Chapter 239: Dragon-imprisoned Lightning Palm
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Zhang Ruochen threw the dead body of the Young Lord of Poisonous Spider out of the Storage Ring, dropping it on the ground.
The Young Lord of Poisonous Spider’s body was wrapped in the Icing cold. Obviously, Hua Minggong wanted to bring him back to his hometown and bury his body there. It was a pity that his dead body carried no value to Zhang Ruochen and thus he did not want to keep it in the Storage Ring.
By killing Young Lord of Poisonous Spider and Hua Minggong, Zhang Ruochen would surely receive a large number of merit points.
With the extensive intelligence system of the Martial Market Bank, they could easily find out that they were killed by Zhang Ruochen. Therefore, Zhang Ruochen did not need to bring their bodies back to prove it.
“Judging by the greedy and selfish nature of the Evil Warriors in the black market, I’m sure both Young Lord of Poisonous Spider and Hua Minggong didn’t tell anyone about my power of manipulating the space. Now that they are dead, I don’t need to worry about whether or not the news would be leaked out.” Zhang Ruochen felt much more relieved as he did not want anyone to find out that space and time were his best-kept secret.
As if sensing something ahead, Zhang Ruochen suddenly turned his head and looked up at the sky. He saw a red dot flying toward him.
Rumbling sounds rang out in the sky above.
As the sound became louder and louder, the air seemed to vibrate as well.
The sound drew the attention of the Lin’an County Town’s citizens. They all rushed out of their houses and looked up at the sky.
A massive red battleship over 70-feet could be seen flying from the north. It was made of pure iron and steel, making it truly looked like the ship of gods.
There were nine arrays floating at the bottom of the battleship. The arrays kept rotating within themselves, forming chains of inscriptions.
“Red Spider Vessel!”
“Just as I thought. Hua Minggong was really trying to buy some time while waiting for help. Luckily, I’ve killed him one step ahead. Otherwise, they would have me surrounded with no way out.” Zhang Ruochen said with a gloomy expression on his face.
It was too late to leave now!
He knew that today’s fierce battle was inevitable.
If they were to fight in the Lin’an County, this small county would be razed to the ground under the power of the Red Spider Vessel, resulting in countless casualties.
Without any hesitation, Zhang Ruochen unleashed the Shadow of the Royal Wind Dragon. In a flash, he had already rushed out of the county and sped toward the ice river in the distance.
The people on the battleship had already sensed the presence of Zhang Ruochen from earlier. At the same moment that he left the Lin’an County Town, the Red Spider Vessel had also shifted direction to chase after Zhang Ruochen.
The Red Spider Vessel that had reached the speed of sound soon caught up with him.
Zhang Ruochen stopped running and stood next to the ice river, adjusting himself to an optimal state. He seemed exceptionally calm while the Genuine Qi in his body began to blend in with the Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth.
The Red Spider Vessel almost looked like a huge monster floating above Zhang Ruochen’s head in the void space. It was so massive that it shielded one-third of the sky, casting a huge shadow on the ground.
On the deck of the Red Spider Vessel stood a Purple-gowned Elder who was chubby and had long grey eyebrows, who appeared to be full of vigor. Smiling faintly, he looked at Zhang Ruochen who stood underneath and said, “You are quite fast, kid. Are you an internal student of the School of the Martial Market?”
Mu Qing had witnessed how Zhang Ruochen unleashed the Shadow of the Royal Wind Dragon earlier from afar. He burst out with incredible speed, moving at 200 meters per second.
A youngster who could reach such a high level of speed was surely the best of the best.
Zhang Ruochen replied, “Why should I tell you?”
The Purple-gowned Elder laughed coldly and said, “My name is Mu Qing, the principal of the Poisonous Spider Club in the southern border of the Square Commandery. I’ve received the signal from Hua Minggong seeking help and immediately rushed over. Where is Hua Minggong now?”
Zhang Ruochen answered, “Guess he’s on the way to the netherworld.”
“You killed him?” Eyes wide, the Purple-gowned Elder stared down at Zhang Ruochen intensely as if his pupils were about to emit lightning.
Zhang Ruochen said, “You’re too late.”
Mu Qing was not as furious as Zhang Ruochen imagined him to be. Instead, he smiled and said, “Hua Minggong is too useless. How could he die at the hands of a youngster? He has ruined the great reputation that he had preserved through his entire life. But if he died, he died. Then, I could be the chief director of the Yunwu Commandery.”
In fact, Mu Qing’s martial cultivation had reached the Heaven Realm, but he could only be one of the eight principals of the Square Commandery. Not only did he need to obey the chief chairman of the Poisonous Spider Club, but he also had to take orders from the chief director of the Square Commandery. It was no wonder he felt resentful about not being promoted.
Since Hua Minggong was dead now, Mu Qing would replace him and become the chief director of the Yunwu Commandery as a matter of course.
Although the Yunwu Commandery was just an inferior commandery, it was always better than being subordinated to others.
However, Mu Qing had to take revenge for Hua Minggong’s death so as to prove that he was more powerful than Hua Minggong. That way, he would be highly regarded by the Club.
Mu Qing shifted his gaze to Zhang Ruochen again. He could not believe how a youngster like him could kill Hua Minggong, who had reached the cultivation of the Heaven Realm. He thought to himself, perhaps Hua Minggong was already seriously injured, giving this youngster here the advantage over him.
“Kid, I can’t believe you dare to kill the chief director of the Poisonous Spider Club. Do you know what kind of price you will pay?” Mu Qing said coldly.
Zhang Ruochen asked, “What kind of price?”
“Not only you’ll have to die, your family, too, will be perished. All the women in your family will be arrested. They’ll become the goods of the Poisonous Spider Club and sell into slavery.” Mu Qing replied.
Zhang Ruochen chuckled, “Is this how the Poisonous Spider Club threaten people?”
“Threaten you? Haha! I guess I need to teach you a lesson so that you’ll know how we work.”
Mu Qing leaped into the air and jumped off from the Red Spider Vessel as if a massive black bird descending from the sky. Then, he slammed his palm down toward Zhang Ruochen.
“Sky-shaking Palm!”
His palm was completely wrapped in the lightning.
“BOOM!”
The palm strike caused rumbling sounds as loud as thunder to echo out and rang through dozens of miles.
Although it was just a palm print, it exuded an explosively strong vigor.
Zhang Ruochen did not expect that Mu Qing would jump off from the Red Spider Vessel and initiate the attack.
Obviously, Mu Qing did not think that a youngster like him should be taken seriously. He was full of confidence. Even if he did not borrow the power of the Red Spider Vessel, he believed he could still kill Zhang Ruochen.
In his opinion, it would be shameful to kill a youngster with the help of the Red Spider Vessel.
That would be killing chickens with choppers.
One had to admit that Mu Qing was indeed very powerful. Although he was still in the Initial Stage of the Heaven Realm, he was even stronger than Hua Minggong who had performed the Forbidden Art.
“Dragon in the Sky!”
Zhang Ruochen leaped into the air and exploded upward with incredible speed. The Spiritual Fire Genuine Qi surged out from his body and wrapped around his palm. Then, he struck toward Mu Qing.
“BOOM!”
The lightning palm and the firing palm clashed together.
Zhang Ruochen fell to the ground hard and trod out a half-meter-deep pit. There were still some faint lightning discharges flowing on his arms, and half of his sleeves were completely burnt to black.
He shook his arms gently, and the burnt part of the sleeves instantly crumbled into powder. His sleeves were now torn and sooty.
Zhang Ruochen narrowly lost the first round of the fight.
It was understandable why he had lost the fight. The fact that his opponent had a cultivation of the Heaven Realm, and he was in his heyday made it clear that the seriously injured Hua Minggong could never match up to his strength.
Moreover, Zhang Ruochen could only take down Hua Minggong by surprise with the help of “Space Crack”.
Although Hua Minggong had used the Forbidden Art and was powerful at that time, he was exhausted as well as too thrilled to think straight. Therefore, he could not clearly detect the subtle changes of the space.
Hence it was easy for Zhang Ruochen to kill him.
However, Mu Qing was now in his heyday and his Spiritual Power was very sensitive. It would not be as easy as before if Zhang Ruochen still wanted to use the “Space Crack” to plot against him.
Since there were no guarantees of success, Zhang Ruochen did not want to use the power of space. Otherwise, not only could he not kill Mu Qing, but he would also reveal his secrets.
After landing, Mu Qing stared at Zhang Ruochen in surprise, “You’re able to catch my ‘Sky-shaking Palm’, no wonder you can kill Hua Minggong. With your strength, I guess you’re one of the top 10 internal students of the School of the Martial Market?”
“If you want to fight, fight! Stop talking nonsense!”
Zhang Ruochen initiated an attack on Mu Qing. With the powerful surge of the Genuine Qi, the 40 Inscription of Power Series carved on the Abyss Ancient Sword had been activated. The sword instantly became much heavier, reaching a weight of four thousand kilograms.
He unleashed the “Sacred Guiding Sword” and slashed toward Mu Qing.
“SWISH!”
At the same time, Mu Qing exploded forward at a speed of 300 meters per second. His body shifted a little to the side and easily dodged the attack. After he evaded Zhang Ruochen’s full force sword strike, he flicked a finger toward Zhang Ruochen’s left temple from the left side.
His speed was way faster than Zhang Ruochen, almost reaching the speed of sound.
“Perfect timing!”
As if he could predict Mu Qing’s move, Zhang Ruochen raised his sword horizontally and slashed toward Mu Qing’s waist.
If Mu Qing kept going forward, he could, of course, pierce through Zhang Ruochen’s temple and kill him with just a flick of his finger. But he would also be slashed apart by the Abyss Ancient Sword.
He surely did not want to perish together with Zhang Ruochen, therefore, he immediately stepped back and changed his movements again.
Following that, Zhang Ruochen had also changed his movement by unleashing the Sacred Sword Skill, the Perfection of Martial Arts. It successfully forced Mu Qing to retreat every time.
Both of them had changed more than 10 moves in a short period of time and yet none of the moves had actually reached each other. Every time Mu Qing made a move, Zhang Ruochen had blocked it in advance.
“Kid, I can’t believe you have practiced your sword technique to the Perfection of Martial Arts. But no matter what, I’ll destroy you!”
Retreating to 10-feet away, Mu Qing brought his hands together while strands of lightning pooled at his palms. They transformed into a human head-sized thunderbolt.
“Dragon-imprisoned Lightning Palm.”
Once a warrior of the Poisonous Spider Club reached the Heaven Realm, he could choose to practice a mid-class martial technique of the Spiritual Stage, and Mu Qing had chosen the “Dragon-imprisoned Lightning Palm”.
Similarly, for an ordinary Evil Warriors, he could only receive the mid-class martial technique of the Spiritual Stage when he reached the Heaven Realm. As for those who contributed greatly to the black market, they would then receive the second type of mid-class martial technique of the Spiritual Stage.
Even the Royal Family of the Yunwu Commandery had only possessed one type of mid-class martial technique of the Spiritual Stage as their best technique. It showed how precious the technique was.
In the School of the Martial Market, if one wanted to learn the martial technique above the Spiritual Stage, they would have to spend a large number of merit points in exchange for the technique. Moreover, they could only practice it on their own without teaching anybody else.
Not every warrior had studied through countless exercises of the superior level and martial technique like Zhang Ruochen did.
Other warriors were incomparable to what Zhang Ruochen had done.
Mu Qing had originally obtained the Sacred Mark with a thunder nature that the Genuine Qi he practiced also carried such nature. This was exactly why he was stronger than Hua Minggong in the same realm.
The Genuine Qi of Hua Minggong did not carry any nature of power.
“Awoo!”
Mu Qing unleashed a palm strike. As if there was a dragon howling ferociously, the thunderbolt broke out a loud roar and transformed into a wisp of dragon shadow lightning.
“Nine-folds of the Elephant Power.”
Zhang Ruochen launched six palm strikes in a row. The power of six palm strikes was pooled together to form a single palm print and thus six times the attack power burst out from it.
…