ATPnovel #219 - Stealing a chicken but losing the rice
#219 - Stealing a chicken but losing the rice
Liang Jin did not dodge or give up in the slightest.
His face was expressionless as he forcefully met Ping Shuang's suicidal attack head-on.
“Bang!!!”
The ferocious fist force shattered Ping Shuang's moves like a destructive storm, successfully slamming into Ping Shuang's chest.
The spiral fist force created a bowl-sized hole in Ping Shuang's heart, but it exploded into a blood pit several times larger on Ping Shuang's back.
Almost Ping Shuang's entire back was shattered and blown away!
Her spine, sternum, and ribs were almost completely broken!
The pulverized internal organs flew everywhere with the blood.
As for Ping Shuang's palm strike, after having eighty percent of its power neutralized by Liang Jin's strong energy, the remaining twenty percent landed on Liang Jin's chest.
“Bang!”
Liang Jin's chest was also struck with a muffled sound.
Ping Shuang fell to the ground.
She could already feel that she was about to die.
But her eyes were filled with satisfaction:
“Come accompany me…to hell together!”
She even wanted to laugh before she died.
However—
Her eyes widened, and she could no longer laugh.
In her disbelief, Liang Jin lightly patted his chest, as if brushing away dust.
Liang Jin was actually unharmed!
Impossible!
Ping Shuang shouted in her heart.
She had clearly been able to injure the weakly defended Liang Jin with only ten percent of her power before.
Why was it that now, even though she had successfully struck Liang Jin with twenty percent of her power, Liang Jin was unharmed instead?
It didn't make sense!
This was completely incomprehensible!
Liang Jin came in front of Ping Shuang and squatted down.
He seemed to see Ping Shuang's confusion and explained:
“My 《Hundred Evils Body Great Art》 can make up for the weak defense of 《Overlord Unarmored Skill》.”
“Now I have cultivated the 《Hundred Evils Body Great Art》 to the fifth level, my physical body strength has increased by more than fifty percent, and my skill has also increased by thirty percent.”
“Your little bit of power is not enough to take me with you.”
“Sorry, you can only go to hell by yourself.”
After hearing these words, Ping Shuang exhaled her last breath weakly from her throat.
Her wide-open eyes quickly dimmed and lost their luster.
Liang Jin reached out and closed Ping Shuang's unclosed eyes.
This was the only respect he had for a powerful enemy.
If Liang Jin didn't possess the terrifyingly strong 《Wind Stride Shadow Footwork》, then he would have had to fight Ping Shuang for at least a while longer tonight. Although he could defeat Ping Shuang, it would have been difficult to kill Ping Shuang, who was highly skilled in lightness techniques.
But it was because he had these Earth Rank martial arts that Liang Jin finally succeeded in achieving a cross-rank kill based on his own strength!
“Fourth Rank martial artists are indeed powerful; they are worthy of being existences who have created a major realm.”
“Today's battle has enlightened me too much.”
“Most importantly, it has also given me the confidence to fight across ranks!”
Liang Jin also sighed slightly in his heart.
He almost suffered a great loss by not going all out from the start.
Later, he finally succeeded in turning the tables with an all-out battle.
In the future, when facing Fourth Rank martial artists, as long as their lightness techniques don't surpass Liang Jin's, Liang Jin can be invincible, and even if he can't win, he can quickly retreat.
The Earth Rank lightness technique produced by the system, such as 《Wind Stride Shadow Footwork》, is probably one of the top existences in this world.
It is estimated that there are only a very few Fourth Rank martial artists who can surpass Liang Jin in lightness techniques.
In other words, Liang Jin now has enough confidence to fight a Fourth Rank martial artist.
But Liang Jin is not without weaknesses.
These weaknesses are completely invisible when facing opponents at the Fifth Rank realm, but they will be exposed once he encounters a Fourth Rank.
After all, the 《Hundred Evils Body Great Art》 is not yet at a high enough level, and can only barely make up for the shortcomings of 《Overlord Unarmored Skill》.
Only when the 《Hundred Evils Body Great Art》 is cultivated to a higher level will it make up for the shortcomings and increase his physical body, skill, and offense, completely surpassing the Fourth Rank.
Especially when the 《Hundred Evils Body Great Art》 is fully cultivated to the ninth level, he will obtain the complete form of the Hundred Evils Body, and Liang Jin's strength will be elevated to a new level.
“Among Fourth Rank martial artists, there must also be outstanding individuals.”
“At this time, I have no problem fighting a Fourth Rank martial artist head-on for the time being, but if I encounter one of the outstanding ones, or face multiple Fourth Rank martial artists, I'm afraid I still have to be careful.”
Liang Jin was not too complacent either.
Ping Shuang, whom he encountered tonight, had rich combat experience and decisive moves.
But unfortunately, her techniques were all Mysterious Rank martial arts.
If she knew an Earth Rank martial art, or even several Earth Rank martial arts like Liang Jin, then Liang Jin would probably be in danger.
Especially when facing two Fourth Rank martial artists, Liang Jin's offensive and defensive effects will be greatly reduced, which also makes Liang Jin not have the certainty of victory.
“But with the battle puppet Iron Maniac Tu, I don’t need to be timid.”
“Not to mention Fourth Rank, even Third Rank can’t do anything to me.”
“First, let's see if there is anything good on this Great Snow Mountain Sect Peak Master?”
Liang Jin came to Ping Shuang's corpse and conducted a search.
This search was a bit rewarding.
There were two bottles of pills with unknown names.
One of them should be for healing. Liang Jin had seen Ping Shuang give it to the injured Lu Yingrong. As for what the other bottle was for, he didn't know.
In addition, there was also a martial arts manual, 《Mystic Ice Divine Palm》.
Liang Jin flipped through it and confirmed that it was a Mysterious Rank manual.
But now Liang Jin has too many martial arts, so many that he simply can't finish practicing them all.
This 《Mystic Ice Divine Palm》 is probably also the unique manual of the Great Snow Mountain Sect. Rashly teaching it to others in the Western Desert may lead to some disputes.
For famous sects, the martial arts manuals in their own sect are not allowed to be practiced by outsiders.
If it is discovered, the famous sect will send disciples to retrieve the martial arts.
And the way to retrieve the martial arts is mostly two kinds: one is to abolish the other party's martial arts after confirming that the other party will not continue to leak the martial arts.
The other way is much simpler and more rude, which is to directly kill the thief who learned the secret manual.
Apart from the manual and pills, there were no other valuable items.
“A dignified Peak Master doesn't even have an Earth Rank manual. It seems that these Earth Rank manuals are indeed rare.”
“I still have an Earth Rank martial art, 《Crimson Fire Burning Heaven Swordplay》, that I need to seize the time to practice. By then, my attack power will probably reach a terrifying level.”
After cleaning up the battlefield, Liang Jin scanned his surroundings.
The wind was still raging, with sand and stones flying everywhere.
He stood in the wind, making it difficult for outsiders to see him clearly.
However, with the fire in his eyes activated, Liang Jin clearly saw some people lurking around.
Among them were those two guys from the Star Demon Sea, a member of the Bureau of Investigation, and two groups of people Liang Jin didn't recognize.
Liang Jin touched the [Serpent Mask] on his face. It seemed that many people had already remembered this mask tonight.
But it was just a mask, nothing important.
Liang Jin could ask someone to make a thousand masks with the exact same appearance and distribute them, which would confuse people.
Tonight's harvest was quite rich, and Liang Jin no longer intended to continue killing, but prepared to return.
He also needed to return to his room to carefully digest his combat insights from tonight's battle with Ping Shuang.
Immediately, Liang Jin moved.
The wind followed him, and he moved with the wind.
The raging wind here suddenly drifted away, and in the blink of an eye, he had disappeared from everyone's sight.
And in the original place.
There was a scene of devastation.
The people who were peeking around finally saw the situation clearly.
What they saw first was naturally Ping Shuang's tragic corpse!
This scene shocked everyone.
Ping Shuang, the peak master who led the team from the Great Snow Mountain Sect this time, had actually died in battle?!
In this way, the tripartite balance of power among the three major sects in Flowing Sand City was likely to be completely out of balance!
A major change was probably just beginning to emerge.
Immediately, the people spying from all sides quickly withdrew.
They needed to quickly report this news to their masters behind the scenes.
Mi Qianmeng and Qi Zijun, who were hiding in the dark to observe, were also shocked for a long time.
But the result of the battle still made them extremely excited.
After all, their side had won.
"Guardian, you are really amazing!"
"He can even kill the peak master of the Great Snow Mountain Sect."
Qi Zijun was amazed, and his eyes were full of reverence.
He was fortunate enough to come out with the Guardian to perform a task tonight. Wouldn't he be able to be reused when he returned to the sect in the future?
"Strange, where did the Guardian go?"
"Why is it that as soon as the strong wind left, only Ping Shuang's body was left on the scene."
"Could it be that the Guardian has escaped with the help of the wind?"
After Qi Zijun exclaimed, he couldn't find Liang Jin's figure.
This made him a little disappointed. He originally planned to show his face in front of the Guardian.
Mi Qianmeng knocked him on the head:
"Do you even need to ask?"
"The Guardian must have returned to the sect's residence."
"Now that Ping Shuang is dead, the Guardian will of course preside over the attack on the Great Snow Mountain Sect and beat a drowning dog!"
Qi Zijun nodded greatly when he heard this, obviously very agreeing with this view.
He immediately said:
"Let's go back quickly now, maybe there is still a chance to make contributions."
"Although our talents are not good, as long as we keep working hard, we will definitely be successful in the sect!"
Mi Qianmeng rolled her eyes at Qi Zijun when she heard this.
He was thinking about making contributions all day long. How tiring!
Immediately, Mi Qianmeng said lazily:
"First of all, let me make it clear that only your talent is not good, it doesn't include me."
"Success comes from hard work, so I'm going to sleep today and tomorrow."
"Let's go, go back to sleep."
Mi Qianmeng said, then turned and left.
With Ping Shuang's death tonight, Flowing Sand City might trigger drastic changes.
It was not safe to wander outside at this time.
Mi Qianmeng was lazy, but not stupid.
When Qi Zijun saw this, he could only follow Mi Qianmeng back to the sect's residence quickly.
When the two arrived, they saw that the entire sect was on strict alert, in a state of great enemy.
Even after the two took off their masks and verified their identities, they were allowed to enter the residence.
When Lord Ximu Xing saw the two, he immediately questioned:
"Why are you two only coming back now?"
"Did you encounter any trouble? What about another companion?"
When the two heard this, they immediately flattered the Guardian.
They kept boasting about the Guardian's bravery tonight, while expressing their admiration and respect for the Guardian.
This made Lord Ximu Xing stunned.
He was asking about the last disciple who had not returned, what did it have to do with the Guardian?
Immediately, Lord Ximu Xing inquired in detail.
And after hearing the descriptions of the two, the expression on Lord Ximu Xing's face became very complicated.
After a long silence, he said in a deep voice:
"The Guardian has never left the residence tonight at all!"
These words stunned Mi Qianmeng and Qi Zijun on the spot.
Since the Guardian had not left the residence, who was the person who acted with them tonight?
This incident caused Lord Ximu Xing to immediately conduct a count of all personnel in the residence.
Even the Guardian was alarmed.
The final result of the count came out, all the disciples of the Star Demon Sea were in their positions, without any missing.
Everyone was shocked.
It turned out that the black and white masked man who went to perform the task with Mi Qianmeng and Qi Zijun tonight was not a disciple of the Star Demon Sea at all!
Now, Mi Qianmeng and Qi Zijun were frightened.
They did not dare to hide anything, and told Lord Ximu Xing and the Guardian all the details of what happened tonight in detail.
After listening to the whole process, Lord Ximu Xing and the Guardian were stunned for a long time and could not recover.
After a while.
The Guardian slammed the table and cursed angrily:
"Damn it! Damn it!"
"Someone dared to impersonate our Star Demon Sea, not only killing people from the Boundless Bright King Sect and Flowing Sand City, but even killing Ping Shuang, the peak master of the Great Snow Mountain Sect!"
"This dog thief actually put such a big black pot on the head of our Star Demon Sea!"
"Now, our Star Demon Sea has completely formed a feud with the Boundless Bright King Sect, Flowing Sand City, and the Great Snow Mountain Sect. I am afraid that another war will be triggered, and we may even be attacked by the crowd!"
"This evil thief is too sinister!"
Lord Ximu Xing wanted to cry without tears.
Tonight, they were clearly going to impersonate others to do bad things and frame others.
How could it be that someone impersonated someone from their Star Demon Sea and was framed instead?
It really was… trying to steal a chicken but losing the rice!