Chapter 290: Return Journey (1/2)
[Volume 4 – Perpetual Conflict]
With his True Sight, Qianye saw that Zhao Youpin’s stance wasn’t just for show. The surging origin power rippled outward with his body as the center, a full seven ripples extending toward the surroundings. All of them were potential attack routes, covering almost the entire semicircular area in front of him.
Zhao Youpin’s body swayed lightly like an immortal crane dancing in the wind, the seven origin power ripples fluctuating indefinitely along with his movements—it was as if he would launch a fierce attack toward a certain direction at any given moment.
The Soaring Wader Fist was indeed worthy of its status as a secret art. Judging from its origin power movements, it could be said that the art possessed both offensive and defensive capacities. The swaying movement afforded him many routes of attack while making it difficult for the opponent to grasp the trajectory of his assault. For the same reason, he was also capable of calmly dealing with all attacks within the wide coverage area. That semicircular area-of-effect might expand even further if Zhao Youpin were to reach the champion level.
But presently, all of the Soaring Wader Fist’s variations were clear as day in Qianye’s eyes. The secret art was, true to the Zhao clan’s style, fairly elegant and flowery. It was constantly suffused with an unhurried calmness and seemed free of all worldly intent. But this was also why, despite its quick-witted elegance, the art was three parts lacking in power.
Qianye immediately accumulated his origin power and strode forth to deliver a simple punch toward the opponent’s chest.
It was a jab from the Military Combat Arts. It wasn’t accompanied by any fancy movements, but faint rumbles of thunder seemed to echo in the air as the fist shot out.
Zhao Youpin’s range of swaying suddenly increased, almost losing his balance and involuntarily leaning toward the edge of Qianye’s incoming fist. He was greatly astonished because the incoming attractive force was so powerful that it took a fair amount of effort just to overcome it.
Zhao Youpin could no longer bother with bringing himself back to the most optimal position. He immediately let out a resounding scream as he swung his right hand like a wing and slapped down on Qianye’s fist.
A thunderous bang was heard as fist and palm collided. As if struck by lightning, Zhao Youpin’s entire body was severely shaken and suddenly flung backward. He crashed through the desks and tables along the way before slamming into the wall and coughing up a mouthful of fresh blood.
Zhao Youpin had never expected that he would encounter such a situation. For a while, he was startled, afraid, and even his brain was blanked out. He saw Qianye running over with large strides, but was slightly delayed in his reaction.
Qianye’s leg whipped out with a momentum capable of bringing about total annihilation. As if he had just woken up from a dream, Zhao Youpin shifted his body and evaded with all his might.
Qianye’s fist smashed down again, but this time, Zhao Youpin could no longer dodge and was forced to defend with his arms crossed—a thunderous boom rang out from the impact followed by the coughing up of even more blood.
Qianye’s attacks were like lightning and thunder, not leaving Zhao Youpin with even a moment to catch his breath. Each and every one of his moves was direct and agile, with most of the basic moves from the Military Combat Technique, but he was fast enough, powerful enough, and cruel enough.
Zhao Youpin had lost the initiative and had to exhaust all his strength just to defend against Qianye’s casual blows. He couldn’t understand why the latter’s strikes were so powerful despite being at the same level as him. It felt as if a great mountain was pressing down upon him, one so heavy that it made him despair.
Within moments, Zhao Youpin’s origin power defenses crumbled, allowing Qianye’s palm to strike right through and land heavily on his chest. The man couldn’t even cough up blood as his entire chest caved in amidst snapping sounds.
Qianye slowly withdrew his attacks and gazed at the dying Zhao Youpin.
While gasping for air, he said with great ferocity, “The Zhao clan won’t… let you go! They will hunt you down to the ends of the earth. I’ll be going first to wait for you down there!”
Qianye replied with an unmoved expression, “Then keep on waiting.” With that, he casually drew out a sword from the nearby rack and pierced it into Zhao Youpin’s heart. He then looked around the room, dropped the sword, and calmly leapt out of the window before disappearing into the night.
The battle was over in a flash and had involved only ten-odd moves. Only after Qianye left did the guards rush into the study and raise the alarm.
Qianye ran swiftly under the night sky and straight toward the airship port. The entire Darkshore City was in chaos at the moment, but this area just outside of the city’s west gates was relatively silent. The only difference from the norm was a several-fold increase in the number of guards.
However, these vigilant guards were only for show in Qianye’s eyes—he deftly crossed over the guard cordon and arrived before the three airships parked on one side of the port. There he chose the centurion class airship transporting a mixture of passengers and cargo.
Opening the emergency hatch at the rear of the airship was quite easy for Qianye; the set of metallic instruments used for torture could also open simple mechanical locks. Moreover, this centurion class airship was the empire’s most common dual-use public airship model and thus had no overly complicated mechanisms.
Qianye snuck into the airship from the auxiliary door, resecured the door, and removed all nearby traces. The airship, scheduled to fly for the Zhao clan capital in two days, was completely quiet at the moment with neither crew nor passenger on board. However, the greater half of the cargo hold was filled with goods.
Qianye headed toward the fuel chamber in the lower layer. The ship had already been resupplied with black stones piled up in the form of a small hill within the fuel reservoir. Qianye found an isolated corner near the wall where he dug out a hole, lined it with military use tarpaulin, and made his way inside.
Qianye emitted an origin power vibration, causing the surrounding black stones to roll down and bury him within. He then retracted all of his aura and gradually retracted his body temperature until he reached a state of semi-hibernation.
The chaos in Darkshore City eventually calmed down after the other two city guard captains appeared to take control. However, the tense atmosphere persisted.
As a city guard captain, Zhao Youpin’s assassination within a private residence was not a small matter. A city guard captain from such an important city could be considered a manger level character within the Zhao clan, belonging to the middle ranks.