Chapter 42: Hundred Martial Arts—Behold the Twin Guns!

  —Damn this world. Even dev people had turned into some test of who was the worst, hadn’t it?!

  Taking a deep breath, An Ji a surge of genuine anger welling up from the depths of his heart…along with a bzi rising within his core. “If you people did humans and were merely trying to rebel, I definitely would have joined you…”

  “I would have joined you all, toppled this dynasty, and built a brand-new era!”

  “But right now, both sides are ravenous dragons who devour people. I don’t waher of you!”

  inally, An Jing’s pn had never really been to escape.

  Even though he had the Sword Spirit and another world to explore, An Jing had not seriously sidered leaving Hanging Fate Manor or leaving the Heavenly Will Demonic Sect.

  His own strength, Heaven-Ordained Fate, and Divine Ability were all bargaining chips.

  Just as the Medie Manor Lord had said, he and An Jing shared an unspoken uanding: The Medie Manor Lord allowed An Jing’s antics, while in the end, An Jing would opt to join the demonic sect, trading that for the survival of everyone, including those children still locked away awaitih.

  All the Children of Camity in this geion were An Jing’s croup. That was the significe of being the champion.

  Because An Jing was so gifted, he possessed the power, the freedom, to vent anger, fear, and grief, to demand: “This person may be eaten; that person may not!”

  Judging life ah on Heaven’s behalf, wielding the bde of dominion—this was An Jing’s reward!

  Perhaps in the past, many ifted Fate-bearers like An Jing had made the same choice. After venting their rage, fear, sorrow, and fusion—ohey saw the true nature of this world—they ultimately still chose to accept power, to bee part of the Heavenly Will Divi’s upper ranks.

  In fact, one could say that if the Demonic Sect had informed An Jing and the other children early on that most of those who were eliminated would die, being the power that propelled the survivors forward—being a boost that apahem treater heights… If they had simply switched perspective, dressing up death, turning forced sughter into willing sacrifice, transf the Great Medie made from blood and flesh into some kind of hopeful tribution…

  Such a grandiose form of ibalism… if painted over with just a little more pretty rhetoric…

  He shook his head, refusing to think further.

  He shook his head and refused to dwell on it further.

  Right now—

  An Jing chose not to refute Bai Qinghan or Medie Manor Lord. “I don’t want tue with you. Without a, words are meaningless anyway.”

  Amid Medie Manor Lord’s startled and delighted excmation—“You’ve also mastered a Divine Ability?!”—and as Bai Qinghan’s eyes flickered slightly, An Jing closed his own eyes.

  He remembered the pot of stew in the refugee camp, the medial vat in Hanging Fate Manor, the scattered corpses in the snow of the northern borders, the skulls floating in medial paste, and the husks of bodies hanging in the dungeon.

  —Was this the only possible way for this world to be?

  He gnashed his teeth, fury filling his chest.

  He was not merely e the Demonic Sect, but at all that had led to the present moment—the entire past that created this day.

  —I absolutely refused to accept it!

  When he opened his eyes again, An Jing’s gaze had turned inparably murky. Only fihreads of gold and red light remai the ter of his pupils, like embers in a dying charcoal furnace, faintly flickering in the darkness.

  He extended his hand, his five fingers curved slightly; scarlet light rose from the veins in his arm, densing.

  An Jing ched the empty air. At that moment, his formerly empty right hand once again held a sword!

  A sword of blood Baleful Qi as its bde, golden Baleful Qi as its spine—a ‘Death Bde!’

  —Pinch Baleful Qi into shape, geal qi into a on!

  “Now.”

  He gripped the scarlet Deathbde tightly. An Jing no lhed or hesitated.

  In his eyes burned only the purest killing i and rage. “I only wao speak with my sword.”

  An Jing moved.

  Ign Bai Qinghan, he charged at Medie Manor Lord like a poung tiger. In the instant of that leap, he rotated his sword-wielding wrist inward, employing Armor-Pierg True For a straight thrust forward.

  Wherever the blood-hued sword tip passed, it tore through the air with a shrill whistle. The momentum made it seem less like a sword and more like a spear meant to pierce iron walls and skewer all who blocked its path!

  “You brat, don’t assume that just because you’ve mastered a Divine Ability you tend with me!”

  A ghostly green baleful fme lit up in Medie Manor Lord’s eyes. Seeing An Jing’s natural gifts, he felt both delight and fury. He had dealt with more than enough vexis today: first, An Jing led a group rebellion; then the Red Armuards unched a surprise attack; there was even a traitor in the manor whht in True Person Xuanjing.

  Seething with anger, he let out a cold ugh. With a casual grab, he snatched up an iron saber from the nearby instructor.

  When his ghostly green toxic Baleful Qi flooded into the saber, lines ht jade-green patterns spread across the bde. The Medie Manor Lave a siwist of his wrist, and the streaks of green on that long saber fluttered outward like the wings of a butterfly, nearly invisible to the naked eye.

  g!

  Sword and saber cshed. Both sides erupted with explosive force.

  An Jing was sshed back a full three yards. The impact rippled across him, stirring his clothing. The razor-sharp force eve up grit and bsted it across his fad body, carving a flurry of bloody lines.

  Yet at that same moment, as their powers collided, the Medie Manor Lord’s expression ged drastically. The green-veined saber in his hand trembled violently, f him to retreat swiftly. Wherever he passed, he crushed bones and shattered rocks underfoot. His footprints sank an inch deep!

  When bde and sword cshed, it was actually the Medie Manor Lord—an Internal Fortification expert—who lost slightly in raw strength!

  “Internal Energy… Internal Breath Like Rivers?!”

  After ing to a halt, the old man stared in astonishment at the long saber in his hand, whiow bore a not its edge. He gaped in disbelief. “When did you break through?!”

  There was no ao that question. Before he even finished speaking, the old man gritted his teeth and charged forward once more, while An Jing, upon nding, wasted no time. He stomped heavily on the ground and rushed him again.

  Although An Jing merely possessed Internal Breath Like Rivers, he was young, vigorous, and had an incredibly solid foundation. Meanwhile, the Medie Manor Lord, though advao Internal Fortification, was old in years. His Blood Essence had waned, and he cked any special augmentation of strength. Even so, he still far surpassed ordinary men.

  Their mighty collision raised clouds of sand and dust, shattering rocks and sending debris flying. All around, sand and storuck the rushing river, sending up waves over te high.

  Those Children of Camity who had chosen to follow Bai Qinghan shrieked and ran, too afraid to watch the battle up close.

  Bai Qinghan, from a distance, frowned slightly. Swirling around her were Dark Yin water arrows, blog the stray shockwaves of force.

  An Jing and the Medie Manor Lord fought at such close quarters that she had no ce to interfere.

  But in the end, it seemed she did not o act.

  As saber and sword crossed once again, the Medie Manor Lord’s gaze sharpened. He activated the Divine Marvel · Fmes Within the Eyes, juring a ghostly green baleful fme from thin air that shot straight toward An Jing, brimming with a menag aura.

  The instant he id eyes on that baleful fme, An Ji a pierg pain in his vision. But instead of closing his eyes, he opehem wider, pinpointing the trajectory of the attack. In one abrupt movement, he shifted his footwork into a posture resembling an ire pose to dodge it.

  However, this forced evasion put An Jing at a disadvantage.

  As he wove aside and righted his stance, before he could gather power, the Medie Manor Lord—now going all out—swung his saber in a devastating chop. Their ons cshed repeatedly in quick succession, and in that flurry, the red sword and green saber each flew from their wielders’ hands.

  One was just a baleful qi-infused iron bde, while the other was a sword shaped by a Divine Ability. Obviously, An Jing suffered a greater loss.

  Yet the instant he realized he could not keep hold of the Death Bde, An Jing instead gathered his Internal Energy. Mustering all his might, he took advantage of the momentum to fling the dislodged sword aside.

  In that toss, An Jing poured nearly a third of his Internal Energy into it. The blood-red Deathbde emitted a pierg soni. Only a streak of crimson light could be seen slig toward Bai Qinghan!

  Spotting the ining sword, Bai Qinghan tapped her toe lightly, shifting to the side in a fsh. But as soon as the Deathbde would have struck where she had been, it exploded, spraying fragments of sand and stone in every dire.

  She narrowed her eyes slightly. With a wave of her hand, the Dark Yin water arrows swirling around her split into two ephemeral streams of vaporous sleeves, proteg her fnks from the flying debris.

  That attack posed her hreat, but for several heartbeats, it kept her from fog on the main battlefield.

  And a few heartbeats were enough!

  During that same moment, stripped of his own on, the Medie Manor Lord—his hair and beard streaming like green fire—surged with ghostly baleful qi. He lifted a hand in midair and poioward An Jing:

  Divine Marvels · Dantian Sea!

  All at once, a sea-like tide of ghostly toxic Baleful Qi crashed against An Jing head-on. The vicious herworldly energy swallowed him in an instant, crawling upward to engulf his entire upper body!

  —That was enough.

  Seeing this, Deputy Medie Envoy thought so. All that was needed was to corrode An Jing’s flesh on the surfad teach him a lesson. After all, the boy was a future taleio return to their main stronghold; if the fight got too ugly, he himself would suffer for it ter.

  But in the moment, a sound like rolling thunder boomed in rapid succession!

  Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Ten thunderous bsts erupted almost simultaneously. The Medie Manor Lord, who had been standing straight and tall, abruptly raised his hand. The ghostly green Baleful Qi gathered in his palm like emerald jade, and he used a watertight palm teique to bat away multiple streaks of metal.

  But it was too sudden. In the end, his body jerked, and his face twisted in arm as he looked down at his ow.

  “What…what is this?!”

  There, two thumb-sized bullet holes peed his flesh, exposing bone and revealing the writhing ans within!

  Not even an Internal Fortifiartial artist could fully withstand bullets!

  At that moment, An Jing slowly emerged from the ghostly toxic baleful qi. The her poison had not had enough time to pletely corrode the flesh shielded by his Internal Energy. Apart from a small portion of his skin that had beeen away—revealing bloody tissue beh—he had not sustained major wounds.

  In each of An Jing’s hands, a rge-caliber bck-powder pistol still smoked at the muzzle.

  Hundred Martial Arts—Behold the Twin Guns!

  (End of Chapter)

  Extra chapter since I got doh some exams, though the main ones are in summer.