Spitting out a mouthful of turbid air, Chen Chao smiled slightly, "Stop finding excuses for yourself. If you can't beat me, just admit it."
Originally, Xie Boan was almost certain that the youth in front of him could not possibly be just at the Spirit Platform Realm. At this moment, he could not help furrowing his brows too, feeling a little dazed. Right, how old was this teenager? Merely 16 years old. A youth like this, even if it were the geniuses over at the Divine Capital, how many could step foot into Divine Trove Realm?
It was just that the other party stalemated with him for so long with Spirit Platform Realm cultivation, it made Xie Boan even more embarrassed.
A realm higher and he was so much older than the other party too. But, he still failed to suppress him with ease. If this matter was made known to his sect, his old face would be utterly lost.
Looking at the youth on top of the roof, Xie Boan's killing intent did not diminish. But in reality, his killing intent had always been there. When did the youth in front of him ever cared?
Xie Boan was unwilling to waste any more saliva. Waving both hands, the snow in the courtyard rose into the air with a howl. Then, it condensed in the air, forming one snowball after another. After a short pause, they shot fiercely towards Chen Chao one after another!
Chen Chao who was gripping the broken saber tightly swung his blade out and hacked apart the first snowball. Ignoring the snowflakes that spilled on his body, his entire person jumped down and performed a swift and fierce downward slash in the air. A black-colored saber light immediately cleaved open a path.
The snowballs that landed on the rooftop shattered countless blue tiles. The crackling made it seem like it was a hailstorm.
Xie Nandu who had been standing in the corridor this entire time took a few steps backward. But her gaze remained fixed on Chen Chao the entire time.
Previously, when she saw Chen Chao being shot down in the courtyard, she was a little worried. But, for some reason, she became less worried as time went by.
It was a little strange, but it also seemed very normal.
The youth who landed in the courtyard no longer had the concession and forbearance from before. He started taking the initiative to attack with his saber. The broken saber in his hand kept swinging out non-stop. One slash after another, the saber momentum was unbroken; virtually without any flaws.
Chen Chao practically followed no methodicalness when practicing the saber. It was all things that he honed from those demons time and again on the brink of life and death. Swinging his saber out, it only looked for the other party's greatest weakness and it only wanted to use the least amount of strength to cause the greatest damage. Actually, this sort of concept was unanimous with how the Great Liang Dynasty's army thought.
It could be seen from this that if Chen Chao were to enlist in the army, it would save him a lot of trouble.
How could an orthodox cultivator who was born in a famous household like Xie Boan have seen before such a situation? Meeting the enemy in a haste, he actually repeatedly fell back.
The situation between the two seemed to have been completely reversed.
Xie Boan's two hands were continuously swinging in front of him. One burst of qi activity after another gushed out in front of his body, wanting to build a barrier. Fortunately, although Chen Chao's saber momentum was swift and fierce, and virtually no problems could be nitpicked every time he swung his saber, he was after all just a Spirit Platform Realm martial artist. Hence, he still managed to construct that barrier in the end.
A barrier that was constructed with the blizzard as the base laid in front of the two of them at this moment. Xie Boan let out a sigh of relief, breathing out what little remained of his qi. Then, he started replenishing with a new mouthful of breath.
But right at this moment, Chen Chao narrowed his eyes. After waiting for so long, this was the moment that he had been waiting for.
Over in the snowstorm, Chen Chao's body surged with qi as it instantly climbed up, going from Spirit Platform Realm to Divine Trove Realm.
Gripping the broken saber in his hand tightly, Chen Chao cleaved apart the blizzard barrier with a slash and already arrived in front of Xie Boan with a leap. Glancing at the middle-aged man in front of him, this young martial artist who had been hiding his strength from start to end slashed down with his saber. Xie Boan who was right at the juncture of transitioning from the old to the new had a look of disbelief, opening his eyes wide.
When that saber swung out, it directly left a horrifying wound on Xie Boan's body.
Even if Xie Boan wanted to forcefully replenish his qi again at this time, there was no more chance. After that slash, the youth in front of him lowered his shoulder and slammed toward his chest. The qi activity in his chest collapsed at this moment. It was virtually impossible to condense it again.
Vomiting large mouthfuls of fresh blood, Xie Boan flopped onto the snow in the courtyard. Lifting his head, he looked at the youth in black in front of him with a disbelieving look. He asked something that he asked before, "You're really a Divine Trove martial artist?!"
Chen Chao laughed coldly and did not give an answer. He still did not lower his guard at all.
Ever since learning that this Xie Boan was a Divine Trove immortal cultivator, Chen Chao had been thinking about how to make the other party underestimate him from the very start. If the other party knew that he was a Divine Trove martial artist from the beginning, then the fight this time would definitely have been very fretful. He would also have to spend more time to kill the other party.
When fighting demons in the mountains, Chen Chao sought to achieve the greatest results at the lowest cost. If he tangled with the other party without thinking about anything, then even if he could kill the demon, those demons hiding in the dark would not have let him leave the mountain unscathed too.
In other words, even if he was seriously injured, he had to show that it was nothing serious.
As for this Xie Boan in front of him, making him underestimate was the first step. Making him enraged was the second step.
With these two things, even if the two people were in the same realm, the one dying would surely be Xie Boan too.
Xie Boan was currently sitting slumped in the courtyard. The qi activity of a Divine Trove immortal cultivator was continuously flowing away, his death was virtually a foregone conclusion. It would not be that easy to want to save his life. Moreover, how could Chen Chao let others save him?
It was just that until now, he could not figure something out. Why would a Tianqing County's measly little warden actually be a Divine Trove martial artist?!
If he had long known that the other party was a Divine Trove martial artist, he absolutely would not have let his guard down like that. He also would not have been conceited enough to have a showdown within inches of him.
But now, everything was too late.
Xie Boan shut his eyes in pain. In the last moments of his life, who knew what he was thinking about? Was it that he should not have taken on this matter that was destined to not have any good outcome? Or was it that he should have attacked with all his might early on and killed that young martial artist?
Chen Chao stood in the courtyard for a long time. Only after waiting for Xie Boan to really stop breathing with no chance of a comeback, did he carefully walk towards his corpse. Sheathing the broken saber he was holding into its scabbard, he started searching for treasures on this corpse.
Far away, even though it was not Xie Nandu's first time seeing such a sight, she still could not help feeling somewhat out of sorts.
In less than a month, Chen Chao who had killed two cultivators consecutively in his own small courtyard had no special thoughts. In his view, these two cultivators who had taken the initiative to seek death were no different from the demons in the mountains.
It was just that when Chen Chao stood up, the courtyard door opened without any wind.
Two figures appeared over there, one elderly and one young.
When the young man wearing cotton clothes saw the scene in the courtyard, he had an appalled look. But the skinny middle-aged man in front of him was incredibly calm.
These two people were the two who were riding the horse carriage and bought charcoal on the streets previously.
When Xie Boan came to this courtyard previously, they were already aware of it, but they did not plan to show themselves immediately. They wanted to use this opportunity to see how Xie Nandu would choose. But, they did not expect that by the time they came here, that so-called choice became a joke.
Chen Chao used his saber to help Xie Nandu resolve her dilemma.
In reality, this was somewhat unreasonable.
But who could have thought that a warden in a little county town was actually really a Divine Trove martial artist?
Hence, these so-called schemes that were crushed by a young martial artist seemed to be in accordance with expectations. But, how anyone have expected it to play out like this?
When he saw that there were two other uninvited guests, Chen Chao gripped his saber hilt right away.
The most reassuring thing in the world was this object.
Mr. Lin calmed his mind and bowed to Xie Nandu who was not far away, "Divine Capital's Xie Clan retainer, Lin Yuan, came to fetch Miss as per orders."
His voice was gentle; calm and peaceful. It had the air of a learned man.
The young man retracted his dumbfounded emotions too and clasped his hands in a bow behind his teacher.
These two were much more sincere than the two people the previous two times.
"Miss don't need to think too much. Miss probably knows a little about the reasons involved. The so-called test was truly over when Xie Boan died here. If Miss didn't pass the test, Lin Yuan wouldn't have appeared here."
Lin Yuan had his hands clasped from start to end. These words were considered to have summarized everything that happened previously. The implication was also that even if you, Xie Nandu, did not verbalize your last choice, there would not be any more problems too. The big shots in the Divine Capital's Xie Clan would not dither anymore on this issue either.
But all these were thanks to that youth.
Chen Chao glanced at Xie Nandu, the look in his eyes complicated. It was unknown what he was thinking about.
Xie Nandu smiled; sincerely full of gratitude.
Chen Chao retracted his gaze and slowly walked down the corridor. But his hand never left the hilt of his saber.
Xie Nandu asked softly, "If you couldn't beat that person? Would you have fought too?"
Chen Chao thought about it and said with a nod, "That was the right choice no matter what. Actually, I wasn't too worried. But, if say that you didn't choose correctly and wanted me dead, then I wouldn't be able to tolerate it."
"What could you have done if you couldn't beat him?"
Xie Nandu said, "You never seem to do things that you aren't confident in."
Chen Chao was silent. He did not seem to want to answer this question. Instead, he said, "I can't save you if that guy wants to do anything."
With Chen Chao's present Divine Trove martial artist realm, he could not see through the Lin Yuan who had arrived in the courtyard.
In other words, the other party's realm was at least one realm higher than his.
That would be Bitter Sea Realm.
Except, Chen Chao felt that it was not impossible for him to escape alone with his life.
Xie Nandu shook his head and said, "He won't be doing anything."
Chen Chao nodded his head. He felt more at ease when he heard this. It was just that his hand still remained on the saber hilt and he asked, "Then, pay extra for this?"
Xie Nandu nodded and did not refuse as she said, "Okay."
Then, she took several steps forward. Looking at the two who remained bowed the entire time, she asked, "Does Mr. Lin also want to know what I would choose?"
Lin Yuan was taken aback. Furrowing his brows, he naturally know that the girl in front of him was not talking about him.
He thought of something and suddenly raised his head, urging, "Miss, think twice!"
If some things were not said, who cared what you thought? But once it was uttered, could the consequences really be inconsequential?
It seemed to fall on deaf ears. Xie Nandu just enunciated each word without caring about other things, "If I really had to choose, then I'd choose him."
The voice was not loud. But, everyone could hear it clearly in the corridor.
Lin Yuan's expression changed slightly. For a moment, he could not even think clearly. In a situation where the die was already cast, why would the young girl in front of him still say this? Did she not know that once these words were uttered, it was not for him, Lin Yuan, to hear, but for the Divine Capital to hear?
But Xie Nandu did not care about these. She did not care what Lin Yuan thought and also did not care how the Divine Capital chose. She just calmly repeated her thoughts, "I'll choose the same even if I have to do it ten thousand times."
