Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Fang Zhengzhi was looking very confident. His confidence was annoying but he did not care. He continued to laughed on fearlessly.
He was not pretending to be relaxed. In fact, a scary thought had entered his mind.
At face value, it seemed that the leader of Ling Yun Tower was unwilling to see Lin Mubai and Ping Yang.
However, the truth was that…
This was only one of the possibilities.
The other possibility was that the leader of Ling Yun Tower was wasting time, mental energy and physical effort together with Fang Zhengzhi.
In other words, she was stalling.
Her reason for doing this was probably because of the old adage: if you know yourself and your enemy well, you will never lose your battles.
The leader of Ling Yun Tower was testing Fang Zhengzhi with her disciples. She had sent them against him one by one from weak to strong in order to test his prowess.
On the surface, it may seem like Fang Zhengzhi was gaining the upper hand by defeating all these disciples from Ling Yun Tower. However, the truth was that they were stripping layers off Fang Zhengzhi.
If the targeted person had been any more prideful, he would have been complacent by now and would have walked into the trap laid out by the leader of Ling Yun Tower.
Fang Zhengzhi had never seen anything like this before at the other Sects of the Holy Region.
The other Sects in the Holy Region relied on their own power to suppress enemies directly while Ling Yun Tower approached things differently.
Although they had never met, Fang Zhengzhi knew that the leader of Ling Yun Tower was a master in the art of forbearance .
She had remained calm in the face of Fang Zhengzhi’s attempts to invade and humiliate. It was as if all these had nothing to do with her.
As the saying went, a correct decision made in camp will secure a victory thousands of kilometres away. Although Fang Zhengzhi was only speculating, the leader of Ling Yun was shaping to be scarier than he had expected.
Of course, whether or not his guesses were correct, Fang Zhengzhi had enough of being led by the nose. He did not want to reveal all his cards. Thus, he had to turn to deceitful tactics.
Successful warriors have always been crafty.
To become truly deceitful, he had to begin with concealment.
After all, the leader of Ling Yun Tower had not come out and Fang Zhengzhi was running out of ideas. Hence, he had to conceal his trump cards and construct something false in order to compromise the judgement of the leader of Ling Yun Tower.
Fang Zhengzhi had to make himself look unpredictable and opaque. This way, the leader of Ling Yun Tower would have to rely more on her imagination and guesswork.
However, Fang Zhengzhi’s confidence and unpredictability did not seem to be working very well. Cang Yue and the five women did not seem to have bought his act.
“Countered?” Cang Yue was aware of the counteraction of different forces but she did not believe Fang Zhengzhi’s talk of being able to counter them.
Still, she hesitated.
After all, Fang Zhengzhi remained unharmed and nonchalant. It was like what he had said. Their assault was not doing anything to him.
What was going on?
Cang Yue and the five women were all asking the same question. Why wasn’t their assault working?
It was supposed to have succeeded.
What a deceitful occurrence.
The smiles of Cang Yue and the five women had stiffened. They found all that had happened extremely weird.
Ping Yang was beginning to figure things out but even the truth was mind boggling.
“Has the shameless fellow really become this powerful? How has he managed to achieve this?”
“It seems like you all don’t believe me. Never mind, you can all try me again!” Fang Zhengzhi did not wait for their replies and rattled on.
Fang Zhengzhi was not in a hurry.
He had made up his mind to become unpredictable and had to refrain from looking impatient or fearful.
Thus, he continued to provoke them!
This provocation troubled the woman, who was wearing red and had hair that was slightly white, standing directly in front of him.
“Young Master Fang. Your methods are truly weird. Nonetheless, we are devoted to Ling Yun Tower and even if we cannot defeat you, we will defend our sect with our lives!” The woman in the red dress spoke and turned to the other four women.
The other four women nodded their heads in response and closed their eyes.
When they opened their eyes again, the green light emanating from their eyes had become a dark deep oceanic blue.
“Buzz!”
The green shimmer had turned dark blue as well. Water droplets fell from the sky and dewdrops rose from the ground.
A white mist hung in the air.
At the same time, the five women made their move. They pointed their index and middle fingers forward and dark blue swords with a sapphires embedded in their hilts appeared in their hands.
“Dance!” The woman in red called out.
The five women began to shift their positions. The red woman had moved from in front of Fang Zhengzhi to his left. Loud cracks split the air.
That was the sound of the air freezing.
A deathly cold breeze assailed Fang Zhengzhi.
The five women had their dark blue swords pointed towards Fang Zhengzhi. The swords had tips of white like they had just been dipped in snow.
“Indeed, they can display the same Dao!” Fang Zhengzhi could see that the Dao that they were displaying were based in water and crystals.
Fang Zhengzhi was not too surprised. The five women had been utilising the same technique ever since they stood in formation.
Whether it was the green previously, or the dark blue now…
The five women acted in unison, like they were clones of the same person.
Fang Zhengzhi could not help but feel awed by their methods.
After all, the usage of the same technique by the five women was proving to be very effective.
Besides, Fang Zhengzhi was sure that they would only grow stronger together. Still, he did not understand the rationale for only sending out these five women. Were they the only Ling Yun Tower members of this particular skill level, or were there any other special reasons?
Fang Zhengzhi had not figured these out yet.
The five women had thrust their dark blue swords towards Fang Zhengzhi from their various positions.
A dark chill, together with the sharp wind of the swords, pierced multiple spots on Fang Zhengzhi’s body.
Fang Zhengzhi did not leap away.
In fact, he was unable to leap up at all. The five women had trapped his legs with the frost on the ground.
Also, there was a terrifying pressure coming down on him from above.
The five women obviously did not intend for Fang Zhengzhi to escape their assault.
Fang Zhengzhi did not mind that either.
The black fire rose from his body once more and attempted to resist the dark blue swords of frost. However, the impact of the dark blue swords were too powerful for it to handle.
“Boom!”
Fang Zhengzhi’s body had been hit by the swords. Large cracks broke out on his black armour once more.
Not just cracks.
At the points where the swords had impacted the armour were large holes. The swords had transferred some of the frost over to the armour and the frost had spread all over it.
Dark blue light whirled about in the sky like the winds in winter. It was clearing up the remnants of the black fire.
“Impressive!” Fang Zhengzhi raised his head a little. His hair was covered in frost but the black fire in his eyes burned on.
“To be able to survive a combined blow from the five of us is quite an achievement. Your name will do the rounds in the Holy Region if you leave Ling Yun Tower alive!” The woman in red looked at Fang Zhengzhi with her deep blue eyes. Her red dress flapped a little. She was radiating more power than before.
“Does that mean that I have a chance of surviving this?” Fang Zhengzhi smiled and replied. The devilish purple light was still coursing through his sword.
“It was just a joke. Young master Fang, did you take it seriously?” The woman in red responded as her wrinkly lips curled into a smile.
“Am I not given any chance of surviving?”
“Nothing is more vicious than a woman’s heart. Young master Fang, you must have heard of that, right?”
“I’ve heard of that indeed. However, that had always been claimed only by the men since a long time ago, so it’s definitely biased. A woman has the most vicious heart because it contains hatred. The strongest hatred is definitely the result of the most intense love.” Fang Zhengzhi looked up and replied while looking at Ling Yun Tower instead of the woman in red.
“You seem to be only 18 years old?” The woman in red looked a little surprised.
“Yup, the prime of my life.” Fang Zhengzhi replied with a sincere look.
“I didn’t expect Young master Fang to know so much about ‘love’ despite your young age, if…” The woman in red seemed a little down at this moment, before she regained her composure and continued, “Haha, Young master Fang, you’re definitely a smooth talker. However, it isn’t enough to save yourself!”
“Save myself?” Fang Zhengzhi was startled. Then, he smiled as if he had understood everything and said, “This is a mistake. Actually, I’ve been saying that my Dao counters your Dao. Hence, you guys couldn’t hurt me at all. In that case, why do I need to save myself?”
As he said that, the black flame on his body extinguished, then, his eyes became completely filled with a deep blue colour just like the five women.
At the meantime, the five frosty sword tips that pierced through his black armour shattered and turned into spots of deep blue radiance in the air.
However, the deep blue radiance was surrounding Fang Zhengzhi in a friendly manner rather than attacking him.
“How is this possible!” The woman in red finally opened her mouth wide. If she was only surprised previously, this time, she was definitely dumbfounded.
She wasn’t the only one. The four other women, as well as Cang Yue, were all dazed. They looked at the deep blue radiance surrounding Fang Zhengzhi, his calm expression, and the black armour that had returned to normal, as if they were looking at a demon.
“What’s going on?”
“Does he really counter us? How is that possible? Furthermore, doesn’t the concept of countering apply to Dao only? How could human counter each other?”
“Is that the Fang Zhengzhi who had shocked the Holy Region?”
The four women glanced at each other and saw the same emotion. They were truly stunned to their cores.
Ping Yang also opened her mouth wide at this moment with the same look of disbelief in her eyes. “How did this shameless fellow do that? Is he a genius? A freak? Or is his understanding so extraordinary? However, could he really get so powerful… Just by understanding?!”
Ping Yang found it hard to believe. She had always known about Fang Zhengzhi’s incredible understanding of Dao. However, this was really overly ridiculous.
In fact, it was almost terrifying!
Comment (0) Vote with Power Stone Send Gifts Chapter 789: Behind, Sticking Tightly BehindTranslator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Just how monstrous was Fang Zhengzhi’s talent? Ping Yang could not imagine.
Fang Zhengzhi did not know how Ping Yang felt, or he would have given her a hard knock on the head and told her:
“Of course a person’s talent can’t be this monstrous. However, if he has a good grasp of different Daos, things would be different!”
This was akin to someone who has read all the books in the world. They would be able to understand the content of books faster and where the information was gleaned from.
As the saying went, becoming formidable requires a lifetime of work.
Fang Zhengzhi was formidable alright, to the point that he seemed scary. When he had been refined in the Middle Stream Cauldron on the Nine Pinnacles Mountain, he got to read the 23 Heaven Dao Sage Tablet everyday. This had given him a solid understanding of the Dao written on the tablets and his skills had progressed rapidly.
He had already broken through over two thousand barriers in his cultivation of Dao.
Over two thousand types of Dao?
What kind of notion was this?
Fang Zhengzhi did not have any idea how this worked at first but he did now. On the Nine Pinnacles Mountain, he had grasped the Ice Crystal Dao of the Great Elder Ying Yu in a very short time.
He had been astounded at himself then.
Now…
He had mastered the jade-green Green Blade Dao as well as the dark blue Extreme Frost Dao used by the five women from Ling Yun Tower in a short time as well.
Fang Zhengzhi no longer needed to keep up the pretense. He placed a hand behind his back and with his other hand holding onto the Traceless Sword, he sighed towards the skies.
“Sigh… aces are often lonely! Fang Zhengzhi reflected while ignoring the dumbfounded expressions of the five women and Cang Yue.
At this point, Fang Zhengzhi was acting like an arrogant prick.
However piqued the five women and Cang Yue looked, they remained still.
They did not believe a word about having their skills countered.
Be that as it may, what they had seen was unprecedented. Nothing like this had every happened in the history of the Holy Region.
No one would have thought that a person could master his opponent’s techniques in the short time they took to exchange blows.
“Why did it turn out this way?!”
“This is impossible!”
“No one could have done that! This is too coincidental to be true!”
It was often said that people who knew more tended to be confused easily. The five women prided themselves on knowing their Dao inside out and were thus unwilling to believe that incredible events had happened right before their eyes.
Cang Yue could not believe her eyes either.
She was seriously injured and could do nothing other than to steal looks at Ling Yun Tower every now and then.
Ping Yang recovered herself upon hearing Fang Zhengzhi speak.
“Aces are often lonely? Just how thick-skinned can he get?” Ping Yang was contemptuous but she did not want to argue with Fang Zhengzhi.
Perhaps it was Lin Mubai’s injuries that had caused her to lose her inclination to argue with Fang Zhengzhi. Or it could be because she had no rebuttal for Fang Zhengzhi’s words.
“I’ve underestimated him!” Lin Mubai had kept his eyes on Fang Zhengzhi the whole time.
Fang Zhengzhi was his last hope, his only hope.
At that moment, a light flashed across Ling Yun Tower. It was like a golden ray of sunlight.
It was unassuming.
However, this was enough to make the five women shudder. They shared a look with each other.
“Dance!” The woman in red gritted her teeth and shouted out loud.
The five women changed their positions once more and the dark blue light surrounding them disappeared. The dark blue in their eyes was replaced by the colour black. It was a deep dark black that sucked in all the light and obscured the whites of their eyes.
“Indeed, she is watching.” Fang Zhengzhi threw the occasional glance at Ling Yun Tower.
When he had seen the light flash across Ling Yun Tower, he could not help but smirk.
Fang Zhengzhi was pretty sure that the leader of Ling Yun Tower had been watching them the whole time.
What actually surprised Fang Zhengzhi was that…
The leader of Ling Yun Tower had such a high level of forbearance. She had refrained from revealing herself and was relying on the five women she had dispatched to test Fang Zhengzhi.
In fact, the five women were powerful. They were competent individually but their combined strength was very outstanding.
Were they really going to drag it on?
Fang Zhengzhi had enough of this. God knows if Ling Yun Tower would send out another batch of fighters when he had defeated these five women.
No one could know that.
As Fang Zhengzhi pondered over this question, the world around him turned dark. The five women were attacking him once again.
“Darkness?” Fang Zhengzhi narrowed his eyes slightly.
From the previous formation and techniques the five women had adopted, Fang Zhengzhi had thought that they would stick to the Five Elements Dao.
However, it seemed that this was not the case.
The positions of the five elements…
Was only a method used by the five women to unleash the Dao better.
“Buzz!”
Fang Zhengzhi’s vision was entirely obscured by the darkness. He could feel the invasiveness of the shadows.
Black flames rose up from Fang Zhengzhi’s body again. This was an instinctive reaction to other Daos and served as a defence mechanism as well.
The black flames burned in the dark and banging sounds began to ring out. Fang Zhengzhi could feel new information entering the sea of his consciousness.
An attractive force!
This probably has something to do with the Abyss Dao!
Other than the attractive force, there was the presence of another aggressive entity that carried with it a sense of corruption. Fang Zhengzhi could feel something burning as well.
The nature of this darkness seemed to be similar to that of Hell Dao, but it was not as tough and energetic. It felt softer and more passive.
Its name?
It shall be called…
The Yin Fire Dao!
Fang Zhengzhi had managed to comprehend this Dao but there was no way for him to derive its name. Thus, he had named it casually.
“Crack!”
A cold and sharp aura assailed Fang Zhengzhi from behind.
It seemed like that of a sword!
No!
It was five swords!
Fang Zhengzhi had lost his vision in the dark and could not see the incoming attack. However, he was still able to feel its aura.
Fang Zhengzhi closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again.
The black fire burning in his eyes had been extinguished and was replaced by a deep dark black.
Just as his eyes turned black, he suddenly saw that the five women were approaching him with their swords. The five swords were banded together just like how the five women had arranged themselves into one straight line. They had given up on their five elements formation.
“I see!” Fang Zhengzhi immediately understood their attack strategy. It was obvious that they were approaching Fang Zhengzhi with caution.
They had given up on attempting to suppress him directly with Dao.
They were going to try to get close to him and kill him from there.
Of course, before proceeding with their slaughter, the five women had activated the Yin Fire Dao.
The Yin Fire Dao was not only invasive and aggressive, but it was also capable of obscuring Fang Zhengzhi’s vision. This way, the five women could approach him undetected.
In such a situation, one would have thought that the five women would attack from five different directions.
In truth…
In order to kill someone, it was not necessary for them to aim for five vital points.
One was enough!
The five women were experienced in battle and had made use of the Yin Fire Dao to aid them in their assault. They were going to attack Fang Zhengzhi at only one of his vital points with their combined strength.
If their plan went through, Fang Zhengzhi would not have detected the attack until it was too late.
A seamless plan, solid experience, as well as the excellent individual and combined prowess of the five women, meant that this assault had an extremely good chance of success.
Unfortunately, this was not going to work on Fang Zhengzhi, simply because he had literally seen it coming.
In the entire Holy Region, was there anyone who could comprehend a Dao in one look?
No one!
Except for Fang Zhengzhi. Hence, he was able to see through the battle plan of the five women so easily. However, the ease at which he was able to do it was built upon a foundation that was tremendously strong.
Fang Zhengzhi laughed.
It was a merry laugh. He wanted to shout to the skies about how lonely he was at the top. Was he going to become the second Dugu Qiubai, an unparalleled swordsman who had died of loneliness due to the lack of opponents?
But he did not do it in the end.
Because he had no time for that!
The swords of the five women had reached him.
He twisted away rapidly.
Fang Zhengzhi’s body had disappeared on the spot. Now that he had comprehended the Yin Fire Dao, he would not be harmed by it.
No more hesitation. No more dragging it on.
The five women had delivered a lethal blow. Fang Zhengzhi would not stand on ceremony either and shifted his body such that he appeared behind the five women.
The five women had concentrated all of their attacking power on the straight-lined assault. This was the strongest blow aimed at one spot that they could manage.
This form attack had one weak spot though.
The weak spot was at its back.
The reason being that the five women were arranged very closely to each other in the straight line so as to increase the attack speed.
This way, their line of sight would be compromised. In order to stay within the line, the four women behind the woman at the front would not be able to see ahead.
Fang Zhengzhi’s current position…
Was at the back of the five women. He was within one step of the woman at the back of the line. His eyes were as black as their eyes.
Although Fang Zhengzhi’s eyes were devoid of light, the Traceless Sword that he held sparkled with a strange purple light.
In truth, as he stood behind the woman, an idea for a thrilling killing move came into his mind.
However, he considered the advanced age of the five women and decided to drop the idea.
He would give up the plan for Kancho!
However, thrusting his sword into their backs and skewering them like candied hawthorn did not sound like a bad idea!