Gate of God

Chapter 715: One Dragon Stroke, Bite

Closer, very close!

As he saw that he was getting closer to Chi Guyan, Fang Zhengzhi felt a little nervous. Of course, this would not affect him.

To succeed, one must always have a firm mind.

Fang Zhengzhi knew that he was not the type of man who was extremely benevolent and magnanimous, but there was one thing that he was sure, that he would never quiver when he was giving others a sneak attack.

“Down you go!” Fang Zhengzhi screamed in his heart, as his punch reached out towards Chi Guyan’s back.

Needless to say, the punch was very swift!

However, Chi Guyan did not turn her head at all, and it seemed as though she did not feel anything, as there was no resistance from her at all.

But…..

Fang Zhengzhi’s punch stopped in mid air, just an inch before reaching Chi Guyan, and it did not continue moving forward.

“…..” Fang Zhengzhi’s mouth twitched a bit. It was not because he had a change of heart, but he was still unable to move his body.

It was an unexplainable feeling.

In reality, Fang Zhengzhi had experienced a similar feeling before, such as the moment where he was facing against the Half-Sage Can Yang of the Demon Race, and he was trapped motionless, unable to move.

However, his entrapment in this situation was clearly different.

The entrapment was caused from within his body, and not from the power from any Dao, or the stopping of any blood circulation. He felt extremely numb all over his body.

“Freeze!”

A crisp and pleasant voice was heard by Fang Zhengzhi. Next, he saw a beautiful and glamorous face.

It was a shadow.

Luscious black hair and splendidly white dress, it was clear that Chi Guyan had made her counterattack.

Of course, it was not a proper one.

Because, when Chi Guyan and emitted that sound, her hand did not leave the brush, and she did not even turn her head.

She continued to focus intently on the white drawing, as the ink on the paper started dissipating into a life-like dragon.

“Indeed she was drawing a dragon!” Fang Zhengzhi knew instantly that Chi Guyan had an idea in mind as to how to solve the Eighth Heaven.

And it was exactly the same idea as him.

The First Heaven represented the beginning, so it was the first one. As for the Seventh Heaven, it represented the thousands of evolution processes, before everything would eventually fuse into one. Hence, the idea was to use one stroke to fuse “one” and “dragon” together.

It could encapsulate the entire cycle that happening between the First Heaven and the Seventh Heaven.

Of course, this concept might not be correct, but based on the probability of success, Fang Zhengzhi saw this as one of the highest out of all the ideas.

But the situation in front of him…..

Seemed a little awkward.

His sneak attack was exposed, and he was even entrapped by Chi Guyan. This was not something to be happy about.

More importantly, Chi Guyan did not stop at all.

And continued to draw on the picture.

This showed that Chi Guyan had already anticipated all these.

“Indeed, Chi Guyan’s thinking is really scary!” Fang Zhengzhi knew that it was not because of his subpar acting skills, but it was Chi Guyan’s habit to always beware of her surroundings.

How?

There was nothing he could do!

But to fight against his entrapment. Because, Fang Zhengzhi was running out of time, and Chi Guyan only needed a while more to complete the drawing.

And at that point, he could only admit his loss.

But it was really difficult to overcome Chi Guyan’s prodigal talents.

Fang Zhengzhi had previously seen Chi Guyan using the word “Freeze”.

She was able to stop the movements of the Nine Pinnacles Mountain Leader Tian Xing.

And now, the word “Freeze” was used on his own body, and he had felt it personally.

The muscles on his body, became stiff instantly.

Unable to move at all.

How did it happen?

Fang Zhengzhi did not quite understand, as every action in the world required a logic. Afterall, to have his entire body motionless was a little exaggerating.

What was the logic behind it?

Was it control?

No, if it was control, his body would not have been stiff.

Stiff…..

Wait, if his body was stiff, how did the blood in his body continue its circulation. This was not quite according to the scientific logic.

But the fact was that, his body was indeed stiff.

There was a problem!

Was it an illusion?

Yes, illusion! It should most likely be an illusion on the surface of his mental capacity. His mind had mistaken that his body was stiff, or rather, something had temporarily suppressed his mental capacity, resulting in this loss of control over his bodily actions.

“Understood!” Fang Zhengzhi looked towards the female shadow behind Chi Guyan, and felt her domineering and arrogant presence. He immediately understood the situation.

His mental capacity was being suppressed.

Resulting in his mind emitting wrong signals, and him thinking that his body was stiff and that he was unable to move.

Fang Zhengzhi had such a realisation.

But understanding was one thing.

Breaking the spell was another. It was not easy to alleviate his mind from that pressure, as afterall, the female shadow’s strength was too domineering.

It seemed as though she was able to step on anything in the world. Her presence was too imposing.

If Fang Zhengzhi had not know that it was Chi Guyan’s prodigal talents acting on him, he may have give up to the illusion.

“Chi Guyan may be downright powerful, but I can’t lose to her!” Fang Zhengzhi clenched his teeth, as he forced himself to believe that everything was merely an illusion. “Illusion, everything is just an illusion. Actually I’m able to move, I’m not entrapped, I’m free, yes I’m swimming…..I’ swimming, swimming…..”

Fang Zhengzhi mumbled to himself repeatedly.

Just then, he could feel as if his stiff body was swimming in water.

Then…..

His hand was able to reach Chi Guyan’s skin.

Everything had happened in an instant, from Fang Zhengzhi’s realisation to his “swimming” thoughts, and finally to him coming in contact with Chi Guyan’s skin. All these did not take long.

In fact, it was almost instantaneous.

Her skin felt exquisite.

Furthermore, Fang Zhengzhi could clearly feel that Chi Guyan had quivered a bit the moment he had touched her.

“Shameless thief, I was kind enough to let you try first, but you feigned unconscious just to attack me from behind!” Chi Guyan’s voice rang in the air.

“Kind? Had you not started drawing this stroke of “Beginning to End”, I may have really believed that your intentions were kind-hearted!” Fang Zhengzhi knew that Chi Guyan would have started “panicking” by now. From a certain perspective, he knew that he was controlling the situation now.

“So you knew about the “Beginning to End” stroke too.” Chi Guyan seemed a little doubtful.

“Haha, of course, if I didn’t guess wrongly, you had already known about it when I was trying it for the first time?” Fang Zhengzhi continued.

“No, I only knew after the second try.” Chi Guyan denied it.

“You think I’ll believe you?”

“FIne, indeed I knew it after the first try.”

“Finally you admitted!”

“Yes, I have admitted, so you pretended to not know about it all along, before feigning unconscious and tricking me?” Chi Guyan refuted.

“Same same, did you not intend to do it too?” A smile was revealed on Fang Zhengzhi’s face.

“Yeah, I miscalculated, and fell into your trap…..but, even if you had managed to knock me unconscious from behind, I would not have served you faithfully, because you did not win convincingly.” Chi Guyan continued.

“What? You want to withdraw?” Fang Zhengzhi seemed shocked, as he did not expect that Chi Guyan would refuse to honor the deal.

“No, I’m not withdrawing, I only have one request, that if you were to knock me unconscious, it would be from my front!” Chi Guyan explained.

“Your front?” Fang Zhengzhi squinted his eyes.

Of course he understood her words, but he could not believe that Chi Guyan actually used the word “faithfully?.

Was it possible?

He was not foolish!

What faithfully? In this world, who would really serve another faithfully after losing a bet?

It would merely be a walkthrough.

“Yes, front, as long as you’re in front of me, and manage to hit me unconscious, I will naturally listen to you as I have lost the bet!” Chi Guyan nodded her head lightly.

“Ok then, I promise you…..not!” Fang Zhengzhi nodded his head casually, before lifting his palm, and hurling it towards her back.

Only a fool would go from the front!

As the saying goes, a stolen melon would not be sweet. Any clever person would know, that it was imperative for one to get the melon first, before deciding if it was sweet or not.

Against Chi Guyan such a dangerous demon.

If he were to consider about her requests, and follow them, his mind would have really been crushed flat by a door.

Fang Zhengzhi’s request was not too unreasonable.

To get the melon in hand.

As for whether Chi Guyan would serve him faithfully, or burst out crying, all these were unimportant to him.

“Thief, shameless!” Chi Guyan felt a gust of wind hitting her back, and she finally moved.

While her hand was still clutching on to the brush, her body already turned behind towards Fang Zhengzhi.

Furthermore, a crystal ball of light formed on her other hand, and she hurled it towards Fang Zhengzhi’s chest mercilessly.

…..

Chi Guyan suddenly counterattacked, resulting in her back moving half an inch to her side.

And this movement caused Fang Zhengzhi’s punch to miss her back, hitting her shoulder instead.

Next…..

Fang Zhengzhi felt a tremendous charge boiling in his chest.

“How ruthless!” Fang Zhengzhi was clear that this body was almost hurled back. However, his sheer unwillingness prevented him from flying back.

As such, he grabbed Chi Guyan’s shoulder upon impact, clenching onto it tightly, so as to prevent himself from flying back.

As a result, Chi Guyan’s body was latched onto his.

Her body was hurled into Fang Zhengzhi’s embrace involuntarily.

Instantaneously, Fang Zhengzhi felt as though he was hugging a piece of warm precious jade.

Exquisite, smooth, and it was even slightly warm. His body felt a little undulating.

In the current situation…..

He had to focus on taking Chi Guyan down.

Fang Zhengzhi knew the importance of that, hence he could not be merciless.

He lifted his palm once again, and prepared to make use of the golden opportunity to attack Chi Guyan’s back once again, so as to make her unconscious.

But just when he lifted his hand up, he felt a tingling feeling on his limb. He looked around, and saw a tail of a snake.

Its scales were shimmering in bright light.

“Eh?” Fang Zhengzhi could not react in time, and his hand was entangled by it. He lifted his other hand up.

But…..

Just when he did so, he suddenly felt a tight feeling around his crotch. It was a leg, hooking onto the area underneath his groin.

“…..” Fang Zhengzhi did not expect that Chi Guyan would resort to such “vicious” tactics.

He did not know why, but his mind started replaying a song that used to be popular in the previous universe.

You are really vicious, you are vicious you are so vicious. Oh~~~~

The more you say the more outrageous.

The more you listen, the more confused you are.

The more vicious you are, the more vicious you are. Oh~~~

You don’t want to admit defeat and still pretend not to care.

…..

Just then, he felt as though his entire body was about to collapse, and that it was entangled by something.

The snake tail, which was initially entangling one of his limbs, managed to entrap both of his limbs as well as his legs.

Not only that.

Chi Guyan’s hooked leg still continued to press up against his crotch, and it felt as though his entire body was wrapped around by Chi Guyan’s snake tail.

“Is this the legendary ‘Coiling Golden Snake Hand’?” Fang Zhengzhi did not know whether to laugh or cry, but all these seemed unimportant to him currently.

More importantly, Chi Guyan was still able to continue wielding the brush in her hand, and thick ink markings continued to dissipate around the paper.

She actually extended her body into a dragon with four claws.

“Endure a bit longer, it’ll end soon, servant!” Chi Guyan’s started smiling, and her expression no longer seemed “pitiful” anymore.

It felt as though she had already attained success, as her face seemed to blushing radiantly.

It was obvious that she was euphoric.

“Disgusting, don’t you only have that prodigal talent? If you have the skills let’s not use our talents, and fight fairly!” Fang Zhengzhi’s both hands and legs were entangled as tightly as ever.

His body was in an awkward position, and he had no ability to harm Chi Guyan currently.

“You have a prodigal talent?” Chi Guayn asked casually as she continued to draw.

“Of course I have! If you don’t believe you can let me go, I can show you!” Fang Zhengzhi replied “honestly”.

“Hehe…..shameless thief, you think I’ll believe you? I think you should give up, and think about how you want to treat this master after being a servant!” Chi Guyan could not help but giggle to herself.

“Still want me to serve you? You use such disgusting tactics against me. I’m not convinced, even if you win, I’m not going to serve you faithfully!” Fang Zhengzhi continued.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” Chi Guyan smiled even more brightly.

“Let me go!”

“No I won’t.”

“Let me go quickly!”

“I just won’t do it.”

“You’re really not going to let go?”

“Of course not.”

“I’m going to bite you!” Fang Zhengzhi decided to resort to his killer tactic. What else could he do without his arms and legs? He still had his teeth left.

“If you dare…..eh? Shameless thief, you dare!” Chi Guyan felt that something was wrong.

But it was too late.

Fang Zhengzhi had no choice but to execute his move.

As her leg was hooked onto him, Fang Zhengzhi easily moved towards her front, and her lips brushed past her face, before pressing onto her lips.

“Wu…..” The smile on Chi Guyan’s face disappeared immediately. Next, she tried to struggle, but it was futile.

Fang Zhengzhi seemed to realise that Chi Guyan was unable to avoid Fang Zhengzhi’s lips. In fact, through her struggles, Fang Zhengzhi was able to pry her lips open.

“Wuuu….shameless thief, you’re too…..too naive, this tactic…..is useless…..against me…..” Chi Guyan seemed to choose to follow suit after her futile struggles.

She allowed Fang Zhengzhi to continue.

Furthermore, she still managed to continue drawing on the picture, and the ink markings were about to form a dragon tail soon.

This let Fang Zhengzhi to feel a burning sensation on his face.

“What? Such a move is useless on Chi Guyan’s body?” Fang Zhengzhi felt that it was possible for a person to have very few weaknesses, or even to have only one weakness.

However, to have completely no weaknesses at all?

Weaknesses…..

She must have a weakness!

If it was not on her character, or on her strength, then it was on her body.

Body?!

Correct, her body!

Fang Zhengzhi’s eyes lit up, and he did not care about his shameless actions, as he immediately bit onto Chi Guyan’s other body parts.

Cheers?

No, no reaction at all!

Neck?

No movements either!

Let’s try her ear lobes…..

“Wu…..” Just then, Chi Guyan’s body jerked slightly, and it was obvious that she was trying to control herself.

But, Fang Zhengzhi knew that his opportunity had arrived.

Because, the moment Chi Guyan quivered slightly, her tail’s grip on his limb loosened, albeit being a small gap.

However, it was the small gap that enabled his limb to free itself instantly.

Next, Fang Zhengzhi grabbed her right hand, before pulling it down.

Her grip on the brush loosened!

Time seemed to stop at this moment.

Fang Zhengzhi and Chi Guyan stared at the white paper intently, as their eyes were filled with panic and hope at the same time.

Then, a weird scene appeared.

The ink drawings did not disappear. Instead, they seemed to turn alive slowly.

Chapter 716: Entering the Ninth Heaven

As the ink flowed around, the ink outline on the white canvas became clearer and clearer. The dragon’s head, its body, its claws, and its tail, together with the rest of its body, started materializing.

“Did it come alive?”

“Drawing a dragon with a single stroke?”

There was no way that Fang Zhengzhi was completely unastonished. After all, something like this was mysterious and unnatural.

Most importantly, the painting on the canvas did not disappear this time unlike previously!

While Fang Zhengzhi was feeling curious about this occurrence, a loud and clear roar of a dragon was heard. It came from the ink dragon swimming on the canvas.

“Roar!” the dragon suddenly opened its eyes and glanced at Fang Zhengzhi and Chi Guyan. Its eyes were bursting with a golden radiance.

Just then, something eerie happened.

The ink dragon which was swimming on the canvas suddenly bolted out of the canvas and headed straight into the sky.

In the next moment, Fang Zhengzhi felt countless images appearing in the sky. There were mountains, water, flowers, rocks, oceans, forests, lakes, hurricanes, flames…

Countless images lit up in the sky like a mirage, but they did not exist for long. Soon, the images disappeared, restoring the peace in the sky.

“…”

“…”

Fang Zhengzhi and Chi Guyan both looked at each other with a puzzled expression.

“Is it over?”

While Fang Zhengzhi was still trying to figure things out, he suddenly realized that the rain was getting heavier, from a drizzle to a downpour. It eventually became a violent storm. For a moment, he felt like his entire body was soaked by the storm, and the raindrops seemed to have entered his body, bringing him comfort. However, this comfort did not last long, as a bolt of lightning suddenly struck from above.

“Boom!” It was followed by a deafening thunder.

“Again?” Fang Zhengzhi’s eyes opened wide subconsciously because the bolt of lightning was pitch black. Just as he had expected, the pitch-black bolt of lightning came straight for him as if it could tell where he was.

“…” Fang Zhengzhi really wanted to exclaim that he was the one who finished painting the last stroke, and he even did it by grabbing Chi Guyan’s hand.

‘Does it really have to go this way?’

‘Wait! The lightning is coming for Chi Guyan!”

Fang Zhengzhi was speechless, he wanted to move away, but Chi Guyan was obviously not letting him go. Although his hand had broken free, his body was still under Chi Guyan’s tight restraint, and he couldn’t even budge.

“Boom!”

Fang Zhengzhi felt his soul trembling, even Chi Guyan’s eyes lit up brightly for an instant while she was tightly bonded to him.

“So…Is this what it meant to be struck by lightning together?”

While Fang Zhengzhi was sighing over the fact that he was sabotaged by Chi Guyan into enduring the bolt of lightning, a majestic voice was heard.

“Fang Zhengzhi shall enter the Ninth Heaven!”

“Fang Zhengzhi shall enter…”

“…”

“What? I have made it to the Ninth Heaven?!” Fang Zhengzhi was startled, but it was soon overtaken by joy. He felt that life was truly full of plot twists, and happiness had descended upon him without warning. Even though he was still uncertain about the situation, the voice from the sky did say that he would be entering the Ninth Heaven.

That meant that he had won the bet, and Chi Guyan would have to become the leader of his bed warmer team.

Life was really full of surprises!

Fang Zhengzhi’s face was charred, but his smile was dazzling. However, his joyous emotion was soon interrupted by the voice from the sky.

“Chi Guyan shall enter the Ninth Heaven!”

“Chi Guyan shall enter…”

“…”

The majestic voice echoed in his ears for a long while.

“Are we entering the Ninth Heaven together?” As Fang Zhengzhi looked toward Chi Guyan and her smirk, he felt like his feelings had been trampled by 100,000 raging beasts.

“If we enter at the same time, it’s considered my win! From now on, you’ll become my lowly servant!” He heard Chi Guyan’s voice at this moment.

…

Meanwhile, at the Holy Reservoir in Heavenly Dao Pavilion.

A figure approached rapidly from far and soon came before the Sixth Elder, huffing and puffing.

“Sister…Sister Chi Guyan and Fang…Fang Zhengzhi have…Have entered the Ninth Heaven together!” The figure collapsed onto the ground right after he delivered the message.

“What…What!?” The teacup in the Sixth Elder’s hand fell to the ground again, followed by the swords in the Heavenly Dao Pavilion’s disciples’ hands, clanging loudly.

For a moment, time seemed to have frozen around the Holy Reservoir. There was a dead silence.

Be it the Sixth Elder, or the disciples, everyone were staring dazedly at the collapsed disciple Wang.

They held their breath, for they were either in shock, or struck dumb by the news.

“The Ninth Heaven?” The Heavenly Dao Pavilion’s disciples stared at each other with disbelief. The shocking factor of this piece of news had far exceeded that of the bet. None of them was thinking about the winner anymore, because it no longer mattered.

What was important, was that the Ninth Heaven in the Holy Reservoir had finally been reopened after thousands of years. Furthermore, two people were granted entry simultaneously.

…

While everyone outside of the Holy Reservoir was awestruck, Fang Zhengzhi, who was currently in the Ninth Heaven, was feeling pretty annoyed. Although Chi Guyan was right that the bet stated that if the two of them entered the Ninth Heaven simultaneously, it would be counted as her victory, but he obviously didn’t accept that they were granted entry at the same time. After all, his name was announced before hers, so logically speaking, he should be the winner.

As such, Fang Zhengzhi felt the need to discuss this matter with her thoroughly.

Of course, Chi Guyan was obviously not in the mood to discuss about the outcome that had already been decided.

“Is this…The Ninth Heaven?” Chi Guyan looked surprised after scanning the surroundings.

“Hmph?” Fang Zhengzhi was up for a debate, but he subconsciously looked at their surroundings after hearing Chi Gu Yan. “What? How does the Ninth Heaven not contain nine pillars?” The Ninth Heaven obviously did not have to contain nine pillars, but since the Seventh and Eighth Heaven contained seven and eight pillars respectively, Fang Zhengzhi felt that the Ninth Heaven ought to have nine pillars.

However, in reality…The Ninth Heaven that appeared before them didn’t contain a single pillar, moreover, it actually looked desolated. That was right, it looked desolated.

However, its desolation was different from the vibe of the bloody ruins in the Fourth to the Sixth Heavens. It was literally desolated.

There was nothing as far as their eyes could see, and they were astonished by the vastness of this place.

Every where was covered in sand, and there were no trees or lakes, only white pebbles that were barely visible in the sand.

This was completely different from what Fang Zhengzhi had envisioned the Ninth Heaven to be.

“Does the Ninth Heaven really look like this?” Fang Zhengzhi felt puzzled. In his opinion, even if there were no pillars, there had to be something like a clue. For example, a few paintings for him to comprehend, or at least a card or something.

However, there was nothing but sand…Could it possibly mean that he had to play in the sand?

“Do you get a feeling that there’s something weird about this place?” Chi Guyan’s eyes lit up as she spoke.

“What’s weird about it?” Fang Zhengzhi answered with a question.

“The rain…Has stopped.” Chi Guyan pointed to the ground and looked toward the sky.

“Hmph? It really stopped. Didn’t you say that the blessed rain existed throughout the Holy Reservoir?” Fang Zhengzhi instantly understood her.

“That’ right. Under normal circumstances, even the Ninth Heaven should be a part of the Holy Reservoir, so the rain shouldn’t have stopped. Unless…” Chi Guyan stopped mid-sentence and fell into a deep thought.

“Unless what?” Fang Zhengzhi asked again.

“Unless, this place is not within the Holy Reservoir, in other words, it has left the Holy Reservoir. However, this couldn’t be possible, the Ninth Heaven can’t possibly be out of the Holy Reservoir!” Chi Guyan squatted down as she spoke and grabbed a handful of sand with a frown.

“In the Holy Reservoir…Not within the Holy Reservoir?” Fang Zhengzhi couldn’t wrap his head around her words, but he still roughly understood what she meant.

However, just as what she had said, since the Ninth Heaven was within the Holy Reservoir, it was literally impossible for it to be out of the Holy Reservoir.

It wasn’t out of the Holy Reservoir…But the blessed rain didn’t exist here, meaning that this place was not controlled or affected by the Holy Reservoir.

‘What the hell is this place?’

‘Normally, shouldn’t this place contain more enlightenment for one’s understanding of Dao? Why am I not feeling anything?’

While Fang Zhengzhi was pondering these questions, his chest started shining again, and the light that was coming from beneath his tattered clothes seemed to be getting brighter and brighter.

Chapter 717: I Found a Tablet by the Road

“Shameless, could this possibly be another independent world?” Chi Guyan was so focused on scanning the surrounding that she didn’t notice the change on Fang Zhengzhi’s body.”

“Another independent world?” Fang Zhengzhi obviously understood what she meant. In other words, this was an isolated space in the Divine Rain Pond.

The thing was…Why was there another independent space in the Divine Rain Pond? Furthermore, why did it happen to be located at the Ninth Heaven?

This was a big question.

Moreover, under normal circumstances, this should be the secret to the Ninth Heaven.

“Do I have to break this world apart and learn something in the process?”

“Why does this scene feel familiar?”

“Another world…It’s in the Divine Rain Pond, but not under Divine Rain Pond’s control or coverage. It’s a completely independent world.”

At this thought, Fang Zhengzhi unintentionally noticed the silvery white light on his chest.

It looked like a distant star in the sky, and it felt cold.

“Eh?” Fang Zhengzhi reached towards his chest and pulled his tattered clothes apart, revealing his recrafted Breastplate, because that was where the light was coming from.

“What’s this?”

Fang Zhengzhi was puzzled by the light, because he wasn’t controlling anything inside his Breastplate with his mind. He sank his consciousness into The Vast World that was embedded onto his Breastplate, which became the replacement for his Small Dimension, expanding it by countless times.

However, the only downside was that…The Vast World couldn’t be used normally anymore.

Of course, this was a price that he was willing to pay. It was a simple logic, the choice between a treasure and his life wasn’t a difficult one.

“It’s this thing?” Fang Zhengzhi soon discovered where the light was coming from. It was the pitch-black metal box.

He wasn’t too sure about the material or the name of this box, but he knew what it contained.

Heaven Dao Sage Tablets. There were 14 Heaven Dao inside the box, including the 13 that Yun Qingwu gave him, and the 1 that he already had.

“Why did the box containing Heaven Dao Sage Tablets suddenly lit up? Furthermore, it happened in the Ninth Heaven. What was going on?”

“Wait a minute!”

“Yun Qingwu…”

That was right, this scene was similar to the time when Yun Qingwu locked him up with the 13 Heaven Dao Sage Tablets, putting him into an independent world!

Moreover, Chi Guyan was saying that the Ninth Heaven might be another world that existed within the Divine Rain Pond. If that was the case, could this world be a…Heaven Dao Sage Tablet?!

“That can’t be right, could I really be so lucky?” Fang Zhengzhi wasn’t so certain. After all, even a fool knew that something as precious as the Heaven Dao Sage Tablets wasn’t a grocery that could be found on the streets. How could he find one so easily?

Most importantly, whether this sandy world was a Heaven Dao Sage Tablet was just an idea he had.

However, everyone must have a dream. How would a person without dreams be different from a dead body? Maybe, just maybe, it might turn out to be a Heaven Dao Sage Tablet.

Since there was no harm trying, he decided to try it out. There might even be a pleasant surprise waiting for him.

The box was easy and convenient to use.

Fang Zhengzhi tried using it a few times after receiving the box. All he had to do was shout ‘keep’ at the Heaven Dao Sage Tablets.

It was just as easy to take the Tablets out of the box. He only had to say ‘out’ to the box, and the Tablets would come out automatically.

This box was truly an essential commodity.

While Fang Zhengzhi was engrossed in his thoughts, he took the black metal box out of The Vast World. As he did that, the box started shining even more brightly, just like the dazzling stars.

Its radiance finally caught Chi Guyan’s attention.

“Hmm?” Chi Guyan turned to look at the black metal box in Fang Zhengzhi’s hands, and she was clearly startled to see it.

After that, her eyes lit up with extreme astonishment. This was an emotion she hardly ever displayed, even when she was fighting Tian Xing, she didn’t put on such an expression.

Of course, Fang Zhengzhi wasn’t in the mood to explain it to her.

He was going to try it first!

“Keep!” Without hesitation, he opened the box and shouted at the endless world of sand in front of him.

The entire world started trembling instantly, and the endless amount of sand gushed toward the black metal box crazily.

…

Demon Race, Blood Shadow City.

The grand black palace stood in the centre of Blood Shadow City like a crouching black beast, giving off an air of mightiness.

At the gate of the Demon Palace, Yun Qingwu, wearing a long white dress, glanced toward the sky. Her beautiful face was shadowed by a slight sign of sadness and worry.

She sighed softly and retracted her gaze, before slowly turning and walking toward the Demon Palace. She wasn’t walking too quickly, in fact, she was hesitating.

Despite her snail-like pace, she eventually passed through the front gate of the Demon Palace and arrived before a room at the centre of the palace.

“Young Master!” the Demon soldiers guarding the room immediately paid their respects to Yun Qingwu when they saw her and opened the door softly.

Yun Qingwu nodded her head softly and entered the room.

“You guys can leave.” A voice was heard when Yun Qingwu entered the room.

“Yes!” the servants in the room all bowed and left the room.

Yun Qingwu looked up toward the middle-aged man sitting in the room. He had sharp brows, starry eyes, and he was wearing a black crown and a loose black robe with golden rims.

“Father.” Yun Qingwu paid her respect to the man.

“Ok, have a seat. Qingwu, do you still remember the time when you opposed mine and the elders’ idea?” Emperor Yun looked toward Yun Qingwu lovingly.

“Qingwu remembers.” She nodded gently.

“It’s been a month since then, do you still think that he could do it?” Emperor Yun took a sip from his teacup.

“I do.” She nodded again.

“Qingwu, there’s still a chance if we change the plan now, or else, once…”

“Father, with our Demon Race’s current strength, there’s no way we could go against the five sects of the Holy Region. If we make our move now, they would definitely fight back. If that happens, even if we expend all our resources, the Demon Race would take at least 100 years to recover!” Yun Qingwu didn’t wait for Emperor Yun to finish speaking.

“Father understands the things you are talking about, and it’s because of that that I agreed with your decision back then. However, aren’t you putting too much at stake? 13 Heaven Dao Sage Tablets…And the top treasure of our Demon Race, were all given to that kid. If this goes south, we’d lose everything!” Emperor Yun clearly sounded worried.

“Father, although the 13 Heaven Dao Sage Tablets are important, but we can take them back even if we lose them. However, there’s only a single opportunity for us to seize the item in the Ninth Heaven!”

“Are you really certain that he could get to the Ninth Heaven?” Emperor Yun replied with another question.

“If he can’t get to the Ninth Heaven, I’m afraid that no one in this world could do it either. If that’s really the case, it just means that this isn’t the right time for us!” Yun Qingwu replied.

“Do you really trust him that much?”

“Yes, he’s the only one that could get to the Ninth Heaven, and he’s the only one…That could obtain that item. All I did is helping him to break the Great Formation of Nine Cataclysms on the Ninth Heaven.” Yun Qingwu replied after a short silence.

“Ok, Father gets your point. I’ll try my best to assist your plan, but the Holy Region is too dangerous, so could you not go there personally?” Emperor Yun finally nodded his head.

“Father, Qingwu has to go there personally for this!”

“Qingwu ah, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but your strength is…”

“Father, please trust me!”

“This…ai, fine, but you’ve to be extremely cautious. Even if we can’t succeed this time, we can still wait for another 100 years. You have to understand, you are the Demon Race’s real hope!”

“Father, please be assured, Qingwu will definitely be cautious.” Yun Qingwu nodded and slowly exited the room.

Divine Rain Pond, the Ninth Heaven.

Fang Zhengzhi’s eyes were wide open as he stared at the sand that were gushing into the black metal box in his hand. He couldn’t help but be stunned.

“I could…Actually keep it?”

“Could this sandy world really be a Heaven Dao Sage Tablet? That can’t be it, right? When was I ever this lucky?”

Fang Zhengzhi couldn’t believe that this was happening. Although he had guessed that this world was a Sage Tablet, but when happiness descended upon him, he couldn’t help but sing internally, “I found a Tablet by the road…”

Chapter 718: I Feel Helpless Too

Of course, Fang Zhengzhi didn’t actually find the Heaven Dao Sage Tablet because he was lucky. After all, he was at the Ninth Heaven in the Divine Rain Pond.

Since the establishment of Heaven Dao Pavilion till now, only one person had made it into the Ninth Heaven.

It was extremely difficult to get into the Ninth Heaven!

Even Fang Zhengzhi and Chi Guyan didn’t make it here alone, they had to ‘work together’.

Without Fang Zhengzhi’s reminder, Chi Guyan couldn’t have solved the Seventh Heaven’s secret so quickly. Similarly, without Chi Guyan’s example, Fang Zhengzhi couldn’t have made it through the Seventh and Eighth Heaven so quickly as well.

This seemed to be fate.

However, Fang Zhengzhi subconsciously felt that this was too coincidental, especially the fact that he had the black metal box.

Somehow, he happened to make it into the Ninth Heaven, and the Ninth Heaven happened to contain Heaven Dao Sage Tablet, then he happened to have the black metal box.

Was this really a coincidence?

Could this be a conspiracy?

Fang Zhengzhi had yet to figure out why Yun Qingwu purposely came to Northern Mountain Village and set a trap to lock him up, and even gifted him the 13 Heaven Dao Sage Tablets and the black metal box that she spent so much effort to obtain.

It felt unbelievable.

Could the friendly-rivalry between them turned hate to love, and caused her to empathize with him?

This might actually happen in real life.

However, Fang Zhengzhi knew that Yun Qingwu wasn’t such a person. After all, she’s the young master of the Demon Race, and she shouldered its fate.

Even if she really did empathize with him a little, that wouldn’t have been the reason for giving him the black metal box and 13 Heaven Dao Sage Tablets.

Was it possible that Yun Qingwu had already predicted that he could get into the Ninth Heaven, so she purposely gave him the black metal box and the Tablets?

If it were someone else…Fang Zhengzhi wouldn’t have thought about this, after all, a normal person couldn’t possibly be so ridiculously calculative and foresighted.

However, if that person was Yun Qingwu, Fang Zhengzhi had no doubt that she could do this.

Although it might seem to be a coincidence that he had entered the Ninth Heaven, but by connecting his personality, the current situation, and the current state of Heaven Dao Pavilion, it wasn’t difficult to deduce that he would get into the Ninth Heaven.

However, if this was Yun Qingwu’s ‘conspiracy’, what was her purpose for doing this? Was she getting him to collect more Heaven Dao Sage Tablets for her?

That shouldn’t be possible.

After all, Yun Qingwu wasn’t so naïve that she would trust Fang Zhengzhi to return the Heaven Dao Sage Tablets.

At this thought, Fang Zhengzhi subconsciously looked toward Chi Guyan, who was obviously surprised.

However, for some reason…she kept quiet, even after the sandy world was completely swallowed by the black metal box.

“I thought you’d have questions for me.”

“There’s nothing to ask.” Chi Guyan shook her head and stared at the black metal box again, before retracting her gaze.

“Nothing?” Fang Zhengzhi was curious, because he could tell from her eyes that she recognized the box in his hands.

However, what puzzled him was that Chi Guyan didn’t ask a single question, even after he offered her the chance.

What the hell?

Did she not realize that the sandy world was a Heaven Dao Sage Tablet? That was impossible, since he could guess it, how couldn’t she?

While Fang Zhengzhi was engrossed in his thoughts, the sandy world finally disappeared completely.

What appeared before him was…A giant swamp.

Thick and weird vegetations, and an endless amount of jade puddles, extended all the way from Fang Zhengzhi’s feet to the edge of the sky.

“…” Fang Zhengzhi blinked his eyes at the weird phenomenon, before looking toward the rainless sky, asking, “Is this real? Is there another Tablet?”

“If I’m not wrong, we’re facing the ‘Great Formation of Nine Cataclysms’.” Chi Guyan looked at the swamp and murmured to herself.

“Great Formation of Nine Cataclysms?” Fang Zhengzhi looked at her and asked.

“The so-called Nine Cataclysms refer to the nine harshest environments or conditions to survive in, such as the desert, swamp, extreme cold, extreme heat, poison mist…And so on and so forth. Hence, it’s incredibly difficult to break the formation under normal circumstances!” Chi Guyan explained.

“I see.” Fang Zhengzhi nodded, but he still felt weird about this.

Of course, it wasn’t the formation that gave him this feeling. He was puzzled that Chi Guyan had obviously realized that the worlds that appeared before them were Heaven Dao Sage Tablets, but she was explaining the ‘Great Formation of Nine Cataclysms’ to him instead of talking about the Tablets.

However, since she wasn’t going to bring it up…Fang Zhengzhi would not mention it either. After all, he didn’t know how to explain how he obtained the black metal box.

Wait a minute!

The Great Formation of Nine Cataclysms…

Nine?!

Was she actually hinting to him that there were nine worlds, which meant that there were nine Tablets?

Fang Zhengzhi vaguely recalled that there was a total of 36 Heaven Dao Sage Tablets, which all belonged to the ancient Great Xia Dynasty.

After that, the Great Xia Dynasty went into hibernation after it was destroyed, and it was rebuilt many years later.

Back then, the Lins, the royal family of Great Xia Dynasty, exchanged the 36 Heaven Dao Sage Tablets for military power and established the new Great Xia Dynasty.

However, because of that, the Tablets had been split up among the various countries and forces.

Heaven Dao Pavilion was the owner to nine of the Tablets.

Did Heaven Dao Pavilion hide the nine Tablets in the Ninth Heaven all these while, and used the Tablets to create the Great Formation of Nine Cataclysms?

This was likely the case! In fact, this was highly possible!

The question was, why were the nine Tablets used to create the Great Formation of Nine Cataclysms? What was the reason for deploying the formation in the Ninth Heaven?

It was obvious that the Ninth Heaven that Fang Zhengzhi was looking at wasn’t the real Ninth Heaven. In other words, the real Ninth Heaven was hidden in the Great Formation of Nine Cataclysms all along.

However, according to the legends, only a single person had entered the Ninth Heaven after the establishment of Heaven Dao Pavilion.

Did the first person who entered the Ninth Heaven, ‘Dugu Jian’, create the formation, or was it deployed by the first master of Heaven Dao Pavilion, when it was established over thousands of years ago?

Fang Zhengzhi was getting a strong feeling that this was a huge conspiracy.

Nangong Hao suddenly attacked Nine Pinnacles Mountain Leader Tian Xing…Then the Blood Offer Illustration appeared.

Although the Blood Offer Illustration had already disappeared, and the Heaven-Receiving Door was closed, Fang Zhengzhi still couldn’t figure out the reason behind these incidents.

Did Nangong Hao really die?

What was the starry sky that was connected to the Heaven-Receiving Door?

There were too many mysteries.

Now, he brought the black metal box into the Ninth Heaven, and the Great Formation of Nine Cataclysms that appeared before him happened to be countered by the box.

A series of events took place one after another…On the surface, these incidents didn’t seem to be connected, but there seemed to be a missing piece of puzzle that connected everything together.

Was this a coincidence?

Or was everything part of a meticulous plan?

Fang Zhengzhi was keen to believe the latter, but since he had no concrete evidence, this was nothing but his speculation.

He couldn’t figure it out, so he decided to stop thinking about it!

This was Fang Zhengzhi’s way of doing things. If these incidents were part of a plan, then the plan would continue to unveil itself.

The only thing that he needed to do was to create his own path amidst this unfathomable and cunning plan.

His path was…Treasures before anything else!

He didn’t have to care about anything except treasures. If he found a treasure that could keep him alive, he would keep it, if he couldn’t find one, he would go looking for it.

This was very simple!

If he couldn’t even live for much longer, why did he have to care?

He couldn’t leave these Heaven Dao Sage Tablets alone just because he was worried about nothing.

That was what a fool would do.

To put it bluntly, even if he pretended to be righteous and left the Tablets untouched, someday, someone would come to get them.

If that was the case, he’d rather keep the Tablets than let someone else get them.

Fang Zhengzhi stopped thinking.

“Keep!” Fang Zhengzhi shouted and held the black metal box up, toward the giant swamp.

Then…Just as he had expected, the giant swamp started trembling like the sandy world just now.

After that, countless plants flew toward the black metal box as if they were attracted to it.

Meanwhile, Chi Guyan, who was standing beside Fang Zhengzhi, chose to remain silent again, as if she didn’t know what was going on.

…

Heaven Dao Pavilion, in the forest below the Sword Peak.

The lake water was calm as ever, just like Yan Xiu who was sitting beside the lake. He was reading while the cool breeze stroked his body.

At this moment…The person who was hiding in the shades strode toward Yan Xiu. He wasn’t walking too quickly, and each step was firm and silent.

However, after five steps, a bird suddenly descended from the sky. It was extremely fast, brushing past the man’s head in an instant.

The man raised his head at this moment, revealing a pair of broody eyes that lit up with a hint of surprise.

However, he eventually leaped up, at the exact moment that the bird flew past him, before landing on the tree again. After which, a piece of yellowed paper appeared in his hands.

“Fang ZhengZhi and Chi Guyan have entered the Ninth Heaven!”

“…” The man was clearly startled by the message. His hand trembled and made a faint noise with the paper.

The noise was insignificant as compared to the surroundings. The noise coming from the grasses and leaves were much louder, but the man’s expression still changed.

He turned toward Yan Xiu, only to be relieved when he saw that Yan Xiu was still sitting beside the lake and reading his book like before.

In the next instance, the piece of paper in his hand disappeared, as if it had never existed.

However, the man stopped moving toward Yan Xiu and hid into the shades again.

…

If there was something in this world that made people happy, it would undoubtedly have something to do with treasures.

If there had to be a ranking, ‘finding’ something would directly bring people the most joy and surprise.

For example, if you were walking on the street and found a box of gold bars that were inscribed with your name, and everyone was sure that the gold bars belonged to you, how would you feel? You would feel helpless too!

Let’s imagine that you entered a room to find a peerless beauty who was gentle, virtuous, pretty, sexy, selfless…

Most importantly, she would only marry you. If you weren’t going to marry her, she would commit suicide. Everyone else also felt that you guys were a pair made in heaven.

How would you feel? You would despair too!

This was what Fang Zhengzhi was feeling right now, despair and helplessness. There was a constant voice in his mind reminding him that he must be diligent, and he shouldn’t accept such a windfall so easily.

Of course, he felt that even if the treasures were meant for him, there should have been a tougher challenge. He’d feel more accomplished that way.

However, the treasure was forcing itself onto him, giving him no chance to resist.

What else could he have done?

Although Fang Zhengzhi was in a dilemma, he couldn’t possibly leave the nine Heaven Dao Sage Tablets laying around.

Hence, the only thing he could do was to keep the Tablets in his black metal box first, and show them off when he had the chance, “Look, I accidentally found a Heaven Dao Sage Tablet, oh…That’s wrong, I found nine Heaven Dao Sage Tablets!”

Chapter 719: Spiritual Jade

“Keep!”

“Keep again!”

“KEEP!”

As Fang Zhengzhi shouted helplessly again and again, all the nine worlds in the Great Formation of Nine Cataclysms finally entered the black metal box.

Fang Zhengzhi felt that everything had happened too quickly for him to be ready.

When the Great Formation of Nine Cataclysms was finally broken, the real Ninth Heaven appeared so quickly before him that he went slack-jawed.

The blessed rain fell from the sky and splashed onto the ground paved with white rocks, where nine white pillars stood erected.

Most importantly…there was an altar-like platform at the center of the nine pillars. A flight of stairs extended from the platform to his feet.

“Is this the real Ninth Heaven?” Fang Zhengzhi looked up and enjoyed the refreshing rain, as if he had finally seen the sun after experiencing endless darkness.

Chi Guyan didn’t say a thing, she only stared intently at the center of the altar.

“Is there another treasure?” Fang Zhengzhi’s attention was attracted by the radiance on the altar, and he walked up the stairs subconsciously.

Instead of stopping Fang Zhengzhi, Chi Guyan followed him up the stairs.

Fang Zhengzhi soon found out where the light was coming from.

It was a circular stone table with a carving of a meticulous painting of a woman wearing a long dress.

However, Fang Zhengzhi wasn’t too interested in the carving, he was focusing on a ‘weird’ jewel that was placed at the center of the stone table.

The jewel was ‘weird’, because it didn’t look like an ordinary jewel. Instead of being round or squarish, it was shaped like a drop of water.

Moreover, it was suspended in the air.

However, this drop of water was certainly a jewel, because there was a golden glow on its surface. There even seemed to be something flowing inside the drop of water. It appeared to be a painting, but it was too blurry to be seen clearly.

There was a simple solution to this problem…”Take it home to study it properly, and I might make a fortune out of it.”

This was Fang Zhengzhi’s idea, in fact, he was already going to do that. However, he felt that he needed to be more cautious before attempting to take the jewel.

He had read enough stories to know treasures were normally guarded by powerful beasts, but given the current situation, that wasn’t possible.

In that case, there should be traps laying around.

Hence, he believed that he should discuss this with Chi Guyan before doing anything. After all, she had always been more knowledgeable than him.

Furthermore, finders keepers.

“Do you want it?” Fang Zhengzhi asked.

“Do you?” Chi Guyan replied with a question.

“…” Fang Zhengzhi’s lips twitched. Gazing at her pretty face, Fang Zhengzhi’s mind drifted off to somewhere else.

On top of a big bed, a guy asked, “Do you want it?”, and the girl replied, “Do you?”

Fang Zhengzhi shook his head and quickly discarded such unhealthy thoughts. Putting on a serious expression, he said, “I think that this jewel is the reward for reaching the Ninth Heaven. What do you think?”

“Maybe.” Chi Guyan didn’t nod or shake her head, and she obviously wasn’t going to move. She just stood beside Fang Zhengzhi quietly.

“Should I take it first?” I’ll try to split it into two after we get out of the Divine Rain Pond, and we’ll split it evenly?” Fang Zhengzhi suggested.

“It’s ok. You can have it.” Chi Guyan clearly wasn’t going to fight him over the jewel.

“Finders keepers, we’ll each take half!” Fang Zhengzhi spoke his mind.

He might be shameless, but he only did that to his enemies. Fang Zhengzhi never liked to take advantage of his friends.

“There isn’t much time left before the Divine Rain Pond closes. I want to ask you a few questions before that happens!” Chi Guyan didn’t continue arguing with Fang Zhengzhi about the jewel. She raised her head slightly and looked as she was deep in her thoughts.

“Oh? Go ahead!” Fang Zhengzhi agreed generously.

“Between you and I, who do you think have won the bet?” Chi Guyan said while staring at him seriously.

“Well…My name was announced first, right?” Fang Zhengzhi didn’t expect her to ask about this.

As generous as he was, he still had to stand by his principles. Since his name was announced first, he was obviously the winner. This was scientifically proven.

“Do you really want to leave Heaven Dao Pavilion?’ Chi Guyan seemed to have expected his answer. Instead of arguing about who the winner was, she changed the topic and asked another question.

“Of course!” Fang Zhengzhi didn’t know what she was trying to say, but he had thought about this question carefully, so he answered without any hesitation.

“Where are you going after leaving Heaven Dao Pavilion?” She asked again.

“The Holy Region is so big, so I want to travel around before making my decision.” Fang Zhengzhi replied.

“That’s right, the Holy Region is very big. Yin Yang Hall’s Wan Lei died at our hands, Nine Pinnacles Mountain Leader Tian Xing’s disappearance also had something to do with us. Although there are no grudges between us and Fu Xi Valley, Gu Yuan must have spread your story to the entire Fu Xi Valley. As for Ling Yun Tower…” Chi Guyan stopped speaking at this moment.

“I didn’t expect to offend all the five sects of Holy Region right after I got here. If I knew it, I’d have kept a low profile. Now I really don’t have anywhere to go to, haha…” Just as Chi Guyan said, given the current situation, there was no place in the Holy Region for him.

“Shameless thief, we’ve known each other for 10 years already, right?” Chi Guyan’s tone changed.

“Yeah, it’s been 10 years.” Fang Zhengzhi nodded. 10 years had passed since he kicked Chi Guyan into the river during their first encounter.

“To be honest, if you have more time to spare, even if it’s just another year, I wouldn’t stop you from leaving Heaven Dao Pavilion, and I wouldn’t have competed against you in the Ninth Heaven.” Chi Guyan continued.

“I know that.”

Just as she said, it had been 10 years, so they knew well about each other. If she had another choice, she wouldn’t have swallowed her pride.

Given her pride, she’d never have set him up even before they entered the Divine Rain Pond! The arrogant Chi Guyan would never mislead Fang Zhengzhi on the Eighth Heaven and even attempt to strike him with a sneak attack!

However…Chi Guyan did all of that!

The only explanation was that she was determined to win the bet even if she had to swallow her pride.

“You have less than three months left. There might even be people coming after you if you leave Heaven Dao Pavilion. Have you really made up your mind?’ Chi Guyan asked again after a brief silence.

“Yeah, I’ve made up my mind!” Fang Zhengzhi was determined.

“Is it simply because of your pride as a man? If that’s the case, I’m willing to concede defeat and become your bed warmer. I’ll do my duty as your servant and go out to look for the resources you need. All you need to do is train peacefully in Heaven Dao Pavilion. That…”

“This isn’t because of my pride. I have always made the same choice between my life and my pride. If I couldn’t win a fight, I’d definitely run away. However, this time, it’s different!”

“What’s different about it?”

“You, because the one risking her life is you. I can be shameless when it comes to others, but I’m not shameless enough to watch you risk your life for me, while I hide in Heaven Dao Pavilion like a coward!”

“…” Chi Guyan gone silent. She stared at Fang Zhengzhi quietly with an unknown expression.

“Relax, I’ve benefitted greatly from my time at the Heaven Dao Pavilion. I also remembered the positions of some of the best treasures in the Holy Region. Furthermore, I’ve discovered new ways to improve my strength after experiencing the Nine Heavens. There’s still hope for me to break through in three months!” Fang Zhengzhi continued.

“I got it. Shameless thief, you’ve actually won the bet by breaking the Great Formation of Nine Cataclysms, because it meant that you’ve passed the Ninth Heaven. Leave the rest to me and leave!” Chi Guyan finally nodded.

“The rest?” Fang Zhengzhi looked puzzled.

“Do you really think you can take the nine Heaven Dao Sage Tablets and the ‘Spiritual Jade’ away so easily? After leaving the Divine Rain Pond, I’d inform my master right away that you threatened me with the bet so that I can’t attack you, and you took the nine Heaven Dao Sage Tablets away while I wasn’t watching. I’m thinking…Since you aren’t returning to Heaven Dao Pavilion anymore, it’s ok if they come after you, right?” As Chi Guyan ended her sentence, she was no longer looking worried like before. She blinked at Fang Zhengzhi as her lips curled into a smug smile.

Chapter 720: Others Can Die, But I Can’t

“It’s ok? Does she really think that it’s ok for Heaven Dao Pavilion to come after me?” Fang Zhengzhi was enraged, but for an unknown reason, when he saw the smile on Chi Guyan’s face, he felt comforted and assured.

However, he soon realized that something was wrong.

Wait a minute.

Did she call the jewel ‘Spiritual Jade’?

Fang Zhengzhi was shocked to the core. Spiritual Jade wasn’t a complicated name, in fact, it was fairly common.

However, according to the legendary myth in his previous life, Spiritual Jade definitely stood for something significant.

In the legends, Nüwa refined 36,501 stones when she mended the hole in the sky, but she only used 36,500 of them in the end. The last stone that remained…Its name was ‘Spiritual Jade’.

This stone was even later mentioned in a famous novel in his previous life called ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’. In the story, the stone became a spirit, and it wanted to experience the mortal life. This lead to the story of Jia Baoyu being born with the Spiritual Jade in his mouth.

“Could this be that Spiritual Jade?” Fang Zhengzhi wasn’t too sure, because logically speaking, the legends in his previous life shouldn’t appear in this world.

However, the fact that an actual descendent of Nüwa was standing in front of him, made him question himself.

If this Spiritual Jade was really the stone that was left behind by Nüwa…It definitely was an extraordinary treasure!

Just as Fang Zhengzhi wondered if he should ask Chi Guyan about the Spiritual Jade, the sky suddenly darkened.

“The Divine Rain Pond is closing soon!” said Chi Guyan.

“Closing?’ Fang Zhengzhi was surprised by her words, and he grabbed the Spiritual Jade immediately, not daring to waste another second.

The jewel felt smooth and comforting to the touch, as if there was a warm stream of air flowing inside it.

Rumble!

The entire Ninth Heaven suddenly started shaking. However, it was different from the tremor before, because this time, it felt like the Ninth Heaven was collapsing.

“There’s a trap after all!” Fang Zhengzhi looked at the Spiritual Jade in his hand and then looked toward the cracking ground. He knew that he needed to leave Heaven Dao Pavilion even if he didn’t want to.

…

Heaven Dao Pavilion, outside the Divine Rain Pond.

The calm Divine Rain Pond suddenly started seething. The five-colored pond started bubbling and spinning uncontrollably.

“Eh? What’s going?!”

“The Divine Rain Pond…What’s happening?”

“The wall of the pond seems to be cracking!”

“Are you sure? How could that happen?”

The disciples who were previously in shock were now staring at the Divine Rain Pond, their eyes wide open with disbelief. They all took a step back subconsciously.

After all, something like this had never happened before!

“Hmm?!” The Sixth Elder also noticed the strange behavior of the Divine Rain Pond at this moment. As compared to the disciples, he was even more dumbfounded.

This was because, the Divine Rain Pond should be normally under his control.

But now…

He obviously wasn’t the one behind the pond’s strange behavior. More importantly, water had started to leak out of the wall that surrounded the Divine Rain Pond.

He couldn’t help but be nervous about this.

This was because he knew well about the importance of Divine Rain Pond to Heaven Dao Pavilion. To put it simply, Divine Rain Pond was the heart and soul of Heaven Dao Pavilion.

The trials that disciples of Heaven Dao Pavilion undertook, the breakthrough in their understanding of Dao, all had something to do with the Divine Rain Pond.

Since that was the case, how could he allow anything to happen to it?

“Look! The pond water…Seems to be surging out!” While the disciples backed away, they didn’t let the Divine Rain Pond leave their sight.

At this moment, the five-colored pond water was spinning and seething more intensely than before, as if something was about to come out.

Then…A person actually charged out of the pond.

He was wearing blue, looking beaten-up with his tattered clothes. His face was slightly charred, and his hair even seemed to be burnt.

This happened out of nowhere, but the disciples of Heaven Dao Pavilion still recognized this person right away, because even if that face was reduced to ashes, they could certainly still recognize it.

“Fang Zhengzhi!”

“Why is he the first one out? What happened to sister Chi Guyan!”

“What happened inside?”

All the disciples were confused, but Fang Zhengzhi obviously wasn’t in the mood for an explanation.

In fact, he wasn’t even in the mood to stay in Heaven Dao Pavilion anymore.

“Crap, crap, I’ve really screwed up!” Fang Zhengzhi kept mumbling in his mind, while he dashed toward the Sword Peak without any hesitation.

“Eh? Where’s this guy going?”

“Fang Zhengzhi, what happened to the Divine Rain Pond?”

“Why did he start running right after he came out?”

The disciples were almost left speechless when they saw Fang Zhengzhi running away, because under normal circumstances, he should be showing off right now.

After all…He entered the Ninth Heaven!

“Nothing, nothing has happened inside the Divine Rain Pond!” replied Fang Zhengzhi, as he continued running away.

“Nothing?”

“How can you call this ‘nothing’?”

The disciples stared at each other before looking at the seething pond water, their faces black.

“Does he think that we are fools?”

While the disciples were confused, the Sixth Elder suddenly squinted. Just as Fang Zhengzhi was about to leave his sight, his eyes lit up.

“Catch Fang Zhengzhi, don’t let him leave Heaven Dao Pavilion!”

“Oh no!” The disciples didn’t know why the Sixth Elder said that, but they quickly reacted to his words.

“Stop him!”

“He’s heading toward the Sword Peak, so he’s probably trying to leave Heaven Dao Pavilion!”

“Inform our brothers who are guarding the Sword Peak that they have to stop Fang Zhengzhi immediately. We cannot let him get past the Sword Peak!”

Although they didn’t know what was going on, the disciples had a strong feeling that Fang Zhengzhi must have had caused the disturbance in the Divine Rain Pond.

Every one of them bolted toward Fang Zhengzhi, moving at an extreme speed.

Fang Zhengzhi was upset to see this, because he originally planned to leave Heaven Dao Pavilion before anyone knew about what happened inside Divine Rain Pond.

However, it now seemed that…He had already been exposed!

“What should I do?”

Fang Zhengzhi was thinking hard and fast as he looked at the Sword Peak, which was still at a distance away, and the dense forests which were in another direction.

Given the current situation, once he got to the Sword Peak, the disciples that were on-guard would definitely come at him immediately.

If that happened, he would be a sandwiched by the disciples, becoming a cornered cat.

“Should I take another path?”

“Should I change my direction and leave through the dense forest?”

This was a decent idea, because Fang Zhengzhi was definitely capable of shaking them off in the forest.

But, what about Yan Xiu?

Fang Zhengzhi knew that Yan Xiu was waiting for him at the forest below the Sword Peak. If he took another path, it would take him longer to get out. At the meantime, if word got out that he was the one who spoiled the Divine Rain Pond, even Yan Xiu might be dragged into this mess. By then, how could he come back for Yan Xiu?

Furthermore, even if he wanted to escape through the forest, he still had to get through Heaven Dao Pavilion first, meaning that he must turn around.

However, could he really do that?

Fang Zhengzhi glanced at the massive crowd behind him, and he quickly shot down this impractical idea. Getting through Heaven Dao Pavilion was no different from digging his own grave.

There was no way back.

The only way for him was forward. Moreover, he had to get out through the Sword Peak.

That was the only way he could bring Yan Xiu along, or else, they might really be in deep trouble.

“Stop him!”

“Brother Li, stop him now!”

While Fang Zhengzhi was ready to charge straight ahead, the disciples behind him started shouting again.

“Hmm?” A passer-by who was holding a long sword and wearing a long white robe, clearly a disciple of Heaven Dao Pavilion, was startled to hear the shouting coming from behind Fang Zhengzhi.

He looked at Fang Zhengzhi, then at the massive group of disciples behind him, and he was quickly stunned.

After all, this was such a spectacular sight to behold.

However, how could a disciple of Heaven Dao Pavilion be caught off guard so easily? Although he was actually shocked, he still blocked Fang Zhengzhi’s way instantly.

Fang Zhengzhi’s fear came true, he was truly afraid that someone would stop him. Fortunately, the disciples were asking that guy to stop him, not kill him.

Most importantly, they didn’t even mention his name.

“Stop him now, don’t let Nangong Mu get away! He wants to destroy the Heaven-Receiving Door while the trial at the Divine Rain Pond is taking place. Brother Li, hurry up, he’s on your right!” Fang Zhengzhi shouted anxiously as he pointed toward his right.

As our wise ancestors once said, “Others can die, but I can’t!”

Moreover…Since Nangong Mu wasn’t at Heaven Dao Pavilion anymore, Fang Zhengzhi didn’t hesitate to sell him out.

Chapter 721: No Way Out Alive

None of the Heaven Dao Pavilion’s disciples was dumb. It was clear as day that they were chasing after Fang Zhengzhi.

In that case, how could the disciple known as ‘Brother Li’ be deceived by Fang Zhengzhi?

Brother Li didn’t believe Fang Zhengzhi at first, but he was still taken aback when he heard ‘Nangong Mu’ and ‘Heaven-Receiving Door’.

After all, the Heaven-Receiving Door was too important. Furthermore, what happened that day was still etched into his mind, sending a chill down his spine.

Hence, although he didn’t believe Fang Zhengzhi, he still subconsciously looked toward his right.

“There’s nothing?!” Brother Li unsheathed his sword immediately when he realized that he was deceived, but it was too late.

This was because a fist was already nearing his face.

“Boom!” There was a muffled bang.

Brother Li felt a sharp pain in his nose, causing him to take a step back. However, as a disciple of Heaven Dao Pavilion, how could he concede defeat so easily?

Moreover, he was boiling with rage after he was deceived, so he endured the tremendous impact and pain, and stopped himself from stepping back.

However, just as he regained his footing, a sharp pain that made him despair came from his crotch. The pain was intense enough to make him collapse.

“…” Brother Li’s eyes opened wide as he stared at the heel that attacked his nether region, before he collapsed onto the ground unwillingly.

…

The disciples who were chasing after Fang Zhengzhi all empathized deeply with Brother Li’s misfortunate experience.

He was so miserable!

Of course, they were also enraged by Fang Zhengzhi’s shameless and cunning tactic.

“Don’t worry, Brother Li, we’ll avenge you!”

“Fang Zhengzhi, don’t think that you can get away with this!”

“You can’t escape the Heaven Dao Pavilion, just give up!”

As the disciples comforted Brother Li, they didn’t forget to give Fang Zhengzhi a stern warning.

Of course…Fang Zhengzhi was not going to listen to them.

To be honest, he had no other choice. He used Nangong Mu and Heaven-Receiving Door as a diversion so that he could launch a sneak attack.

Since Fang Zhengzhi had the opportunity, how could he go easy on him?

That was impossible!

If he showed any mercy, god knows what awaited him if Brother Li was able to stop him from escaping.

“Run!’

“I have to run away!”

…

Meanwhile, at the Divine Rain Pond, the five-colored pond water had spilled everywhere. The pond itself, which was built from white-jade, was now completely broken.

The Sixth Elder was dumbfounded.

He didn’t know how to react as he stared at the Divine Rain Pond. In fact, he was still unable to comprehend the situation.

“What the hell happened in the Divine Rain Pond?” He was hoping that someone could tell him what was going on. He hoped that another person could come out of the pond.

While he was thinking about that, the pond water started seething again.

One after another, people came out of the Divine Rain Pond. Everyone looked emotional that they got out alive.

That was right, the Ninth Heaven was destroyed, and along with it, the entire Divine Rain Pond.

No one knew what happened, they only knew that the inner world of Divine Rain Pond had completely collapsed, if the exit hadn’t opened in time, they might have died inside.

“The Divine Rain Pond is ruined!”

“Who did this?”

“What in the world is going on?”

The disciples that got out stared at each other, trying to figure out what had happened in the Divine Rain Pond.

The Sixth Elder frowned to see this, and he had to stop himself from asking the same question. He could tell that these disciples were equally clueless as him.

However…he heard what they said.

“The Divine Rain Pond is ruined!”

“Who?! Who ruined the Divine Rain Pond!”

“It’s Fang Zhengzhi!” A calm and angelic voice was heard, as a figure wearing a pink long dress appeared before the Sixth Elder and said, “Chi Guyan pays her respect to the Sixth Elder!”

“Quick, tell me what has happened?” The Sixth Elder’s eyes lit up when he heard Chi Guyan.

“Fang Zhengzhi and I entered the Ninth Heaven together, which was supposed to be great news. However, he was eyeing the treasure in the Ninth Heaven, so he attacked me without any warning. I didn’t notice his intentions beforehand, and it was too late when I did. Afterward, he was afraid that his crime would be exposed, so he forcefully destroyed the Divine Rain Pond. If the exit didn’t open in time, I might have died inside!” Chi Guyan sounded desolate, and there was a hint of sadness in her expression.

“Damn it!”

“That bastard is truly shameless!”

“That’s right! Sister Chi Guyan was so nice to him, even begging the Master to let him enter the Divine Rain Pond. How could he be so ungrateful!”

The disciples started fuming with rage before Chi Guyan could even get into the details.

“I was the one who begged Master to let him enter the Divine Rain Pond. Now that it’s ruined…”

“Guyan, you don’t have to say another word. This has nothing to do with you!” The Sixth Elder was similarly enraged and interrupted Chi Guyan before she could finish speaking. “Fang Zhengzhi is now escaping toward the Sword Peak. Guyan, you should get some rest since you’re injured. Everyone else will follow me to catch Fang Zhengzhi!” said the Sixth Elder with a flash in his eyes.

“Understood!” The disciples replied in unison.

“We swear that we’ll catch this bastard and avenge Sister Guyan!”

“Catch him!”

“Tear him to pieces!”

Their angry roars echoed around the Divine Rain Pond.

…

On the way toward the Sword Peak, Fang Zhengzhi was running as fast as he could, not daring to stop for a single moment. The disciples on his tail were relentless as well.

In fact, Fang Zhengzhi was already mentally prepared that Chi Guyan would sell him out. However, when he heard the Sixth Elder’s deafening roar, he couldn’t help but be curious about what Chi Guyan had told the Sixth Elder Elder.

“Nangong Mu is here and he wants to destroy the Heaven-Receiving Door. Stop him now!” Fang Zhengzhi subconsciously sold Nangong Mu out again when he saw the six disciples who were standing between him and the Sword Peak.

However…It obviously didn’t work again.

This was because the disciples chasing after him already reminded them as soon as possible, “There’s no Nangong Mu at all. Hurry up and catch Fang Zhengzhi!”

“Don’t let Fang Zhengzhi get away!”

“Brothers, stop him now!”

“…” Fang Zhengzhi was speechless when he heard them. He wanted to curse and say, “Is this really necessary? Do you guys hate me so much? Why do you have to be so merciless?”

Of course, he didn’t actually ask them about it. Instead, he unsheathed his sword with a purple radiance.

Fang Zhengzhi was not holding back. Since he was already a few steps away from the edge of the Sword Peak, he had to force his way through.

“How dare he draw his sword?”

“Does he really think he can go against six of them?”

“He’s so full of himself!”

The six disciples guarding the Sword Peak also drew their swords when they saw Fang Zhengzhi’s Traceless Sword, but they were showering him with condescending looks.

After all, the fact that they were tasked with guarding Heaven Dao Pavilion while the Divine Rain Pond was opened, meant that they weren’t weak.

All of them were at Rebirth State.

Nevertheless, they were aware that none of them could defeat Fang Zhengzhi individually.

However, they were ganging up on him, not to mention that there were hundreds of disciples chasing after him.

To put it bluntly, they didn’t have to do much. All they needed to do was to either stop his attack or slow him down.

If Fang Zhengzhi could still escape from their hands given the current circumstances, they would give up on their status as the elite disciples of Heaven Dao Pavilion.

“Get into the formation!”

“Understood!”

The six disciples who were standing in a horizontal line moved instantly at the command, changing their positions after a flash of dazzling light.

Three of them stood in the front while the other three were at the back.

Additionally, the swords in their hands were all pointed at Fang Zhengzhi, seemingly connected by a stream of light.

From far, it looked like a gigantic net.

“The six of them are all at Rebirth State, and they still had the audacity to get into a formation?!” Fang Zhengzhi almost fell to the ground.

How could they bully him like this?

More importantly, they got into a defensive formation.

Fang Zhengzhi felt bitter. Although he wasn’t sure what the formation was, he could tell that apart from the ‘net’, the formation seemed to be a defensive formation that forced him into fighting three people simultaneously and continuously.

To put it simply…If they fought against Fang Zhengzhi, only the three people at the front would engage in the battle, while the other three would take over them when they became exhausted.

In other words, this was the perfect defensive formation that would take him at least five minutes to break through.

Was there really no way out alive?

Chapter 722: Step On His Face

Fang Zhengzhi had no time to think. Since he had already reached the Sword Peak, how could he give up so easily?

Regardless, he had to try if there was a way out.

The only pity was that he had used up all his flashbangs and smoke grenades when he was fighting Tian Xing.

Since he couldn’t distract them, he had to fight them head-on.

“Dragon!”

A purple dragon soared into the sky and roared loudly.

“Slayer!”

“Slash!”

His sword descended from above with a mighty and invincible sword radiance, slashing at the three disciples in front.

“Watch out, this move is extremely powerful!” The disciple standing at the back reminded those in front nervously.

“Don’t worry!” The three disciples in front gritted their teeth and confronted the attack head-on.

“Boom!”

With a loud bang, Fang Zhengzhi’s attack left a mark on the Sword Peak and sent the three disciples flying.

With one move…He had managed to injure all three of them.

“How is he so powerful?!”

“No wonder both the Third and Fifth Elder had lost to him. You’ll only know powerful he is if you faced him head on!”

“Brothers, we have to stop him from leaving even at the cost of our lives. Get close to him and force him into close-quarter combat so that he can’t use his sword!”

The three other disciples immediately joined the fight and bolted toward Fang Zhengzhi.

“Close-quarter combat?” Fang Zhengzhi’s eyes lit up, before he aired his grievance, “Brothers, please don’t get close to me. I suck at close-quarter combat!”

“I’m not your brother!

“Shameless!”

“Don’t be deceived by his words and get too close to him. We need to fight passively. Our goal isn’t to injure him, but to stop him from running away!”

Having realized Fang Zhengzhi’s true power, the trio didn’t face him head-on. Although they rushed toward him, they maintained a safe distance so that they could retreat at any time.

“Really? Are they not falling for it?” Fang Zhengzhi didn’t have time to think of a better tactic, so the only thing he could do was expose his ‘weakness’.

Despite so, his opponents didn’t take the bait!

Worse still, they took turns attacking him. When one of them was fighting him, the other two wouldn’t move a finger until the first person was done.

After a round of exchanging blows, Fang Zhengzhi finally realized how annoying they were. They were the role models of being cautious and careful.

He would even go so far as to reward them for fighting so dirtily.

In the past, Fang Zhengzhi always felt that his tactics were dirty and shameless. His number one principle was to run away if he couldn’t beat his opponent.

“Is this karma?”

Fang Zhengzhi wanted to charge forward and beat them up, but they would retreat immediately if he tried to attack. They weren’t going to face him head-on.

As the saying goes, ‘What goes around comes around’.

Fang Zhengzhi was really out of ideas, he had to ‘catch’ them as soon as possible, or he couldn’t possibly escape.

As he moved his left hand, six rays of different colored lights shot out of the ground and turned into six chains.

Hell Near-Life Chains!

This was the only thing that Fang Zhengzhi could think of that had a chance of restraining his opponents.

“Clack!”

One of the disciples sensed the chains coming, and he wanted to back off, but he didn’t make it in time. One of the chains impaled his leg and brought him to the ground.

“Good opportunity!” Fang Zhengzhi stepped on that disciple’s face and leaped into the air.

“Brother, we’re coming!”

Just when Fang Zhengzhi thought that he could get away, the three disciples that he injured earlier charged toward him again.

They were pale as a sheet, but they looked extraordinarily determined.

Fang Zhengzhi was speechless.

“Do you guys really have to try so hard?”

“Since you are all geniuses, why don’t you guys have the resolve of a genius?”

“You’re supposed to stay alive!”

“Shouldn’t you guys act like you’re injured in order to stay alive?”

“Will the Heaven Dao Pavilion reward you for trying so hard?”

“The Sixth Elder mentioned that everyone will be given another chance to enter the Divine Rain Pond if we can stop Fang Zhengzhi from running away!” Someone exclaimed.

“Another chance to enter the Divine Rain Pond? That’s bullshit! I’ve already destroyed the Divine Rain Pond, so how could…” Fang Zhengzhi was already halfway through his sentence when he realized something was wrong.

“Oh no!”

“I fell for it!”

He had basically admitted that he was the one who destroyed the Divine Rain Pond, ruining any chances of proving his innocence.

“That was treacherous, are they trying to hold me accountable already?”

Only now did Fang Zhengzhi realize that the disciples of the Heaven Dao Pavilion weren’t dumb at all. In fact, they were very smart.

The six disciples fighting Fang Zhengzhi were shocked to their core by what he said.

They weren’t the only ones who were shocked, all the disciples who were chasing after Fang Zhengzhi opened their eyes wide with disbelief.

“This bastard had actually ruined the Divine Rain Pond!”

“That’s a capital crime!”

“Brothers, now that he had personally admitted to destroying the Divine Rain Pond, even Sister Chi Guyan can’t save him anymore. Don’t hold back, if you can’t catch him alive, it’s fine to kill him!” A few disciples exclaimed.

“Die!” The six disciples who originally intended to stop Fang Zhengzhi started charging toward him as if they had gone mad.

Every sword was aimed at his vital spots.

Most importantly, a gigantic flying beast appeared in the sky at this moment.

There was a man with snow-white beard standing atop the beast. He was wearing a white robe and holding a sword that was surrounded by green and white light.

“The Sixth Elder is finally here!”

“Fang Zhengzhi can’t possibly escape now!”

The disciples were relieved to see the Sixth Elder, since Fang Zhengzhi was too powerful.

The six disciples who were blocking Fang Zhengzhi’s way looked extremely proud, as if they had achieved an impossible feat.

“Fang Zhengzhi, you’re not going anywhere!” The Sixth Elder was clearly enraged.

“Old Six, don’t kill him. Leave him to the Master!” Two more figures appeared in the sky.

“The Second Elder and the Fourth Elder!” The disciples felt more reassured.

If the Second, Fourth, and Sixth Elder were all here…How could Fang Zhengzhi escape?

This was what all the disciples were thinking, the six disciples in front of Fang Zhengzhi were also secretly relieved.

As for Fang Zhengzhi…He genuinely laughed. Since a long time ago, there was a type of teammates that were called ‘burdens’. Clearly, the three Elders were burdens.

They already announced their presence before they were actually here.

He had to give it to them, because this was a cool way of showing up.

Furthermore, it made them seem imposing.

However, no matter how imposing they were, it was pointless if they weren’t here physically. After all, Fang Zhengzhi wasn’t going to surrender just because they were imposing.

Most importantly, don’t they know that the cooler they seemed, the more they diverted the attention of the disciples?

Fang Zhengzhi looked at the six disciples before him who had stopped moving, and he wanted to say, “If I don’t make use of such a great opportunity, I will be letting these Elders down!”

Without any hesitation, Fang Zhengzhi charged towards the loudest disciple, brandishing his Traceless Sword.

“Oh no! Fang Zhengzhi is trying to run away!” That disciple reacted immediately when he saw Fang Zhengzhi charging towards him.

However, it was already too late, because he heard a voice beside his ear.

“Heavenly Descent!”

As he heard Fang Zhengzhi’s voice, Fang Zhengzhi had already disappeared, only to be replaced by six rays of sky-blue light.

The simultaneous attack of Six Pillars of Heavenly Descent was too much for the six disciples to handle, because they couldn’t work together like before.

The disciple who was restrained by Fang Zhengzhi’s Hell Nearlife Chains and took a foot to his face, suffered the worst fate.

He had yet to even stand up.

“…” As he watched the sky-blue light that appeared above his head, he wanted to say, “No!”. However, he couldn’t manage to say it.

That was because a foot had landed solidly on his face before he could even utter a word.

“Prepare to die!” The Sixth Elder’s face turned black when he saw the disciple collapsing onto the ground without making a sound. He descended from the sky like a meteor without any hesitation.

At the same time, he attacked with his sword, which was surrounded by green and white light, slashing toward the cliff.

Chapter 723: Yan Xiu’s Friend

This was a sword radiance that was formed by both green and white light. It was extremely quick, nearing the cliff right as The Sixth Elder’s sword came down.

“Boom!”

Following a loud bang, a light screen appeared on the cliff. The green and white light combined to form a solid wall.

“Did that stop him?”

“I suppose so.”

The disciples couldn’t help but be nervous as they looked toward the wall.

However…They were meant to be disappointed.

This was because they heard a disdainful voice right as the wall appeared, “Why did you act cool?”

“Act cool…”

The disdainful voice echoed in the air.

The Sixth Elder’s and the disciples’ expressions changed. They were enraged by the humiliation.

There were several hundred disciples of the Heaven Dao Pavilion, coupled with six disciples guarding the Sword Peak and three Elders, yet, with such a big army, they couldn’t even stop Fang Zhengzhi, who was only at Rebirth State.

If this got out, the the Heaven Dao Pavilion’s reputation in the Holy Region might be ruined.

“Kid, you’re not going anywhere!” The Sixth Elder’s face was bright red with embarrassment. He jumped down the cliff right after he landed.

The gigantic beast also dashed down like a stream of light.

“Give chase!”

“We can’t let him get away no matter what!”

“Go down the cliff!”

All the disciples of the Heaven Dao Pavilion followed the Sixth Elder and jumped down the cliff, blowing their whistles at the same time.

“Roar…”

“Roar!!”

The roars of countless beasts came from the forest, below the cliff, and within the Heaven Dao Pavilion, following which, many massive figures appeared in the sky.

“This bastard is really hard to deal with!” The Second Elder said with a sigh as he looked at the Fourth Elder.

“That’s true, but we can’t forgive him for destroying the Divine Rain Pond!” The Fourth Elder nodded his head and said.

“Let’s chase after him, he can’t get away!”

“Ok!”

…

Fang Zhengzhi felt that he was in too much of a rush.

He had never thought that he would be leaving the Heaven Dao Pavilion like this. In his original plan, he was supposed to be carrying a bunch of treasures, riding on a Snow Wind Eagle, and soaring into the sky while tens of thousands of people watched as he left. He was supposed to wave goodbye without anyone sending him off.

It was a pity that reality was nothing like he had expected.

He did obtain the treasures beforehand, but he lacked a Snow Wind Eagle, or rather, even if he did have one, he couldn’t summon it now.

However, the most embarrassing thing for him was the fact that hundreds of people came to send him off even after he waved goodbye.

Furthermore, these people were fuming with the intent to kill him. Life was truly full of plot twists, and they always struck when it was the least expected.

Run…That was the only thing Fang Zhengzhi could do at the moment, and it was also his only choice. If he got caught, he would definitely be killed.

In that case, he didn’t have to hesitate.

After jumping down the cliff, he continued running toward the bottom of the mountain at the fastest speed he could manage. He didn’t dare to slow down even a little.

Despite so, his pursuers were getting closer, especially the Sixth Elder, who was now less than 20 steps away from him, thanks to the speed of his beast. He was still speeding up towards Fang Zhengzhi.

“Sixth Elder, it isn’t gentlemanly to backstab someone!” Fang Zhengzhi shouted nervously as he headed towards the bottom of the cliff.

“Hmph! Do you think that I will fall for your trick? There’s no way in hell that I would attack you so that you could run away faster by borrowing the momentum of my attack!” The Sixth Elder snorted.

“Damn it…All of them are cunning old bastards!” Fang Zhengzhi was just trying his luck, because he himself didn’t believe that the Sixth Elder would fall for it. However, he would be lying if he said that he didn’t have any tricks left.

Although he didn’t have time to make more flashbangs and smoke grenades, he picked up all the nails and concealed weapons that he used against Tian Xing during their battle.

It was not time for them to make a comeback again.

With a wave of his hand, countless nails and concealed weapons shot towards the Sixth Elder like fireworks in the sky.

“You shameless bastard!” The Six Elder was clearly pissed off by these concealed weapons, but there was nothing he could do.

He couldn’t possibly ask Fang Zhengzhi not to throw the nails at him.

The Sixth Elder had no choice but to evade the nails. Although they couldn’t harm him, but he would definitely slow down if he blocked the nails with his sword.

He was dodging the nails and concealed weapons easily, but the disciples behind him weren’t as skilled or as lucky as him, especially their beasts.

“Roar!”

“Aiya, what’s that?!”

“Watch out for the concealed weapons!”

“Roar!!!”

The disciples and their beasts sang a beautiful symphony. The downward path was full of ups and downs, just like their lives.

“It’s working well!” Fang Zhengzhi was pleased to see them getting further away, so he didn’t hesitate to throw out more of his concealed weapons.

As he recalled Wu Yuer’s condescending looks when he was making these nails, he could only blame her for being too young and too short-sighted.

Just as what Wu Yuer and the others had said, these nailed were useless against people who were too powerful, such as Tian Xing. They were only good for delaying the time.

However, during special occasions, like when he was escaping, these nails and concealed weapons could literally save his life.

A phrase to describe these items was ‘Better to be safe than sorry’!

…

Thanks to Fang Zhengzhi’s nails, the Sixth Elder couldn’t get any closer. He could only follow closely behind him.

The disciples behind him…They were worse off. Most of them were struck by the concealed weapons, and a few weaker disciples were even knocked out.

Of course, the beasts suffered the most. Since they were huge, they couldn’t evade these fast-moving nails effectively.

All of the beasts were bleeding profusely.

“Damn it, you’re shameless!”

“Fang Zhengzhi, I swear that I’ll kill you!”

“Aiyo…”

The disciples were either shouting angrily or screaming in pain, but all of them were definitely agitated.

Fang Zhengzhi didn’t bother about them, because in all honesty, he was punishable by death.

In that case, he didn’t mind committing more offenses.

As he sped down the cliff, the rain of nails and concealed weapons didn’t stop.

Finally, a snow-white region appeared in his sight, along with five tiny spots. Fang Zhengzhi’s eyes lit up with excitement, because he knew that it was the empty field below the cliff, and the five tiny wooden houses.

“Yan Xiu, run!” Under normal circumstances, Yan Xiu would be reading by the lake, but Fang Zhengzhi wanted to be sure.

After all, there was always a chance that something might go wrong.

If Yan Xiu was sleeping in the wooden house instead of following his normal routine…They would be in trouble!

Hence, he shouted out loud as soon as possible.

However, there was no reaction in the tiny wooden houses, which made Fang Zhengzhi slightly relieved.

If Yan Xiu wasn’t in the wooden house, he must be reading beside the lake. That would make escaping slightly easier.

In fact, Fang Zhengzhi really wasn’t willing to leave the Heaven Dao Pavilion like this, because Yan Xiu’s condition was a little special.

To put it bluntly, Yan Xiu was no different from a normal person currently.

Of course, although he was physically stronger, but his Origin Energy in his Small Dimension was sealed.

According to Chi Guyan, Yan Xiu had entered a critical stage back then. He was unconscious, and one could even say that he became a true Fallen Asura. Normally, there wasn’t a way to save him, and the only option was to kill him. Even Chi Guyan couldn’t completely remove the Fallen Asura that had consumed him.

The only way was to seal him temporarily.

By sealing the Fallen Asura and the Origin Energy in his Small Dimension, Yan Xiu could slowly remove the harm done to his body. This could take anywhere between three months and half a year.

Fang Zhengzhi was willing to accept this outcome.

After all, it would only take up to half a year for him to recover. However, Yan Xiu was anxious about this, so he had been reading beside the lake every day, sometimes for the entire day.

As Yan Xiu once said, “Three months is actually a short time!”

These three months were the last three months left in Fang Zhengzhi’s life. Similarly, it was a goal that Yan Xiu had set, which was to recover in three months.

…

While he was 20 steps away from the ground, Fang Zhengzhi moved. He stepped onto the cliff with all his strength and converted the direction of his momentum, from going downward, to going forward.

When the Sixth Elder saw this, he gritted his teeth and did the same.

However…Before he could change his direction, dozens of glittering nails were already coming for his face.

“Damn it!” The Sixth Elder was in the middle of changing his direction, so he couldn’t dodge the nails effectively. Running out of options, he could only block the nails with his sword.

“Boom boom boom…”

At this moment, Fang Zhengzhi had already entered the forest, and a giant tree somehow appeared on the path that lead into the forest.

“His speed…” The Sixth Elder was amazed, because he thought that Fang Zhengzhi would slow down after landing on the ground.

However, the fact was that…He became even faster!

Only now did he understand how Fang Zhengzhi walked out of the Jungle of Mysteries within an hour.

He was seething with anger.

However, to his pleasant surprise, instead of staying quiet after entering the forest, Fang Zhengzhi was shouting at the top of his lungs, “Yan Xiu….Yan Xiu, run, Yan Xiu…” Thanks to his shouting, it would be hard for the Sixth Elder to not pinpoint his location.

“Hmph, how could he think about escaping with Yan Xiu when he’s going to die soon? He’s asking for it!” The Sixth Elder snorted and struck with his sword.

“Boom!”

With a loud bang, the tree that was blocking his way was split into two.

However, Fang Zhengzhi wasn’t worried about the tree at the moment, he was scattering the nails all over the ground as he bolted towards the lake.

Meanwhile, beside the lake…Yan Xiu turned and looked behind him when he heard Fang Zhengzhi’s voice, but he didn’t respond immediately.

This was because there was a black-robed man standing in front of him, with his was covered by the hood of the robe.

“So you’re finally showing yourself.” Yan Xiu said flatly.

“Haha, Yan Xiu, you’re just a normal person now, so why do you have to pretend that you’ve discovered me?” The figure chuckled at Yan Xiu’s words.

“What do you want?” Yan Xiu’s lip twitches, but his expression was as calm as the lake behind him.

“Well…I don’t have to kill you. I’ve heard that you’re Fang Zhengzhi’s friend.”

“Are you taking me hostage?”

“That’s right, I’ve heard that you guys are very close friends. What was that sentence…Oh, I got it, ‘I can let down anyone in the world but him’, right? I’m going to see for myself today, whether he will choose to save you, or to save himself.” The figure nodded softly.

“You don’t seem like you have had any friends in your life.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you have a true friend, you’d know that I won’t let him make that choice!” As Yan Xiu said that, he raised his right hand and struck at his own head.