Translator: YHHH Editor: Book_Hoarder
“A moment ago, that person was talking about the top ten experts in the world. What’s going on?” Ren Baqian inquired again.
“It is said that someone from Great Xia arranged this list. In any case, it is something that we do not follow closely,” Caretaker Shi casually said.
Although they were not concerned, Ren Baqian was very interested. “Who arranged it?
“I’m not sure who arranged it. Anyway, someone arranged it, and the news spread to everyone. I knew about this only because they shout so loudly every time they come.” Caretaker Shi sneered. It was obvious that the Dayao people disdained the other party as they always startled the entire city whenever they came.
However, Ren Baqian somehow felt that Caretaker Shi was displeased with the other party because the other party’s voice was even louder than theirs.
“Reportedly, Her Majesty is ranked at the seventh position. There is also the Assistant Military Officer, Sir Hong Wu, who ranked at the ninth position. I’m unsure of the other rankings. In any case, the majority of the top ten experts are from Great Xia. The Yun Nation and the Chen Nation also have an expert each in the top ten ranking.”
Ren Baqian was overwhelmed by emotions. Which youth did not dream of being an expert? He was someone who’d also went through this phase of life.
On one hand, Ren Baqian felt that he could only be an exceptional expert in his dreams, but on the other hand, he was able to shout “666” in reality.
(666 – Chinese internet slang. 666 has been generated for a long time. It became popular and is used widely in a game named LOL (League of Legends). For example, if someone played well in a game, you can say 666 to him.)
Even with that said, Ren Baqian was still rather interested in the fighting capabilities in this world. He wondered if there were any mysterious vital energy of sorts.
Both Ren Baqian and Caretaker Shi followed the crowd and moved forward. As they walked past Beihong District, they could see that most of the court officials’ houses had their doors open. A few of them had the presence of muscular men stepping on stools while peering forward.
The palace walls were already within sight at this moment. However, there were too many people around, and the challenger could not be spotted.
As they arrived at the plaza in front of the palace, many people successively stopped in their tracks.
Ren Baqian could not see anything as a bunch of tall and muscular men stood in front of them. Only after jumping consecutively a few times was he finally able to see a solitary man standing in the plaza at the front of the palace.
“Sorry for the inconvenience, excuse me, excuse me,” Ren Baqian said as he tried to nudge his way forward, only to get bumped back.
“Damn it!” Ren Baqian cursed silently.
Just as Ren Baqian hesitated whether he should shout “I shat in my pants”, a row of soldiers spread out orderly on both sides of the top of the palace wall. A lady in red appeared thereafter.
“Her Majesty!”
“It’s Her Majesty!”
The surrounding people shouted one after another. Their voices converged and soared into the sky.
Apparently, this empress was considerably loved and respected by the commoners.
“It seems like Her Majesty’s mood isn’t that good today,” Caretaker Shi commented.
“How do you know?” Ren Baqian was curious.
“If Her Majesty is in a good mood, she would simply ignore the person who came to challenge her,” Caretaker replied Ren Baqian.
Ren Baqian mulled over it for a period of time. Caretaker Shi meant that when Her Majesty was having a bad day, she would vent her anger on those challengers. When she was in good mood, she would ignore them?
He just now recalled what Caretaker Shi said. All who came to challenge Her Majesty the past year had been beaten to death. No one survived at all.
This meant that none of the challengers came when Her Majesty was in a good mood? Was it extreme bad luck, or was Her Majesty frequently in a bad mood?
It was understandable that one would have a bad mood for two or three days out of month. The issue was, how can someone be perpetually down all the time?
When Ren Baqian thought of this, he felt goosebumps run across back of his neck.
Thankfully, he had not been executed any of the few times he entered the palace. He was pretty lucky.
That silhouette in front of the crowd immediately spoke upon seeing Her Majesty’s appearance at the city wall. “Qi Zixiao, you may be the ruler of a nation, but you are also one of the world’s top ten experts. I, Long Wanli, am here as a practitioner to gain experience from you. Please enlighten me with your presence.”
“Egotistical! How dare you speak Her Majesty’s name.” Someone scolded from the crowd.
“Don’t you think you can challenge Her Majesty whenever you want. If you want to contest her, get passed me first.” A burly man holding a large knife walked out from the crowd.
“Me too.”
“The two of you are too weak, it’s better for me to take over.”
“Do you want to test whether my knife is sharp or not?” That burly man suddenly glared at them with fury. Deep down, he was thinking that the sentence he had just learned was rather imposing towards other.
The generals in the imperial court stood forward one after another.
Long Wanli was oblivious to the cursing and chaotic scene behind him. He fixated his gaze on the red dress at the top of the palace walls.
At the same time, his imposing aura continuously increased. Before Long Wanli arrived, he had already challenged nineteen other experts and consistently won all the battles. His aura was at its peak, and some of the experts which he had challenged along the way successively avoided him.
Seeing this situation, Long Wanli whipped his horse and headed southwest. While challenging one of the top ten experts at his peak, he had the highest possibility of meeting someone of his caliber. As for the other few experts, either their whereabouts were unknown or they were heavily involved in the military.
Although the empress was the ruler of a nation, nevertheless, she fought many a times.
In order to prevent the other party from not taking up his challenge, he intentionally used the practitioner status to challenge her.
At this moment, his battle fervor skyrocketed and his imposing aura had already reached the peak. Even the people closer to him could feel the biting cold aura that disseminated from his body. He was just like an unrivaled sharp sword—only one look was needed for anyone to be aware that he was unstoppable.
Many people were affected by his imposing aura and retreated a step towards the sides and the back.
Even Ren Baqian could feel the piercingly sharp intent coming from ahead. It seemed like a knife was pressuring him right before his eyes, causing him to be intimidated.
“What is this?”
“Imposing aura, battle fervor, sword consciousness. Who knows what is it called.” Caretaker Shi was indifferent. “In any case, it’s that thing.”
Ren Baqian composed himself and found himself among the crowd. The other party’s back was facing him, yet he felt that as long as the other party made a move, he would not be able to guarantee his own life for even a single moment.
This kind of life-threatening feeling was indeed terrible. It was terrible to the extent that he could not help but touch the stun baton, although he knew that there wasn’t any sh*t use in it.
The empress was dressed in red from top to toe. She stood atop the city gate’s tower and looked downwards. She smirked and signaled to him by wagging her finger.
If it was elsewhere and a female wagged her finger to signal to another guy, many people’s imagination would definitely run wild.
But at this moment, everyone present could sense the aggressiveness emitted from the empress.
I’m too lazy to even talk to you.
Come, fight.
Long Wanli’s imposing aura had already reached its peak earlier on, and he was just waiting for the empress’s response. At this moment, as he unsheathed the sword at his back a clanging sound could be heard, and the sword fell into his hand. He was as fast as a streak of lightning and directly thrust his sword towards the empress. Everyone could detect that acute determination and dauntlessness from him
“Holy sh*t, a fairy flying through the sky!” Ren Baqian could finally see clearly and exclaimed in astonishment.
Ren Baqian was unsure it if it was just like the legend whereby man and sword united as one. But at this moment, Long Wanli gave Ren Baqian the vibe that he and the sword had merged into one entity. He also emitted an inexhaustible sword consciousness from head to toe, and that thrust from him also made Ren Baqian feel as if it came from the skies.
Even Ren Baqian was worried for the empress who was at the top of the palace walls.
Although the empress was an expert, whenever Ren Baqian met her, he only thought that she was rather aloof and that her aura was a little suffocating. As far as the empress’s strength was concerned, he did not feel anything from her.
Thus, when he saw that the thrust which seemed like it came from beyond the heavens, Ren Baqian could not help but be worried for the empress.
Facing this frightening thrust, there was not the slightest degree of movement on the empress’s face. Just before the tip of the sword pointed directly before her eyes, only then did she extended her lily-white hand and flick gently.
“Clang!” A crisp noise sounded.
A chunk of the sharp end of the sword flew directly into the skies.
When the remaining part of the broken sword was swept away, the empress simultaneously imprinted her white-lily hand on Long Wanli’s chest. Long Wanli immediately flew off at a speed much faster than when he approached the empress.
Just when Ren Baqian exclaimed his admiration, the other party rebounded from the impact at a speed faster than when he flew off from the empress’s blow.
“Bang!” Fragmented rocks flew everywhere and dust pervaded the air.
After waiting for a long time for the dust to disperse, a big hole appeared on the surface of the slab. Long Wanli met with a violent death, and his whole body was broken into pieces.
When the dust totally cleared, the situation at the plaza was revealed. The silhouette of the empress who was at the top of the palace had already disappeared.
The crowd took a look, and there was a sudden roar of laughter. Everyone promptly dispersed from the scene.
“I thought that he would be able to last for more than one move. Never did I expect him to be killed in a single swat.”
“But, at long last, we could finally see Her Majesty strike again.”
“This chap is not resistant to being beaten up at all, we were all excited for nothing….”
……
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