Legend of the Supreme Soldier - Chapter 341

Chapter 341: A Clever Disguise

an Jia’s mechanical arm gave the shade of the rock a gentle touch.

Amidst the silence of the boundless space, a crater was suddenly created at the bottom of the rock – that was what the stunned the folks in the ship. They could not see Han Jia but they could see what was happening. The crater was of a size that could fit a rescue craft.

Without hesitation, Ye Chong headed into the giant piece of rock.

His instinct was right.

It was a spaceship.

It was a spaceship disguised as a piece of asteroid in the space. Old Xu was really imaginative and creative. With the rocky surface of the ship, no one would have suspected the boulder when they traveled by, since one could see asteroids everywhere in space, boulders like this would be given equal ignorance as the grasses and the pebbles you see by the road. The cost of the disguise however was horrendous. It was not because of how the rocks could be expensive but it would be a major operation to coat the entire body of the ship with meteorites. Moreover, the ship would certainly be limited by its disguise for it must float, hover like the other asteroids in the space. It could neither accelerate nor perform a space-jump. Consequences would be there if the ship was exposed.

The spaceship seemed to be created quite some time ago. Old Xu was such an insightful planner, although ironically he still suffered from his inescapable fate. Sigh, fate was such a capricious being sometimes.

Ye Chong piloted Han Jia and sank to the inside of the spaceship. There was no security measurement of any kind that required an identity verification. Ye Chong travelled smoothly, all the way to the core of the ship, the commander’s room to be exact.

Ye Chong took out the blue chip and inserted to the main processor.

Beep

“Verification complete. Password confirmed. All program activated. Ship: Cornerstone welcomes the lord.” A mechanical voice rang sweetly like an angel whispering to the ears of Ye Chong.

He then prompted the layout statistics of the ship. The interior was designed fairly well, the resources were pretty complete, all units were operative, there was even an advanced alchemy laboratory located in the ship.

“Tsk, tsk. Such spaceship,” said the little boy when everyone joined the Cornerstone. “Whoever thought of this idea must be a genius.” He carried on giving his comments as he inspected the area. Then he spat his tongue, “Though the other places were unimpressive.” People were being transferred to the interior.

They took a look at the surrounding, curiously wondering how there would be an unknown world hidden inside a piece of asteroid in the space. Fei Si was excited upon seeing the alchemy lab. It was not spacious but those were some of the most advanced apparatuses there. Old Xu probably intended to have this lab for Fei Si, which justified its quality. Technically, the spaceship was pretty decent in terms of performance, since it was a kind of escape pod for Old Xu, of course he had to be serious building it.

“What’s your plan? Where are we going?” asked the little boy. He did not seem to be concerned of his own safety as he elaborated, “A strong electromagnetic zone had been enforced all around Zhou Jian, you can’t be thinking of space-jumping.”

Ye Chong then called up the intergalactic map and began thinking.

“We don’t head out,” reminded the boy, “The design of this ship might be clever enough to swindle some random patrol guys but the armies of the Aristocrats could never miss it. It’s impossible to run, especially with Huang Jiming, Ye Yin and Xue Nuolan leading the armies. Those are the smart ones, extremely cautious ones too. They would be shooting down every piece of weird pebble upon seeing it on the way.”

The expression of those bodyguards was turning odd, except for the scarred guardsman, who seemed to be unmoved by the statement.

As mentioned, there was electromagnetic field to interrupt the transfer, so a space-warp would be implausible. Ye Chong must travel the traditional way, which would take about forever…

“What’s your thoughts then?” asked Ye Chong.

“Hmm…,” the little boy pondered for a moment.

Three minutes lapsed, “We could go here…,” grimly he replied, pointing one spot of the intergalactic layout, “Mhm, we might indeed encounter a few regular patrolling teams but they would not be a problem. The armies of the Aristocrats should not be arriving yet, not so soon at this point of time.” It was really odd to see a 6-year-old acting all grim and dead serious, even for an oddity like Ye Chong himself.

“What’s after that?” interupted Ye Chong while the boy was explaining.

“We head here!” Pointed the tiny finger.

“Nebula? We are heading to the nebula?” Ye Chong was shocked, while the men had their jaws dropped.

“There are people…” said the boy, in a kind of complicated emotions, “After the nebula.”

“People?” Fei Si screamed a little. “That is preposterous! How could there be people in an interstellar cloud?” Even Old Jalopy’s face was twitching.

“There is and there will be,” stated the boy slowly, who sounded like an elderly who had experienced the darkest time of life, his voice rang like a lethargic drum. “In this world, not every person favors technology. Because of that… there was once a great divide, a long, long, long time ago, where there was one particular group of people who fancies the morning sun and not the fluorescent lighting, the chilling breeze and not the turbine spinning. They moved out, looking for a place, a new settlement for the deviance of humankind like them. Well, they found it, a galaxy, not really a galaxy though. Frankly speaking it’s merely a zone with 32 inhabitable planets, located somewhere in the dark, unknown by the world. They cut away contacts with the outside since then. Years had passed, nobody really knows where they are anymore…”

He held his words and glanced at everyone, “This is… what they called… the lost space zone of nature.”

The secret had been revealed and truly people had their mind blown.

“And Xi Feng tribe came from here.” A new piece of information bombarded the remaining sanity of the people. One of the three aristocrats was actually from a lost world? How could that be not shocking enough?

“According to records, the zone is inhabited by mainly martial arts practitioners and mentalist. With that in mind, I would say that’s the true origin of all beauty of breakthrough made in human anatomy.” The little boy’s expression was showing a kind of worship, and suddenly the expression was distorted into a joy of naivety as he jumped up and down, “And now we could finally head to the legendary zone unknown to the world! I had been looking forward to go there ever since I was born!”

“Is there really such a place?” asked Fei Si to Old Jalopy.

“Uhhhhhhh.” The old man seemed to have been reminded of a bitter past regarding the place, “He’s right you know.”

Little boy was shocked of the statement, for Old Jalopy actually was aware of the place.

“History did mention of a natural interstellar zone like that…” His profound voice was depressed, “30 years ago, when I was still 35, at the prime of a man, I was informed of a place like this when learning the mechanics of the ancients and sadly there had barely been any actual machines created by the ancient people. So I worked hard, striving to find the place, as I wanted – with my own eyes – to witness the working of a true ancient machines. So I, with a bunch of pals as crazy and passionate as I was, barged into the unknown zone. That was a team of 9, if I remember correctly.”

Fei Si never expected Old Jalopy to have such legend behind.

“We found it, to be honest,” stated Old Jalopy, “though it was the most painful visit we ever experienced in our life. When we got home, there were only 2 of us left, and my other friend passed away last year.”

“Holy!”

“Seriously?” There were exclamations, including one from the little boy who tried to act all mature and experienced while he waddled to Old Jalopy, “Old man, did you really get into the place?”

Old Jalopy was once looking grave, but that clumsy movement of the boy brought up a smile on him, showing an unconcerned attitude to the way he was addressed, “Yes we did, boy.” He rubbed the boy’s head, “Yes, we did.”

“How did it look inside?” The boy was curious.

“Well, boy. That place is a rather…” It took a while for the old man to piece his thoughts, “I can’t really describe it with words. Sigh, it’s not something one could feel with mere description. You have to experience it yourself,” he said with a bitter smile.

“Ah! Ah! Ahhh! I want to go! I wanna go!” The boy jumped in screams, finally acting like his age, though it felt like he was on a shopping day with his mom and was trying to get a toy he wanted in the shopwindow.

“It’s very dangerous inside. We were lucky enough to survive. We even bumped into a spaceship of the Xue Lai clan. I wonder what happened to them after that. If it was not our great lucky, we would have been knocked down,” said Old Jalopy, with fear crawling up his words.

Ye Chong was hearing the stories, while his eyes were all focused on the intergalactic layout. Ugh, there was in fact no other workaround for the escape. They surely would encounter the armies anyhow. It seemed like they could only head to the Nebula like what the boy had suggested.

Ye Chong realized he did not have much options there.

At least there were people who had been there before, they would be the tour guide then. Ye Chong was a little relieved, “Old Jalopy.”

“Yes?”

“Do you still remember the way there?”

Chapter 342: Blue Nebula

he starship had many mechanical arms installed to ensure a safe flight through the planetary ring. The arms made the ship look like a mining ship. By carefully clearing its flight path of floating rocks, Cornerstone slowly navigated through the planetary ring. The young boy’s bodyguards worked skillfully, as expected.

Ye Chong contacted his base. Nothing much changed with Sang Pu and the rest. Ye Chong did not tell them of his situation, only saying that he had matters to attend to, and would only return to the base much later. He also emphasized that he would be unable to reach them for a long time, and would leave all decisions to Sang Pu. Everyone back at the base was training hard, and did not even have time to guess what was happening to Ye Chong. However, even if they did find out, they would not be able to help. That was the main reason Ye Chong chose to keep them in the dark.

The long flight was dull and uninteresting. Fei Si had already taken over the alchemy laboratory, spending most of her time in that place. She was studying the information in the blue chip.

“Your design is alright, and workable. However …” Old Jalopy knitted his brows together as he stared at Ye Chong’s design schematics on the holographic screen. “Are you sure that this flying vessel is good for assault? Its means of attack are too inflexible.” The holographic screen was showing a Collision mech.

“If it’s flying fast enough, and can negotiate turns easily, it can be a good weapon,” Ye Chong explained.

“It puts too much stress on the pilot!” Old Jalopy shook his head.

“Then we’ll improve the pilot’s physique.” There was no need to worry about the physique of the Sang Tribe’s members.

“Simple physical collision would require a strong material for the vessel,” Old Jalopy continued with disapproval.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, I’ve just the right material.” Skeletons born out of Archipelago’s strong gravity has excellent physical properties.

“Alright, I’ll give it a go,” Old Jalopy hesitated for a moment before nodding.

With assistance from a lecture specialized in ancient machinery, the Collision mech would definitely be improved. Ye Chong took the opportunity to stay close as Old Jalopy worked. The old man was surprised by his actions. Ancient machinery was a forgotten knowledge, it was his first time seeing someone expressing so much interest in the field. As someone who had dedicated his life to studying ancient machinery, nothing could make him happier than this. He was more than willing to share his thoughts and skills.

Ye Chong seized the opportunity to absorb all the new knowledge, often bringing in questions of his own. The young boy would sometimes come to join them, but he would quickly curl his lips in distaste and say, “Ancient machinery is so much more impractical than even photon circuitry.” Ye Chong did not bother to explain himself.

Rui Bing did her own training everyday. From the first day since she began combat training under her father, she had never skipped her sessions. Persistence was the main reason that allowed her to attain Jie. On the contrary, Rui Su who had more innate talent was only an average combat expert. Ye Chong passed on everything he had on the Sanctuary’s meditation practice and mentalists to her, hoping that it would help her. Ye Chong was always generous to his comrades.

Everyone stared on the holographic screen, holding their breath. On the holographic screen was a small fleet of starships, about 500 kilometers away from them. 500 kilometers in outer space was like a brush on the shoulder walking on the streets. There were 30 starships in the fleet, with mechs flying around them as security.

Everyone was tensed up. If they were discovered, or if any of the ships decided to shoot in Cornerstone’s direction, they were doomed for sure.

Cornerstone flew slowly along its path. They did not accelerate, for fear of gathering attention.

Time seemed to slow down. All of them felt very anxious. This was a test of one’s mental fortitude.

Time passed, second by second.

As the starship disappeared from view, everyone heaved a sigh of relief. They had passed their first hurdle. Even Ye Chong was feeling a little nervous just now, much less the rest of them. Those with lesser determination were now all exhausted from the tension.

A looming threat caused even more tension than an immediate danger.

“We really entering the nebula?” Old Jalopy asked softly, his brows furrowed with worry.

Ye Chong nodded. “Yes, we’re going in!” His voice was calm but determined. He could not think of any other way to leave the quarantined planet, Zhou Jian. If they did not leave now and met with the Three Aristocratic Families, the situation would be dire.

Ye Chong was not confident that his disguised face was enough to trick the Three Aristocratic Families. Every encounter with the Three Aristocratic Families spelled danger for him. That was why Ye Chong needed to leave Zhou Jian as soon as possible.

Rui Bing did not mind where they went. She only hoped to stay by Ye Chong’s side. Rui Bing caressed Guardian’s ring on her finger, and her eyes softened. Rui Bing said nothing, so the rest of them kept their silence. The young boy was excited about entering the nebular, but his bodyguards all looked worried.

As they entered the nebula, Cornerstone shook violently, slowing down even more into a snails pace. Ye Chong quickly ordered for the rocks used for camouflage to be expelled. Cornerstone immediately picked up speed.

“Activate the optical systems,” Old Jalopy reminded him, “Holographic systems are no use here.” He added, “All comms systems are useless here, but the interstellar positioning system is still usable.” If the interstellar positioning system was active, then retreat would be an available option when necessary.

Ye Chong and the rest did not know that, just five hours after they went in, the starship fleets of Three Aristocratic Families would pass by close to where they entered the nebula.

The nebula stretched on endlessly, reaching farther than an ocean. Within the nebula, stars would shine through the thin blue mist of the nebula like jewels on blue satin, dazzling with all their radiance.

The nebula was completely different from the Red Sea that Ye Chong had encountered before. The Red Sea was like a red mist that would eventually turn thicker and stickier. The nebula, however, was like an illusory veil that surrounded the starship in all directions.

The nebulae was like a dreamy mist, with tiny dots of sparkling lights scattered about.

Soon, Cornerstone grew familiar with the territory and flew faster. The nebula did not seem to affect the ship.

“It’s possible to do a warp jump in the nebula, but we have to first find the warp jump point from last time,” said Old Jalopy.

“Uncle Jalopy, how did you manage to find this warp jump point?” Fei Si was curious about this.

The question struck a sad chord within Old Jalopy. His expression sobered as he said, “We met a Xue Lai Clan starship last time. They were brutes, firing on us like that. We were not match for them, so we had to run, but they’re ship was much better than ours. They were about to reach us when we decided to make a warp jump.

“I thought we were dead, but the Heavens had given us a surprise of sorts, sending us to the natural space zone.”

The young boy agreed. “Grandpa’s right, aristocrats like the Xue Lai Clan are all good for nothing!” He waved his little fists around, as if he was also angry for Old Jalopy.

Old Jalopy was gratified, and stroked the boy’s head lovingly. The young boy enjoyed the show of affection, his eyes turning into slits like a satisfied cat. The young boy’s bodyguards all felt awkward, and some even smiled wryly. The man with the blade scars standing beside the boy, however, maintained expressionless.

Old Jalopy continued his tale like he was telling it to his grandson. The young boy rested his head on his hands as he listened closely.

“The nebula was beautiful. We always admired its beauty from the outside, but it’s when we’re inside that I can see that it’s much more beautiful here. Only by entering the nebula that you can really experience its magnificence and size. Back then, our journey started out well, and so we began to relax a little. It was until the 35th day that we came across danger!”

Now, not only the young boy, but everyone else who was unoccupied came to listen.

“We came across a whirlpool. That whirlpool was too strong. We saw a planet that’s more than a hundred kilometers across sucked into it. It was shredded to pieces before it reached the center! We were all shocked, back then. Everyone was trying our best to navigate the starship out of the whirlpool. The whole thing went on for three days. Three days, before the whirlpool finally weakened, and we managed to escape its grasp.”

Just when everyone was absorbed in his story, someone shouted, “Hey, what’s that outside?”

Chapter 343: The Singular Wave

n the dreamy blue nebula, a dark blue streak appeared in front of them. No one knew what it was. Old Jalopy’s face suddenly paled. “Heavens! The Singular Wave!”

The blue streak grew thicker very quickly.

Everyone was shocked!

As the blue streak grew thicker, the blue nebula around the starship seemed to vibrate. Even the ship was shaking a little. Everyone onboard was keen enough to notice this. The wave appeared like a disaster on a galactic scale. Whatever hopes they had were crushed by the sight of it.

The nebula vibrated even more violently. It was suffocating to watch the endless calamitous stretch that was about to befall them. What a tempestuous blue wave! It reached up for hundreds and thousands of kilometers, and was as wide as the eyes could see.

Everyone on the ship was devastated.

Only four of them managed to keep their calm – Ye Chong, Rui Bing, the young boy and Scarface, the bodyguard. In fact, Ye Chong was nervous as well, his body tensed all over, but he knew that if he did not stay calm now, there would be no chance of surviving this threat.

This gigantic natural disaster must be avoided at all costs!

The young boy’s eyes glowed up, reminding Ye Chong of Mu and Shang’s bionic eyes. “Why am I thinking about that now?” Ye Chong smiled wryly to himself, and felt a little tension released from him.

“How long do we have?” The young boy asked in a peculiar and mature voice.

No one answered. They were too shocked. Ye Chong stared at the image from the optical systems and did some quick calculations in his head.

Perhaps the danger had stimulated Ye Chong, for he felt his mind particularly clear right then as he did the calculations quickly. “15 minutes!” It was the young boy who came up with the answer first, however. After 5 seconds, Ye Chong arrived at the same conclusion. He looked to the young boy in surprise.

What impressive calculation speed!

The young boy abruptly stood up and rushed to the main photon processor. “Out of the way!” His youthful voice was full of authority.

The bodyguard beside the main photon processor was shook out of his shock, and quickly stood aside.

The young boy was too short, and he had to climb onto a chair and stand on it to reach the photon processor. His small hands pressed the controls on the photon processor awkwardly. Seeing his unfamiliar handling, Ye Chong frowned and went to the photon processor. He pushed the young boy’s chair to the side and said hurriedly, “Tell me what to do.”

The young boy stared for a moment before laughing and said, “Big guy, you’re the best.” He then turned serious and gave his first order, “Activate the weapons.”

Ye Chong’s hands moved cross the photon processor console smoothly, a sharp contrast to the young boy’s awkward controlling. The young boy was unaffected by the thought, however. He looked perfectly calm, and even Rui Bing could sense an odd feeling of maturity in him.

“Show the weapons directory.”

“Activate the energy delivery photon circuits.”

“Activate the manual restoration system.”

“Connect the photon circuits …” A long list of numbers and names of parts came of the young boy’s mouth, faster than anyone could process.

But Ye Chong heard them clearly! “What a bold plan,” he thought to himself as he quickly did as told. He understood the young boy’s intention well enough. The boy wanted to wanted to redirect the energy on the ship to quickly improve the firepower of the ship.

Ye Chong was surprised that the young boy was so familiar with the starship’s photon circuit system. This was not something anyone would know. The starship industry was well established, and would not tolerate modifications easily, much less what they were doing now!

The thought was set aside quickly as Ye Chong focused on his work. A series of technical terms and jargons came from the young boy, and Ye Chong had to focus all his attention in order to keep up with the young boy.

It was a strange sight to behold – a young boy standing on a chair, staring at the photon processor with a grim expression, giving out orders non-stop; a young man was beside him, sweating all over as he manipulated the controls on the console at breakneck speed.

After three minutes, they showed no signs of stopping what they were doing. The young boy’s forehead was already covered in sweat, but he was still spitting out technical terminologies as quick as he could. His blue eyes shone brightly. Ye Chong was drenched in sweat as he worked on the controls.

After five minutes, the young boy’s forehead was covered with beads of sweat, and his face was growing slightly pale. Sweat rolled down Ye Chong’s cheeks like a river, but he was still focused in his task and did not look tired at all. His hands did not slow down.

After eight minutes, the young boy’s forehead had gone dry, but his face was now reddening unnaturally, and his blue eyes were glowing brightly. Ye Chong was still sweating a lot, but he was also still very tensed. His hands were still as fast as before, and he was now slightly faster than the boy’s orders.

After 12 minutes, they were finally done! The young boy was looking deadly pale, and Ye Chong noticed that the boy was a little out of breath. However, he continued to stand on the chair. While he was there funnily standing on the chair, no one laughed at him, not even Ye Chong. He had proved his own strength with his actions.

The young boy looked at his bodyguards and said, “Everyone, take a shooting hub each. You must destroy all the large rocks around us.” After that, he closed his eyes and slumped onto his chair. Ye Chong quickly swooped up him and brought him to Rui Bing. “Please take care of him.”

“Alright,” Rui Bing nodded. There was nothing else she could do for the moment.

Scarface moved first, sitting inside one of the shooting hubs silently. The other bodyguards finally got themselves together. They were deeply ashamed. In the He Yue Galaxy, it was a disgrace to have the young master sacrificing for them in the face of danger.

Everyone took their places at the shooting hubs.

The starship had 15 shooting hubs. They were usually automated, but can be switched to manual for trained shooters.

Ye Chong could not help at all. There was nothing he could do in their situation now. In fact, what they were doing now had very limited effect. Perhaps only divine intervention could help them escape unscathed.

Ye Chong stared at the holographic screen, his muscles all tensed up.

The starship was shaking violently. Old Jalopy and Fei Si had already secured themselves. Ye Chong and Rui Bing knew combat, so it was still manageable for them.

Only three minutes left, before the huge wave would strike on Cornerstone. Everyone looked miserable. When you’re watching an endless stretch of a tsunami coming towards you, that fear that came from the depths of your heart would sear through every inch of your nerves.

It was completely silent, but they could almost hear the deafening roars of thunder outside.

Even Scarface with his usual calmness had his hands whitening from gripping too firmly on the shooting controls.

The starship was climbing upwards, but its engines were nothing against the huge wave. It was like a tiny sailboat riding a wave in the storm.

It was close now!

The wave was like an endless stretch of dark blue walls, coming down onto them with all of Heaven’s wrath.

Suddenly, the first laser beam was fired from the starship. Ye Chong knew that it must be from Scarface. The rest of the bodyguards quickly recovered from their initial shock as well.

Laser beams were shot across space like rain. While the laser beams looked so insignificant in the face of such a humongous wave, barely perceptible amidst the natural phenomenon, it represented the iron will and determination of mankind against nature. This was how mankind had come to their present state of civilization.

When an ant faced an elephant, how could it just give up without a struggle against the giant animal’s strength? How could it just allow the elephant to stare down at it while its huge foot came crashing down?

Everyone did their best. Ye Chong found that the bodyguards excelled at shooting. Scarface was the best of them. It was as though he did not need to lock on his targets at all. He never stopped shooting, and never missed.

The fact was, Ye Chong and the young boy had the same concern. The most terrifying part of the huge wave was not its sheer strength, but the rocks and other solid material that were pushed in front of its path. These rocks were highly dangerous at their speed. Besides, if the rocks were big enough, they could smash their starship into smithereens.

Hence, the young boy had came up with the idea of redirecting the energy available to increase the starship’s firepower, then using the bodyguards’ excellent shooting skills to deal with the large rocks.

Bang! The starship was hit. The world turned upside down. Fei Si vomited all over, and Old Jalopy was not looking too good as well. Only Ye Chong and Rui Bing stood where they were, unaffected. The young boy in Rui Bing’s hands was also not looking so well.

It was surprising that the seemingly weak bodyguards could now be so capable. They fired competently. Any slightly larger rock that came into range would be fired upon. Despite the ship’s unstable flight, they managed to shoot with tremendous accuracy.

Plop! Plop! Plop! Debris rained down on the starship’s armor with an otherworldly quality. However, no one was in the mood to appreciate it.

The alarm blared, and Ye Chong felt his heart skipped a beat.

Chapter 344: Between Life and Death

Armor is breached, please repair immediately.” The melodic voice made a shocking announcement. Ye Chong quickly returned to his position before the photon processor console. The ship was shaking violently, so he needed to direct some of his attention on keeping it steady.

The debris was too dense. The individual rocks were small, but the continuous damage had taken its toll. The armor was breached in a few places, leaving tiny holes in it. The holes were small, but would widen without timely reparation. When that happens, the whole ship would go down.

Ye Chong tensed up as he stared fixedly on the holographic screen, his slender fingers flying across the console like a pianist performing a mysterious piece, or a flower unfurling its petals. His ten fingers issued command after command to the starship’s systems.

Ye Chong was like a fireman. He needed to find the breaches as soon as possible and repair them quickly. Fortunately, the starship was equipped with specialized reparation systems, or Ye Chong would have to do it all by himself. Not even 10 Ye Chongs would be enough to fix all the breaches in time.

Ye Chong’s mind was a blank as he did the insane reparation work. He was already at his speed limit with his hands. His hands were too stressed, as they were almost going to cramp. However, there was not much time to think about all these. The longer he held on, the higher the chance of pulling it off.

Ye Chong breathed heavily as Rui Bing watched him with concern.

There were more and more breaches, and their chances were getting lower and lower. Unlike the calmness in Ye Chong’s mind, his eyes were burning wildly as he struggled. Surrender was not in his nature.

20 seconds more! Ye Chong’s head was crystal clear. He knew exactly how long it was before the starship yielded to the breaches.

15 seconds! Ye Chong’s hands danced wildly on the console.

10 seconds! He did not give up, gritting his teeth as he worked.

Eight seconds! His eyes reflected the final drop of hope before the ultimate despair.

Seven seconds! The undying flame continued to dance in his eyes.

Six seconds! Ye Chong’s madness was suddenly replaced by an indescribable peace.

Was he really going to die here? Was this end of his life?

Five seconds! Ye Chong suddenly realized that the new breaches were happening slower.

His dreadfully calm heart beat made him hopeful once again. Ye Chong could hear every beat of his heart. Time seemed to slow down. His hands seemed to slow down and his eyes could clearly see every movement of his fingers.

“I need to be faster!”

He shouted in his heart. Five seconds. He now had five seconds! In these five seconds, he must not err in controlling the starship. Any mistake would bury this final hope forever.

The human will to survive was a force to reckon with.

Ye Chong felt like all his fatigue was swept away. His hands moved faster than ever before, and his thoughts came with unprecedented clarity. With his enhanced mental capacity, everything seemed to slow down and clear up.

Finally, just when the starship was three seconds away from exploding, Ye Chong reached a reparation speed that balanced out the damage due to the new breaches.

The number of new breaches became less and less. Ye Chong controlled the ship steadily, not once making a mistake or delaying any precious second.

Five seconds … 10 seconds … 15 seconds …

Slowly but surely, Ye Chong lengthened the time until the starship exploded.

When the new breaches stopped happening, Ye Chong also managed to repair all the holes in the ship.

Success!

Even the calm Ye Chong wanted to raise his hands and scream. However, he found that he could not do that. He could not even move a single finger. His body felt like lead, and his head was heavy. His vision was turning blurry. If Ye Chong was still clear headed now, he would notice that his hands were trembling wildly. His hands were cramping.

However, he saw nothing at all. His consciousness was escaping him. The light in his vision slowly faded out into darkness. He blacked out.

“Ye!” Rui Bing’s face that was the nevermelting ice on the coldest planet in the galaxy finally softened. She rushed to Ye Chong and caught him as he slumped to the floor.

Ye Chong heard a faint cry through his slipping consciousness, and recognized Rui Bing’s voice.

He awoke later, and the first person he saw was Rui Bing. She was caressing his hands quietly.

“You’re awake,” Rui Bing sounded overjoyed.

Ye Chong said nothing, his large eyes staring at Rui Bing’s eyes.

Ye Chong was quiet for such a long time that Rui Bing grew nervous and asked, “What is it? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Still Ye Chong looked at Rui Bing steadily without speaking.

Rui Bing was even more anxious now. She put her right hand on Ye Chong’s forehead. “What is it? Don’t scare me like this. Speak!” Rui Bing had lost all the assuredness as a Jie expert by now.

“You’re worried about me?” Ye Chong asked.

“Yes, of course I’m worried.” Rui Bing looked at Ye Chong curiously.

“You care for me?” Ye Chong continued asking.

“Yes, of course I care.” Rui Bing’s eyes were filled with concern. Was his brain affected? But how could that be?

“Why do you care for me?” Ye Chong asked as he stared deep into Rui Bing’s eyes.

After a long pause … “I’m your wife,” Rui Bing said this casually. She understood immediately that Ye Chong’s brain was not damaged.

“Wife? The woman who will live with me forever?” Ye Chong remembered something like that from a book.

Rui Bing lowered her head as she continued caressing Ye Chong’s hands, and said with soft but determined voice, “Yes.”

Ye Chong saw the resolution in Rui Bing’s eyes, and found himself moved by this simple declaration. He suddenly remembered Mu and Shang. All this while, he had thought that only Mu and Shang would live with him, but now another person had just promised to stay with him forever.

“Why?”

“Because I’m your wife,” Rui Bing looked at Ye Chong and said this softly, but her heart was beating furiously.

“Wife. Are you sure?” Ye Chong looked steadily at Rui Bing.

“Yes.” Rui Bing returned a steady gaze.

“Living together forever …” Ye Chong muttered to himself. Abruptly, he lifted his head and said, “Don’t husband and wife kiss? Teach me!”

Cornerstone was lucky enough to survive the terrifying Singular Wave. In fact, Cornerstone was now being pushed by the wave. They had no idea where they were now. What happened then was odd indeed. After bracing the initial force of the wave, Cornerstone became part of the Singular Wave. Debris surrounded the starship. While they were fatal before, now they were travelling at the same velocity as the Cornerstone itself, so the tiny rocks outside were now harmless.

The young boy awakened earlier than Ye Chong. He studied Ye Chong for awhile and exclaimed with his young, innocent voice, “Big guy, you’re so cool!”

Ye Chong looked at himself and smiled wryly inside. He was badly injured this time. His hands were completely swollen from wrist to the fingertips. Any small movement would invite a sharp pain. Besides, his arms and back were aching.

“Big guy, what did you say to your wife just now? Hehe, why’d she blush so much? And even ran off?” The young boy’s innocent face turned evil.

Ye Chong thought about it, and answered, “We were discussing something academic.” Kissing must be a kind of skill, right? Ye Chong was not so sure about it. Too bad Rui Bing was not here to help him, so he could only make his best guess.

“Hehe …” The young boy swung his legs and laughed teasingly.

Ye Chong suddenly thought of something. “What’s your name?”

“Yu Shan,” the young boy answered easily.

It was an unfamiliar name. Ye Chong did not get anything out of it.

After a moment’s hesitation, Ye Chong asked, “Do you know Shang?”

“Shang?” The young boy asked, curious. “Who’s that?”

Ye Chong could see every detail of the young boy’s expression, but he was disappointed to find that the boy was not lying. Did he really now know Shang? Then why did he feel that both of them were so similar to each other?

Nonetheless, Ye Chong was not too curious about it. He would not put himself in danger just because of a moment’s curiosity. If he did not feel that the young boy was similar to Shang, Ye Chong would never have asked that question.

“Never mind then,” Ye Chong lost interest immediately.

“Big guy, your hands were awesome!” The young boy’s eyes were filled with admiration and approval. “I’ve seen the records for when you were handling the ship. It’s amazing! So fast, and with zero error, so cool!”

“It’s nothing,” Ye Chong answered dismissively. He thought of his time on the trash planet, when Mu supervised his training with the steel beads.

“Big guy, can you teach me?” The young boy looked to Ye Chong with eyes full of hope.

Chapter 345: Coraplatinum

No,” Ye Chong declined without hesitation. While this was not some unique way of training, Ye Chong would not simply teach to someone else what Mu/Shang had taught to him. Besides, the young boy was so physically weak that the hand speed training would not be effective without a few years’ worth of practice. It would also not improve their current situation. Ye Chong would not commit himself to such pointless endeavors.

The young boy pouted with dissatisfaction. “Humph! Who cares anyway?”

Outside the ship was an infinite stretch of the nebula that surrounded the starship like a thin veil. The faint blue nebula was not uniformly blue across. There were patches of lighter or darker shades here and there, irregularities that could only be noticed by careful observation.

Suddenly, an empty space that was tens of kilometers wide appeared on the starship’s holographic screen. This empty path in space was so obvious that is was impossible to miss it.

“Ah, that’s it!” Old Jalopy stood up abruptly, pointing on the image on the holographic screen with excitement.

“What is it?” Ye Chong studied the empty path.

After a moment’s pause, Old Jalopy calmed down and explained, “30 years ago, we went along a path that looked like this to the warp jump point.”

The news was encouraging to them all.

“But I’m not entirely sure that it’s this one!” After some more hesitation, Old Jalopy declared while studying the path on the holographic screen.

Even though this was not the best outcome for them, it was still good news. The young boy’s bodyguards spirits were lifted. They had just gone through a massive battle and were not fully recovered yet, with the look of fatigue on their faces. Scarface, however, seemed to be his usual self with his wooden expression unaltered.

Fei Si was alone in the alchemy room. The Singular Wave incident a few days ago had destroyed many pieces of equipment in the laboratory. She was busy doing the clean up, since no one could help her with it.

The starship slowly approached the empty stretch of space, but the question of which direction to take was a difficult one. As the only person in charge, Ye Chong decided to choose one at random.

Flying in the empty path was no different than flying in the nebula. The journey was not faster nor slower.

How did this empty space came about? Why would there be no stars here? No one knew. The universe was filled with many unexplained phenomena, too many to count. In any case, Ye Chong would not waste his time figuring them out.

The starship flew along the empty path at high speed. Without any reference coordinates, they could not do a warp jump, and had to settle for normal flight.

On the tenth day, the dull view outside finally changed.

The faint blue nebula was no longer there, but replaced with a olive coloured nebula. This olive nebula was thicker than the faint blue nebula. It was like a green-brown cumulonimbus, giving off a fluffy sense of texture. The scary thing about this olive coloured nebula was its inherent instability.

There were constantly streaks of light that flew across the skies in the olive nebula. The further in they went, the more those streaks appeared. Finally, it was not just the occasional streaks, but the whole space around them was filled with these golden fiery streaks flying around.

The olive nebula was dangerous. This suspicion was quickly proven right.

A rock, big as a hill, slowly floated into the olive nebula.

It was like throwing a lighted match into boiling oil. The unstable nebula reacted violently.

The golden fiery streaks moved towards the rock like sharks, surrounding it closely. In the blink of an eye, the entire rock was completely covered with the fire, leaving only a barely visible silhouette.

From afar, the rock looked like a glowing mass of golden fire. One could make out the fiery streaks swimming in the golden mass.

Everyone stared at the sudden change. They had never seen anything like it, not even Old Jalopy in his last trip here.

Before anyone could react, the dazzling gold mass changed again. It shrinked rapidly inwards. The dazzling gold mass shrinked so quickly that its diameter was halved every three seconds.

After five minutes, the glowing rock that was as tall as a hill was two meters across. It was also shaped like a perfect spherical mass of gold.

The spherical fiery mass slowly dimmed down, and the rock was finally exposed again from underneath. A dark red lava in spherical form floated silently in the olive nebula, with the occasional fiery streak flying around it.

Everyone was shocked.

In just five minutes, the rock had been burned down to a spherical lava ball two meters across. What a terrifying power! The inexplicable power of the universe was demonstrated right before their eyes.

Ye Chong felt a chill down his spine. If their starship had accidentally entered the olive nebula, what would have happened? The starship would probably melt into metallic liquid, while the rest of them would probably burn up into ashes.

Cornerstone carefully traversed the empty path, wary of accidentally entering the olive nebula.

It was fortunate that the young boy’s bodyguards were all capable. Up until now, Cornerstone had flew without error.

Another 10 days passed. Everyone but Fei Si had lived through those 10 days in fear. Fei Si was too absorbed in her work cleaning up the alchemy lab that she did not know what happened outside, and hence, was not worried at all.

The olive nebula began to change again. The olive coloured nebula that looked like a cumulonimbus began to grow faint, then turned blue. Surprisingly, the nebula was filled with twinkling lights.

The terrifying fire streaks were no longer in sight. The aqua blue nebula was twinkling with blue lights, like a blue world out of a fairy tale.

Unlike the violent olive nebula, this one was quiet like the young miss of a respectable family. There was no fire, no explosions, only an all-encompassing twinkling blue nebula.

Aside that, the nebula was also filled with many floating rocks. These rocks came in many types, and Ye Chong could not identify most of them.

The rocks were irregular in shape and size, but they were all quietly suspended in the twinkling blue nebula.

Ye Chong was already standing by the holographic screen, staring fixedly at it. His face was calm, but inside he was very much shaken. This was like a natural ore gallery, filled with all kinds of rare minerals.

His eyes swept through the floating rocks, when Ye Chong suddenly widened his eyes and gasped, “Coraplatinum!” Given Ye Chong’s cool nature, not many things could surprise him like this!

“Coraplatinum? Where? Where?” The young boy rushed to the screen, his blue eyes lit up with curiosity. “There is coraplatinum here?” He tiptoed and stretched his neck upwards, but he was too short and too far from the holographic screen. He tilted his head in thought. Then, he turned to one of his bodyguards, waved him over and said in his childish voice, “Lift me up.”

The bodyguard quickly carried the boy up and placed him on his shoulder.

The young boy patted on the bodyguard’s head, urging him further, “Move forward … Forward … Okay okay … Stop!”

The young boy looked up and muttered to himself, “It’s really coraplatinum.” He looked very interested.

On the holographic screen was an irregular shaped grey-blue ore, covered with many tiny white crosses. The white crossed looked intricate, and they were all perfectly symmetric crosses. Seen from afar, coraplatinum looked like a grey-blue rock covered with many white spots, not standing out at all.

Ye Chong stared blankly at the coraplatinum, struggling inside.

Coraplatinum was something Ye Chong had been looking for all this while. It was instrumental in repairing Mu and Shang. With coraplatinum, the chances were higher for Mu and Shang to be repaired. However, not even Mu and Shang knew where coraplatinum could be found.

“So it’s actually from here!” Ye Chong stared at the holographic screen, muttering to himself.

He suddenly thought of a question, and turned to face the young boy. “You know coraplatinum?” This was a rare ore, and not many would know about it. Just where did the young boy come to know about this ore?

The young boy replied dismissively, “Of course I know it. Coraplatinum’s good stuff, a pity it’s so rare. This is the first time I’ve seen it for real.” To him, coraplatinum was only some kind of rare item.

Ye Chong turned to Old Jalopy and asked, “Professor, is this nebula dangerous?”

“Probably not,” Old Jalopy answered, “Last time, Xue Lai Clan had attacked us from in there.”

“Xue Lai Clan?” Ye Chong raised his brow and considered that fact.

The young boy was growing excited and jubilant. “Wah ….”

After a long moment, Ye Chong lifted his head and said, “Enter this nebula.”

The young boy looked at Ye Chong curiously. “You want coraplatinum? But why? It’s melting point is very high, making it difficult to extract!”

Ye Chong ignored him and looked towards the bodyguards in charge of flying the ship.

The bodyguards hesitated for a moment, but quickly altered their course towards the nebula.

The starship’s entrance into the area immediately caused a disturbance. The silently floating rocks were dense, so when Cornerstone entered the nebula, a chain reaction was initiated. The rocks that were pushed off the starship collided into other rocks. Some of the motionless rocks began to move.

This was a big inconvenience for Ye Chong and the others. With the chaotic situation, it was difficult to find their target. Cornerstone flew at its minimum speed, but the chaos continued to spread out wide.

Ye Chong kept his eyes fixed on the coraplatinum, afraid to lose sight of it.

Fortunately, the coraplatinum was not hit by any of the other mineral rocks. It continued to float silently where it was.

Cornerstone was equipped with many mechanical arms, and this made it efficient for collecting materials outside. Ye Chong carefully maneuvered one of the mechanical arms himself. When the mechanical arm had the coraplatinum firmly in its grasp, Ye Chong finally heaved a sigh of relief.

The coraplatinum was larger than Ye Chong anticipated, weighing more than three tonnes.

“What a big coraplatinum!” The young boy circled around the coraplatinum, caressing its natural white crosses on the ore.

Ye Chong felt excited. With this coraplatinum, Mu and Shang would be repaired soon. Mu and Shang only needed the one arm and a small part of the pilot cabin repaired. This piece of coraplatinum would be more than enough for that, perhaps leaving some to spare.

Ye Chong looked at the chaotic situation around him regretfully. With the rocks flying all over, it was impossible to take more of them. It was simply a pity, missing out on those rare ores. Ye Chong saw a few rare ores already floating further and further away from him.

There was no helping it. Ye Chong ordered for Cornerstone to leave the nebula.

Cornerstone continued on its journey in the empty path.

The flight continued on for another 20 days along the empty path. Just when everyone, including Old Jalopy, believed that they had gone in the wrong direction, or in the wrong empty path altogether, the warp jump point that Old Jalopy that been telling them repeatedly about finally appeared before them.

The starship went from the empty path into a vast void region.

This was a region tens of thousands of kilometers across, without any nebula to be seen. If the empty path was a strange sight, then this vast empty region was even more curious.

Old Jalopy stood up abruptly and gasped in joy, “Ah! It’s here, it’s here!” All of them could hear the excitement in his words.

The dispirited crowd was immediately encouraged. They stood up and asked, “Where? Where is it?”

“Over there!” Old Jalopy pointed towards the center of the region.

At the dead center of the region was a flat, colourful disc. On the holographic screen, the disc was further enlarged for viewing. What they saw now was a disc about two kilometers across, made up of nebulae of all kinds of colors. There were the faint blue, green-brown and twinkling blue ones that Ye Chong and the rest had seen, and some dazzling colors such as deep red, bright yellow … It was like an exhibit of colors. The colorful nebulae were dispersed in the disc without any apparent order. The strangest part was that the colorful disc had a strange and slow ripple spreading across it.

The ripples started from the center of the disc, spreading outwards slowly.

The center of the disc was empty, but it was like a beating heart, bringing motion to the nebulae around it. It was a curious sight to behold.

“The warp jump point is at the center of the disc!” Old Jalopy’s voice sounded dreamy, like the interesting disc they were looking at.

Chapter 346: Child Abductor

This is Dankwood planet,” Old Jalopy introduced the brown-gray planet on the holographic screen, being the only one who had ever been there. After days of continuous flight, everyone was in a state of high tension. Now that there were no more inexplicable things around them, they finally heaved a sigh of relief.

“It’s best if we land at nighttime. The aborigines there are very sensitive to starships and the like. Once they identified us as outsiders with a starship and mechs, we’ll be hunted down,” Old Jalopy warned, “Don’t underestimate these aborigines. They can be very scary in some ways.”

Old Jalopy looked at Ye Chong and Rui Bing and he spoke. Only the two of them had mechs here. Ye Chong nodded. It pays to listen to the expert.

Night came, and Cornerstone made its silent descent into the sea.

They boarded a landing boat and headed for the shore. This was where Old Jalopy and his crew had landed last time.

Once the landing boat returned into the sea, back to their starship, Old Jalopy turned to everyone and said, “Make sure there’s nothing conspicuous on any of you, like dimension keystones or communication devices.” These words were actually all directed towards Ye Chong, since he had destroyed everything that the young boy and his bodyguards had on them.

Rui Bing was wearing her snow white training garb. To Old Jalopy, she looked like a native the most. The Guardian ring on her finger was made to look like a dull ring, a design that Gu Shaoze had favored for some reason.

Ye Chong hesitated for a moment before placing Han Jia’s dimension keystone and comms device into his bag.

“Shoes too.” Old Jalopy pointed at their shoes, all of them made of strong and durable material. He explained, “The shoes on this planet looked similar to hers.” He pointed at Rui Bing’s pair of white, traditional shoes that she was wearing.

Ye Chong took off his shoes without argument, and threw them into the sea. The rest of them exchanged uncertain looks before throwing their shoes into the sea as well.

It was quite an experience, having all of them barefoot. Old Jalopy carried Fei Si on his back as they made their advance single file. Old Jalopy elaborated as he walked, “I remember that there’s a village not far from here, not sure if it’s still around though. They are villages around here, big and small, but no cities. The bigger villages are not that much different from cities, though. Usually outsiders are not allowed to enter a village easily. The Hundred Tribes Village, however, is friendly to outsiders, just like our cities.

“Please also keep in mind not to say anything, let me deal with the talking. Be careful not to simply attack people. These people protect their own. If someone is treated roughly, you’ll face the anger of the masses. However, please do what you have to when necessary. There are no laws here. Killing and being killed are common. Sigh, I once thought this was a utopia, but it’s actually much more chaotic than our world. There is however, one thing that you must not do, and that is rape. Anyone who disobeys this rule will be on the kill list of every villager on the planet.”

Ye Chong listened carefully, taking in every detail. In this unfamiliar territory, every bit of information was valuable. Scarface showed the same level of attention as Ye Chong, while the rest of the people only looked interested. “Looks like Scarface is the only one who’s seen real battle,” Ye Chong thought to himself.

They walked for roughly five hours before reaching a small village. This village was meagre, made up of just some dozens of families. The houses were all dilapidated. Everyone but Old Jalopy watched in surprise. They had never seen anywhere so backwards and impoverished before. Even the free accommodation provided at relief centers were much better than these houses.

“Is this a primitive society?” A bodyguard muttered.

Another bodyguard with disbelieving eyes said, “Seems to be.”

Old Jalopy explained, “They have very low material productivity here. They place great importance on pushing the limits of the human body, and are extremely averse to technology. But don’t look down on them. Growing up in this society, these people are determined fellas. Besides, they are all good in combat, so don’t try to get into a fight with them.

“Hold it there!” A male voice yelled angrily.

Two people in clown masks came out of the village, running, each of them carrying a child in their arms. In just moments, they were already far away from the village. Behind them, a few men were in pursuit, yelling angrily. These men all looked physically robust.

They’re strong! Ye Chong and Rui Bing exchanged a look, seeing the surprise in the other person’s eyes. The two people in clown masks and the men in pursuit of them were all very strong.

The two masked men were slower because of their burden, and were soon caught up from behind.

The two masked men looked to each other. One of them threw the child in his hand to the other person and turned back, running towards the pursuers.

The masked man was excellent in combat, keeping all five pursuers occupied without losing ground.

“Child abductors!” Old Jalopy gasped in surprise turned to Ye Chong. “Quick, stop them!”

“You’re sure?” Ye Chong tilted his head at Old Jalopy. The two masked men were strong. It was not a good idea to fight against strong opponents like them when they had only arrived here.

Old Jalopy replied urgently, “Yes, of course I’m sure! This is important, you …”

Before he could finish, Ye Chong was already running towards the masked men, together with Rui Bing. Ye Chong was in a black combat suit, approaching the escaping child abductor with small, irregular steps like a ghoul. Rui Bing was in her white training garb, advancing gracefully like a swan in flight.

The two of them used completely different styles, but they both reached the child abductor at the same time.

“Who might you be, do you know the consequences of interfering? …” Before he could finish, Ye Chong made his move. He darted forward like an arrow towards the child abductor.

The abductor was shocked and was about to fight back when he found that he could not move at all!

Rui Bi was at the side, her eyes vividly bright! The Rui Family’s mental attacks were unconventional, and Ye Chong’s information on the mentalists’ skills had helped her greatly. She had improved again without knowing it.

The blue lines crisscrossed in Ye Chong’s vision clearly. Ye Chong gripped his hand into a fist and threw a seemingly light punch on the child abductor’s throat.

Crack! A clear sound of breaking bones. The child abductor watched as Ye Chong stepped back with two children in his arms. The blue lines in Ye Chong’s vision were stimulated when he last fought with Rui Bing, with desirable results. Now, they would only appear when Ye Chong was in a highly focused state.

This made Ye Chong overjoyed. If the blue lines continued as they were before, Ye Chong was afraid that he would ultimately turn into a mad killer.

The child abductor was not weak. In a one-on-one, he would be able to defend himself at least for awhile. However, he never imagined himself facing two Jie experts at the same time.

Ye Chong never understood the concept of one-on-one battles. He always went for the fastest way to end the battle. On the other hand, Rui Bing did not like fighting with someone else in combat, but what the child abductor did was horrible. To her, these two masked men should die for their actions, and so she acted as she did.

How could the masked man win against two Jie experts working together? He died almost instantly.

The appearance of Ye Chong and Rui Bing was encouraging for the five pursuers, while the other child abductor began to panic.

When he saw how Ye Chong and Rui Bing easily killed the child abductor, he was distracted momentarily and nearly received a punch from one of the pursuers. What an unlucky day. They had chosen to strike at dawn, when most people were still asleep and less vigilant. However, they still awoken some villagers in the end. Now, these two capable fighters suddenly showed up.

“Why are so many strong people who like to interfere in other people’s business?” He thought to himself in amazement. However, there was no time to ponder further. If he did not leave soon, escape will be impossible.

With that, the child abductor disentangled himself from the five pursuers. He was about to leave when he saw the man and woman coming towards him.

He ran away in fright.

Ye Chong would never allow him to escape. Since he had decided to do this, he must be thorough. This was Ye Chong’s principle. He passed the two children to Rui Bing. Ye Chong immediately picked up speed without them.

The child abductor thought he had fled in time, but then he heard a swooping sound from behind. He looked back, only to see the man in black following him closely like a ghoul. He was closing in quickly. The child abductor was scared as hell, and ran as fast as he could.

“The forest is right in front,” the child abductor thought to himself. Once he entered the forest, he would be safe. Just then, he felt a sharp pain on his back, and nearly blacked out. He could hear the sound of his bones breaking. He gritted his teeth, biting into his tongue until it bled to remain conscious.

With this determination and strength, he ran even faster and entered the faster.

Ye Chong followed the child abductor into the forest, but quickly lost sight of his target. He was surprised by this, and searched around to no avail. There was nothing he could do about it but return to his group. At least that punch he delivered would be painful enough.

Chapter 347: The Village

hen Ye Chong got back to the village, Old Jalopy was exchanging warm greetings with the villagers. Clearly, Ye Chong and Rui Bing’s heroic act had gained trust of the villagers. The mommas were holding Rui Bing’s hands, muttering some words imperceivable afar that made Rui Bing’s face reddened as her lead lowered with a kind of embarrassed expression.

Rui Bing quickly welcomed Ye Chong upon arrival.

“Are things alright?”

Ye Chong shook his head, “The guy ran away, he took a blow from me though.”

Rui Bing could not be more shocked than this. She was well-aware of her man’s skill, seriously what kind of human could ever escape his grip? That person must be quite a deal. Knowing her man’s battle style, he would not let go of his prey till the prey died.

“Well…” Upon seeing Rui Bing’s expression, Ye Chong elaborated, “The guy disappeared right after he got into the woods. I felt strange too.”

“It must be your first time of encountering the Abductor, I suppose. They are the kinds who abduct not everybody but children and are extremely skillful in hiding themselves. The more puzzling the surrounding, the more confusing they get.” The villagers had been mesmerized by Ye Chong’s performance before, so he was quite dignified in their words.

Ye Chong nodded and asked on, “What does the Abductor do?”

The villagers were shocked by his question, it seemed like a common sense for everyone here to know who the group of child abductors were. “Mister, are you truly unaware of the Abductor?”

“Hahahaha… Forgive my friends.” Old Jalopy came into the scene hurriedly, “They came from the far, faraway. They aren’t really aware of the things here. Sigh, can’t help it, they are so fascinated by the scenery here that I was asked to get them over here. Hahahahaha, and so I did you see. Please don’t take it by heart if they had done anything offensive.”

“Ohh!” The villagers showed understanding, with one old adult laughing brightly, “Haha, don’t have to be so formal. The Abductor would have gotten their job done if there weren’t you guys. That fine young man has some skills you know what, better than myself back in his age! The pretty lassie there too.”

Old Jalopy smiled and turned back to Ye Chong and the group, “Abductor is a group of child-abductors. Nobody knows who they are and what they work for. They just hide in the dark and capture any child with potential who had never returned since then. People have no idea where the children had gone and what the Abductor wants them for. There would be a batch of missing children annually but somehow these child-abducting oddities seem to be extremely skillful. I swear they would make serious fortune if they ever utilize their skills by conducting classes, parents would send them the children themselves.”

“Right!” Sighed the man, “With their skills, people would be flocking to their classes. And words have been heard, saying how those abducted children must have a certain standard of potential, judging by how skillful and insightful those child abductors are, though it’s quite astonishing to see them here too… Man, our village actually has talented kids to be abducted. What a waste if nobody guided them to harness their talents…” And he took a look at Ye Chong, passionately.

“Hahaha!” Old Jalopy laughed and said, “Congratulations for the village still having the two talented angels intact! Once they grew up happily, the condition here surely would change! Hahaha, sadly we won’t be witnessing such achievement, we have things to do or we would have taken them as apprentices.” Indirectly he turned down the offer.

“Oh… Ha…” The man seemed disappointed, though his happy-go-lucky tone unchanged, “Well they have their own fate, their own tale to make. So, not to worry histories like us. I must say all of you seemed to have a long journey. All worn out and that, why don’t all of you get in and have a rest? I could offer some drinks and both of us, the old men could have a nice conversation.”

“Sure, sure!” Smiled Old Jalopy, “It’s been quite sometime since I ever took a journey myself. I no longer know how the outside world looks, I really would be glad to get some insights from you!”

The villagers were kind as they welcomed Ye Chong and his mates in group.

The houses were broken, the pipes were broken, the barrels were broken, the people were… Ye Chong was as speechless as his mates, since they had finally come to an understanding of what Old Jalopy meant when he said the place was pretty bad in productivity. They almost thought they had turned back in time and returned to the hunting-and-gathering era. No one could see a single touch of the technologies. The fish webs were a knit of ropes, which only could be seen in the museum in today. There were fish poles, wooden chairs and porcelain basins, crudely produced. What kept the oil lamps ignited on wall was the fat of fishes they caught, as one could smell the fishiness of the room upon entry.

The walls were a fascination to Ye Chong’s eyes, as every brick of them was made out of Celestine, one could even see the cuts over each piece. Apparently these bricks were removed pieces by pieces from a giant boulder of it, with bare hands. How many bare hands would that need? Ye Chong finally understood why the place respected the potency of humanity more than anything.

Anyone who could dice Celestine by bare hands must not be an ordinary. No one could cut Celestine into bricks even by brute force.

The women passed them a bowl of water each, with a sweet smile. Ye Chong took a sip. Although the water was a little muddy, it was exceptionally refreshing that Ye Chong gargled it like the others. The women seemed very pleased by their reaction.

Old Jalopy was having conversations with the villagers nearby.

“So why are the child-abductors this active today?” asked Old Jalopy.

“That was a question for us too. It was the first time we encountered this. If it weren’t you and your group, those children might never see their parents again. Sigh, those abductors raided our village just because we have a weaker defense after the other major villages reinforced their security. But well… sigh, we are also as harmless as you can see. If there are some people who would consider sparing their kindness protecting us, we won’t be under a plight like this. I guess we would have to send these two kids to the larger village afterwards, since both of them would never have a bright future staying with us.” One of the elderly expressed. The villagers were seemingly grim as well.

“Don’t feel bad about it,” comforted Old Jalopy. “You can’t force things to happen. At least the villagers are alert enough to see us. Things would be totally different if that did not happen.”

“I had heard similar things happening in the neighboring villagers. The Wang family had informed us about the abductors days before. That was why, well, we tried hard to prepare. We would be sending the kids to Wang family maybe tomorrow. At least the family has good fighters to protect them while teaching them techniques to protect themselves. Unlike somebody, the family would be in favor of taking these kids, since they were the one eyed by the abductors at least…” Added the other villager, with somehow an undertone of Ye Chong taking those kids along.

Old Jalopy was feeling a little awkward of the situation, “Well don’t look at their skills, they are still kids, they won’t be considering apprentice that soon.”

“Wei! How could you speak to our guest like that?”

The villager whose name was Wei responded in embarrassment, since he himself was well-aware of how inappropriate his words were.

“Hahaha… Don’t mind that, we are just having small talks!” Old Jalopy tried to keep the rage down as he made a drastic turn in the topic, “Speaking of Wang, may I ask who are the Wangs? I remembered no one of the Wang family 30 years back when I traveled here?”

“So you’ve been here 30 years ago? Well, we moved here only 20 years ago. The former villagers here had migrated to somewhere else when we came. And the Wang family joined the area on our second year here. The family is a very huge one I must say, 800,000 of them I heard? I have no idea why they moved here. We have also hardly spoken to each other, though I must say the place had become quieter ever since their arrival. Nobody would dare to challenge the area and our days got brighter,” he said.

“This big? 800 grands of them? Such family…” Old Jalopy was astonished by the figure.

“Isn’t it unbelievable? And the family had talents, lots of them. There was once a group of thieves around 300 of them scurried somewhere nearby and it only took around 50 of the Wangs to slaughter them on spot. They are surely merciless when they wave their offense, no one had survived on the day. We even travelled to the Buffalo Hill and we saw an extremely large sack laying there. And not one single thief was seen around the village ever since.” One of the villagers told the tale expressively.

“Okay…” Old Jalopy frowned. It seemed like a chore to deal with this family.

“Well don’t worry!” The elderly saw the worry in Old Jalopy’s brows, “The Wang family usually shows no concern towards the outsiders, as long as the outsiders behave. Nothing would happen! And the Wangs are rather friendly in nature. They would likely offer their help whenever we asked for it. Also, the village of the Wang family is the largest market you could find within the area. Whatever you need, you could get it there. If you want something sold, you could approach them too, they have fair prices you know, way better than those heartless merchants. So we would get everything to the Wang family market from time to time.”

“That’s great.” Nodded Old Jalopy vigorously, “Now they sound quite friendly. I’m sorry but there are in fact some nasty clans out there so…”

And that was when a man’s voice rang by the door, “We were informed that the village has been under an attack of the Abductor, so the Wang family sent 5 of us for assistance.”

Wow, when Wang family was mentioned, they had come.

The elderly went to the door and saw 5 men standing in a row.

Ye Chong was shocked. All 5 of them were fairly armed with a green suit as their uniform. They seemed reliable and strong.

Ye Chong could tell by a glance that those men possessed some skills.

Chapter 348: Wang Family Village I

he five visiting men soon shifted their glances on Ye Chong and the others, in which they lasted on Rui Bing the longest. Well, Ye Chong’s appearance was not that look-worthy thanks to his repulsive face and feeble-looking body, unlike Rui Bing who stood there like the goddess of snow with that white garb of hers.

“Thank you for your kindest offer. The two children have been saved,” replied the elder courteously.

“Saved?” The leading young man was shocked, since the child abductors were known for their skills, it would take amazing expertise for one to save a person from their grip. “Thank you for sharing the burden!” He bowed towards the group.

His focus was certainly on Rui Bing, as only Rui Bing had that look of an elite. Ye Chong? Not really, he seemed to be an adornment himself. The bodyguards of the young boy were considerably frail as well. Old Jalopy had quite a body but that was the only thing he had. Fei Si? Impossible, she probably would need a paper cutter to even tear a package open.

Rui Bing was seemingly unmoved by anything. She was cool as the ice. It would sound like a total bogus if one were to tell everybody she was not an elite, especially when there was this unpleasant looking young man standing by her side. The addition of this young man simply enhanced her appearance.

Well, despite her cool beauty, the men withdrew their stare quickly, which was quite a move of a gentleman. They looked at the elder, “The two children must be a true talent that the abductors eyed them. The master of the family intends to take them as apprentice, I wonder if that’s alright?”

“That’ll be fantastic!” said the elder, “It would be an honor for our kids to be chosen by the Wang family. Oh how can we say no to that? Please thank on my behalf.”

Certainly the 5 men from the Wang family were enjoying the hurrahs of the people, as the leading one nodded, “Then how about we pay their parents a visit? We might need you to visit our village since we would need to gain your consent as well. The children, I suggest to have them at our village for the moment. Well, it was not because we do not trust the capability of the master guardian here. It’s safer when there are fewer guardsmen while there would be more playmates for the children.”

The leading one was known as Wang Meng and as one could observe he was rather persuasive since his speech literally covered almost every aspect. Two pairs of parents came out of the crowd, looking glad and proud, as they believed their son would have a bright future once he joined the Wangs.

Wang Meng smiled on. He looked at Ye Chong and the others, “Fellow guests from far, faraway, how about staying at our village for the next two days? It’s the season of Magnosia. The Magnosia flower is pretty well-known in this area.”

The group looked at Ye Chong. He had to make the decision. No one else would dare to take the flag.

Wang Meng was feeling strange towards the reaction of the group. The stare clearly converged at that ugly boy. Did that mean the ugly boy was the leader? How? Wang Meng could not see anything worthy of leadership on that boy, especially when the great heroine was actually under his order…

Wang Meng could not comprehend.

“You make the choice,” stated Ye Chong, glanced at Old Jalopy. It would be better for the tour guide to make the decision.

“Hmmm…” Old Jalopy eventually did not decline the invitation, “We could go if it was not a trouble to the family.” It would be bad if they rejected the big family right in the face…

Wait what? The first person in command is this filthy looking boy with little to none strength, while the second person in command turned out to be that plain old man, and not that exquisite-looking lady? I don’t get it.

Wang Meng was confused, since their perception of a leader would be someone of great strength and status, not these… ordinary folks… “You are being too formal. The master would be more than pleased to treat you all.”

And so they moved.

Wang family village felt like an ancient fortress to Ye Chong, as the tall walls stood bright with layers and layers of Celestines stacked about 30 meters high. There was also a gate? It was an eye-opener to the folks. And yes, thanks to their dramatic reaction, Wang Meng and his men had technically presumed the group to be a bunch of folks from the undeveloped.

The place was feeling ancient, primitive, primal compared to He Yue. They walked on the pavement of Celestine, their eyes fell on all sorts of simple carriages, their ears heard the cries of the merchants by their wooden stalls. Ye Chong was overwhelmed by the happening village. The stalls were also offering all kinds of strange things which mostly appeared to be foreign to Ye Chong. There were skins of animals, horns of some beasts. The clothing of the villagers was unordinary… they actually saw someone with only a pair of spotty pants, probably made out of skin of a kind of animal.

“This place is known as the largest market in the area.” Smiled Wang Meng as he introduced the place, “If you need anything, don’t be shy, just tell me and I’ll get it for you.” Of course he got to be kind. Be it He Yue or Fal or the Archipelago, people adore power and would try anything to seize that power. Rui Bing was that power the men sought from the visitors, no doubt Wang Meng would have to gain her favor.

But as time went, through his constant observation, he noticed something weird. Among the folks, only mind of two persons seemed unreadable – one was unquestionably that white-garbed lady, the other… was actually their leader, the nasty-looking young man. The white-garbed lady’s unmovable expression was understandable for her clear heart and mind, but the young man… Wang Meng could hardly imagine him doing mental training of anything. Well, he was in fact the leader of the folks. He surely had something in his pocket to keep his underlings.

Out of sudden, a man dressed like Wang Meng headed quickly to Wang Meng. Whispers were heard and he stood in his position after.

Wang Meng turned to the folks, “Fellow guests, it’s our meal time soon. It would be great if we could speed things up a little. We could come back here tonight if you have anything to buy. The night market is always there for you after dusk.”

Chapter 349: Wang Family Village II

he village was way larger than the folks had imagined. It took them 30 minutes that felt like forever to reach the guest room under Wang Meng’s lead.

The entrance had a simple style, a demonstration of minimalism, with staircases made out of Celestine where scratches of age could be discerned. There were two stone statues of unknown beasts, looking solemn yet unthreatening. They were carrying a flaming basin each on their back. The basin was the lighting that utilized fat-burning like the other residences in the place and fierily they burned, with hushes made as the wind blew.

A middle-aged woman was standing there with queues of men and ladies dressed in green at both sides.

She stepped ahead and gave a bow at the incoming guests, “The family welcomes fellow guests.” She smiled, “It is an honor for our family to be able to entertain fellow guests with our greatest hospitality, as the master has ordered. Kindly forgive us for any inconvenience caused,”

“You are being too formal.” Hurriedly Old Jalopy came to her, “You don’t have to be this ceremonial…” He knew the atmosphere would only become more awkward if he did not make that move.

The woman turned to one side and rose her left hand, “Please, follow our lead, the master is waiting.” The woman seemed to be in her late thirties, appearance-wise she was slightly above the average. Her figures were great, so were her manners.

And Ye Chong quickly noticed the fact that the Celestine of the staircases was also a production of armory slicing like those he saw in the small village before, except the staircases were more refined. Ye Chong believed the Celestine was cut promptly without any holdback from the cutter. One blow and the cutting was done, and not everyone could do this.

The stairs were not too tall, with a height of about 10 meters. They were then welcomed by a square platform on top, which its surface area was around 2500 square meters. 5 wooden racks were placed at both sides, where all sorts of weapons were put on them. The weapons were unordinary, even strange to Ye Chong.

The bodyguards of the young boy felt otherwise however, as they could not stand the primitiveness of the armory and began missing the weaponry ahead of time, like an energy gun for example. That was justifiable as they were not hardcore brawlers in the first place. Without those guns there were just as good as the fishmongers at the market. The little boy was very much intrigued nonetheless as he skipped his way with the scarred man at the side.

At the end of the platform there was another flight of staircases where it led to the guest room. And they finally saw the owner of this fortress-like place. To their very surprise, the one who owned this stronghold where over 800,000 trained guardsmen resided, was none other than this 20-year-old girl in the room.

“I welcome you all to the village. Please, do take a seat and taste our brilliant tea. My apology for the absence at the entrance, as my body was weak.” A faint angelic sweetness could be heard in her soft voice. It sounded like a breeze on a fine morning, that it caught everyone’s attention right away.

Her face was pale yet looking gorgeous. Her eyes were dreamy yet captivating. Her robe was green, as curing as her soul. Her hair danced over her shoulders as lethargically she turned her head. Her hands were fair as they rested upon the chair.

“No, it’s our honor to have visited such a marvelous place,” said Old Jalopy.

And they got themselves seated. The square wooden table was low with straw mattress at the side. There were a few dishes unrecognizable by Ye Chong. At one corner a basin of water and towel was placed, clearly that was for the guests to wash their hands. As “untechnological” as one was informed, there was no hand-washer, no processor, only table and chairs along with bunches of underlings, which appeared to be rather interesting to Ye Chong.

The dining place consisted of rows, with one row of table each. There seemed to be an unwritten rule, a custom where guests would be seated in accordance to their social standing. So one could determine the placement of a specific person in the group simly by the seat. The higher the seat, the more the guest was valued. Ye Chong lacked the concept of this apparently, as he directly picked the tallest seat with Rui Bing next to him. Old Jalopy knew his position so he picked the lower place with Fei Si.

The little boy thought for a moment, took one straw mattress and sat between Ye Chong and Rui Bing. The naivety of his act brought up a smile on the sweet face of the host.

“Hey, big guy.” Whispered the boy, “This lassie sure is hot.” Rui Bing was sipping her tea by the side. She closed her eyes and the boy was rewarded with a smack on his head.

“Owwwiee…” The little boy rubbed his head, “I made a big mistake. I forgot your wife is here. Don’t worry, Big Sister Bing.” He turned to Rui Bing, “Compared to you, that woman is incompetent. Only you could handle a beast like Mister Big guy. That woman will never take him, never!”

Ye Chong remained expressionless, seemed to be unconcerned of the comments the boy had just made.

The mistress of the village lifted her chin with her hand, as her curious eyes reached the strange guests. The leading one on top was an ugly man? She waved her hands, calling the middle-aged woman.

“Does he have any talent that we could not see?” she whispered to the woman.

The middle-aged woman took a glance at Ye Chong, “He should not be an expertise in the combats.” She looked at Rui Bing, “The white-garbed girl however, seemed to be one.”

“I see.” Pondered the mistress as she gestured the woman back to her seat.

“Shall we begin?” And the mistress commenced the course.

Ye Chong began digging in. He had never tasted these food before, although he had seen a few of them on Lunatic Guan’s encyclopedia entries. He could confirm that these food was made out of natural ingredients. His pleased tongue said so. The pale greenish gelatin-like piece for example, which had these tiny feathers adorned, tasted like heaven with the little scent alluring Ye Chong. He enjoyed it so much that he took a few pieces in a row.

He was indulged in the food. He had always favored the delicacies even back when he was on Trash Planet-12. He would try his best to improve his dining experience from day to day and the period of helping Grandpa Qian working on the noodles had given him a better insight on food. So with his slightly professional sense of edibles, these dishes were a gourmet’s experience.

One might say Ye Chong was a bum, but the rest of the group was enjoying the food as well, that they had to chomp every piece on the table. The little boy was munching busily, had a piece in his hand, with bits of the food all over his face. He seemed to be desperately in growing an additional hand to fit his appetite.

Most of the other Wangs at the other side were giving off a disdainful look. “Man those looks, they looked like a pig when they eat…”

“Ever heard of table manners? Are they from the countryside?”

Old Jalopy was feeling extremely embarrassed by their dining style. He would love to vanish into thin air right away. The mannerism of the ancient was well-preserved in the natural space zone, unlike He Yue galaxy.

“It’s a rare occasion of having an expert fighter as our guest. What a great opportunity as if bestowed by the god. Why don’t we have a brief martial arts session as part of the entertainment today?” said the mistress, with a smile.

The “how-about” sent chills to Old Jalopy’s spine, for he realized that he forgot to remind them of how it was a thing for people in the natural space zone to pick a fight on each other on occasions like this. When one that was considered as an martial arts expert entered a major village, there would be youngsters came to challenge, as a way to obtain actual combat experience and expand their views. It was common to die in a random fight like this, that no one of the space zone would show sympathy.

Strength was everything there. The residents’ dream was to challenge the limits and overcome them!

Natural space zone was the heaven for both martial arts practitioners and mentalists.

With solemnity, the two apprentices of the Wang family stood at one side of the platform made out of solid rock. They gave a very formal bow towards their guests.

Wham!

The shadows intertwined, the afterimages interexchange, the swords interacted, their breaths interconnected, as the clinking of the blades rang clear as the morning dewdrop upon the water. Everyone seemed to be fascinated by the sword-dancing, except for Ye Chong. Well, most of his mates originated from a galaxy where martial arts were merely a practice to gain a better physical health in preparation for the pilot career in future. So a majority of the martial arts practitioners who retained the passion of a hand combat had hardly mastered the use of weaponry, the best thing they wielded would be their fists and legs. And that was why Ye Chong’s lance-swinging performance had stirred up such a craze among the audience back then.

The bodyguards of the little boy were pretty much astonished, “How is this even a performance? This is literally a you-die-or-I-die situation!” Even Rui Bing seemed agreeable on this exclamation, as her face tightened, not fearing of how dead serious the Wangs were in their training but the fact that she imagined the potency of a fully trained practitioner who had undergone a dead-or-alive combat practice on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, Ye Chong utterly felt nothing, as he passed a glance and carried on crunching his food. Dead-or-alive combat on a daily basis? That was the bread and butter for Ye Chong ever since he was born. Back in those days when he had to pilot little worn Winnie to hunt down those horrible mutated lifeforms, everyday he imagined himself joining the trashes at one spot on the planet. The two apprentices were not bad but nothing worth-noting in particular, especially when there was so much good food on the table for him.

Ye Chong was right of his intuitive comment. The two apprentices were in fact not bad in terms of their attributes, and because of how similar they were attribute-wise, the fight was more entertaining than ever that it caught everyone’s attention, well, again, except for that ugly young man and naughty little boy who were too engaged with their meals.

Is he truly talented or he just doesn’t care? The mistress could not come up with a conclusion on the personality of Ye Chong.

“Hey Big Guy. This snack isn’t too shabby,” muffled the boy with sweets filled his mouth.

“Mhm.” And Ye Chong munched on.

Be it a dead-or-alive combat, be they potentially few of the best fighters in the family, they were still humans and it was consuming to carry on a fight so vigorously. They were sweating as the intensity faded in their eyes. The swords crossed and were withdrawn.

They looked at their guests, made another bow, “Kindly comment.”

Old Jalopy’s eyes enlarged. Oh no, I forgot to tell them it is also a tradition for the special guest – the practitioners in this case – to give a few words on the performance as a kind of return in the favor of the host’s hospitality.

And nobody seemed to care!

Ye Chong retained his ignorance and continued dining with the boy.

Chapter 350: Wang Family Village III

ome on! Somebody, say something!

Old Jalopy was getting panicked, as his glaring eyes swarmed upon the others above him. And right when his heart was bursting out of nervousness, Rui Bing lifted her lips, “Mhm, right. To be honest I am not quite a master in swordsmanship, so I can’t really provide guidance. But if I were to give comments on the action… it would be great if both of you could demonstrate better dexterity in every step. I believe that you could enhance your performance to a whole new level.” Rui Bing was the definition of tradition herself. Certainly she was fully aware of the unwritten procedure of a typical martial arts session during meal. The tradition appeared probably during the prime time of martial arts back in the older days of 5 major galaxies.

Both apprentices gave a bright smile as they bowed, “Thank you for the comments, master!” Well, whoever that could provide a word or two would be regarded as the Master, it was part of the courtesy. And Rui Bing returned a brief smile, she recognized how precious her words could become to the people when she was presumed as the Master, that even a random comment could sound highly constructive.

The two apprentices gave one last bow and retreated.

“Wang Zishi begs for the enlightening as well!” One young man at the opposite of the table rose from his seat and quickly bowed at Rui Bing.

So it is the tradition of wrestling in actual fact! This place actually preserved such an old tradition? Muttered Rui Bing, she was already expecting a hand combat ever since the host commenced a session as an “entertainment”.

Wrestling – a fight, that seemed like a harsh struggle of flesh and blood, being an attempt to send the opponent to the ground – was typically a showdown challenge to the guests. No worries, there was a limit enforced in the hall. Every guest could fight with only one challenger. The whole meaning of this tradition was once meant for the youngsters so they could have the opportunity to learn something from the experts of the outside world. But things have changed as time passed by. The former meaning had been long-forgotten. It became a channel for flaunting. When the guest feels incompetent to fellow challengers at the other side of the table, he or she could stand up and bow at the host, forfeiting the match as surrendered. And that had became the incentives of host of every large clan, to seize every single opportunity to send off challengers, since it was a direct demonstration, depiction to the greatness of their clan.

Rui Bing stood up and bowed at the opponent, signifying acceptance. Her expression was as usual, unmoved and fearless. She had experienced fights like this before, although that was when she was the host…

The mistress beamed at Rui Bing, having high anticipation on her performance. It would be a perfect chance to take her into the family. Wang Zishi was the finest man in her family. She would be defeated, she would surely seek guidance, and that would be when she would be taken under the Wangs’ apprenticeship.

Both of them, similarly, stood at each side of the platform. The man was dressed in green ancient robe, with a long sword in his hand, forming a contrast to Rui Bing’s fair white garb, wavering like a snow angel.

What a perfect match! Exclaimed the mistress. Rui Bing’s beauty and Wang Zishi’s handsomeness were as if supposedly together since they had existed. The mistress took a glance at that filthy man too busy eating like a pig at the table, strongly believing that if Rui Bing had met Wang Zishi instead of that ugly man in the first place, she would – at a probability of 100% – choose Wang Zishi, despite the currently deep relationship between the ugly man and Rui Bing. The mistress knew it, as a woman herself.

Wang Zishi was the definition of perfection. His combats were brilliant, while his features were bewitching, his personality was typically consisted of a heart of gold. Tons of women had flocked upon him but he spent these years wholeheartedly into the arts of combats. Not to mention his talent was as great as his person, he had improved dramatically over the years and rose upon the other seniors.

Rui Bing and Wang Zishi exchanged bows.

Rui Bing, as she had admitted before, did not have soul-connecting compatibility with weaponry. Even though fighting an armed person unarmed would be likely a losing fight, Rui Bing remained unarmed as she stood still by the rack of weapons. She might be unarmed, but she was still an experienced fighter unarmed.

“My lady, wouldn’t you need a weapon?” Wang Zishi had yet launched his attack as he asked in bewilderment. The use of weaponry was the bandwagon in the natural space zone, since it would always be a plus to the fighter in a combat, even for a hand-on martial practitioner who would put on a pair of knuckles.

“Nope. I’m fine. Thank you,” Rui Bing rejected politely.

“Well then, ladies first.” Wang Zishi was such a gentleman, although Rui Bing did not buy that.

“Okay.” Right after that syllable, an attack had zapped across the platform.

Rui Bing was at extreme speed, as if she had just disintegrated into the space. People jumped from their seats, except Ye Chong. The host expected the capabilities of Rui Bing, but not at this level! Their eyes were flushed with disbelief.

Ye Chong was the master of both strength and speed, Rui Bing was a person who spent intimate days with him, and she had undergone training that she could be at almost the same speed as Ye Chong. So one could imagine how horrifying her speed was.

Wang Zishi flinched as intuitively he held the sword across his chest and kept brandishing towards the front.

Klink!

Wang Zishi felt a powerful force slammed upon his hand, he was so overwhelmed that he took 7 steps back.

Holy Galaxy…

Everyone except Ye Chong seemed terrified. Lady Wang, the host could hold her emotion no longer as she stood up clumsily.

Rui Bing had just condensed forces of her fist into one single orb which was gently pressed upon the handle of Wang Zishi’s sword pulled gracelessly. The overwhelming strength had just sent Wang Zishi to a losing position. It was so powerful that the alloy sword actually got slightly deformed…

If the fist landed on Wang Zishi himself… he might have been…

The people dared not imagine the scenario, even the bodyguards of the little boy were shivering.

Speed was everything, speed would determine whoever made the move first and it would be a torment if one were to be put under a losing position because of a martial arts practitioner’s speed.

Wang Zishi did not even manage to reposition his sword as Rui Bing made a twist, one more punch! Wang Zishi gave a dodge by tilting his body to one side.

Rui Bing was like her man, the kind who would spare the opponent no time, though unlike Ye Chong who strived for a dead-or-alive, she kept it professional as an exchange of skills.

It was pretty hard to imagine a fair lady to have such hardcore battle style while wielding such offensive move.

Rui Bing’s face was calm as the water. And that was the scary as it simply meant she was not even at her maximum yet! Wang Zishi was astounded, Rui Bing looked quite about his age, yet her skills… How?

Wang Zishi was the pride of the Wang family, the elite of the younger generation, the hope of Wangs’ future and now there he was, standing there, could not even wave his sword against a mere lady. How shameful would that be if the people outside heard it?!

Wang Zishi was not as bad as he imagined himself. His skills, though seemingly incompetent compared to Rui Bing, were much greater than those two child abductors that day. The sole mistake he made however, was to let Rui Bing to go first, WITHOUT positioning his sword right first! If he had pulled his sword and held it in a battle-ready stance, the situation would have been much, much better, yet in reality he did not.

Ye Chong gave one last glance. Confirmed that the outcome had been determined, he carried on eating.

In spite of his ignorance, Wang Zishi’s performance remained uncalled for to Ye Chong. Wang Zishi, knowing he might not have a chance to get his sword sword as if, calmed himself and focused on doing the incoming attacks while looking for that opportunity for a counterattack. His situation improved. He was the master of swordsmanship but step-shifting was still the fundamental to be mastered equally.

The Wang family shared a rather unique kind of step, that Rui Bing even made a mistake predicting the movement once, when she thought she had surpassed the Jie expert and gained impeccable sense of timing and movement, especially when enhanced by the techniques of Rui family, yet in fact she missed it.

It might be a mistake from her, but the Wangs were not looking great. The spectating Wangs knew it by heart that the step-shifting technique of Wang family had been utterly clutched by Rui Bing! Of course they never expected Rui Bing to have surpassed the Jie expert in reality. The combats between Jie experts were a total different concept to those street fights they had.

Wang Zishi did not gain from that mistake Rui Bing made, as her inhuman speed had already covered the only hole, via the technique quick-shifting to readjust her position, not sparing a chance for Wang Zishi to return a move.

The steps of Wang Zishi had gotten messier. The intensity was never experienced before, so was the helplessness twitching his sanity. The opponent felt like the Great Wall, unshakeable, immutable.

Ye Chong could not help but to take another glance. He shook his head, recognizing the talent of Wang Zishi with that pair of arms bulkier than most men thanks to his sword training while being able to stand with Rui Bing for this long, “Still…” He whispered and scooped one new bowl of dish.

He was reminded of the Sangs who also wielded such sturdy flesh under the harsh condition of Archipelago while their skills were honed throughout days and nights against the beasts for survival. Their moves were much crude and straightforward, more efficient and more potent. So Ye Chong had a preference over the Sang’s style.

Rui Bing’s knuckle stopped few centimeters away from Wang Zishi’s throat.

“Done.” she claimed.

Wang Zishi’s face was grim.