Chapter Fifty-Seven: Family Change
The scene of him seeming to hold the star was extremely powerful. These three people who came from Jiaodong Commandery were not normal grand masters. They were people who even Zheng Xiu and the two ministers were wary of.
From a certain point of view, even though they were working within certain rules, they attracted the wariness of these powers just like the Zhao Sword Furnace cultivators and Bai Shanshui back then. Purely in terms of cultivation, these three represented the greatest power of Jiaodong Commandery, and surpassed Bai Shanshui and Zhao Si before the Deer Mountain Conference. Zhao Husha was the strongest among the three. Even though Zheng Bainiao thought himself invincible in his realm, he definitely did not include Zheng Husha among them.
In Zheng Bainiao’s view, Zheng Husha was not a cultivator in the same realm as him, even though Zheng Husha had not yet had a breakthrough and reached realm eight. Some people cultivated differently, and had different talents. As a result, their vital energy and the amount of it in their bodies were different from normal cultivators. Back then, Wang Jingmeng had been one of those, and now, Zheng Husha was one of them.
Facing this arrow, with his cultivation, he could have chosen a simpler method that would use up less vital energy and did not harm him. But he needed to show his power. He needed all of Changling, especially the many cultivators coming with orders to kill him to see his power in these short moments. He did not want to be tangled up in battle with many cultivators of about the same cultivation as him. Ants could take down a beetle many times larger if there were enough of them. He had to choose the most arrogant method, so the cultivators who were not death warriors would withdraw from the battle.
But this was not the best result he wanted to see. The best result he wanted was for the power hiding in the shadows who had planned this to see his power and give up on killing him.
But this powerful archer came from Chu. The powers involved in this far surpassed his imagination.
The light of the golden ball in his hand quickly disappeared. At the end of his sight, far away on the street shrouded by fine rain, came the sound of footsteps. They were clear, so clear he could hear that it was only one person, but the sound caused all the buildings on the street to tremble.
Zheng Husha opened his lips slightly. He frowned deeply.
The trembling of the ground passed into his body from his feet. Each part of his flesh was trembling as well, and even his heart felt slightly uncomfortable. He needed to breathe slowly to release the tangible power this opponent gave him.
At this time, the sky darkened again. The archer he was wary of shot again. This arrow carried a terrifying penetrating power. The arrow tip and the shaft both had special structures. The tip of the arrow spun at high speed, but the body of the arrow was extremely stable. Also, during the quick flight, the seal scripts on the shaft absorbed primal energies of the universe. Each time it went forwards in the air, it would cause an energy explosion. Each time there was an explosion, the arrow seemed to jump and disappear in the air before suddenly appearing.
Zheng Husha took a deep breath. His left hand made a simple throwing motion. The metal ball he was holding exploded with a twisting waive of air in front of him and immediately disappeared.
His display of power had not just been targeted at the person who set up this situation, but also at the archer: since I am a swordsman, without using my lifebond sword, I can capture your arrow with my hand. Naturally, I have the power to kill you regardless of distance.
On the roof of a building very far from him, a thin and tall archer dressed in indigo robes held a deep blue bow, the bow string still vibrating quickly.
When Zheng Husha just finished making the throwing motion, the metal ball appeared in front of him with a boom. At this moment, the metal ball seemed to freeze in the air, but the energy coming off the ball was a golden color, like a giant sunflower about to bloom.
In the air facing the indigo-robed archer, the power coming off the metal ball formed a transparent sword energy accurately stabbing at his chest.
The indigo-robed archer looked at the energy sword stabbing towards his chest, and his pupils contracted. But his expression did not change. His thin and tall body appeared extremely soft in this moment, and he bent like a willow branch.
With a boom, the deep blue long bow in his hand flew away. A power that he could not resist fell on him, causing his body to fly out, hitting and destroying the building. He fell into a pile of broken walls and tiles.
The indigo-robed archer’s body bounced like a bow string. He started to cough up blood in large mouthfuls, but he was still alive.
At this moment, the clear footsteps on the street in front of Zheng Husha suddenly disappeared. A shadow seemed to jump down from the sky. The wild wind created an enormous empty hole in the air, and swept all the rain on the street into the distance. The arrow previously caused the light in the rain to seem dimmer. But with the arrival of this person, it was like the sky lost a covering, and quickly grew brighter.
Zheng Husha looked up. He quickly saw the cultivator who came from afar and seemed to have jumped down from the sky.
“Fourth Uncle?”
His breathing suddenly stopped. He squeezed the words between his teeth like metal grinding together.
This was an old person. So old his face was wrinkled, and he even had the black marks that represented that a cultivator was old. But the descending sword essence coming off the old person was as strong as a punishment from the heavens.
“So it is one of our own…after all this, it is a rebellion from within the nest.”
A hint of mockery appeared on Zheng Husha’s lips. He lifted his right hand, and gripped at air!
A great boom!
The sky turned golden yellow. A golden dragon horn appeared above Zheng Husha. The golden light swept upwards like a waterfall in reverse. The old man coming down from the sky was sent flying back, turning to a small figure in the air.
“Dragon Horn Sword. You are really the strongest cultivator in Jiaodong Commandery,” in the quiet imperial palace, Zheng Xiu looked up at the patch of golden light, and said coldly with true admiration.
As her voice sounded, in the highest parts of the world that Jiaodong Commandery cultivators could not sense, a pale star flashed, and a thin wisp of star fire fell down. A faint burst of primal energies of the universe formed, and flowed into the mud of the gully in the street.
There was a flying sword lying silently in the mud of the street gully. This nameless flying sword came from the start of the situation, the unknown swordsman that Zheng Husha killed at the start. This sword that had sunk into the mud was very close to Zheng Husha at the moment.
Just as Zheng Husha displayed the golden dragon horn and sent the old man flying into the air, this small thin sword flew up at unimaginable speed, falling into Zheng Husha’s back and coming through the front of his chest.
Zzt!
A wave of energy came out of Zheng Husha’s chest along with blood. Zheng Husha reacted. The dragon horn fell. With a clink, the thin and light sword was shattered in many pieces, but at the same time, Zheng Husha gave a small bitter smile, and his head hung down.