Zhang Yi [1] and the white-robed scholar stood looking at each other for an entire fifteen minutes, then both broke out into a loud laughter suddenly.
"Since we parted from each other many years ago, senior brother and I had been busy working as Prime Minister in two different empires. It has been a very long time since we got together," said Zhang Yi. He clasped his hands and bowed deeply to the white-robed scholar.
The white-robed scholar smiled, nodded and said, "Junior brother, you"re blessed with great fortune and have contributed a great virtue. You"ve helped Great Qin in unifying and ruling the land under the heaven. Among all the fellow apprentices of our Teachers, none of us can suppress junior brother in terms of merits and achievements."
Zhang Yi shook his head and replied, "Senior brother, you"re being humble here. Back in those years, you were the Prime Minister for six states. The six states in Shandong are all under your control. That is a great achievement, and I"m the one who can never suppress senior brother."
Both men exchanged a glance across a distance, then together let out a long and sonorous laugh. Their laugh sounded like the roaring of dragons that came from the depth of a valley, causing the surrounding skies and earth to shake violently.
Wu Qi took a deep breath. It was only at this moment he realized that the black-robed man was Zhang Yi, the Prime Minister of Qin state during the Warring States Period. As for the white-robed scholar, he was none other than the Prime Minister of Yan state, Su Qin [2], who was also once the Prime Minister of six states, the person who persuaded the leaders of the six states to unite against the Qin state. Su Qin and Zhang Yi, the pair of peerless geniuses whose teacher was the famous Guigu"zi [3], had once again met with each other today. Although there was a very deep relations.h.i.+p between them, they were each serving under enemy states. Amidst their laughter and chatter, the situation of the world changed rapidly during the Warring States period. Bodies of the killed lied everywhere, while the owners.h.i.+p of cities s.h.i.+fted hands constantly.
Wu Qi breathed out a long, deep sigh, looking at the two men hovering in the sky across a distance. For now, he did not even have the qualification to go up and speak a word with them. He could only remain standing beside Princess Zhang Le, looking at this pair of peerless geniuses, unparalleled monsters from a far distance, who appeared to recollect their memories of the past two thousand years, and the splendid and wonderful youth which both of them had lost ages ago.
They were too strong, and Wu Qi was too weak.
Wu Qi raised his head up and looked into the starry sky. Although between the westering sun and the peak of the mountain was a distance of one tall flagpole, as Su Qin had cast a mystic technique, there were countless of stars glinting and gleaming brightly in the sky; not even the sunlight could outcast their s.h.i.+ne. Wu Qi stared at this sky which appeared to be strange to him, and suddenly had a feeling that, someday in the future, he would have this piece of heaven and earth stepped under his feet.
Even if he could not completely conquer this heaven and earth, he would also wish that one day, he could be like these two men, possessing unique and powerful skills, and standing loftily and proudly above everyone under the heaven. When these two men were chatting and laughing together, the cloud had stopped moving, the water had stopped flowing, and insects had also stop chirping. It was as if when these two brothers were talking with each other, there were no other things or living beings under the heaven could have the qualification to make any noises.
Even Yan Dan, who had just rushed hastily here from Ji City, could only watch admiringly from afar at both Su Qin and Zhang Yi, and did not interrupt the conversation between this pair of brothers.
Only after a full one hour did Su Qin and Zhang Yi finish their chatter. Together, both men threw their heads back and let out three loud laughs, after which, without any prior sign, the area covered by the magnetic force suddenly expanded to nearly one hundred miles in circ.u.mference. Countless dark-yellow colored Earth element energies surged up from underground, turning into dense and strong magnetic force and fusing into Zhang Yi"s body. They finally transformed into a black sword energy that nearly touched the limit of the sky and slashed aggressively down towards Su Qin.
Zhang Yi laughed heartily and raised both hands high up in the air. Abruptly, from the countless stars in the sky came a drizzle of silver lights which looked like it was raining. The sky was immediately blotted with silver lights and purple fog that whirled and spun gracefully, which then transformed into a ma.s.sive net that covered the sky of over one hundred miles in circ.u.mference. The silver lights kept spinning at a high-speed, and slowly became heavier and denser. When the huge black sword energy formed by magnetic force came thrusting down, the Starlight s.h.i.+eld that was purely constructed using the force of celestial stars immediately greeted it.
A loud boom rang out. Wu Qi and all the people around him were instantly knocked flying away for over one hundred miles by the frightening shock wave that was generated from the collision, from where the venue of Rare Treasures Conference was held all the way back to Ji City. When looking from a far distance, one could see there was a stream of black ray that shot out from Zhang Yi"s head, thrusting straight towards Su Qin"s face. On the other side, about one thousand feet in front of Su Qin was a huge silver screen that seemed to be connected straight up to the ceiling of the sky, standing firm as a rock. No matter how the black ray kept impacting on the silver screen, it could only cause some small ripples on its surface.
At the center of the collision, where the dark ray met with the silver screen, countless tiny streaks of electric arcs were generated, the size of which was a few hundred times tinier than a normal human hair. They shot in all directions chaotically, hitting on the ground and violently exploding, creating countless holes of various sizes. Among these holes, the largest and deepest one could even have one entire skysc.r.a.per accommodated in it.
Wu Qi was watching the entire progress of the battle with rapt attention. He saw no fancy movements, no unusual transformation, but a head-to-head fight with pure force. Both men were fighting each other using the purest strength. It was as if they were two proud divine dragons that were soaring and slithering high up in the heaven, feeling disdain to use those fancy approaches to show off their own strength. Instead, they chose the most primitive method to determine who was the winner - fight using their pure muscle strength.
The ground was shaking, while countless pa.s.sing clouds were spinning at a high-speed above the sky. The starlights and magnetic forces kept slamming and cras.h.i.+ng into each other, stirring up the air within an area of ten miles around them, and eventually turning everything around them into a huge, murky gray light ball. The shapes of both men were seen twisting and bending inside this light ball. Then, tiny traces of blood could be seen slowly emerging on their skins. A huge amount of blood began to spray and splash out from them, spreading to all directions by the blowing of the strong and fast wind.
The brutal and violent fight went on for a full two hours. Then, Zhang Yi let out a loud laugh suddenly, "Senior brother, I never thought that because of the different Masters we are serving, we have to fight and see who is better again."
Su Qin was laughing madly too as he said, "But my junior brother, you are in a great advantageous position this time, as in this world, there is no longer an allied army of six states which I can summon. Aye, the distance between different empires is just too far, so I can only use the force of an empire, in this case, the Great Yan Dynasty, to fight with Great Qin Dynasty. On top of that, you"ve held a dominant position by acting before me!"
"Senior brother, please don"t try to fool me, as you and I know very well that there is little trust in your words. Today"s Great Qin is not the same Great Qin as those years. Same goes for Great Yan. So, why don"t we take this opportunity to fight an all-out battle in the fairest way? Let us see, between you and me, the disciples of the same Teacher, who is the one that has the better skills, and who is the smartest one?" Said Zhang Yi with a loud laugh.
Su Qin answered impatiently, "I couldn"t agree more! As I heard that the army of Great Qin had arrived in Meng Mountains, at a place less than four hundred thousand miles away from Great Yan"s border, I"ve already started mobilizing and deploying generals and armies, getting ready to make a final bid for victory against Great Qin. We are in a world different than the one we came from. Schemes and intrigues are not much of use here. In order to decide who the final victor is, we"ll have to fight fairly and righteously. What do you think, junior brother?"
Zhang Yi smiled, nodded and said, "I agreed with what you said. The distance between Great Qin and Great Yan is over hundreds of millions of miles, it will be really inconvenient to deploy army over such a vast distance. So, if we wish to decide the winner, there is only one battle that we need to fight. And yes, all the schemes and intrigues are useless in this world. Haha, haha, haha!"
Both men laughed together. However, Wu Qi could clearly hear that the laughs between these two men were too fake.
All of a sudden, right underneath the venue of the Rare Treasures Conference, below the large hole that was dug out by Zhang Yi earlier, a figure of a man clad in a heavy armor squeezed out from the ground. The figure was seen holding a strongbow and long arrows in his hands. Clearly, he was the man who nearly trapped Wu Qi in Meng Mountains with just three arrows, Li Xin! He was the Flying General of Great Qin, and also the ancestor of the Flying General Li Guang that earned his fame in Western Han dynasty. There was actually an amazing archery skill secretly inherited within Li clan, a skill that came with fearsome offensive strength.
As mute as a fish, Li Xin pulled the bowstring, aimed right at the back of Su Qin and shot out an arrow.
When the arrow was released, the surrounding skies and earth suddenly shook, as if a huge mirror had been just broken and shattered by a very powerful force. The people standing or hovering nearby could also feel as if the s.p.a.ce in that area was falling apart. This arrow release by Li Xin actually possessed the force that nearly shattered the s.p.a.ce! The long arrow pierced through the air with a blinding glow, as if the sun had just fallen down from the sky, sending forth a threatening heat and shooting right towards the vital spot on the back of Su Qin.
Right at the moment when Li Xin sprung out from underground, released an arrow from Su Qin"s back and tried to kill him, on a small hill thirty miles behind Zhang Yi"s back, a general also leaped out from nowhere. He stood over ten feet tall, and his waistline was nearly ten feet as well. His body looked like a large chunk of a hardened iron ingot, every part of his body filled with lean muscles that poked right out from top to toe. The captain, who had a stature so stout and tall that it could easily strike awe into those who looked at him, was only clad in a single loincloth, and in his right hand was held an aged bronze spear.
"Hey! Ha!" The captain roared furiously. Suddenly, his right arm stretched about twice longer, and the muscles on this arm also expanded and poked higher up. From underneath the skin, blue veins as thick as a baby"s arm erected vigorously. He ferociously tilted his upper body backward, and in the next second, the bronze spear turned into a blinding green ray and shot towards Zhang Yi"s back with a biting coldness. When the spear was being shot out, the ground under the burly man"s feet abruptly crumbled, while an area with over tens of miles of circ.u.mference suddenly sunk few miles deeper into the ground.
The spear transformed into a freezing ray that pierced through the air. It had lost its physical shape Very quickly, and instead, turned into a blinding ray that looked like a shooting star, and was surrounded by countless twisting runes. Wherever the spear went past, the magnetic force controlled by Zhang Yi would shatter instantly, crumble and leave behind a huge and long tunnel in midair. It was as if no one could stop the spear, and in just a blink of an eye, it had arrived behind Zhang Yi"s back.
*Clang!* *CLANG!* Two ma.s.sive clanging noises suddenly echoed out. Right at the very moment when Su Qin and Zhang Yi almost had their bodies pierced through by the arrow and the spear, both men spun at the same time. The dark sword beam that Zhang Yi shot out earlier took a quick turn in the air and greeted the spear at top speed. The dark beam that formed entirely from magnetic force impacted and kept brus.h.i.+ng against the spear, generating a series of explosive noises that made one"s ears hurt and the surrounding air twist and bend. Suddenly, Zhang Yi"s body trembled, as the spear ripped apart the dark beam thrust out by him, continued its way and stabbed deep into his chest, finally coming out from his back.
Su Qin had also spun and faced the arrow, using the silver screen to intercept the arrow that shone brilliantly like a sun. However, as the defensive strength of the screen was spread evenly, while the arrow had focused on piercing through one specific point, just like what happened to Zhang Yi, the screen was ripped apart. The arrow shot out by Li Xin went through the Starlight Barrier, hit right into his chest and came out from the back of his body.
Both senior and junior brothers let out a miserable howl at the same time.
"Thank you for allowing me to taste the divine shooting of Flying General, Li Xin. I, Su Qin, will definitely repay your kindness in the future. I promise, that I"ll make sure General Li Xin will die an ignominious death!" said Su Qin with a loud laugh.
On the other side, Zhang Yi was seen pressing on his wound on the chest, where blood kept spraying out, as he also gave a loud laugh and said, "Is the man who injured me General Fan Yuqi? I never thought that General had come to this world as well. Hahaha, just like what my senior brother said, General Fan Yuqi, I, Zhang Yi, will definitely find means to make your soul disintegrate, and never allow you to enter the reincarnation again. Only by doing so can I repay your kindness of severely wounding me!"
Both junior and senior brothers opened their mouths and coughed out a large mouthful of blood at the same time. Then, Zhang Yi suddenly transformed into a long dark ray and coiled up Li Xin, and in a blink of an eye, shot to a distance of several hundred miles, quickly vanis.h.i.+ng into the great wilderness.
Su Qin did not spring up and chase behind his junior brother, but instead, spun and walked with unsteady steps to the flying serpent. He stepped on it and flew back to Ji City. While coughing blood like it was nothing serious, he used the same graceful and poised manner to bow at Yan Dan, smiled and said, "Your Majesty, my junior brother has come, and Great Yan is going to face a lot of troubles soon. Hehe, what Duke of Tianyun said is true… You really did b.u.mp into the army of Great Qin in Meng Mountains!"
Wu Qi looked at Su Qin, who kept coughing blood yet behaved like he was merely playing with his own saliva, and could not help but twitch his lips.
This pair of junior and senior brothers were truly monsters with well-matched talents. Not only they could be extremely cruel and merciless to their fellow disciples who they had a very good and close relations.h.i.+p with, they were even crueler to themselves! Although Zhang Yi was severely wounded, he still had to burn his blood essence and flee in panic while bringing another man together. Su Qin was severely wounded too, yet he still had to pretend like a gentleman and report to Yan Dan. They were really a pair of monsters!
But since even Zhang Yi had arrived at Ji City...
Wu Qi felt a headache coming on. It looked like for the time being, he had to be really careful and cautious.
[1] Zhang Yi - He was born in the Wei state during the Warring States period, an important strategist in helping Qin to dissolve the unity of the other states, and hence pave the way for Qin to unify China. (Source: Su Qin - He was an influential political strategist during the Warring States period. (Source: Guigu"zi - It was said that in the records of the Grand Historian that Guigu Xiansheng (Mister Guigu) have been the teacher of both Su Qin and Zhang Yi. (Source: