Chapter 339: Explosion of the Blood
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
The Southern Mountain Range was established on combat prowess.
Founded within the mountains and forests, surrounded by fearsome beasts yet being able to expand and thrive through forming of settlements, the Southern Mountain Range had never lacked brave warriors. It could even be said that if one was born within the Southern Mountain Range, he was destined to become a brave warrior.
The structure of settlements was able to provide better training for the warriors of the Southern Mountain Range. However, the same settlement structure also restricted the Southern Mountain Range, making it impossible for the Southern Mountain Range to create a cultural heritage like the Great Xia.
In reality, all the kings of the Southern Mountain Range in history had the ambition to unite the settlements. However, it was too difficult.
The different cultures and the unique geographical limitations made this goal exceedingly hard to realise.
Even the most basic factor, traffic.
The Southern Mountain Range had no way of achieving this. Building roads and cutting across mountains were already extremely tedious tasks. Building roads and cutting across mountains in a landscape filled with fearsome beasts was even harder.
Because, there were some beasts that even the king of the Southern Mountain Range didn’t dare to disturb.
Hence, culture could not spread.
This naturally resulted in a huge weakness.
That was, a lack of advisors!
Princess Shan Yu would never take any interest in a spy from the Great Xia. She wouldn’t even take a second glance at a talent who possessed extraordinary powers.
However, when met with one who knew how to strategize and plan military formations, she would definitely take a third glance, a fourth glance, a fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth glance…
That feeling was like a plot of farmland faced with drought seeing the spring rain. Excitement, an inexplicable excitement.
"Matrix? It is really a matrix!" Princess Shan Yu didn’t know how Fang Zhengzhi achieved it. But, she was absolutely sure that Fang Zhengzhi had employed a certain matrix in throwing down the nails onto the arena.
…
Fang Zhengzhi didn’t know what Princess Shan Yu was currently thinking.
What he was thinking now was very simple. That was to deplete. Or, demonstrate even more greatly the advantage he had in this competition. As for the nails…
Naturally, he couldn’t throw them out at random. After all, those things didn’t really know who was their master. Hence, in order to prevent harming himself, it was actually not too difficult to throw them out in a pattern.
The results were obvious.
At the very least, Fang Zhengzhi could see the horrified and stunned expressions of the soldiers below the arena.
In reality, the soldiers were much more horrified compared to what Fang Zhengzhi imagined. Because, they would never have imagined such an outcome.
The great Tiger General of the Southern Mountain Range.
Was in a miserably beaten-up state on the arena due to a little spy from the Great Xia.
Ever since the start of the competition, General Tai hadn’t ever touched a single hair of Fang Zhengzhi’s while himself suffering multiple punches and palm strikes.
Not only was his face battered and swollen, his blood also spurted everywhere.
Now, even more shockingly…
Due to Fang Zhengzhi’s multiple arrows coming from the left and right, he was in a state of feverish restlessness rolling around on the arena with nails stuck all over his palms and clothes.
Even his beard wasn’t spared, with a few nails latched onto it.
He looked nothing like a Tiger General.
In comparison, Fang Zhengzhi’s expression was leisurely and extremely relaxed, drawing the Fire Rattan Bow in his hand into a full moon over and over again, arrows flying out one by one. He was completely unstoppable.
"General Tai, be careful!"
Just as a soldier’s reminder sounded out.
On the arena, an arrow finally hit General Tai. Twenty to thirty arrows had already been shot towards his direction. He was already getting fatigued from the dodging as he became increasingly stressed.
Under such circumstances, mistakes were naturally unpreventable.
One arrow!
Shot through General Tai’s arm as blood splattered out, dissipating themselves in the air before slowly dripping down on the arena.
"Ah!" General Tai shouted out in pain.
Even though his flesh and bones were hard as metal, under such close distances, faced with arrows shot from the Fiery Rattan Bow and with his state suppressed, he had no way of blocking.
"Is he going to lose?"
"Is General Tai really going to lose?"
Even now, the soldiers weren’t able to believe that the powerful and ferocious tiger-like General Tai would lose in the hands of a small spy from the Great Xia.
General Tai’s face turned purple. He didn’t rush to pull out the arrow. Because, even the most painful wound from an arrow wouldn’t be able to cause him to anything more than frown.
However, the wound in his heart caused his lips to quiver.
He swept his gaze across the soldiers standing under the arena.
From their faces, he saw despair.
A powerful sense of despair.
"No! I, the great Tiger General, cannot lose. I must not lose!" General Tai roared angrily but silently. Light flashed in his tiger eyes, fixated upon Fang Zhengzhi as his pupils gave off an icy glow.
He tightened his grip on the huge black axe in his hand so tightly that his fingers began to turn white.
Right at this moment,.
Another whistling sound rang out in his ear. An arrow shot towards his face, carrying along with it a faint red glow with a speed like that of a meteor.
This time, General Tai didn’t roll about like he did previously.
Instead, he forcefully twisted his head towards the right.
The arrow brushed across his cheek, lighting up the beard on his face.
However, General Tai didn’t seem to mind this. Instead, he charged forward with blazing speed, his feet directly slamming onto the nails as if they were invisible.
"Putting his life on the line?" Fang Zhengzhi only had to take one look at General Tai’s state to know what he was thinking.
He had already anticipated this.
As the saying goes, a panicked dog could jump over a wall. This was the great Tiger General of the Southern Mountain Range, a Tiger General who was high up in position and respected by thousands of soldiers.
If General Tai truly gave up that easily.
Then, it would truly be impossible for him to become the great Tiger General who led thousands of troops in the Southern Mountain Range.
The opponent had disregarded death…
Who to do?
Naturally, it was to fight fire with water.
Fang Zhengzhi wasn’t afraid of close combat. At the very least, he wasn’t afraid of close combat with someone unable to use his enlightenment state, especially when an arrow was shot through the arm of this person.
However, he still felt that he had to end fast.
Else, if he dragged for too long, it wouldn’t be a very happy occasion if this General Tai grew enraged from the shame.
The finale…
Had to be grand!
Just as Fang Zhengzhi began to consider what pose he would make, General Tai was already in front of him. This caused him to feel somewhat surprised.
This didn’t make sense. Why was he so fast?
When Fang Zhengzhi looked at General Tai, he realised something wasn’t quite right.
Because, in General Tai’s eyes, he inferred an intent to kill, a powerful killing intent that came from the heart. And, most importantly, there was a strange transformation within General Tai’s pupils.
Those pupils didn’t seem like that of humans anymore...
Instead, they glowed with a lush green colour. Shades of green flooded General Tai’s eyes. They were extremely icy, and extremely chilling.
"Oh no!" Fang Zhengzhi instinctively wanted to retreat.
However, right at this moment, General Tai had already raised the huge black axe highly above his head. His already extremely muscular arms seemed to have inflated to at least double the size in an instant.
That powerful explosive force and aura around him was completely different as compared to before, as if he wasn’t the same person anymore.
Strands of black needle-like fur grew out from and covered General Tai’s arm. It looked just like a humongous monkey arm.
"Woosh!" The huge black axe slashed straight down, carrying with it an indomitable momentum and a dark-green glow.
"General Tai!"
When the soldiers witnessed this scene, they instinctively cried out with alarm.
Naturally, they knew what the transformation of General Tai’s body represented. That was state suppression. Now, General Tai had used the blood in his body. This meant that now, General Tai was truly of the Supernatural Advanced State.
Of course…
This also meant that Fang Zhengzhi would die without a doubt.
However, such a scene couldn’t excite nor delight the soldiers.
Because, they were soldiers, soldiers of the Southern Mountain Range and soldiers with the pride of warriors. They could die, but, they must die in a just and honourable manner.
This was a fair competition.
Both sides suppressed their states, then, entered the arena to compete.
It didn’t matter who won in the end, but the competition itself was fair.
However, if one party broke the rules, this competition wouldn’t be fair anymore. Even if this party won the competition, he would still be scorned and despised by the soldiers of the Southern Mountain Range.
The soldiers didn’t know why General Tai would do this.
However, in reality, that was what General Tai did.
"Stop!" At this moment, Princess Shan Yu also noticed something was wrong. She immediately shot up from her chair and instinctively attempted to feel for her bow.
However…
As she began to feel around, she realised that something wasn’t quite right.
Because, the bow was in Fang Zhengzhi’s hand.
General Tai naturally knew that his actions disobeyed military orders, and might even result in grave punishments and being despised by the soldiers. However, he really couldn’t endure such a defeat.
He could lose in the hands of a warrior from the Southern Mountain Range.
However, he couldn’t let himself lose in the hands of a spy from the Great Xia.
Furthermore, it was an extremely stupid and cowardly defeat.
Disobeying military orders and being scorned by the people.
This was indeed an extremely dire consequence.
If it were in the past, he would never do such a thing. But now, the situation was different. Because, they were in the middle of a war between two countries, a time when they were seriously lacking in high-ranking military officers. He had calculated that Princess Shan Yu would definitely not kill him.
As long as she didn’t kill him.
Then, he had an opportunity to put down his crimes and make accomplishments.
It didn’t matter even if he was demoted to a small pawn. On the battlefield, when he defeated and killed the enemy generals and made great accomplishments, all his position and power would return again.
When that time comes, who would discuss about the time he killed a small spy from the Great Xia during a drill ground competition? People would only praise him for making great contributions to the Southern Mountain Range.
"Die!" General Tai roared with rage. He wanted to release every bit of his anger and slice this shameless person in front of him into two.
He was very confident. Because, using his Supernatural Advanced State abilities, he could kill this little kid in front of him even without his full strength.
Yet…
At the moment his axe landed.
A ray of light appeared in front of his eyes. It was a jade-green coloured ray that appeared in mid-air, glowing with intense light. It looked like a lightsword.
General Tai’s eyes suddenly widened.
Because, that jade-green lightsword had appeared on the bowstring of the Fiery Rattan Bow.
As the Fiery Rattan Bow was pulled back into a full moon, the green lightsword continued to extend forward rapidly, condensing to form a green-coloured arrow.
Fang Zhengzhi indeed didn’t have the time to grab an arrow from his quiver.
However, his most powerful arrow wasn’t any ordinary arrow. It was the arrow formed by the Million Sword Illustration!
"Boom!" A resounding boom echoed in the arena of the drill ground.
The air of the arena seemed to have turned into water ripples, stirring up a terrifying hurricane. Then, the hurricane expanded, blowing open the flags on the arena of the drill ground.
All of the soldiers under the arena instantly let out a wave of terrified cries.
Because, they were too near.
Or, it could be said that they simply had never imagined that there would be such huge incidents occurring in this drill ground competition.
Streaks of wind blades sliced through their rattan armour, cutting into their flesh and causing their bodies to tumble with the hurricane in mid-air and finally landing back onto the ground.
Princess Shan Yu’s dark eyes had now completely turned around. If it was said that she was outraged when she saw General Tai’s attack.
Then now, she was shaken.
Absolutely shaken.
Along with the devastation of the hurricane, a huge green-coloured net appeared on the drill ground arena. That was a net formed by countless interwoven lightswords.
A huge black axe was hacked onto that huge green net.
Holding the axe, General Tai’s tiger eyes turned round. His mouth fell open angrily as the fur on his arm stood erect like steel needles. His expression was that of utter disbelief.
"How is this possible?" General Tai was truly in disbelief.
A small spy from the Great Xia was actually able to block off an axe containing sixty percent of his strength? Furthermore, it was blocked off in such a strange and brazen manner before his very eyes.
This arrow that Fang Zhengzhi shot out was actually a little rushed, and didn’t manage to form completely. Fortunately, the distance was close enough. Due to the close distance, the power was naturally great enough.
The Million Sword Illustration.
Was initially already a technique incorporating heavy defense.
In addition to the power from the Fiery Rattan Bow, its destructive force was naturally tremendous.
General Tai wasn’t able to use his full power in his blow. Because, he believed that it wasn’t very meaningful to split the entire arena of the drill ground into two just to kill a small spy.
Sixty percent of his strength.
Not mentioning someone of the Star Conglomerate Peak State, even any average person of the Heavenly Reflection Peak State would be sliced into two.
How old was Fang Zhengzhi?
He was only fifteen or sixteen. Attaining Heavenly Reflection? Even if he was truly able to attain Heavenly Reflection, he was still going to die!
Wouldn’t it be impossible for this person to be of the Supernatural State?
General Tai naturally didn’t bother considering whether it would be possible for Fang Zhengzhi to have attained the Supernatural State. He felt that his attack was powerful enough.
Of course.
In order to coordinate with his unexpected sneak attack.
The most strength he could muster in an instant was also at most sixty percent. In order to concentrate all hundred percent of his power into the attack, he also needed time. However, he wasn’t allowed time.
Because, he couldn’t reveal his intention to go against his state suppression from the moment he began to charge.
"Blocked?!" Other than shock, General Tai also felt as if his entire mind was blank. Because, he had never imagined that something like this would happen.
Also, he had never thought…
Of what he should do after something like this had happened.