Chapter 43  : Chapter 043: It’s Really You

I

This…this…

Everyone was stunned. Ma Dexing’s sword roared like thunder, the turbulent fluctuations of his energy made people shudder. Everyone thought that Yang Zhen was doomed. However, what they saw before their eyes had completely exceeded the comprehension of all ten people.

A powerful attack from a practitioner at the Golden Core stage, moreover, with a high-ranking heavenly long sword, when it rushed to Yang Zhen’s side, it was like a worn-out snake, dropping at Yang Zhen’s feet. Yang Zhen picked it up and ran away.

He ran! Yang Zhen had actually just run away like that with Ma Dexing’s high-ranking heavenly longsword, running as fast as he could.

There must be something weird about that piece of wood Yang Zhen had shattered. Otherwise, such a thing would never happen.

Wang Shuiyan exclaimed, covering her mouth in disbelief.

With a blank expression on his face, Ma Dexing looked at his hands, then chased after Yang Zhen in a fit of anger, shouting as he ran, “Yang Zhen, give me back my Thunderbolt Sword!”

Yang Zhen laughed heartily, waved the long sword in his hand, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone. A soft voice drifted back from the distance, making Ma Dexing vibrate with rage.

“Take it and run, how exciting!”

The son of Lu and others were dumbfounded, murmuring to themselves, “This…this is too dishonorable.”

The others nodded in agreement, even Wang Shuiyan, who had always admired Yang Zhen, subconsciously nodded along.

Yang Zhen’s series of actions were simply brazenly shameless, reaching new heights of dishonor.

Looking back, Yang Zhen’s boastful claim that he would force Ma Dexing to draw his sword three times was probably not a counter-psychological tactic, and even less likely to tempt Ma Dexing into making a big move, only to let Yang Zhen win thrice. His real goal was likely to make Ma Dexing use the sword.

One trap led to another. Yang Zhen’s tactics were ridiculously deep and downright disgraceful. Seeing Ma Dexing’s furious and flustered demeanor, he chased after Yang Zhen in a haphazard manner.

Practitioners with cultivation beyond the Minor Mahayana Phase are capable of sword-riding or weapon-riding technique, but not all weapons can be commanded. A weapon could only be commanded if it bore the practitioner’s spiritual imprint.

Otherwise, in the middle of a sword-riding pursuit, the enemy could also command your weapon, leading to utter chaos. Ma Dexing probably never envisaged in his wildest dreams that Yang Zhen could subtly erase the spiritual imprint he left on the Thunderbolt Sword.

How did he do it?

The bewildered group of ten simultaneously remembered the piece of wood in Yang Zhen’s hand.

It must have been Yang Zhen who had tampered with that piece of wood, mysteriously erasing or blocking the spiritual imprint in the Thunderbolt Sword. Could it be that Yang Zhen knew he was going to offend Ma Dexing, and prepared the stick beforehand?

Thinking about this, Lu Gongzi’s back was soaked in sweat, cold sweat streamed down uncontrollably.

Scary, too scary. They absolutely mustn’t mess with the monster, Yang Zhen, in the future. Seeing Ma Dexing’s frantic chase after Yang Zhen, all of those ten people felt a chill run down their spine.

Yang Zhen’s footwork was extremely strange, he could conjure up a cloud under his feet that seemed to explode with terrifying speed. Ma Dexing didn’t have any other sword-riding artifacts on him, so how could he catch up with Yang Zhen?

Before long, Yang Zhen had disappeared from sight, while Ma Dexing, furious to the point of explosion, could only roar in frustration, venting his anger on the surrounding forest.

For a time, the entire forest was filled with Ma Dexing’s outraged roars.

Yang Zhen heard Ma Dexing’s roars behind him, and couldn’t help but marvel. This old fellow’s state of mind was incredibly high – he wasn’t even coughing up blood in anger.

Looking at the Thunderbolt Sword in his hand, the more Yang Zhen looked at it, the more he liked it. He had always wanted a decent weapon.

Now, his ancient Thunder Rider Body had reached near perfection. The Dayan Wind and Thunder Sword and the Three-Element Ghost Shadow Sword were able to unleash their maximum power, along with the Hundred Swords Resonating together. All these martial skills which required a sword to exhibit their maximum strength had been supplemented by the Thunderbolt Sword, making Yang Zhen powerful as a tiger with wings.

If Master Lu and others were correct, the stick Yang Zhen always carried on his back indeed had budded into ten array formations. These formations were all derived from the Heavenly Book of Profound Theory, powerful and full of potential.

If it hadn’t been for this wooden stick, Yang Zhen would have been in serious danger. Despite saving his life, he had been somewhat dissatisfied, finding it too difficult to use.

Whilst the array formations were powerful, Yang Zhen had underestimated the amount of True Essence consumed when activating these formations. The initial explosion almost drained all the True Essence from his body.

Fortunately, he succeeded. Otherwise, even if the Thunderbolt Sword had moved forward another meter, it would have pierced a hole through his body.

At that moment, aside from his desperate running, Yang Zhen could barely exert any energy at all, let alone mobilize True Essence. Any Practitioner in the Nascent Stage could have easily pinned him to the ground and toyed with him at will.

Almost, in the next ten days, Yang Zhenu’s knowledge derived from the Heavenly Book of Profound Theory completely wiped out the spiritual mark inscribed on the Thunderbolt Sword, henceforth the Thunderbolt Sword was completely associated with him and had nothing to do with Ma Dexing.

The journey from Flame City to the Great Smoke City would naturally take about fifteen days. As they approached Flame City, not only had Yang Zhen recovered to his best condition, but he had also had a breakthrough, advancing to the seventh level of the Foundation Establishment stage, significantly increasing his strength. Early one morning, Yang Zhen started humming a small tune as he entered a mountain forest that led to Flame City. After crossing this mountain forest, he would be within the territory of Flame City and under the influence of Changyue Tower.

Flame City had countless large and small sects, most of them under the influence of Changyue Tower. The shelter of the Changyue Tower ensured their smooth development, it was said that many promising young talents, graced with exceptional skills, could be found there.

Not long after entering the forest, Yang Zhen suddenly felt a hot breath blow over his face, making him feel a little surprised.

Flame City was named so because of the vast Volcano Forest to the east of the city; where countless powerful beasts and even mythical beasts were rumoured to reside.

Because of the unpredictable nature of the volcano, no practitioner dared to easily venture into the depths of the Volcano Forest. Thus, up until now, although the inner depths of Volcano Forest were not completely unknown, to most people it still remained a mystery, shrouded with danger and mystery.

Yang Zhen had to bypass the Volcano Forest on this journey, travelling along the edge of the forest to reach Flame City.

Theoretically, there shouldn’t be such a dense fluctuation of fire elements here, but since he was feeling them now, something must have happened inside the Volcano Forest.

Indeed, Yang Zhen had not gone far towards the direction where the elemental fluctuations were intense when he heard sobbing sounds from within the forest, with rolling waves of heat coming at him.

After crossing an enormous scorched rock, Yang Zhen saw several people, both men and women, a group of about fifteen or sixteen.

Their cultivation levels were not far from Yang Zhen, around the sixth or seventh levels of the Foundation Establishment Stage. Only a few were slightly stronger. What caught Yang Zhen’s attention were a man and a woman, their power around the ninth level of the Foundation Establishment Stage, their aura profound. The woman was full of heroic energy while the man was full of majesty; both seemed impressive at first glance.

“Who’s there?”

The girl in white gave a soft cry, turned, and stared in Yang Zhen’s direction. Her eyes were filled with electricity, causing Yang Zhen’s whole body to feel numb and shudder.

“Cousin, it really is you! I’ve missed you so much. Finally, I’ve found you, my cousin!”

Yang Zhen emerged from behind the boulder with a face full of surprise and ran towards the girl in white.

“Cousin?” The man looked confusedly at Yang Zhen, then at the girl in white, and asked with surprise, “Junior Sister, is this man your cousin from the mortal world?”

The girl in white looked sternly at Yang Zhen and asked, “Who are you?”

Startled, Yang Zhen recoiled three steps and clutched his chest, saying distressedly, “Cous… cousin, don’t you recognize me? I’m your elder cousin..”