Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
With his hands on his hips, Yan Lixuan stared at Zhang Ruochen and laughed. “The moment I saw you, I had a feeling that you were the one who could untie the knot in my heart.”
“Oh?”
Zhang Ruochen said, “How can I help you?”
“If I am defeated by you, maybe the knot in my heart can be untied.” said Yan Lixuan.
In fact,he wanted to be defeated!
Zhang Ruochen had no idea what the knot in Yan Lixuan’s heart was and he didn’t ask. He believed that if Yan Lixuan wanted to tell him, Yan Lixuan would do so. But if Yan Lixuan didn’t want to say, he wouldn’t say, even if Zhang Ruochen asked.
“Since it is so, then I must defeat you and help you untie the knot in your heart.” said Zhang Ruochen.
“But it’s not easy to defeat me. Perhaps you will be the one who loses, and I will be disappointed.”
Yan Lixuan walked away to the side, picked up a one foot long green leaf and pinched it between two fingers.
“Waaa!”
A wisp of golden Genuine Qi poured out of his fingers.
The soft leaf suddenly became as sharp as a blade.
Yan Lixuan’s energy changed sharply as well. His hair was like steel needles and his eyelashes were like swords.
A purring sound vibrated in the air. It was like an invisible sword flying around his body.
“Rustle!”
Zhang Ruochen raised his arms slowly. The leaves on the ground flew up into his hands, forming a sword. The seventy-two leaves continued swirling under the control of his Genuine Qi.
Yan Lixuan squinted his eyes, and with a look of surprise he said, “Well done!”
The words had barely faded when Yan Lixuan suddenly dashed away like an arrow, reaching a speed of seventy-two meters per second.
The leaf formed a curve in the air like a sword, pointed right at Zhang Ruochen’s heart.
In the very moment before Yan Lixuan took a stab, Zhang Ruochen slashed his sword at Yan Lixuan’s neck.
Yan Lixuan paled slightly and took three quick steps to the right.
“He made his move after but reached me quicker! Is his Realm of Sword Comprehension even higher than mine?”
Yan Lixuan chose not to hide his true power anymore. He cried out, “Blood Qi Condensing Soul!”
A huge, nine-meter long Blood Wave materialized beneath him, an illusory image of a giant tiger appeared behind him, and a four-foot long Blood Sword floated above him.
With the power of the Blood Meridian, Yan Lixuan’s power and speed reached a new height.
“Prajna Boundlessness!”
Yan Lixuan’s intensity improved greatly. He performed a sword technique from the Superior class of the Spiritual Stage, the Boundless Sword Technique.
Prajna Boundlessness was the first move of Boundless Sword Techqiue.
The leaf in Yan Lixuan’s hand threw off a wisp of golden light, resembling a golden sun. With an extraordinary sense of power, it crashed towards Zhang Ruochen.
The sword technique from the Superior class of the Spiritual Stage was so powerful that it was incomparable to the sword technique from the lower-class of Spiritual Stage.
“I cannot fight recklessly with him. I can only win by using wisdom.” Zhang Ruochen thought to himself.
“Sacred Wave Sword!”
The Leaf Sword in Zhang Ruochen’s hand suddenly broke up into seventy-two leaves.
Each leaf was a small sword.
The Sword Breath counteracted Yan Lixuan’s sword technique in rolling waves, and eventually defused it completely.
“Waaa!”
After defusing Yan Lixuan’s sword technique, the 72 leaves formed into a sword again and returned, suspended in Zhang Ruochen’s hand.
“Zhang Ruochen, I spent 14 years practicing Boundless Sword Techqiue. You are the first one in the Black Realm to block it.” laughed Yan Lixuan happily.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Others say that your fastest speed is 72 meters per second. But your speed just now was 76 meters per second. Did you hide your true power before?”
“I could ask the same of you.”
Yan Lixuan laughed and attacked again. He said, “There are eight movements in my Boundless Sword Technique. If you can block them all, I will give in immediately.”
“The second movement is Boundless Universe!”
Yan Lixuan’s body went leaping through the air. His moves of both body and sword were treacherous. Nobody could be sure from which direction he would attack next.
Zhang Ruochen turned his body and slashed out.
But it didn’t strike Yan Lixuan.
Yan Lixuan stabbed at Zhang Ruochen’s head and split his body in two.
But Yan Lixuan wasn’t pleased by this. Rather, he paled remarkably. It turned out that he had only stabbed the illusory image left by Zhang Ruochen, who himself was nowhere to be found.
“Boundless Shield!”
Yan Lixuan immediately performed a defensive sword technique. The Sword Breaths formed a huge shadow shield and blocked his front.
“Boom!”
Zhang Ruochen waved his Leaf Sword and slashed at the shadow shield.
They both stepped back at the same time.
After a second, they clashed once more.
“Boundless Killing!”
“Boundless Light!”
…
Thousands of Sword Breaths formed a vortex around Yan Lixuan, increasing their energy around the top.
Yan Lixuan performed the last movement. He cried, “Boundless Samsara!”
Zhang Ruochen stood firm in the face of the fierce Sword Breaths, like a small boat in huge waves. He said simply, “It’s time to finish this!”
“CLASH!”
Zhang Ruochen burst out at a speed of eighty meters per second and he slashed like a white rainbow through the void of space. He defused all of Yan Lixuan’s movements
When Zhang Ruochen stopped, he had already crossed more than ten feet of ground. The Leaf Sword punctured Yan Lixuan’s chest.
13 leaves raked across his chest and were then suspended behind him by blood.
But these leaves had punctured only the skin and flesh rather than the five internal organs under Zhang Ruochen’s control. So Yan Lixuan wasn’t badly hurt.
Yan Lixuan was petrified. He stood on the ground, looking at the leaves. He smiled bitterly and said, “I lost! I lost with the first movement!”
Zhang Ruochen withdrew the Genuine Qi. The Leaf Sword dissolved into mere leaves which fell softly to the ground.
“I wanted to see how powerful the sword technique in the Superior class of the Spiritual Stage is. But unfortunately, it is not as powerful as I imagined.” said Zhang Ruochen.
Yan Lixuan replied, “I thought I would be unrivaled in this Realm when I mastered Boundless Sword Technique. But just now, I realized that the sword technique which I have been practicing, is too weak. I shouldn’t have used this sword technique at that time. If I hadn’t done that, Xin Lian wouldn’t have died. This is retribution.”
Zhang Ruochen realized that maybe the knot in his heart had something to do with Boundless Sword Techqiue.
A warrior in the Black Realm who was able to master a sword technique in the Superior class of the Spiritual Stage was indeed inconceivable.
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen noticed that the Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth was moving quickly towards Yan Lixuan.
“Boom!”
The Spiritual Qi around Yan Lixuan shook fiercely and poured into his glabella like waves.
After a while, Yan Lixuan opened his eyes again and with a look of relief, bowed to Zhang Ruochen. He said, “I have learned a lot from today’s defeat. If I reach the Heaven Realm someday, I will definitely return today’s favor.”
After saying this, Yan Lixuan left gracefully.
Immediately, the knot in his heart was untied, his shackle was broken and he reached the Earth Realm.
“Elder brother! Why did Yan Lixuan leave? Who won the fight?” Liu Chengfeng rushed inside and asked curiously.
“It doesn’t matter.”
Zhang Ruochen thought for a while and asked, “Is the Internal Academy of the School of the Martial Market in Devil Martial City?”
“What are you going to do at the Internal Academy? Do you know how many people want to kill you now? Rumor has it that some people would pay a sky-high price for your head. The reward is 14 million 700 thousand silver coins! You rank 37th on the Board of the Bounty Hunter on the black market, and your price is even as high as some warriors of the Heaven Realm,” said Liu Chengfeng apprehensively.
The Board of Bounty Hunter was a board given out by the black market. The higher one’s price, the higher one’s ranking.
For example, Xun Guihai was not the only one who wanted to kill Zhang Ruochen. Many other forces wanted him dead as well.
The total price offered by all these forces would be the price of Zhang Ruochen’s head.
Only the warriors worth over one million silver coins could be listed on the Board of the Bounty Hunter.
Zhang Ruochen was a little surprised and asked, “Since when did my price become so high? I remember my price was only a little more than one million silver coins, and I could just barely be listed on the Board of the Bounty Hunter.”
Liu Chengfeng replied, “That’s because you were so brilliant in the battle with Xun Guihai, and some people even believe that you are in the Ultimate Realm of the Black Realm. Your talent is a threat to many people, so naturally there are a lot of people who want to kill you. They don’t want you to fully develop, but they don’t dare kill you openly. Therefore, hiring killers from the black market to kill you is the only way. That money keeps adding up, so your price becomes higher and higher.”
Zhang Ruochen touched his jaw lightly and said, “If my price really reaches 14 million 700 thousand silver coins, some warriors in the Heaven Realm must come. It won’t be safe even if I live in your father’s place. The safest place is the Internal Academy of the School of the Martial Market.
“What’s more, if I want to succeed in practicing Shadow of the Royal Wind Dragon as well, I must go there.”
Zhang Ruochen wouldn’t succeed in practicing Shadow of the Royal Wind Dragon even if he stayed in Liu Chuanshen’s place for a year. What he needed was an external force. So going to the Internal Academy was a must for Zhang Ruochen because there was a place for him to practice.
Liu Chengfeng replied, “Then, I’ll ask my father to escort you in person.”
“Don’t bother. Tell me the location and I can go there on my own.” Zhang Ruochen smiled mysteriously.
“Stop joking around! If you were assassinated on your way to the Internal Academy, I couldn’t face the consequences!” replied Liu Chengfeng anxiously.
“I’m not joking. It’s easy for me to escape from the killers. While I’m away, my fourth brother, junior sister apprentice Zi and Kong Xuan will stay here. Those killers want me but not them, so perhaps they will be safe.” said Zhang Ruochen seriously.
Other warriors couldn’t enter the Internal Academy of the School of the Martial Market without being noticed. But Zhang Ruochen could, because he had the Time and Space Spinel.