Chapter 148 - The Art of Explosion, the Killing Begins
Chapter 148: The Art of Explosion, the Killing Begins
It was so quiet within the private room that even the sound of a needle dropping could be heard. However, Fang Lang’s emotions were not as calm as the environment around him.
Everyone knew that a sword disciple would only be able to gain an understanding of one sword intent. A person like Fang Lang, who had two flowers blooming inside his energy center and two intents was extremely rare.
Fang Lang never encountered a situation like this before. Throughout his time in the academy, none of his mentors ever mentioned this.
This was because very few people had two different sword intents in their energy center.
Fang Lang’s situation could be called a special occurrence or a unique exception!
At that moment, as Fang Lang’s spiritual sense seeped into his spinning energy center, it flowed across these two sword intents continuously. If it were not for the spiritual sense sweeping over the sword intent, it might suddenly explode. Fang Lang would end up dying from the explosion of his energy center!
If it were not Fang Lang but someone else, they might not be able to control two types of sword intent. However, Fang Lang was different. After all, Fang Lang had the Quintuple Binding Mode. Once he was used to multi-tasking, he carefully coaxed it and the ten thousand sword intent flower in his energy center began to sway.
Fang Lang’s raging Qi energy slowly steadied.
Fang Lang’s spiritual sense inward vision allowed him to see the two sword intent flowers quietly floating.
However, the time sword intent flower appeared slightly larger. However, the ten thousand sword intent could not be considered weak.
Inside the extremely quiet room, Fang Lang opened his eyes. In an instant, Fang Lang’s white robes began to billow on their own without any wind. There were the phantoms of sword intent flowers in the depths of each of his eyes.
The fourth-class, sword-intent realm was frightening but not dangerous.
It was complete!
...
A day passed by in an instant.
The atmosphere in Linjiang City became more and more grave and heavy. It felt like a thick, sticky swamp that made anyone who stepped into it feel as though they were struggling to breathe.
It was the same inside and outside the city.
Inside Linjiang City, the Jade Pavilion was completely barricaded by the Main Path Guild disciples.
An Fan and a couple of other fourth-class genius disciples were sitting on tables next to the windows, eating and drinking wine.
Their eyes were fixed on the tightly shut door of the Jade Pavilion.
“A full day has passed. Fang Lang has been hiding in the Jade Pavilion for a full day now. Is he really planning to spend his whole life hiding inside there?” said a disciple with an extremely serious expression as he downed the wine in his cup.
An Fan shook his head and swirled the wine in his cup as he said coolly, “The Jade Pavilion is a business sect. It’s not a refuge center. Hence, there’s no way that Fang Lang will be able to hide there for an eternity.”
“He still needs to head to the All-Seeing Buddha Sect and the Meridian Guild to retrieve the other two swords. Hence, he will definitely come out of the Jade Pavilion. However, I can’t imagine what trick Fang Lang is going to use to break through our barricade.”
“As far as I can tell, hiding in the Jade Pavilion was not a good decision. Is he planning to suddenly achieve a breakthrough into the fourth-class, sword-wave realm in the Jade Pavilion? Even if we didn’t consider the fact that he had only evolved into the third-class not long ago, if he manages to breakthrough to the fourth-class realm, he’ll only be a first-grade sword-intent realm. That’s not enough to tear through our barricade.”
An Fan’s deduction was extremely logical. Even if An Fan imagined himself trying to break out of the barricade, when faced with the all-encompassing trap set by the Main Path Guild disciples, the only outcome he could foresee was death from being overpowered and surrounded.
During the period of a day that Fang Lang spent hiding inside the Jade Pavilion, An Fan and the other disciples set more and more runes outside the building.
An Fan did not continue to speak. He stared intently at the Jade Pavilion. He dared not underestimate Fang Lang. This youth has demonstrated an overwhelming number of miraculous feats ever since the Imperial Examination.
In the Resource Battle, An Fan lost to Fang Lang as well.
Hence, more than anyone else, An Fan understood how fearsome Fang Lang was. He would not let his guard down at all.
Now as everyone thought that Fang Lang was completely trapped, An Fan felt that Fang Lang might have a solution that would catch everyone by surprise!
...
Outside the city, the atmosphere became tenser, as though a fight was about to break out.
The commander of Linjiang City shut the city gates. The city guards stood on the city tower, wearing extremely stony and grim expressions.
Outside the city, a powerful aura surged into the sky. It seemed to stir up the clouds in the sky.
The Main Path Guild disciples swiftly rushed over. When they learned that Fang Lang was besieged inside the Jade Pavilion, they naturally rushed over. This was because they needed to occupy the advantageous territory in order to capture Fang Lang.
The Main Path Guild elders who attained the high cultivation realms also learned that the Sword Guild disciples from all four pavilions were headed over. When the time comes, there might be a clash outside Linjiang City. A huge battle might break out.
When that happens, someone might be able to benefit from the messy situation and someone from the Sword Guild might be able to save Fang Lang.
Hence, the elders of the Main Path Guild immediately cast a complex Barricade Rune outside Linjiang City, placing Linjiang City under a complete lockdown. Even if the Sword Guild warriors rushed over, Fang Lang would be unable to slip out of Linjiang City easily and be brought away by the Sword Guild.
Outside the city, the Sword Guild disciples wore extremely grim expressions. It was terrifyingly austere and steely.
Wen Ting arrived as well. His hand was already placed on the rapier at his waist. When he saw the barricaded city walls, he did not say a word. Instead, he rushed straight towards the Main Path Guild warriors with his sword.
Outside the city, a battle instantly broke out. A clash broke out between the Sword Guild disciples and the Main Path Guild disciples!
The waves from a frightening battle engulfed the skies close to Linjiang City. The clouds were agitated as the sky filled with rain clouds and rain began to pour down.
That was caused by the fierce battle between Chao Xiaojian, Zhao Longshi and the others.
It seemed as though they were also aware of Fang Lang’s situation because the battle was moving in the direction of Linjiang City.
At that moment, no one was paying attention to the great battle between these two top-level warriors.
This was because the battle between Chao Xiaojian and Zhao Longshi had gradually heated up to a white-hot pitch level. No one would be able to help in this battle.
Everyone was more curious to know how Fang Lang, who was trapped inside Linjiang City, would turn the situation around.
...
Inside the Jade Pavilion, the eyes of the middle-aged manager who guarded at the door silently suddenly flickered. After that, he noticed the door to the private room that had been closed for an entire day finally opened.
Fang Lang, who had changed into some clean white robes, walked out slowly from the room.
His aura hovered around his body. A sharp sword intent surged out of Fang Lang’s body. The air seemed to wrap around him. It was like there was a great sun shining with radiant light.
The middle-aged manager was shocked. He felt as though a massive change had occurred in Fang Lang.
“Mr. Fang... have... have you evolved?”
The middle-aged manager took a deep breath in. He never imagined that Fang Lang would actually complete his breakthrough in the private room and advance to the fourth-class, sword-intent realm!
Fang Lang turned to look at him. The two sword intent flowers in the depths of his eyes made the manager, whose cultivation was of the third-class realm, feel a huge sense of terror and oppression.
The middle-aged manager knew that Fang Lang had recently taken part in the Imperial Examination a month ago. At the time, Fang Lang was merely a second-class disciple.
So little time had passed yet Fang Lang managed to step into the fourth-class realm!
It was a short period of a month!
So this was the Imperial Examination champion!? This was the most promising top warrior in the Tang Dynasty!?
Fang Lang raised his head slightly and asked with a smile, “What is the situation like outside?”
The middle-aged manager lowered his head respectfully and clasped his hands as he answered, “The Main Path Guild disciples under the fourth-class realm with An Fan as their leader have buried various runes at all the exits of the store. If you leave, you’ll definitely be attacked by the runes.”
“Besides that, outside Linjiang City, the warriors of your guild have come to help. At the moment, they are fighting with the Main Path Guild warriors. The Main Path Guild warriors have placed a Barricade Rune outside Linjiang City in order to stop you from escaping. Hence, for the moment, the Sword Guild warriors are unable to break through the barricade and enter the city to save you.”
The description of the middle-aged manager caused Fang Lang to frown slightly. If this were so, he was completely trapped!
However, Fang Lang felt comforted to know that the Sword Guild warriors had come to rescue him.
In the distance, the sound of footsteps rang out. Owner Wu heard the news that Fang Lang had stepped out of the room and quickly appeared.
“Mr. Fang, you’ve finally come out of the room,” said Owner Wu with a smile on her face.
She handed him a space ring and said, “The 20 Meteor Flight Swords that you wanted are all here.”
“I wonder what you’re planning to do with so many Meteor Flight Swords?” asked Owner Wu curiously.
Fang Lang received the ring with a smile but did not give his reasons.
Fang Lang then took out a Meteor Flight Sword. In front of Owner Wu and the middle-aged manager, his spiritual sense gushed out and surged into the rune pattern of the flight sword... Right before Owner Wu and the middle-age manager’s shocked eyes, he used the Flight Sword Crossover Turbo Charge Rune and inscribed it in a reversed manner on the flight sword rune pattern, changing the pattern of the flight sword!
Owner Wu and the middle-aged manager did not understand Fang Lang’s intentions. However, since Owner Wu’s cultivation was strong, she could faintly sense that after Fang Lang changed the flight sword rune, it seemed to become extremely unstable.
“Owner Wu. I still have another huge business to discuss with you. I wonder if you might be interested?”
Fang Lang continued changing the flight sword runes as he spoke to Owner Wu.
Owner Wu wore a strange expression on her face. She was trying to guess what Fang Lang might ask of her next.
Fang Lang took out 200,000 gold coins. The stack of gold coins was extremely eye-catching.
“It’s alright if you don’t have Meteor Flight Swords. You can give me other flight swords that are the same price as the Meteor Flight Sword. Give me 40 in total,” said Fang Lang.
Owner Wu managed to keep her composure. However, the middle-aged manager was completely speechless. The rich were extremely overbearing and imposing!
However, Owner Wu would never turn down a business opportunity, especially one that was worth 200,000 gold coins!
Owner Wu agreed right away. After that, she turned around and headed for the storeroom to retrieve all the flight swords.
‘Ding! Congratulations, you have made a purchase related to cultivation. You have obtained the random reward—2x Endurance Card.’
‘After use, the 2x Endurance Card will slow down the expenditure of your resilience, patience, stamina and spiritual sense by a factor of two! Your cultivation will last longer!’
After the transaction was completed, the System prompt rang out once again.
An extremely odd card appeared. Fang Lang did not study it for too long before he kept it away in the inventory.
There was a chance to obtain a reward each time the System was upgraded by a level and also when a purchase related to cultivation was made.
This card was exceptionally useful to Fang Lang.
The sun shone in the sky.
Fang Lang’s spiritual sense continuously rippled out. He spent half a day altering the runes on the flight swords that Owner Wu had brought out.
Even though Fang Lang possessed the Spirit Eyes skill, he still felt the exhaustion of his spiritual sense. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Owner Wu and the middle-aged manager had no idea what Fang Lang was up to. All they could do was watch him work quietly.
After he finished everything, Fang Lang kept all the flight swords in the space ring. He then stood up with his scabbard on his back. With a shrug of his white robes, he clasped his hands and bowed towards Owner Wu.
“Thank you, Owner Wu for your care over these two days. I hope we meet again in the future,” said Fang Lang with a smile.
Owner Wu was stunned.
“Are you planning on leaving Mr. Fang? At the moment, Linjiang City is overrun with Main Path Guild disciples... I fear that you’ll be in great danger as soon as you walk out of the store.”
Fang Lang took out a Meteor Flight Sword and a spirit crystal. He turned his head to look at the main entrance of the Jade Pavilion with a slight upward curve on his lips.
“I’ll have to face them no matter what. Besides... some vendettas need to be settled once and for all.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Fang Lang turned and walked towards the entrance.
Owner Wu’s mouth was agape. She did not know what to say. The middle-aged manager beside her wore a dumbstruck expression. He thought that Fang Lang would choose to remain hiding. In the end... he decided to deal with the vendetta as soon as he evolved.
There were close to a thousand Main Path Guild disciples outside. Among them, there were close to a hundred fourth-class realm disciples. Among those, An Fan was a genius disciple of the peak fourth-class phantasm realm...
Fang Lang should have chosen to remain in hiding and wait for the Sword Guild warriors to storm into the city, right!?
Owner Wu and the middle-aged manager followed behind Fang Lang. They saw Fang Lang close his eyes when he arrived at the entrance. After that, he opened the tightly-sealed door of the Jade Pavilion.
The long-missed sunlight streamed down from outside the doors, illuminating the white-robed figure and making him look as though he were glowing with golden light.
...
Fang Lang closed his eyes. Numerous scenes appeared in his mind.
He thought about Lin Yun, who he killed in Luojiang City, Lin Muzhe, who he killed in Youzhou Demon Portal and many others...
This was not his first time killing someone.
He did not fear killing people. Now that he stepped on the road of cultivation, his body was not his own. Killing was an unavoidable part of cultivation.
Since that was the case...
Fang Lang slowly opened his eyes. The emotion in his eyes slowly faded and became extremely stony and forbidding.
It was time to kill!
...
The Jade Pavilion was situated across from a restaurant.
As soon as the doors of the Jade Pavilion opened, the entire restaurant went quiet in an instant.
On the street, the numerous disciples that kept a close eye on the Jade Pavilion in hiding went into high alert. A bright light shone out of their eyes!
An Fan’s concentration kicked into action from his position next to the window. He swiftly slammed down his wine cup, sending wine splashing everywhere.
“The... the door is open!”
All the blue-robed, fourth-class realm disciples swiftly gathered in front of the window. Their eyes sparkled with light as they stared at the open doors of the Jade Pavilion. Under the glow of the sunlight, a white-robed figure walked out.
“It’s Fang Lang!”
“Is he really coming out on his own!?”
“How would he dare to!? He’s completely trapped! Unless he plans to walk straight into a trap!?”
A commotion broke out among the Main Path Guild disciples.
An Fan stared at Fang Lang in his snow-white robes. He sensed a different aura from Fang Lang. A faint tearing Qi energy was interspersed with a sharp Qi activity!
“He’s advanced to the fourth-class! He’s achieved a breakthrough into the fourth-class, sword-intent!”
An Fan inhaled sharply!
That was fast!
That was too fast!
Fang Lang had actually managed to advance to the fourth-class, sword-intent realm in that amount of time!?
It was terrifying!
A strong sense of fear and horror appeared in An Fan’s heart!
Under the sunlight, Fang Lang raised his head. Naturally, he noticed An Fan sitting by the window of the restaurant.
A warm smile appeared on Fang Lang’s face.
After that, he took a step out.
“Activate the runes!” shouted An Fan from the upper level of the restaurant.
One after another, the Main Path Guild disciples swiftly formed a seal. The runes suddenly fluctuated violently.
Fang Lang took a step out and noticed the various runes on the ground glowing with light!
A scary ripple of energy reverberated in every corner of the many streets and alleys. It was enough to make anyone’s heart palpitate!
Fang Lang smiled.
He grabbed the Meteor Flight Sword and stuffed a spirit crystal into it. He then activated the Meteor Flight Sword. The runes on the flight sword glowed brightly and flew towards the restaurant under Fang Lang’s control!
In the restaurant, An Fan’s expression faltered.
He clasped his hands to form a seal and a spiritual energy barrier appeared before him. The Meteor Flight Sword crashed into the barrier and exploded with a terrifying blast!
Boom!!!
The normal crossover turbocharge increased the speed in the direction of the flow. However, the reverse action would cause the rune to break down and explode!
The force of the explosion rippled out. The spiritual energy barrier before An Fan was blasted apart.
What... what was this!?
He caused an explosion with a flight sword!?
As Fang Lang strode out of the Jade Pavilion, he continuously took out flight swords with the runes that he had altered and filled with spiritual sense. He activated the flight swords and sent them out in all directions as though he was throwing bombs. He threw them at the Main Path Guild disciples non-stop!
The Main Path Guild disciples did not have the chance to activate the runes that they prepared. Before they could launch an explosive attack on Fang Lang, Fang Lang had thrown explosives at them first!
Inside the Jade Pavilion, Owner Wu and the middle-aged manager looked on in a daze. They inhaled sharply.
He was making the flight sword explode in order to face his enemy. He was burning money every second!
Woosh woosh woosh!
20 unsteady flight swords crashed into the restaurant and the Main Path Guild disciples in all directions, exploding non-stop.
The sparks, dust and debris created by the explosion shot into the sky.
Dust and ash filled the air!
100,000 gold coins burst into flames in an instant!
Explosives... was an art!
The Main Path Guild disciples were plunged into a state of panic.
Within the billowing clouds of dust, a white-robed figure appeared in front of the restaurant.
The Obsidian Sword was drawn. The fourth-class, phantasm realm Main Path Guild disciple who was in charge of guarding the restaurant narrowed his eyes. With a swing of his sword, Fang Lang sent his head flying.
A spell disciple allowed a sword disciple to get close. The end result could not be described with words. The head soared high into the skies and spun one before it crashed to the ground with a dull thud.
Fresh blood splattered all over the door and walls of the restaurant, forming a blood-colored rose pattern.
Fang Lang held the Obsidian Sword by his side. The sword tip dripped with blood as he slowly stepped into the restaurant.