Jun Qiangwu quickly held his spear in front of him. Bing’s eyes only showed disdain, and he didn’t even bother altering the trajectory of his punch. A thunderous clang erupted the moment Bing’s fist touched the metal spear. The first thing that touched Jun Qiangwu’s body wasn’t Bing’s fist, but the shaft of his spear.
The former general spat out a mouthful of blood as Bing’s punch launched him ten meters away. More blood leaked out of his lips as he landed on his back. If he hadn’t reached the Tendon Reinforcement Stage, Bing’s attack would have killed him.
But even if Jun Qiangwu survived, Bing’s punch had damaged his internal organs extensively and cracked his ribs. Not only that, but Jun Qiangwu’s spear had warped under Bing’s punch. Spear shafts were designed to be flexible, so they would return to their original shape whenever a force acted on them. This resulted in them being mostly made of wood. Jun Qiangwu’s spear was forged out of iron, and Bing’s punch had permanently bent it. Had it been wood, the punch would have likely shattered it.
Bing looked at the coughing Jun Qiangwu in surprise. “You survived my punch?”
He looked at his fist to see a layer of frost covering it. With a shake of his hand, the frost scattered. “Ice?”
Bing looked at Jun Qiangwu with realization. “You must be Jun Qiangwu. Your name resounded throughout the land years ago. It was said that you died, but it seems that the truth of the matter is different from the rumors. No matter, you’ll die under my fist soon enough.”
Bing walked toward the downed Jun Qiangwu. His footsteps were slow and almost leisurely.
Blood spattered onto the ground as Jun Qiangwu stood up. A layer of cracked ice covered his chest, but it soon shattered and fell off. He clutched his chest as his legs trembled to support him. His spear lay on the ground, abandoned. In spite of his injuries, Jun Qiangwu glared at Bing. His gaze flickered toward Qian Jiafeng and exuded endless hatred.
“System, how strong is that Bing?”
[Scanning.]
[Ding!]
[Scan Complete.]
[Subject Bing is at the Twelfth Stage of the Qi Gathering Realm/]
“What!?” Jun Qiangwu shouted. “How could he reach the Twelfth Stage of the Qi Gathering Realm?”
Jun Qiangwu stared at Bing’s white hair and beard. Obviously, he was not young. In the early realms of cultivation, age was important. The younger you were, the more vitality one had, the faster they would cultivate. So, how could Bing’s cultivation base exceed his and even Mu Long?
[Subject Bing’s meridians have been forcibly opened using external aid. His meridians can no longer be linked, and his immortal journey has ended. He will be forever unable to reach the Thirteenth Stage of the Qi Gathering Realm.]
‘Knowing that doesn’t help me at all!’ Jun Qiangwu screamed in his head. ‘So what if Bing was stuck in the Twelfth Stage of the Qi Gathering Realm? He was strong enough to kill me now!’
As Bing walked closer, Jun Qiangwu stepped back one step. He gnashed his teeth so hard, blood flowed from his gum. The only method he could think of was to run away. Ignoring the fact that Bing’s speed exceeded his, Jun Qiangwu abhorred that very thought. He would not run away, especially when the target of his revenge was right in front of him!
“I won’t allow it,” Jun Qiangwu said.
Bing paused, frozen momentarily by the pure emotions overflowing from Jun Qiangwu. However, he soon regained his composure and sneered. He was stunned by someone so much weaker than him? Bing had to admit that Jun Qiangwu was special. After all, he survived his direct punch, something that even Qian Jiafeng couldn’t do. Among the people Bing knew, perhaps only Mu Long could accomplish this.
“Cease your futile struggles. Accept your fate. It’ll be less painful for you,” Bing said.
Jun Qiangwu glared harder. He raised his hand, and a white rock appeared.
Bing frowned, wondering where the rock came from. It hadn’t been in his hand when Jun Qiangwu stood up. And upon closer inspection, he realized it was a turtle shell with a white back and tan underbelly. “Hmpf, what are you going to do with a turtle shell? Do you think it’ll save your life?”
Jun Qiangwu said nothing. He reared his hand back and threw the turtle shell. The moment the Lesser White Shell Talisman left his hand, it grew until it reached the size of a watermelon. It blurred as air exploded behind it, causing his hair to whip behind him.
Seconds later, an earth shattering bang rang hundreds of meters away. However, Jun Qiangwu paid no heed. Instead, he stared at Bing. Or, more specifically, the gaping hole in his chest. He could see everything behind Bing.
Bing himself looked down. His eyes were wide, as if he couldn’t comprehend what had just happened.
Blood dripped from his mouth. It was as if a dam had broken. More blood gushed out of his mouth. Blood dripped from the top of the hole in his chest to the bottom. He raised his hands towards his chest; they trembled uncontrollably as he did so. Then, he pressed in.
He felt nothing.
“My chest, where is it? Where is it!” The more aggravated Bing became, the more blood that flowed from his mouth and chest, staining his robes red.
Bing looked up and glared at Jun Qiangwu, who was just as stunned. “Y-you! What did you do!? Give me back my chest!”
He took one step forward, but that single step exhausted all of Bing’s energy as he collapsed face first. His body continued to twitch, and blood seeped out from below and tainted the ground.
Jun Qiangwu stared at the fallen Bing, dazed. At most, he thought the Lesser White Shell Talisman would heavily injure Bing. After all, Bing was at the Twelfth Stage of the Qi Gathering Realm, and he was only one stage away from being able to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm. The system said it could easily kill a foundation establishment disciple. It wasn’t until now that he truly comprehended what that entailed.
[Side Mission completed.]
[Mission Completion Grade: EX]
[Reward: 3 Gacha Token.]
Jun Qiangwu didn’t have the time to marvel at the rewards or the introduction of a mission completion grading system. No, he turned toward Qian Jiafeng. Without Bing’s presence, he wanted to see if Qian Jiafeng could continue to delay the inevitable.
But when he turned, he saw the subject of his revenge galloping off on the back of the horse-shaped monster. It seemed that Qian Jiafeng had already awoken from the shock ahead of Jun Qiangwu. In terms of ability to accept unexpected situations, she was far above him.
“You’re not getting away!” Jun Qiangwu shouted. He conjured a spear of ice into his hand and reared his arm back. He launched it forward, and it shot through the air like a miniature comet. There was the sound of a horse’s cry, but otherwise, nothing else occurred.
Jun Qiangwu fell to his knees and coughed out another mouthful of blood. “Damn it!”
He punched his fist into the ground, aggravating his injuries further, but Jun Qiangwu didn’t care. It was only after venting his frustrations that Jun Qiangwu calmed down. With his cooled head, he realized that if Qian Jiafeng stayed, he would have likely died under her hands thanks to his injured state.
The only reason Qian Jiafeng left was because of the unknown. She didn’t know that he only had one Lesser White Shell Talisman. This realization only frustrated him even more.
Wasn’t he supposed to dominate all the other superhumans with absolute strength? He was the one chosen by the Nine Heavens Revenge System. Why was it that an old man could push him to near death? He would have died if he didn’t have the Lesser White Shell Talisman.
Jun Qiangwu roared into the sky. It contained all his unwillingness.
He wiped the blood dripping down his chin and stood up. Limping, Jun Qiangwu walked away seeking shelter. Instead of walking the path he came from, or the direction Qian Jiafeng fled toward, he walked straight into the forest. He was careful to hide his tracks as much as possible in case Qian Jiafeng led people back to kill him.
Once Jun Qiangwu found a safe location, he tended to his wounds to the best of his abilities. Only after tending his wounds did he open the gacha and start using the gacha tokens.
[Ding! Congratulation for receiving the Inferior White Shell Talisman.]
[Ding! Congratulation for receiving the Hundred Faces Silk Mask.]
[Ding! Congratulation for receiving the Low-Grade Revitalization Pill.]
The Inferior White Shell Talisman was just like the Lesser White Shell Talisman, only that it could only guarantee killing qi gather pupils. It could injure foundation establishment disciples, but not kill them unless it struck a vital point, like the head or heart.
The Hundred Faces Silk Mask, as the name suggested, was a mask which changed the appearance of the wearer.
And finally, the Low-Grade Revitalization Pill. Jun Qiangwu didn’t need the Nine Heavens Revenge System to tell him its purpose. Without a second thought, he swallowed it. The pill dissolved into liquid once it entered his stomach, and a warm sensation filled his body.
An hour later, Jun Qiangwu clenched and unclenched his fist. He ripped off his robes to reveal a scar that covered his entire chest. The newly grown skin felt tight, but it would become flexible with time. His ribs still pulsed every time he moved, but at least it didn’t hurt anymore.
Jun Qiangwu looked up. “System, you said that my third mission was to join the Xi Immortal Dynasty, right?”
[Yes.]
“Alright, I’ll join. Even if I’m only a pawn, I don’t care. I just want to kill Qian Jiafeng,” Jun Qiangwu said.
He immediately set off for the Xi Immortal Dynasty. Along the way, he donned the Hundred Faces Silk Mask, hiding his handsome features with a plain one. He also rid the world of a bandit camp and replaced the rags that were once his clothes.
It took a month for Jun Qiangwu to arrive at the Xi Immortal Dynasty. Although it was called a dynasty, it only constituted one city, but Jun Qiangwu didn’t dare to underestimate it. He could already see it from afar because of an impossibly tall structure. It was the Xi Immortal Palace that stood a thousand meters tall.
Not only that, but the Xi Dynasty Capital, Xanadu, was ninety-nine square kilometers large. Just the walls surrounding the city reached a hundred meters.
To Jun Qiangwu’s surprise, the guards stationed at the gates didn’t question him at all when he tried to enter. They just let him pass. Upon entering, Jun Qiangwu was even more surprised. Inside he could see thousands of people going about their business. It was like a mortal town and not the holy ground of immortal cultivation he imagined.
And that surprise only grew after investigating a bit. The people going about their business and living their lives were regular mortals, refugees that came here to escape the monsters. They were the citizens of the city, not disciples of the Xi Immortal Dynasty. The actual place of cultivation was the center of the city. It was nine square kilometers large.
“Hey, are you new?” a passerby asked upon seeing Jun Qiangwu walking toward the center.
Jun Qiangwu glanced at the passerby. “How did you know?”
“Of course I know,” the passerby said. “All newcomers go toward the center, hoping to become a disciple of the Xi Immortal Dynasty.”
The passerby pointed at the trees in the distance. “See those trees? That’s actually a forest. Most of us regular folks just live on the perimeter. Only those that want to become a disciple go there.”
“I see.”
The passerby smiled, not minding Jun Qiangwu’s quietness. He had seen plenty of his type. There were worse ones who entered the city. Yesterday, a man who lost all his relatives to monsters arrived. He swore to the heavens that he would cultivate and slay all the monsters. Unfortunately, he had no talent, and could only be regulated to a worker.
“If you can’t pass, how about joining me? I’m planning on expanding my farm. I can’t pay much, but I can at least guarantee a few coins and a meal,” the passerby said as he patted Jun Qiangwu’s shoulder. “You don’t have to worry about monsters inside the city because there are none, even in the uninhabited land.”
Jun Qiangwu stared at the passerby. He opened his mouth and said, “Thank you.”
“If we have the chance, let’s meet again.” After saying those parting words, Jun Qiangwu walked toward the center of Xanadu.
