Chapter 55 - Devil
“Gather!”
As the Deputy General of the West Garrison Army gave out his orders, all the officers within the pavilion skimmed out and began to gather their subordinates. The West Garrison Army, which was stationed nearby, appeared out of nowhere like apparitions. Silent and presence-less, every one of them had solemn and respectful expressions. They were well-equipped with armor and blade. Emitting an overwhelming killing aura, they swiftly responded to their officers-in-charge.
“Swish!”
The Deputy General led a few dozen men and headed straight to the Jiang’s residence. He didn’t inform anyone; he didn’t even look at Jiang Yunshan who was the Clan Head of Jiang Clan.
Jiang Yunshan’s expression was terribly unpleasant; his eyes flickered before he got off from his seat and followed closely behind the West Garrison Army.
Something is amiss…
Ji Tian exchanged looks with everyone; each of them was trembling with fear in their hearts. They didn’t know what Jiang Yunhai meant, but they knew that if Jiang Yi was dead, the Skyplume City would fall into chaos. Looking at the situation, Ji Tian proposed to the Elder Fu of the Mt. Spirit Beast College, “Elder Fu, let’s temporary stop the tournament? Let’s go over and take a look.”
Elder Fu nodded with an awkward expression. They, who had the status as the mentors of Mt. Spirit Beast College, was actually threatened to be buried alongside a youth? It made him rather uncomfortable, but due to the complex situation, they could only temporarily stop the tournament and wait for this matter to be settled.
Once Ji Tian finished his sentence, Ma Kui had already set off towards the Jiang’s residence. He was hoping Ma Yongji wouldn’t bring his men and cause any trouble there. If they were to start a battle with the Jiang Clan, Jiang Yunhai himself would be sufficient to eradicate the entire Ma Clan.
The situation outside of the city plaza was already in chaos. The tournament had already stopped before the splendidly-dressed veteran announced for the stop. The angered roar of Jiang Yunhai, the orders from the Deputy General, and the sudden departure of Ji Tian’s group—all of these factors made everyone felt unsettled, causing them to be making a racket in the city plaza.
The beautiful eyes of Ji Tingyu glimmered. Jumping off her stage with a single tap of her leg, she flew like a yellow butterfly onto Jiang Henshui’s stage. She asked, “Henshui, who was that expert? Was he Jiang Yunhai? Jiang Yi’s god-grandfather?”
Jiang Henshui didn’t reply. His eyes were filled with fear; even his body was trembling. The upper echelons of the Jiang Clan might not have known that Jiang Rulong and Jiang Ruhu kidnapped Jiang Xiaonu last night, but he knew everything. He never expected Jiang Yunhai, who went missing for seven years, would be still alive. What’s more, he had a drastic increase in strength and broke through to the Soul Travel Realm!
Cast Tripod was like stray dogs and fodder. Purple Mansion to enter the Martial Hall. Be known to the world as a Soul Travel. Invincible like the Vajra!
This was a popular folk’s verse of the Stellarsky Continent: it meant that Cast Tripod Realm martial artists were all around like fodder and stray dogs. One would only be considered as entering the Hall of Martial Arts after reaching the Purple Mansion Realm. When at Soul Travel Realm, one would be famed in the world. When one achieved Vajra Realm, one would reach the realm of invincibility.
There were billions of martial arts practitioners in the Stellarsky Continent, but every realm breakthrough was of extreme difficulty—like having a huge threshold! It was very difficult to break through from Cast Tripod Realm to Purple Mansion Realm. But it was ten folds more difficult to break through to the Soul Travel Realm. If not… Ji Tian and the Martial Arts Hall Master wouldn’t have been stuck at the peak stage of Purple Mansion Realm for nearly 20 years. It would seem like they had no chance to break through in their entire lifetime.
Once they break through to the next realm, their strength would improve by leaps and bounds. It was an easy task for a Purple Mansion Realm martial artist to kill a Cast Tripod Realm. To kill a Purple Mansion Realm was like squashing an ant for the Soul Travel Realm.
How much did Jiang Yunhai adore Jiang Yi? Jiang Henshui knew clearly that Jiang Yunhai was once a massacre maniac. Back in the days, the Jiang Clan relied on Jiang Yunhai to forcefully become the no.2 major clan of the Skyplume City. But he had never once shown Jiang Yi his dark side. That devoted and affectionate smile made all the Jiang clansmen forgot about this limping old man who once slaughtered an entire minor clan of the Skyplume City, which had several hundreds of members!
Jiang Yi, you mustn’t die!
Jiang Henshui prayed silently. If Jiang Yi was dead, this gimp would certainly go into a frenzy and turn this entire Skyplume City into a river of blood.
When Ji Tingyu saw Jiang Henshui’s terrified expression, she could already guess a lot of things without an answer. She didn’t continue asking and turned to drift towards the spectator’s stand. She then spoke in a soft voice to the veteran who wore the splendid robes, “Uncle Xu, immediately go find out how many sons does the Western Garrison Liege Lord have. Is there any… descendant that is stranded outside?”
On the balcony of the Martial Arts Hall, the Hall Master witnessed everything. The brightness of his eyes dimmed. Jiang Yunhai actually broke through when he was still stuck at the final phase. He was originally the second best combatant of the Skyplume City; right now, it seemed like he was going to be ranked third again.
“Huh…”
He let out a deep breath and turned to ask Elder Fei, “How many sons does the Western Garrison Liege Lord have?”
The brows of Elder Fei were locked tightly and seemed to be pondering about this as well. Jiang Yunhai once served in the Western Garrison Liege Lord’s residence and was even the close attendant of the Western Garrison Liege Lord. It was obvious that his lord was the Western Garrison Liege Lord, and the ‘Young Lord’ that he mentioned would apparently be the son of the Western Garrison Liege Lord.
He thought with some suspicion for a moment before replying, “Hall Master, the Liege Lord only has one son, and he is now studying at the Mt. Spirit Beast College. The Young Lord has a heaven-defying talent. You should have heard about the top five prodigies of the Divine Martial Kingdom’s Clear Sky rankings. There is a youth named Jiang Yiliu!”
“He is the one?”
The Martial Arts Hall Master hesitated and mumbled, “Jiang Yunhai has served the Western Garrison Liege Lord for over ten years. When he got injured and turned into a handicapped person, he returned to his old home in Skyplume City. He shouldn’t have served any other lords since. Elder Fei, report this matter immediately and request for someone from the Main Hall to investigate on this. Check whether the Western Garrison Liege Lord has any illegitimate child outside.”
…
“Bang!”
The Western Hills of the Jiang Clan was still like a human world’s purgatory, and Jiang Yi was making this purgatory an even crueler place.
Ma Yin was struggling hard. Half his hand was disabled by Jiang Yi’s attack, and the intense pain nearly caused him to faint. His current combat strength wasn’t even at 30% of his original strength. The Green Destiny Sword along with Jiang Yi’s insane reaction speed made Ma Yin suffer the worst.
“Tsk Tsk!”
Jiang Yi flashed forward and left another slash wound on Ma Yin’s body. The Green Destiny Sword was too sharp; Ma Yin had no choice but to keep on defending. His already intensely painful left arm caused his reaction speed to drastically plummet. Now with these additional wounds, he made him feel hopeless.
“Little bastard, I am going to risk my life to kill you!”
Ma Yin knew that if this carried on, he was going to die in the hands of Jiang Yi. Jiang Yi was much too intelligent to go head on against him. Jiang Yi constantly evaded and used the Green Destiny Sword to slowly consume his combat strength and stamina.
“He!”
He roared and didn’t bother with the Green Destiny Sword which was approaching him. He circulated the essence force with his other hand and formed it into a netherworld ghost claw that grasped at Jiang Yi’s head. If Jiang Yi continued his blade’s trajectory, his brain would be burst open like a watermelon.
“Just on time! Exploding Essence Palm… Ma Yin, your other hand shall be crippled, too!”
Jiang Yi let out a scheming sneer as his other hand glowed with a blue and black light. It seemed like he was about to release that same terrifying martial skill earlier.
“Huh?”
Ma Yin got frightened. His other arm was blown up by Jiang Yi’s palm explosion. He still had some lingering fear and naturally withdrew his claw. If both his hands were crippled, he would be dead for sure.
He frantically twisted his body and slid his only hand downwards, aiming at Jiang Yi’s chest. He was severely injured, and his reaction speed was indeed slower than before. But from his views, Jiang Yi’s attack speed was still slower than his claw. Before Jiang Yi’s Exploding Essence Palm had the chance to hit him, he would have already crushed Jiang Yi’s heart.
“Fool! You got tricked again!”
Jiang Yi let out a cold laugh as he had no intentions to release the Exploding Essence Palm. He didn’t have sufficient essence force and could only release it one more time. He didn’t wish to waste it on Ma Yin and forcefully changed the trajectory of his Green Destiny Sword instead. He originally didn’t prepare to stab Ma Yin’s chest but targeted his flawless arm instead.
“Silk Hands. Wrong! Silk Sword!”
His Green Destiny Sword lunged forward like a venomous snake. Before Ma Yin’s ghost claw could grasp his heart, the sword slid across Ma Yin’s arm.
The hand was raised, and the sword fell!
An arm flew across again which was accompanied by a miserable scream. The Green Destiny Sword extended and drove straight within. In the desperate view of Ma Yin, the sword pierced into his chest.
“Young Master Long! I am here!”
Right at this moment, a shadow quickly ascended the hill. His first view was when Jiang Yi pulled out the Green Destiny Sword from the chest of Ma Yin. Blood violent spurted from the chest of Ma Yin as he fell straight to the ground. Ma Yin’s eyes were wide opened and died with a remaining grievance.
“Tss…”
Jiang Qi looked around at the surroundings that looked like hell. He saw Ma Heiqi who was still thrashing about on the ground. He saw countless Ma and Jiang clansmen rolling over while screaming miserably. He saw Jiang Ruhu whose head was smashed like a watermelon; he saw Jiang Rulong who was turned into mincemeat. The entire scene put him in stasis.
When Jiang Yi’s eyes, which were illuminated in red, looked over at him, Jiang Qi’s body suddenly shook. Such a scene and such an expression made him feel as though he was splashed with a bucket of cold water on a winter day. He didn’t behave like Ma Yin who immediately rushed at Jiang Yi. Instead, his legs shivered; and he fell backward!
He actually fled.
Jiang Yi shook his head while sighing lightly. He didn’t give chase, he was tired of slaughtering, and he swiftly ran towards Jiang Xiaonu to carry her down the hill.
His eyes looked towards a tall mountain towards the eastern side. There was a beautiful small valley within where he always played along with Jiang Xiaonu when they were little. Jiang Xiaonu even teased that if she could be buried there after she died, she would be contented.
Jiang Xiaonu, who was afflicted with venom, fainted once again. Her breath was weak, and her skin was turning purple. Jiang Yi had no ways to save her; his stamina and essence force was greatly depleted. He knew that he couldn’t escape anymore. The only thing left for him to do was to bring Jiang Xiaonu to the small valley; even if they die… he didn’t want them to die within the territory of the Jiang Clan!
“Swish!”
However, the view made him feel helpless: when he sprinted down to the waist of the hills, he saw countless shadows darting towards him. Over a dozen Martial Court’s guardsmen hurried over from the Jiang’s residence. On the other side was another dozen of experts rushing over. The prominent auras of Jiang Yunshi, Jiang Yunshe, and Ma Yongji could be felt before they were even nearby. Jiang Yi could clearly smell the presence of death.
“Devil—Jiang Yi is a devil. He killed so many men. He killed Ma Heiqi, Young Master Long, and Young Master Hu. He even killed Ma Clan’s Ma Yin. The entire hill is filled with corpses. Jiang Yi is a devil—Elder Yunshe and Yunshi, please kill him quickly…”
Jiang Qi, who fled off the Western Hills, saw the reinforcements of so many experts; he suddenly shouted. His face was pale green as though he saw a ghost. In his eyes, Jiang Yi must have been possessed by a devil, or else how could he kill so many people with just his Cast Tripod Realm strength?
“Huh…”
Everyone got stunned. The members of the Jiang and the Ma Clan had shock filling their eyes. The scene of Jiang Qi fleeing was completely ridiculous and comical, but the murderous aura from Jiang Yi was very dense. It was obvious that he killed a lot of people to have such an aura.
“Fei’er! Heiqi!”
“Rulong! Ruhu!”
Ma Yongji and Jiang Yunshe nearly blacked out and fell to the ground. Jiang Yi, who could descend from the hill and could even frighten Jiang Qi who was a Purple Mansion Realm into this state, was proof that the people in the hills were dead.
“Hahaha!”
Jiang Yi stopped in his tracks at the waist of the hills. When he scanned the faces of these people and saw the expressions of Ma Yongji and Jiang Yunshe, he felt indescribably pleased. He smirked and said, “With so many people to be buried alongside me and having so many influential people to send me on my way. My entire life has been worth it!”