Chapter 52: Stampede of Ten
Editor: Rainystars
“I dare kill you!”
The voice was composed, peaceful but deadly. The tone had a murderous, vengeful vibe to it that injected light into the dark, hopeless eyes of the defeated Lings.
A spark of hope had been ignited.
The voice simultaneously wiped the smirks off of the faces of the Fangs. Especially Fang Han, the strongest of the Fang pupils, who had always enjoyed the praise and admiration of others. Who dared to talk to him this way?
However, not only did the voice speak to him this way, the person who uttered the words spoke them in such a casual and demeaning tone, it was as if he was placing a dinner order at a restaurant. This had infuriated Fang Han and reignited his third for blood.
“Who’s there? Come into the light!”
Fang Han demanded. It didn’t matter who spoke the words, they would suffer the worst form of retribution.
“Who are you? How dare you speak to me this way! Come into the light!”
“Such arrogance, are you bored of being alive?”
The students of the Fang Clan had descended into chaos. They looked around, frantically searching for the person behind the voice. They couldn’t believe their ears. Someone dared to speak to their most feared warrior this way!
On the contrary, students of the Ling Clan celebrated. Naturally, they could tell it was Ling Xian that spoke those condescending words.
Ling Tian Xiang could no longer contain her excitement, at the same time she was slightly puzzled. She clenched her fist. She knew it was him, she prayed it was him. He would never let her down.
“You were looking for me?”
A voice sounded as if it was far off in the distance, but echoed directly into the ears of everyone present. The crowd’s gaze followed the sound of the voice and saw a handsome youth in a black cloak materialize out of thin air, his face bright as jade, and his hair dancing in the wind.
Behind him, a pair of enormous, magnificent snowy wings flapped gently against the wind, shedding a handful of feathers with each swing. Despite not being from the purest of Qi, the wings exuded a splendid aura that bedazzled every pair of eyes that has ever laid on them.
“You must be Ling Xian, the so-called “genius” in the words of these useless cockroaches,” Fang Han greeted with a dark smile, flashing sparks of evil out of his dilated pupils. He continued, “We finally meet, but you seem nothing special. Perhaps a slightly stronger ant, but an ant nonetheless.”
Ling Xian did not react but continued to gently flap his wings. “I dare not call myself a genius. As for an ant, if you say so. However, if you die by my hand, then you’re more worthless than an ant. Don’t you think?”
“Fine, fine, you are an arrogant ant.” Fang Han glared at the winged youth with a growing sense of hatred. Now spitting fire out of his eyes, Fang Han had dropped his usual classy façade and exposed his true nasty self.
Ling Xian did not bother to respond. Eyeing the injured gang below him, he was relieved and thankful that none of them had been wounded fatally. He assured them with a stern gaze then shifted his gaze back towards Fang Han. “This is not a good spot for a battle, not my cup of tea, but since you’ve chosen it, I’ll respect your wishes. It’s a person’s right to decide where he wishes to die.”
“What?” Fang Han was stunned. The rest of the Fangs were equally as thick, failing to understand his sarcasm.
On the contrary, the students of the Ling Clan had picked up on its meaning and burst into uncontrollable laughter. Before Ling Xian arrived, the Lings had been all but entirely defeated. Confronted with insults, abuse, and certain death, they had lost all hope. However, Ling Xian had arrived. Their will to fight on had been restored.
“A bunch of idiots,” Ling Xian sneered. Extending his mighty wings, Ling Xian shot upwards into the heavens, leaving a trail of beautifully lethal feathers.
“Let me clarify myself. This place will be where you all die.”
The words were uttered in peace but exuded pain. His gentle smile betrayed its cruel intentions. Ling Xian narrowed his eyes, loosened more feathers with his gentle flaps and created a magical cocoon that suspended him gracefully in midair.
“What an arrogant ant.” Fang Han suddenly turned opaque, a cruel and deadly shade. He flexed his fingers and muttered a spell. Just as he was about to unleash it, he changed his mind. He had suddenly thought of a better idea. “You came to save these people. Fine, I’ll murder them in front of you. I want to see how you can save them all at once, and who you would choose to save first.”
“Come now, everyone, kill these useless cockroaches, do not spare anyone!”
“Yes, brother!”
Altogether, the Fangs resumed their march and began closing in once again on their shattered opponents.
Ling Tian Xiang and the rest of the Ling Clan went pale. They had faith in Ling Xian’s skills, but he couldn’t possibly save ten people all at once.
Even Ling Xian couldn’t separate from his body to produce multiple killers.
“Who dares to move?”
Ling Xian’s expression turned to ice. He powered his wings for a lift, then, as a giant rock falling at the speed of light, his foot came crashing down to earth. The Winged Blitz unleashed a blinding flash which lit up the entire battleground.
“Paaaannnnngggg!”
A poor student of the Fang Clan, who had only managed to reach the fifth realm, was knocked over backward and sent choking on his own blood by the sheer force of the stomp even before the foot came within ten feet of him.
“Even though I can’t save the lives of ten people at once, I can…” A harrowing voice hammered down on the stunned crowd.
“I can kill ten people at once.”
Ling Xian was unstoppable. The moment his foot touched the earth, a giant wave of dust, grass, and trees were uprooted and tossed into the distance.
The ancient oak tree split in half under this powerful gust of wind. The advancing Fangs were forced into a frantic retreat.
A stampede of ten!
A power felt throughout the Cosmo.
“Couuugghh…”
As if they had been hit by lightning, the weaker, fifth realm students of the Fang Clan instantly began coughing out blood. Only Fang Han and a couple of cultivators of the sixth realm were spared of significant injury. Even then, the colors had been drained from their faces. They were not immune to the power of the Winged Blitz.
“Brother, he’s too strong!” One of the sixth realm cultivators let out in a terrified plea.
“Shut up! Don’t start discounting ourselves! I can do whatever he can do!” Fang Han shouted. However, there wasn’t a great deal of conviction in the last sentence he muttered.
On the other hand, upon witnessing the power of one against ten, the Lings had collectively let out a victorious roar.
“Ling Xian is the greatest! He can defeat a whole army! Try to stop it!”
“Ha, ha! Great stomp! He is indeed our greatest warrior!”
“I knew it! I knew these clowns were no match for our Ling Xian!”
Hearing the mutterings and cheers from around him, Fang Han clenched his fist in anger. He shouted, “Don’t be afraid of him! Follow my lead! Don’t forget our mission. Think about the punishment if we fail. You don’t honestly believe he can fight and murder all of us!”
Fang Han had shouted some sense into the students of the Fang Clan. Pushing their fears aside, the Fangs charged.
“I’m not one to brag…” Ling Xian appeared directly in front of a Fang pupil. Unmoved by his terrified gaze, Ling Xian punched through his chest, shattered his heart into pieces, and gifted the youth with a swift death.
“I said I’d kill you, and I shall.”
A frightening shadow of black and white disappeared and reappeared through the crowd like a magical butterfly, leaving behind a trail of murderous agony.
“He’s so fast!” A fighter of the Fang Clan felt a shadowy flash materialize in his peripherals. Just as he was turning around, the shadow had vanished, brushing against his neck.
Also brushing against his neck was a sharp blade.
The sharp blade of a bloodstained sword.
The fighter’s pupils dilated. He finally felt his wound. Raising his hand to his neck to stop the bleeding, the fighter fell to the ground and never stood up.
In the blink of an eye, two fighters from the Fang Clan had perished.
But Ling Xian showed no signs of slowing down. The lightning speed of the Winged Blitz launched him into the crowd and maneuvered him around his enemies. The wings, the blade, the flame. Every stop he made, someone bled. Someone died.
The Winged Blitz is the second transformational gift of the Eyes of Execution. There were no places they cannot reach. Legend has it that the speed of these powerful wings could rival that of the prehistoric, legendarily fearsome creature known as the Kun Hawk, and they only remerged every 120,000 years.
Even though Ling Xian was only a cultivator of the sixth realm, the incredible speed of the Winged Blitz had given him powers beyond more skilled cultivators.
An unsurpassable achievement.
Completely defying the laws of the Taoism Community, were the laws of nature and the universe.
The magic flame ignited burned one individual of the Fang Clan beyond recognition. Ling Xian extended his hands and the clouds darkened. Splendid stars twinkled brightly around him. Then, without warning, the stars were unleashed with the volcanic forces of the earth and disintegrated the bodies of four unfortunate souls who were in their way.
“Only three left.”
Ling Xian summoned the Winged Blitz and in an instant appeared in front of the two cultivators of the sixth realm. The Sword of Extinction in hand, Ling Xian was determined to be written in the book of legends.
“Break!”
The two cultivators were more prepared for this sudden appearance than their fallen comrades. As Ling Xian appeared, they proceeded to summon every last drop of power they had to unleash the Fire Dragon, which charged at Ling Xian, aiming at his heart.
“You want to die I see!”
Ling Xian had no fear. The moment the Fire Dragon was unleashed, the Winged Blitz spun around and shed a layer of feathers. The feathers proceeded to form a protective armor around him, sheltering him from harm.
“Hommmmm!”
A deafening roar had deflected the Fire Dragon and vaporized the spell into thin air. Ling Xian remained unscathed.
Shifting his gaze onto his opponents, identical streams of blood appeared around the necks of both fighters. Their eyes opened wide, consumed by fear. The light in their eyes had all but diminished, deprived of life.
“You are the only one left.”
Ling Xian took a step forward, pointing his bloodstained sword a foot away from Fang Han’s throat. His voice echoed in the wind. Fang Han felt blood racing towards his face.
“Tell me, how do you wish to die?”
Chapter 53: Death of Fang Han
Editor: Rainystars
“Tell me, how would you like to die?”
The voice of calmness and tranquility, the words of agony and death. The air suddenly tightened around them.
All gazes fell upon Ling Xian, gazes of admiration, adoration, and amazement.
Everyone knew Ling Xian was a student protégé. Breaking the code of Sang Lang and defeating the top Prefect Ling Chen were achievements enough to land him in the pages of the Ling Family's History. No one doubted him, but no one expected him to be this good.
Killing nine warriors of the enemy clan by himself in the blink of an eye.
There were seven cultivators of the fifth realm, two of the sixth realm, all nine of them working together with the same goal of killing one individual. This was unheard of inside the City of Qing. However, Ling Xian, with a few swings of his sword and a few flaps of his wings, had eliminated this horror with unimaginable ease.
Brave!
Mighty!
This was the feeling shared by everyone who witnessed the events that unfolded, including the arrogant genius himself.
“Dead, all dead… The best and brightest of the Fang Clan, all dead in the blink of an eye…” Fang Han eyed the scattered, mutilated corpses of his comrades, overcame by a grave sense of sadness and fear.
One on one, or even two on one, would be no obstacle to him. But slaughtering nine warriors of the highest caliber training without encountering any resistance was a feat that surpassed his abilities.
His confidence was completely shattered. The devilish speed and the bloodiest word had certainly injected fear into his soul. Though presently, he could feel nothing but anger, anger that would drive him to avenge his clan and murder the culprit who slaughtered them in the worst possible way.
How do I want to die?
Fang Han’s face was as calm as the surface of an undisturbed lake. He was contending to become the next Clan Leader of the Fang Clan. He was a cultivator of the seventh realm. He had grown in the midst of endless praises, respected even by the Elders of the Clan. No one had ever dared to speak to him this way.
Fang Han could also tell that Ling Xian was speaking neither deliberately nor conceitedly. Instead, his tone was one of pure indifference, confident that he would follow through.
This made Fang Han feel utterly disrespected. The youth protégé of the Fang Clan, the strongest of all pupils, who would dare disrespect him in this way?
“You’ve decided your manner of death? Let’s hear it. One shall always honor a man’s dying wish,” Ling Xian said peacefully, the Sword of Extinction flashed in against the dark backdrop. Ling Xian’s glare exuded no contempt or disdain, but for those observing from the sidelines, his calm demeanor had added an unexpected boast of divinity.
Shame!
Great shame!
Never in his life had he ever been so publicly shamed and humiliated.
Fang Han finally lost his composure. A mess of emotion erupted in a volcanic display of fury, he shouted, “I want you dead!”
“But I’m not ready to die yet, so…” Ling Xian extended his wings and instantly appeared inches away from Fang Han. His sword left a bright trail across the air it had pierced. “I suggest that you die.”
A touch ignited the murderous instinct of the bloodstained sword.
“Lightning speed!”
Fang Han’s pupils contracted, his face numb. He had never personally experienced the speed of Ling Xian’s attack. Now, having experienced it with his own eyes, he could not fathom how such skills and techniques could appear on a cultivator of the sixth realm.
However, reality cannot be disputed. At this moment, Fang Han finally understood that his fallen comrades stood no chance against this horrid creature.
It was safe to say that below the Foundational level, no cultivator in the world could surpass Ling Xian's speed.
Confronted with Ling Xian’s lightning attack, Fang Han had no time to react with an evasive technique. His only option was to take the force head on. But he wasn’t overly concerned. He had plenty of fight left in him, the strongest of his generation. He had nothing to fear.
Fang Han sealed his palms together and summoned a giant wave of smoke. From this thick smoke emerged an emerald colored shield. He positioned the shield in front of his body, separating himself temporarily from harm.
The Emerald Shield!
The mightiest weapon of the Fang Clan! The artifact was forged out of the purest Qi of Heaven and Earth, injected with the unworldly skills of its previous owners. It was amongst the top ten most treasured artifacts of the City of Qing.
“Kaaaaaaaa!”
However, before the crowd could fully appreciate the Shield’s awe-inspiring form, the object exploded into a million specks of emerald dust, vanishing into thin air.
“How is this possible? What is this witchcraft?!” Fang Han screamed in astonishment. He was stunned. He couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed. The most sacred artifact of the Fang Clan, destroyed in a flash, reduced to dust by a bloody sword?! What is this sword?
Ling Xian shook his head impatiently, unwilling to waste his time explaining. The Emerald Shield was indeed an incredulous artifact and powerful weapon, but only within the City of Qing itself. Against the Sword of Extinction, a weapon of the Eyes of Execution, the Shield could only be perceived as a child’s toy. To use it against the Sword would be an insult to the Sword.
Fang Han had no one to blame but himself. He lacked knowledge of the world. Having lived a sheltered existence within the walled of the Fang Clan, of the City of Qing, he had mistaken a small speck of stardust for the Milky Way.
What a waste to pull the poor Shield out against the mighty Sword of Extinction.
“Can’t continue like this!” Fang Han pondered urgently. Suddenly, he stepped backward, bit down on his lips and summoned his final card against death.
He let out a long, dreadful scream. Every last drop of his inner Qi burst out of his pores and formed a flash of lightning around his body. The wind howled around him, electrified, the lighting strikes resembled silvery snakes that slithered across the air, ready to attack anything or anyone that came too close.
Simultaneously, a pair of red boxing gloves materialized around his hands. As soon as these gloves locked into position, Fang Han struck down towards the bloodstained blade.
“Hommmmmmm!”
Lightning and thunder collided to create an unspeakable sound of terror. Fang Han’s intent to destroy made the weapon all the more powerful. He finally succeeded in disintegrating the bloody glow around the deadly blade.
“You are a Thunder Root! You can release thunderous powers. No wonder you are this arrogant!” Ling Xian was slightly taken aback by this unexpected showcase of prowess.
The Taoism Community has three different types of Spiritual Roots. There are five Foundational Spiritual Roots, three Transformational Spiritual Roots, and ten Divine Spiritual Roots.
The five Foundational Spiritual Roots included gold, wood, water, fire, earth. These were possessed by the most number of cultivators, normally reserved for the slowest and least gifted of practitioners. The three Transformational Roots included wind, ice, and thunder. These were rare roots possessed by the gifted and most adored of each Clan. Within these, the thunder root was the rarest and strongest, possessed only by the mightiest and favorite of the Clan.
Fang Han possessed the thunder root. This was the reason for his power and arrogance.
“Ha, ha! You look surprised. Did I scare you? I am the best out of everyone I have ever battled. You are nothing compared to me. You insisted on pushing me when you should have stopped. You brought this onto yourself!” Fang Han roared with laughter. Breaking the bloody glow of the Sword gave him a much-needed boost of confidence. He firmly believed that his thunderous powers were enough to kill Ling Xian.
“You are the frog living at the bottom of the well.”
Ling Xian shook his head and summoned his magical aura. Streaks of ashy clouds began swirling around his body to form a newly sharpened Sword of Extinction. His killer instinct became apparent to all that were present, sending shivers down the spines of every spectator.
The Sword was not forged with the purest Qi and thus shrank when collided with another magical weapon. The previous Sword had been used in the slaughter of too many men and beasts and was beginning to lose its sharpness. Now, the Sword had been reborn from the ashes, infinitely more powerful than before.
“How terrifying, what is this?!” Fang Han was suddenly re-consumed by fear. Eyeing this mysterious weapon, he decided that he could no longer wait. Spitting a mouthful of blood into his palms, Fang Han summoned every last drop of his residual powers, getting ready to launch the ultimate attack on Ling Xian.
“Unleash the Dragon!”
A gargantuan dragon materialized behind Fang Han, its body covered in great silvery scales, teeth the size of mountain tops, and paws large enough to swallow the sun. The dragon circled Fang Han, deafening roars of thunder pierced through the air, silencing every living being from here until the edge of the Cosmo.
The Dragon of Thunder had been unleashed. Real horror had begun. The sky turned the deepest shade of black.
Fang Han had acquired this dragon-unleashing spell by accident. It was beyond the powers of his normal capacity. Once he practiced this spell on a cultivator of the eighth realm and ended up killing him with ease.
This was indeed his last card.
“Ha ha, Ling Xian, this is my most powerful card. No one has ever defeated it, and no one will defeat it. Let’s see you try!” Fang Han let out a vulgar laughter. He was certain nothing could defeat him now.
“If this was your most powerful card, then…” Ling Xian showed no fear. Extending his great wings, he ascended towards heaven. Looking down at his opponent, Ling Xian smiled. “Go to hell.”
“Ling Xian! Come to die!”
Fang Han was furious. Unleashing his dragon, the creature let out a terrifying roar before dashing at lighting speed towards Ling Xian.
Ling Xian was suspended high up in the air. Fang Han had his feet steady on the ground. The dragon took off into the air as if emerging from the bottom of a valley.
The Dragon of Thunder has been awakened.
“Come now, come meet my sword!” Ling Xian tightened his grip, the 30-foot long sword suddenly transformed into a giant weapon hundreds of times its original size. Sparkling under the dark clouds, the sword came down in a swift movement to meet the unstoppable momentum of the attacking dragon.
“Shuuuuaaaaa!”
The giant sword came crashing down with the force of an earthquake, surrounded by a faint, bloody glow. It would be hard to believe that something could rival the power of this blow.
“Hommmmmmm!”
The Dragon and Sword collided, unleashing a sea of horror. Blinding lights and deafening rumbles exploded in midair where the collision occurred. From the top of its head to the tip of its tail, the Dragon had been pierced in two. The Sword survived without a single scratch.
“This…this is impossible!”
The death of the Dragon of Thunder sent Fang Han into a state of shock. Moments later, a murderous cry could be heard from miles away. He couldn’t believe this was real. The Dragon had been his strongest attack, his most revered skill. There was no recovering from this.
His confidence, his pride, everything he ever had, gone in the blink of an eye, destroyed by Ling Xian and his mythical weapon.
“I lost…” Fang Han accepted his fate. His pupils now reflected a shade of blood. He raised his head towards the sky, then bellowed, “No! I’m not defeated! Let’s go again, 300 rounds if we must!”
“No, you lost.”
Ling Xian flapped his wings and appeared in front of him. Without a word, the blade of the sword touched his neck in a swift motion. Fang Han opened his eyes wide, raised his hands to touch his wound. But before his hands reached his neck, Fang Han collapsed to the ground. Before he lost consciousness forever, his own voice of arrogance whispered softly into his ear.
“The latent dragon is just a latent dragon.”
Yes, the latent dragon is only a latent dragon. The creature had never traveled the universe, never reached the heavens, how could it ever fight the mighty Sword of Extinction?
Gifts
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received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
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