Chapter 250: Shock
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The Army-guarding Marquis sped toward the black market’s city gate at a speed of 240 meters per second even as he had been severely injured, leaving Zhang Ruochen lagging behind.
One of the greatest advantages of Heaven Realm warriors was their speed.
If it was not because of Zhang Ruochen’ Space Crack, the Army-guarding Marquis would not be so frightened that he lost his ability to fight, let alone run for his life like a scared rabbit.
As a martial arts legend in the Heaven Realm, he was defeated and chased by a young warrior. How humiliating it was!
“When I go back to my barracks, I will dispatch my army, and I will crash you, bastard!” The Army-guarding Marquis cursed under his breath. He still held onto the hope that he would regain control once he returned to the military camp.
Han Qiu stood tall and straight on top of the black market’s city wall, with an Ancient White Jade Sword in her hands. She stared at the Marquis, who was running with his tail between his legs, and spoke in a caustic tone, “Army-guarding Marquis, where do you think you’re going?”
The Army-guarding Marquis suddenly stopped in place, raised his head and looked at the girl. “Damn!” he murmured. Then he asked, “Who are you?”
“It’s not your business! How dare you collude with the Poisonous Spider Club! You know exactly how many secret deals you have done in the dark. Today, I’m going to cut your head off and bring it back to the Yuntai Suzerain,” Han Qiu said.
“You are from the Yuntai Suzerain?”
He felt his heart sank to his stomach. “When did the Yuntai Suzerain get involved in this?”
“Anyway, I should finish her off first.” He made up his mind.
With a murderous gleam in his eyes, he kicked his feet and crushed the slab stones underneath. Then he flew up tens of feet into the air and sent his palm flying toward Han Qiu.
“She’s just a young warrior. There’s no way she could contend with me!”
He did not believe that he would be so unlucky, meeting two top young masters, one after another.
Han Qiu’s lips curled into a scorn and whammed her sword forward with lightning speed, leaving a dazzling arc of light as if ten thousand swords were released at once.
The Army-guarding Marquis was startled when he saw the flying sword coming at him. His pupils dilated and his heart began to pound, knowing that he had underestimated her.
He immediately withdrew his hand and drew a great sword from his waist to slash out at Han Qiu.
His attack was just a hasty move, but Han Qiu’s was fully prepared.
Two swords crashed together, causing countless of sparks to fly out between the two.
Han Qiu waved her arm. The Ancient White Jade Sword suddenly turned into a string of phantoms, with a total of 36 shadow rays, streaking through the air with an unstoppable force toward Army-guarding Marquis.
Han Qiu had high attainments in sword techniques, who had reached the Peak Realm of Sword Following the Mind. How could the severely-injured Army-guarding Marquis be her opponent? He had no chance to defeat her.
“BANG! BANG!”
Sword slashed down on the body of the Marquis like raindrops.
“PUFF!”
Coughing out a mouthful of blood, the Army-guarding Marquis fell down to the ground out of midair in sore straits.
His armor was tattered, as a result of being slashed and sliced open by Han Qiu’s sword.
Zhang Ruochen finally caught up with them. He stood behind the Army-guarding Marquis and stared at Han Qiu who was standing atop the city wall with a perplexed expression.
Han Qiu said with a smile, “Friend, his head belongs to me. Don’t fight with me.”
Zhang Ruochen replied, “Who’s your friend?”
Han Qiu laughed and said, “If I hadn’t destroyed the Defender Array in the black market, do you think you could walk safely out of the Rosefinch Tower? I did a great favor for you, but you still refuse to treat me as a friend?”
“It was you! No wonder the Defender Array has not been activated yet.” Zhang Ruochen realized.
He agreed. “All right. You can take his head. If you fail, I’ll go!”
“Thanks!” Han Qiu clasped her hands and bowed to Zhang Ruochen.
Army-guarding Marquis was already simmering with rage as he stood between the two young warriors and listened to their conversations. “I am the commander of 300,000 military men! And I am a Heaven-Realm martial arts legend! Yet today I’m pressed into such a difficult position by two kids!”
The Marquis spoke between clenched teeth, “You two detestable kids! You really think you can easily kill a Heaven-Realm martial arts legend, do you?”
Han Qiu said, “It may be not easy to kill you when you are in your heyday. Considering your current state, however, I can do that with little effort.”
“What a high-flown statement!” The Marquis was irritated and asked, “Who on earth are you?”
Zhang Ruochen laughed and answered, “Army-guarding Marquis, you don’t recognize her? She’s the daughter of the Yuntai Suzerain’s Master. Actually, she should call you ‘master’s fellow apprentice’.”
Army-guarding Marquis used to be a student of the Yuntai Suzerain.
Zhang Ruochen’s words left him dumbfounded. He finally woke up to this new reality.
“WHEW!”
Han Qiu flew down from the city wall. Wisps of black Genuine Qi, dark as ink, began to pour out from her body, suffused over a hundred feet wide across the area.
“BANG! BANG!”
The sound of swords clashing echoed out from the dark space.
Stepping back, Zhang Ruochen looked at the rolling black mists at a hundred feet away and muttered to himself. “It should be the Dark Domain!”
The Dark Domain, to some degree, was also a vision of heaven and earth.
Han Qiu’s cultivation was not strong enough, so she only managed to form a Dark Domain within a hundred feet around.
If her martial cultivation reached the Half-Saint Realm, she would even be able to transform heaven and earth, blot out the sky and the sun, turning day into night in the blink of an eye.
After a short while, the black Genuine Qi dissipated and went into Han Qiu’s body again.
Zhang Ruochen looked around and found a headless corpse on the ground.
The head of the Army-guarding Marquis had been cut off and stuffed into a box by Han Qiu.
She put the box into her baggage and carried it on her shoulders. Eyes shining brightly, she looked at Zhang Ruochen and smiled broadly, “Friend, let’s go! We should set off!”
Zhang Ruochen asked, “You know where I am going?”
“You are going to the Devil Martial City, aren’t you?” Han Qiu replied confidently.
“Excuse me. I’m not going that way.” Zhang Ruochen then performed the succeeded Shadow of the Royal Wind Dragon, stepping on the void space and rode off with the wind. Just a step forward, he had leaped onto the city wall of the black market.
The second step forward, he flew off.
“What a nuisance! You can’t fool me!” Han Qiu said angrily.
She made so many efforts just to get on his good side and proved that the Yuntai Suzerain had nothing to do with the collusion between the Square Commandery and the Poisonous Spider Club.
But she had not expected that he was not a bit grateful for everything she had done.
Han Qiu surely would not let Zhang Ruochen off. She performed the martial technique of Stepping on the Clouds and Chasing the Moon, chasing after him without hesitation.
Soon after they left, the events happened in the black market became a series of shocking news and had shaken the Martial World of the Hugestone City.
“It is said that two martial arts legends fought their way into the black market and carried out a massacre. Even Elder Wei from the Poisonous Spider Club and Owner of Rosefinch Tower were killed!”
“Elder Wei and Owner of Rosefinch Tower are nobody! Haven’t you heard about how Army-guarding Marquis was killed and even had his head chopped off?”
“Who on earth are those people? It’s so terrifying!”
Another piece of news reached the City after a short while.
“In Lin’an County Town, Hua Minggong, Mu Qing, and its Young Lord of Poisonous Spider from Poisonous Spider Club were killed by the Ninth Prince of the Yunwu Commandery!”
The news caused a stir in the City once again.
After all, Hua and Mu were both martial arts legends in the Heaven Realm. And the Young Lord of Poisonous Spider was a young master who was about to enter the Earth Board. No one could imagine that all three of them would be murdered on the same day.
Those shocking news continued to spread from the Hugestone City to the palace of the Square Commandery and the headquarter of the Poisonous Spider Club.
Hearing the news, the Square Commandery Prince’s face suddenly turned very pale, beads of cold sweat popped out on his forehead. He could not believe what he had heard, “Are you sure it’s a student of the School of the Martial Market that murdered the Army-guarding Marquis?”
A warrior clad in a black robe who was kneeling at the center of the grand hall presented a token of the School of the Martial Market.
He said, “This is the token left by the mysterious teenager.”
The Prince took the token and observed it closely. One side was engraved with five golden words — “School of the Martial Market”; another side was written with– “Zhang Ruochen”.
“BANG!”
The Prince threw the token out, and said in a ferocious tone, “Zhang Ruochen again! No… no… It can’t be. His cultivation has just reached the Black Realm a year ago. How could he kill the Army-guarding Marquis?”
The warrior in black cautiously replied, “It is reported that another master from the Yuntai Suzerain beheaded the Army-guarding Marquis. But before that, he was already badly injured by Zhang Ruochen.”
“What? Even the Yuntai Suzerain gets involved!” The Prince’s vision went black, nearly passed out as soon as he heard the news.
Thanks to his solid cultivation, the Prince managed to bestir himself. He sat up straight again and tried to keep his composure.
“Report!”
Another warrior in a black robe walked into the hall and presented a piece of information.
After reading the letter, the Prince furiously ripped it up. He roared, “Zhang Ruocheng! Zhang Ruocheng! Why it’s always this Zhang Ruochen! I should have killed him myself! I should have done it a year ago!”
Beside the Square Commandery Prince stood an elder man in a purple hat.
He asked respectfully, his expression serious, “Your Majesty, what happened?”
The Prince said, “Hua Minggong, Young Lord of Poisonous Spider, and Mu Qing were murdered by Zhang Ruochen in the Lin’an County Town. That town is only a few hundred miles from the Hugestone City. He must have found something, or he won’t go there… Oh no! Mu Qing kept an account book, noting every transaction between the Royal Family and the Poisonous Spider Club! He must have had the book by now!”
“If the book was sent to the Devil Martial City, the Square Commandery would be punished! Besides, the Yuntai Suzerain wouldn’t forgive us!”
The elder man’s expression also changed drastically, “We must take back the book at all costs! Otherwise, both the Square Commandery and the Poisonous Spider Club will suffer the consequences!”
The Prince took a deep breath, eyes flickering. He became worried, “It might be too late to catch him now! There’s only one way — immediately tell Huo Jingcheng to intercept Zhang Ruochen and the Yuntai Suzerain’s master en route!”
The elder man nodded and said, “Huo Jingcheng is one of the top masters in the Royal Family, and a presbyter of the Yuntai Suzerain. He is the best man to do the job. I will be leaving for the Devil Martial City as well, in case they run away.”
The Prince felt relieved. “With your presence in the City, even if Zhang Ruochen and the Yuntai Suzerain’s master have extraordinary abilities, they can’t escape alive. I just hope it’s not too late.”
The elder man said, “Your Majesty, please rest assured! Besides, the Poisonous Spider Club must have sent a large batch of masters to intercept them as well. As long as the book is still outside of the Devil Martial City, I will bring it back.”
Then the elder man left. He rode a Fourth-level Savage Beast and flew towards the Omen Ridge.