Chapter 157 - Immense Killing Intent
The competitors in the inner hall must be competing for the title of the strongest Spirit Nurturing Qi Practitioner, Rebirth level Qi Practitioner and the Awakening level Qi Practitioner. Whereas among the hall masters, they will be competing for the title of the strongest Atman Body Qi Practitioner and the Inner Core Qi Practitioner. The title of the strongest Heavenly Dharma Qi Practitioner will be competed for by the four aces of Swords Gate then.
As Zhong Yue returned to the inner hall, he could feel that the atmosphere of the inner hall was even better than before. All the disciples were motivated, they diligently cultivated and challenged those in the Dragon and Tiger Challenger Board almost every day!
In such a short period of time, immense changes could be seen in the inner hall disciples as their cultivation base increased rapidly and it all the difference between themselves now and before was night and day.
The pressure from the Xiao Mang Celestial Race is driving them forward to become stronger.
On the way back to his own cave dwelling, Zhong Yue stopped and observed a few competitions between the disciples and he thought, But this is not enough. They may be more motivated and their strength has increased but they have yet to experience the naked cruelty of the world. Their battle intent is apparent, but their killing intent is severely lacking!
As he now stood on a higher peak as compared to the inner hall disciples, he could able to glean such things as easily as observing his own palms.
This imminent battle with the Xiao Mang Celestial Race would be a rare opportunity for the Qi Practitioners from the Swords Gate to have a taste of outer world.
The inner hall disciples may be too unprepared to fight with the celestial race but they really need an encounter that could change their lives greatly.
Zhong Yue thought this, but without realizing that he was the same age as the inner hall disciples.
Not long later, he arrived at his own cave dwelling. After a long absence, the lack of proper care is evident by how the beautiful flowers were now overshadowed by weeds.
Zhong Yue picked up the hoe and attended the garden. He first removed the wild grass and he fertilized the flowers. Then, he came to the waterfall and cleaned the area. He spent quite some time attending the hygiene of his cave dwelling and before he could finish what he was doing, he heard a few familiar voices calling him from the outside.
He then went to get the door with the hoe in his hand. Upon opening the door, he laughed and said, “Oh, so it is the few of you. Junior Martial Sisters, please come on in.”
Ting Lanyue, Yu Feiyan, Tao Yanran and Li Xiuniang looked at him curiously and Ting Lanyue laughed as she said, “Senior Martial Brother Zhong, I heard from a few junior martial brothers that you have returned. Why did you shut yourself in your place after returning instead of challenging the Dragon and Tiger Challenger Board. And why are you still dressed like that?”
With him now being Rebirth level Qi Practitioner, and the girls still being at Spirit Nurturing, they would have to address him as Senior Martial Brother Zhong.
Zhong Yue welcomed them into his place and he said, “This place got messed up after in my long absence. So, as you can see, I am cleaning this place up.”
The girls walked into the cave dwelling and Li Xiuniang could not hold herself back and asked, “Senior martial brother Zhong has no intention of challenging the disciples on the Dragon and Tiger Challenger Board at all?”
Zhong Yue shook his head and said, “Not really.”
Yu Feiyan smirked and said, “I’m not buying it. Even we sisters went to challenge them and we have had more than a few ten battles in these few months. I don’t believe that you are not interested at all!”
Ting Lanyue then said proudly, “Senior Martial Brother Zhong, with the rapid improvement in our strengths and your long absence, I think that you will not even be able to beat us anymore! How about a little friendly match? I will definitely make you cry!”
Zhong Yue had already realized that the girls’ strengths had increased a lot and felt genuine happiness for them but he still said, “Please behave.”
Ting Lanyue immediately sulked and Li Xiuniang said, “Are you sure you don’t want to? I have been looking for a chance to fight you ever since losing to you last time! If you won, I will help you clean up your place! Fei Yan, do you want to have a match with Senior Martial Brother Zhong as well?”
Yu Feiyan nodded and said, “I’m a little worried that Senior martial Brother Zhong has gotten lazy in this period of time. Fine, why don’t we have a look at Senior Martial Brother Zhong’s improvement. Yanran, what do you propose?”
Tao Yanran laughed and said, “Senior Martial Brother Zhong is a Rebirth level Qi Practitioner and we are all Spirit Nurturing Qi Practitioners. I think that it’s better if we fight him together. If Senior Martial Brother Zhong loses, you will have to clean our cave dwellings as well!”
Ting Lanyue got excited immediately and she said, “Then it is decided! You will become our junior martial brother again in no time!”
Without any options left, Zhong Yue said speechlessly, “Alright. Fine. Dear junior martial sisters, let’s go!”
After a moment, the four girls could be seen cleaning his place obediently; removing the grass, watering the flowers and sweeping the dust.
“I lost before I could even deliver an attack. Senior Martial Brother Zhong is such a bully!” voiced the indignant Ting Lanyue.
“I was extremely frightened and I cried.”
Tao Yanran said in embarrassment, “He was emitting a ferocious aura just now that I thought he wanted to eat me alive….”
Yu Feiyan and Li Xiuniang faces’ were still a little bit pale. Before they could deliver their attacks, Zhong Yue’s aura immediately billowed over them and their mind immediately went blank. They instantly conceded defeated and now, they were cleaning Zhong Yue’s place, just as they promised.
“Is Junior Martial Brother Zhong in?”
Suddenly, a voice could be heard shouting loudly outside, “Stop hiding inside, I know you are back!”
Zhong Yue was carving something onto a rock and he put the rock down and immediately opened the door as he heard the voice. Then, Tan Zhen could be seen rushing into his place and he said with a laugh, “You really are back! Good, good! You have no idea what happened since you were gone for so long. My strength has improved drastically and I am sure I could take on two of you at the same time ... Huh? So many junior martial sisters at your place and they are helping you in your housework? Junior martial Brother Zhong is indeed incredible!”
As soon as Tan Zhen saw the busy Ting Lanyue, Yu Feiyan and other girls, he gave Zhong Yue a thumbs up and praised, “Although junior martial brother is not as handsome as me, I will admit that you are still no lesser than me. I have five fiances and you have four!”
Li Xiuniang and the other girls blushed and they all shouted, “Stop talking rubbish, Senior Martial Brother Tan Zhen. You better be careful or you might bite yourself!”
Tan Zhen remained unflinching he said with another laugh, “None of my five fiances want to see me. Each time they see me, they will definitely want to kill me. Unlike my Junior Martial Brother Zhong, all your girls seem very docile with you. With so many girls that listen to you obediently, it’s no wonder that you haven’t been showing up these past few days.”
“I like this kid’s shamelessness!” praised Xin Huo in Zhong Yue’s psyche ocean.
Tan Zhen sat down and said, “Elder Feng is preparing to split the Dragon and Tiger Challenger Board into three lists. Spirit Nurturing, Rebirth and Awakening level will have one each. I am now the sixth disciple on the Rebirth level list and I am getting ready to challenge the number five disciple. Junior Martial Brother Zhong, our last fight ended with a draw. How about we fight again? I am sure you would want to know where you stand as well right?”
Zhong Yue shook his head and said, “The Dragon and Tiger Challenger Board is meaningless to me now. Who is the first and second on the Rebirth level list?”
“The first is the Yu Zhengshu from the Yu Clan and the second is Qiu Jin’er from Qiu Tan Clan. The third is Shui Qingyan from Shui Tu Clan and the fourth and fifth place are disciples from from the big clans.”
Tan Zhen then continued to say dejectedly, “I can’t believe there are two girls occupying the top three places. Yu Zhengshu entered the inner hall earlier than the other two girls and especially for Shui Qingyan from the Shui Tu Clan. She entered the inner hall less than a year ago and received third place … Don’t worry, I will challenge and defeat them one by one and represent the Swords Gate to battle the Xiao Mang Celestial Race! Junior Martial Brother Zhong, come, we shall have a battle and let me see your improvement in this period of time!”
Zhong Yue rejected and he said, “Senior Martial Brother Tan, there’s no need for us to do this/”
Tan Zhen could not resist the temptation and he insisted to fight with Zhong Yue. However, shouts calling for Zhong Yue could suddenly be heard again. A confused Zhong Yue walked towards the door to see ten plus Qi Practitioners standing in front his place. Those Qi Practitioners were those that he had once beaten up.
“Anything that you want from me?” Zhong Yue greeted them and asked
“Zhong Shan Clan’s member, I am extremely dissatisfied that I lost to you back then. But now, I’ve improved and I want to challenge you again!”
“Come on, young man!”
“Fight us fair and square!”
……
Tan Zhen looked at them angrily and shouted, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong was as equally strong as me long ago and I am already the sixth place in the Dragon and Tiger Challenger Board. Are you saying that you can best me then? Get lost, garbage!”
Zhong Yue stopped Tan Zhen with a raise of his hand and he said, “You don’t have to waste your breath, Senior Martial Brother Tan. The inner hall disciples of Swords Gate have lacked such motivation for a very long time and I am happy that they wish to challenge me. Why should I turn them down if they are seeking for more advice from me?”
Tan Zhen blinked his eyes and said, “You are going to fight them?”
Zhong Yue shook his head and said, “I can’t resist them, dear senior martial sisters and senior martial brothers, please!”
Then, Zhong Yue unleashed his aura, a dense killing intent permeated a surrounding radius of ten miles and everything around him became deathly quiet. Everyone’s minds in the radius of his aura went blank and they saw blood start gushing out from the ground, flooding the area around them. In but a split second, a blood ocean had formed around them and they saw corpses floating all over it!
Then, the shrill sounds of shrieks coming out of the floating corpses could be heard beside their ears, gradually growing louder in a rising crescendo before culminating into a deafening cacophony that threatened to render them insane!
This was an abnormal phenomenon created by Zhong Yue and it stressed their souls greatly, sinking them ever deeper into the abyss of Zhong Yue’s immense killing intent.
Then, Zhong Yue retracted his aura and the killing intent dispersed like the passing wind. The next thing he saw was the scene of the ten plus Qi Practitioners all sitting absently on the ground, faces pale and pupils dilated. Some of them shouted and ran away while some of them directly collapsed onto the ground, crying and trembling in fear after their terrifying ordeal.
Meanwhile, somewhere far away, the eight hall masters became shocked by the killing intent and they flew up into the air and looked towards Zhong Yue’s direction. The Sword Qi hall master murmured, “Such incredible killing intent, did a demon intrude on the Swords Gate?”
After all, they had never experienced any battle involved killing, which is why they lack the killing intent that one should possess at their level. They lost their will immediately after witnessing my killing intent.
Zhong Yue shook his head and he turned towards Tan Zhen as he said, “Senior Martial Brother Tan, we… Senior Martial Brother Tan?”
He saw cold sweat percolating all over Tan Zhen’s forehead and back. Zhong Yue was left speechless and he thought, Seems like Senior Martial Brother Tan also lacks such experiences; he seems strong from the outside but weak on the inside. But I guess he will become strong after experiencing a few true battles.
Zhong Yue’s killing intent was incredibly overbearing and was not something an average Qi Practitioner could handle, despite the Swords Gate being a gathering place of geniuses. Even so, those who shared the same experiences as Zhong Yue were in the scarcest minority.
We Qi Practitioners in Swords Gate usually lack killing intent needed to survive. Their current power may be sufficient for friendly matches among each other, but it is not enough for a real battle where life and death hangs in the balance, thought Zhong Yue.
Somewhere far away, Feng Shouzhu appeared beside the eight hall masters and he said disappointedly, “Unable to withstand even such killing intent. These little guys could only fight among themselves and they will not be able to win against the ferocious disciples of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race….”