Chapter 586: Causing a Little Trouble
Now that Xia Fei was close, he could finally see what the mysterious man looked like. He was an ugly middle-aged man with a mustache, which had clearly been well-maintained, and a pair of small and round eyes, which were currently staring at Xia Fei. It was clear that he had not imagined that Xia Fei would react so quickly and strike with such lethality!
“Wildstorm!”
His left fist, covered in a layer of white light, smashed at his foe. At the same time, his right hand swung through the air and thrust the Blood Crystal into that man’s ribs!
Turning his hand over, the man suddenly gathered numerous gleaming metal bits in his palm. These metal bits had been extracted from the soil. Besides a concealment ability, he was also a Law of Matter Adept! As for that dark red bayonet-shaped dagger stabbing his ribs, he paid it little attention, merely moving an arm to block it.
This man reacted very quickly; it must be understood that only a split-second had elapsed since Xia Fei launched his attack. He was planning to meet Xia Fei’s fist head-on and sustain an injury on his left arm to block the Blood Crystal. As long as he could avert the edge of Xia Fei’s first offensive, he would have a chance to turn victory into defeat!
*Bang! Plus.h.!.+*
Two different sounds rang out. The first was Xia Fei’s fist smas.h.i.+ng into that man’s metal screen while the second was the Blood Crystal stabbing into the man’s arm!
“Not good!”
The man suddenly felt dizzy, and he immediately lost the feeling in his left arm!
At the moment the Blood Crystal stabbed into his left arm, not only did he lose an immense amount of blood, he felt as if some monster had entered his body. The monster traveled through his blood vessels into his body, where it began to devour his organs!
Intense pain!
Fear filled the man’s eyes!
A monster drinking his blood and also burrowing into his body to eat his organs? This was double the torture!
Xia Fei had no way of knowing what his enemy was experiencing, but from the change in the latter’s eyes, he could tell that the Blood Crystal, after its rebirth, was likely able to do more than just devour blood!
The man panicked and desperately tried to escape; alas, the Blood Crystal did not let him go. It seemed to have grown teeth, doggedly biting down on his arm!
“Ahhhh!”
With a scream, his arm rapidly began to shrivel, just like a withered tree in a desert. His skin lost its elasticity and his muscles dried up!
His desire to live overcame the fear and pain, and that man struggled for all he was worth, tearing off the entire arm that the Blood Crystal was attached to! It was a gruesome sight!
Xia Fei was stunned. He could clearly sense the change in the Blood Crystal. The more his opponent struggled, the tighter the Blood Crystal’s grip became. It was seemingly magnetic, clinging to its foe, not resting until the man was sucked dry of blood!
‘Could this be the ability of the reborn Blood Crystal? Using its pull to drag the enemies into the abyss of death?’ Xia Fei asked himself. He had no idea that the Blood Crystal’s cruelty was not just on holding fast to its foe but also on devouring the enemy’s organs! At this moment, the man’s organs were basically done for! Even after tearing off his arm and freeing himself from the Blood Crystal, he could no longer escape the death G.o.d’s pursuit!
Cruel! Devilishly cruel!
This truly was the most insidious bloodthirsty divine weapon. After its rebirth, the Blood Crystal was now in the process of revealing its original and savage form!
*Crack!*
As the arm parted from the body, the man’s screams resounded through the night sky!
The Blood Crystal had turned bright red from the blood it had absorbed, but the arm that it was attached to had become similar to a blackened tree branch. It was devoid of life!
*Plus.h.!.+*
Before the man could fall over, Xia Fei stabbed the Blood Crystal into his heart!
This time, he had no chance to escape. His eyes rolled over, and his body shriveled up in the s.p.a.ce of three seconds!
“Get out of here! We’ll be discovered by the guards!” Phantom shouted.
Xia Fei hastily pulled out the Blood Crystal and prepared to flee the crime scene, but before he had a chance to step away, a white light suddenly attacked him from the rear!
“Crafty Approach!”
Xia Fei forced his body to turn around and, crossing his arms, decided to take the attack directly!
This enchanting l.u.s.ter was the cla.s.sic sign of a spatial tear. With this powerful momentum, it was clear that the attacker was much stronger than Xia Fei. Xia Fei’s brows creased. He was very uncertain if he could actually take this sudden attack!
*Whoosh~*
Xia Fei was ready to be badly wounded, but when this spatial fissure was one meter away from him, it suddenly shot upward and into the clouds!
“Xia Fei, why is it you?!” Yu Hua appeared next to Xia Fei in a flash of light, exclaiming. “That was close! I almost injured you!”
Xia Fei broke into a cold sweat. It was no wonder that attack had been so fast and powerful, far beyond the ability of his speed and movement techniques to escape. It was because the attacker had been Great Law Emperor Yu Hua.
If Yu Hua had not drawn back his hand at the final moment, the consequences would have been very serious.
Yu Hua saw the shriveled corpse on the ground and frowned. “This was the old master’s friend, Great Law Sovereign Qian Yuli. How could you kill him? The old master will definitely blame you!”
Xia Fei said nothing. What? Was he going to tell Yu Hua that he had taken this man’s life because he had learned about the existence of Oro?
“Don’t panic. I have a plan,” Yu Hua said as he patted Xia Fei on the shoulder.
*Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+*
Ten-some figures suddenly appeared. The Yu family’s guards had arrived at the scene, and their leader was unexpectedly Yu Peng.
“Xia Fei, Yu Hua, why are you two here?” Yu Peng placed a hand on his waist and questioned.
…
“Thank you for covering for me,” Xia Fei said, sighing in relief as he watched Yu Peng lead his men in the wrong direction.
Yu Hua had a very grave expression. “I can help you this time, but not for the rest of your life. This man was the old master’s friend, and he is certain to investigate this incident. No matter what reason you had, you shouldn’t have killed him.”
He glanced at the ground. The way that the man had died, all withered away, left Yu Hua alarmed. This man had clearly gone through some excruciating torture before his death, but Yu Hua, who had come a little late, did not see how Xia Fei had done the deed.
“Listen to me. The Dragon Ascension Conclave isn’t over yet, so return to the White Horse Constellation at once; leave the Yu family. Once there’s news, I’ll inform you as soon as possible. If the situation is bad, just run and never come back,” Yu Hua sternly said. “You have no idea what you did. While the old master seems like a gentle soul, his methods are vicious. If he finds out you killed his friend, your end will be gruesome.”
Xia Fei silently frowned.
“Thank you!” Xia Fei firmly nodded. This was not the first time Yu Hua had helped him, and he was filled with grat.i.tude to him.
“Stop standing here and leave. I’ll cover for you right now,” Yu Hua said. “Remember: leave early tomorrow morning, quietly and inconspicuously. Find a remote place in the White Horse Constellation to wait for news. I’ll notify you as soon as I can.”
Several minutes later, Xia Fei left this canyon on the southern end of Roaring Tiger Park. Yu Peng returned with his men. After all, having headed off in the wrong direction, they naturally would not have found anything.
Yu Peng had his subordinates take the body and report to Patriarch Yu Jiang in the morning.
“You’re certain you want to protect Xia Fei?” Yu Peng softly asked. He was no fool and could already guess at most of the truth.
Yu Hua said noncommittally, “I said it before; it wasn’t me who killed him, and it wasn’t Xia Fei, too.”
Yu Peng smiled and pointed in the direction of the main city. “It’s pointless to say it to me. The patriarch has to believe it. I noticed that your relations.h.i.+p with Xia Fei truly isn’t bad. I hope that this kid who so often ends up in trouble is worthy of your favor.”
Yu Hua coolly said, “You wouldn’t understand, not even if I explained it to you.”
…
The White Horse Constellation, the Dragon Ascension Martial Hall’s branch office.
An extremely impa.s.sioned discussion had been going on for a long time; alas, no conclusion was reached even at this point.
Besides Chief Proctor Lu Qiuyan, Master Beast Tamer Nie Ying, Fourth Exam Proctor Khedira, and the supervisors of the other exams, the martial hall had even sent over one of Dragon Ascension Martial Hall’s Four Heavenly Kings, Busey.
Beneath Hall Master Kuzen Feng, the Four Heavenly Kings wielded the most authority and had the highest cultivations. For Busey to appear for the initial a.s.sessment personally was proof of the importance the martial hall had attached to this matter.
Lu Qiuyan had a cold and aloof face, playing her part as the cla.s.sic iron lady as she said, “Lord Busey, I don’t quite understand what you mean. Since the one who started all this was the candidate Xia Fei, why shouldn’t we disqualify him from partic.i.p.ating?”
Busey was black and the only human among the Four Heavenly Kings. He had a young face, but those who knew him understood that Busey had been at the hall master’s side for eighty years, his true age approaching two hundred.
Busey’s greatest attribute was his unperturbed face. He sat there like a statue, and even when he spoke, his mouth simply opened and closed. He was as emotionless as a robot.
“We’ve no evidence,” Busey simply replied.
Lu Qiuyan frowned. “Master Nie Ying’s testimony isn’t enough? Yes, Xia Fei’s methods then were so exquisite that we could not acquire firsthand evidence, but I still don’t quite understand. Does our Dragon Ascension Martial Hall need to provide evidence to remove a single candidate?”
Lu Qiuyan was right. The mighty Dragon Ascension was the summit of the martial path. It did not need evidence to expel an candidate!
“Nie Ying himself broke the rules. If not for him, this matter wouldn’t have been so troublesome,” Busey coldly said.
Nie Ying immediately lowered his head. He was none other than the focus of the argument. All of the candidates had seen him use law power to control the exotic beast and cause trouble for Xia Fei. This was the greatest problem facing Dragon Ascension Martial Hall. How could the dignified Dragon Ascension Martial Hall interfere with the rules of the testing ground?
The argument continued, with no one able to provide a solution to both punish Xia Fei while preserving the dignity of the martial hall.
Busey stood up with a cold snort and departed, leaving the other proctors stupefied.
He went down the corridor into a secluded room. Pus.h.i.+ng upon the door, he saw a young man in white with his legs propped up on the table while he whistled. Upon seeing Busey, the young man hastily got to his feet. “Uncle Busey, you’re here.”
The young man was someone that none of the candidates on the testing ground would forget, for this was Dragon Ascension Martial Hall Master’s youngest son, Zanian Feng.
Busey gave a slight nod and sat himself on a sofa near the door.
Two very subtle wrinkles appeared on the forehead of the stone-faced Busey. His usually unperturbed self seemed to be vexed over something.
“You’re saying that that candidate Xia Fei might be of the Skywing bloodline?” Busey sternly asked.
There were no airtight walls in the universe. Yu Jiang knew about the problem with Xia Fei’s background, as did Yu Hua, and now, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Dragon Ascension, Busey, knew as well!
Could it be that Dragon Ascension Martial Hall’s unprecedented halting of the a.s.sessment and the stone-faced Busey’s worries were because of the issue brought about by Xia Fei’s bloodline?