Chapter 308: Yun Zheng’s Shock

Time flew by, Jian Chen and the group of people camped in the cave for seven days. In that time, Jian Chen, Senior An, and Yun Zheng continued to talk among each other in a good natured manner. The yellowed clothed girl rarely spoke, even now, Jian Chen still didn’t know her name.

Qin Xiao’s injuries continued to slowly heal, and while the cut mark on his waist wasn’t completely healed, a small scab was already forming. With the help of some medicine, another ten days would be needed before he could walk. Even Qin Jue’s injuries had healed sufficiently enough for him to fight. With his valiant strength, it would take another few days for him to heal completely.

Within the dark cave, the fire that had been burning incessantly danced slowly. By the side, the sitting Jian Chen slowly opened his eyes and looked around the room. Qin Jue, the girl, and Senior An were all sitting in a meditative position and Qin Xiao was still laying on the stretcher with his eyes closed in a sleeping position. Only Yun Zheng was not in the cave.

Jian Chen re-stoked the flames before walking out of the caves. A while after he had left, the yellow clothed girl opened her eyes from her meditative position and scoured the place. Then, closing her eyes, she went still again.

Arriving at the cave’s entrance, Jian Chen began to take in the fresh air of the outside world before closing his eyes in a pleased manner. The ventilation within the cave wasn’t the best, and the stuffy, hot air within the cave caused everyone inside to feel uncomfortable.

Taking in another deep breath, he climbed down the mountain slope to wander about. Since he had to protect Qin Xiao, Jian Chen didn’t dare go far. Until Qin Xiao was fully healed, Jian Chen didn’t plan on leaving this place. If they were to travel with an immobile Qin Xiao and came across a strong individual, then it would be very problematic. Even if he wasn’t afraid for himself, but if the target was Qin Xiao, Jian Chen would be stuck in a problematic situation.

In this short amount of time, Jian Chen had collected a total of at least a thousand tokens. The competition had only required a total of five hundred tokens in order to pass, so Jian Chen was well above what was needed. The only thing left for him to do was survive for the rest of the time limit.

Jian Chen leaped into a thirty meter tall tree and sat on top of a tree branch. Laying down on it, his head continued to think about the Ming Dong who was still within the hidden shrine, “I wonder how Ming Dong is doing. His ancestor was good friends with the shrine lord; he will definitely help out Ming Dong. When I see him again, he’ll definitely be vastly different.”

“This Gathering of the Mercenaries is the easiest way to obtain a Heaven Tier Battle Skill. As long as I try my hardest, then I will definitely obtain it! When I am strong enough, I will be able to return to the Gesun Kingdom and settle my debt with the Hua Yun Sect. With a Heaven Tier Battle Skill, the Changyang clan will definitely increase in power as well.” Muttering to himself, Jian Chen continued to lay about on the tree as he stared up with a determined look.

Shortly after, Jian Chen let out a breath of air with a worried look. “The Gesun Kingdom is currently in a bad situation. The neighboring four kingdoms are uniting against them. Within two years, there will definitely be a war between the two sides. Before that happens, I must increase my strength as much as possible and be of some help.”

As Jian Chen continued to plan for the future on top of his tree branch, the shadows of three men quickly flew toward his direction with the speed of an arrow.

From the three men, the frontmost person was especially pale and drenched with blood. His originally white robes were heavily stained with blood as the two men behind him chased him with their Saint Weapons ready to strike.

Sensing the three men, Jian Chen pushed aside the foliage in order to see just what was happening from his overhead perch. Just as he looked at the three men, he revealed a surprised look before smiling, “I didn’t think that he would be chased in such a manner. It seems that he plans to bring them back to our campground.” With that, Jian Chen leaped down from his tree branch and stood right next to a tree in front of the three men.

From the three men, the person running away was the same person from the caves, Yun Zheng. At this moment, Yun Zheng was in a miserable state and had long since lost his svelte attitude.

The moment Yun Zheng noticed Jian Chen, an indescribable light flashed in his eyes before increasing his speed a bit. Flying toward Jian Chen, the pale Yun Zheng began to breathe heavily as he took refuge behind him, “Brother Jian Chen! Let’s hurry up and run! These two men are too strong, let’s go and get Senior An to help deal with them!”

Jian Chen shook his head with a smile, “My brother is currently resting inside, I don’t wish to shock him.”

“But…” Yun Zheng held some reluctance in his face, but he said no more after that as Jian Chen held his hand up, “I’ll deal with this matter here.”

Hearing Jian Chen’s calm attitude, Yun Zheng slowly began to calm himself down before standing quietly behind Jian Chen. He wanted to see just how strong of an Earth Saint Master Jian Chen was.

The two men chasing after Yun Zheng came to a stop several meters away from Jian Chen. The two looked to be around forty years old and both wore blue robes that did nothing to hide their bulging muscles. One of the men was quite short and looked to be around five feet tall with dark skin as black as coal. The other man was rather skinny looking and had an average appearance with a bent nose. On the left side of his face there were several intersecting scars that destroyed his face. His face was rather terrifying to look at, but it also increased his intimidation factor.

The two men sized up Jian Chen as they looked at him. Giving each other a small look, one of the two immediately walked up to Jian Chen before pushing him out of the way.

Jian Chen wrapped his hands against his chest before smiling at the two, “Fellow brothers, what might you two be doing?”

Seeing the expression on Jian Chen’s face, the short one began to feel annoyed at him. Without another thought, he glowered at both Jian Chen and Yun Zheng, “If you know what’s good for you, hand over your Space Belt at once or else, hmph!”

“Or else what?” Jian Chen continued to smile.

The short one glared at Jian Chen with an even more cruel stare before roaring, “Or else you two will die here today!”

In an instant, Jian Chen released a large amount of killing intent, “Is that so? Then allow me to send you on your way.” With that, Jian Chen disappeared from view before reappearing in front of the short man. At the same time, his Light Wind Sword immediately came into view before the chilling cold Sword Qi stabbed at the short man with blinding speed.

The short man hadn’t expected for Jian Chen to make such a sudden move so quickly. Before he could even react or dodge the sword strike, the silver sword had already stabbed straight through his throat.

Jian Chen’s sword was far too fast, in an instant, the short man had been caught off guard and killed. Even as an Earth Saint Master, it was still impossible for him to dodge Jian Chen’s strike.

Without stopping, Jian Chen immediately pulled out his bloody sword from the short man’s throat before disappearing from view once more. In an instant, his sword flashed as it flew at the other Earth Saint Master.

At that moment, the Earth Saint Master hadn’t reacted yet as he stared in horror at the incoming Jian Chen. Then, it was with a serious look that he had realized this youth he had disregarded earlier was in fact a tiger wearing a sheepskin.

“Ha!” The man roared as his Saint Force exploded out of his body. The Saint Weapon in his hand began to flood with a blue colored light as he slashed at Jian Chen.

Jian Chen’s figure blurred as he dodged the other man’s sword. His Light Wind Sword became a silver glow of light that flew at his throat.

Reacting quickly, the man tilted his head to dodge Jian Chen’s strike and allowed the sword to slip past him. However, the sword swept past his neck and a small cut appeared on his throat. As the man was starting to rejoice, he suddenly felt a stinging sensation on his neck. Before he could even look down and see what happened, his head was immediately cut off. It spun through the air before falling back down to the ground as his headless body fell to the ground with blood flying everywhere.

These two men were strong enough to force an Earth Saint Master like Yun Zheng to flee, but in an instant, they had been killed in a single strike by Jian Chen. That made Yun Zheng open his eyes wide in disbelief and shock at what had just happened. This type of strength, was this really something a twenty-year-old youth should be able to possess?

Standing to the side of Jian Chen, Yun Zheng tried to breathe in and out in order to calm himself. Although he knew that Jian Chen was already an extremely terrifying Earth Saint Master, he didn’t think that the two men that were chasing after him would be dealt with in a single strike.

Despite this fight happening right in front of his eyes, Yun Zheng still couldn’t believe it and thought he was dreaming. This was an illusion and not reality–it completely toppled over what he knew as true. As a traveler in the continent who had painfully cultivated for thirty to forty years before finally making a breakthrough to become an Earth Saint Master before the age of fifty, this was already an achievement that could be considered to be a genius. Those who became an Earth Saint Master before the age of fifty were all well known experts and geniuses of cultivation with a bright future. Right now, two Earth Saint Masters were killed by a youth that wasn’t even twenty five years old. This was a massive blow to Yun Zheng, and as such, this was the very first time that he had felt that this world was truly unfair and absurd.