Chapter 24
B2C24: Liu Xing rises
Nalan Dan is using her body-maneuvering skill, which is what she most excels in, to move around Qin Yu very fast. She wants to make it impossible for Qin Yu to tell where her body actually is. But Qin Yu is still standing stock still. Because he is wearing a silvery mask, other people simply cannot see that he is giving a faint cold smile.
Competing in speed?
As a result of Qin Yu’s body training, speed has always been his strongest point. When he was 13, he could only lift 100 jin with one arm but his speed was already superior to that of an ordinary Houtian expert. The current Qin Yu just became a Xiantian expert at one stroke and his entire body’s muscles and cells have been undergoing transformations since. When he was still at the peak of the Houtian level, he could already lift 1500 jin with one arm. Now, his one-armed strength must not be lower than 2000 jin, then what level has his speed reached?
Moreover, in terms of control, muscles are naturally easier to control than Xiantian energy. And in terms of endurance, muscle power is much more durable than Xiantian energy as well.
"I detest being called auntie the most." Nalan Dan’s ice-cold voice comes into Qin Yu’s ears. Using her beautiful hands, with which she rips babies’ hearts out, she creates countless illusions, which together look like a full-blown lotus, and attacks Qin Yu.
"How great is the strength of the 1st Xiantian external expert since antiquity?" Qin Yu thinks to himself. He then smiles as he looks at the countless attacking illusions. "I’m testing it on you now." He immediately throws a punch with his entire power.
Straight line!
"Whizz ~~~" An extremely sharp whistle rises. Qin Yu’s right fist comes at Nalan Dan directly with a mountainous force.
As Nalan Feng and Zhen Xu hear that terrifyingly sharp whistle, their faces change color. When Nalan Dan is still unprepared, the fist has already come close to her face. The wind of the punch hurts her face like needles. Having no time to think much, she suddenly withdraws the full-blown-lotus-like illusion into her hands and starts to madly channel the Xiantian energy in her body to the midpoint between her hands. But she basically cannot concentrate more Xiantian energy at the midpoint because the fist has already arrived!
Bang!
It hits the midpoint between Nalan Dan’s palms fiercely like a smash of a great iron hammer. Nalan Dan’s body swiftly retreats but her expression has become very ugly.
Qin Yu has over 2000 jin of strength in one arm and yet he executed this one punch with all his might. Strength in fact has never been Nalan Dan’s strong point and, moreover, she is only at the early phase of the Xiantian level so this punch has hurt her arms to the point where they tingle. All of a sudden Nalan Dan does not dare to continue her attack.
"This bloke is a freak. He’s too strong," says Nalan Dan in a frightened voice.
Zhen Xu says with a faint smile: "With so much strength, he must be a Xiantian expert who has been practicing a technique which puts emphasis on strength such as the Impertinent Bull Power." If Qin Yu did not exist in the world then Zhen Xu’s conjecture would probably be correct. After all, it is extremely hard even for Xiantian experts to reach such a terrifying level in strength.
"Little brother, little sister, both of you must attack together." Zhen Xu gives an order.
After circulating her Xiantian energy, Nalan Dan’s arms are no longer in pain. Even though they are still a bit uncomfortable, she can continue to fight with them. Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng exchange a look then suddenly turn into 2 blurs and attack Qin Yu again, only that this time they both use weapons — scimitars.
The scimitars are crescent-shaped and radiate ice-cold rays of light.
Qin Yu slightly narrows his eyes. At the same time, he suddenly clenches his fists and throws 2 fierce punches in 2 different directions. Carrying the extremely great power of a Xiantian external expert, his fists seem like 2 aquatic dragons coming out of water. Afterwards, with 2 bangs, Qin Yu’s fists smash on one side of the scimitars precisely.
Bang ~~~
Nalan Dan’s and Nalan Feng’s bodies get a shock.
"Dan, how can this scumbag be just a silver card assassin? Even among gold card assassins, this bloke would definitely be considered a high-class figure," says Nalan Feng using controlled sound transference. At the moment he also feels that his opponent’s punch carried a terrifying force. That fierce strike has made him feel uncomfortable in the chest.
"Feng, let’s use speed. We can only rely on speed." Nalan Dan’s voice is transferred confidentially to him.
Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng are very distressed.
Qin Yu’s fists are really too heavy. Being hit with a punch from him is as uncomfortable as being smashed on by a huge rock. When a 2000 jin rock smashes down, at least the interface will be very large. But Qin Yu focuses the force equivalent to the weight of 2000 jin in a fist so the impact pressure he causes is even stronger.
Qin Yu still remains motionless despite 2 people moving extremely fast around him.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! ……
Qin Yu is punching in a relaxed manner but every punch from him is heavy like a huge rock falling or an iron hammer smashing. Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng are about to go mad because whenever they approach him to attack, he sends them backing off with a punch each, forcing them to keep moving so fast all the time, which has also been causing them to consume huge amounts of Xiantian energy.
By contrast, Zhen Xu is coldly watching. There are only images of Qin Yu’s strikes in his pupils. It is impossible to know what he is thiking.
"I just reached the Xiantian level. In principle, I’m also at the early Xiantian level, but I’m an early phase Xiantian external expert. You’re merely early phase Xiantian internal experts." Qin Yu thinks. "But they’re too weak. Alright, let’s finish them off quickly."
Qin Yu has always been fooling around. After all, this is the 1st time he has fought a Xiantian internal expert.
However, Qin Yu is wrong. It is not that the opponents are too weak but that a Xiantian external expert is really so extraordinary. To other external practitioners, being able to lift 700 to 800 jin with one arm at the peak of the Houtian level is already an outstanding achievement. But Qin Yu could lift 1500 jin with one arm at the peak of the Houtian level.
Now that Qin Yu has reached the Xiantian level, how can ordinary early phase Xiantian experts compare with him?
"Let’s end this!" Qin Yu’s eyes suddenly shine brilliantly.
"No good!" Only at this moment does Zhen Xu discover that everything is far from all right. But … it is already too late.
He only sees Qin Yu’s body turn into several afterimages then the afterimages merge into one. Qin Yu is still standing at his original place, as if he has never moved. But Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng are now motionless like 2 statues. Suddenly —
Thud! Thud!
Nalan Feng and Nalan Dan unexpectedly fall on the ground directly. The reason is that in just a moment ago Qin Yu, like a flash, used his spear hands to smash 2 vital points of the two’s throats, killing them instantly.
"Actually … my strongest point isn’t strength at all, but speed!" Qin Yu’s indifferent voice rises in the silent courtyard.
"Little brother, little sister." Looking at the dead Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng, Zhen Xu slowly says in a low voice which has a note of extreme grief. Then he raises his head and stares at Qin Yu. The coldness radiated from his eyes makes Qin Yu’s whole body feel chilly. At the same time, his entire bearing suddenly becomes fierce.
Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng have been following Zhen Xu for over 20 years. During these years, the Nalans only listened to Zhen Xu’s orders. The 3 of them have been treating each other like real brothers and sister. But just now Qin Yu attacked too fast so, when Zhen Xu to reacted, it was already too late.
A deep and low yowl of extreme hatred rises.
Boom ~~~
The air suddenly starts to vibrate. Zhen Xu’s hairband breaks abruptly. His long hair starts to flutter freely. An extremely terrifying force bursts forth from inside his body like a volcano eruption. A furious Xiantian energy then spreads over the outside of Zhen Xu’s body. Under the covering of the Xiantian energy Zhen Xu’s entire body is only a blur, but his ice-cold eerie eyes still look frightening.
Even though Zhen Xu is not the chief of the Xiang royal clan’s intelligence service, his status is not lower than the chief’s in the slightest. For so many years he has never disappointed Xiang Guang and Xiang Guang also always believes in this mysterious general to the utmost.
However … no one knows his real power. How powerful is this sickly-looking man actually? Zhen
Boom!
The air shakes quickly for a short while and becomes chaotic like ripples. Zhen Xu’s body suddenly disappears then appears again at Qin Yu’s face.
"Bang!" Qin Yu is totally astonished. At the same time he retreats extremely fast. A raging force hits his body squarely. The silvery mask he is wearing is broken into pieces at once with a bang. At the same time, the coat on Qin Yu’s body is reduced to shreds, which scatter all over in the air. After backing away a long distance, Qin Yu looks at Zhen Xu in front of him in astonishment.
With just a strike, there is only the black gold undershirt left on Qin Yu’s body. Even his mask has been destroyed.
"Very fast speed and very terrifying energy; with such strong body-protecting energy, he must be a late phase Xiantian expert." Qin Yu confirms in his mind. Even if Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng faced Zhen Xu together, they would still get killed with 2 blows. This Zhen Xu is really too formidable.
2 early phase Xiantian experts are simply no match for a late phase Xiantian expert.
Zhen Xu stares at Qin Yu and says coldly with a smirk: "Your speed is not bad. What a pity, your fastest speed is inferior to mine. Your strength is pretty good but when I attack with Xiantian energy, my offensive force is even stronger than your punches. In offense, speed and defense you’re far inferior to me, this time you’ll surely die."
Zhen Xu has declared his judgment.
"My speed is only not bad?" Qin Yu suddenly laughs. "Sorry, please wait a minute."
As Zhen Xu watches in amazement, Qin Yu takes off the black iron arm guards and leg guards on his arms and legs. "Bang!" He throws the black iron arm guards and leg guards on the ground, causing a series of heavy deep metallic noises. This shows that the guards are very heavy.
Zhen Xu is astonished.
Only now does he understand that even though Qin Yu’s original speed was so fast, it was merely his speed while carrying the black iron arm guards and leg guards. After taking them off, how much faster has Qin Yu become?
"Taking off 200 jin of weights has lightened my entire body by half. Even if my speed can’t double, at least it must’ve increased by 50%. Now I can nearly match that guy in speed. Let’s not take off this black gold undershirt. Reducing 200 jin is already enough. Moreover, this black gold undershirt’s defense is very strong as well." Qin Yu thinks to himself.
"Looks like I have to reassess you," says Zhen Xu with Qin Yu’s body reflected in his pupils but his mind is scheming precisely.
Qin Yu, by constrast, is staring at Zhen Xu before him with full attention.
Shua! Shua!
The 2 bodies suddenly disappear. At the same time, an extremely urgent wind whistle starts to be heard. Yes, there is exactly only one whistle. Even though Zhen Xu is moving extremely fast and his body-maneuvering skill can also be considered ingenious, he is experiencing an extremely strong wind resistance, which is causing the whistle. Qin Yu, however, is moving fast like lightning without causing any sounds.
The 2 of them are chasing each other, but because of the wind resistance, Qin Yu is slightly faster than Zhen Xu.
"Break!"
Qin Yu suddenly utters a low shout. He executes a lightning kick with his right leg and hits the side of Zhen Xu’s left leg directly. Even though Qin Yu has 3000 jin of strength in one leg, after shaking for a while, Zhen Xu’s body-protecting energy has unexpectedly withstood Qin Yu’s heavy kick.
Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! ……
Sharp noises of the air being pierced through can be heard. Qin Yu’s face changes color: "Concealed projectiles!" This is Qin Yu’s first reaction. However, his holy sense discovers clearly what caused those piercing noises — the fingers of Zhen Xu’s sharp claw.
A claw looks like that of an eagle. Zhen Xu’s left hand’s 5 fingertips are all radiating golden rays of light and are piercing through the air to come at him.
"Back!"
Qin Yu throws a palm strike and backs away very fast.
Whizz! … Qin Yu hears 5 sharp whistles. His holy sense discovers clearly that the light on Zhen Xu’s fingers has unexpectedly left the fingers. 5 golden shafts of light are continuously shooting at him at an extreme speed. Qin Yu is fast, but even if he was faster he would not be able to outstrip those shafts of light. He only has enough time to make a movement.
Among the 5 shafts of light, 2 miss but the other 3 hit Qin Yu in the stomach.
The black gold undershirt really deserves to be called a defensive treasure. Even though the shafts of light hit it with a bang, it unexpectedly remains intact. However, the impact force still penetrates the black gold undershirt and gives Qin Yu’s body a shock.
"Your power is not bad, worthy of my using weapon. This is a high Xian grade weapon — the Bloody Soul Claw. This claw is made from a claw of a demonic beast in the Wilderness. It could only be completed after going through several tens forging procedures," says Zhen Xu suddenly. A huge blood-red claw appears on his right hand.
Qin Yu slightly narrows his eyes. That claw is really forged from a demonic beast’s claw and not from ordinary steel ore and the like.
"There’s only one chance. I must grab it." Qin Yu thinks to himself.
"Ha-ha, I’ll let you taste my strongest special skill — the Heart Piercing Ten Thousand Claws!" In only an instant, Zhen Xu’s eyes have reddened like blood and have the same color as that Bloody Soul Claw. At the same time, the fingertips of the Bloody Soul Claw shoot out various shafts of light.
Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! ……
Using some unknown technique, Zhen Xu continuously shoots the surging Xiantian energy in his body out from the fingertips of the Bloody Sould Claw in the form of golden shafts of light like spraying bullets. In an instant, several tens shafts of light have been shot out.
The strangest thing is that those shafts of light seem to be controlled by Zhen Xu.
"What technique is this?" Qin Yu simply cannot understand how it works. "Forget it. There’s no time left." He clenches his teeth. His body suddenly dashes obliquely in a different direction. Then he pauses and dashses in another direction.
Qin Yu is moving like lightning but he does not cause any wind sounds. However, with time there are more and more shafts of light attacking him. Even though these shafts of light cannot penetrate his black gold undershirt, his head is unable to resist them. Therefore, Qin Yu can only keep moving like a flash with all his might to evade them. Whenever he cannot dodge, he uses the black gold undershirt to defend.
"The final blow!" Qin Yu’s eyes suddenly brighten.
His entire body turns into a beam of light and charges directly at Zhen Xu.
"Ha-ha, instead of running away using your speed, you come to get killed." Zhen Xu’s heart is extremely excited. He cannot help having a faint complacent smile on his face. The Bloody Soul Claw pierces the air and comes at Qin Yu’s head. Qin Yu’s eyes flash.
Flaming Gloves!
A light flashes on Qin Yu’s hands. The gloves suddenly protect the surface of the fists. With a movement, he extends his left hand and boldly moves it on a collision course with the Bloody Soul Claw.
"Just a death-wish," thinks Zhen Xu disdainfully. His Bloody Soul Claw is high Xian-grade, why should he be afraid? He even accelerates the Bloody Soul Claw a bit.
"Ah!"
Zhen Xu is shocked all of a sudden because Qin Yu’s left hand has unexpectedly grasped the Bloody Soul Claw on his right hand. The glove on Qin Yu’s left hand seems to be very strange. Not even the extremely strong tearing force of the Bloody Soul Claw can damage it in the least. Moreover, at this moment, Qin Yu’s right fist has already got close to him in a strike.
Bang!
Zhen Xu’s left hand also blocks Qin Yu’s right fist with a movement. However, there is a Flaming Glove on Qin Yu’s right fist whereas Zhen Xu can only use his vigorous Xiantian energy to defend.
"Brat, you think this can stop me from killing you?" The corners of Zhen Xu’s mouth suddenly have a faint smile. Golden shafts of light again appear between the Bloody Soul Claw and Qin Yu’s left-hand fingers, which are in a deadlock with each other. At such a close distance, when those shafts of light are shot out, Qin Yu simply cannot dodge.
Zhen Xu cannot help getting excited. He seems to be picturing Qin Yu’s head being shot into pieces on the spot.
Qin Yu’s eyes suddenly brighten — the middle-grade holy-class Flaming Sword!
Whizz!
"Ah!" cries Zhen Xu miserably.
Just now a dark short sword suddenly appeared in Qin Yu’s right hand, which was being locked in a stalemate originally. The dark short sword, which is extremely sharp, unexpectedly cut off Zhen Xu’s left hand in a slash and, moreover, it is proceeding to slash at his throat. Zhen Xu simply has no way to dodge it at such a close distance. He utters a loud shout and chokes back the agony of having a hand severed. His body-protecting energy suddenly intensifies.
"Die!" Zhen Xu’s eyes flash with fierceness.
Knowing it is too late to dodge, he can only rely on his own body-protecting energy. Moreover, as Zhen Xu becomes ruthless, the golden light on the Bloody Soul Claw becomes more luminous and shoots out at Qin Yu’s head ferociously. Naturally, Qin Yu’s head cannot withstand such sharp golden shafts of light.
At this moment, when his fate is hanging in the balance, Qin Yu resolutely and ruthlessly cut through the body-protecting energy using the Flaming Sword then slashes at Zhen Xu’s throat. At the same time, using his left hand, which is wearing a Flaming Glove, he executes a strike with the most powerful penetrating force — a spear hand strike — and aims directly for the center of the Bloody Soul Claw’s palm.
Pu!
Blood splatters!
It is the blood spouting from Zhen Xu’s slashed throat. At the same time, it also contains the blood spouting from the holes on Qin Yu’s pierced left arm. There is also the blood spurting from Qin Yu’s mouth in it.
Just a moment ago, relying on a Flaming Glove, Qin Yu executed a spear hand strike and gave Zhen Xu’s palm in the Bloody Soul Claw a shock. Naturally, the Bloody Soul Claw was affected and the direction of those shooting shafts of light was also suddenly altered. 2 of them hit Qin Yu’s left arm while the others hit him in the chest.
2 holes immediately appeared on his left arm, spurting blood. Moreover, even though his chest is protected by the black gold undershirt, because this time the distance was too close and the impact force was too strong, Qin Yu was still injured internally and could not help spouting blood from his mouth.
"So dangerous." Qin Yu looks at Zhen Xu, who has already died because his throat was cut, and takes a deep breath. He channels the fresh air into his stomach then heaves a sigh of relief.
The Flaming Sword must be used at the right time. If Qin Yu had used it from the beginning, given Zhen Xu’s sharpness, he surely would not have given Qin Yu any chance to harm him with the short sword. Qin Yu succeeded in killing Zhen Xu also thanks to the Flaming Gloves and the Flaming Sword appearing in quick succession near the end of the fight, which caught Zhen Xu off guard. Even so, Qin Yu was almost finished.
"Xiao Hei!" Qin Yu suddenly sees a black eagle appear in front of him. The eagle is staring at Qin Yu.
When Qin Yu and Zhen Xu fought just now, the distance between them was so short and life and death were decided in just a moment so the black eagle simply could not come in time to help Qin Yu. However, as an exceptional animal, it knows that Qin Yu was in serious danger and now it feels unhappy because it could not help him.
"Xiao Hei, I’m all right. Ss ~~" Qin Yu draws a cold breath and takes a look at the holes on his arm. His internal injury is not bad but it is very difficult to tell if such serious wounds as the 2 holes in his left arm can heal. Moreover, Qin Yu feels that it seems … his left arm’s bones, tendons and channels have all been seriously damaged.
After casting a look at the 3 dead bodies, he quickly gets the iron case which contains the Trans-Heaven diagram and the key to it. Then he takes Zhen Xu’s head and gets on the black eagle’s back. With a shake of its wings, the eagle soars directly towards the horizon, leaving this city.
……
In the depths of a nameless canyon, there is a manor with a great number of experts, including more than 10 Xiantian experts. Outside the manor, there is a bamboo forest and a creek. A middle-aged man is sitting in a bamboo chair beside the creek, quietly drinking tea and enjoying the scenery. No one can know what he is thinking.
Suddenly, a gray-clad old man and a blue-clad old man approach the middle-aged man from behind. The shocking thing is that these 2 old men are late-phase Xiantian experts.
"Leader, Zhen Xu is already dead," says the gray-clad old man respectfully.
"Oh?" The teacup in the tea-drinking middle-aged man slightly jerks. "Tell me the facts in detail."
"Leader, at the place where Zhen Xu was killed, there were also the corpses of his 2 subordinates Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng. Moreover, there were even fragments of a silvery mask where this incident took place. It must have belonged to silver card assassin Liu Xing, who was on the mission," says the blue-clad old man.
"Silver card assassin? Liu Xing?" That middle-aged man puts the teacup down and stands up. "Well, no, now that Liu Xing should already be considered a gold card assassin. You two quickly check the data on him once."
Even the head of the Heavenly Net is interested in such a gold card assassin who killed 1 late phase Xiantian expert in addition to 2 early phase Xiantian experts.
"Leader, but assassin Liu Xing still hasn’t submitted the head to complete the mission ever since. Morever, an examination of the blood at the scene showed that it contained the blood of another person besides the 3 dead people. We are sure that Liu Xing was seriously injured," says the blue-clad old man while bowing.
"Oh, but he could leave the scene so he’s obviously still alive. This kind of person won’t die so easily," says the middle-aged man with an indifferent smile. Then he says indifferently: "All right, get ready at once. It’s time I returned to Yan City."
"Yes!" The 2 old men bow and take the order.
The middle-aged man mumbles in a low voice: "Yu’er has gone out for so long. Why isn’t there any news about him?" He turns around while still frowning. This mysterious leader of the Heavenly Net is shockingly none other than East Vanquishing Prince — Qin De!
.
End of b2c24.
End of book 2.