From the south, three figures had intruded onto the battlefield of Shen Haoren and the Earth Giant. They had not arrived by carriage, nor had they travelled on foot.
The three newcomers had approached through the skies, each standing on a large object that gently supported their feet.
…and they seemed to be of familiar terms with Shen Haoren, but the latter’s countenance had transformed into a pale sheet, one that was far more dreadful than his expression upon his discovery of the Earth Giant.
As if to exacerbate the situation one degree further than necessary, the three figures approached within communicable distance.
It was at this point that the other members of the group could properly observe the newcomers’ appearance through the obscure environment of the dust storm.
The three people were dressed in plain robes of black-dyed cotton, with a few lines of embroidered gold racing along the length of their arms towards their shoulders.
Their appearance was considerably attractive and appealing to the gaze, and the person in the middle even sported a playful expression even amongst the desolate circumstances of a destructive dust storm combined with the trampling force of an unreasonably enraged Earth Giant that possessed the strength of a peak Core Formation Realm practitioner.
However, the most important notion of discovery was not their striking clothes or their physical attractive qualities of their countenances – albeit a little for some of the members of the group, particularly a few women – but was the fact that the three stood on a large sword each.
The person on the middle stood on an oversized broadsword whose dimensions were extrapolated beyond tolerable limits, whilst the others on the left and right peered down from their perches of a grossly constructed jian forged from a bizarre cocktail of individually appealing metals.
“Old Shen, long time no see!” the person standing at the middle of the three clapped his hands in delight, his handsome countenance alight with a dazzling smile.
“It’s been over two decades since we last met, and you seem to have not yet obtained the motivation to lose weight! Has your wife not complained ye-“
“Shut it, Yang Jian!”
Shen Haoren roared as the back of his neck flared as a scarlet river bulged to its maximum capacity underneath.
The young woman’s pretty countenance flushed at the statement uttered by Yang Jian, deeply wishing to hide herself in this unfortunate and disastrously empty plains.
“This Father – damned giant! – has no time to argue with you!”
The middle-aged man grunted as the double-headed war hammer struck aside a blazing meteorite of stone towards the right, his forehead beaming with dense beads of perspiration.
Shen Haoren’s chest heaved with exhaustion as he nearly buckled onto his knees following the expenditure of the last strike, his mind resounding with the dull realization that his spiritual essence reserves were not pitifully empty.
The Earth Giant seemed to have realized such a fact as the barrage of stones became ever-increasingly violent and rapid paced; boulders rained from the skies, sometimes even hurtling two or three bombardments onto their heads.
“Aigh, you’ve struggled so long; we could feel your spiritual essence fluctuations from several kilometers away. Let me help you out, ah!”
Standing from their perches in the sky, Yang Jian’s countenance flickered with a tinge of sympathy and brotherhood as he swiftly descended from his broadsword to stand besides the exhausted middle-aged man.
The man that previously stood to his left rapidly descended next to Tang Shiqi, whilst the last person cozied up next to An Fei with an interested expression on his countenance.
The young girl’s lips twitched at the unexpected but definitely unwelcome guest that now stood no more than seven centimeters towards her right, but the youth of the Tang Clan’s expression was much, much worse.
Compared to An Fei whose countenance resembled that of someone who had just swallowed a house fly, Tang Shiqi appeared as though someone had just pillaged and murdered his family directly before his eyes.
The youth’s countenance was pale as snow, his upper body devoid of blood as his fingers curled into tight fists under the cover of the large sleeves of the formerly exquisite robes.
Tang Shiqi released heavy breaths as he attempted not to gaze upon the guest besides him, urging his boiling heart to calm down as smoothly as possible.
“Hm, little young miss, how about we exchange a basic set of information?”
The handsome man besides An Fei revealed a dazzling smile as he extended his right hand towards her, his body exuding a peaceful and warming aura.
The young girl’s brows twitched at the extraordinarily disconcerting difference between the grim circumstances of the battlefield that stood between them and the Earth Giant and that of the handsome man to her right, her mind wondering whether it was acceptable to refuse him outright.
Caw!!
“Sorry, I… I don’t –“
Crash!
“-holy hell!”
The little raven’s cry of disdain and contempt towards the handsome man who ignored the gravity of the world as well as An Fei’s polite but direct refusal was interrupted by a heavy crash of a fleshy body striking the earth, and Yang Jian’s unpleasant cry.
Shen Haoren clucked his tongue in disapproval, though his countenance clearly displayed a hint of laughter.
“See?”
The middle-aged man chuckled as he dropped onto the ground with a relaxed sigh, the double-headed war hammer no longer required to maintain its presence.
Shen Haoren even stretched his limbs as he released a breath of contentedness, his eyes twinkling with relief as he began to massage his injured hand.
“That Earth Giant is a real monster – I couldn’t even land a direct hit against it, those boulders are insanely heavy and difficult to defend against.”
“Difficult, and a true monster, indeed,” Yang Jian chuckled, though his handsome countenance was warped with a grimace of pain.
“And to top it off, it’s of the peak Core Formation Realm – we won’t stand a chance in defeating it, ah.”
Yang Jian groaned as he yanked a small splinter the size of a toothpick from his back, his robes revealing a severe tear from the collision. The handsome man rolled his head to ease the muscles of his neck, before extending his right arm to its maximum length.
“Tang Yunhe, Wen Jiu, let’s do this properly!”
Swoosh!
The massive broadsword that had served as a means of transportation shrunk in size until it manifested the dimensions of a proper broadsword.
The utilitarian sword flashed into Yang Jian’s grip, the edge singing a song of clarity and sharpness.
The men standing besides Tang Shiqi and An Fei similarly responded, the bizarre-appearing jian appearing in their hands as smaller, scaled-down renditions of their overwhelmingly grotesque and confusing appearance.
“The left kneecap, let’s try to expand the hole generously crafted by Old Shen!”
Yang Jian released a sonorous cry suffused with dread and excitement, rushing forward towards the Earth Giant with great speed.
As he ran, the broadsword erupted with an orange radiance that washed away the desolate aura of the dust storm, relinquishing the squandered vitality back towards the suffering denizens of the plains.
Two multicolored rivers of light soon followed, leaving behind five disorientated people and one smug, potbellied middle-aged man.
“That’s… some intense preference in design,” the young girl’s lips finally forced out after she had accomplished the painful task of suppressing her laughter.
“Hah! You haven’t seen their expression when they received that sword from their Master,” Shen Haoren barked as he clutched his sides in laughter.
“The whole city was in uproar, and many were discussing whether they would become the next sleeve cutters of the jianghu. And it was during the period in which they were actively seeking a wife, ah!”
Tang Shiqi revealed a pale smile as he sank onto the ground, his limbs trembling and devoid of strength due to a particular emotion.
The youth released a long exhale of breath, his expression completely downcast and unlike that of his heroic complexion half an hour ago.
A few meters away, An Fei pursed her lips before deciding to remain standing, for the ground was a little too muddy for her to sit while dressed in hanfu – even if it was of a more plainer design in aesthetics.
The young girl stroked the small fox’s fur to squander time in an absentminded mood, though her lips carried a quiet conversation with the little raven on her shoulder.
“How strong are those three people?”
Caw.
“Stronger than that old fogey of a flood dragon?” An Fei’s lips twitched, the pair of scarlet irises flickering with an unknown light.
Caw.
The little raven snorted in distaste at the unnecessary question, flapping its wings to express its scorn of Yang Jian and the others’ attainment in cultivation.
The young girl’s countenance submerged a cold smile, her fingers itching to grasp onto the hilt of the qama hidden at her bosom.
Daring to wander besides her without permission, and obtain a little free tofu at that?
Sorry, they needed to pay a little tax first!
