Chapter 319: Return of Ming Dong

All the men crowded in the passageway hurriedly shot out of the way for Jian Chen. The struggle for the Heaven Tier Battle Skill had only been a few moments, and no one outside of the cave had any idea what had happened inside. At this moment, they could only watch in confusion as Jian Chen chased down Dugu Feng. Wasn’t everything going fine earlier? How could they suddenly start fighting, and the bigger question was, just when had Jian Chen’s strength become so amazing?

Jian Chen chased Dugu Feng through the passageway of the cave for some time. Following that some of the experts’ subordinates quickly came to their senses and charged into the cave as well.

Within the cave, Shi Xiangran and Jiede Wukang lay motionless on the ground. Their blood continued to leak down onto the ground in one big puddle.

“Lord Wukang!”

Suddenly, a grieved voice could be heard as two middle aged men shot into the cave like arrows to Jiede Wukang’s side. Looking at the hole in his throat, the men all instantly turned white before crying out loud in grief.

“Lord Wukang, lord Wukang!” One man shook Jiede Wukang’s body with an impatient shout as if trying to wake him up.

“Lord Wukang has already died.” The other man sighed with a look of sorrow on his face.

“Dead…just…just how is that possible? Lord Wukang had a barrier protecting him, along with a Ruler Armament. There isn’t anyone here that could possibly kill him!” The man spoke in a crazed manner. Jiede Wukang’s position in the clan was far beyond what was right. Not only was he the son of the patriarch, but he was also the future leader of the Jiede clan. The two men and Zhe Gu came to protect him specifically. With Jiede Wukang dead, it was hard to say that they would live as well.

“Ai…” The other man gave a long sigh as he stared blankly. He didn’t care for Jiede Wukang’s death much, but Jiede Wukang’s status in the clan was far too high. Since he was Wukang’s bodyguard, he would be punished severely for what had just occurred. The penalty might be so heavy that Jiede Wukang’s father might have them both die to serve Jiede Wukang in the afterlife.

“Who was it? Who was it that killed lord Wukang?” The man spoke with an extremely grim voice. Now that Jiede Wukang was dead, he really did not want to be the only one to take on the responsibility for Jiede Wukang’s death. It was possible that after the Gathering of the Mercenaries, he would be killed.

“Just now, there was a youth named Jian Chen that held some grievances with our lord. He just ran off to chase Dugu Feng. Even the four, strong, well-known guards of the Dugu clan were killed in a short moment by Jian Chen. The one who killed lord Wukang must be Jian Chen; his hidden strength must be enormous.” The other man spoke with a gloomy expression.

“Miss Tianmu Ling, lord Qin Ji, if you could tell us: was the person who killed lord Wukang, Jian Chen?”

Tianmu Ling and Qin Ji both nodded their heads in a stupefied manner. The fight they had just seen had caused a tremendous amount of shock to their hearts. Jian Chen had somehow destroyed the barriers placed on Shi Xiangran and Jiede Wukang created by a Saint Ruler, which were known for being incredibly hard to destroy.

After finding out who the murderer was, the two men both grew dark. Jian Chen was strong and was not someone they could fight against. The two were not willing to stay here any longer and carried Jiede Wukang’s body out of the cave. Neither of them were stupid; when Jian Chen came back to annihilate everyone, it would be in their best interests to run far away with Jiede Wukang’s body. They would wait for the end of the Gathering of the Mercenaries and report it to the elders in hope that the patriarch would be lenient in his punishment. Running away from the clan was not going to work, and would only speed up their deaths.

……

“The cave’s right over there, hurry up and get in! Let them deal with the Amethyst Thunder Lion!”

“Hurry up, the cave’s right in front of us!”

Outside the cave, a group of miserable looking men were all running to it as fast as possible. Right behind them, the small, mountain-like Amethyst Thunder Lion continued to shoot lightning from its mouth. Each arc of lightning burnt a person into a crisp as the golden Pangolin Emperor continued to strike at the other humans not too far away.

Within the group, not only were there the original divisions of Earth Saint Masters, but also at least a hundred Great Saint Masters. After the two divisions with the Ruler Armaments had killed two of the magical beasts and entered the cave, the Great Saint Masters all decided to risk it and charge forward. In hopes of obtaining the treasure within, each one threw away their lives to charge toward the cave.

The influx of these Great Saint Masters had aroused the attentions of the remaining two magical beasts. Thus, the already suffering divisions quickly renounced their attempts to kill the magical beasts, and ran for the immortal’s cave at full speed.

With no strong individual to control the magical beasts, the situation had naturally gotten worse for the Great Saint Masters. The Earth Saint Masters didn’t care and left the Great Saint Masters to deal with the ire of the magical beasts.

Suddenly, a single shadow could be seen flying through the sky with an explosive wind rippling through the air. Despite many people seeing the shadow’s image, no one cared for it at this moment.

Just as this shadow receded away, another shadow quickly streaked through the air before chasing after the first one. This was Jian Chen chasing after Dugu Feng.

Jian Chen was utilizing most of his speed by catapulting himself off of the trees. With each launch, he flew forward another ten extra meters, and was slowly reducing the distance between Dugu Feng and himself.

Sensing that Jian Chen was still chasing him, Dugu Feng’s face grew startled as he thought to himself, “Could fifth uncle and the other three men have been killed by Jian Chen? No. There’s no way. Fifth uncle was at the Fifth Cycle Earth Saint Master, there’s no way for him to be killed by Jian Chen that quickly.” There was disbelief as that thought went through his mind. He knew that Jian Chen’s strength was far higher than what he had thought if he could disregard the barriers on both Shi Xiangran and Jiede Wukang. He shouldn’t be strong enough to kill his fifth uncle and the three other Third Cycle Earth Saint Master bodyguards even if he were to use a Ruler Armament. By this point, Dugu Feng had already deemed Jian Chen to be a terrifying existence that he could not afford to fight. He increased his speed even more, determined to protect his Ruler Armament.

Dugu Feng wasn’t a man that feared death, but he wanted to prevent the Ruler Armament from falling into any other man’s hands. Thus, he could only run away. The Ruler Armament was something every clan would pay a heavy price for, and would tremendously impact the clan’s power and influence. Dugu Feng absolutely could not allow his Ruler Armament to fall into someone else’s hands. Otherwise, his clan would be condemned to a lifetime of shame that could not be recovered from.

The two men’s speed slowly increased to the maximum. Ten kilometers had been traveled in a short amount of time. Running past the forest, they reached a clearing.

Right now, Jian Chen had closed the distance to Dugu Feng. By now, there was only a single kilometer separating the two. Even though Dugu Feng wasn’t a wind attribute, his running speed was still quite superior to most, so even Jian Chen had to exert a lot of energy to chase after him.

At this moment, ten kilometers away from Jian Chen, a black robed youth with hair that reached down to his waist was quickly running toward a forest. This youth looked to be around 27 or 28 year old, and had a firm look on his face.

“I’ve heard that the cave of a previous cultivator was around here and contains a Heaven Tier Battle Skill. People even say that the five experts were all gathered there as well. Bah, I should go take a look myself–hopefully I’ll be able to find him.” The black robed youth muttered to himself.

Just then, the black robed youth saw two figures appear a few kilometers away from him, quickly charging over in his direction.

Seeing the two people, the youth revealed a look of disdain as he muttered, “Another two men rushing to their deaths. I hope they’re not too weak, I want to test out my strength.” With that, the youth examined the two, but the moment he saw their faces, a look of shock overtook it.

“Are my eyes going bad, this is too much of a coincidence!” The black robed youth spoke as he kneaded his eyes gently. With a closer look, he concentrated on the two men before smiling widely and charging straight at them.

“Friend, hold off the man behind me and the Dugu clan will reward you handsomely!” Dugu Feng had already thrown away his face and reputation for the sake of preserving the Ruler Armament. While he knew that he was not an opponent for Jian Chen, he would much rather fight Jian Chen to the death than try to flee.

For the sake of the Ruler Armament, he could not choose this option.

Hearing Dugu Feng’s words, the black robed youth was stunned for a moment before he smiled meaningfully. With a simple movement, a wind attribute Saint Force could be seen as it covered the youth’s body, Like an arrow, he flew toward Dugu Feng and Jian Chen with a faster speed than before.

The black robed youth’s speed was almost inconceivable. In a moment he had traveled several kilometers, causing both Jian Chen and Dugu Feng to be shocked. The moment Jian Chen saw the youth’s face, he went still as a surge of emotions swell up in him.

Dugu Feng was shocked for a moment before becoming happy. He didn’t think that his luck would be good enough to meet such a strong person. With his fast speed, even if he wasn’t able to defeat Jian Chen, he would at the very least keep him occupied.

“Friend, help me hold up the man behind me and the Dugu clan will reward you.” Dugu Feng spoke once more with a relaxed voice.

The youth revealed a strange smile, but he did not respond to Dugu Feng. Bringing out his cyan colored longsword, he quickly slashed at Dugu Feng with an alarming speed.

Bringing up his Ruler Armament to defend himself, Dugu Feng quickly protected himself. The youth staggered back a few steps as his feet dragged across the ground.

What was more shocking was that the Ruler Armament-wielding Dugu Feng had also been forced back three steps by the ordinary looking sword of the youth.

“Friend, what is the meaning of this?” Dugu Feng’s face grew dark before shock filled his face. The youth’s strength was extraordinary, and even after blocking the sword, his inner organs had felt the vibration from the blow.

“Could this average looking youth somehow be a Heaven Saint Master?” Dugu Feng thought to himself in terror.

The youth recollected himself before looking at the sword in Dugu Feng’s hands with some surprise before cursing out loud, “F*ck, so it was a Ruler Armament.”

With the youth holding up Dugu Feng, Jian Chen had quickly caught up. Standing twenty meters away from Dugu Feng’s back, he smiled at the black robed youth.

The youth looked at Jian Chen with a happy smile before waving his hands, “Hey, Jian Chen! I didn’t think I’d meet you in such a manner. You seem to be doing quite well if you can bring even a Ruler Armament user to heel.”

Jian Chen revealed a happy smile on his face, “Ming Dong, it’s been almost a year since we last saw each other, I barely recognized you.”

This one youth was unexpectedly Ming Dong, who had stayed in the midair shrine. Nearly a year had passed, but his strength had undergone an earth-shattering transformation.