Chapter 342: One Scabbard, Three Swords (Part One)
Translator: 3heryl Editor: Hitesh_
"Mr. Zhu, we will not be able to beat him. But, it will be impossible for us to let go so many of the weapons. Let's get some before escaping!"
Ghost Bear had to admit that Ye Chen was indeed way more powerful than them both. If one had to list Ye Chen in the top ten Astral Reaching Realm warriors, he would be at least in the top three. So, he was thinking about leaving.
"Alright!"
Old Zhu was a top Astral Reaching Realm warrior after all. Although Ye Chen was extremely powerful, even if he wanted to kill them both, it would not be that easy, since he and Ghost Bear had only been lightly wounded.
The two trained different types of zhen yuan. However, right now, they were able to combine the two. The new pile of zhen yuan attacked right towards Ye Chen.
''Up!''
The zhen yuan turned into a huge hand, as the two grabbed a large chunk of dry mud in their hand. It was about twenty percent of the total each, and combined together would make it almost forty percent of the whole mud pile.
Ye Chen was very observant. He spotted that there was a mid-rank weapon in that chunk of mud they were holding, and yelled, "Drop it!"
The sword light hit the hand, as a half of the mud fell from the sky.
''Damn! Let's go!''
Finding their awards being cut by half, the Ghost Bear and Old Zhu were both quite furious. But, what could they do, since Ye Chen was so powerful, and had also learned the fast-slow perspective of martial arts? It would not be quite realistic for them to join up and fight against Ye Chen. And, if they decided to continue fighting, then the situation would not be that advantageous for them.
Shoo! Shoo!
Shadows flashed through as the two escaped.
''They were both weaker than me. Be it one on one or one on two, I would not be afraid at all. But, it would be hard if I wanted to kill them both. The top Astral Reaching Realm warriors are not that easy to kill. Even if I performed the eighth movement of the Green Lotus Sword Art, I would not be able to cause much damage, and would only be able to wound them badly. But, it would not be worth it to reveal my ace attacks.'' Ye Chen did not decide to chase after them. He thought it would be more important for him now to check the remaining eighty percent weapons.
After wrapping the pile of mud with zhen yuan, Ye Chen used his power gently. With a shattering sound, the mud was scattered everywhere, making all kinds of weapons fall on the ground and pile up.
'I will put away the low-rank weapons. I have no need for them now.'
What Ye Chen wanted right now were mid-rank weapons. Low-rank weapons was just like the low rank soul stones for him, a part of his wealth, and nothing more.
Putting away the low-rank weapons, only mid-rank weapons were left remaining; there were seven of them in total.
''Eh? A mid-rank great sword?''
He had noticed that there was a black scabbard-less heavy sword amongst the seven mid-rank weapons.
The next second, he was shocked at what he witnessed. The black heavy was shattered by the touched of his zhen yuan, with a bright light bursting out from within.
''It has been too long now for the mid-rank weapons. They are all corroded.''
Ye Chen felt a bit sad for such good weapons to go to waste.
Besides the black heavy sword, there were four other mid-rank weapons that were too rusted to be of any use. Keeping them aside, only two mid-rank weapons were usable. Without surprises, there would be more rusted ones among those low-rank weapons, since the low rank weapons had even worse endurance compared to the mid-rank weapons.
The two useable mid-rank weapons were Golden Fist Gloves and Even Brow Iron Bar.
'The Golden Fist Gloves would suit Xu Jing,' thought Ye Chen. He decided to save it for her, so that when she reached the Astral Reaching Realm, she would not have to go out and search for one.
After arranging all the new items, he let out a long breath. There were just not enough sword artists on this land. Similarly, mid-rank great swords were also not enough. Within the top six rank 5 martial schools, great weapon manufacturers seemed to only be in the Fire Spirit Palace. However, masters there still did not have a mid-rank sword each. Even the inner masters might not all have one. Therefore, it would not be hard to imagine how rare it was to retain a mid-rank great weapon. Most of the time, only a small number of people of the whole land would be able to get some.
''With one mid-rank great weapon, I will stand a greater chance when facing the top Astral Reaching Realm warriors. So, it has to be the top priority for me right now.''
With those thoughts flashing through his head, he flew deeper into the underworld.
...
''Damn, they are all sh*t! There is only one good low-rank weapon!'' Within those paths in the underworld, Ghost Bear was not happy with what he had found.
Old Zhu was also having a hard time. This time, he had not only failed to get any mid-rank weapons, even the low-rank ones he got were all ruined and worthless.
''Ghost Bear, I will have to admit that we had made a mistake. I have no idea where that brat came from.'' Old Zhu said in a low voice.
Ghost Bear put away the only useable low-rank weapon away and said with anger, ''No matter who he is, he has pissed me off. I will surely kill him brutally one day.''
"Kill him? By you?" Old Zhu said sarcastically.
Ghost Bear's eyes widened, ''What? You don't think I can?''
''Huh, no, it is not about whether I think you can do it or not. In fact, if either of us goes back there for revenge, it would end up with us dying. Don't forget that he is only twenty years old. If I have guessed it right, he should be Ye Chen, who had made a great reputation for himself two years ago. Amongst all of the competitors, only Ye Chen would be at about the same age as that guy. Sikong Sheng, we already know him well, and he would be a bit older too. Besides him, there would not be many warriors this young with this great an achievement already.''
"Ye Chen, the one who already had the power to fight against Early Astral Reaching Realm warriors at only the Late Clasping Yuan Realm, Ye Chen?" Ghost Bear was a bit surprised. There were a lot of Astral Reaching Realm warriors in the Hidden Dragon Ancient City that day. However, compared to all the Astral Reaching Realm warriors combined, less than one-tenth of them were there. Therefore, it was not strange for people to not know him by face. Most of the people had only heard about his reputation. Right then, after Old Zhu explained, Ghost Bear also felt that it must have been Ye Chen, it had to be.
"Thinking about it, he was only at Mid Astral Reaching Realm but already had the power to beat us. If he continues to get stronger, what kind of a future will we have to face? By then, even Extreme Astral Reaching Realm warriors would not be able to do anything to him."
Ghost Bear tried his best to control his anger, "Elder, what do you think we should do then? We can't just let it go, can we now? I, Ghost Bear, am not that kind of a p*ssy."
"Don't worry! There is no point in worrying about it now anyway. The time we get our own mid-rank weapons, we can then talk about how to take him down."
All Ghost Bear needed was a mid-rank defensive gear, while Old Zhu had not a single mid-rank weapon. However, he had reached the peak level Late Astral Reaching Realm way longer than Ghost Bear, and had richer zhen yuan. His achievement in poetic perspective was also a bit higher than Ghost Bear's. Therefore, their general power was almost the same.
"Hmm, are you two good sirs just coming out of an escape?" A sword light flashed from the tunnels above them as a human figure flew down.
"Blood Sword Artist!"
Old Zhu's pupils shrunk.
Even among the top Astral Reaching Realm warriors, there were high and lows. For example, Ye Chen was a relatively more powerful Astral Reaching Realm warrior, and this Blood Sword Artist in front of them was also one of them.
Blood Sword Artist glanced at the two, a bit surprised at how they were already covered in blood and their clothes were all ripped apart. It was obvious that they had just been through a big battle. But, by the looks of it, the battle was not between the two of them. Otherwise, there was literally no point for them to stand there and chat like that. What had wounded them? The two seemed to be only a little bit weaker than him.
"Blood Sword Artist, you have both a mid-rank defensive armament and attacking weapon. I don't see why you have to come here." Ghost Bear looked at the Blood Sword Artist with caution.
The Blood Sword Artist chuckled, "I have nothing else to do. So, I have decided to come here to kill some people for fun. You two should be more careful. If I find you alone, I might kill you. Killing top Astral Reaching Realm warriors must be very interesting."
"Huh, although you are stronger than both of us, but killing us would be impossible. Plus, there is still the Blood Demon himself here in this area, and I don't think I need to tell you about his power."
It would be quite hard for top Astral Reaching Realm warriors to kill others. It was just a fact. Therefore, all of the top Astral Reaching Realm warriors had this pride that they were untouchable.
"Recently, my sword art has improved. I have been lacking partners to train with, so I will find him soon or later. So now, if you will excuse me, I shall take a leave."
The bloody shadow flashed before disappearing completely in front of the two.
"We should go too."
The two did not mention that they should part ways, since they both knew that it was better for them now to stick together, with Ye Chen, Blood Sword Artist, and Blood Demon out there at the same time.
…
There were countless tunnels in this underworld, hundreds of times more complicated than ant hills. Every second, there would be some powerful warriors creating their own new tunnels, making the underworld even more unpredictable.
Boom!
A loud explosion sound was heard.
There seemed to be fighting down there. 'Again mid-rank weapons! So powerful! What kind of mid-rank weapons would it be?' Ye Chen was rather surprised. He took out his sword out of its scabbard and activated his protective layer, before rushing down towards the origin of the sounds.
Two thousand meters deep into the ground, there were five or six people fighting.
"B*stard, this sword had been discovered by us first. Piss off now!"
"Who do you think you are? The treasure shall be retained by whoever it suits. You are not worthy!"
"You are looking for death! Kill them!"
"Who is scared of you?! Let's take them out!"
They were all Late Astral Reaching Realm. One party had only two of them, but one of them was a top Astral Reaching Realm warrior who took on three of their opponents while still managing to have the upper hand.
Swoosh!
The tunnels above them cracked open all of a sudden, as a blue shadow fell down.
It was indeed Ye Chen. His focus went through the battling people and landed on a bloody red rock. There was the sword's handle showing on the surface of the rock. The mid-rank weapon's vibration was indeed coming from within.
Judging from the vibration, it should be three times more powerful than normal mid-rank weapons. Actually, rumors said that if it were a top rank weapon, there would be some kind of weird things happening at the same time. Although this sword had such a powerful vibration, but everything seemed rather normal, so it should be just a super powerful mid-rank weapon then.
Ye Chen was intrigued.
Crack!
The tunnels nearby had been shattered. A man in a black robe and a ghost face mask walked out from within, followed by men in blood-colored robes and a top rank blood demon.
"It is you!" The man in black robe had noticed Ye Chen immediately as he shouted with great anger.
Ye Chen looked just the same, "Ghost Corpse Man, it has been a while. But this time, no one will be able to save you."
"How dare you to say such thing in front of me, Blood Demon?" Blood Demon Man had guessed who he was. He looked quite disgusted as he touched the storage ring on his right hand with his left hand, as if Ye Chen was already his prey.
"So, you are the Blood Demon. I have been waiting to meet you. Plus, I have to thank you for your Minor Blood Demon Body Separating Great Art. It has helped me a lot so far."