Chapter 310 - Cow Pies and Flies
Chapter 310 Cow Pies and Flies
What a wicked plan, Zang Fengling thought.
But not one he would object to. Not only could he hold the woman at ransom to force that bumbling oaf to do his bidding, but he had never forgotten his wish to see who this purple-haired woman really was.
But their furtive exchange did not go unnoticed by a suspicious Yan Wushuang who became wary.
Boom!
A sudden jet of True Energy shot out, blasting straight for Pan Chengfeng.
Caught off-guard, Pan Chengfeng immediately fired an energy bolt of his own to nullify the sudden attack, but the impact had him wobbling several steps before he could finally stand still with his arm throbbing painfully.
“What is the meaning of this!?” Pan Chengfeng yelled angrily.
Yan Wushuang was also shocked. He did not expect the purple-haired woman to attack suddenly.
“How dare you wish to seize me so that you can force my Senior Brother to help you. What a wicked plan you both hatched,” muttered the woman frostily with True Energy coursing through every part of her.
That startled Pan and Zang. They had kept their voices low, yet how did she manage to hear them?!
But with the cat out of the bag, Pan Chengfeng realized there was no longer any point in hiding. “DO IT, ZANG!” he bellowed.
Still floundering in astonishment at how the woman could discover the wicked plan, Yan Wushuang nevertheless ripped his sword from its sheath and made a bolt for Zang Fengling.
Dark tendrils of aura in gaseous form coiled around Pan Chengfeng’s limbs as he churned up his Internal Breath, looking absolutely sinister.
“Beware, lady! That is the special magic kept by members of the Chamber of Purple Garments! It’s poisonous,” warned Yan Wushuang.
“Take care of your side of the table,” the woman hissed apathetically. Her slender hands weaved hand seals quickly before giving a tap into the air, and the air shimmered with undulations.
Boom!
More tremors shook the sky with crackles and pops like something was bursting could be heard from everywhere as a thick, indomitable, and ancient aura swept the area – a gigantic monolith fell from the sky, crashing down on Pan Chengfeng.
The leader of the Chamber’s contingent for this exploration could not believe his eyes, and for one brief split-second, he stared bewildered at the monolith bearing down on him. As it drew nearer, he began to feel its staggering pressure that even channeling his Internal Breath seemed a strenuous exertion.
He let loose a guttural roar and thrust both his fists, firing what Internal Breath he could muster at the falling monolith.
Boom!
The impact of the blow kicked up sand and dirt into the air in a miniature sandstorm, and the ice under his feet began to crack further.
He had managed to parry the falling monolith with his sheer might.
What a dangerous technique, Pan Chengfeng reeled with horror as he felt his blood boiling inside unsteadily, nearly resulting in a seizure that could see him internally damaged.
The purple-haired woman watched coldly from a distance, but she never wished to stop. Summoning another spurt of True Energy, she fired another jet of energy that swept with the force of a tidal wave at Pan Chengfeng.
With another hoarse cry, Pan Chengfeng channeled his magic and desperately defended himself.
Boom!
Another terrible explosion ensued, and Pan Chengfeng stepped backward, pummeled hard by the force of the impact. His face was a flush of scarlet-red as blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth.
Struck with horror and malice, he did not expect that the woman would be so powerful.
With her purplish hair scintillating in the sparkles of gold around them, the woman’s arm shot up, and something white shot out of the sleeve of her gown – a long length of white fabric with its surface coruscating like a white jet of light, shooting straight at Pan Chengfeng.
Pan evaded the blow quickly as the bolt of cloth slammed into the ice with a deafening boom behind him, causing splinters of frost to pepper his back.
As if imbued with a life of its own, the white cloth wheeled back around and pursued after him.
A resentful Pan Chengfeng fired a bolt of energy filled with astounding amounts of Internal Breath at the white cloth.
Boom!
Instead, the white cloth speared through his Internal Breath projectile, dissipating it utterly before slamming into his chest, sending him careening away.
Meanwhile, Yan Wushuang was locked in a gritting battle against Zang Fengling.
“You’re inviting death, Zang,” Yan Wushuang grunted as he slashed, thrust, and hacked with his sword, firing bolts after bolts of energy that dotted the air like sparkling jewels.
“I have not forgotten the stroke you gave me, Yan Wushuang,” Zang Fengling cried amidst the chaos, his long spear flailing around furiously like a serpent, “I’d never forget it!”
“Kill them!” screamed Pan Chengfeng at his men, siccing them at Yan Wushuang’s Human King retainers.
Zang Fengling cackled and yelled to his men, “You too!”
The members of the Chambers were a dozen Human Kings with strengths at Fifth-grade and beyond, while the retinues of the Zangs numbered just as many.
Yan Wushuang’s four Human King retainers immediately found themselves outnumbered by the twenty or so Human Kings.
In just the blink of an eye, energy bolts of assorted shapes and forms – sabers, swords, and fists – flecked the sky before bearing down on all four of them, engulfing them like sharks on the scent of blood.
Seething, Yan Wushuang wanted to break off to help his men, but Zang Fengling was keeping him occupied.
“Just focus on yourself,” the purple-haired woman’s voice came suddenly as she hurled herself into the fray.
Boom!
More bolts of white cloth shot like tendrils into the air, each of them imbued with rich True Energy, and forcing the Human Kings of the Zang Family and the Chamber away.
As they quickly retreated, they immediately realized that being able to force all of them away, her powers must definitely be at least Seventh-grade!
“Dammit, Pan, what have you been doing?!” Zang Fengling bellowed, frustrated that Pan Chengfeng failed in keeping her at bay.
“You witch! How dare you!” shrieked Pan Chengfeng, still embarrassed by his failure while producing from his robes a dark-purplish mirror made of bronze.
He injected a spurt of Internal Breath into it, activating its powers and the bronze mirror began humming incessantly, and it began glowing brightly.
Swoosh!
A sudden ray of light shot from the mirror.
With a kick of her heel, the purple-woman retreated more than a hundred meters away.
Boom!
The ray of light smashed through the ice on the ground, and a rush of water shot into the air like a geyser.
The ice was at least tens of meters thick when Chu Xun was examining the opened fan-shaped rock earlier with his divine sense, and the destructive death ray from the bronze mirror was strong enough to barrel a hole right through it.
That showed how powerful the bronze mirror was; woe betides anyone who might get himself hit by its death ray.
“Master Zang!”
Failing to hit the purple-haired woman, Pan Chengfeng decided a switch of targets. With a loud cry, he yelled at Zang Fengling, who quickly caught his eye and understood at once, ducking aside.
The bronze mirror glowed brightly again and fired another jet of light at Yan Wushuang.
Caught off-guard, Yan Wushuang knew he would never be able to evade cleanly; he swung his sword, firing an energy bolt at the incoming ray of light. Yet his missile burst into a helpless puff once it collided with the death ray, allowing the latter to continue streaking unimpeded at him.
Using his sword like a shield, Yan Wushuang tried deflecting the death ray, but to no avail. The jet of light slammed into the blade of his weapon, shattering it into pieces before hitting him squarely in the chest. Struck by the light, Yan Wushuang coughed up blood and froth and fell backward.
Swoosh!
A long length of white cloth wrapped around him and pulled him back to safety.
Quickly, the purple-haired woman injected a few spurts of True Energy into him to help him heal.
Alone the purple-haired woman stood facing her foes – Zang Fengling, Pan Chengfeng, and their minions.
“Huh?!” Zang Fengling gasped suddenly with anger, “So it was you!?”
The blast from the bronze mirror had destroyed part of Yan Wushuang’s clothes, revealing the mail of the armor inside.
Fuming, Zang Fengling glared hard at Yan Wushuang, as did his men; beaten into unconsciousness, they were stripped naked in addition to having their suits of armor all stolen.
Yan Wushuang got up to his feet. Fortunately for him, the suit of armor had saved him from mortal harm.
At the same time, more people stepped through the golden wall of light, entering the dome.
The rest of the other explorers had arrived.
The first thing they saw was the treasures that littered the rock.
Driven mad by greed, they rushed headlong at the rock, only to be repelled backward by the destructive waves of golden light and some even got injured as well.
Dumbstruck by what happened, the explorers began to realize something amiss and immediately retreated.
“How long are you going to take?” the woman asked Chu Xun via telepathy. With Pan Chengfeng wielding his bronze mirror, which clearly was a High-grade Sacred Relic, there was only very little she could do to keep the others safe.
Meanwhile, Chu Xun himself was struggling against the inexhaustible waves of golden light that never stopped battering at him that he was teetering on the brink of being defeated himself.
In his haste, he sent a quick response to the woman.
“Give back the sets of armor, and I’ll give you a clean, quick death,” glowered Zang Fengling sinisterly.
It was a huge disgrace that his men were not only soundly incapacitated but were stripped naked as well.
“These sets of armor were given to us by a senior who lives in these parts, and do you intend to take them by force?” hissed the woman coldly.
“They belong to the Zang Family! I’m only taking back what’s rightfully mine!” shouted Zang Fengling, caught in frustration.
“What piffle you speak,” added Yan Wushuang, “An unknown senior gave us these, and here you are, claiming these sets of armor to be yours. Are you so accustomed to your imperious and bullying ways that you wish to claim all the treasures on this rock too?”
“Enough with your blasted comments, Yan Wushuang! These sets of armors belong to us, and Pan here can be my witness!”
With blood trickling out his mouth, Pan Chengfeng agreed darkly, “I am a witness; these suits of armor belong to Master Zang here.”
“You both are as inseparable as cow pies and flies. What good is your being his witness? As if your word is even credible in the first place,” jeered Yan Wushuang prickly.
“I must say, Master Yan here speaks truly,” Li Hangyi of the Faith of Canonization interjected suddenly.
That surprised Yan Wushuang. The Yan Family hardly has ties with the Faith.
“What do you mean?” Zang Fengling glowered menacingly at Li Hangyi.
“I do not wish to take sides, Master Zang. Relax,” said the leader of Faith’s exploration contingent here, as he undid his robes and revealed his armor inside.
Impossible! How did members of the Faith have the same suits of armor as well?!
But on the other side, Yan Wushuang and his companions immediately understood what Chu Xun had earlier mentioned before about him giving the two suits of armor to somebody else. So, he gave it to the Faith of Canonization...
This allowed them to breathe easy; Chu Xun’s wit at involving the Faith turned the tables for them.
“I hope you don’t mean to say that our armor also belongs to your family, Master Zang?” asked Li Hangyi.
“...” Zang Fengling could find nothing to retort those words. But what’s going on?! Has the Yan Family struck an agreement with the Faith?!
But that’s impossible! The Faith operates mainly in the South while the Yans keep only in the North! With more than hundreds of thousand miles between them, there’s no way they’d even met before!
Zang Fengling cast a look at Pan Chengfeng. “What do you think is going on, Pan?”
The latter gave a salute to Li Hangyi and asked, “Greetings, friend. If I may ask, from where did you procure your suit of armor?”
“I’m afraid I gave my word to the person that I will not divulge his name. I hope you understand,” Li Hangyi responded. He remembered very well his promise not to divulge the provenance of the armor.
Especially when he was afraid of the stranger, being able to withstand the lightning bolts striking him and yet was able to seize them like toys, he would know better than to anger anyone with such devastating might and power.
That filled Pan Chengfeng with irate anger. No matter what, the stranger had taken those suits of armor right under his and Zang Fengling’s nose and it proved to be a humiliation to him.
“So, what else do you have to say, Zang Fengling? Do you still claim the suits of armor as properties of the Zang Family?” chuckled Yan Wushuang coldly.
The pall of gloomy dissatisfaction hanging over Zang Fengling’s face only became darker by the second. He could not demand back the suits of armor – not when doing so would only force the Faith to join hands with Yan Wushuang’s retinue. Yet he could ill afford the indignity that befell the Yan Family if he failed to regain those armors.
Boom!
A sudden explosion came from the top of the rock.
Every head turned just in time to see a bolt of golden light hurtling at Chu Xun.
Only, to Chu Xun, it was hardly an ordinary flash of light, but rather, a long golden halberd had shot out from inside the rock.
Swoosh!
The long halberd spun and twisted as if with a life of its own, spinning in midair before arcing back at Chu Xun for a dangerous stab with the air undulating with ripples of golden sparkled that belied its ferocity and power.
Delivering another punch to dispel another golden wave of light from the rock, Chu Xun contorted himself to duck out of the halberd’s way, barely missing it. The long polearm instead smashed into another golden wave of light, disintegrating it into harmless fireworks of golden flakes.
Boom!
The impact of the collision threw the halberd away until it penetrated deep into the stone. It wriggled hard and with a loud crunch of stones, the polearm extricated itself.
Chu Xun was sure of one thing: this halberd must be a powerful Sacred Relic.
The halberd shook and freed itself from the rock. Pivoting itself around in the air, it spun back and swooped furiously at Chu Xun again.