AGM 0067 – Fall Out
Logan was currently fighting against the 5th-level Fish-Scaled Python that was coiled around the Blood Ember Tree. Upon noticing the arrival of Qin Wentian’s party, he hastily exclaimed, “Brothers from the Academy, please help us! This python is extremely tough to deal with.”
Qin Wentian had caused such a commotion when he first joined the Emperor Star Academy, and thus, there were many students who knew of him. Not only that, Logan had personally witnessed the fight between Qin Wentian and Murong Feng, so he knew that the martial prowess Qin Wentian possessed was several times stronger when compared to a cultivator at the same level.
“Should we help?” Zero inquired. Currently, although the situation looked bad for Logan and his party, it wasn’t so bad that they would lose the battle that quickly. The chances of victory looked dim since Logan was clashing alone against the 5th-level python. Both the man and the snake were covered with injuries.
If the situation continued, it would surely end in defeat for Logan and his party. The reason why they lasted so long was all due to the efforts undertaken by Logan, who temporarily suppressed the Fish-Scaled Python that was coiling around the tree.
“The crucial point is the 5th-level python that’s guarding the Blood Ember Fruits. As long as we suppress it, Logan would be free to join forces with his party and slowly clear away the rest of the lower level Fish-Scaled Pythons with ease.” Fan Le whispered.
Qin Wentian’s eyes flickered. If they offered their help so readily, there might face some trouble when it was time to distribute the Blood Ember Fruits.
The human heart is hard to predict, especially when the treasure in question was the precious Blood Ember Fruits. Regarding the treacherous human heart, Qin Wentian had previously experienced it firsthand.
“Little Rascal, come here.” Qin Wentian intoned in a low voice. Instantly, a white blur dashed by, jumping up into Qin Wentian’s arms. Qin Wentian whispered a few words to it before putting Little Rascal down to the ground, as it scampered away.
“Zero.” Qin Wentian shifted his gaze towards Zero.
“Yeah?” Zero exclaimed.
“You should leave here temporarily, I’m afraid that you might soon be in danger if you remain.” Upon hearing Qin Wentian’s words, the expression on Zero’s face grew unsightly. Such valuable spiritual fruits in front of him, and yet Qin Wentian had the audacity to ask him to leave at this moment. Seeing this, it was inevitable for Zero’s imagination to run wild.
“If we have a dispute with Logan and his party later, it would be tough to protect you.” Qin Wentian explained. However, the unsightly expression still remained on Zero’s face. He didn’t even paused to say goodbye,as he turned his back, slowly walking away.
Seeing Zero’s reaction, Qin Wentian couldn’t help but to shake his head and sigh. The words he added as explanation had been discarded by someone he sincerely wanted to help. Not everyone was as easy going as Fan Le. Although he had fought alongside with Zero for many days, and even thought that they had develop a certain camaraderie, it appeared that Qin Wentian overestimated the depth of their relationship.
Zero’s combat ability was relatively weak. Regardless of whether it was facing the pythons or Logan’s party members, he would be at an disadvantage. If he had stayed, it would be tough for Qin Wentian and Fan Le to protect him. And thus, for Zero’s own safety, Qin Wentian asked Zero to leave first. But who knew that Zero would misinterpret his intentions so quickly?
“They can’t hold on for much longer.” Fan Le whispered, pulling Qin Wentian back from his thoughts. Logan was slowly giving ground as he became suppressed by the 5th-level python. If they don’t step in now, the other students of the Emperor Star Academy would soon be in danger.
“Friends, if we die here, you guys will have no chance of obtaining the Blood Ember Fruit. Let’s join our strength together. This way, we would still have a sliver of hope. We can split the fruits later after we defeat this beast.” Logan shouted at Qin Wentian and Fan Le. In such a crisis, both of their strength would be able to greatly tilt the scales in their favor.
Qin Wentian also understood what Logan was saying. If Logan and his party died, his and Fan Le’s strength would also be insufficient to obtain the Blood Ember Fruits.
“Fatty, don’t go all out. Let’s hold back some of our cards.” Qin Wentian whispered as his body erupted into motion, dashing forwards. In the instant Qin Wentian dashed out, Fan Le already released his Bow-type Astral Soul and resplendently fired out numerous astral arrows. As a long-distance fighter, Fatty was an expert at crowd-control.
A truly powerful archer could kill from 1,000 miles away without leaving behind any traces.
Fan Le’s arrows did not have sufficient power to pierce the scales of the lower level Fish-Scaled Pythons. Thus, he aimed for the eyes. The angle from which he fired the arrows was slanted in a particular degree, resulting in the eyes of the snakes getting blown out, instantly salvaging a battle that almost ended terribly.
Qin Wentian had already arrived in front of the 5th-level Fish-Scaled Python. At such a close distance, he could sense that the power of this python exceeded that of a human with a cultivation base at the 5th level of Arterial Circulation.
Seeing the approaching Qin Wentian, the python spat out a glob of poisonous mist. Qin Wentian quickly held his breath, and in the next moment, the tail of the python swept out, smashing directly towards Qin Wentian.
“Boom.” Qin Wentian stepped hard on the ground, narrowly avoiding the tail of the Python. As the tail swept past him, he quickly got into position and continued dashing towards the enormous python.
“Rumble.” A Diamond Imprint smashed against the python’s abdomen, causing it to howl in rage. Lowering its head and opening its maw, the neck of the python shot forth in a bid to devour Qin Wentian.
Three Astral Arrows instantly whistled through the air and appeared out of nowhere, piercing the eyes of the enormous python. And at the same time, Logan’s Axe-type Astral Soul glowed with a brilliant light as an Astral Axe materialized in his hands. Grabbing the Astral Axe with a roar of rage, Logan leaped in the air, moving with a speed as fast as lightning, with the intention of chopping down on the python’s weakness: an area 7 inches below its head.
Seeing the maw of the python closing in, Qin Wentian rapidly increased the number of steps he made on the ground. The extremely faint, almost imperceptible Garuda’s mark on his back lit up as he activated the movement technique, making his body as light as a swallow. Qin Wentian’s body transformed into a blur of shadows, gracefully dodging about. Although the maw lunged downwards, it hit nothing but empty air.
In that previous instance when he executed the Garuda Movement Technique, Qin Wentian had a strong feeling that his current mastery had already reached the Skillful Level.
“Kill!” Qin Wentian hollered with rage as he sent out a palm strike. His Revolving Sea Imprint emanated a terrifying pressure, directly smashing the 5th level demonic python on its head.
Logan leeaped onto the back of the python and howled, chopping furiously down with his axe. He was aiming for the 7-inch area below the python’s head.
The enormous body of the python trembled as it struggled frantically. However, soon after, it slumped towards the ground, dead.
“Hu……” Logan drew in a deep breath and smiled towards Qin Wentian. “Thank you for your help. Now, let’s kill the other low-level pythons.”
Qin Wentian nodded his head in agreement. After the death of this 5th level python, the rest of the snakes wasn’t much of a threat. Qin Wentian and Fan Le quickly joined their strengths with members from Logan’s party, and together they easily cleared the remaining snakes.
“Haha.” Logan laughed loudly as he looked towards Qin Wentian. “You are indeed the top ranked student among the new batch. Qin Wentian, it was all thanks to you. If not, we would have had to put in slightly more effort to settle the little matter back then.”
“Slightly more effort? Little matter back them?” Looking at Logan’s carefree laughter, Qin Wentian’s eyebrows, twitched involuntarily. His eyes glinted with a sharp light, which was reflected on the smile that was plastered on his face. The current him was no longer the naive, innocent youth from back then.
“Qin Wentian, to thank you for your contributions, I shall graciously take the lead and reward you the pythons’ demonic cores. They are extremely valuable and would be able to fetch a good price if sold. These are all for you.” Logan spoke in a manner that appeared to be extremely generous, but his words sounded extremely laughable to the ears of Qin Wentian and Fan Le.
Take the lead to reward him?
Were it not for his and Fan Le’s efforts, Logan and his party members would have died in the Dark Forest.
Although Qin Wentian didn’t claim credit for his help, Logan’s words obviously meant that he treated them as fools.
“Hmm, I have no interests in these demonic cores. Why don’t I take the lead and award them to you instead?” Hearing Qin Wentian’s reply, Logan narrowed his eyes as they flickered with a cold light.
“ You guys did indeed help us to settle the small matter back then, so there’s no need to stand on ceremony with us. Alright, if you don’t want the cores, I shall take the lead and award you a Blood Ember Fruit instead.” Laughing, Logan approached the Blood Ember Tree. The members of his party followed, leaving Qin Wentian and Fan Le behind.
“Seven of them, one at the 4th level and the others at the 3rd level of Arterial Circulation. They are a bit tough to deal with.” Fan Le lowly intoned.
“Hold on” Qin Wentian called out.
Logan and the rest turned their heads as they asked, “What’s the matter?”
“Earlier, we saved your life. We should be the one to decide the ratio of distribution regarding the Blood Ember Fruits.” Qin Wentian calmly replied.
“Is that so?” A cold light flickered in Logan’s eyes as he contemplated the surroundings. Shifting his gaze back towards Qin Wentian again, he smiled. “Since this is the case, we would have to show our ‘gratitude’ to ‘thank you’ for saving our lives.”
As the sound of his voice faded, the members of his party had already surrounded the two of them. Although the academy held Qin Wentian in high regards, no one would be able to trace Qin Wentian’s death back to him if Qin Wentian died in the Dark Forest.
“Would I be correct to say that if, hypothetically, there suddenly appeared two corpses, the bodies would soon be devoured by the ever hungry demonic beasts, leaving no traces behind?” Logan no longer masked the killing intent in his eyes. To obtain the spiritual fruits, he had already massacred some members of his original party, leaving behind only these seven members.
To him, Logan felt that it was already extremely generous of him to gift Qin Wentian with one Blood Ember Fruit. Who knew that some people who rather reject the toast that was offered, choosing to drink the wine of punishment instead?
Since that was the case, killing Qin Wentian would be for the best, since that way there would be a greater amount of the spiritual fruits to be split amongst them.
“I think so, yes.” Even before the sound of his voice faded, Qin Wentian’s body flickered as he erupted into motion, transforming into a blur of shadows.
Earlier, when he dodged the demonic python tailstrike, Qin Wentian’s mastery of the Garuda movement technique had reached the Skillful Level.
“Thud!” A loud sound echoed out. Qin Wentian had already arrived at in front of a cultivator at the 3rd level of Arterial Circulation. The speed of his movements caused everyone to be astounded.
Just as their bodies came into contact, Qin Wentian had already returned back to his original position. Bewildered, Logan’s party members only saw a hole in the chest of their comrade. Qin Wentian had already extinguished the life of his target with a single strike, pulverising the heart of his target into a bloody pulp.
“Cultivation is certainly tough, but since there are so many Blood Ember Fruits, we could have evenly split the fruits between us. Why did you have to force the situation to such an extent?” As Qin Wentian released his Astral Souls, killing intent could be seen flaring in his eyes.
TN Note: Chinese saying, a snake’s weakness is 7 inches below its head. 打蛇打七寸 (direct tl) – hit snake hit 7 inch. Which means if you want to kill a snake, aim for 7 inches below it’s head.