An Fei was quickly exposed to the bitter reality that a taijijian was oftentimes, not a weapon suitable for combat. As she downed one unsuspecting carriage driver after, the young girl’s heart couldn’t help but quiver with the insatiable sensation of loss.
Even with them being completely unable to detect her presence and thus flounder around with no defenses, leaving themselves open for her to slaughter with ease, it still took three to four strikes to knock someone unconsciousness.
Furthermore, they were concussed purely from the kinetic impact transmitted through the blow, and not because of the weapon’s lethality.
“Would a taijijian even be able to cause indents in black steel plates without the Sanctum’s bizarre tinkering?”
An Fei sighed as she downed the fourth unwilling and wronged victim with two swats of her blade, an unsightly expression crossing her countenance.
The young girl’s vision slightly blurred as her eyes abruptly misted over, and her hand tightened its grip onto the taijijian’s handle without mercy.
Ah, how she missed her twin butterfly swords!
Those twin blades that appeared completely dull and assuming could shear through even a Mortal Tribulation jiaolong’s scales – albeit with some extent of difficulty – briefly flickered in her mind.
Remembering that she had lost them to Yang Jian through a series of unfortunate circumstances, An Fei’s heart smoldered with irritation and rage.
She was taken advantage of at her lowest and as such, was forced to make do with a delicate practice sword that would perform worse than a piece of scrap metal!
Was there any justice in this world!?
Ping!
“Argh!”
The last man clad in black steel plat armor released a struggling cry as he floundered his arms in an awkward dance, ultimately sinking onto the ground with a rather amusing sigh.
An Fei glanced towards the squadron of armored carriages as she flourished the taijijian in her grasp, only to pause with twitching lips.
Erm… of the eighteen carriages, which were the ones containing the supplies?
The young girl had unexpectedly fallen into the mentality of a highway robber, authentic to her bones. The moment she had quelled the immediate resistance before her feet, An Fei couldn’t help the urge of wanting to pilfer through some of her prey’s supplies.
After all, she was a malnourished young girl; surely, it wouldn’t be unjust to receive some supplies, no?
“Er…”
A flabbergasted exhale of air departed from Wang Qinian’s lips as he gazed onto the ring of unconscious carriage drivers, his heart leaping with an uncomfortable expression.
His eyes pausing in their movements to land onto the discarded weapons scattered across the ground, the elderly shopkeeper’s heartbeat quickened by a significant margin as he was struck with an awkward thought.
It was presumptuous and completely demeaning of the Nascent Soul Realm cultivator’s status, but since even he, a peak Core Formation Realm cultivator couldn’t grasp a hint of the highway bandit’s presence, surely the former was unable to as well? But then, in that case…
In that case… he would be taking the flak for undue aggression…
Indeed, Ming Xia could possess the charismatic ability of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator as he was able to manipulate the world’s elements with his words, but he was not privy to the heightened senses that were typically bestowed onto cultivators of such a realm.
As such, the wizened voice echoed throughout the plains once more, laced with a brilliant anger and righteous fury.
“Even though I granted you an opportunity to resolve this matter peacefully, to dare disregard my kindness… hmph!”
The sonorous and aged voice prompted the elderly shopkeeper’s heart to kiss its owner an eternal farewell.
Feeling his feet quivering in his boots as the world around him cracked and shook due to the rage barely concealed underneath the words, Wang Qinian’s teeth chattered endlessly.
It wasn’t him!
He could be as shameless as possible when teasing Xu Lingxue, that lass, but he could only be honest when facing death!
It really wasn’t him, yet why were the words not able to escape his lips!?
The elderly shopkeeper deeply wished to cry but could find no river of tears flowing from the corner of his eyes; his heart screaming with a myriad of colorful curses, Wang Qinian desperately mobilized the spiritual essence in his body, gathering it at the base of his dantian to preserve the basis of his cultivation at the least.
“As you wish!” the elderly voice snarled from within one of the carriages of black steel.
“Since you reject the gate towards Heaven, embrace the Chalice of Hell!”
As the words descended onto the world, the earth below Wang Qinian split into a gaping chasm.
The plains groaned as the ground desperately attempted to gnaw the elderly shopkeeper into small fragments, the crevices of the ravine elongating into sharp, lethal teeth of the earth.
“Oh, what the hell!”
Wang Qinian exclaimed in fright as he leaped away from the epicenter of the miniature ravine that had sprouted directly between his legs. The elderly shopkeeper howled in fright as he witnessed a series of black chains swaying aimlessly in the sky, and his circulating spiritual essence burst ablaze into powerful flames that wreathed his body.
With an imposing appearance of righteousness and a heart crying of cowardice and injustice, Wang Qinian rushed towards the chains as he extended his right palm.
The spiritual essence gathered in his meridians pooled at the base of his spiritual core, before ejecting in a single, sustained burst through the extended palm’s fingers.
“<Buddha’s Fury>!”
Flames billowed from the edges of the withered palm to coalesce into a mighty handprint that spanned a width of three meters and a height of six; the handprint quivered with an ambiguous and blurred rage, the palm coursing with rivulets of scarlet flames.
“Oh?”
Before the ‘Esteemed Senior’s’ interested gaze, Wang Qinian swatted the air before his chest with his left palm.
As his arm and palm subsequently traversed through the air, the enlarged projection of flames followed suit, colliding against the black chains with a tremendous impact that caused reverberations to resonate with the bones.
The chains abruptly increased their rate of which they swayed against their boundaries upon receiving the impact, yet the elderly shopkeeper was infinitely relieved upon noticing that their appearance was much more indistinct and fragile than before.
Wang Qinian heaved a sigh containing numerous emotions, and glanced towards the immobile and imposing squadron of steel carriages and shell-shocked warhorses, the scarlet flames amassed around his body towering to form a fearsome Acala.
“Oh, Esteemed Senior, why don’t we have a truce?” the elderly shopkeeper had finally assuaged his worries, and thus exposed a brilliant, saintly smile.
“A truce? Based on what qualifications?”
The aged voice was laced with an obvious tint of mockery, and yet the elderly shopkeeper seemed blissfully unaware.
On the contrary, Wang Qinian’s customary saintly smile grew even wider upon hearing such words, as though his victory was in sight.
“Esteemed Senior, this junior is almost depleted on spiritual essence, and the Esteemed Senior does not have any uninjured subordinates to pull the carriages. Hence…”
“You wish to drive my carriages in recompense? That’s not a bad deal in itself, but do you dare attest to such a claim?”
The voice boomed in the skies as an invisible pair of eyes seemed to bore into the depths of Wang Qinian’s bones, examining him in the clearest detail.
The elderly shopkeeper quivered at the utterly detestable sensation of being submerged in ice-cold water then massaged with a pair of burning hands, and his saintly smile immediately disappeared.
“This junior was planning to offer a temporary armistice,” the elderly man frowned.
“However, even if the Esteemed Senior is surely a venerated expert of the Nascent Soul Realm, this junior is not that far from the Nascent Soul Realm himself. Why demean this junior’s status to that of a carriage driver?”
“You, little fellow, are of the Core Formation Realm, and it is unlikely that you would even be able to grasp the final thread that allows you entry into the Nascent Soul Realm,” the “Esteemed Senior” chortled in a sardonic manner.
“Why bother to twiddle your thumbs about a matter that has yet to pass? Come, since you have agreed to become my carriage driver in exchange for erasing this debt, hurry and fulfill your duty!”
The elderly shopkeeper abruptly froze at the words that splattered against the base of his ears, and an incomprehensible sound escaped from his lips in his surprise.
When his doubt was assuaged by logical reasoning and his earnest senses, Wang Qinian erupted in a splendid fury, spittle, false righteousness, and shamelessness scattering across the ground in equal measure.
“When did I, this Guardian, promise to be anyone’s carriage driver – don’t get ahead of yourself, even if you are that of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator!” the old man roared with a livid countenance.
“I came on this path to escort my granddaughter to her marriage. Hmph, if her in-laws were to find out that a mere nameless Nascent Soul Realm cultivator dared to block our path and even threaten her guardian to work as a slave, I wonder if your beloved identity would suffice t –“
Clang!
“Oh? It’s not an elderly man, but a youthful teenager?”
What disrupted both the elderly shopkeeper and Ming Xia’s mud-splattering contest was the customary, half-irritating and half-amazing smash of steel on steel, and a surprised exclaim of an unknown person.
