Chapter 203: Difficult to Survive

Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations

The blade looked extremely ordinary, like one of the blades lying on the ground.

Even more strangely, there was no one behind Xing Qingsui. It was empty with the exception of some blades in rocks.

Xing Qingsui paled and winced. He was in extreme pain, his lips quivering as he gripped the ground.

He was stabbed in the back?!

He did not scream. Instead, he had only said ‘you...’. This was testament to Xing Qingsui’s endurance.

But, why was there a blade sticking out of his chest?

Furthermore...

Why couldn’t anyone spot his attacker?

Most importantly, who was Xing Qingsui referring to when he said ‘you’?

Questions flashed past the minds of everyone on the scene. They were all stunned by what they saw. Who had the audacity to attack Xing Qingsui?

Fang Zhengzhi was not too surprised.

Afterall, he did not understand this world very well. If he had tried to get to the bottom of everything, he would have a really bad headache by now.

As such, he was only curious about the strange happenings, never shocked.

This kind of att.i.tude caused him to think not about who the blade had pierced, but why the blade was an ordinary one.

After all, this was the Imperial Examinations.

Which person here did not have a decent weapon?

His concentration was drawn away. He guessed that the blade was possibly embedded in one of the rocks before. This realization caused him to notice a surprising scene unfolding before his eyes.

Many of the blades began to rise from the ground.

It was almost as if an invisible hand was pulling them from the ground, causing a light grinding sound as the blades were extracted.

However, all of them were so absorbed by the fact that Xing Qingsui was stabbed that none of them realized that there was a blade at their back.

"Yan Xiu!" Fang Zhengzhi lunged without a second thought.

He knew that there was a blade at his back without even looking. He was not going to stand still and be stepped.

Yan Xiu was looking at Xing Qingsui, his gaze filled with doubt and curiosity.

He suddenly heard Fang Zhengzhi’s voice echo out.

Before he could turn around, he felt a wave of force cras.h.i.+ng into him. Then, his body was forced towards the ground.

He instinctively wanted to fight it and break free.

However, he gave up quickly.

He had heard Fang Zhengzhi’s voice, and Fang Zhengzhi was standing next to him.

Even though he did not know why Fang Zhengzhi would lunge at him, he did not resist.

"Plonk!" The two of them crashed to the ground.

Just at that moment, the sound of blades rus.h.i.+ng through the air could be heard above them.

That was not all.

Sounds of blades piercing bodies seemed to ring out simultaneously. The ring was slightly icy as the blades pierced their chest.

They were all stabbed in the back, just like Xing Qingsui.

"Ah!"

"Ah, ah, ah..."

Cries of pain echoed out.

Not everyone had Xing Qingsui’s endurance. As such, many of them began to cry out pitifully, their cries echoing throughout the sea of blades...

"The swords... the swords are attacking us!"

"The World of the Sage is out of control!"

"Run."

Screams pierced through the chaos.

Any candidate capable of entering the third round would be reasonably alert. As such, there were a few who still managed to dodge the attacks of the blades.

The entire crowd went out of control.

"Who dares to attack me?! Are you tired of living?!" An arrogant voice pierced through the crowd. Even Ping Yang was not spared from the attack.

She was Princess Ping Yang, the most pampered princess in the Great Xia Dynasty.

Who had the audacity to sneak and attack on her?

This was an almost lethal attempt on her life.

How could she not be enraged?

Ping Yang’s rage reaffirmed everyone’s suspicions. There was no candidate who would dare to do such a thing.

The only possible explanation was that the World of the Sage was out of control.

Fang Zhengzhi had initially thought so too. However, he quickly dismissed the thought.

He recalled what Xing Qingsui had said when he was stabbed in the back.

Xing Qingsui had said, "You..."

He did not scream.

Xing Qingsui, having been the first to be attacked, naturally had the greatest say in the matter.

In fact, Xing Qingsui’s subsequent actions proved it all.

Xing Qingsui was on the move.

Even though he was seriously injured, he stubbornly held Meteor in his hand as he struck at the frail looking middle aged man next to him.

The blade sliced through the air.

"Clang!" One of the blades from the ground met Xing Qingsui’s attack in mid air.

This made it easy for the middle aged man to dodge the first attack.

Even though Xing Qingsui was already injured from the attack, the middle aged man never let down his guard.

"Why is young master doing this?" The middle aged man looked at Xing Qingsui in surprise.

"Ahem... this... shouldn’t I be asking you that? Who... are you?" Xing Qingsui bit his lip, his sword drooping.

His hand was shaking.

This was the first time his hand had shook.

Perhaps he was too emotional, or perhaps his injuries were too severe.

The middle aged man smirked. He looked at all of the injured candidates before his gaze returned to Xing Qingsui.

"Has young master forgotten my name? I am your most loyal guard. I saved your from the battlefield three years ago. I am Xing Zhong. Have you forgotten the name you gave me?" The man looked at Xing Qingsui.

"Three years ago..." Xing Qingsui’s gaze was slightly lost.

The middle aged man was right. He had been severely injured in the battle three years ago. At that time, he had been cornered at the top of a mountain by a thousand strong devil army.

He had spent all his energy in an attempt to get out of the trap.

He ended up in a coma.

When he awoke, this man was by his side.

Much like him, the middle aged man had entered a coma, and he had taken a few nearly lethal blows to the neck.

If not for the timely arrival of reinforcements, the two of them would not have escaped death.

As such, Xing Qingsui had requested that this man be allowed to take on the surname Xing. This man would also become his most loyal guard, someone who he taught everything to. In three years, this man had never left him.

This man had done a lot whilst joining Xing Qingsui on the battlefield.

"You are not Xing Zhong. Xing Zhong died... three years ago. Who are you?" Xing Qingsui was sure of himself.

He had checked up Xing Zhong’s ident.i.ty. This man could not have existed.

The man in front of him was clearly not Xing Zhong.

"Isn’t it a little too late for young master to realize this now?" The middle aged man smirked. At this point, Xing Qingsui realized that there was another blade aimed at his neck.

All of the candidates saw the scene unfolding before them.

They had heard the conversation between the two people, but they could not fully understand what they were saying.

Even so, they could be sure of one thing. Xing Qingsui had already deduced the source of the attack. More importantly, the flying blade had proven the point.

"Who is he?!"

"Why would Xing Qingsui’s guard turn on him?"

He is actually trying to attack us."

The questions and answers were incredibly messy.

However, this was clearly not the time to ask these questions. Those uninjured candidates began to turn their weapons on the middle aged man.

Three of them even started to attack.

Three sword glimmered in the air. Two went towards the middle aged man whilst the other one went for the sword in mid air.

This was the best way they could help now.

However, the blade aimed at Xing Qingsui’s throat was already in motion. It was quick as lightning, much faster than any of the other three blades.

Xing Qingsui stared at that blade, but did not close his eyes.

Closing one’s eyes was the action of a coward. As the heir to the Stabilisation Constabulary, he would stare death in the eye without any fear.

Why didn’t Xing Qingsui try to block it?

His hands were already trembling. How was he going to raise his sword?

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

Two crisp sounds rang out.

The blade aimed at Xing Qingsui fell to the ground. Another blade fell to the ground with it. That was a jade green blade.

Another blade also fell to the ground.

That blade was slightly further from Xing Qingsui.

That was a deep blue blade, slightly longer than the jade green one.

The middle aged man did not have a sword in his hand. All he had was a sabre. His sabre was undecorated, but glimmered with an icy glow. It had a faint blood aura. This sabre had taken lives before.

"Oh?" The middle aged man looked to his right.

That deep blue blade had been launched at him. However, it had not come from the three charging students. It had come from a youth to his right.

This youth wore a short sleeved workaday top, but his gaze was incredibly calm.

This youth was Nangong Mu.

"It’s the Green and Blue Dual Blade!"

"The Green and Blue Dual Blade of the Nangong Clan is with Nangong Mu? Is he training with the Green and Blue Secret Art?!"

"My gosh, is there anyone in this world who can perfect that?"

The candidates were all in shock when they saw the blades on the ground. Their shock from this was significantly more than when they were attacked by the middle aged man.

One of the reasons was that...

Nangong Mu was using the Green and Blue Secret Art.

The other three candidates were unsurprisingly stopped. Their blades were met by three other hovering blades.

"I would expect Nangong Hao’s brother to be slightly smarter. I never expected him to be such an idiot?" The middle aged man mocked.

"Indeed." Nangong Mu nodded.

He did not hesitate to reply, seemingly unprovoked by the middle aged man’s provocation. It felt like he was replying to a normal comment.

The surrounding candidates could not understand.

Why would Nangong Mu be so accepting of mockery?

"I guess you’re not very talkative huh?" The middle aged man seemed slightly taken aback by Nangong Mu’s reply.

He definitely was not naive enough to think that Nangong Mu would be scared of him. If Nangong Mu was afraid of him, he would not have attacked.

"You can use your shadows to control the blades on the ground and can hide your shadows underground. Such abilities are rather surprising. It’s a pity you’re not human!" Nangong Mu did not respond to the question, choosing to mutter to himself.

"You’re a man of few words, but your observation skills are quite exemplary. There is something I don’t quite understand though, why do you think I am not human?" The middle aged man smiled.

"In order to have such control, one must be above the Heavenly Reflection State. There are only 39 people in the world who are capable of manipulating shadows to such a level, and none of them are here. As such, you are definitely not human. If I am correct, there is someone amongst the devils who fights like you do. That man is Ying Shan." Nangong Mu replied.

When the middle aged man heard the name "Ying Shan", his smiled froze and his eyes glittered with surprise for the first time.

He was not surprised by Nangong Mu’s abilities, but he was surprised that Nangong Mu could guess who he was through observation, knowledge and his fighting technique. That was something to fear.

"You remember it so clearly? You can’t be a fake... I can’t believe that the Nangong Family still loves to keep records of these even after they went underground. It’s a pity you’re going to die." The middle aged man did not deny what Nangong Mu said.

So...

In a way, he had admitted that Nangong Mu was right.

The surrounding candidates all stepped backwards unconsciously. Their faces were filled with fear.

If what Nangong Mu said was true...

This was way too scary.

There was only one person named Ying Shan amongst the devils. He was the Vice Domain Chief of the Ying Domain of the Ten Devilish Domains.

"How is that possible?!"

"Why would the demons send a Vice Domain Chief to the Imperial Examinations?"

"No, I don’t want to die just yet."

All of the candidates felt incredibly helpless. They had no chance of facing off against Ying Shan.

He was more powerful than any Heavenly Reflection cultivator.

"Is Ying Shan... very powerful?" Fang Zhengzhi climbed up from the ground and asked Yan Xiu.

"I think it’s very difficult to survive!" Yan Xiu nodded.

This was the first time that Yan Xiu had described a situaation this way. And he had to pick a time like this to say it.