Chapter 308 - 120: Chaos (2)

Chapter 308: Chapter 120: Chaos (2)

...

Nearly ten full breaths passed.

Where they stood, the hemispherical shield had vanished completely, leaving behind only Zhen Yi, his hair disheveled, his face pale and wretched, and Zhen Daoji, with blood staining the corner of his mouth and his jade coronet askew.

Though wounded, they had clearly managed to save their own lives. But the price was steep: the Decree, crafted by a Demi-Immortal above First Grade from his own lifeblood and rare materials, was shattered; Zhen Yi’s Lifebound Magical Artifact, the Black Tortoise Shield, had cracked; and every Jade Talisman and protective Treasure they had accumulated over half a lifetime was now gone!

"Fang Rui, I have something to say," Zhen Daoji said, wiping the blood from his mouth and straightening his robes.

"How did it come to this? Little friend Fang Rui, I... "

Zhen Yi sighed deeply, but halfway through his sentence, his expression changed drastically. He shoved Zhen Daoji, forcing him back.

But as for him, the one Fang Rui had locked onto...

BOOM!

His body exploded into dust amidst a violent eruption of Gang Essence.

—Without the support of the Decree, having dropped below the First Grade threshold, a mere Upper Grade Spirit Master equivalent to a Second Grade Martial Artist was truly no match for a First Grade Peak expert like Fang Rui. It only took a single move!

WHOOSH!

Fang Rui caught the Yin Attribute Dragon Pearl as it spun in mid-air. "Now, we can talk."

It wasn’t that he couldn’t have kept his enemy alive a little longer to answer some of his questions; it was just that he absolutely required the situation to be under his complete control.

Just like now. The Zhen Family’s Decree was destroyed, he held both Dragon Pearls, Zhen Yi—the Upper Grade Spirit Master equivalent to a Martial Arts Second Grade expert—was dead, and only the weakest of them, the Third Grade Zhen Daoji, remained.

At that moment, Zhen Daoji straightened the jade coronet on his head, his expression serene. Even with his Second Uncle Zhen Yi dead, his face showed no grief or anger, only the tranquility of someone who has accepted everything. He faced Fang Rui with composure.

His lips parted as if to speak, but in the end, he said nothing.

Fang Rui turned to Zhen Daoji and asked, seemingly out of nowhere, "What were your thoughts on those ten thousand boys and girls?"

To be honest, he could understand Soul Searching Liu Pan’Er and the little maidservant in the estate. After all, they were enemies; no treatment was too excessive.

But using those ten thousand boys and girls as materials, without even batting an eye...

In Fang Rui’s memory, Zhen Daoji was proud and disdained bullying the weak. Or perhaps, in this moment, he just wanted to confirm his own suspicions and see if his past judgment had been wrong.

"Ten thousand boys and girls?!"

Zhen Daoji froze for a moment upon hearing this.

He had expected Fang Rui to ask how he had been tracked, about the secrets of the Yin Yang Dragon Pearl, about what lay beyond Martial Arts First Grade, about Liu Pan’Er, about the little maidservant... He never imagined the question would be about the ten thousand boys and girls.

"So that’s how it is."

Seeing Zhen Daoji’s reaction, Fang Rui understood. His guess had been correct.

Whether as a friend in the past or an enemy now, Zhen Daoji had always acknowledged Fang Rui, viewing him as a person, an equal.

But as for the common people, Zhen Daoji did not see them as his own kind. His attitude was one of lofty superiority. He didn’t bully the weak simply because he couldn’t be bothered.

However, if there was a great benefit at stake, he wouldn’t hesitate to act.

—Even so, Zhen Daoji’s moral integrity was already considered exceptionally high among the scions of the Noble Families.

’This is a dog-eat-dog era, a world where you compete to see who’s the least rotten!’ Fang Rui sighed internally.

Zhen Daoji understood then, too. He gave Fang Rui a long, deep look. "Fang Rui, you’re different. You don’t belong in this world. I’d really love to see how far you can go, but sadly, I won’t get the chance."

"After you kill me and my Second Uncle, the ancestor of my family will surely come for you. Because of the karmic link of murder, even with your special Destiny Chart, you might still be exposed."

"This isn’t a threat."

He shook his head. "The best place to hide is in a crowd. I suggest you leave Wuzhou and go to the Great Yu Capital City. That’s where the real action is, a convergence of titans, and it will greatly interfere with any Divination Skill. Also, inside my Spirit Ring, you’ll find my own conjectures about what lies truly beyond Martial Arts First Grade..."

As he spoke, Zhen Daoji took off his Spirit Ring and tossed it aside.

Then, CLICK! 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

He drew his saber, angled it, and with True Qi surging around him, flashed toward Fang Rui.

The next moment, the two of them crossed paths.

BOOM!

Zhen Daoji’s body exploded. Only his voice remained, echoing in the air: "Fang Rui, go see the true peak of the Martial Arts in my stead!"

"It’s over."

Fang Rui sheathed his saber, realizing that after killing Zhen Daoji, he didn’t feel the satisfaction he’d expected. Instead, there was a faint sense of melancholy.

He silently looked at Zhen Daoji’s remains, his guard still up. He cautiously opened the Spirit Ring and took out its contents: books, clothes, Treasure Materials...

Then, he used a Memory Jade Talisman to extract and copy the text within.

—The ’Memory Jade Talisman’ was a rare type of Support Jade Talisman that only an Upper Grade Spirit Master could refine. This one, of course, had been a gift from the Qing Yan Little Child. Ge Changgeng’s line of Ancient Spirit Cultivators had once been prosperous, but generations of suppression by the Court had depleted their offensive and defensive Jade Talismans. A few Support Jade Talismans, however, still remained.

Afterward, SWISH!

A flash of Sword Qi destroyed Zhen Daoji’s Spirit Ring and everything in it, along with Zhen Yi’s remains.

An eye-shaped mark flickered faintly in the air before powerlessly dissipating, having lost its anchor.

"Huh?! Was Zhen Daoji scheming against me even in death? Was everything he said just a pretense to confuse me?"

"Not necessarily."

Fang Rui shook his head as he recalled everything that had just happened. "Perhaps some of it was sincere, but the scheming was real, too. If I wasn’t this cautious, how could I ever hope to reach the peak of the Martial Arts?"

"Was it the truth, and also a test? Ai, the human heart is so complex. Who can ever say for sure?"

With a sigh, he released his hold on the two Dragon Pearls.