Chapter 500 (2/2)

However, an eerie sword intent passed by at the next moment, and the sounds of the machetes falling to the ground rang out incessantly. All the ruffians had turned into human vegetables and collapsed.

The bearded man let out a terrified scream as if he had just seen a ghost. Then with a bang, he dropped to his knees, struck with the realization that he had came across a powerful person. “S… S… Sir… I beg of you, please spare my life.”

However, when he lifted his head, Fang Xingjian was already nowhere to be seen. The bearded man then felt a pain in his chest. He did not know when it had happened, but there was now a huge hole in his chest, and blood was gushing out from it like running water.

Sensing the terror the bearded man felt before his death, Fang Xingjian was struck with a new understanding.

‘If I want to further temper my martial will, I can probably only rely on the fearr that’s felt during life and death moments.’

What was the most terrifying thing in the world? Although different people might give different answers, the one answer which would appear the most would likely be ‘death’.

That was a living creature’s instinct, a human’s instinct. Something which everyone was unwilling to face the most, yet people were left with no choice but to face it.

In the following month, Fang Xingjian tried all sorts of methods with a single goal in mind—to get close to death. He wanted to use the threat of death to push forth his potential, thereby further tempering his will and fully completing his fifth God-Slaying Sword.

So, at the beginning, he put himself in danger. He plunged down from several hundreds of thousands of meters high up in the air, smashing a large crater into the ground.

Then he went deep to the down into the sea, several tens of thousands of meters down under. In the pitch black sea, he tempered his sword arts while withstanding the terrifying water pressure.

After that, Fang Xingjian jumped into a volcano’s lava, went deep underground, and watched as the stratum slowly engulfed and pressed against him.

He also soaked himself in liquid nitrogen, sensing his body’s temperature lower incessantly and his heartbeat get increasingly slower.

Fang Xingjian did not inform anyone to assist him, since that would prevent him from experiencing the threat of death in the tests.

Thereafter, the various powers on Earth could no longer let him feel danger. So, he changed his method.

…

He strolled along the battlefield, watching as many bullets and missiles took away one life after another.

“Who are you?!” A soldier bellowed out toward Fang Xingjian, who was walking along the battlefield like a ghost. “Stop right there!”

However, the next moment, Fang Xingjian had already disappeared from before his eyes like a real ghost.

Then Fang Xingjian went to the slums and looked at the numb and desperate gazes of numerous people. He watched the many emaciated figures lay on the beds, calmly accepting death.

An old man looked dazedly at Fang Xingjian, who had suddenly appeared. Seeing how Fang Xingjian was hovering just above ground with hints of sword light wrapping around him like wings, the old man could not help but ask, “Are you an angel?”

As Fang Xingjian watched the old man smile for the last time, he disappeared in midair..

He witnessed and observed death firsthand.

During the final couple of days before the battle, the deathly aura on Fang Xingjian grew increasingly stronger. He looked like a ghost that had come from the netherworld. Fang Xingjian went to many hospitals and saw that many lives were lost everyday.

Fury, despair, terror, calm, numbness… Before death, everyone showed different emotions.

Fang Xingjian continued like that until one day before the battle. On this day, he arrived at a dilapidated hospital, found an empty bed, and lay on it.

For the past one month, he had tried out, seen, and experienced many different things. So, he now had a special understanding toward death.

However, he still seemed to be a little bit away from understanding death completely.

Fang Xingjian knew that it was time to take it one step further.

When he entered the hospital, it was as if no one was able to see him wherever he passed by. There was no one who would ask why he was lying on the bed either.

Fang Xingjian just lay there, slowly closing his eyes.

This time around, he was going to face death personally.

The moment he closed his eyes, his breath got increasingly weaker and his heartbeat got increasingly slower. Eventually, it was like his breathing had stopped completely and as if he had turned into a piece of ice cold rock.