Book 4, Chapter 157: Escalate

There were quite a lot of imperial army soldiers scattered all over the plains. When they saw the large silver-white airship plunge from the sky in flames, they cried out in shock, and their originally fervent cheers came to a stop. Many of them were in disbelief.

Chen Chuan sat on his horse and watched the airship fall.

Flames rose into the sky. Smoke and ash churned about. It was as if a large pillar of fire had been lit on the plains. The next moment, the fire swayed a bit, and an abnormally large person slowly walked out. He was decked in black armor from head to toe, and he held a long spear with a white tassel.

He was glowing faintly, and the flames did not touch him in the slightest. With each step he took, the ground trembled.

Chen Chuan sensed something and looked to the side. Someone had appeared over there at some point.

This person had a washed out red headband on his forehead, which pushed up his thick, coarse hair into strands that were standing up like a porcupine’s quills.

He appeared to be around twenty-eight years old, and he had a faint scar on his brow. Everything about him screamed of a wild and unruly man. He wore a Great Shun Republic uniform, but he had no medals showing his rank.

His shirt wasn’t buttoned up, so his chest and sturdy pecs were in full display. Around his waist was a thick leather belt with metal spikes, though one seemed to be missing.

The man walked to the general in black armor. There was faint light on him as well, and the air around him seemed to be distorting.

Chen Chuan watched him. If he wasn’t mistaken, this should be the martial arts master transferred over from the World Ring, and the person who took down the airship.

Since he was here, then...

Chen Chuan looked up. Far in the distance was another airship. It was about the same size as the airship that fell.

Soon, Chen Chuan also heard excited, passionate music that created a majestic and heroic mood. It got louder as the airship drew closer.

He raised an eyebrow at that. He had asked about Yao Zhiyi, and Xue Shou had said that he would know what he sacrificed the moment he arrived. Chen Chuan could guess it at this point.

After Wei Guochan walked out of the flames, he turned to the young man. They stood across from each other, but weren’t in a hurry to attack.

The airship and its music finally arrived, and a man jumped down from above. He landed with a loud bang, and a shockwave spread out. The powerful gust blew through the entire plains, and all the nearby shrubs bent down.

The newcomer was a large person. He had a cloak covering him, while in his hands was a saber with a thick back. As he walked over, he, too, had faint light shining on his body.

This must be Yao Zhiyi.

This was the first time Chen Chuan met the chancellor, even though it had been a while since he joined the main campus.

It was to be expected, though. Ever since Yao Zhiyi became a martial arts master, he had stopped caring about administrative tasks. It wasn’t as if martial arts masters lacked the ability to do it, but that people with that sort of power shouldn’t be restrained to such tasks. They should be using their strength for different matters.

As Yao Zhiyi drew closer, he pincered Wei Guochan. There was about one hundred meters between each of them.

The young man brought his hand up, and Wei Guochan lifted his spear. Some form of energy crashed in the air. Light shone at the tip of Wei Guochan’s spear. It was incredibly dazzling and only faded after a while.

The young man grabbed a chain formed of multiple hooked blades before unfurling it with a flick of his wrist. “You’re not walking out of this alive today, Wei Guochan.”

“Xiao Wan, the fight hasn’t even started yet. Don’t form your conclusions so soon,” Yao Zhiyi said grimly.

“You know that I have to talk, Mr. Yao. Besides, we’ve already surrounded him. He can’t possibly run away.”

“Then, stop talking for a bit. Once we kill Wei Guochan, you can talk as much as you like!” Yao Zhiyi snapped and frowned. He grabbed his saber with both hands and leaned forward a bit. Light shone around him, then spread outward to form a thick yet erratic layer of red flames that enveloped him.

Xiao Wan grabbed the chain. Vermillion light spread out of him, and his black eyes started shining.

A similar change happened to Wei Guochan. Black smoke and light shot out of him. They were so thick that they were like ink and practically blended together with his armor.

Xiao Wan moved first. With a shout, he shot forward and threw the chain. He looked like a vermillion fireball charging at Wei Guochan.

The general brought his spear up. Before their weapons touched, their biofields made contact, and cracking sounds and dull thuds rose. Cracks spread outward from under their feet.

They froze for a moment, then a blinding light bloomed. Chen Chuan could only see two people moving about rapidly, while the ground kept trembling. In the end, another powerful shockwave spread outward, and thunderous rumbles filled the plains.

A long while passed, and the dust as well as wind settled. The two’s feet had sunk into loose sand. The place where they stood looked like it had been hit by artillery shells. A huge pit that was more than one hundred meters wide had formed, but they were still glowing.

Xiao Wan’s headband had fallen, and there were wisps of black smoke coming from his exposed chest. It was the same for a number of other parts of his body. Even so, his chain was wrapped firmly around the tip of the spear.

Wei Guochan also had plenty of cracks on his armor, and vermillion light was zapping about them. His hands were wrapped tightly around the spear; he refused to let go of it. Still, anyone in the area could see that his body had grown bigger, and his upper body appeared huge. Two arms stretched out from behind his shoulders, and another two came out from under his ribs. The extra four arms were covered in an exoskeleton resembling armor.

While the two were fighting, red flames flared by the side. Yao Zhiyi brought his saber up high and swung it at Wei Guochan. Raging red light spread everywhere from the saber and came down with a shocking momentum.

But then, a loud whistle shot up. The saber didn’t manage to hit its target, because a thick, shining arm blocked its path.

The arm belonged to a man with shoulder-length black hair. His fringe covered his eyes, so they could only see the lower half of his face, along with his well-defined jaw. Even so, there was an obvious sharp gaze behind the hair. The man wore a loose, white martial arts uniform. Its hem reached his calves, while his fists and arms were bound in boxing tape.

At that moment, his arm was bent, and he held a fist. His arm muscles were tense, and the silver-white light spilling out of it looked like living fog that jolted about. The flames from the saber crashed into the light from his arm, and sparks as well as shards of something appeared whenever they made contact.

A grim look appeared on Yao Zhiyi’s face. “The purity faction’s Fist of the Vast Sky? You must be Zhao Zhenye. You shouldn’t interfere in this.”

Since the man’s eyes were hidden behind his fringe, Yao Zhiyi couldn’t see his face clearly. All he said was, “I’m sorry, but I made a promise in the past.”

Without turning around, he said to Wei Guochan, “I’ll help you this once, based on the promise we made. From today on, we’ll no longer owe each other anything. I’ll be here, so you can do whatever you want to do.”

Upon hearing this, Wei Guochan let go of his spear and stepped back.

“I didn’t say you can leave!” Xiao Wan shouted at him

He threw the spear to the side and was about to attack Wei Guochan when Zhao Zhenye flung his free hand at him, and a ball of flames shot toward the chain.

Xiao Wan’s expression turned grave. He crossed his arms to block it, and with a loud clang, he was pushed more than ten meters back. His feet left behind two deep trails in the ground.

Zhao Zhenye pushed aside Yao Zhiyi’s saber and stepped back until he was a certain distance away. Then, he spread his arms and legs to stand in the two martial arts masters’ way. Something huge was swaying in the silver fog behind him.

“Sorry, you two. But I need you to stay here for a bit,” he said.

Wei Guochan turned around to face Chen Chuan. Even though there was quite a distance between them, Chen Chuan’s instincts screeched at him that he was in incredible danger. It was something he had never felt before.

He could sense all his mutated tissue going into high alert and yelling at him to run away from the source of the danger.

He jumped back. In an instant, he was dozens of meters away. The next moment, the dragon-nose horse exploded to pieces.

Upon landing, Chen Chuan looked up and saw a six-armed man standing where the dragon-nose horse originally was. Black smoke and flames raged around him.

It looked as if Wei Guochan had crossed a long distance and arrived in front of the dragon-nose horse in the blink of an eye.

But Chen Chuan could tell that Wei Guochan’s mental energy was the one who had come over. It was so strong that it looked like it had physical form, so he had the misconception that Wei Guochan had arrived near the dragon-nose horse, though in truth, he was still a distance away.

The six-armed man cast another glance at him before disappearing. When he appeared again, he was right in front of Chen Chuan, and his six arms went straight for him.

Chen Chuan was calm, though. The ritual array on his overcoat activated, and a person showed up. With a push of his arms, he blocked the six-armed general charging over.

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