Chapter 290: The Arrow that decides his fate
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"First place? Okay then, the fourth recording tablet is actually by the roadside, but..." Fang Zhengzhi smiled.
"But what?"
"You guys went the wrong way." Fang Zhengzhi pointed at one of the directional rocks.
"Wrong way?" Ping Yang murmured to herself. Then, her eyes glimmered, "Did you do something to the road? Oh yes, where I met you! I thought something was amiss, you... you’re so shameless!"
"Thank you for your compliment. Now that you know, why aren’t you rushing there?"
"Before I go, I want to ask you a question." Ping Yang looked at Fang Zhengzhi quizzically.
"Do you want to ask me why I told you?"
"Yes, why did you tell me? If you hadn’t told us, neither me nor Ninth Brother would have thought of this. Won’t that give you a higher chance of finishing first?" Ping Yang looked at Fang Zhengzhi in confusion.
"I will still get first even if I tell you now."
"How is that possible? You still haven’t etched your name on the first recording stone. Furthermore, there are so many people waiting for you. How do you plan to pass them?" Ping Yang said in disbelief.
"Pass? Why do I need to pass them? As long as I tell them the truth, they will be in too much of a hurry to run off. Who will want to stop me?" Fang Zhengzhi said confidently.
"Official Fang is right. They want to win the competition, not find trouble with Official Fang. As long as he tells them the location of the fourth recording tablet, they will leave him alone." The Ninth Prince nodded.
"I see. Is that why you waited for us here?" Ping Yang queried.
"Wait for you? Oh please, stop thinking so highly of yourself. I was just hungry, so I stopped for a bite. Bye bye!" Fang Zhengzhi leapt onto his horse and galloped away.
He left Ping Yang stomping her feet.
"Shameless fella, even though you have a shorter distance to go, I will still beat you to the finish!"
...
Fang Zhengzhi thought that he had everything calculated perfectly.
He had changed the road at the fourth recording tablet. He would force all of them to run another round.
They would all be famished and exhausted. That way, their only aim would be to finish the competition.
Naturally, no one would stay behind to find trouble with him.
Everything was falling nicely into place.
However, he never expected to meet Xiang Tianying and Tang Zhongming.
When Fang Zhengzhi’s stallion arrived at the first recording tablet, Xiang Tianying and Tang Zhongying were clearly out of the running.
A black stallion and green stallion lay crumpled on the ground.
The black battle stallion looked like it had broken all of its bones. The green battle stallion had no life in its eyes.
Fang Zhengzhi did not recognize Xiang Tianying and Tang Zhongming. However, he recalled that these two were the frontrunners.
"Oh? Why did you kill your horses?" Fang Zhengzhi asked innocently when he saw Xiang Tianying and Tang Zhongming.
"You..."
It was clear that Fang Zhengzhi was mocking the two of them.
"Hand over the fourth recording tablet!"
"Yes, hand it over before we turn nasty."
"It is against the rules to take the recording tablet away. When we have verified it, you will be disqualified!"
All of them were only concerned about the fourth recording tablet.
"I didn’t take it away! Did you all go the wrong way?" Fang Zhengzhi looked at the competitors innocently.
"Wrong way? How is that possible? We followed the stones... hang on, did you..."
"Fang Zhengzhi, how dare you shift the rocks!"
"You... you..."
All of the competitors recovered from their shock.
"I am not sure about that. I did not go in the same direction as all of you. When I came, the fourth recording tablet was by the roadside." Fang Zhengzhi was not stupid enough to admit what he did.
"Oh please, you must have moved it on purpose!" One of the competitors asserted.
"So what if I did? Is accidentally kicking a directional stone cause for disqualification?" Fang Zhengzhi waved them off.
All of the competitors looked at each other, clearly infuriated.
But...
Were they really going to attack Fang Zhengzhi.
If the fourth recording tablet was really on him, then they had sufficient reason to attack him.
However, the fourth recording tablet was not with him.
This was a completely different situation.
Firstly, Fang Zhengzhi was a rank four official in the imperial courts. They could not attack him without a valid reason.
Secondly, Fang Zhengzhi was quite powerful.
Amongst all of the competitors, only Xiang Tianying and Tang Zhongming had the confidence to defeat him.
If they couldn’t swarm him, it was unlikely they would defeat him in a duel.
They could only swallow their anger.
"Fang Zhengzhi, we’ll let you off this time!"
"Let’s go!"
Many of the competitors were famished and tired from the race. Furthermore, they had just ran an extra round.
Many of them were on the brink of exhaustion.
They now knew the estimated location of the fourth recording tablet. As long as they followed the trail, they would find it.
There was no reason for them to stay here.
All of them mounted their horses and prepared to search for the tablet.
At this point, Xiang Tianying and Tang Zhongming looked at each other. Then, they stepped out.
"Don’t be fooled by him. The fourth recording tablet is on him. He wants us to go looking for it and take first place for himself." Xiang Tianying’s voice rang out.
All of the competitors stopped in their tracks.
"Young Master Xiang is correct. Fang Zhengzhi is notorious for being shameless. What Young Master Xiang said is plausible." Tang Zhongming chimed in.
"Yes yes, what they said is reasonable!"
"Yes, we cannot be fooled by him again."
"Search him!"
"We should tie him up before going to find it!"
All of the competitors agreed with Xiang Tianying and Tang Zhongming.
As long as they had reason to suspect that Fang Zhengzhi stole the tablet, they had reason to attack.
In fact...
Whether Fang Zhengzhi had actually taken the tablet was secondary. They knew that Fang Zhengzhi could have never taken away such a huge tablet.
They also knew that Fang Zhengzhi was likely to be telling the truth.
However, they were unwilling to let Fang Zhengzhi off so easily.
Before they restarted the competition, they would tie up Fang Zhengzhi first. That was the only way they could prevent him from winning.
It would also allow them to vent their frustrations.
Fang Zhengzhi frowned as he looked at the crowd. Then, he looked at Xiang Tianying and Tang Zhongming’s stallions. He had a realization.
They knew that they were out of contention, so they wanted to cause as much trouble as possible.
They were trying to bring him down with them.
"I already told you that I did not take the fourth recording tablet. If you all want to search me, you can send one representative. However, if you try to swarm me, I will be nasty!" Fang Zhengzhi decided to be a little more menacing.
Even though he was not a high ranking official amongst those in the courts, he was one of the most powerful amongst the competitors.
All of them were stunned when they heard Fang Zhengzhi’s words.
"Are you going to kill us here?" One of them asked in disbelief.
"Exactly! The Emperor is here today. If you kill us, you will be executed as well!" Another one stepped out.
"I do not dare to kill any innocent people. However, what if I did so out of self defence? I remember that I had to defend myself once in recent history." Fang Zhengzhi smirked.
When they heard the phrase ‘self defence’, all of them thought of the exact same thing.
The incident at the Northern Mountain Village had already spread throughout the city. Fang Zhengzhi’s had yet to account for his massacre of about 100 soldiers.
"Oh please, self defence? You will have to defeat us first!" Xiang Tianying glanced at all of the other competitors. If he did not speak now, they would all be scared off by Fang Zhengzhi.
"Fang Zhengzhi, I was preparing to meet you in the court examinations. It’s okay, I’ll just bring it forward to today." Tang Zhongming chimed in.
With the support of these two powerhouses, the confidence of all the others were boosted.
With them holding the front, Fang Zhengzhi was unlikely to be able to kill them.
Fang Zhengzhi was exasperated.
All he wanted to do was scare them off. However, his reputation did not seem to be sufficient to do that.
He was sure that he could convince them all if he tried a little longer.
As long as one person left, the others would follow. After all, time waits for no man.
However, Fang Zhengzhi was running out of time as well.
He should have never told Ping Yang the location of the fourth recording tablet. With Ping Yang’s speed, she would easily take first if he lost any more time.
Not only would he lose the treasure, he would be mocked by Ping Yang. "I am first, you are second, I am first, you are second..."
The thought of that made Fang Zhengzhi want to puke.
He could not let that happen.
He had to solve this crisis quickly.
He flipped over his hand and a jade green bow appeared in it. It glimmered with a strong killing aura.
All of the talents retreated subconsciously when they saw the bow in Fang Zhengzhi’s hand.
"That, that is..."
"That looks like... it’s really familiar. Is it the Sun Shooting Bow?!"
"How is that possible? How can the Sun Shooting Bow be with Fang Zhengzhi?"
All of the competitors were in disbelief when they saw the bow in Fang Zhengzhi’s hand.
Fang Zhengzhi ignored all of them. He gripped the bow in his left hand as he pulled the bowstring taut.
He had grown up in the Northern Mountain Village.
Archery was no stranger to him.
Even though he did not have a 100% accuracy, he would easily kill any game within a 300m radius.
Even though the others could not confirm that Fang Zhengzhi was in possession of the Sun Shooting Bow, they were all shocked by his actions.
"Is he really going to fight all of us?"
"That’s crazy!"
Even Xiang Tianying and Tang Zhongming were shocked to see Fang Zhengzhi draw his weapon.
Fang Zhengzhi’s bow string began to glow green.
It was a lightsword.
An aura of life rose from the bow. It elongate from the bowstring. the bow, and the surroundings.
It looked like an arrow on the bow.
However, this arrow was actually a sharp jade green lightsword...
"What is this?"
"The Divine Constabulary’s Million Sword Illustration. He has used it to make an arrow!"
"What is he trying to do?!"
All of them retreated slowly. They could all feel the power coming from that arrow.
If Fang Zhengzhi was wielding the Sun Shooting Bow...
The Sun Shooting Bow combined with the Million Sword Illustration...
How powerful would that be?