Overlord of the Wilderness

At that moment, a subtle voice reached Zhaang Ye’s ears. It was the Fourth Hall Master, using the Thousand Miles Sound Transmission Technique to speak to him from a great distance. ”Zhaang Ye, be honest with your master. Did you kill Gu Yunsong?”

Zhaang Ye also used the Sound Transmission Technique, replying, ”Absolutely not.”

The Fourth Hall Master’s vast Spiritual Power was locked onto Zhaang Ye from afar; if Zhaang Ye told even the slightest lie, he wouldn’t be able to hide it. Sensing that Zhaang Ye wasn’t lying, he breathed a small sigh of relief. ”Good. That’s good.”

Just as the Fourth Hall Master was about to say more, the man in black let out a vicious laugh. He stopped about ten feet away and sneered, ”What? Are you scared, Zhaang Ye? Being scared won’t save you from having your meridians searched and being tortured to death!”

Zhaang Ye’s expression was as calm as still water. He said coolly, ”I will state again: I did not kill Gu Yunsong. If you wish to fight, then I have no choice but to see it through to the end.”

The man in black reacted as if he’d just heard the funniest joke in the world. He roared with laughter and said contemptuously, ”Zhaang Ye, don’t think you can compare to me just because you blocked one of my attacks. Let me tell you, I only used thirty percent of my strength in that last strike. You are not worthy of being my opponent! I could kill you with one hand!”

Zhaang Ye let out a cold snort but said nothing. His expression remained placid, and his aura was as calm and composed as ever, without the slightest hint of turmoil.

Seeing Zhaang Ye’s conduct, the dozens of Hall Masters below the cliff all nodded slightly. Faced with the Sect Envoy’s relentless pressure, Zhaang Ye remained exceptionally calm. This was the kind of temperament a Martial Artist needed most. Those who could remain composed in the face of great crises were often individuals of unshakeable will, destined to go far on the path of the Martial Dao.

Seeing Zhaang Ye’s perpetually placid expression, a strange anger surged in the man in black’s heart. He clapped his hands together lightly, and the sound of ringing swords emanated from his very palms. As the ringing grew, the man in black suddenly strode forward, appearing with uncanny speed to Zhaang Ye’s left. He brought one hand chopping down like a pair of Sharp Swords!

The man in black cultivated the way of the sword; his gaze was as sharp as a blade, his aura just as dangerous. As his hand chopped down, it carried the momentum of a colossal sword capable of shattering mountains and sundering clouds, an aura that threatened to tear everything apart!

Zhaang Ye’s eyes narrowed. His Spiritual Power frantically analyzed the man’s attack. Then, he abruptly raised his own hand, which transformed into a dazzling golden saber, and slashed out!

DING!

The two palms met mid-air, producing the clear ring of clashing metal. The azure light of the Innate Sword Gang and the golden light of the Dragon Elephant Power instantly erupted. Within a fifty-zhang radius, everyone was blinded; they couldn’t see a thing.

When the golden and azure light faded, everyone looked up to see the man in black and Zhaang Ye standing over a dozen zhang apart, locked in a cold standoff. Seeing this, the hearts of the young experts present skipped a beat. They had never imagined that Zhaang Ye could clash head-on with the man in black and not lose any ground whatsoever.

The man in black spoke slowly. ”Zhaang Ye, it seems I underestimated you. In that last attack, I only used fifty percent of my strength. Now, I will use seventy percent...”

Before the man in black could finish, Zhaang Ye cut him off coolly, ”Whatever skills you have, just use them. There’s no need to waste your breath.”

HISS!

The young experts all drew in a sharp breath. To dare provoke an unfathomably powerful expert from the Sect... Zhaang Ye’s nerve was something else!

The man in black’s expression shifted slightly before he broke into a vicious grin. ”Since you’re in such a hurry to die, I won’t be polite! I’ll use forty-nine rapid sword strikes to sever both your arms!”

SWOOSH!

The man in black took a sudden step, his hand instantly unleashing forty-nine slashes. His speed was too fast for the eye to follow, too elusive even for Spiritual Power to track. All forty-nine strikes shot out at once, churning the air with terrifying Innate True Qi as a dense rain of Sword Gangs descended upon Zhaang Ye!

Zhaang Ye stood like a statue, neither dodging nor evading. Just as the Sword Gangs were about to strike him, he suddenly thrust out a hand. In an instant, he gathered a boundless amount of Heaven and Earth Essence Qi and formed it into an incredibly dense Air Wall, blocking the attack head-on.

CRACKLE! CRACKLE! CRACKLE!

The man in black’s eyes widened in shock. He discovered that his invincible Innate Sword Gang couldn’t shatter the Air Wall in front of Zhaang Ye! As each incredibly sharp stream of Innate True Qi struck the barrier, it simply dissolved into a cloud of Innate True Qi and rapidly dissipated into the air, completely unable to harm Zhaang Ye!

’Impossible! With each of my forty-nine strikes, I unleashed five Innate Sword Gangs, for a total of two hundred and forty-five! How can such a dense barrage fail to break a mere Air Wall?’ the man in black thought, his eyes filled with utter disbelief.

’I don’t believe it!’ The man in black gritted his teeth and slashed out with both hands. This time, he unleashed a full eighty-one strikes!

The man in black’s ten fingers were like ten small swords. With each slash, ten Sword Gangs shot from his fingertips. A total of eighty-one strikes unleashed a staggering eight hundred and ten Sword Gangs!

Each of the eight hundred and ten Sword Gangs possessed the terrifying power to sunder mountains and shatter stone. The man in black refused to believe that Zhaang Ye, whose cultivation was only at the Peak of the Martial Arts Ninth Layer, could possibly withstand them all!

Zhaang Ye had used his Dragon Elephant Skill, at the Late Stage of the Sixth Level, to block the man in black’s previous attack with an Air Wall. But now, the man suddenly unleashed eight hundred and ten Innate Sword Gangs, each far more powerful than the last. The Air Wall could no longer hold. Though the wall was failing, Zhaang Ye remained unhurried. He raised his hand, palm held vertically, and chopped out as if with a blade!

His Self-Created Saber Technique, Reverse Flow Slash!

Reverse Flow Slash was a saber move Zhaang Ye had perfected while cultivating beneath a waterfall. A single slash could part the immense waterfall in two; it was an exceptionally domineering technique. Now, with his Dragon Elephant Skill at the Late Stage of the Sixth Level, Zhaang Ye’s body surged with explosive power, making his Reverse Flow Slash unbelievably mighty!

BOOM!

As Zhaang Ye’s hand slashed down, a terrifying beam of golden light shot forth, seeming to split the very air in two. The man in black’s eight hundred and ten Innate Sword Gangs were like a dense downpour, but Zhaang Ye’s Reverse Flow Slash blasted a wide, golden path straight through the storm!

The golden light from Zhaang Ye’s attack shot straight forward until it was right in front of the man in black. He could never have imagined that the Dragon Elephant Power in Zhaang Ye’s body could be so terrifying that it would instantly blast his Innate Sword Gangs apart.

The man in black only managed to react when the golden light was upon him. He thrust a palm forward, and a shimmering azure Innate Sword Gang shot out, splitting Zhaang Ye’s attack in two and saving him from utter humiliation.

But while he had split the golden light, he couldn’t dissipate the immense power it contained in his haste. He was involuntarily forced back a full ten feet!

”Oh? To think an expert of this caliber could appear in the Land of Divine Abandonment.” Seeing the man in black forced back by a single move from Zhaang Ye, a flicker of surprise crossed the pretty face of the woman in the long green dress, and she let out a quiet sigh.

The Hall Masters watching from below the cliff were also stunned. Not only had the man in black’s cultivation reached the Half-step True Dao realm, but the Combat Skills he displayed were also profound and powerful. Under such circumstances, for Zhaang Ye, an expert at the Peak of the Martial Arts Ninth Layer, to force him back with a single move—such strength moved even the Hall Masters of the True Hall.

The young experts were completely dumbfounded. Only now did they realize just how powerful Zhaang Ye truly was. He could fight a Half-Step True Dao Expert and not lose any ground at all!

The man in black’s face was now a mask of disbelief; all traces of his previous arrogance had vanished. Soon, the shock in his eyes morphed into a thick, seething hatred. He hated Zhaang Ye for embarrassing him so thoroughly.

”Good! Very good! Zhaang Ye, it seems I, Shi Shuanglong, have underestimated you!” The man in black’s eyes were bloodshot. He suddenly drew two Sharp Swords from his back—one long, one short—and pointed them at Zhaang Ye from a distance. ”Zhaang Ye, I’m getting serious now!” he snarled. ”If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stop resisting and let me search your meridians. Cooperate, and I can grant you a quick death when we return to the Sect. Otherwise, you will suffer endless torture and wail for a hundred days before you die!”

The woman in the long green dress, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. ”Confess and be treated with leniency; resist and be met with severity. Zhaang Ye, I advise you to give up. Otherwise, not only will you die without a proper burial, but your entire clan will be implicated. The entire Zhaang Family will vanish from the Land of Divine Abandonment.”

Hearing the murderous words of the two Sect Envoys, the young experts felt a chill run down their spines. Even from a distance, they could feel an invisible pressure from the pair that made it hard to breathe.

Zhaang Ye stood as immovable as a great mountain, seemingly unaffected by any storm. He spoke slowly, ”I will state one last time: I did not kill Gu Yunsong. If you insist on forcing my hand, then I have no choice but to see this through to the end. And by the way, Shi Shuanglong, you are not my opponent. I’d advise you to save your strength.”

(To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian.com to vote with Recommendation Tickets and monthly passes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)