With his hands behind his back, Yan Lixuan stared at Zhang Ruochen and smiled, “When I saw you, I felt that perhaps my knot could be untied today.”
“Oh!”
Zhang Ruochen said, “I can help you?”
“If I lose in your hands today, perhaps the knot in my heart can be untied.” Yan Lixuan said.
It turned out that he had come to seek defeat!
Zhang Ruochen didn’t know what Yan Lixuan’s knot was and didn’t bother to ask, if he felt he could tell Zhang Ruochen, he would naturally tell him. If he didn’t want to tell, even if Zhang Ruochen went to ask, he wouldn’t say anything.
“Since that’s the case, then I can only defeat you and help you untie your heart.” Zhang Ruochen said.
“Wanting to defeat me is not an easy task. Maybe, the one who loses will be you, and I can only go home disappointed.”
Yan Lixuan walked to the side of the road, plucked a foot-long leaf of the turquoise grass, and pinched it between his two fingers.
“Wow!”
A strand of golden true qi surged out from between his fingers.
The originally soft grass leaf instantly tensed up and became sword-like sharp.
The aura on Yan Lixuan’s body then changed, and his entire body appeared sharp, his hair was like steel needles, and his eyes were like sharp swords.
In the air, a whimpering sound was emitted, as if there was an invisible sword that was flying around his body.
“Shasha!”
Zhang Ruochen slowly raised his arm, and the fallen leaves on the ground flew up and converged into his palm, coalescing into the shape of a sword. There were seventy-two leaves in total, spinning under the control of his true qi.
Yan Lixuan’s eyes narrowed, revealing a hint of a different colour as he said, “Good!”
Before his voice fell, Yan Lixuan rushed out with a swish, as fast as an arrow off the string, his speed reaching seventy-two metres per second.
The blade of grass in his hand was like a fine sword, drawing an arc and stabbing towards Zhang Ruochen’s heart.
The moment before Yan Lixuan struck, Zhang Ruochen swung his sword and chopped out, slashing diagonally towards Yan Lixuan’s neck.
Yan Lixuan’s face changed slightly, and he hastily moved three steps sideways to the right.
“Surprisingly, he came after me, could it be that he is still above me in the realm of sword intent?”
Yan Lixuan no longer hid his strength and shouted, “Blood Qi Condensation!”
Beneath Yan Lixuan’s feet, a huge blood formation with a diameter of nine metres coalesced, the silhouette of a giant tiger appeared behind his back, and a four-foot long blood sword hovered above his head.
Stimulating the power of his bloodline, Yan Lixuan’s strength and speed climbed to a new height.
“Prajna Infinite!”
Yan Lixuan’s aura increased greatly as he executed a Spirit Grade Upper Grade sword technique, the Prajna Sword Technique.
Prajna Immeasurable was the first move of the Prajna Sword Technique.
The blade of grass in Yan Lixuan’s hand emitted golden light, as if it had turned into a golden blazing sun, carrying an unrivalled aura as it pressed towards Zhang Ruochen.
The power of a Spirit Grade Upper Grade Sword Technique was extraordinary, it was simply not comparable to a Spirit Grade Lower Grade Sword Technique.
“We can’t fight him hard, we can only use our dexterity.” Zhang Ruochen’s heart secretly said.
“Heavenly Heart Tidal Wave!”
The Tree Leaf Battle Sword in Zhang Ruochen’s hand suddenly split and transformed into seventy-two leaves.
Each leaf was a small sword.
The sword qi was like waves of water, one layer after another, cancelling out the sword technique executed by Yan Lixuan continuously and eventually dissolving it into nothing.
“Wow!”
After breaking Yan Lixuan’s sword technique, the seventy-two leaves re-condensed into a battle sword that hovered in the palm of Zhang Ruochen’s hand.
“Zhang Ruochen, it took me fourteen years to successfully cultivate the Prajna Sword Technique. At the Xuanji Realm, you are the one person who can block a sword from Lao Fu.” Yan Lixuan laughed out loud, in a very happy mood.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Outsiders say that your strongest eruption speed is seventy-two metres per second, but the speed you erupted just now reached seventy-six metres per second. You’ve hidden your strength?”
“You didn’t hide your strength as well?”
Yan Lixuan laughed and attacked again, “My Infinite Sword Technique has a total of eight moves, if you are able to block all eight of them, I will immediately admit defeat.”
“Second move, Infinite Qiankun!”
Yan Lixuan’s body was like jumping in the air, sometimes east, sometimes west, and his sword moves were unpredictable, making it impossible to judge from which direction he would actually strike his sword?
Zhang Ruochen turned around and swung his sword out.
Zhang Ruochen’s sword did not hit Yan Lixuan.
From above Zhang Ruochen’s head, Yan Lixuan stabbed his sword down, piercing through Zhang Ruochen’s body and splitting Zhang Ruochen’s body in two.
However, Yan Lixuan did not have the slightest joy, instead, his face changed greatly. This was because he had just pierced through only the virtual shadow left behind by Zhang Ruochen, while Zhang Ruochen’s original body was nowhere to be found.
“Infinite Shield!”
Yan Lixuan immediately executed a defensive sword technique, a sword qi that converged into a huge shield shadow, blocking it in front of him.
“Boom!”
Zhang Ruochen swung his Tree Leaf Battle Sword and chopped on top of the shield shadow.
Both of them retreated at the same time.
A moment later, the two collided once again.
“Infinite Breaking Kill!”
“Infinite Light!”
……
Hundreds and thousands of sword qi gathered in the space within a ten feet radius of Yan Lixuan, forming a turbine that caused the aura on Yan Lixuan’s body to climb to the peak.
Yan Lixuan executed his last move and roared, “Infinite Reincarnation!”
Zhang Ruochen was like a light boat in the midst of a huge wave, his body standing straight in the midst of the raging sword aura as he faintly said, “It’s time to end it!”
“Swish!”
Zhang Ruochen erupted with a speed of eighty metres per second, stabbing out with a sword that was like a white rainbow running through the void, breaking all the sword moves that Yan Lixuan had executed.
When Zhang Ruochen’s body came to a stop, he had already spanned more than ten feet away, and the tree leaf battle sword in his hand pierced through Yan Lixuan’s chest.
Among them, thirteen leaves, piercing through the chest, dyed with scarlet blood, were suspended behind Yan Lixuan.
Only, under Zhang Ruochen’s exquisite control, the thirteen leaves avoided the five viscera and six bowels, merely piercing through the skin and flesh, and did not truly seriously injure Yan Lixuan.
As if petrified, Yan Lixuan stood in place, looking at the sword that the leaves had converged into, a bitter smile appeared on his face as he said, ”I’ve lost! I was already defeated when I made my first move!”
Zhang Ruochen withdrew his true qi, and the sword automatically dissipated, turning into a piece of leaf that lightly fell to the ground.
“I just wanted to see the power of a Spirit Grade Upper Grade Sword Technique, it’s just a pity that it’s not as strong as I thought.” Zhang Ruochen said.
Yan Lixuan said, “Back then, I also thought that by obtaining the Infinite Sword Technique, I would be invincible in the same realm. It wasn’t until today that I realised that the Sword Technique I had cultivated for many years was so unbeatable. If I had known this, I shouldn’t have done that one wrong thing in order to obtain this one sword technique. Xinlian, wouldn’t have died in the hands of an enemy, everything was retribution.”
Zhang Ruochen roughly understood that Yan Lixuan’s knot in his heart might be related to the Infinite Sword Technique.
For a Xuanji Realm martial artist to be able to obtain a Spirit Grade Upper Grade Sword Technique would have been an incredible thing.
Right at this moment, Zhang Ruochen sensed the aura between heaven and earth flowing rapidly, all converging towards Yan Lixuan.
“Boom!”
The aura around Yan Lixuan’s body shook violently, and a tidal wave surged into his brow.
A moment later, Yan Lixuan opened his eyes once again with a few moments of relief on his face as he bowed to Zhang Ruochen and said, “Today’s defeat has been very rewarding for old me. If I break through the Heavenly Extremity Realm in the future, I will definitely return today’s favour to you.”
After saying this, Yan Lixuan left with his sleeves fluttering.
Just a moment ago, he had already untied his heart and broken the shackles of many years, breaking through to the Earth Extreme Realm.
“Eldest senior brother, why did Yan Lixuan suddenly leave? Who actually won and lost between you guys?” Liu Chengfeng rushed in from outside and asked with great curiosity.
“It doesn’t matter who won or lost.”
Zhang Ruochen pondered for a moment and asked, “The Inner Palace Academy of the Martial City Palace is in the Heavenly Demon Martial City, right?”
“Eldest Brother, what are you doing in the Inner Palace of the Martial City Academic Palace? Right now, many people want to deal with you, and it is said that some people are spending astronomical amounts of money to hire assassins to take your head, with a bounty as high as 14.7 million silver coins. On the Black Market’s Bounty List, you are ranked thirty-seventh, which is comparable to the prices of some Heavenly Extreme Realm martial artists.” Liu Chengfeng said with some concern.
The Bounty List was a list released by the black market to the public, ranking each martial artist according to their bounty price, with the higher the price, the higher the ranking.
For example, Zhang Ruochen, it wasn’t just Xun Guihai who wanted to kill him, there were other forces, other people, who also wanted to take his life.
Everyone’s bounty added up to the price of Zhang Ruochen’s head.
Only martial artists who had accumulated one million silver coins could enter the Bounty List.
Zhang Ruochen was a bit surprised and said, “How did it suddenly become so high? I remember that in the past, the bounty was only a million silver coins, barely enough to enter the Bounty List.”
Liu Xifeng said, “Because that battle between you and Xun Guihai was so dazzling that some people even suspected that you had reached the Supreme Extreme Realm of the Xuan Extreme Realm. Your talent threatens the interests of many people, and there are naturally many people who want to kill you. They didn’t want you to grow up, yet they had the audacity to blatantly kill you, so naturally, they could only spend money to hire black market assassins to kill you. The bounty keeps stacking up and naturally gets higher and higher.”
Zhang Ruochen gently stroked his chin and said, “If my bounty really reaches 14.7 million silver coins, it will surely lure Heavenly Extreme Realm martial artists here. Even if I live in your father’s mansion, it may not be safe. The only place that’s truly safe is the Inner Palace Academy of the Martial City Academy.”
“Moreover, if I want to cultivate the Royal Wind Flying Dragon Shadow to great success in the shortest time possible, I must also go to the Inner Palace School Mansion of the Martial City School Palace.”
If he stayed at Liu Chuan Shen’s mansion, even if he cultivated for another year, it would be impossible to cultivate the Royal Wind Flying Dragon Shadow to great success. One had to borrow external forces and had to go to the Inner Palace School Mansion because the Inner Palace School Mansion had places that could help Zhang Ruochen cultivate.
Liu Xifeng said, “Then I’ll go and invite Lord Father over so that he can personally escort you to the Inner Palace Academy.”
“No need to be so troublesome, just tell me the directions to the Inner Palace School Mansion and I’ll go there myself!” Zhang Ruochen smiled mysteriously.
“Eldest Brother, don’t joke around. In case you are assassinated by black market assassins on your way to the Inner Palace School Mansion, I can’t afford such a big responsibility.” Liu Xifeng said with some urgency.
“I’m not joking, to evade those assassins is just a breeze for me. During the time I’m away, Fourth Brother, Senior Sister Zi, and Kong Xuan will stay here for the time being, those killers are targeting me, they shouldn’t make things difficult for them.” Zhang Ruochen said seriously.
Other martial artists, naturally, couldn’t enter the inner palace academy of the Martial City Academy without knowing it, but Zhang Ruochen could, because Zhang Ruochen possessed the Space-Time Crystal Stone.
