Chapter 1015: Ranking
“It will be a joy to kill a young peerless genius like you!” Sun Yan licked his lips, a hint of madness in his eyes. “Brat, blame your own bitter fate!”
A brand-new, perfection-stage martial artist, and one so young, was about to be defeated, even killed by him. How was his fate not bitter?
“You speak too much nonsense!”
Fang Yuan glanced at the surroundings before he suddenly advanced and lightly sent out a palm attack.
Once the palm reached midair, it suddenly changed into two, then into four, then into eight… Hands eclipsed the sky, each carrying incredible cold force, causing the surroundings to turn into a world of ice and snow in an instant.
“The Floating Flower Flying Catkin Palm of the Noble Mountain Sect? It has such incredible power?”
Sun Yan was shocked and kept falling back. “Poison Fire Demon Art!”
Whoosh!
His hands turned red, and heat waves emanated continuously from them. The insides of his palms were pitch-black, clearly extremely poisonous.
The two figures turned illusory and exchanged hundreds of blows in an instant.
The vice sect master observing in the dark grew more and more astonished as the fight went on. “Fang Xu of the Noble Mountain Sect? He’s just broken through to perfection and hasn’t had time to consolidate, yet he’s an even match with Sun Yan? Incredible… No! Taking his age into account, he must be one of the top three most talented martial artists in the last thousand years. Truly amazing. Even the young Demon Emperor wasn’t at this level!
“Such a talented young man of the righteous path must be eradicated early!”
Swoosh!
Fang Yuan reached out to his belt. A silver light jumped out and flew around like a dragon before sinking into the ground like a meteor.
Drizzle Sword!
This was Fang Xu’s hidden weapon, forged from hundred-times-refined soft steel and normally wrapped around his waist. Suddenly unleashing it at this time, it was truly unexpected, like a poison dragon out of water. Even Sun Yan retreated swiftly.
He was somewhat baffled when the Sword Qi vanished into the ground.
But the next moment, a volley of blood burst out!
“Boy… you dare injure me!” a creepy voice resounded, seemingly distancing itself a few kilometers away in an instant.
“He… even found the vice sect master. Even I didn’t know where he was!”
Sun Yan was incredibly shocked.
The vice sect master, the Blood-Snake Sword Master, was the renowned top assassin in the world.
Although he was at the bottom of the Martial Roll, when it came to stealth, even Sun Yan could not have detected him if he had not sent a voice transmission! How did Fang Xu find him?
“As expected, there was a rat…”
Fang Yuan gently blew the blood on his sword off, and the sword blade shone. “I was just playing with you earlier. How could I defeat you in peace before finding that guy?”
In fact, even he had not discovered where the Blood-Snake Sword Master was at the start.
However, with his incredible amount of experience, he had keenly sensed danger.
Therefore, he pretended to fight with Sun Yan while secretly checking the surroundings. Eventually, he found the Blood-Snake Sword Master and severely injured him with a surprise attack.
“However… that rat’s vitality is rather strong! He managed to escape, but he’s suffered internal injuries from my Cold Frost Sword Qi and won’t be able to return to the battlefield for a while!”
Fang Yuan looked at the Poison Fire Demon Lord. “So, how do you want to die?”
“Attack!” Sun Yan’s expression changed, and he retreated in a flash. “Archers, fire!”
Immediately, all of the Demon Sect disciples rushed over.
Fang Yuan was not the least bit afraid. The soft sword turned into silver light and protected him. No hidden weapon, arrow, or any other attacks were able to reach within even one meter of him. It was like an absolute territory.
“Sun Yan, are you going to run?” Fang Yuan quickly caught up to Sun Yan. “Unfortunately… you’re not as skilled as the Blood-Snake Sword Master and won’t be able to escape!”
“Damn… you really think that I can’t deal with you?” Veins popped up on Sun Yan’s forehead, and he waved his hands. “Poison Flame, Incinerate All!”
Rumble!
A layer of red True Primordial Qi appeared, its surface burning with poison fire, and covered everything.
“World of Snow!”
Fang Yuan split the True Primordial Qi in two with his sword, and a thin line of blood appeared on Sun Yan’s forehead.
“Second level of intent, physical integration?” The amazing vitality of a perfection-stage martial artist allowed him to keep talking. “You can already be among the top twenty on the Martial Roll. I didn’t lose unjustly!”
There were three levels to intent. Ordinary perfection-stages experts were at the first level, micro integration. After mastering physical integration, they could more or less rank in the top twenty of the Martial Roll.
In some generations, the weaker ones in the top ten were at this level as well.
As for the third level, psychological integration, one could break through the Connate realm and compete for first place on the Martial Roll!
“… Cough cough… I’m so bitter. I almost succeeded. Ah, my Poison Fire Demon Art…” Sun Yan groaned, breathed his last, and slowly collapsed.
“Grand Guardian… the grand guardian is dead!”
After seeing what happened, the Demon Sect disciples immediately dispersed.
“This grand guardian should have something good on him, right?”
Fang Yuan grabbed Sun Yan, searched him, and found a bundle of banknotes, as well as various sundries like tinder, a Demon Sect jade pendant, etc. He could not help shaking his head.
“Eh?” After sensing with his intent, he grabbed Sun Yan’s robe again. “Something’s strange!”
Whoosh!
After tearing the robe open, a piece of golden silk flew out. “Hmm, something hidden so carefully in the robes must be valuable. Perhaps it’s his cultivation technique?”
Fang Yuan did not give it much thought and put the golden silk in his clothes.
“Xu’er, I didn’t expect you to have reached such a level already!”
Fang Tianhan walked over, his face full of surprise. He had watched Fang Yuan break through to the perfection stage before his very eyes, but Fang Yuan was unexpectedly so powerful that he defeated and killed Sun Yan.
“It’s nothing. Let’s return!”
Fang Yuan shook his head, not thinking that he had done anything remarkable.
…
A month later, the Noble Mountain Sect.
“The latest issue of the Martial Roll is out!” Zhang Long handed a report to Fang Yuan respectfully. “Young Master, you’re now ranked thirteenth!”
“Oh?” Fang Yuan took the report.
“Martial Roll thirteenth: The Noble Mountain Sect’s Young Sect Master Fang Xu. Defeated and killed Poison Fire Demon Lord Sun Yan while simultaneously forcing the Demon Sect’s Blood-Snake Sword Master to retreat. Skilled in palm and sword techniques. His Cold Intent is even stronger than his father’s. Alias ‘Drizzle Sword’!”
“It’s just a small matter. I have already told you, don’t bother me unless something earthshaking happens!”
Fang Yuan sent Zhang Long away and took out the piece of golden silk. “I wanted to obtain the Poison Fire Demon Lord’s cultivation technique, but unfortunately, it’s this secret technique, Primordial Devouring Secret Art. Haha… what use do I have for swallowing so much heterogeneous inner force?”
He had hoped to obtain Sun Yan’s secret manual, not for cultivating but for learning the intent within.
In this peculiar world, the more intents he learned, the higher the chance he had of comprehending its nomological rules and finding its flaws.
Other than that, everything else was merely an illusion.
“Although I can try comprehending them by myself, it’d definitely be much slower than studying secret manuals… Too bad the secret manuals that come with Martial Dao True Intents are all sect treasures of the top sects and extremely difficult to obtain!”
Fang Yuan sighed. Suddenly, his eyes became absent-minded.
In his sea of consciousness, a hexagonal snowflake fell. Its points extended and suddenly turned real.
…
Great River Alliance.
“What? That Fang Xu is at Connate perfection, and he even killed Sun Yan?”
Ling Xian’er’s mouth opened into a circle, her face full of disbelief.
“What’s the matter? Daughter, are you regretting now?”
Xuan Tianzi looked at this situation with great interest.
“No… his character is bad. No matter how skilled he is, he is nothing but trouble!” Ling Xian’er gazed into the distance.
Below, Wang Tianming was training hard.
This person was gifted as well. After being taken in by Xuan Tianzi, he had broken through to the Connate realm in a matter of days and had unlimited potential.
However, compared to Fang Xu, he paled in comparison.
“What should we do? Big Brother Tianming arranged to fight that bad guy in three years.” Ling Xian’er’s eyes were full of anxiety. “Daddy, hurry up and think of something…”
“I-I can’t even defeat Sun Yan, so what could I possibly come up with…” Xuan Tianzi stroked his beard, and his expression turned somewhat mysterious. “However, this reckless disciple of mine has a chance. Although his previous martial arts were rather basic, they had strong fundamentals and secrets hidden within. It’s obvious that an expert had taught him… I’ve investigated many sources and confirmed that the traveling Daoist that taught him is the Drunken Daoist!”
“The Drunken Daoist, the one with the motto, carefree journey without looking back, everything is in meat and wine?”
Ling Xian’er’s eyes brightened. “This senior is ranked fourth on the Martial Roll. Moreover, unlike the top three, he’s the only one who’s an itinerant martial artist. If he had had a better background, he could have possibly competed with the Heavenly Sword Sect Master, the Demon Emperor, and the Divine Monk.”
The Drunken Daoist was the idol of all itinerant martial artists.
“That’s right!” Xuan Tianzi obviously understood more than Ling Xian’er. “It’s a pity that Tianming’s luck wasn’t quite enough and didn’t establish a master-disciple relationship with the Drunken Daoist. Otherwise, with his backing, what could a mere Noble Mountain Sect do?”
Although all of them were Martial Roll experts, the God-tier top ten were on a totally different level compared to those below them.
“But… Daddy, you’ve already taken him as an in-name disciple…”
Ling Xian’er’s eyes gleamed, then she suddenly clapped her hands while smiling. “It seems like there isn’t any rule that says you can’t have more than one master!”
“My daughter, you’re helping an outsider at my expense…”
Xuan Tianzi wanted to continue joking, but his expression suddenly changed. He looked at the ceiling. “Since you’ve come here, don’t hide. Show yourself!”
Almost as soon as he finished speaking, a giant hole opened in the ceiling. A man in black clothes slowly floated down like a catkin.
“Xuan Tianzi? Hand over the ‘Xuan Tian Secret Manual’, and I’ll spare you!”
The voice was strange, sounding old yet young. Ling Xian’er felt her chest tighten, wanting to vomit blood upon merely hearing it.
“You want the Great River Alliance’s treasured manual?” Xuan Tianzi was shocked and furious. “Dream on! Eighteen Cloud Pushing Hand!”
As he shouted angrily, his hands extended, churning winds and stirring clouds, elegant and unrestrained.
At the same time, a gentle force enveloped Ling Xian’er and retreated from the battlefield.
“Too bad… it’s useless!”
The black-clothed man simply raised his right hand, clenched it into a fist, and punched downward.
Rumble!
The loft exploded, and Xuan Tianzi’s expression turned pale. “God…”