Okay, never mind. That sounded unnecessarily pretentious.

Anyway, the earth-shattering explosion resulting from the collision of two enormous waves of qi (that still sounded pretentious, but whatever) blasted across the mountainrange, flattening all the trees within a hundred-meter radius. In just a single instance, the tiny part of the forest nestled at the foot of the mountains vanished, leaving behind a barren land.

Swoosh!

Golden lights enveloped the horizon, and one of the figures was sent hurtling downward, crashing into an unaffected portion of the beleaguered forest. Smashing through several huge trees, the figure continued to tumble downward for a few moments before finally coming to a stop.

"Ugh!"

Zhu Jiao slowly rose to his feet, throwing up a mouthful of blood. He leaned unsteadily against an unbroken tree, his complexion frightfully pale. Despite his injuries, his eyes remained vigorous and defiant as he glared up above.

It looked like Zhu Jiao was actually enjoying the fight. No doubt this was one of the toughest battles he had ever faced before.

Likewise, in the air, golden light dissipated as the other figure was hurled backward. However, he managed to halt his momentum with a visible effort after barreling several dozen meters away. With a determined yell, he seemed to plunge his spear into empty s.p.a.ce, and despite there not being any ground or whatever to anchor himself to, he was able to stop skidding and slowly straightened to steady his violently trembling body.

Despite his best efforts, a kinetic blast of wind continued to surge in the direction he was thrown in, obliterating a boulder below.

"Unbelievable!"

Spitting a glob of blood, Jiang Jun Hao wiped his mouth and glared downward, looking a little green. His fingers tightly gripped the Heavenly Spear as he glared at the person standing in the forest, so far away. He did not expect that Zhu Jiao would be so difficult to deal with, surviving not one but two strikes from his treasured sect weapon.

His eyes wide in disbelief, he shook his head. He was unable to wrap his head around the fact that a kid several years younger than him and belonging to a lower stage could survive everything he threw at him. He vowed to kill Zhu Jiao, no matter the cost.

As for me, I couldn"t help but bury my face in my palm. What the f.u.c.k was wrong with these people? Killing, killing, killing. Is that all they can think of? Common sense dictated that you befriended people with potential and do your best to avoid p.i.s.sing them off, but this guy was so arrogant and crazed that all he could think of was killing.

Ths must be one of the so-called arrogant young masters that populated the landscape of wuxia and xianxia stories.

"I"m curious to see how many spear attacks of mine you can endure today!"

Jiang Jun Hao roared, his eyes gleaming maliciously. Dense murderous intent was emanating from him. Even though Zhu Jiao"s earlier attack had been fearsome to the extent that he could match Jiang Jun Hao blow for blow, the latter could sense his strength and qi waning slightly. He was confident that Zhu Jiao wouldn"t be able to sustain attacks of such a magnitude and would run out of qi before long.

The guy evidently hadn"t factored in the artificial qi that Zhu Jiao received. What an idiot.

Boom!

For some reason, Jiang Jun Hao was expending immense amounts of qi…probably to show off or to intimidate his opponent, but it was a ridiculous waste of qi if you asked me. He infused his qi into the golden spear in his hands and it jerked violently in his arms, as if desperately resisting the intrusion of its owner"s qi. Man and spear became one as they transformed into a golden flash that streaked across the heavens.

"Wow…is that Man and Sword as One?" I asked, impressed, as I watched the golden flash acr toward Zhu Jiao. Currently, Jiang Jun Hao was emanating an overwhelming spear aura that saturated the entire mountain range with suffocating killing intent, drowning every living thin in his qi and paralyzing them. Even though he seemed unaffected, Zhu Jiao merely stood still as he watched Jiang Jun Hao fiercely charge at him with his spear.

Baaaam!

The destructive power was so potent that even though he was so high up in the sky, Jiang Jun Hao left a trail of broken ground in his wake, carving a ravine into the solid rock below.

Clearly Jiang Jun Hao was determined to kill Zhu Jiao no matter what. Probably based off some bulls.h.i.t reasoning that Zhu Jiao"s performance had convinced him that it was best to eliminate such a terrifying threat before he could become too strong and caused a lot of problems in future.

Such a way of thinking was illogical and stupid.

No, seriously. If Zhu Jiao was that strong, then you should befriend him. Why was the first thing in your mind to kill him? What kind of f.u.c.king logic was that? If you know he would be someone powerful and probably influential in future, why was your first thought "he must die"? Wouldn"t it be more rational to befriend such a promising person and reap the benefits in future? Who the f.u.c.k resorts to killing every single person he meets?

Furthermore, he was targeting Zhu Jiao and Zhu Jiao alone. I had the feeling that it was less Zhu Jiao posing an immense a threat in future and simply because he was the protagonist that Jiang Jun Hao was forced into trying to kill him. The author was trying to contrive all sorts of poor excuses to cook up reasons for an antagonist to attack his protagonist just to show off the protagonist"s potential, and to write a fight scene. It wouldn"t be a xianxia story if n.o.body fought and everybody chose to be peaceful and logical, after all.

The problem was that relying on such plot devices and illogical characters made the story so contrived and cheesy that it was difficult to suspend disbelief, and it was just poor writing and extremely unrealistic in general. I mean, why didn"t Jiang Jun Hao go around killing everybody then? Why didn"t he attack Lei Yong Chun or the other prodigies and geniuses? Why specifically aim for Zhu Jiao and only Zhu Jiao? The only difference is that Zhu Jiao was the protagonist, and thus for no reason the whole world was out to get him.

It became a vicious cycle. After getting rid of one enemy, the author had to find excuses for new antagonists to attack him, no matter how contrived, petty or stupid the reason was. And after those antagonists got stomped by the protagonist in the most epic fashion, he had to yet again find new enemies to attack the protagonist for no stupid reason, even though logically any sensible person should have learned the protagonist was not somebody you messed with. But no, n.o.body learned their lesson. I understood that they couldn"t, or the story would just end there with n.o.body fighting the protagonist and him having nothing to overcome, but they should think of more creative ways than that.

Anyway, I digress. I should be focusing on the fight between Zhu Jiao and Jiang Jun Hao.

The golden light that filled the heavens continued to expand rapidly as it approached Zhu Jiao. However, the main character did not bother evading. Instead, he c.o.c.ked his arm back and braced himself to confront it directly.

"Die!"

"Can you stop shouting that?!" I yelled, throwing my hands up in exasperation.

Jiang Jun Hao didn"t bother to reply. He was already in front of Zhu Jiao, thrusting his golden spear forward in a deadly manner. His eyes narrowed sinisterly and a golden dragon aura enveloped him, seeming to lend him more power as he sought to pierce Zhu Jiao.

Zhu Jiao merely batted it away with a single hand, and then retaliate with a powerful strike that would have smashed Jiang Jun Hao"s ribcage into bony fragments had the latter not pulled his spear back in reflex and parry the strike.

Bang!

The golden lights collided and exploded forcefully. Without any tricks, Zhu Jiao had thrown a lot of power into his punch, so much so that the air around him seemed to distort from the sheer amount of qi that swirled in a raging maelstrom. The golden qi seemed to condense and solidify around him, striking Jiang Jun Hao like a truck and detonating the air around them so powerfully that it felt like a supernova. The surrounding trees around them disintegrated from the sheer destructive force, simply ceasing to exist as the qi blasted through them.

For just a second, a sliver of fear flashed in Jiang Jun Hao"s eyes. He was unable to react, and knew that if he hadn"t blocked the terrifying punch with his Heavenly Spear, he would have died instantly on the spot.

Dong!

Beyond the circle of disintegrated trees, more of trees in the outer ring collapsed like bowling pins, swept off their roots by the hurricane of qi. Never mind the trees – even the demonic creatures inhabiting those portions of the forest couldn"t respond in time, crushed instantly into b.l.o.o.d.y pulps as the destructive qi washed over them.

Bang!

The terrifying shockwaves sent both combatants flying in opposite directions, the two of them tumbling helplessly for almost a hundred meters before they finally stopped. Even as they skidded, they left deep furrows in the ground.

"How are you able to pack so much power, even though you"re merely a Qi Fusion Stage pract.i.tioner?" Jiang Jun Hao scowled in disbelief and shook his trembling hands, trying to tighten his loosening grip on the Heavenly Spear.

Zhu Jiao shrugged. "Who says I"m a Qi Fusion Stage pract.i.tioner?"

"Eh? You aren"t? But the amount of qi you emit…it can"t be higher than a Qi Fusion Stage pract.i.tioner!"

I snorted. "This is the trouble with you martial artists. Why does everything have to be divided into stages and whatnot? How do you measure someone"s level or stage or realm? Why do you judge people based on the amount of qi they radiate? You"re so obsessed with levels that whenever someone from a supposedly lower level overpowers you, you get all upset. Don"t you understand that all these power levels and realms are arbitrary? They are just stupid names people give to estimate a person"s strength, but they are neither accurate nor binding."

"Oh, shut up!" Jiang Jun Hao snapped at me. He then turned back to the grinning Zhu Jiao. "It"s just a fluke! I"ll definitely kill you! There"s no way you can keep up attacks of such power with the pitiful amount of qi you have!"

This idiot clearly did not realize that Zhu Jiao possessed three s.e.xagenaries of qi. In other words, he had a hundred and eighty years" worth of qi. Compared to Jiang Jun Hao only having cultivated for a thirty-odd years at most, he had several times more qi.

Of course, quant.i.ty of qi meant nothing. Even if Zhu Jiao had more qi, Jiang Jun Hao had more combat experience and had more time to hone and perfect his skills. As I said, a weapon was only as good as its wielder. It didn"t matter how much qi you had, or what treasure weapon you wielded. If you couldn"t use it well, you would still lose to an opponent with a better grasp of combat and techniques or his weapon than you did.

The whole idea that people could win with brute force concepts such as overpowering their opponent with more qi or having a better weapon was outdated. No, it wasn"t even about being outdated – it was completely wrong to begin with, no matter the era. That was why Wu Ling Academy did not automatically become a superpower even after being able to synthesize artificial qi. The students weren"t able to perfect their control over all their qi, and they still needed to polish their techniques and gain combat experience before they could challenge elders with decades of fighting experience and battle knowledge under their belts.

If it was a simple matter of more qi equaling automatic victory, Wu Ling Academy would have reigned supreme two years ago.

"Heavenly Shattering Dragon"s Roar!"

With a yell, Jiang Jun Hao threw himself forward again, getting ready to pierce Zhu Jiao"s chest. The latter merely brushed the dust off him, which had fallen on his body during the earlier explosion, and stifled a yawn.

"You know what…I"m bored of fighting you. I"ll leave you to my new toy."

"Eh?" I blinked, surprised. Now I didn"t expect this…even though I should have. Oh well, I guess I couldn"t always predict everything correctly. Well, that was life. Things never went the way you expected, even if you had read a lot of xianxia or wuxia novels. I was half-expecting Zhu Jiao to pull a Li Fu Chen or Lin Feng and just beat poor Jiang Jun Hao up blue and black without breaking a sweat. Again, reality was never that easy.

The golden light that was Jiang Jun Hao"s spear swept forward in a flash, crossing the distance between the two in a split second. Just before it was about to hit Zhu Jiao, the latter merely waved his hand dismissively.

"I"ll let you handle it."

At first, I had no idea what he was talking about. Was he asking me to step in? What the h.e.l.l, why would I take over and fight your duel for you?

Then a ma.s.sive figure suddenly appeared in front of him. As its silver body glowed ferociously, it threw out a devastating punch that emanated deadly rays of qi.

Boom!

It was just a simple punch, almost identical to Zhu Jiao"s earlier strike with his Heavenly Golden Draconic Gauntlets. But this time, it seemed almost more powerful. Releasing ma.s.sive amounts of wildly rampaging qi, it seemed to condense into silver crystals that hung in the air before razing the entire area around them, disintegrating trees again.

Dudes, you guys really had to stop leveling the landscape. This was deforestation, pure and simple. The environmentalist in me couldn"t help but cringe.

"Na…nani?!"

Yes, Jiang Jun Hao actually said that. He must have been watching too much j.a.panese anime like me, but I doubted he had reached my level of weeabo (though those levels were absolutely meaningless, as always). His jaw dropped as his mind fought to comprehend the sudden development, his reflexes unable to react in time to the terrifying punch. Fortunately, the silver punch, for whatever reason, wasn"t aiming for his chest. It smashed into the tip of his golden spear in a fearsome fashion, effortlessly repelling him.

Dong!

Once again, a crater was carved into the earth and both Jiang Jun Hao and the new figure were hurled apart. I am not going to bother with describing with the destruction of the poor forest because it was getting pointless at this stage, or the trails and furrows in the earth that both combatants left in the crumbling earth, because it would be downright repet.i.tive.

"What is this?!"

After he steadied himself and rose shakily to his feet, the color drained from Jiang Jun Hao"s face. He stared at the silver figure in shock, his eyes narrowing. Then he gasped.

"Battle puppet!"

Jiang Jun Hao recognized the figure, clearly having encountered it before in the ancient tomb. Apparently, during that time, he had joined hands with Lei Yong Chun and the other prodigies, the group of them working together to defeat that damaged broken puppet (which was coincidentally in my spatial device at the moment). At that time, he really desired one of his own, but unfortunately that battle puppet was programmed by Spirit Engravings belonging to the Nascent Soul Stage pract.i.tioner, and unless he could find someone to decode, erase and rewrite the Spirit Engraving, he had no choice but to give up on the idea.

Well, I could do it for him if he paid me a tremendous sum of money, but after his attempts to kill me and Zhu Jiao, he had burned that bridge. Serves him right.

In any case, judging from his stunned expression, it seemed that Jiang Jun Hao had never imagined that the battle puppet that he so fiercely desired would actually appear in Zhu Jiao"s hands.

"Just how many treasures did this kid obtain in the tomb?!"

"Now you"re showing off, aren"t you?!" I snapped at Zhu Jiao, irritated. "You want to show your protagonist luck and power, how many treasures you acquired in the ancient tomb, don"t you?! You had the advantage and were clearly winning. Why even bother with the battle-automata? You could have won without it."

The battle-automata was a mid-level battle puppet similar to the Castellax that I had obtained, but it sported a different cha.s.sis. For one thing, it did not mount a ranged weapon over its shoulder, and was instead built for close combat. Crackling qi arced around its thick forearms like silver electricity, and what appeared to be power claws clacked incessantly.

A Domitar-cla.s.s battle-automata, a monstrous machine built for melee engagements, usually functioning as a monster slayer. In the past, owners would set these ferocious killing machines on magical beasts and demonic creatures, hunting them down mercilessly. It could even perform anti-vehicle duties with haywire attacks!

"Ha ha ha…I didn"t have the advantage that you think I have."

Zhu Jiao had dropped his voice to a whisper. I then noticed how his qi was circulating sluggishly in his system, and how his arms were trembling uncontrollably. It appeared that he had been injured in the last exchange.

"If I continued to fight that b.a.s.t.a.r.d head-on, my Heavenly Golden Draconic Gauntlets would have been destroyed. And I can barely feel my arms…I don"t think I"ll be able to throw another punch." He swallowed. "I have no choice."

On the other end, Jiang Jun Hao had turned very pale. He clearly knew how powerful this battle-automata was. Not only could it fight on par with a Pure Spirit Stage pract.i.tioner, it did not have the capacity to feel any pain. It could shrug off debilitating injuries that could incapacitate a living, human martial artist and continue fighting on as relentlessly as before. Essentially it was the perfect killing machine, a la the Terminator. T800. Cold, relentless and merciless, and pretty much unstoppable.

It would be a formidable opponent. I was glad that we had one on our side.

Zhu Jiao jumped up to hover above his battle-automata and stared coldly at the slightly injured Jiang Jun Hao, an icy smile spreading across his handsome face. He reached into his spatial bag and grabbed a handful of Pure Yuan Pills, which he then fed into his Domitar-cla.s.s battle-automata without any hesitation.

d.a.m.n it…I knew that scoundrel somehow got his hands on tons of Pure Yuan Pills! The luck of a protagonist was so overpowered it might as well be considered a cheat ability! While normal people like me were doomed forever to mediocrity, the protagonists always had convenient encounters that got them whatever they needed for a crisis! It was so beyond coincidence or convenience that it seemed like the whole plot revolved around them or something!

Why couldn"t anything good happen to me!? Why did Zhu Jiao have all the luck!?

Okay, perhaps that was an exaggeration. I did have some good fortune of my own, and had an army of non-functional battle-automata, the yin-based elixir, and an Azure Lotus Sword. But even so my luck was nowhere as near as Zhu Jiao"s. For one thing, he had a functioning battle-automata. As for me, until I repaired or reinscribed the Spirit Engravings (which was a long, tedious and complicated process for even one of those d.a.m.ned things), the battle-automata would essentially be useless. Whereas I got myself a bunch of junk that I had to repair and restore by myself, Zhu Jiao found thousands of Pure Yuan Pills, got himself a minimum mid-cla.s.s Spirit Treasure Weapon, a functioning Domitar-cla.s.s battle-automata (which was considered an Elite rather than the normal Troops-type Castellax-cla.s.s and Thallax-cla.s.s battle puppets I acquired) and even got to have s.e.x with an ultrbeautiful girl.

Some people had all the luck. Zhu Jiao"s luck was clearly protagonist-level.

He also conveniently happened to come across a huge stash of Pure Yuan Pills that turned out to be useful for this current encounter, as if this whole thing had been plotted out from the beginning. Even though the battle puppet consumed a huge amount of Pure Yuan Pills whenever it attacked, Zhu Jiao didn"t care. As long as he was able to cripple or kill the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, he was willing to go bankrupt.

"You do realize that you can just infuse the battle-automata with your own qi, don"t you?" I called out. "If you"re not going to fight, you might as well use your qi instead of spending Pure Yuan Pills. You have three s.e.xagenaries of qi, I"m sure you can spare some!"

"I tried," Zhu Jiao replied without glancing at me. "But my injuries caused my qi circulation to be clogged up, so I was unable to infuse it with my qi. Moreover, I need my inner qi now to recover from the wounds that son of a b.i.t.c.h dealt me."

I nodded in understanding. Fair enough.

After the elite Domitar-cla.s.s battle-automata absorbed the Pure Yuan Pills, it glowed even more brightly than before. An ominous red glow appeared in its eyes as it focused its optical lenses on the trembling Jiang Jun Hao.

"Go!"

Casually feeding his new toy two thousand Pure Yuan Pills before he could feel his heart ache, Zhu Jiao commanded his battle-automata with a flick of his hand. In an instant, the Domitar-cla.s.s battle-automata vanished into a blur as it dashed forward at an extremely fearsome speed. Before Jiang Jun Hao could react, the battle puppet appeared in front of him and threw a devastating punch with its fiercely glowing arc claws.

Bam!

Jiang Jun Hao wasn"t able to catch up to the battle puppet"s speed. He suddenly realized how difficult it was for him to deal with a battle puppet on his own. Unable to avoid it, he parried its punch with his golden Heavenly Spear.

Crash!

Like a battleship carving a path through an iceberg, the silver fist slammed heavily against the Heavenly Spear with such formidable strength that it actually directly bent the shaft of the Spirit Treasure Weapon. Jiang Jun Hao was sent hurtling backward, his body helplessly smashing into a nearby cliff and disappearing in an avalanche of rock. Blood spurted from his mouth like a volcanic eruption, the color leaving his face as he shuddered from the tremendous impact.

"Again!"

Zhu Jiao mercilessly pursued his fallen victim.

"Wait…" I began uncertainly as I raised my hand. "You"ve already won. Don"t you think you should…?"

Ignoring me, Zhu Jiao reloaded his battle puppet with another two thousand Pure Yuan Pills. I sighed. What a waste of Pure Yuan Pills. Following its master"s will, the killing machine emotionlessly dashed forward, completely immune to pain or exhaustion.

Even though he was severely wounded, Jiang Jun Hao was far from down. Yeah, I know, I was an idiot. Anyway, Jiang Jun Hao leaped into the air, his expression defiant to the end. Infusing his Heavenly Spear with qi, he then hurled it forward like a projectile. With a thunderous roar, his golden spear streaked across the air and viciously pierced the battle puppet"s body.

Wham!

The high-cla.s.s Spirit Treasure Weapon actually punctured the battle puppet"s body, penetrating the crackling silver barrier that shrouded is mechanical structure and exiting through its back with extreme force.

Admittedly, that attack of Jiang Jun Hao was impressive. Had his opponent been a normal human, such an injury would surely be fatal. Unfortunately, the battle puppet felt no pain at all, and despite its body being pierced and damaged, it continued plowing forward determinedly, its mind focused on a single directive.

To kill the target that its master designated it to slay.

"No way…!"

To Jiang Jun Hao"s horror, the Domitar-cla.s.s battle-automata reached him in less than a millisecond and smashed its silver fist ferociously into his body.

Boom!

Having thrown his spear earlier, Jiang Jun Hao had nothing to block the attack with. Not being able to evade in time, his body took a direct hit. Another spray of blood erupted from his mouth, this time in a much higher volume than earlier, and his clothes disintegrated from the tremendous impact before he was sent hurtling away.

"…seriously?"

While I was gaping in disbelief at how Jiang Jun Hao was literally beaten to a naked stage, Zhu Jiao wasn"t as unresponsive. He spotted something black being flung out from the flying Jiang Jun Hao. He quickly jumped up and used his qi to ensnare the black object, gathering it into his hands as eagerly as someone h.o.a.rding rare gaming cards.

"You…you…!"

Jiang Jun Hao spluttered, shocked and enraged when he saw Zhu Jiao s.n.a.t.c.h the object out of the air.

"Oh…"

A grin split across Zhu Jiao"s face as he studied his new trophy. He realized that the object was a black spatial bag. Not only that, judging from its color and craftsmanship, it was clearly a rare, high-cla.s.s spatial bag.

"After all I have spent, this shall be my reward!"

Smiling triumphantly, Zhu Jiao greedily kept the spatial bag and chuckled coldly. I gaped at him, not believing what I heard.

"Dude…do you realize how villainous you sound right now? And you"re supposed to be the main character."

"Who cares? He attacked me first. This is only just desserts."

"Two wrongs don"t make a right. You already beat that poor guy up blue and black…or naked, for that matter. There"s no need to take his things too."

Seriously, what was this? Ancient China? This was practically robbery. If you were that annoyed with Jiang Jun Hao, you should just report to the authorities and have him reported. I was sure that once his atrocities came to light, he would be kicked out of his sect and his reputation completely destroyed. More importantly, he would be thrown in jail and have a record for life. No reputable sect would ever want to accept him as a disciple.

That was enough punishment, no? So why the f.u.c.k would you risk your own future and punishment by committing a crime? Even if Jiang Jun Hao deserved it, that didn"t give you the right to rob him.

"You should stop being a goody-two-shoes, Wu," Zhu Jiao reprimanded me. "The readers want to see psychotic protagonists who mercilessly kill anyone stupid enough to get in their way. Not weak, p.u.s.s.y protagonists who stick to their morals and refuse to kill even when it is completely unnecessary to. Start acting like an edgelord, or you"ll lose readers."

"Why are you breaking the fourth wall now? That"s supposed to be my job."

While I grumbled and shook my head, Zhu Jiao turned toward the naked and bruised Jiang Jun Hao. Qi began gathering in his gauntlet as he c.o.c.ked it back.

"Hey, hey, hey! You"ve already defeated him! Just report him to the authorities! Killing him will be too much!" I protested, but Zhu Jiao snorted coldly.

"Don"t worry about the authorities. If this b.a.s.t.a.r.d is dead, n.o.body will know anything, and n.o.body will go to jail."

"No way…" Jiang Jun Hao"s eyes widened in fear. "You can"t…"

"You should have considered that when you tried to kill me."

Zhu Jiao delivered what would be the killing blow, his gauntlet shrieking terrifyingly as golden qi shrouded it.

Bang!

"?!"

Zhu Jiao immediately jumped back when someone intercepted his punch. Explosive qi billowed from the collision and buffeted the Golden Kirin Sect disciple as he winced, shaking his armored hand. He turned a little green when he saw the person who had appeared in front of his original target.

It was a gentle-looking old man, hovering in the air atop a gray disc of light. The imposing aura he emanated was not inferior to that of Lei Yong Chun.

"Elder Shen!" Jiang Jun Hao cried out in delight. "Kill this brat!"

The old man shook his head in disapproval, and turned to the stunned Zhu Jiao, who had recalled his Domitar-cla.s.s battle-automata and was swiftly retreating. His heart sank when he sensed the immense power radiating from the old man.

The robed elderly gentleman didn"t seem to care, and tilted his head slightly toward Zhu Jiao, his mouth turning into a polite smile.

"I"m sorry, but could you please stop pursuing the matter? I will have to ask you to refrain yourself from killing my charge."