Chapter 297: Great Fight

Seeing how Jian Chen hadn’t been hit and was instead getting closer and closer despite the crossbolts, the men resupplying the ballistas immediately grew startled.

“Crap, this is an Earth Saint Master, let’s get out of here!” One of the men cried out at the others. Abandoning the three ballistas, they all scampered away in separate directions so that Jian Chen wouldn’t be able to get them all at once,, thus increasing their chances of surviving.

Only an Earth Saint Master would be able to make their way through an endless barrage of crossbow bolts.

With a cold sneer on his face, Jian Chen concentrated his Sword Qi to extend out from two of his fingers. The Sword Qi shot out from his fingers and flew at one of the men like a streak of lightning, before striking him straight through the throat and leaving a cavity behind.

Jian Chen shot another four bursts of Sword Qi out at the men who were all running away from him. Slowly, their bodies fell to the ground, allowing Jian Chen to inspect their Space Belts.

Afterwards, Jian Chen happily collected thirty tokens from the five of them with a satisfied expression on his face. For five Great Saint Masters to be able to collect thirty tokens was an incredibly difficult task at this point. Seeing how they were able to kill countless people within this hidden area with the ballistas, the chances of anyone with the power of a Great Saint Master and below surviving was a low one percent.

By the second day, Jian Chen had finally made it through the grasslands, only to come across the footprints of a large group of people. Looking at their tracks, Jian Chen could estimate that there were about a hundred people–truly not a small group.

Jian Chen began to follow their tracks only to come across a precipitous mountain range. The mountain was barren with no traces of grass. The highest peak of the mountain was like a sword that speared into the blue sky, and seemed extremely perilous to climb.

Observing the tracks once more, Jian Chen began to climb up the mountain range. The moment he started to climb, Jian Chen could hear the faint sounds of battle from farther away.

Surveying the area, Jian Chen could only see several shelters within the mountain side, but he couldn’t see where exactly the fight was taking place. The sound was reverberating all over the area, making it too difficult to pinpoint the origin.

Still taking in what was around him, Jian Chen’s eyes finally landed on a fifty meter tall mountain peak. With a sudden leap forward, Jian Chen began to travel there.

At the top of the peak, Jian Chen could suddenly see a large group of people fighting five kilometers away. At the front of one group was a single, azure robed man weaving through the group of enemies so fast that they weren’t able to even touch his clothes. With each strike from him, his enemies fell to the ground dead.

Jian Chen’s eyes flashed several times as he watched the man fight. The man seemed to be a wind attributed Earth Saint Master who was killing hundreds of Great Saint Masters with ease.

The battle continued for some time, until less than twenty Great Saint Masters remained. Those survivors knew they were no match for him and lost their wills to fight. Throwing down their Space Belts, they instantly fled in every direction.

Instead of chasing them, the Earth Saint Masters began to collect all of the tokens within the Space Belts.

Abruptly, Jian Chen leaped down from the fifty meter peak towards the man.

Suddenly detecting the presence of Jian Chen as he approached, the man could tell right away that this new person was an expert of a high level. With that feeling, the man began to collect the tokens at an even faster rate.

Rapidly descending down the peak, Jian Chen flew toward the middle aged man. Within a few moments, he had transversed the five kilometers, and he rapidly stabbed at the middle aged man with his sword.

Unable to clean up the rest of the Space Belts, the man brought out his long sword and enhanced it with his wind Saint Force before slashing at Jian Chen.

The two Saint Weapons made contact with each other, causing a strong shockwave to emerge from the collision. This shockwave was so strong that a spiderweb of cracks began to appear beneath their feet.

With that one strike, Jian Chen’s foot struck out at the middle aged man. Jian Chen’s Light Wind Sword shone with a hazy glow as he slashed at the man three times.

The gleam in the man’s eyes intensified as he shouted, “What an exquisite sword technique!” With his own sword that began to glow, he blocked Jian Chen’s sword. With the wind Saint Force, the man’s speed was no slower than Jian Chen’s.

The rapid movements of the two fighters and their swords began to crack the nearby rocks and even the ground, as a strong gale began to kick up.

The sword in Jian Chen’s hand traveled faster and faster as his swordplay began to grow stranger and stranger. This rapid change of movements caused even the wind attributed Earth Saint Master to feel a great strain as he blocked the sword that slowly forced him to a greater disadvantage.

With each strike, the man’s face grew more serious. He hadn’t thought that he would meet such a young and strong individual today. Despite Jian Chen’s age, he could already pressure a Fifth Cycle Earth Saint Master to a devastating degree.

Suddenly, Jian Chen’s sword blurred, immediately transforming into several mirror images that were so numerous they covered the sky and entrapped the man within.

With a grave expression, the man flew backwards as the sword in his hand began to glow with a cyan light. He pointed his sword up at the sky and cried out, “Wind Burst!”

The cyan light on the sword scattered into thousands of pieces before melting away into the air. Suddenly, the area around them erupted as stones began to float into the air before forming a giant tornado with Jian Chen at the center.

As if suddenly weighed down by a great restriction, Jian Chen felt the tornado pull at his body from every direction as it tried to blow him into the air.

However, Jian Chen firmly planted himself to the ground and did not budge from his spot. Although he was suffering from the suction of the tornado, Jian Chen forced himself to stay down on the ground. If either of his legs were to give way, then his entire body would be sent flying into the sky.

The man’s sword dazzled in the light. With the sword still held straight upwards, he cried out once more, “Squall Dance!”

With that command, the squall flew faster, almost as if each blade of wind was a sword that cut into Jian Chen’s body. His clothes were already being slashed apart, and the tiniest of cuts could be seen on his body already. Blood began to flow out from his body and into the air.

Jian Chen’s face grew solemn as he saw the wounds appear. This man’s strength was beyond what he’d expected–this man could be said to be the strongest Earth Saint Master he had seen so far.

“Ah!” Suddenly, Jian Chen roared at the sky with a grand voice that could be heard by anyone within a ten mile distance. His Saint Force burst out of his body. With an extreme amount of effort from his legs, he flew out of the tornado so fast the ground beneath him fractured. He pointed the gleaming Light Wind Sword in his hand at the man.

There was a frightened look on the man’s face. He hadn’t expected Jian Chen to run out of the tornado, but with some difficulty, he held his sword perpendicular to Jian Chen’s sword.

“Clang!”

The two Saint Weapons smashed together and caused another ripple of energy to fly out, causing Jian Chen to retreat back a few steps.

A bright azure and violet glow appeared around his Light Wind Sword. With a flourish, a violet and azure colored Sword Qi flew from the sword like lightning towards the middle aged man.

The man clenched his sword close to him. In the short moment the Sword Qi and his sword met, a hole could be seen in the middle of the sword.

The man shook as a guttural groan rose from his throat and his face began to whiten.

“How… how is this possible?!” The man cried out as he looked at the hole in his sword with wide eyes full of disbelief.

Jian Chen didn’t stop to answer him. Brandishing his sword, the azure and violet Sword Qi flew at the man once more.

His opponent looked at the azure and violet Sword Qi with a startled look. He knew by now that he couldn’t block it and could only dodge the attack.

Sliding forward, Jian Chen thrust his Light Wind Sword towards the man. This man was not only strong, but he also had two battle skills, making him quite difficult to handle. If it weren’t for the azure and violet Sword Qi, Jian Chen would have been incapable of killing him.

With his sharp eyes, the man looked at Jian Chen’s sword where he saw the faint glow of the azure and violet Sword Qi, instantly drawing the connection between that and the Sword Qi that had struck his Saint Weapon. The man knew that he was no match now. Without delay, the man immediately turned to flee and instantly disappeared from view.

Seeing the man leave, Jian Chen let out a breath of air. The man was a wind attributed Earth Saint Master, so if he wanted to leave, Jian Chen wouldn’t be able to capture him.

Jian Chen began to feel some regret in his heart. He had originally thought that he would be able to get a nice profit since this man was extremely strong and vigilant. The moment his opponent saw the Sword Qi, he immediately fled from Jian Chen, who could only look on in dismay.

Jian Chen looked at the rest of the corpses with some hesitation before shifting his gaze towards the remaining Space Belts. In total, there were about thirty tokens; if the man hadn’t taken the rest of the tokens, then Jian Chen’s profits would likely have been much higher.

Afterwards, Jian Chen continued on towards the mountains in search of prey.

“Bang!” Suddenly, a loud sound could be heard from far away as a giant fireball appeared out of nowhere and flew at Jian Chen.