Yang Chen had not even left the building and the news was already sent back to the Pure Yang Palace. Immediately the higher ups became furious again. The whole nest of the Law Enforcement Hall once again came out and once again started a big investigation, turning the sky and earth upside down in the surroundings of MeiQing Mountain.
Hearing the news about this investigation, Sun Hai Jing became very alarmed and desperate and finally he was unable to hold back the fear in his heart. In the name of seeking advice, he once again appeared in front of Chu Heng.
“Master, what should we do? If the Law Enforcement Hall’s investigation reaches us, we will be ruined!”
Sun Hai almost started weeping while saying these words, trying to kill disciples of the same sect, this was a huge crime, in case they were found out, the consequences would be too horrible to imagine.
“Why are you losing your head?”
Chu Heng was also somewhat fearful, but he ultimately didn’t let it show on his face. First he used a formation to seal the surroundings and then he said:
“That guy who is still alive, haven’t you given him the spell method for finding Yang Chen’s qiankun pouch?”
“I did, Master!”
What Sun Hai Jing was afraid of, was the severe punishment he would receive, if the guy who was alive was found, he will die without a burial site.
“Don’t worry, I have left a tracking formation on that spell method scroll.”
Chu Heng stood up, calmly tidying his clothes as he said:
“He will not survive tomorrow’s sunrise! You have to return for the time being if others ask you something, just say that you don’t know anything.”
“Yes, master!”
When Sun Hai Jing heard Chu Heng’s further plans, he felt very relieved and returned to his own courtyard and immediately began a closed door training session, without paying any more attention to outside affairs.
As soon as Sun Hai Jing had walked far enough, Chu Heng came out and started cursing in the direction Sun Hai Jing had disappeared to.
“You wastrel! Can’t even take care of such a trivial matter, still needs me to take care of it, humph! If killing you wouldn’t leave obvious traces to me, I would have immediately killed you to silence you!”
After finishing his cursing, his figure disappeared in a flash.
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