Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Three breaths!
What did this mean?
It was akin to someone spending 30 years on closed-door cultivation in isolation to master a new, immensely powerful sword technique. Then, the moment he ended his closed-door cultivation and declared, “I’m invincible and I want to rule the world”, he realized that the entire world had mastered this technique. Even a three years old child was better than him.
Collapse!
This was Great Elder Ying Yu’s feeling right now. His body and soul were on the verge of a total collapse.
He was not alone. The four other elders who stood next to him and the hundreds of disciples from the Nine Pinnacles Mountain all felt the same way.
“Three breaths?!”
“Mastered the Ice Crystal Dao!”
“Is he still human?”
The Nine Pinnacles Mountain disciples naturally knew that it was extremely difficult to master the Ice Crystal Dao. In fact, they knew exactly how hard it was.
However, the floating chunk of ice in Fang Zhengzhi’s hand resembled the Ice Crystal Dao’s Nine Crystal Formation exactly. Furthermore, more importantly, Fang Zhengzhi was able to escape from the Nine Crystal Formation. The only explanation for that was that he had mastered it.
This was a fact.
However, it was a fact that few were willing to accept.
At this moment, everyone was still unable to come to terms with this fact. A ray of light suddenly appeared in front of Ying Yu.
“Slicck!” A sword which shone with a devilish purple light pierced through Ying Yu’s heart in front of everyone. They instantly woke up from their reverie.
“Leader!”
“Master!”
The four elders and hundreds of disciples all called out together.
Great Elder Ying Yu’s body shivered as he stared intently at the Traceless Sword, which had penetrated his heart. Then, he looked at the purple light swirling on top of it. His eyes bulged.
“You…” Ying Yu wanted to say that this was the Nine Pinnacles Mountain. It was one of the five sects of the Holy Region and furthermore, there were hundreds of disciples near him. How dared he try to kill him.
However, just as he was able to speak, no word came out. This was because Fang Zhengzhi had already killed him without any fear or apprehension.
Was he about to die?
This was the first time Ying Yu asked himself this. At the same time, it was the last time.
He never expected himself to die like this, standing amidst hundreds of disciples from the Nine Pinnacles Mountain as he was stabbed to death.
“Actually, I lied to you just now,” said Fang Zhengzhi as he blinked his eyes. He noticed the unwilling look on Ying Yu’s face.
“What… what…?” The Great Elder’s eyes widened once more. His eyes were bloodshot and his body trembled violently. He did not know why Fang Zhengzhi would say this so suddenly. However, he wanted to know what did Fang Zhengzhi lie to him about.
“I lied to you about mastering the Ice Crystal Dao in just three breaths. Actually…” As Fang Zhengzhi spoke, his voice seemed to taper off.
“Haha… yes… how can you master a Dao in just three breaths when I, Ying Yu, spent my entire life on it! I wasn’t calm… enough, so I fell for… your trick…” When Great Elder Ying Yu heard this, his expression froze and he understood what Fang Zhengzhi wanted to say almost instantly.
“Actually, I wanted to say that I did not need three breaths. One to two breaths were enough!” Fang Zhengzhi waved his hand as he looked innocently at Ying Yu.
“One to two breaths were enough!”
“… Enough!”
The whole world turned deathly silent at this point. A single voice reverberated across the Nine Pinnacles Mountain…
However, Ying Yu’s body shook once more. His pale face turned green as his lips trembled non-stop as he said, “One to two… breaths…”
“Bleugh!” He spat out another mouthful of blood. Then, Ying Yu’s body fell backward.
“Leader!”
“Ma… master!”
The four elders and the hundreds of disciples all called out in unison. Furthermore, as their voices reverberated, the four elders attacked together.
They were very fast!
At such a close distance, four rays of light appeared next to Fang Zhengzhi almost instantly as they attacked him from all directions.
Then, at this moment, a ray of blood-red light shot out from the ground, completely enveloping Fang Zhengzhi.
At the same time…
The ground completely split open. Countless rays of blood-red light rose from the ground. Instantly, they solidified and turned into a blood-red blade.
“Boom!”
“Ah…”
“Dodge it, it’s the Dao of Asura!”
“Ahh!”
Wails of pain rang out in the air. At this moment, with Fang Zhengzhi as the center, the Nine Crystals Formation laid by the Nine Pinnacles Mountain disciples turned into a slaughterhouse.
“Crrack!” The right arm of an elder who wielded a sword was sliced off by a sharp, blood-red sword. His arm was sent flying.
The three other elders were sent flying back too. Their bodies were all blood-soaked and huge gashes could be seen all over them.
Among the hundreds of disciples from the Nine Pinnacles Mountain, half of them were severely injured. Almost all of them had wounds on them and their faces were extremely pale.
Cries of pain rang out ceaselessly and reverberated in the Nine Pinnacles Mountain.
“It seems that the Nine Crystals Formation just now depleted much of your Origin Energy, right?” Fang Zhengzhi gripped his sword and swept his surrounding with his gaze. He stood in the center of the carnage. His hair flew in the air as he looked at the bloodied ground.
“Fang Zhengzhi, do you really want to kill everyone from the Nine Pinnacles Mountain?!” The elder whose arm had been cut off knelt on the ground and looked at Fang Zhengzhi, his mouth oozing blood.
He brimmed with hatred. He hated how helpless he was. At the same time, he hated Fang Zhengzhi too and he would like nothing more than to kill him straight away. However, he knew that was impossible.
This was because, just like what Fang Zhengzhi had said, they were not powerful to move against him anymore. Just now, the Nine Crystals Formation had drained much of their Origin Energy.
Hence, how could they continue fighting?
He was unwilling.
He was really unwilling.
However, today, the Nine Pinnacles Mountain had lost. Their defeat was absolute. Their new Leader, Ying Yu, had died before their very eyes and right now, the Nine Pinnacles Mountain was stained with their own blood.
What he did was to ask a question.
He asked Fang Zhengzhi if he really wanted to kill everyone from the Nine Pinnacles Mountain!
At the same time, he was begging. He was begging someone they had to kill for mercy. He was begging this God of Death who stood in front of them. He was begging someone whom they had once tried to trick.
As a Sage, this was not something that he could say. However, around him, there were countless other disciples of the Nine Pinnacles Mountain. He had no choice but to say it.
“Fang Zhengzhi, we have lost… and we admit our defeat. However, we hope that you can spare the lives of these hundreds of Nine Pinnacles Mountain disciples. If you want to kill, kill the four of us. As long as you let them go, we can promise, as elders of the Nine Pinnacles Mountain, that wherever you appear from now on, no one from the Nine Pinnacles Mountain shall be there!”
The other three elders looked at the hundreds of disciples around them. Then, they gritted their teeth and knelt down too.
“How long was I being cultivated in the Middle Stream Cauldron?” Fang Zhengzhi looked at the four kneeling elders and then, at the rising sun, as he asked.
“Ah?” The four elders looked at each other as they could not understand why he would ask such a question. Then, after a short pause, they all said in unison. “From then…. no, from the day we started to cultivate you, exactly 49 days have passed!”
“49 days? That means that there are still ten days…” Fang Zhengzhi narrowed his eyes. He remembered when he was still in the Yin Yang Hall, fewer than two months were left.
After he was subdued in the Yin Yang Hall, it took them some time to transport him to the Nine Pinnacles Mountain. After some calculation, around two months should have passed since he had been stuffed inside the cauldron.
Right now…
49 days passed.
Ten days?
Fang Zhengzhi looked up. He gripped his Traceless Sword as if he was thinking of something.
At this moment, the silence in the Nine Pinnacles Mountain was terrifying.
Regardless whether it was the four elders or the hundreds of disciples from the Nine Pinnacles Mountain, everyone stared intently at Fang Zhengzhi and waited for him to make his decision.
The feeling of having one’s life in the hands of another was horrible. However, they had to accept it because this was the Holy Region. Only the laws of the jungle applied here.
No one knew how long had passed…
Fang Zhengzhi slowly loosened his grip on his Traceless Sword. Then, he looked at the four kneeling elders and said, “Have you been communicating with the Yin Yang Hall?”
“Ye… yes. We have an alliance with the Yin Yang Hall. If you… think… there’s a problem, we…” The four elders looked at each other and their expressions changed slightly.
“Since you have been communicating, help me relay a message to them,” said Fang Zhengzhi with a wave of his hand. He interrupted the four elders.
“Relay a message?” The four elders did not know what was going on.
“Tell Dao Hun of the Yin Yang Hall that I’ll exchange one life for another. This is a path I have chosen and hence, if Yan Xiu is still alive, I’ll just kill one person from the Yin Yang Hall! If Yan Xiu is dead, I’ll kill them all!” After Fang Zhengzhi said that, he kept his Traceless Sword.
“Kill… kill them all!” When the four elders heard the last bit, their faces changed. Four pairs of eyes all brimmed with shock.
Had Fang Zhengzhi said it one month ago, they would have laughed at how he had overestimated himself.
However, today…
When Fang Zhengzhi said it now, they were all silent. None of them dared to speak or revealed even the slightest sign of mockery.
They may not know if Fang Zhengzhi was capable of killing the entire Yin Yang Hall. However, they knew that he was definitely not joking.
Furthermore, they were sure that if Fang Zhengzhi dared to say it, he would do it.
This was because Fang Zhengzhi had done it already. Alone, he went up to the Yin Yang Hall. Furthermore, behind Fang Zhengzhi stood the rapidly-rising Shadow Sect.
“Can I borrow your bird to play for a while?” Just as emotions swirled around the four elders’ minds, Fang Zhengzhi’s voice rang out once more.
“Ah?” The four elders were not people who could not stay calm. However, when they heard his words, they really had no idea what he meant.
“I mean one that’s similar to a White-Scaled Beast and can fly very fast. You guys should have one, right?” Fang Zhengzhi described. He thought to himself, “Is it so hard to understand what a bird is?”
“Yes!” This time, the four elders reacted very quickly.
“Can I borrow one?” Fang Zhengzhi asked.
“Of course, no problem!” The four elders nodded their heads rapidly. Then, they ordered one of their less-injured disciples, “Bring the Gold-Eyed Silver-Scaled Beast over!”
“Yes!” When the lightly-injured disciple heard it, he immediately ran toward one of the huge rocks.
Right now, they had vastly different objectives. They could not wait for Fang Zhengzhi to leave.
Instantly, a beast with shining, golden eyes and silvery-white scales, which looked like a huge eagle, was brought before Fang Zhengzhi by that disciple.
Fang Zhengzhi said nothing as he jumped on top of the beast. As the sun slowly rose, golden light shone down on him.
“Yooo!” The Golden-Eyed Silver-Scaled beast screeched. It was apparently unhappy with Fang Zhengzhi as it expanded its wings and shook violently.
This scene shocked the four elders.
After all, this Golden-Eyed Silver-Scaled Beast’s pedigree was impeccable. It was one of the top White-Scaled Beasts and had been kept in the Nine Pinnacles Mountain for a very long time. Until now, no one had ridden it.
The reason why they gave it to him was that they feared that had they given him anything else, he would be unhappy with it.
However, they forgot that it was very hard to train this Golden-Eyed Silver-Scaled Beast to recognize a master and allow him to ride it.
If Fang Zhengzhi was not happy by it…
The results were unimaginable.
“Aoo!” Right when their hearts were trembling, another roar rang out. Then, they saw many lights of different colors shining on his head.
Then, the Golden-Eyed Silver-Scaled Beast shivered. The golden light in its eyes changed. In the next instant, it expanded its two wings and flew steadily into the sky.
“Near-Life Dao!”
“This is the Near-Life Dao from the Six Rebirth Daos!”
When the Nine Pinnacles Mountain disciples saw the Golden-Eyed Silver-Scaled Beast flying away, as well as the figure standing on it, complex emotions shone from their eyes.
After a short pause, the four elders all looked at the rapidly-disappearing figure and said, “He mastered four of the Six Rebirth Daos. No one else had one it before… Now that he left the Nine Pinnacles Mountain, the Holy Region in the future shall see no peace!”
