Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 458 He struck first.
Buzz~!

Xiang Qi's hammer was wreathed in dark dragon energy, his body shimmering with black light as if forged from black iron. He charged towards Tang Yu like a raging beast, creating a fierce wind wherever he went, and visible shockwaves that pulverized the vegetation and rocks along the way.

I'll hammer you to death!

He traversed several dozen feet to arrive behind Tang Yu, roared, and swung his hammer down fiercely on Tang Yu's head. If this hammer had landed, Tang Yu's head, even if it was made of refined iron, would have been smashed flat.

He unleashed a ten-foot-long crimson blade aura from his eerie longsword, forcing a blue-clad woman wielding a whip in the distance back. A terrifying gust of wind swept overhead, distorting her face.

With bloodshot eyes, he looked like a madman, the blade spitting out a foot-long blood-red light as he swung his hand and slashed upwards.

With a clang, sparks flew as the hammer struck, and red and black energy surged. The blood-red blade shattered the black dragon energy coiled around the hammer, and the blade itself cut deep into the hammer, adding another deep cut to the hammer that already had several deep marks. If it were to strike twice more, the heavy hammer made of fine iron would probably shatter.

At the same time, half of Tang Yu's body was slammed into the ground by the terrifying force, but there was no fear in his eyes. Instead, he became even more frenzied. He circulated his surging true energy, twisted his body, and spiraled out of the ground. He not only kicked Xiang Qi with lightning speed, but also slashed at Xiang Qi's neck with his strange longsword. Xiang Qi dodged to the side, leaving a wound on his shoulder.

Xiang Qi was kicked backward by him, leaving a foot-long wound on his shoulder that exposed the bone. Even his body-protecting martial arts could not withstand the sharpness of that knife. However, no blood flowed from the wound. Instead, the flesh at the cut was visibly withered and did not spread over a large area, resembling rotten old wood. If one looked closely, there were more than a dozen similar wounds on Xiang Qi's body.

He flew backwards for about twenty feet and his entire body plunged into the rock. Suddenly, a thin, bald figure appeared beside him, but not to help him. The figure was wearing an earth-yellow metal glove, which emitted a thick bronze light and slapped him on the head.

Despite his disheveled appearance, Xiang Qi was incredibly experienced. With a fierce look in his eyes, he glared at Xiang Qi and, without even getting up, swung his hammer at him.

The man struck the hammer with his palm, leaving a clear palm print. He failed to land the blow, but the force of the impact propelled him towards He Hongyi.

Tang Yu was kicked away by Qi, but before he could press his advantage, an old man in gray robes wielding a sword spewed out a bright sword aura and attacked him. His figure was elusive, appearing as phantoms like clones. The sword blades enveloped Tang Yu like a tidal wave, but Tang Yu twisted his body and swung his strange longsword. Streams of blood-red sword light swept out like a storm, not only crushing the sword blades that enveloped him, but also cleaving the old man in gray robes, who was sent flying backwards, spitting blood.

At this moment, He Hongyi charged at him with a pink longsword. The blade emitted a crimson light, and she was like a fiery phantom. To be honest, if you didn't pay attention, the two weapons were quite similar.

However, there was a significant difference in their cultivation levels. When Tang Yu clashed with her, He Hongyi's already chipped longsword broke, and she was nearly decapitated. She narrowly avoided the attack, but was struck on the shoulder by Tang Yu and sent flying backward, spitting blood.

Before He Hongyi could land, the skinny, bald man who had used the force of Qi Yi's hammer to suddenly appear beside her appeared. His metal gloves flashed with sharp claws as he slapped at her head. This guy was like a troublemaker, always trying to ambush everyone. He was a bully who preyed on the weak and feared the strong, so it was truly rare that he could still be alive and kicking.

At this moment, a figure appeared out of nowhere. Ling Yun held a broken spear, its silver edge flashing. He almost pierced the bald man's glove with one shot, sending him flying and saving He Hongyi.

However, before the two could exchange a single word, a silver figure suddenly appeared. Duan Zui swung his gleaming longsword at Ling Yun's neck. He Hongyi, who had been saved, saw this and swung her broken sword at Duan Zui's face. As Duan Zui dodged, a long whip came flying through the air, pulling He Hongyi and Ling Yun away and preventing them from being attacked by Duan Zui.

But the long whip that had saved the two of them was then severed by a strange longsword. Before Tang Yu could kill the woman in blue with his sword, Xiang Qi charged at him again, wielding a large hammer, but was once again cleaved away by Duan Zui's sword, the hammer shattering on the spot...

The whole scene was in complete chaos. People were hitting each other, and it was impossible to tell who was right and who was wrong, or who had a grudge against whom. It seemed like anyone could join forces, yet everyone also seemed to have a grudge against each other.

A hint of embarrassment flashed across Chen Xuan's face as he stood on the periphery of the chaotic battle. Everyone was on high alert, and as a result, no one paid any attention to his words.

Perhaps they didn't hear it, or perhaps they heard it but had no chance to be distracted. After all, they were all innate masters, and a moment of carelessness could cost them their lives in such a situation.

The chaotic fighting showed no signs of stopping and was moving towards Chen Xuan, who was about to be drawn into the battle.

He also noticed that Ling Yun and the others had noticed him, but he was surprised and didn't even have a chance to greet them. He had to keep an eye on the target and guard against possible attacks at any time.

He dodged a gray-gold sword aura that wasn't aimed at him but was coming towards him. The trees several dozen feet to his side seemed to be parted in the middle by the sword aura. Chen Xuan's embarrassed expression vanished in an instant, followed by speechlessness. "Ignoring my words, you will really die if you continue in this direction."

"Stop fighting! Why are you coming this way? Don't you want to live anymore?" Chen Xuan spoke again, sounding weak and listless. Even though most of them probably wouldn't listen, they felt that some of them could still be saved.

Tang Yu was now besieged on all sides. He glanced at Chen Xuan out of the corner of his eye, wanting to kill him to improve his skills, but he had no time to spare. He could only think of finding some time to kill him, but this 'delay' allowed someone else to beat him to it.

A haughty voice coldly said, "Where did this brat come from, chattering on and on? Can't you see we're busy? Die, you're in my way."

As the words fell, Judgment charged towards Chen Xuan like lightning, his blade flashing with a sharp edge. He casually slashed at Chen Xuan's neck, his attention more focused on the chaotic battle. His cultivation was among the best of everyone present; if a comparison had to be made, he was only slightly inferior to Guo Jinglong and Liu Zhenwei from back then. For him, killing this young man who had appeared out of nowhere, Chen Xuan, was like crushing an ant—a simple matter of peace and quiet, requiring no serious effort whatsoever.

It's no wonder he's so arrogant. If we ask anyone present, apart from Tang Yu wielding the eerie longsword, who could stand against him unless they joined forces?
"Young Master Chen, be careful!" Ling Yun, who was already in grave danger, hurriedly reminded him, not having time to explain how severe the punishment was.

Faced with the approaching Judgment, Chen Xuan remained unmoved, but inwardly he was filled with emotion. This Judgment and Duan Nie from back then were definitely like brothers, with identical personalities, both extremely arrogant. In fact, this Judgment was even more arrogant than Duan Nie, but he also had the strength to be arrogant.

In the short time it took Chen Xuan to get here, he realized that no one dared to confront him head-on, not even Tang Yu, whose strength was comparable to his. However, perhaps because they were worried that if they both suffered heavy losses, someone else would take advantage of the situation, so they did not use their full strength when they occasionally fought each other.

It would be a lie to say they didn't eliminate the others before deciding the winner, but they also needed the others to give them that opportunity. Although the others were disorganized, they understood the principle that having more helpers meant more strength, so they would come to the rescue when others were in crisis.

In short, Chen Xuan roughly analyzed that, including Xiang Qilingyun and He Hongyi, there were four or five people who were likely genuinely interested in eliminating evil and would help each other. Another five or six people were after the evil blade and would also help each other, but they would be more wary of each other. In addition, there were two or three people who were fighting their own battles, sometimes helping one and sometimes helping another, wavering between them. Finally, there were Tang Yu and Duan Zui, who were the most powerful and were the targets of everyone's vigilance.

Thoughts flashed through Chen Xuan's mind in an instant, far exceeding the speed of reality. Facing the long sword that Duan Zui casually swung at him, he simply raised his hand with utmost ease, not even looking at Duan Zui. He perfectly grasped the long sword that was spitting out a sharp edge, as if Duan Zui had handed it over in perfect cooperation.

A flicker of astonishment flashed in Duanzui's eyes as he focused on the chaotic battle. His previously casual slash seemed to embed itself in a mountain, rendering him completely immobile. He immediately turned around and saw Chen Xuan looking elsewhere, his slender fingers gripping the back of his blade.

Seeing this, he circulated his powerful true energy, intending to unleash his sword energy to kill Chen Xuan, and then withdrew his long sword. However, Chen Xuan gently tightened his five fingers, shattering the sharpness on the blade, and pulled it towards him, causing the long sword in Duan Zui's hand to fall into his grasp.

The force of that casual tug was terrifying. In addition, the knife was Duanzui's second life, so he gripped it very tightly. As a result, when Chen Xuan pulled away the long knife, a layer of skin and flesh was torn off Duanzui's palm.

Before Duan Zui could react with shock, Chen Xuan, who was holding the back of the knife, casually swung it, and the hilt of the knife smashed into Duan Zui's face. His head exploded, and the headless corpse flew out like a kite with a broken string.

'I came here to kindly warn you, and you tried to kill me? How could I tolerate that? Everyone saw it; he attacked me first. Are you in such a hurry to be reborn that you can't even fulfill your wish?'

Muttering to himself, without even glancing at the headless corpse of Judgment flying through the air, Chen Xuan looked at the battlefield and flicked his finger at his sword. The sound was crisp, and the surface was covered with snowflake-like patterns. It was made of cold iron mixed with some black gold. It was a good sword. If it were on the market, it would probably be worth more than 100,000 taels. After all, that guy was considered a top-tier expert of the Innate Realm. How could his weapon be bad?

As the person with the highest cultivation level here, Chen Xuan's casual swatting of Duan Zui was beyond just crushing a weakling; it was as easy as swatting a fly.

Ling Yun, who had a grudge against Duan Zui, was watching him closely. Just a second ago, he had warned Chen Xuan to be careful, but before he could finish speaking, Duan Zui's head was smashed by the hilt of a knife and flew out of his hand.

As a result, Ling Yun stood there dumbfounded, as if he had forgotten his surroundings.

This scene was simply too unbelievable. Duanzui died just like that? In front of him, even if he fought with all his might, it would only take a few rounds. If it weren't for the help of others, he would have been killed by him countless times. In fact, he had already been killed once, but was saved by Chen Xuan.

"Be careful"

While Ling Yun was stunned, the bald man wearing gloves didn't notice what was happening and took the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on Ling Yun. His weapon had already exploded, and he rushed towards Qi. Ling Yun used his external martial arts technique to help him withstand the blow. He bled from the corner of his mouth but was not seriously injured. The bald man's sneak attack failed, and he dodged to the other side.

Spitting out a mouthful of bloody saliva, Xiang Qi grinned at Ling Yun and said, "Brother Ling, what time is it and you're still spacing out?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Xiang Qi sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere around him. The fierce battle had gradually subsided, and everyone was looking in a certain direction with suspicion.

Following Ling Yun's gaze subconsciously, Xiang Qi saw Chen Xuan holding a knife upside down on the treetop.

Isn't that the sword of judgment? How did it end up in Young Master Chen's hands?

While thinking this in his head, he subconsciously asked aloud, "Young Master Chen, what are you doing here?"

Xiang Qi, being a big guy, had a rather slow reaction time. Chen Xuan nodded at him, then glanced around and said, "Now everyone can listen to me, right? It's really dangerous over there. Don't go over there and cause any disturbance. You guys continue. Tang Yu, did I say you could leave?"

……

(End of this chapter)