Why did people become so irritable once disrupted from their sleep?
In his eighteen years of life, Ming Xia had finally obtained his answer. It was exceedingly simple and crude, yet possessed a charm of mystique that often led people astray in their deductions.
Other than being wrenched away from the blissful paradise that was referred to as dreamland, what else was there explain?
Being unable to indulge in the heavenly treat for the full duration that they were entitled to each night, why wouldn’t anyone become easily angered for the rest of the day?
“Xie Bie, why is it so noisy during this time of the day?”
The handsome youth’s eyes crinkled with distaste towards the cacophony leaking in through the sound-dampening fabric lining the walls of the carriage.
Ming Xia lowered the window of his carriage and waved his hand, his voice hoarse with the lingering frustration common to all premature dreamers.
“Young Master… this servant will inquire about –“
ROAR!
Just as a servant dressed in grey robes rushed to the black steel carriage to respond to the Heavenly Sword Sect’s treasured Young Master, a ear-splitting roar echoed throughout the endless plains.
The fiercely disciplined and trained war steeds quivered in their armor as their eyes displayed their whites, the knees threatening to buckle onto the ground.
The roar was suffused with a bitter and astute bloodthirst, seeking for the spilt vitality of its victims. The carriage drivers surrounding the source of the blast as well as those hiding within the steel carriages quivered in fright, their heart clenching with an unknown dread.
The servant Xie Bie was no exception, for his grey robes visible trembled as though a vibrating cord.
His arms flailing as they sought for support, the young man clenched tight upon the carriage’s rails to support his weakened body, and beads of sweat began to litter his countenance.
Ming Xia could only heave a sigh at the embarrassing sight. The youth directed a fierce glare towards his usually fierce and domineering subordinates, before glancing downwards onto the silken robes draped around his body.
His dream this time was sweet and soft with a charming appearance that teased him rather dearly, so why did it have to be interrupted by this barbaro –
“Argh!”
The handsome youth’s heart stiffened at the familiar cry of pain, terror, and elevated fear of his prided subordinates, his body briefly freezing in their motions.
Hearing subsequent cries of fear and dread echo throughout the carriages, Ming Xia’s fingers clutched into tight fists, an annoyed shout bursting from his lips,
“Enough. Knock it off!”
The words were rather tender for that of a masculine youth; had it not been for his figure and personality that reeked of anything but elegance and feminine charm, Xie Bie could not have associated the light and smooth voice with that of his Young Master.
Nonetheless, the servant of the Heavenly Sword Sect could do nothing but acknowledge the effects that the tender voice accomplished in the world.
With a single statement, the world came to a pause.
Time continued to flow at its usual rate, and the wind continued to gently weave through the soldier’s clothing and hair. The sun continued to blast its harmful rays onto the earth at its usual fervor, and the creatures of the earth retained their daily living habits.
It was just that the concept of sound seemed to have been removed from the world, and the men standing at the front seemed to have forgotten how to move their bodies.
The only sound bristling in the handsome youth’s ears was the soft swaying of plants and grass as they matched the rhythm of the wind, and Wang Qinian and the carriage drivers clad in steel armor stood still as though they were statues, albeit their eyes continued flickering with shock and surprise.
They wished to speak, yet their throats remained sealed. They wished to blink to clear their vision, but their eyelids refused to move, nor even vibrate.
“Have you had enough? Is it this fun to disrupt public order?”
Ming Xia’s voice continued to drill into the world’s barriers as though wriggling earthworms, and the Shattered Star Continent continued to alter itself according to his wishes.
Unbeknownst to their attention, the hands clenching their weapons relaxed their grip, and the flow of spiritual essence gradually calmed and quenched the blazing flames.
“If you have time to be brawling around in the middle of the day, do it outside of the road!”
Xie Bie could hear the youthful and tender voice as he stood next to the carriage hosting his presence.
However, the soldiers clad in steel armor, Wang Qinian standing amidst a battlefield of awkwardness, and a young girl heard the irritated voice of a senior. The tone of the words were laced with the vicissitudes of time, prompting many to relinquish their intent for battle as blotches of shame raced across their cheeks.
Battling a beggar bereaved of his meager resources was one matter, but pissing off the esteemed Elder that they were supposed to be escorting was another.
Such a transgression was punishable by death, and now, what have they done?
Thus, the blades lowered to the ground, and the lighter weapons were returned to their sheaths.
At last, knowing that the disturbance had quelled for the time being, the youth’s lips curved into a smile.
Shaking his head with an exaggerated sigh, Ming Xia lightly reached out with his hands to shut the carriage window, fully intending to return to his dreams to engage in warmhearted discussion with the sweet maiden –
Ping!
Ah, did the world hate him today, not even letting him get a good midday nap?
–
When the aged voice echoed across the plains, the young girl didn’t experience much other than a brief fright.
Upon realizing that the owner of such alluring tone and words seemed to be content by simply berating the carriage drivers, An Fei decided to follow through with her initial plan.
She was a young girl whose body needed nourishment!
Starving such a petite and frail child was both unethical and humane!
Thus, the young girl unsheathed the taijijian with a twitch of her lips, and shouted in her heart for the talisman of the <Steps of Underlying Shadow> to arise.
An Fei awaited for the brief lurch of pain to strike at her abdomen, deftly swallowing the clot of blood that rushed towards her lips with a bitter expression.
“…uncomfortable, but necessary!”
The anvil of her heart struck the conviction onto its surface, and the young girl rushed forwards towards the nearest man clad in steel plate armor. The taijijian in An Fei’s hand raised to become perpendicular with the ground, before falling towards the ground in a swift vertical strike.
The sharp arc of light aimed directly for the cleft of the plat armor separating the torso plate and the elongated helmet, but resulted in striking thin air and falling towards the ground.
An Fei expertly jumped into the air as she twisted her waist, not even bothering to wait for the assistance from the <Steps of Underlying Shadow> as she brought the blade of the taijijian to complete its deadly vertical moon, creating a second one anew.
Ping!
The blade smashed directly onto the center of the black steel helmet and scattered a mouthful of fiery sparks, their orange flares hissing in their uncouth brilliance.
The man toppled onto the ground with a garbled yell, his limbs twitching and twisting in an unnatural manner.
To be the first person to be directly knocked unconsciousness and probably given a concussion by a practice sword… the honor was probably far too great to bear.
“What was that?”
The others, the elderly shopkeeper included, blinked in surprise as they gazed upon the fallen carriage driver with an incredulous gaze.
Wang Qinian’s lips twitched upon witnessing the interesting and startling scene, his heart nearly lapsing into shock for the second time in a row.
To be able to completely dominate his capabilities… required a cultivator of the Nascent Soul Realm.
He had been terrified to death about his disrespectful actions of attempting to steal from such a divine presence, and now someone attempted to defy the amnesty imparted onto the conflict?
That was akin to courting death!
Ping! Ping!
As the elderly shopkeeper whose primary occupation was that of a Guardian of the Hundred Clan Coalition lit sticks of incense in his heart, the mystifying and yet oddly satisfying sounds of steel clashing upon steel continued to ring throughout the plains.
Each time the sound sneered across the expansive plains, one of the carriage drivers clad in black steel armor trembled, their eyes nearly rolling in their sockets.
…when the frequency of such sounds increased, the number of unlucky fellows joining their utterly traumatized comrade on the ground increased as well.
“…blade marks? But it’s not of a particularly destructive sword?”
Wang Qinian mused in silence as his wizened eyes narrowed in thought upon noticing the indents on one of the helmets discarded by a carriage driver when he had fallen onto the ground, concussed. The elderly man shook his head after a few moments, utterly perplexed by the issue.
The indentations weren’t more than a centimeters in depth; that was hardly sufficient to deliver lethal damage onto the wearer, nor were there many weapons that could inflict such damage onto a helmet crafted from black steel!
So… who was responsible?
Lingxue was probably unconscious in the midst of the wreckage of her carriage, thus the cause could only be that of a dangerous highway robber skilled in concealment…
