Duanmu Xingling calmed her exasperated mood and said in a good-natured manner, ”Two months from now, it will be the quarterly assessment. The quarterly assessment is divided into two matches, the first being the freshman competition jointly organised by the four outer courts. The second is the ranking assessment within the Western Academy. Do you have any confidence?”
“What confidence?” Zhang Ruochen said.
Duanmu Xingling said, “You are the number one freshman of the Western Academy, so you naturally have to shoulder the responsibility of fighting for the honour of the Western Academy. If you are able to lead the freshmen of the Western Academy and defeat the other three great academies, you will definitely be able to receive a large amount of merit value rewards.”
Outside the door, came Huang Yichen’s voice, coldly saying, “Your talent is indeed number one amongst the freshmen of the Western Academy, but your practical combat ability may not be number one. Not to mention, the other three great courtyards are full of experts and geniuses, it is by no means an easy task for you to become the number one freshman in the four great courtyards.”
Zhang Ruochen and Duanmu Xingling both revealed surprised looks as they stared at Huang Yichen who walked in from outside.
Duanmu Xingling asked, “Sister Dust, why are you here?”
At this moment, Huang Yichen’s expression was very unhappy as she said, “I went to Yellow Character Number One to look for Zhang Ruochen, and he wasn’t at Yellow Character Number One, so I guessed that he should be here with you. Starling, I really didn’t expect that you actually really like this lecher/thief.”
“No! Sister Dust, listen to my explanation ……,” Duanmu Xingling said.
“No need!” Huang Yichen stared at Zhang Ruochen and took out a small jade bottle, handing it over, saying, “Succubus/thief, this is a drop of Half Sacred True Liquid, I’m going to exchange it with you for a spatial treasure.”
Zhang Ruochen stared at the one compact jade bottle and then at Huang Yicun, frowning slightly, quite dissatisfied with her attitude, he shook his head and said, “I’m sorry! Vice-Master Qing Hua has already promised to help me apply for ten drops of Half-Saint True Liquid, and I don’t need Half-Saint True Liquid right now.”
In fact, Zhang Ruochen was rather guilty towards Huang Yichen and had even thought of giving her a spatial treasure. However, with Huang Yichen’s current attitude, it was impossible for Zhang Ruochen to give her the spatial treasure.
Huang Yichen’s pair of treasured blue pupils dilated slightly, releasing a chill as she said, “Duanmu Xingling can exchange a drop of Half Sacred True Liquid with you for a Spatial Jade Bracelet, but I can’t, so it seems that she’s really close enough to you. Fine! In that case, you make a price.”
Duanmu Xingling was afraid that Huang Yichen would misunderstand and kept making eyes at Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen, however, pretended not to see it and said, “Five million silver coins, not even one less.”
Hearing Zhang Ruochen’s words, Huang Yichen directly pulled out his sword, pointing the tip at Zhang Ruochen’s neck, saying, “Say that again.”
Zhang Ruochen directly ignored the sword in front of him, stared at Huang Yichen’s eyes, and faintly said, “Five million silver coins, not even one less.”
Huang Yichen was originally hot-tempered, and when he heard Zhang Ruochen’s words, his fire surged up, saying, “I finally understand why Duanmu Xingling obstructed me in every way when I wanted to kill you in the first place, so it turns out that the two of you have already colluded long ago! In that case, why should I let you go? Today, I want you to pay for what you did that night. In the future, you’ll be a eunuch!”
Huang Yichen originally only wanted to go to Zhang Ruochen and exchange for a spatial treasure, and even had the intention of repairing his relationship with Zhang Ruochen.
However, when she realised that Zhang Ruochen was actually living with her best sister, an inexplicable anger arose in her heart, a feeling of being cheated.
“Swish!”
Huang Yichen’s five fingers turned, and the battle sword slashed down diagonally, pulling out a sword flower and chopping between Zhang Ruochen’s legs.
Zhang Ruochen only felt a coldness in the lower half of his body, and with a startled heart, he immediately retreated backwards, narrowly dodging Huang Yichen’s sword just now.
Huang Yichen did not relent and once again condensed his sword Qi and stabbed over.
“Boom!”
Duanmu Xingling followed suit with her sword, and with a backhanded swing, broke the sword move stabbed out by Huang Yichen, saying, “Sister Dust, calm down a bit first and listen to us explain ……”
Seeing Duanmu Xingling strike, the anger in Huang Yichen’s heart became even more intense, his sword moves chopping out as if it were a blistering wind, forming a huge vortex of sword qi.
“Duanmu Xingling,咋们一直没有真正的决出过胜负，今天，我们就来比试一下，到底谁更强？”
The long hair on Huang Yichen’s head flew, his robes fluttered, his body was graceful, and between the swings of his battle sword, he swept Duanmu Xingling into the vortex of sword qi.
“Boom!”
The two powerful sword qi collided together, shattering a huge hole in the top of the house, and the glazed tiles continued to roll down.
The two of them rushed out from the hole, flying through the walls, their sword Qi like a rainbow, trampling the tiles with a clattering sound.
The sounds of the battle gradually faded away, Zhang Ruochen looked at the wreckage inside the house, his heart was very speechless, “Senior Sister Huang is really a destructive maniac, as long as there’s a place for her, she always manages to demolish the houses, it seems like we need to change to a new place to live before we can do so again!”
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen sensed a strong murderous aura, and all the hairs on his body stood up in an instant.
Almost as if by instinct, Zhang Ruochen lunged forward and rolled on the ground.
“Swish!”
A long, green, poison-hardened arrow passed through the wall and flew narrowly past Zhang Ruochen’s neck, grazing the skin with a bloodstain.
A split second later, the skin centred around the blood scar immediately turned purple-black.
Zhang Ruochen immediately took out an Antidote Pill from inside the Time Crystal Stone and took it into his mouth.
That murderous aura still did not disappear, like a poisonous snake hiding in the dark, ready to shoot out a second poisonous arrow, a third poisonous arrow.
Zhang Ruochen had cultivated the Jade Pure True Qi, which originally had a purifying effect on many toxins. However, the toxin on the green arrow was so powerful that even after taking the Antidote Pill and operating the Jade Pure True Qi, it could only suppress the spread of the poison.
“Have the assassins from the Hellmouth Sect finally arrived?”
Zhang Ruochen slumped on the ground, not daring to move, and quietly released his Spatial Domain.
Under the detection of the Spatial Domain, Zhang Ruochen discovered the scent of two killers. One of the killers was hiding inside this attic, only seven metres away from Zhang Ruochen.
The other assassin was farther away, hiding amongst the leaves of a giant Iron Pine tree forty metres away, and if Zhang Ruochen didn’t possess the Spatial Domain, it would have been impossible to spot her.
It should have been her who shot the poisoned arrow.
One far away, one near, two killers.
Zhang Ruochen was able to sense their martial arts cultivation, both of them were at the Xuanji Realm Grand Circle, their true qi was very thick, and either one of them possessed the ability to kill Zhang Ruochen with a single shot.
“How could it be such a coincidence that the assassins came to my door just after I finished my cultivation in the Divine Force Hall? Could it be that amongst the twelve genius students who entered the Divine Force Hall to train, there are other killers from the Hellmouth Sect besides Zixi?”
Zhang Ruochen’s thoughts spun rapidly, feeling very critical and feeling rather out of place.
“I hid in the Xuan Character No. 1 in order to borrow Senior Sister Duanmu’s power to help me deal with these killers. Yellow Soot suddenly appeared and lured Senior Sister Duanmu away, and then, the killers appeared. How could there be such a coincidence? Could it be that Yellow Smoke Dust is also an assassin from the Hellmouth Sect?”
Zhang Ruochen held his breath, using the power of the Spatial Domain to mask his body’s aura as he plotted in his mind.
His biggest advantage right now was that he could discover the location of the two assassins, while those two assassins were unable to discover his location.
Since this was the case, then he would use his fastest speed to take care of the one killer who was close before dealing with the one who was far away.
However, both killers were at the Xuanji Realm Grand Circle cultivation level, too powerful than Zhang Ruochen, trying to kill one of them was exceptionally difficult, so how could he kill both of them?
Right at this moment, Zhang Ruochen sensed Xiao Hei in the Spatial Domain.
Xiao Hei went and stole two more books, clipped them under his cat’s paws, and walked on his two hind legs, holding his head high as he walked through the gate, oblivious to the fact that there were two powerful assassins hiding in Xuan Zi No. 1.
Zhang Ruochen conjured the Qiankun Divine Wood Diagram out of the Qi Lake, cupped it in his hand, and injected his True Qi into the Qiankun Divine Wood Diagram, borrowing it to send a message to Little Black.
“What is Zhang Ruochen up to? Is he trying to seal me back into the Qian Kun Divine Wood Diagram again?” Little Black felt the sealing force coming from the Qian Kun Divine Wood Diagram, like it was trying to pull it into the diagram.
Just then, Zhang Ruochen’s voice was transmitted to Little Black’s ears through the power of the Qian Kun Divine Wood Diagram.
After hearing Zhang Ruochen’s transmission, Little Black’s two cat ears stood up, widening his pair of round eyes as he looked towards the two directions that Zhang Ruochen had mentioned.
“Worthy of being an assassin, the means of concealment is indeed formidable, without careful probing, it would be impossible to discover their traces. Today, this Emperor will come and have a good time with you!”
Xiao Hei heatedly smiled and drilled into the grass with a whoosh.
With Little Black’s help, Zhang Ruochen’s confidence increased greatly.
“Thunder and Lightning Go!”
Zhang Ruochen’s martial soul, which was both a Temporal Martial Soul, also carried the attribute of lightning.
Under the urging of his true qi, he mobilised the aura within a fifty-metre radius and condensed it into a wisp of electricity.
The tiny strands of electric light converged and twisted around each other, becoming thicker and thicker.
“Snap!”
A thunderbolt, slicing through the void, struck the body of that one assassin who was hiding seven metres away from Zhang Ruochen.
“Pfft!”
That one assassin, caught off guard, was struck by the lightning and his entire body smouldered and suffered a heavy blow, coughing out a mouthful of blood.
……
There will be another chapter at noon!
