After Zhi saisd “Ahh!” everyone looked at him in confusion. Zhi pointed his finger at the group and said, “You are arrogant people that think that just because their backwater sect has some fame and strength, you do as well.” Hearing this sentence everyone nearly coughed blood. This slap in their face was something they had never experienced.
They started thinking whether Zhi had hit himself on the head a bit too much. To so blatantly to say something like that in their face, they seriously thought that Zhi was tired of living. The leader like youth had had enough, he dashed towards Zhi with a pointed sword as he said, “You seem to be tired of living.”
Zhi just looked at the incoming sword and inwardly shook his head. Even if it was supposed to be a simple dash, there were too many openings from where Zhi could hit him. Zhi just smiled as he watched the sword close in closer and just as it was about to hit him, it went through him. Everyone who had a sneer on their faces until now, their faces turned serious. They did not know the reason of Zhi’s arrogance but now they clearly saw that he wasn’t a simple pushover either.
Everyone spread out as Zhi reappeared behind the leader like youth. Zhi stood with his back ot him and just said, “You have too many openings.” When the youth heard those words, his face fell as he hurriedly swept his sword backwards.
He hit thin air again as Zhi had disappeared again. As his eyes scanned the surroundings, he suddenly felt his sword fall from heavy weight. When he looked over it, he saw Zhi just smiling at him. Before he could even as much as say a word, his world was sent spinning. When he stabilized himself again and looked at Zhi, he had a tinge of fear in his eyes.
In his Sect, he was well known for his speed but he couldn’t as much as see Zhi move, not to mention react to him. As he thought back to all of Zhi’s moves, he felt his scalp grow cold when he realized that if Zhi had had any intent to kill him, it would have been as easy as killing a chicken.
Seeing their leader down on the ground like that, the rest of the group also brandished their weapons. However, just as they were about to act, the leader like youth stopped them. Everyone looked at him in confusion but seeing this Zhi smiled. The youth looked at Zhi and asked, “Who are you?”
Zhi looked surprised but then just nonchalantly said, “I am Fang Zhi.” He had lost any interest in the fight the moment he saw that the youth in front of him had such shabby foundations. It was obvious that he had grown up with getting everything offered to him on a silver platter. Had it been someone who was actually skilled, Zhi would have been happy to continue the fight to better his control over his weapon.
The youth however was too weak, Zhi didn’t even need to use his Naginata to take him on, he could just take him on bare handed. After saying his name, Zhi turned towards the youth they had been chasing and started walking in their direction. It was then that the leader of the youths saw the emblem on Zhi’s back and then he truly felt his insides turn cold as he pieced together the few bits of information he had.
He was the Direct Disciple of one of the Core Elder in the Sect, so of course he knew about Dragon Cross. His Master had even said that if he managed to piss off someone important from Dragon Cross, the Sect would be the first to beat him to a pulp and offer him up on a silver platter. He had also seen a picture of Zhi but that was from when he slaughtered the Human Sects that tried to cause trouble for Dragon Cross. Zhi hadn’t changed his appearance since he didn’t care if people recognized him or not but he didn’t look like he did before.
The leader like youth had not recognized Zhi in the beginning but now he understood very well who he was dealing with. Now he truly felt lucky that he didn’t try attack him together with everyone else. If he had and then Zhi would truly felt like killing them, it would have been far too easy. One of the youths, who looked a little plump, approached him and asked, “Are we just going to let him get away with this?”
The leader like youth looked at the plump boy with a blank face as he said, “Do you want to die? That guy is most likely the Island Master of Dragon Cross. If you attack him, not just us but our entire Sect might be destroyed.” Hearing the Zhi was the Island Master, everyone’s face changed to horror. They quickly thanked their lucky stars for listening to their leader. If they had ignored him and then just attacked him without a care in the world, the end result might have been very disastrous.
Now they could only just sit there and wait for when Zhi allowed them to leave or Zhi left himself. They had forgotten all about the Herb and frankly, they did not give a damn about it in the first place. Zhi walked over to Hedi and asked, “What’s the situation?” Hedi had already finished looking over the youth and patched up his injuries. Hedi just looked towards Zhi and said, “He had some injuries but nothing fatal or permanent. After about a week or so of rest and recuperation, he should be fine to cultivate again.”
Zhi just nodded his head and turned his face towards the bloody youth. The youth had a brown short hair and his physique and looks were normal. His face was a bit handsome but his various scars hid the handsome in him. The youth looked towards Zhi with a grateful look and said, “I thank Senior for helping me.” Zhi just smiled and pointed towards the Herb and asked, “What ya need that for? You held it in more regard than your life.”
The youth tenderly held the Herb as he said, “My Sect promised that they wouldn’t annul my engagement if I brought them a Thousand Year o’Old Sky Ginseng. This Ginseng is it.” Zhi opened his eyes wide as he asked, “Oho? Why does your Sect want to annul your engagement?”
The youth answered with a bitter smile, “I was born to a weak Clan, in our Clan’s history I am the first person to reach the Empyrean Realm. However, my talent is still bad as there isn’t much hope in me passing the Second Tribulation. However, Heidi, my fiancee, is a rare talent of our Sect. She has already reached the Empyrean Emperor Realm while I am still an Early Stage Empyrean Immortal. The two of us promised to marry when we were very little and when we came of age, we officially got engaged. However, after the disparity in our talent became so obvious, the Sect wanted to annul our engagement with a shitty reason like, “Carps don’t mix with Dragons”.”
The youth took a breath as he let go of the anger that had built up and looked at the Sky Ginseng like his last hope as he said, “But now I don’t have to worry about it.” Zhi just patted on the young man’s shoulder.
He liked people that went against all odds like this. He knew that he was weak but he still didn’t give up and tried to advance and stay true to himself. The silence was broken by the leader of the group of youths. He walked next to them and asked respectfully, “Your Fiancee wouldn’t happen to be “The Fire Witch Heidi” of the Five Elements Sect, would it?” The leader like youth had a very grave face on as he asked that.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Usually, when Zhi saw this face, it meant that there were bad news. The bloody youth looked at him in anger as he said irritatedly, “Yes, she is. Go on laugh at me that, that I am a toad that wants to eat swan meat and so on.”
Hearing this, before Zhi could open his mouth, the leader of the youths said, “I did not mean to mock you but rather, you had been at the Mountain for too long, so you still don’t seem to know about it.” The bloodied youth just snorted, “Know what?” The leader of the youths didn’t dare to put on any airs in front of Zhi and actually, he also felt bad for the bloodied youth as he said, “The Five Elements Sect said that you had died inside the Mountain of Death. They have also engaged The Fire Witch to the Young Master of the Long Clan.”
Hearing this, Zhi’s eyes narrowed but the bloodied youth rose up as he exclaimed, “How? That should be impossible, I am still alive, am I not?” Just as the youth wanted to open his mouth to say something, a cold voice said, “You are for now but not for long.”
Hearing this, Hedi’s eyes narrowed as he looked towards the distance and said, “You pathetic snake, you think you can kill this young man while I am here?” Just as Hedi said that, Hedi threw out 7 silver needles towards the direction. As the needles flew threw the air, they were blocked by a sword. Then seven shadows flew out from woods. They all wore azure robes with a golden dragon embroidery. Seeing these clothes, Zhi smiled sinisterly while the Long Ancestor’s eyes narrowed. No one knew what was going through his head at that moment but it was obvious that it was not going to end well.
Of the seven people present, one of them was an early stage Sovereign while the rest were all Empyrean Emperors. Seeing this line up made the legs of the Empyrean level youths go limp. They were all staring at them in horror while Zhi stood up. The old man who was in the Sovereign Realm said seriously, “I do not know which Sect or Clan Senior belongs to but this is our Clans matter. I advise you to stand aside.” Hearing this, Hedi just looekd at Zhi and when she saw the sinister smile, she just sighed as she said, “Sorry, I am not interested little snaky snake. My Master has some bad blood with your Clan so this young man is under my protection.”
As she smiled towards the old man, his face fell. Hedi didn’t give him and the Long Clan any face, she even went as far as calling him a “little snaky snake”. Hedi was not from the Long Clan, she had been a wandering cultivator before she joined Dragon Cross. She had not been there for long but her skills had earned her a lot of respect in the Healing Hall and since she wasn’t discriminated against she liked the place a lot.
Usually, a person who has reached a high realm would have a hard time joining a Sect because they would doubt her loyalty. They would also dig into her past and that may cause a lot of people to look at her in dismay. However, Zhi didn’t pry into their pasts and treated everyone equal, no matter what background they had. She understood very well that if before, Zhi had saved the young man on a whim, now it was personal for him.
All of the Sovereign and up Realm people knew of Zhi’s past and the bad blood with the current Patriarch of the Long Clan. Since Zhi was probably going to insult the heck out of all of them, she wouldn’t bother being courteous either. She sent Zhi a mental message, “Master, what do you need me to do?” She didn’t know how strong Zhi was exactly, so if he had said to kill all of them, she would.
Zhi sent a message back, “Tie down Sovereign one, I will take care of the rest.” As Zhi said so he started moving forward, Hedi just nodded as she acknowledged the order. When the old men saw Zhi coming towards them, one of them snorted, “A brat that is only an Empyrean Immortal dares to put on any airs in front of us. Do you know which-”
Zhi just laughed as he said, “I know, you are from the bastard Long Clan. How does it feel to be in a Clan that has a bastard as a Young Master and an idiot as a Patriarch?” These words enraged all of the people from the Long Clan.
Just as the Sovereign wanted to step forward, he suddenly fell into a cold world. The pitch black world lacked everything and after spending ten years inside, he felt as though he was finally going to break. It was at that moment that he came back to his senses. Only a moment had passed in the real world but he felt as though he had spent ten years in that cold black world.
Just as he came out of his daze, he heard a female voice in his head, “Master wants to fight the Empyrean Emperors himself. If you stay put nice and easy, there won’t be much harm to you.” As he heard that, he looked towards the smiling old granny. His face paled as he muttered, “Void Demon Hedi...” When he remembered the name that was soaked in blood, he felt a cold chill run down his spine.
He did not dare to move an inch and in his fear, he forgot to warn the others as well. One of the Empyrean Emperors just brandished his sword as he said, “You insolent whelp of a child, you dare.” As he dashed forward, his body was covered in azure Qi. Zhi just looked at the charging old man and gave a chuckle as he swept out his Naginata. Seeing that Zhi was going to take the attack head on, the old man just sneered. However, when the Naginata and sword hit, the old man’s face changed as he felt a Dragon Roar in his head. This kind of a Soul Attack was something that only those of the Dragon Bloodline could execute.
After the roar, the sword in the old man’s had flew aside as Zhi charged toward him and kneed him in the stomach. It seemed like a simple knee hit but it actually followed one of the Naignata methods. The hit gathered Qi on Zhi’s knee like a cone and the Qi was used to pierce, not just slam. So when the Qi pierced through the old man’s protective Qi layer, he felt the knee connect. It was like a mountain that had slammed into the old man’s stomach as he flew back like a kite on a broken string.
After the old man had gone through several trees, he didn’t raise up as he stopped. Seeing this, everyone looked at Zhi as though he was a monster. For an Empyrean Immortal to send an Empyrean Emperor flying like that with a single knee was something that was unheard of. The 5 remaining old men looked at Zhi seriously.
If before they had looked down upon him, currently none of them could take it easy. The man who was sent flying wasn’t the strongest but he wasn’t the weakest of the group either. Even if he had completely underestimated Zhi, something like this should never have happened. Zhi looked at the 5 old men with a sinister smiled as he said, “Well, seems like you are only so-so. I guess that you guys are just some low ranking bottom feeders with not much future.”
Hearing this, made the old men’s faces fall even more. Zhi wasn’t wrong as they had no hopes of advancing any more so they were just given a position as an Elder but no one expected anything from them nor did they turn much attention to them. One of the old men asked him in a grim tone, “Who are you brat?” Zhi just smiled as he said, “My name is Fang Zhi.” The old men all tried to remember if they had ever heard of a youth with this name but after hearing Zhi’s next sentence, they fell into despair. Zhi continued, “I used to be called Long Zhifang. Nice to meet you old farts who like to stick their noses where it doesn’t belong.”
Few might know the name Fang Zhi but there was no one in the Deity Planes who had not heard of Long Zhifang. The Sovereign Realm Elder’s face just went pale as his mind reeled. After he pieced Hedi’s words together with Zhi’s, fear took over him.
He had always been one of the most loyal supporters of the Concubine and he had also played a role in the act, which threw Zhi into the Ancient Battlefield. He felt cold sweat run down his back as he thought to himself, “He shouldn’t know right? If he did, I would not be alive any more.” As he reassured himself that Zhi did not know, he felt as though his luck was extremely bad.
To run into the one person he actually fears facing because of his rallying power could not be described as anything else but bad luck. He looked at Zhi and as he sized him up seriously, he felt regret. If he had known that Zhi would become such a monster, he would have stood by his side not the Concubines. However, there was no medicine for regret and he could just grit his teeth and carry on.