Chapter 110: Traveling to the Magical Beast Mountain Range
“Good approach!” The 40 year old man shouted. While brandishing his Saint Weapon without the slightest trace of fear, his face grew solemn as he slashed at Jian Chen.
“Ding ding ding!”
The previously quiet alley suddenly grew loud with the sounds of Saint Weapons clashing with each other as Jian Chen and the elderly man continued to battle it out between them. Even though he was a Middle Great Saint fighting against a Middle Saint Master, he had not yet fallen despite it being a fierce battle.
Jian Chen was exceptionally nimble as he moved around his opponent like a demon. The Light Wind Sword in his hand relentlessly flashed toward the man’s larynx and each time the man’s axe blocked his strikes. From the start, Jian Chen’s attacks were like tidal waves of blows that left almost no chance for the man to retaliate, but gradually, the tidal wave of blows had slowly evolved into a fierce storm of blades that caused the man to not have any opportunities to retaliate.
To be accurate, it wasn’t that the man was unable to retaliate. In actuality, it was that if he were to try to strike back, then he was afraid that his attack would miss Jian Chen, and he would get a sword through his throat for his troubles.
The man’s entire forehead was now dripping with perspiration as he continued to fight. He didn’t think that this seemingly 20 year old male would possess such a strong amount of strength at the Middle Saint level. Not only was he narrowly dodging the blows as is, but what made the man afraid the most was that this youth’s sword play was far too quick. Not only was his speed fast enough to make anyone astonished, the amount of times he could strike was intimidating as well.
Right now, there was a large amount of regret within the 40 year old man’s heart. If he had known about Jian Chen’s strength earlier, then he wouldn’t have come over to try and rob him.
On the side of the alleyway, the other people stared sluggishly at the fierce battle between Jian Chen and their boss. Just like the other man, no one had thought that Jian Chen, who looked to be much younger than they were, would be able to contend against their boss in terms of strength. Despite having a dozen people, when they looked at this fight, they all knew that they would not be able to join in. If they were to rashly charge in, all they would accomplish would be a vain death. Even though they had 3 Great Saints, but even with the strength of the Great Saints, they were painfully aware that their boss was in a disadvantageous position thanks to Jian Chen’s display of power. Since he could only block now, it could be said that the boss’ life could be taken at any moment without trouble, and if they were to charge in, then they would be of no use. All of them knew that death would be the only thing awaiting them since they knew that their speed was not enough to dodge the lightning quick sword that belongs to Jian Chen.
Jian Chen and the middle aged man once again fought to another stand still, but the middle aged man was still in a bad position. Jian Chen stared at the man impassively as his right arm lashed out, transforming the Light Wind Sword into a ray of silver light that streaked toward the man’s throat once more. In a flash, the sword approached the man’s throat– in the history of their battle so far, this was the fastest sword stroke he had displayed.
The middle aged man’s face lost all shades of color in fright. Against a sword as fast as this, he practically had lost any chance of dodging or blocking this movement. In the eyes of the 40 year old man, this sword had already reached an inconceivable amount of speed, and could no longer be dodged by someone like him.
So in an instant, the man’s face had become deathly pale, but at the moment where his death was about to come to pass, the sword had reached the skin of his throat and stopped its momentum suddenly. At such a crucial moment like this, the Light Wind Sword had stopped its forward thrust, only allowing the tip of the blade to touch the man’s throat.
Despite the tip of the Light Wind Sword stopping at the skin of his throat, the man had suddenly felt that it was becoming extremely difficult to breathe. At the same time, he was feeling a very sharp point of pain from where the tip was touching against his throat, almost as if the sword had already pierced his throat.
The middle aged man stood lifelessly where he was. At this point, he was completely terrified of moving, he was afraid that if he were to make the slightest movement, Jian Chen would then relentlessly plunge his sword into his neck. So right now, the man’s face was dripping with cold sweat.
“Sw…swor..swordsman…please…please spare my life! Ne..next time, this lowly one won’t bother swordsman ever again!” The man’s words were filled with terror for Jian Chen, each word barely coming out stronger than a stutter. Right now, his life was at the mercy of Jian Chen, so the thought of having no face toward someone as young as Jian Chen wasn’t a problem for him. To him, as long as he could keep his life, then even kneeling toward Jian Chen wouldn’t be an impossible task.
Jian Chen stared at the middle aged man with a small sneer. Slowly bringing back his sword, he said emotionlessly, “My mood today is quite good, so I do not have a desire to kill anyone. You better behave yourself in the future and not let me catch you doing something like this. With the Magical Beast Mountain Range being so close by and your strength being decent enough, a few low leveled magical beasts would be well in your capability to earn money.” With that said, Jian Chen left the alleyway.
“Yes, yes, we will definitely comply with swordsman’s command. We will never do such a thing again.” The middle aged man said frantically. It was almost as if the man was completely compliant with Jian Chen’s orders.
The moment Jian Chen’s shadow left the alleyway, the middle aged man let out a long breath of air and wiped his forehead clean of his sweat. Thinking back to that fight of life or death for him, the man was absolutely terrified out of his wits. In that recent moment, his entire life was hanging by a thread, ready to be severed.
……
Leaving the alleyway, Jian Chen cut back into the busy roads before walking into a nearby restaurant. During the night, Jian Chen sat down on his bed and began to study the white stone in his possession.
“What exactly is this item? It looks like a stone, but the material it’s made from isn’t like a stone at all. One could say it’s made of iron, but at the same time, one cannot say that.” Staring at the white stone in his hand, Jian Chen was full of doubt and misgivings about it.
From the start, it was because of the azure and violet glow in his dantian that made him interested in this white stone. At the beginning, it was the azure and violet glow that had initially felt happy and excited, but the moment after he had bought the white stone, his dantian had once more reverted back to its quiet state. Even with the white stone in the palm of his hand, the twin glows were not at all attracted to it in any way now.
Jian Chen himself did not have the slightest understanding of the history behind this white stone. Although he had the expansive library from Kargath Academy as his source of knowledge, he still did not have a single piece of information about it.
Restlessly, Jian Chen continued to study the white stone for the rest of the day. Aside from knowing that this stone was exceptionally solid, there wasn’t any other piece of information he could glean from it. Whether he used water to boil it or fire to burn it, the white stone didn’t have a single reaction or change. With no other choice, Jian Chen stuffed the white stone back into his Space Belt.
Observing the glows in his dantian once more, he noticed that it was as peaceful as ever, not having any of the previous excitement shown earlier in the day. While the two glows were housed within Jian Chen’s dantian, he was completely unable to do anything about the two. He couldn’t get up close with the dantian, and could only observe these mysterious things from afar. If he got any closer, then he would suffer a strong feedback that he couldn’t yet break through. So for that reason, Jian Chen had decided that trying to get any closer to them in his dantian would be a forbidden action.
“Ai!” Jian Chen sighed. Once he had come to this conclusion, he didn’t know if this was a blessing or a curse.
That night, Jian Chen was not cultivating for once. Instead, he was sleeping in his bed. For the first time in 3 months since he had left Gesun Kingdom, this would be the first night he would be able to sleep.
Sleeping was a good way to restore his spirit, and with his large amount of spirit, if he were to refrain from using the Spirit Sword or control the light Saint Force, then it would be possible for him to go for a few days and nights without sleep. Not only that, but if he were to cultivate, then his spirit would be slowly recovered. So for that reason, Jian Chen hadn’t slept at all since there was no need for him to.
The next morning, Jian Chen woke up and looked outside to see the early morning scenery. Taking in a fresh breath of morning air, he sighed, “I haven’t slept in months, so I nearly forgot how good sleeping was. Now that I have slept again, it really was very comfortable!”
Soon after, Jian Chen left the restaurant and rode a horse toward where Kendall was waiting for everyone.
The Flame Mercenaries were again staying over at the same house as before. At that moment, 8 members of the Flame Mercenaries were still resting inside. Although they were a small mercenary group, they didn’t have the funds to build a bigger house, so at the very least they could only afford a small house.
Arriving at the house, Jian Chen tied his horse to a fixed fence post and prepared to knock on the door. Before he could knock, a weak looking youth suddenly opened the door. The moment he he saw Jian Chen, his eyes loosened in intensity as he backed away from the door, this was the second youngest member of the mercenary group– Xiao Dao.
Jian Chen gave a small smile and said, “Xiao Dao, are you planning to go out?”
Xiao Dao chuckled, “I only just heard the sounds of a horse, so I thought it was you for sure. Opening the door, I see that I was right. Come in Jian Chen, everyone’s already waiting for you.”