Chapter 91 Trample!
Right outside of Zhong Yue’s cave dwelling, there were five or six Swords Gate Qi Practitioners waiting for his return, their patience was wearing thin. Three months have elapsed since the Lawless Battles of Swords Gate upper house, that amount of time was sufficient for a mediocre cultivator to manifest a spirit. But they had waited for so long, and yet, Zhong Yue was still nowhere to be seen!
There were other Qi Practitioners that had lost their patience and returned back to their own cave dwellings, the ones in front of Zhong Yue’s cave were the only few left.
“How much longer is this Zhong Shan Clan member going to stay in the Ethereal Palace? Is he planning to die of age in there?” One of them said irritably.
Another Qi Practitioner shook his head and responded, “He must have heard the news of us blockading his cave dwelling. He must’ve gotten scared and sought refuge in the Ethereal Palace without the slightest courage to face with us. I guess he will stay holed up in there until he manages to become a Rebirth Qi Practitioner!”
“Rebirth Qi Practitioner? Wouldn’t that mean that we will have to wait for years?”
“Look, someone’s coming! Is that the Zhong Shan Clan member?”
All of the five or six Qi Practitioners turned around and looked, there was a young man hiking the hill; he sported thick brows and large eyes, harboring an aura of composure and magnanimity. His gait was firm and serene and his clothes were sewn from exquisite beast hides and interlaced with mystic gold. On his waist was a jade pendant of delicate craftsmanship, and following behind him was a Jiao Dragon holding a copper lamp in its mouth.
The hills were paved green with grass, and the flowers blossomed like the spring. A young man was ambling across the field and hiking the hill, with the bees and butterflies fluttering in the winds around him. His feet traversed through the grass and stepped over the flowers in bloom, and yet, not an iota of dirt nor dust settled on him.
“He should not be that brat from Zhong Shan Clan.”
The Qi Practitioners refocused their sights and thought to themselves, The Zhong Shan Clan is a small clan with fewer than a hundred tribesmen, how can it possibly have such a noble looking child? He must be one of the scions from the top clans.
All of a sudden, the young nobleman walked to Zhong Yue’s cave dwelling and gave a curious gander towards the Qi Practitioners before extracting jade token and placing on the Zhong Yue cave dwelling’s door.
To the profound shock of the young Qi Practitioners, the cave dwelling’s doors began to creak open.
“Who are you?”
They quickly recollected their thoughts just right before the young nobleman was about to step foot into the cave dwelling, they moved forward to block his path and asked, “This senior martial brother, how come you have the Zhong Shan Clan member’s token? What is your relationship with him?”
The young man smiled gently and answered, “I’m the Zhong Shan Clan member. Zhong Yue of the Zhong Shan Clan greets the senior martial brothers. Dear senior martial brothers, what are your intentions clambering in front of my cave dwelling?”
As if in sync with the moment the young man answered the question, a black bull who was gnawing on the grass nearby suddenly roused up, it galloped away gleefully and said, “The Zhong Shan Clan member is back, I must quickly tell the master!”
Above in the sky, a white crane flying in the sky heard the black bull and its heart skipped a beat as it hastily flew flapped away, “Master says to notify him of the return of the Zhong Shan Clan member, thankfully I didn’t miss it!”
The next moment, there was a bevy of cats running, chickens flying, and a host of other animals dispersing away from the vicinity of Zhong Yue’s cave dwelling while shouting in unison, “The Zhong Shan Clan member is back!”
Zhong Yue stared blankly at the scenery, dumbfounded and stunned. While the Qi Practitioners standing in front of the cave dwelling were startled.
Before this, they had made some inquiries around Zhong Yue; they knew that he was a poor peasant from a poor tribe, but what appeared in front of them was a young and dignified nobleman, the contrast with their preconceived notion of him was too stark.
It was a common adage that the clothes make a man just as a saddle makes a horse, the marten coat Zhong Yue stole from the Shuitu Clan was torn in rags during the battles. A few days ago, he again leads away a goat while passing by the Wei River, he took another set of fine and delicate clothes for himself and threw the ragged clothes away.
From the day he left Swords Gate until now, he had walked out of the Devil Soul Forbidden Land, journeyed to the sun and moon, encountered a myriad of peculiar and fantastical things, and survived the calamitous battles in the Savanna Wasteland. These ordeals had lent him a calm and unruffled air, indifferent to the world.Along with the fine and delicate clothes he was in, he effused an indelible elegance quintessential of a young scion of nobility.
As the saying went, walking ten thousand miles was superior to reading ten thousand books; even though he was not particularly well-read, his experience was undoubtedly plentiful. He was like an exquisite sword getting repeatedly tempered and refined against the heat of battle, slowly manifesting his acute and heroic spirit – one could easily tell that he was a diamond in the rough.
“Zhong Shan Clan, Zhong Yue?”
The Qi Practitioners noticed the exceptional manner and temperament he carried and their contemptuous thoughts were immediately washed away. One who could hold such a dignified countenance would surely not be an ordinary person.
The young Qi Practitioners looked at each other and their eyes filled with excitement.
The Zhong Shan Clan member they had been waiting for for so long was finally here!
One of the Qi Practitioners stepped forward, he smiled and said, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong, I hear that you have the sword token. We are unconvinced and so intend to duel with you so we can see just what qualifications you have that would allow you to hold that sword token!”
Zhong Yue furrowed his brows only to release it a few seconds later, he smiled gently and answered, “That sword token was not mine in the first place, three and a half months ago, I’ve returned it back to its rightful owner. Senior martial brothers, I need to get back to my cave dwelling, please do not block the way.”
“You’ve returned the sword token to its rightful owner?”
The Qi Practitioners were shocked, then laughed and said, “Who would believe it? Zhong Shan Clan member, it's not us being impolite, but your words are just a humiliation to our intelligence. How precious is that sword token, how can it be possible for you to return it so easily?”
Zhong Yue frowned, although he knew that the sword token was precious, it seemed as if he had grossly underestimated its value from the fact that it would instigate a few Qi Practitioners to camp outside of his cave dwelling for three months. Its value must be beyond what he imagined!
Suddenly, a surge of aura was coming in at great speed towards his cave dwelling, a din of sword keening could be heard as a brawny man alighted onto the ground. His sights were like swords cutting across the perimeter; suddenly, he gazed at Zhong Yue in shock and joy as he asked, “Zhong Shan Clan, Zhong Yue?”
“And you are?” Zhong Yue asked with his brows still locked.
“Hong Bo Cave Dwelling, Ta Wuyou!”
The brawny man strode forward, he was filled with alacrity as he laughed, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong, you finally came out of hiding, I can see that you’ve manifested a spirit and became a Qi practitioner! In that case, this can’t be counted as bullying anymore. Come, come, come, show me what you got, show me why do you deserve the sword token!”
Zhong Yue, frowned, but still maintained the facade of politeness, “Senior Martial Brother Ta, just for a sword token, do we really have to jeopardize the amicable relationship between the martial siblings?”
“How will this destroy the amicable relationship between us?”
Ta Wuyou guffawed, a surge of heroic spirit deluged throughout his body, “I will defeat you and wrest away the sword token. Although you may be sad, I will be happy continue to be polite to you, how would that impair the ‘amicable relationship’ between us that you so speak of!”
Another surge of aura flooded forward and stopped above in the front of Zhong Yue’s cave dwelling, a man dressed in a grey cloak landed down. He smiled and said, “Junior Martial brother Zhong, we are all martial siblings, and also Qi Practitioners. We are not here today for fun nor to bully anyone, we are here to decide upon a suitable inheritor for the sword token! That sword token, can only be in the hands of the strongest disciple, it belongs to the talented ones. If you are intent on holding onto that sword token, you will have to prove it to us!”
At the same time, a silver ray flashed over – Dong! It slammed in front of Zhong Yue’s cave dwelling and the silver light expanded and bloomed outwards – it was beautiful and marvelous. A young lady walked out from the middle of the lightshow, brimming with the desire to fight, “Zhong Shan Clan member, no more useless talks, take out your soul weapons!”
Zhong Yue locked his brows even further. In such a short while, there were already seven young Qi Practitioners coming over and surrounding him, each and every one of them filled with desire and anticipation to defeat him to claim the sword token.
“Dear senior martial sisters and senior martial brothers, the sword token is really not with me….”
The young lady stepped forward and chortled, “Not with you, then where is it? If you say the person’s name, I can leave you alone.”
Zhong Yue thought of Qiu Jin’er’s paralyzed legs, he shook his head and said, “Since the senior martial brothers and senior martial sisters are so keen, then this junior martial brother will fulfill your requests. But we are, after all, martial siblings, Qi Practitioners of Swords Gate, I will not go over the limits. Dear senior martial siblings, after this battle, may we still maintain the amicable relationship between ourselves.”
The young lady chuckled, just when she was about to say something, a typhoon of wind and lightning erupted beside her – Ka-cha! Zhong Yue dashed to her side and with a side-step, he rammed his body into that of the young lady.
The young lady felt like as if she was slammed by the full-blown charge of a barbarous wild beast, — Ka-cha ka-cha ka-cha— the bones in her body dislocated and her limbs became disjointed.
The immense impact force that was transferred to her body from the collision between him and herself caused her tendons and muscles to entirely plunge into a state of utter disorder and chaos; all of her bones and joints were dislocated and disjointed!
The young girl collapsed to the ground like a clump of mud as she blacked out from the immense pain.
After Zhong Yue settled matters with the young girl, he indifferently continued his offensive; Before the grey-cloaked Qi Practitioner could react, the ground beneath him cracked open and nine dreadful Jiao Dragons appeared and clawed on his shoulders.
A burst of strength erupted from the dragons and the grey-cloaked Qi Practitioner muffled out a groan as he was slammed onto the ground by the nine dragons, a huge pit was formed and broken rocks spewed about.
The grey-cloaked Qi Practitioners could not utter a word before he was decommissioned and sent into the dark abyss of unconsciousness!
In the time it took for all this to transpire, Zhong Yue was already at the side of another young Qi Practitioner. This time, the young man’s reaction was quick, he promptly visualized a big shield that appeared beside him. Zheng-zheng-zheng! Just as the shield was erected, the sounds of metal clashing could be heard, a surge of Sword Qi penetrated through the shield and from the fracture where the shield was compromised, Zhong Yue’s hand plunged through the hole, his palm grasped onto the young man’s face and slammed down fiercely!
Dong!
The young Qi Practitioner’s body crashed on the mountain rocks with his head and body digging into the earth and his legs splayed outside!
“Don’t let him get close to you, his physique is incredibly strong!”
The other nine Qi Practitioners quickly moved, they respectively cast their Sword Qi and controlled their soul weapons; but it was right at this time that a scarlet Coral Tree flew in mid-air and 18 surges of Sword Qi burst out, simultaneously slashing towards the nine Qi Practitioners!
Ta Wuyou managed to parry two of the Sword Qis and shouted loudly, “To catch a snake, you must grab its head! Zhong Shan Clan member, don’t you dare be arrogant; we will suppress him together!”
Before his sentence was finished, the ground erupted again and a cluster of Jiao Dragons emerged from the underground and clawed towards them. Ta Wuyou and the others strenuously defended themselves — Krong krong krong — the sounds of eruptions could be heard all over the place, moments later, the Jiao Dragons returned back to the cracks and disappeared.
Ta Wuyou lifts his head and gazed around, another two of them had fallen, they were both pummeled into keeling over.
In front of the cave dwelling, Sword Qi slashed all around and the scene was inundated with the ubiquitously raucous sounds of eruptions and explosions. The seven remaining Qi Practitioners were faced with more Sword Qi, they quickly controlled their soul weapons and cast their Sword Qi around them, warding off the onslaught of the Sword Qis.
After all, the Coral Tree Sword Qi was weaker in strength, and in addition to the fact that they were apportioned to fend off the assault of the seven Qi Practitioners, their strengths would undoubtedly be divided accordingly. Soon, Ta Wuyou and the others warded off the Sword Qi and went straight for Zhong Yue.
Dang Dang Dang! Sounds of blasting metal could be heard as the Xuan Wu Gold Spirit Shields revolved around Zhong Yue — Ka-cha ka-cha ka-cha — the dragon turtles on the shields emerged out and devoured the attacks, while the Teng Snakes slithered around and offloaded the force of impact; not a single soul weapon could penetrate through the impregnable defence of the Xuan Wu Gold Spirit Shields.
Sword rays flashed all around, Zhong Yue clenched the Xiang Dragon Sword Qi in his hands, the Sword Qi was thin like a thread of a zither string or a sword silk, his fingers quivered and the Sword Qi brandished around, he pressed forward and in the blink of an eye, another Qi Practitioner’s defense was destroyed, he lifts his leg up and launched the young Qi Practitioner into the air.
“To the sky!”
Ta Wuyou quickly flew up, the other five Qi Practitioners also visualized their wings and followed behind; before one of them was able to flap his wings, he was blasted by the Wooden Sword Qi that rushed out from a small sapling; under the assaults of the Sword Qi, he was lacerated and laid wasted on the ground.
While the next victim had just gotten into the air, Zhong Yue had already gripped him by the ankle and gyrated his arms around, ultimately sending him crashing him into the ground to share the same fate as the last disciple he pummeled. The third was a young lady Qi Practitioner, she flapped her wings and flew in mid-air, but was overtaken by Zhong Yue, he gently placed his feet on her back and abruptly — Krong! — he stomped his feet and slammed the young lady down onto the ground.
The other two Qi Practitioners saw what happened and they bolted out without saying a word. Ta Wuyou turned and saw Zhong Yue who was on the young lady’s back slowly standing up, he quickly turned around and flapped his wings, daring not stay here any longer.
Krong!
Zhong Yue’s body moved like a flash of lightning and the sounds of thunder rumbled throughout the air as he set off in pursuit of Ta Wuyou and the two escaping Qi Practitioners!
“Junior Martial Brother Zhong! Junior Martial Brother Zhong!”
Ting Lanyue’s voice could be heard, her blouse fluttered in the winds, a few young ladies who had just become Qi Practitioners were accompanying her, her voice was audible even before she arrived at the hilltop, “Don’t you worry, Feiyan and Xiuniang are here to help you, and also Tao Yanran! With us the sisters here, no one can hurt you….”
The four young ladies rushed to the hilltop, but were suddenly met with the distinct muffled sounds of objects crashing down, — Pu-tong Pu-tong Pu-tong— three human figures plummeted down from the sky and crashed into the ground right in front of Zhong Yue’s cave dwelling; and around, there were many more Qi Practitioners lying down on the ground!
Yu Feiyan, Tao Yanran, Li Xiuniang and Ting Lanyue, all four ladies stared blankly at the scenery, their hearts filled in shock.
“So painful….”
Ta Wutou had yet to fall into a helpless stupor as he struggled to get up and only to quickly blurted out, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong, stop!”
Li Xiuniang and the other girls quickly gazed at him; a sudden flash of lightning bolted over and Zhong Yue landed beside him, he lifts his leg up and stomped down heavily; —Krong!—Ta Wuyou was stomped into the mountain rocks with his body upended, with his two legs exposed to the air, and shuddering incessantly.
“Junior Martial Brother Zhong….” Ting Lanyue’s voice quivered as she spoke.